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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12187 ***
+
+THE MYSTERY OF 31 NEW INN
+
+BY R. AUSTIN FREEMAN
+
+Author of "The Red Thumb Mark,"
+"The Eye of Osiris," etc.
+
+
+
+
+TO MY FRIEND
+
+BERNARD E. BISHOP
+
+
+
+
+Preface
+
+
+Commenting upon one of my earlier novels, in respect of which I had
+claimed to have been careful to adhere to common probabilities and to
+have made use only of really practicable methods of investigation, a
+critic remarked that this was of no consequence whatever, so long as the
+story was amusing.
+
+Few people, I imagine, will agree with him. To most readers, and
+certainly to the kind of reader for whom an author is willing to take
+trouble, complete realism in respect of incidents and methods is an
+essential factor in maintaining the interest of a detective story. Hence
+it may be worth while to mention that Thorndyke's method of producing
+the track chart, described in Chapters II and III, has been actually
+used in practice. It is a modification of one devised by me many years
+ago when I was crossing Ashanti to the city of Bontuku, the whereabouts
+of which in the far interior was then only vaguely known. My
+instructions were to fix the positions of all towns, villages, rivers
+and mountains as accurately as possible; but finding ordinary methods of
+surveying impracticable in the dense forest which covers the whole
+region, I adopted this simple and apparently rude method, checking the
+distances whenever possible by astronomical observation.
+
+The resulting route-map was surprisingly accurate, as shown by the
+agreement of the outward and homeward tracks, It was published by the
+Royal Geographical Society, and incorporated in the map of this region
+compiled by the Intelligence Branch of the War Office, and it formed the
+basis of the map which accompanied my volume of <i>Travels in Ashanti and
+Jaman</i>. So that Thorndyke's plan must be taken as quite a practicable
+one.
+
+New Inn, the background of this story, and one of the last surviving
+inns of Chancery, has recently passed away after upwards of four
+centuries of newness. Even now, however, a few of the old, dismantled
+houses (including perhaps, the mysterious 31) may be seen from the
+Strand peeping over the iron roof of the skating rink which has
+displaced the picturesque hall, the pension-room and the garden. The
+postern gate, too, in Houghton Street still remains, though the arch is
+bricked up inside. Passing it lately, I made the rough sketch which
+appears on next page, and which shows all that is left of this pleasant
+old London backwater.
+
+R. A. F.
+
+GRAVESEND
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: New Inn]
+
+
+
+
+Contents
+
+
+CHAPTER.
+
+   I  THE MYSTERIOUS PATIENT
+  II  THORNDYKE DEVISES A SCHEME
+ III  "A CHIEL'S AMANG YE TAKIN' NOTES"
+  IV  THE OFFICIAL VIEW
+   V  JEFFREY BLACKMORE'S WILL
+  VI  JEFFREY BLACKMORE, DECEASED
+ VII  THE CUNEIFORM INSCRIPTION
+VIII THE TRACK CHART
+  IX  THE HOUSE OF MYSTERY
+   X  THE HUNTER HUNTED
+  XI  THE BLACKMORE CASE REVIEWED
+ XII  THE PORTRAIT
+XIII  THE STATEMENT OF SAMUEL WILKINS
+ XIV  THORNDYKE LAYS THE MINE
+  XV  THORNDYKE EXPLODES THE MINE
+ XVI  AN EXPOSITION AND A TRAGEDY
+
+
+
+
+Chapter I
+
+The Mysterious Patient
+
+
+As I look back through the years of my association with John Thorndyke,
+I am able to recall a wealth of adventures and strange experiences such
+as falls to the lot of very few men who pass their lives within hearing
+of Big Ben. Many of these experiences I have already placed on record;
+but it now occurs to me that I have hitherto left unrecorded one that
+is, perhaps, the most astonishing and incredible of the whole series; an
+adventure, too, that has for me the added interest that it inaugurated
+my permanent association with my learned and talented friend, and marked
+the close of a rather unhappy and unprosperous period of my life.
+
+Memory, retracing the journey through the passing years to the
+starting-point of those strange events, lands me in a shabby little
+ground-floor room in a house near the Walworth end of Lower Kennington
+Lane. A couple of framed diplomas on the wall, a card of Snellen's
+test-types and a stethoscope lying on the writing-table, proclaim it a
+doctor's consulting-room; and my own position in the round-backed chair
+at the said table, proclaims me the practitioner in charge.
+
+It was nearly nine o'clock. The noisy little clock on the mantelpiece
+announced the fact, and, by its frantic ticking, seemed as anxious as I
+to get the consultation hours over. I glanced wistfully at my
+mud-splashed boots and wondered if I might yet venture to assume the
+slippers that peeped coyly from under the shabby sofa. I even allowed my
+thoughts to wander to the pipe that reposed in my coat pocket. Another
+minute and I could turn down the surgery gas and shut the outer door.
+The fussy little clock gave a sort of preliminary cough or hiccup, as if
+it should say: "Ahem! ladies and gentlemen, I am about to strike." And
+at that moment, the bottle-boy opened the door and, thrusting in his
+head, uttered the one word: "Gentleman."
+
+Extreme economy of words is apt to result in ambiguity. But I
+understood. In Kennington Lane, the race of mere men and women appeared
+to be extinct. They were all gentlemen--unless they were ladies or
+children--even as the Liberian army was said to consist entirely of
+generals. Sweeps, labourers, milkmen, costermongers--all were
+impartially invested by the democratic bottle-boy with the rank and
+title of <i>armigeri</i>. The present nobleman appeared to favour the
+aristocratic recreation of driving a cab or job-master's carriage, and,
+as he entered the room, he touched his hat, closed the door somewhat
+carefully, and then, without remark, handed me a note which bore the
+superscription "Dr. Stillbury."
+
+"You understand," I said, as I prepared to open the envelope, "that I
+am not Dr. Stillbury. He is away at present and I am looking after his
+patients."
+
+"It doesn't signify," the man replied. "You'll do as well."
+
+On this, I opened the envelope and read the note, which was quite brief,
+and, at first sight, in no way remarkable.
+
+"DEAR SIR," it ran, "Would you kindly come and see a friend of mine who
+is staying with me? The bearer of this will give you further particulars
+and convey you to the house. Yours truly, H. WEISS."
+
+There was no address on the paper and no date, and the writer was
+unknown to me.
+
+"This note," I said, "refers to some further particulars. What are
+they?"
+
+The messenger passed his hand over his hair with a gesture of
+embarrassment. "It's a ridicklus affair," he said, with a contemptuous
+laugh. "If I had been Mr. Weiss, I wouldn't have had nothing to do with
+it. The sick gentleman, Mr. Graves, is one of them people what can't
+abear doctors. He's been ailing now for a week or two, but nothing would
+induce him to see a doctor. Mr. Weiss did everything he could to
+persuade him, but it was no go. He wouldn't. However, it seems Mr. Weiss
+threatened to send for a medical man on his own account, because, you
+see, he was getting a bit nervous; and then Mr. Graves gave way. But
+only on one condition. He said the doctor was to come from a distance
+and was not to be told who he was or where he lived or anything about
+him; and he made Mr. Weiss promise to keep to that condition before he'd
+let him send. So Mr. Weiss promised, and, of course, he's got to keep
+his word."
+
+"But," I said, with a smile, "you've just told me his name--if his name
+really is Graves."
+
+"You can form your own opinion on that," said the coachman.
+
+"And," I added, "as to not being told where he lives, I can see that for
+myself. I'm not blind, you know."
+
+"We'll take the risk of what you see," the man replied. "The question
+is, will you take the job on?"
+
+Yes; that was the question, and I considered it for some time before
+replying. We medical men are pretty familiar with the kind of person who
+"can't abear doctors," and we like to have as little to do with him as
+possible. He is a thankless and unsatisfactory patient. Intercourse with
+him is unpleasant, he gives a great deal of trouble and responds badly
+to treatment. If this had been my own practice, I should have declined
+the case off-hand. But it was not my practice. I was only a deputy. I
+could not lightly refuse work which would yield a profit to my
+principal, unpleasant though it might be.
+
+As I turned the matter over in my mind, I half unconsciously scrutinized
+my visitor--somewhat to his embarrassment--and I liked his appearance
+as little as I liked his mission. He kept his station near the door,
+where the light was dim--for the illumination was concentrated on the
+table and the patient's chair--but I could see that he had a somewhat
+sly, unprepossessing face and a greasy, red moustache that seemed out of
+character with his rather perfunctory livery; though this was mere
+prejudice. He wore a wig, too--not that there was anything discreditable
+in that--and the thumb-nail of the hand that held his hat bore
+disfiguring traces of some injury--which, again, though unsightly, in no
+wise reflected on his moral character. Lastly, he watched me keenly with
+a mixture of anxiety and sly complacency that I found distinctly
+unpleasant. In a general way, he impressed me disagreeably. I did not
+like the look of him at all; but nevertheless I decided to undertake the
+case.
+
+"I suppose," I answered, at length, "it is no affair of mine who the
+patient is or where he lives. But how do you propose to manage the
+business? Am I to be led to the house blindfolded, like the visitor to
+the bandit's cave?"
+
+The man grinned slightly and looked very decidedly relieved.
+
+"No, sir," he answered; "we ain't going to blindfold you. I've got a
+carriage outside. I don't think you'll see much out of that."
+
+"Very well," I rejoined, opening the door to let him out, "I'll be with
+you in a minute. I suppose you can't give me any idea as to what is the
+matter with the patient?"
+
+"No, sir, I can't," he replied; and he went out to see to the carriage.
+
+I slipped into a bag an assortment of emergency drugs and a few
+diagnostic instruments, turned down the gas and passed out through the
+surgery. The carriage was standing at the kerb, guarded by the coachman
+and watched with deep interest by the bottle-boy. I viewed it with
+mingled curiosity and disfavour. It was a kind of large brougham, such
+as is used by some commercial travellers, the usual glass windows being
+replaced by wooden shutters intended to conceal the piles of
+sample-boxes, and the doors capable of being locked from outside with a
+railway key.
+
+As I emerged from the house, the coachman unlocked the door and held it
+open.
+
+"How long will the journey take?" I asked, pausing with my foot on the
+step.
+
+The coachman considered a moment or two and replied:
+
+"It took me, I should say, nigh upon half an hour to get here."
+
+This was pleasant hearing. A half an hour each way and a half an hour at
+the patient's house. At that rate it would be half-past ten before I was
+home again, and then it was quite probable that I should find some other
+untimely messenger waiting on the doorstep. With a muttered anathema on
+the unknown Mr. Graves and the unrestful life of a locum tenens, I
+stepped into the uninviting vehicle. Instantly the coachman slammed the
+door and turned the key, leaving me in total darkness.
+
+One comfort was left to me; my pipe was in my pocket. I made shift to
+load it in the dark, and, having lit it with a wax match, took the
+opportunity to inspect the interior of my prison. It was a shabby
+affair. The moth-eaten state of the blue cloth cushions seemed to
+suggest that it had been long out of regular use; the oil-cloth
+floor-covering was worn into holes; ordinary internal fittings there
+were none. But the appearances suggested that the crazy vehicle had been
+prepared with considerable forethought for its present use. The inside
+handles of the doors had apparently been removed; the wooden shutters
+were permanently fixed in their places; and a paper label, stuck on the
+transom below each window, had a suspicious appearance of having been
+put there to cover the painted name and address of the job-master or
+livery-stable keeper who had originally owned the carriage.
+
+These observations gave me abundant food for reflection. This Mr. Weiss
+must be an excessively conscientious man if he had considered that his
+promise to Mr. Graves committed him to such extraordinary precautions.
+Evidently no mere following of the letter of the law was enough to
+satisfy his sensitive conscience. Unless he had reasons for sharing Mr.
+Graves's unreasonable desire for secrecy--for one could not suppose that
+these measures of concealment had been taken by the patient himself.
+
+The further suggestions that evolved themselves from this consideration
+were a little disquieting. Whither was I being carried and for what
+purpose? The idea that I was bound for some den of thieves where I
+might be robbed and possibly murdered, I dismissed with a smile. Thieves
+do not make elaborately concerted plans to rob poor devils like me.
+Poverty has its compensations in that respect. But there were other
+possibilities. Imagination backed by experience had no difficulty in
+conjuring up a number of situations in which a medical man might be
+called upon, with or without coercion, either to witness or actively to
+participate in the commission of some unlawful act.
+
+Reflections of this kind occupied me pretty actively if not very
+agreeably during this strange journey. And the monotony was relieved,
+too, by other distractions. I was, for example, greatly interested to
+notice how, when one sense is in abeyance, the other senses rouse into a
+compensating intensity of perception. I sat smoking my pipe in darkness
+which was absolute save for the dim glow from the smouldering tobacco in
+the bowl, and seemed to be cut off from all knowledge of the world
+without. But yet I was not. The vibrations of the carriage, with its
+hard springs and iron-tired wheels, registered accurately and plainly
+the character of the roadway. The harsh rattle of granite setts, the
+soft bumpiness of macadam, the smooth rumble of wood-pavement, the
+jarring and swerving of crossed tram-lines; all were easily recognizable
+and together sketched the general features of the neighbourhood through
+which I was passing. And the sense of hearing filled in the details. Now
+the hoot of a tug's whistle told of proximity to the river. A sudden
+and brief hollow reverberation announced the passage under a railway
+arch (which, by the way, happened several times during the journey);
+and, when I heard the familiar whistle of a railway-guard followed by
+the quick snorts of a skidding locomotive, I had as clear a picture of a
+heavy passenger-train moving out of a station as if I had seen it in
+broad daylight.
+
+I had just finished my pipe and knocked out the ashes on the heel of my
+boot, when the carriage slowed down and entered a covered way--as I
+could tell by the hollow echoes. Then I distinguished the clang of heavy
+wooden gates closed behind me, and a moment or two later the carriage
+door was unlocked and opened. I stepped out blinking into a covered
+passage paved with cobbles and apparently leading down to a mews; but it
+was all in darkness, and I had no time to make any detailed
+observations, as the carriage had drawn up opposite a side door which
+was open and in which stood a woman holding a lighted candle.
+
+"Is that the doctor?" she asked, speaking with a rather pronounced
+German accent and shading the candle with her hand as she peered at me.
+
+I answered in the affirmative, and she then exclaimed:
+
+"I am glad you have come. Mr. Weiss will be so relieved. Come in,
+please."
+
+I followed her across a dark passage into a dark room, where she set the
+candle down on a chest of drawers and turned to depart. At the door,
+however, she paused and looked back.
+
+"It is not a very nice room to ask you into," she said. "We are very
+untidy just now, but you must excuse us. We have had so much anxiety
+about poor Mr. Graves."
+
+"He has been ill some time, then?"
+
+"Yes. Some little time. At intervals, you know. Sometimes better,
+sometimes not so well."
+
+As she spoke, she gradually backed out into the passage but did not go
+away at once. I accordingly pursued my inquiries.
+
+"He has not been seen by any doctor, has he?"
+
+"No," she answered, "he has always refused to see a doctor. That has
+been a great trouble to us. Mr. Weiss has been very anxious about him.
+He will be so glad to hear that you have come. I had better go and tell
+him. Perhaps you will kindly sit down until he is able to come to you,"
+and with this she departed on her mission.
+
+It struck me as a little odd that, considering his anxiety and the
+apparent urgency of the case, Mr. Weiss should not have been waiting to
+receive me. And when several minutes elapsed without his appearing, the
+oddness of the circumstance impressed me still more. Having no desire,
+after the journey in the carriage, to sit down, I whiled away the time
+by an inspection of the room. And a very curious room it was; bare,
+dirty, neglected and, apparently, unused. A faded carpet had been flung
+untidily on the floor. A small, shabby table stood in the middle of the
+room; and beyond this, three horsehair-covered chairs and a chest of
+drawers formed the entire set of furniture. No pictures hung on the
+mouldy walls, no curtains covered the shuttered windows, and the dark
+drapery of cobwebs that hung from the ceiling to commemorate a long and
+illustrious dynasty of spiders hinted at months of neglect and disuse.
+
+The chest of drawers--an incongruous article of furniture for what
+seemed to be a dining-room--as being the nearest and best lighted object
+received most of my attention. It was a fine old chest of nearly black
+mahogany, very battered and in the last stage of decay, but originally a
+piece of some pretensions. Regretful of its fallen estate, I looked it
+over with some interest and had just observed on its lower corner a
+little label bearing the printed inscription "Lot 201" when I heard
+footsteps descending the stairs. A moment later the door opened and a
+shadowy figure appeared standing close by the threshold.
+
+"Good evening, doctor," said the stranger, in a deep, quiet voice and
+with a distinct, though not strong, German accent. "I must apologize for
+keeping you waiting."
+
+I acknowledged the apology somewhat stiffly and asked: "You are Mr.
+Weiss, I presume?"
+
+"Yes, I am Mr. Weiss. It is very good of you to come so far and so late
+at night and to make no objection to the absurd conditions that my poor
+friend has imposed."
+
+"Not at all," I replied. "It is my business to go when and where I am
+wanted, and it is not my business to inquire into the private affairs of
+my patients."
+
+"That is very true, sir," he agreed cordially, "and I am much obliged
+to you for taking that very proper view of the case. I pointed that out
+to my friend, but he is not a very reasonable man. He is very secretive
+and rather suspicious by nature."
+
+"So I inferred. And as to his condition; is he seriously ill?"
+
+"Ah," said Mr. Weiss, "that is what I want you to tell me. I am very
+much puzzled about him."
+
+"But what is the nature of his illness? What does he complain of?"
+
+"He makes very few complaints of any kind although he is obviously ill.
+But the fact is that he is hardly ever more than half awake. He lies in
+a kind of dreamy stupor from morning to night."
+
+This struck me as excessively strange and by no means in agreement with
+the patient's energetic refusal to see a doctor.
+
+"But," I asked, "does he never rouse completely?"
+
+"Oh, yes," Mr. Weiss answered quickly; "he rouses from time to time and
+is then quite rational, and, as you may have gathered, rather obstinate.
+That is the peculiar and puzzling feature in the case; this alternation
+between a state of stupor and an almost normal and healthy condition.
+But perhaps you had better see him and judge for yourself. He had a
+rather severe attack just now. Follow me, please. The stairs are rather
+dark."
+
+The stairs were very dark, and I noticed that they were without any
+covering of carpet, or even oil-cloth, so that our footsteps resounded
+dismally as if we were in an empty house. I stumbled up after my guide,
+feeling my way by the hand-rail, and on the first floor followed him
+into a room similar in size to the one below and very barely furnished,
+though less squalid than the other. A single candle at the farther end
+threw its feeble light on a figure in the bed, leaving the rest of the
+room in a dim twilight.
+
+As Mr. Weiss tiptoed into the chamber, a woman--the one who had spoken
+to me below--rose from a chair by the bedside and quietly left the room
+by a second door. My conductor halted, and looking fixedly at the figure
+in the bed, called out:
+
+"Philip! Philip! Here is the doctor come to see you."
+
+He paused for a moment or two, and, receiving no answer, said: "He seems
+to be dozing as usual. Will you go and see what you can make of him?"
+
+I stepped forward to the bedside, leaving Mr. Weiss at the end of the
+room near the door by which we had entered, where he remained, slowly
+and noiselessly pacing backwards and forwards in the semi-obscurity. By
+the light of the candle I saw an elderly man with good features and a
+refined, intelligent and even attractive face, but dreadfully emaciated,
+bloodless and sallow. He lay quite motionless except for the scarcely
+perceptible rise and fall of his chest; his eyes were nearly closed, his
+features relaxed, and, though he was not actually asleep, he seemed to
+be in a dreamy, somnolent, lethargic state, as if under the influence of
+some narcotic.
+
+I watched him for a minute or so, timing his slow breathing by my
+watch, and then suddenly and sharply addressed him by name; but the only
+response was a slight lifting of the eyelids, which, after a brief,
+drowsy glance at me, slowly subsided to their former position.
+
+I now proceeded to make a physical examination. First, I felt his pulse,
+grasping his wrist with intentional brusqueness in the hope of rousing
+him from his stupor. The beats were slow, feeble and slightly irregular,
+giving clear evidence, if any were needed, of his generally lowered
+vitality. I listened carefully to his heart, the sounds of which were
+very distinct through the thin walls of his emaciated chest, but found
+nothing abnormal beyond the feebleness and uncertainty of its action.
+Then I turned my attention to his eyes, which I examined closely with
+the aid of the candle and my ophthalmoscope lens, raising the lids
+somewhat roughly so as to expose the whole of the irises. He submitted
+without resistance to my rather ungentle handling of these sensitive
+structures, and showed no signs of discomfort even when I brought the
+candle-flame to within a couple of inches of his eyes.
+
+But this extraordinary tolerance of light was easily explained by closer
+examination; for the pupils were contracted to such an extreme degree
+that only the very minutest point of black was visible at the centre of
+the grey iris. Nor was this the only abnormal peculiarity of the sick
+man's eyes. As he lay on his back, the right iris sagged down slightly
+towards its centre, showing a distinctly concave surface; and, when I
+contrived to produce a slight but quick movement of the eyeball, a
+perceptible undulatory movement could be detected. The patient had, in
+fact, what is known as a tremulous iris, a condition that is seen in
+cases where the crystalline lens has been extracted for the cure of
+cataract, or where it has become accidentally displaced, leaving the
+iris unsupported. In the present case, the complete condition of the
+iris made it clear that the ordinary extraction operation had not been
+performed, nor was I able, on the closest inspection with the aid of my
+lens, to find any trace of the less common "needle operation." The
+inference was that the patient had suffered from the accident known as
+"dislocation of the lens"; and this led to the further inference that he
+was almost or completely blind in the right eye.
+
+This conclusion was, indeed, to some extent negatived by a deep
+indentation on the bridge of the nose, evidently produced by spectacles,
+and by marks which I looked for and found behind the ears, corresponding
+to the hooks or "curl sides" of the glasses. For those spectacles which
+are fitted with curl sides to hook over the ears are usually intended to
+be worn habitually, and this agreed with the indentation on the nose;
+which was deeper than would have been accounted for by the merely
+occasional use of spectacles for reading. But if only one eye was
+useful, a single eye-glass would have answered the purpose; not that
+there was any weight in this objection, for a single eye-glass worn
+constantly would be much less convenient than a pair of hook-sided
+spectacles.
+
+As to the nature of the patient's illness, only one opinion seemed
+possible. It was a clear and typical case of opium or morphine
+poisoning. To this conclusion all his symptoms seemed to point with
+absolute certainty. The coated tongue, which he protruded slowly and
+tremulously in response to a command bawled in his ear; his yellow skin
+and ghastly expression; his contracted pupils and the stupor from which
+he could hardly be roused by the roughest handling and which yet did not
+amount to actual insensibility; all these formed a distinct and coherent
+group of symptoms, not only pointing plainly to the nature of the drug,
+but also suggesting a very formidable dose.
+
+But this conclusion in its turn raised a very awkward and difficult
+question. If a large--a poisonous--dose of the drug had been taken, how,
+and by whom had that dose been administered? The closest scrutiny of
+the patient's arms and legs failed to reveal a single mark such as would
+be made by a hypodermic needle. This man was clearly no common
+morphinomaniac; and in the absence of the usual sprinkling of
+needlemarks, there was nothing to show or suggest whether the drug had
+been taken voluntarily by the patient himself or administered by someone
+else.
+
+And then there remained the possibility that I might, after all, be
+mistaken in my diagnosis. I felt pretty confident. But the wise man
+always holds a doubt in reserve. And, in the present case, having regard
+to the obviously serious condition of the patient, such a doubt was
+eminently disturbing. Indeed, as I pocketed my stethoscope and took a
+last look at the motionless, silent figure, I realized that my position
+was one of extraordinary difficulty and perplexity. On the one hand my
+suspicions--aroused, naturally enough, by the very unusual circumstances
+that surrounded my visit--inclined me to extreme reticence; while, on
+the other, it was evidently my duty to give any information that might
+prove serviceable to the patient.
+
+As I turned away from the bed Mr. Weiss stopped his slow pacing to and
+fro and faced me. The feeble light of the candle now fell on him, and I
+saw him distinctly for the first time. He did not impress me favourably.
+He was a thick-set, round-shouldered man, a typical fair German with
+tow-coloured hair, greased and brushed down smoothly, a large, ragged,
+sandy beard and coarse, sketchy features. His nose was large and thick
+with a bulbous end, and inclined to a reddish purple, a tint which
+extended to the adjacent parts of his face as if the colour had run. His
+eyebrows were large and beetling, overhanging deep-set eyes, and he wore
+a pair of spectacles which gave him a somewhat owlish expression. His
+exterior was unprepossessing, and I was in a state of mind that rendered
+me easily receptive of an unfavourable impression.
+
+"Well," he said, "what do you make of him?" I hesitated, still perplexed
+by the conflicting necessities of caution and frankness, but at length
+replied:
+
+"I think rather badly of him, Mr. Weiss. He is in a very low state."
+
+"Yes, I can see that. But have you come to any decision as to the nature
+of his illness?"
+
+There was a tone of anxiety and suppressed eagerness in the question
+which, while it was natural enough in the circumstances, by no means
+allayed my suspicions, but rather influenced me on the side of caution.
+
+"I cannot give a very definite opinion at present," I replied guardedly.
+"The symptoms are rather obscure and might very well indicate several
+different conditions. They might be due to congestion of the brain, and,
+if no other explanation were possible, I should incline to that view.
+The alternative is some narcotic poison, such as opium or morphia."
+
+"But that is quite impossible. There is no such drug in the house, and
+as he never leaves his room now, he could not get any from outside."
+
+"What about the servants?" I asked.
+
+"There are no servants excepting my housekeeper, and she is absolutely
+trustworthy."
+
+"He might have some store of the drug that you are not aware of. Is he
+left alone much?"
+
+"Very seldom indeed. I spend as much time with him as I can, and when I
+am not able to be in the room, Mrs Schallibaum, my housekeeper, sits
+with him."
+
+"Is he often as drowsy as he is now?"
+
+"Oh, very often; in fact, I should say that is his usual condition. He
+rouses up now and again, and then he is quite lucid and natural for,
+perhaps, an hour or so; but presently he becomes drowsy again and doses
+off, and remains asleep, or half asleep, for hours on end. Do you know
+of any disease that takes people in that way?"
+
+"No," I answered. "The symptoms are not exactly like those of any
+disease that is known to me. But they are much very like those of opium
+poisoning."
+
+"But, my dear sir," Mr. Weiss retorted impatiently, "since it is clearly
+impossible that it can be opium poisoning, it must be something else.
+Now, what else can it be? You were speaking of congestion of the brain."
+
+"Yes. But the objection to that is the very complete recovery that seems
+to take place in the intervals."
+
+"I would not say very complete," said Mr. Weiss. "The recovery is rather
+comparative. He is lucid and fairly natural in his manner, but he is
+still dull and lethargic. He does not, for instance, show any desire to
+go out, or even to leave his room."
+
+I pondered uncomfortably on these rather contradictory statements.
+Clearly Mr. Weiss did not mean to entertain the theory of opium
+poisoning; which was natural enough if he had no knowledge of the drug
+having been used. But still--
+
+"I suppose," said Mr. Weiss, "you have experience of sleeping sickness?"
+
+The suggestion startled me. I had not. Very few people had. At that time
+practically nothing was known about the disease. It was a mere
+pathological curiosity, almost unheard of excepting by a few
+practitioners in remote parts of Africa, and hardly referred to in the
+text-books. Its connection with the trypanosome-bearing insects was as
+yet unsuspected, and, to me, its symptoms were absolutely unknown.
+
+"No, I have not," I replied. "The disease is nothing more than a name to
+me. But why do you ask? Has Mr. Graves been abroad?"
+
+"Yes. He has been travelling for the last three or four years, and I
+know that he spent some time recently in West Africa, where this disease
+occurs. In fact, it was from him that I first heard about it."
+
+This was a new fact. It shook my confidence in my diagnosis very
+considerably, and inclined me to reconsider my suspicions. If Mr. Weiss
+was lying to me, he now had me at a decided disadvantage.
+
+"What do you think?" he asked. "Is it possible that this can be sleeping
+sickness?"
+
+"I should not like to say that it is impossible," I replied. "The
+disease is practically unknown to me. I have never practised out of
+England and have had no occasion to study it. Until I have looked the
+subject up, I should not be in a position to give an opinion. Of course,
+if I could see Mr. Graves in one of what we may call his 'lucid
+intervals' I should be able to form a better idea. Do you think that
+could be managed?"
+
+"It might. I see the importance of it and will certainly do my best; but
+he is a difficult man; a very difficult man. I sincerely hope it is not
+sleeping sickness."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because--as I understood from him--that disease is invariably fatal,
+sooner or later. There seem to be no cure. Do you think you will be able
+to decide when you see him again?"
+
+"I hope so," I replied. "I shall look up the authorities and see exactly
+what the symptoms are--that is, so far as they are known; but my
+impression is that there is very little information available."
+
+"And in the meantime?"
+
+"We will give him some medicine and attend to his general condition, and
+you had better let me see him again as soon as possible." I was about to
+say that the effect of the medicine itself might throw some light on the
+patient's condition, but, as I proposed to treat him for morphine
+poisoning, I thought it wiser to keep this item of information to
+myself. Accordingly, I confined myself to a few general directions as to
+the care of the patient, to which Mr. Weiss listened attentively. "And,"
+I concluded, "we must not lose sight of the opium question. You had
+better search the room carefully and keep a close watch on the patient,
+especially during his intervals of wakefulness."
+
+"Very well, doctor," Mr. Weiss replied, "I will do all that you tell me
+and I will send for you again as soon as possible, if you do not object
+to poor Graves's ridiculous conditions. And now, if you will allow me to
+pay your fee, I will go and order the carriage while you are writing the
+prescription."
+
+"There is no need for a prescription," I said. "I will make up some
+medicine and give it to the coachman."
+
+Mr. Weiss seemed inclined to demur to this arrangement, but I had my own
+reasons for insisting on it. Modern prescriptions are not difficult to
+read, and I did not wish Mr. Weiss to know what treatment the patient
+was having.
+
+As soon as I was left alone, I returned to the bedside and once more
+looked down at the impassive figure. And as I looked, my suspicions
+revived. It was very like morphine poisoning; and, if it was morphine,
+it was no common, medicinal dose that had been given. I opened my bag
+and took out my hypodermic case from which I extracted a little tube of
+atropine tabloids. Shaking out into my hand a couple of the tiny discs,
+I drew down the patient's under-lip and slipped the little tablets under
+his tongue. Then I quickly replaced the tube and dropped the case into
+my bag; and I had hardly done so when the door opened softly and the
+housekeeper entered the room.
+
+"How do you find Mr. Graves?" she asked in what I thought a very
+unnecessarily low tone, considering the patient's lethargic state.
+
+"He seems to be very ill," I answered.
+
+"So!" she rejoined, and added: "I am sorry to hear that. We have been
+anxious about him."
+
+She seated herself on the chair by the bedside, and, shading the candle
+from the patient's face--and her own, too--produced from a bag that hung
+from her waist a half-finished stocking and began to knit silently and
+with the skill characteristic of the German housewife. I looked at her
+attentively (though she was so much in the shadow that I could see her
+but indistinctly) and somehow her appearance prepossessed me as little
+as did that of the other members of the household. Yet she was not an
+ill-looking woman. She had an excellent figure, and the air of a person
+of good social position; her features were good enough and her
+colouring, although a little unusual, was not unpleasant. Like Mr.
+Weiss, she had very fair hair, greased, parted in the middle and brushed
+down as smoothly as the painted hair of a Dutch doll. She appeared to
+have no eyebrows at all--owing, no doubt, to the light colour of the
+hair--and the doll-like character was emphasized by her eyes, which were
+either brown or dark grey, I could not see which. A further peculiarity
+consisted in a "habit spasm," such as one often sees in nervous
+children; a periodical quick jerk of the head, as if a cap-string or
+dangling lock were being shaken off the cheek. Her age I judged to be
+about thirty-five.
+
+The carriage, which one might have expected to be waiting, seemed to
+take some time in getting ready. I sat, with growing impatience,
+listening to the sick man's soft breathing and the click of the
+housekeeper's knitting-needles. I wanted to get home, not only for my
+own sake; the patient's condition made it highly desirable that the
+remedies should be given as quickly as possible. But the minutes dragged
+on, and I was on the point of expostulating when a bell rang on the
+landing.
+
+"The carriage is ready," said Mrs. Schallibaum. "Let me light you down
+the stairs."
+
+She rose, and, taking the candle, preceded me to the head of the stairs,
+where she stood holding the light over the baluster-rail as I descended
+and crossed the passage to the open side door. The carriage was drawn up
+in the covered way as I could see by the faint glimmer of the distant
+candle; which also enabled me dimly to discern the coachman standing
+close by in the shadow. I looked round, rather expecting to see Mr.
+Weiss, but, as he made no appearance, I entered the carriage. The door
+was immediately banged to and locked, and I then heard the heavy bolts
+of the gates withdrawn and the loud creaking of hinges. The carriage
+moved out slowly and stopped; the gates slammed to behind me; I felt the
+lurch as the coachman climbed to his seat and we started forward.
+
+My reflections during the return journey were the reverse of agreeable.
+I could not rid myself of the conviction that I was being involved in
+some very suspicious proceedings. It was possible, of course, that this
+feeling was due to the strange secrecy that surrounded my connection
+with this case; that, had I made my visit under ordinary conditions, I
+might have found in the patient's symptoms nothing to excite suspicion
+or alarm. It might be so, but that consideration did not comfort me.
+
+Then, my diagnosis might be wrong. It might be that this was, in
+reality, a case of some brain affection accompanied by compression, such
+as slow haemorrhage, abscess, tumour or simple congestion. These cases
+were very difficult at times. But the appearances in this one did not
+consistently agree with the symptoms accompanying any of these
+conditions. As to sleeping sickness, it was, perhaps a more hopeful
+suggestion, but I could not decide for or against it until I had more
+knowledge; and against this view was the weighty fact that the symptoms
+did exactly agree with the theory of morphine poisoning.
+
+But even so, there was no conclusive evidence of any criminal act. The
+patient might be a confirmed opium-eater, and the symptoms heightened by
+deliberate deception. The cunning of these unfortunates is proverbial
+and is only equalled by their secretiveness and mendacity. It would be
+quite possible for this man to feign profound stupor so long as he was
+watched, and then, when left alone for a few minutes, to nip out of bed
+and help himself from some secret store of the drug. This would be quite
+in character with his objection to seeing a doctor and his desire for
+secrecy. But still, I did not believe it to be the true explanation. In
+spite of all the various alternative possibilities, my suspicions came
+back to Mr. Weiss and the strange, taciturn woman, and refused to budge.
+
+For all the circumstances of the case were suspicious. The elaborate
+preparations implied by the state of the carriage in which I was
+travelling; the make-shift appearance of the house; the absence of
+ordinary domestic servants, although a coachman was kept; the evident
+desire of Mr. Weiss and the woman to avoid thorough inspection of their
+persons; and, above all, the fact that the former had told me a
+deliberate lie. For he had lied, beyond all doubt. His statement as to
+the almost continuous stupor was absolutely irreconcilable with his
+other statement as to the patient's wilfulness and obstinacy and even
+more irreconcilable with the deep and comparatively fresh marks of the
+spectacles on the patient's nose. That man had certainly worn spectacles
+within twenty-four hours, which he would hardly have done if he had been
+in a state bordering on coma.
+
+My reflections were interrupted by the stopping of the carriage. The
+door was unlocked and thrown open, and I emerged from my dark and stuffy
+prison opposite my own house.
+
+"I will let you have the medicine in a minute or two," I said to the
+coachman; and, as I let myself in with my latch-key, my mind came back
+swiftly from the general circumstances of the case to the very critical
+condition of the patient. Already I was regretting that I had not taken
+more energetic measures to rouse him and restore his flagging vitality;
+for it would be a terrible thing if he should take a turn for the worse
+and die before the coachman returned with the remedies. Spurred on by
+this alarming thought, I made up the medicines quickly and carried the
+hastily wrapped bottles out to the man, whom I found standing by the
+horse's head.
+
+"Get back as quickly as you can," I said, "and tell Mr. Weiss to lose no
+time in giving the patient the draught in the small bottle. The
+directions are on the labels."
+
+The coachman took the packages from me without reply, climbed to his
+seat, touched the horse with his whip and drove off at a rapid pace
+towards Newington Butts.
+
+The little clock in the consulting-room showed that it was close on
+eleven; time for a tired G.P. to be thinking of bed. But I was not
+sleepy. Over my frugal supper I found myself taking up anew the thread
+of my meditations, and afterwards, as I smoked my last pipe by the
+expiring surgery fire, the strange and sinister features of the case
+continued to obtrude themselves on my notice. I looked up Stillbury's
+little reference library for information on the subject of sleeping
+sickness, but learned no more than that it was "a rare and obscure
+disease of which very little was known at present." I read up morphine
+poisoning and was only further confirmed in the belief that my diagnosis
+was correct; which would have been more satisfactory if the
+circumstances had been different.
+
+For the interest of the case was not merely academic. I was in a
+position of great difficulty and responsibility and had to decide on a
+course of action. What ought I to do? Should I maintain the professional
+secrecy to which I was tacitly committed, or ought I to convey a hint to
+the police?
+
+Suddenly, and with a singular feeling of relief, I bethought myself of
+my old friend and fellow-student, John Thorndyke, now an eminent
+authority on Medical Jurisprudence. I had been associated with him
+temporarily in one case as his assistant, and had then been deeply
+impressed by his versatile learning, his acuteness and his marvellous
+resourcefulness. Thorndyke was a barrister in extensive practice, and so
+would be able to tell me at once what was my duty from a legal point of
+view; and, as he was also a doctor of medicine, he would understand the
+exigencies of medical practice. If I could find time to call at the
+Temple and lay the case before him, all my doubts and difficulties would
+be resolved.
+
+Anxiously, I opened my visiting-list to see what kind of day's work was
+in store for me on the morrow. It was not a heavy day, even allowing for
+one or two extra calls in the morning, but yet I was doubtful whether it
+would allow of my going so far from my district, until my eye caught,
+near the foot of the page, the name of Burton. Now Mr. Burton lived in
+one of the old houses on the east side of Bouverie Street, less than
+five minutes' walk from Thorndyke's chambers in King's Bench Walk; and
+he was, moreover, a "chronic" who could safely be left for the last.
+When I had done with Mr. Burton I could look in on my friend with a very
+good chance of catching him on his return from the hospital. I could
+allow myself time for quite a long chat with him, and, by taking a
+hansom, still get back in good time for the evening's work.
+
+This was a great comfort. At the prospect of sharing my responsibilities
+with a friend on whose judgment I could so entirely rely, my
+embarrassments seemed to drop from me in a moment. Having entered the
+engagement in my visiting-list, I rose, in greatly improved spirits, and
+knocked out my pipe just as the little clock banged out impatiently the
+hour of midnight.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter II
+
+Thorndyke Devises a Scheme
+
+
+As I entered the Temple by the Tudor Street gate the aspect of the place
+smote my senses with an air of agreeable familiarity. Here had I spent
+many a delightful hour when working with Thorndyke at the remarkable
+Hornby case, which the newspapers had called "The Case of the Red Thumb
+Mark"; and here had I met the romance of my life, the story whereof is
+told elsewhere. The place was thus endeared to me by pleasant
+recollections of a happy past, and its associations suggested hopes of
+happiness yet to come and in the not too far distant future.
+
+My brisk tattoo on the little brass knocker brought to the door no less
+a person than Thorndyke himself; and the warmth of his greeting made me
+at once proud and ashamed. For I had not only been an absentee; I had
+been a very poor correspondent.
+
+"The prodigal has returned, Polton," he exclaimed, looking into the
+room. "Here is Dr. Jervis."
+
+I followed him into the room and found Polton--his confidential servant,
+laboratory assistant, artificer and general "familiar"--setting out the
+tea-tray on a small table. The little man shook hands cordially with me,
+and his face crinkled up into the sort of smile that one might expect to
+see on a benevolent walnut.
+
+"We've often talked about you, sir," said he. "The doctor was wondering
+only yesterday when you were coming back to us."
+
+As I was not "coming back to them" quite in the sense intended I felt a
+little guilty, but reserved my confidences for Thorndyke's ear and
+replied in polite generalities. Then Polton fetched the tea-pot from the
+laboratory, made up the fire and departed, and Thorndyke and I subsided,
+as of old, into our respective arm-chairs.
+
+"And whence do you spring from in this unexpected fashion?" my colleague
+asked. "You look as if you had been making professional visits."
+
+"I have. The base of operations is in Lower Kennington Lane."
+
+"Ah! Then you are 'back once more on the old trail'?"
+
+"Yes," I answered, with a laugh, "'the old trail, the long trail, the
+trail that is always new.'"
+
+"And leads nowhere," Thorndyke added grimly.
+
+I laughed again; not very heartily, for there was an uncomfortable
+element of truth in my friend's remark, to which my own experience bore
+only too complete testimony. The medical practitioner whose lack of
+means forces him to subsist by taking temporary charge of other men's
+practices is apt to find that the passing years bring him little but
+grey hairs and a wealth of disagreeable experience.
+
+"You will have to drop it, Jervis; you will, indeed," Thorndyke resumed
+after a pause. "This casual employment is preposterous for a man of your
+class and professional attainments. Besides, are you not engaged to be
+married and to a most charming girl?"
+
+"Yes, I know. I have been a fool. But I will really amend my ways. If
+necessary, I will pocket my pride and let Juliet advance the money to
+buy a practice."
+
+"That," said Thorndyke, "is a very proper resolution. Pride and reserve
+between people who are going to be husband and wife, is an absurdity.
+But why buy a practice? Have you forgotten my proposal?"
+
+"I should be an ungrateful brute if I had."
+
+"Very well. I repeat it now. Come to me as my junior, read for the Bar
+and work with me, and, with your abilities, you will have a chance of
+something like a career. I want you, Jervis," he added, earnestly. "I
+must have a junior, with my increasing practice, and you are the junior
+I want. We are old and tried friends; we have worked together; we like
+and trust one another, and you are the best man for the job that I know.
+Come; I am not going to take a refusal. This is an ultimatum."
+
+"And what is the alternative?" I asked with a smile at his eagerness.
+
+"There isn't any. You are going to say yes."
+
+"I believe I am," I answered, not without emotion; "and I am more
+rejoiced at your offer and more grateful than I can tell you. But we
+must leave the final arrangements for our next meeting--in a week or so,
+I hope--for I have to be back in an hour, and I want to consult you on
+a matter of some importance."
+
+"Very well," said Thorndyke; "we will leave the formal agreement for
+consideration at our next meeting. What is it that you want my opinion
+on?"
+
+"The fact is," I said, "I am in a rather awkward dilemma, and I want you
+to tell me what you think I ought to do."
+
+Thorndyke paused in the act of refilling my cup and glanced at me with
+unmistakable anxiety.
+
+"Nothing of an unpleasant nature, I hope," said he.
+
+"No, no; nothing of that kind," I answered with a smile as I interpreted
+the euphemism; for "something unpleasant," in the case of a young and
+reasonably presentable medical man is ordinarily the equivalent of
+trouble with the female of his species. "It is nothing that concerns me
+personally at all," I continued; "it is a question of professional
+responsibility. But I had better give you an account of the affair in a
+complete narrative, as I know that you like to have your data in a
+regular and consecutive order."
+
+Thereupon I proceeded to relate the history of my visit to the
+mysterious Mr. Graves, not omitting any single circumstance or detail
+that I could recollect.
+
+Thorndyke listened from the very beginning of my story with the closest
+attention. His face was the most impassive that I have ever seen;
+ordinarily as inscrutable as a bronze mask; but to me, who knew him
+intimately, there was a certain something--a change of colour, perhaps,
+or an additional sparkle of the eye--that told me when his curious
+passion for investigation was fully aroused. And now, as I told him of
+that weird journey and the strange, secret house to which it had brought
+me, I could see that it offered a problem after his very heart. During
+the whole of my narration he sat as motionless as a statue, evidently
+committing the whole story to memory, detail by detail; and even when I
+had finished he remained for an appreciable time without moving or
+speaking.
+
+At length he looked up at me. "This is a very extraordinary affair,
+Jervis," he said.
+
+"Very," I agreed; "and the question that is agitating me is, what is to
+be done?"
+
+"Yes," he said, meditatively, "that is the question; and an uncommonly
+difficult question it is. It really involves the settlement of the
+antecedent question: What is it that is happening at that house?"
+
+"What do you think is happening at that house?" I asked.
+
+"We must go slow, Jervis," he replied. "We must carefully separate the
+legal tissues from the medical, and avoid confusing what we know with
+what we suspect. Now, with reference to the medical aspects of the case.
+The first question that confronts us is that of sleeping sickness, or
+negro-lethargy as it is sometimes called; and here we are in a
+difficulty. We have not enough knowledge. Neither of us, I take it, has
+ever seen a case, and the extant descriptions are inadequate. From what
+I know of the disease, its symptoms agree with those in your case in
+respect of the alleged moroseness and in the gradually increasing
+periods of lethargy alternating with periods of apparent recovery. On
+the other hand, the disease is said to be confined to negroes; but that
+probably means only that negroes alone have hitherto been exposed to the
+conditions that produce it. A more important fact is that, as far as I
+know, extreme contraction of the pupils is not a symptom of sleeping
+sickness. To sum up, the probabilities are against sleeping sickness,
+but with our insufficient knowledge, we cannot definitely exclude it."
+
+"You think that it may really be sleeping sickness?"
+
+"No; personally I do not entertain that theory for a moment. But I am
+considering the evidence apart from our opinions on the subject. We have
+to accept it as a conceivable hypothesis that it may be sleeping
+sickness because we cannot positively prove that it is not. That is all.
+But when we come to the hypothesis of morphine poisoning, the case is
+different. The symptoms agree with those of morphine poisoning in every
+respect. There is no exception or disagreement whatever. The common
+sense of the matter is therefore that we adopt morphine poisoning as our
+working diagnosis; which is what you seem to have done."
+
+"Yes. For purposes of treatment."
+
+"Exactly. For medical purposes you adopted the more probable view and
+dismissed the less probable. That was the reasonable thing to do. But
+for legal purposes you must entertain both possibilities; for the
+hypothesis of poisoning involves serious legal issues, whereas the
+hypothesis of disease involves no legal issues at all."
+
+"That doesn't sound very helpful," I remarked.
+
+"It indicates the necessity for caution," he retorted.
+
+"Yes, I see that. But what is your own opinion of the case?"
+
+"Well," he said, "let us consider the facts in order. Here is a man who,
+we assume, is under the influence of a poisonous dose of morphine. The
+question is, did he take that dose himself or was it administered to him
+by some other person? If he took it himself, with what object did he
+take it? The history that was given to you seems completely to exclude
+the idea of suicide. But the patient's condition seems equally to
+exclude the idea of morphinomania. Your opium-eater does not reduce
+himself to a state of coma. He usually keeps well within the limits of
+the tolerance that has been established. The conclusion that emerges is,
+I think, that the drug was administered by some other person; and the
+most likely person seems to be Mr. Weiss."
+
+"Isn't morphine a very unusual poison?"
+
+"Very; and most inconvenient except in a single, fatal dose, by reason
+of the rapidity with which tolerance of the drug is established. But we
+must not forget that slow morphine poisoning might be eminently
+suitable in certain cases. The manner in which it enfeebles the will,
+confuses the judgment and debilitates the body might make it very useful
+to a poisoner whose aim was to get some instrument or document executed,
+such as a will, deed or assignment. And death could be produced
+afterwards by other means. You see the important bearing of this?"
+
+"You mean in respect of a death certificate?"
+
+"Yes. Suppose Mr. Weiss to have given a large dose of morphine. He then
+sends for you and throws out a suggestion of sleeping sickness. If you
+accept the suggestion he is pretty safe. He can repeat the process until
+he kills his victim and then get a certificate from you which will cover
+the murder. It was quite an ingenious scheme--which, by the way, is
+characteristic of intricate crimes; your subtle criminal often plans his
+crime like a genius, but he generally executes it like a fool--as this
+man seems to have done, if we are not doing him an injustice."
+
+"How has he acted like a fool?"
+
+"In several respects. In the first place, he should have chosen his
+doctor. A good, brisk, confident man who 'knows his own mind' is the
+sort of person who would have suited him; a man who would have jumped at
+a diagnosis and stuck to it; or else an ignorant weakling of alcoholic
+tendencies. It was shockingly bad luck to run against a cautious
+scientific practitioner like my learned friend. Then, of course, all
+this secrecy was sheer tomfoolery, exactly calculated to put a careful
+man on his guard; as it has actually done. If Mr. Weiss is really a
+criminal, he has mismanaged his affairs badly."
+
+"And you apparently think that he is a criminal?"
+
+"I suspect him deeply. But I should like to ask you one or two questions
+about him. You say he spoke with a German accent. What command of
+English had he? Was his vocabulary good? Did he use any German idioms?"
+
+"No. I should say that his English was perfect, and I noticed that his
+phrases were quite well chosen even for an Englishman."
+
+"Did he seem to you 'made up' in any way; disguised, I mean?"
+
+"I couldn't say. The light was so very feeble."
+
+"You couldn't see the colour of his eyes, for instance?"
+
+"No. I think they were grey, but I couldn't be sure."
+
+"And as to the coachman. He wore a wig, you said. Could you see the
+colour of his eyes? Or any peculiarity by which you could recognize
+him?"
+
+"He had a malformed thumb-nail on his right hand. That is all I can say
+about him."
+
+"He didn't strike you as resembling Weiss in any way; in voice or
+features?"
+
+"Not at all; and he spoke, as I told you, with a distinct Scotch
+accent."
+
+"The reason I ask is that if Weiss is attempting to poison this man, the
+coachman is almost certain to be a confederate and might be a relative.
+You had better examine him closely if you get another chance."
+
+"I will. And that brings me back to the question, What am I to do? Ought
+I to report the case to the police?"
+
+"I am inclined to think not. You have hardly enough facts. Of course, if
+Mr. Weiss has administered poison 'unlawfully and maliciously' he has
+committed a felony, and is liable under the Consolidation Acts of 1861
+to ten years' penal servitude. But I do not see how you could swear an
+information. You don't know that he administered the poison--if poison
+has really been administered--and you cannot give any reliable name or
+any address whatever. Then there is the question of sleeping sickness.
+You reject it for medical purposes, but you could not swear, in a court
+of law, that this is not a case of sleeping sickness."
+
+"No," I admitted, "I could not."
+
+"Then I think the police would decline to move in the matter, and you
+might find that you had raised a scandal in Dr. Stillbury's practice to
+no purpose."
+
+"So you think I had better do nothing in the matter?"
+
+"For the present. It is, of course, a medical man's duty to assist
+justice in any way that is possible. But a doctor is not a detective; he
+should not go out of his way to assume police functions. He should keep
+his eyes and ears open, and, though, in general, he should keep his own
+counsel, it is his duty to note very carefully anything that seems to
+him likely to bear on any important legal issues. It is not his
+business officiously to initiate criminal inquiries, but it is
+emphatically his business to be ready, if called upon, to assist justice
+with information that his special knowledge and opportunities have
+rendered accessible to him. You see the bearing of this?"
+
+"You mean that I should note down what I have seen and heard and say
+nothing about it until I am asked."
+
+"Yes; if nothing further happens. But if you should be sent for again, I
+think it is your duty to make further observations with a view, if
+necessary, to informing the police. It may be, for instance, of vital
+importance to identify the house, and it is your duty to secure the
+means of doing so."
+
+"But, my dear Thorndyke," I expostulated, "I have told you how I was
+conveyed to the house. Now, will you kindly explain to me how a man,
+boxed up in a pitch-dark carriage, is going to identify any place to
+which he may be carried?"
+
+"The problem doesn't appear to me to present any serious difficulties,"
+he replied.
+
+"Doesn't it?" said I. "To me it looks like a pretty solid impossibility.
+But what do you suggest? Should I break out of the house and run away up
+the street? Or should I bore a hole through the shutter of the carriage
+and peep out?"
+
+Thorndyke smiled indulgently. "The methods proposed by my learned friend
+display a certain crudity inappropriate to the character of a man of
+science; to say nothing of the disadvantage of letting the enemy into
+our counsels. No, no, Jervis; we can do something better than that.
+Just excuse me for a minute while I run up to the laboratory."
+
+He hurried away to Polton's sanctum on the upper floor, leaving me to
+speculate on the method by which he proposed that a man should be
+enabled, as Sam Weller would express it, "to see through a flight of
+stairs and a deal door"; or, what was equally opaque, the wooden
+shutters of a closed carriage.
+
+"Now," he said, when he returned a couple of minutes later with a small,
+paper-covered notebook in his hand, "I have set Polton to work on a
+little appliance that will, I think, solve our difficulty, and I will
+show you how I propose that you should make your observations. First of
+all, we have to rule the pages of this book into columns."
+
+He sat down at the table and began methodically to rule the pages each
+into three columns, two quite narrow and one broad. The process occupied
+some time, during which I sat and watched with impatient curiosity the
+unhurried, precise movements of Thorndyke's pencil, all agog to hear the
+promised explanation. He was just finishing the last page when there
+came a gentle tap at the door, and Polton entered with a satisfied smile
+on his dry, shrewd-looking face and a small board in his hand.
+
+"Will this do, sir?" he asked.
+
+As he spoke he handed the little board to Thorndyke, who looked at it
+and passed it to me.
+
+"The very thing, Polton," my friend replied. "Where did you find it?
+It's of no use for you to pretend that you've made it in about two
+minutes and a half."
+
+Polton smiled one of his queer crinkly smiles, and remarking that "it
+didn't take much making," departed much gratified by the compliment.
+
+"What a wonderful old fellow that is, Jervis," Thorndyke observed as his
+factotum retired. "He took in the idea instantly and seems to have
+produced the finished article by magic, as the conjurers bring forth
+rabbits and bowls of goldfish at a moment's notice. I suppose you see
+what your <i>modus operandi</i> is to be?"
+
+I had gathered a clue from the little appliance--a plate of white
+fret-wood about seven inches by five, to one corner of which a
+pocket-compass had been fixed with shellac--but was not quite clear as
+to the details of the method.
+
+"You can read a compass pretty quickly, I think?" Thorndyke said.
+
+"Of course I can. Used we not to sail a yacht together when we were
+students?"
+
+"To be sure we did; and we will again before we die. And now as to your
+method of locating this house. Here is a pocket reading-lamp which you
+can hook on the carriage lining. This notebook can be fixed to the board
+with an india-rubber band--thus. You observe that the thoughtful Polton
+has stuck a piece of thread on the glass of the compass to serve as a
+lubber's line. This is how you will proceed. As soon as you are locked
+in the carriage, light your lamp--better have a book with you in case
+the light is noticed--take out your watch and put the board on your
+knee, keeping its long side exactly in a line with the axis of the
+carriage. Then enter in one narrow column of your notebook the time, in
+the other the direction shown by the compass, and in the broad column
+any particulars, including the number of steps the horse makes in a
+minute. Like this."
+
+He took a loose sheet of paper and made one or two sample entries on it
+in pencil, thus--
+
+  "9.40.  S.E.    Start from home.
+   9.41   S.W.    Granite setts.
+   9.43.  S.W.    Wood pavement. Hoofs 104.
+   9.47.  W. by S Granite crossing. Macadam--
+
+and so on. Note every change of direction, with the time; and whenever
+you hear or feel anything from outside, note it, with the time and
+direction; and don't forget to note any variations in the horse's pace.
+You follow the process?"
+
+"Perfectly. But do you think the method is accurate enough to fix the
+position of a house? Remember, this is only a pocket-compass with no
+dial, and it will jump frightfully. And the mode of estimating distance
+is very rough."
+
+"That is all perfectly true," Thorndyke answered. "But you are
+overlooking certain important facts. The track-chart that you will
+produce can be checked by other data. The house, for instance, has a
+covered way by which you could identify it if you knew approximately
+where to look for it. Then you must remember that your carriage is not
+travelling over a featureless plain. It is passing through streets which
+have a determined position and direction and which are accurately
+represented on the ordnance map. I think, Jervis, that, in spite of the
+apparent roughness of the method, if you make your observations
+carefully, we shall have no trouble in narrowing down the inquiry to a
+quite small area. If we get the chance, that is to say."
+
+"Yes, if we do. I am doubtful whether Mr. Weiss will require my services
+again, but I sincerely hope he will. It would be rare sport to locate
+his secret burrow, all unsuspected. But now I must really be off."
+
+"Good-bye, then," said Thorndyke, slipping a well-sharpened pencil
+through the rubber band that fixed the notebook to the board. "Let me
+know how the adventure progresses--if it progresses at all--and
+remember, I hold your promise to come and see me again quite soon in any
+case."
+
+He handed me the board and the lamp, and, when I had slipped them into
+my pocket, we shook hands and I hurried away, a little uneasy at having
+left my charge so long.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter III
+
+"A Chiel's Amang Ye Takin' Notes"
+
+
+The attitude of the suspicious man tends to generate in others the kind
+of conduct that seems to justify his suspicions. In most of us there
+lurks a certain strain of mischief which trustfulness disarms but
+distrust encourages. The inexperienced kitten which approaches us
+confidingly with arched back and upright tail, soliciting caresses,
+generally receives the gentle treatment that it expects; whereas the
+worldly-wise tom-cat, who, in response to friendly advances, scampers
+away and grins at us suspiciously from the fancied security of an
+adjacent wall, impels us to accelerate his retreat with a well-directed
+clod.
+
+Now the proceedings of Mr. H. Weiss resembled those of the tom-cat
+aforesaid and invited an analogous reply. To a responsible professional
+man his extraordinary precautions were at once an affront and a
+challenge. Apart from graver considerations, I found myself dwelling
+with unholy pleasure on the prospect of locating the secret hiding-place
+from which he seemed to grin at me with such complacent defiance; and I
+lost no time and spared no trouble in preparing myself for the
+adventure. The very hansom which bore me from the Temple to Kennington
+Lane was utilized for a preliminary test of Thorndyke's little
+apparatus. During the whole of that brief journey I watched the compass
+closely, noted the feel and sound of the road-material and timed the
+trotting of the horse. And the result was quite encouraging. It is true
+that the compass-needle oscillated wildly to the vibration of the cab,
+but still its oscillations took place around a definite point which was
+the average direction, and it was evident to me that the data it
+furnished were very fairly reliable. I felt very little doubt, after the
+preliminary trial, as to my being able to produce a moderately
+intelligible track-chart if only I should get an opportunity to exercise
+my skill.
+
+But it looked as if I should not. Mr. Weiss's promise to send for me
+again soon was not fulfilled. Three days passed and still he made no
+sign. I began to fear that I had been too outspoken; that the shuttered
+carriage had gone forth to seek some more confiding and easy-going
+practitioner, and that our elaborate preparations had been made in vain.
+When the fourth day drew towards a close and still no summons had come,
+I was disposed reluctantly to write the case off as a lost opportunity.
+
+And at that moment, in the midst of my regrets, the bottle-boy thrust an
+uncomely head in at the door. His voice was coarse, his accent was
+hideous, and his grammatical construction beneath contempt; but I
+forgave him all when I gathered the import of his message.
+
+"Mr. Weiss's carriage is waiting, and he says will you come as quickly
+as you can because he's took very bad to-night."
+
+I sprang from my chair and hastily collected the necessaries for the
+journey. The little board and the lamp I put in my overcoat pocket; I
+overhauled the emergency bag and added to its usual contents a bottle of
+permanganate of potassium which I thought I might require. Then I tucked
+the evening paper under my arm and went out.
+
+The coachman, who was standing at the horse's head as I emerged, touched
+his hat and came forward to open the door.
+
+"I have fortified myself for the long drive, you see," I remarked,
+exhibiting the newspaper as I stepped into the carriage.
+
+"But you can't read in the dark," said he.
+
+"No, but I have provided myself with a lamp," I replied, producing it
+and striking a match.
+
+He watched me as I lit the lamp and hooked it on the back cushion, and
+observed:
+
+"I suppose you found it rather a dull ride last time. It's a longish
+way. They might have fitted the carriage with an inside lamp. But we
+shall have to make it a quicker passage to-night. Governor says Mr.
+Graves is uncommon bad."
+
+With this he slammed the door and locked it. I drew the board from my
+pocket, laid it on my knee, glanced at my watch, and, as the coachman
+climbed to his seat, I made the first entry in the little book.
+
+"8.58. W. by S. Start from home. Horse 13 hands."
+
+The first move of the carriage on starting was to turn round as if
+heading for Newington Butts, and the second entry accordingly read:
+
+"8.58.30. E. by N."
+
+But this direction was not maintained long. Very soon we turned south
+and then west and then south again. I sat with my eyes riveted on the
+compass, following with some difficulty its rapid changes. The needle
+swung to and fro incessantly but always within a definite arc, the
+centre of which was the true direction. But this direction varied from
+minute to minute in the most astonishing manner. West, south, east,
+north, the carriage turned, "boxing" the compass until I lost all count
+of direction. It was an amazing performance. Considering that the man
+was driving against time on a mission of life and death urgency, his
+carelessness as to direction was astounding. The tortuousness of the
+route must have made the journey twice as long as it need have been
+with a little more careful selection. At least so it appeared to me,
+though, naturally, I was not in a position to offer an authoritative
+criticism.
+
+As far as I could judge, we followed the same route as before. Once I
+heard a tug's whistle and knew that we were near the river, and we
+passed the railway station, apparently at the same time as on the
+previous occasion, for I heard a passenger train start and assumed that
+it was the same train. We crossed quite a number of thoroughfares with
+tram-lines--I had no idea there were so many--and it was a revelation to
+me to find how numerous the railway arches were in this part of London
+and how continually the nature of the road-metal varied.
+
+It was by no means a dull journey this time. The incessant changes of
+direction and variations in the character of the road kept me most
+uncommonly busy; for I had hardly time to scribble down one entry before
+the compass-needle would swing round sharply, showing that we had once
+more turned a corner; and I was quite taken by surprise when the
+carriage slowed down and turned into the covered way. Very hastily I
+scribbled down the final entry ("9.24. S.E. In covered way"), and having
+closed the book and slipped it and the board into my pocket, had just
+opened out the newspaper when the carriage door was unlocked and opened,
+whereupon I unhooked and blew out the lamp and pocketed that too,
+reflecting that it might be useful later.
+
+As on the last occasion, Mrs. Schallibaum stood in the open doorway with
+a lighted candle. But she was a good deal less self-possessed this time.
+In fact she looked rather wild and terrified. Even by the candle-light
+I could see that she was very pale and she seemed unable to keep still.
+As she gave me the few necessary words of explanation, she fidgeted
+incessantly and her hands and feet were in constant movement.
+
+"You had better come up with me at once," she said. "Mr. Graves is much
+worse to-night. We will wait not for Mr. Weiss."
+
+Without waiting for a reply she quickly ascended the stairs and I
+followed. The room was in much the same condition as before. But the
+patient was not. As soon as I entered the room, a soft, rhythmical
+gurgle from the bed gave me a very clear warning of danger. I stepped
+forward quickly and looked down at the prostrate figure, and the warning
+gathered emphasis. The sick man's ghastly face was yet more ghastly; his
+eyes were more sunken, his skin more livid; "his nose was as sharp as a
+pen," and if he did not "babble of green fields" it was because he
+seemed to be beyond even that. If it had been a case of disease, I
+should have said at once that he was dying. He had all the appearance of
+a man <i>in articulo mortis</i>. Even as it was, feeling convinced that the
+case was one of morphine poisoning, I was far from confident that I
+should be able to draw him back from the extreme edge of vitality on
+which he trembled so insecurely.
+
+"He is very ill? He is dying?"
+
+It was Mrs. Schallibaum's voice; very low, but eager and intense. I
+turned, with my finger on the patient's wrist, and looked into the face
+of the most thoroughly scared woman I have ever seen. She made no
+attempt now to avoid the light, but looked me squarely in the face, and
+I noticed, half-unconsciously, that her eyes were brown and had a
+curious strained expression.
+
+"Yes," I answered, "he is very ill. He is in great danger."
+
+She still stared at me fixedly for some seconds. And then a very odd
+thing occurred. Suddenly she squinted--squinted horribly; not with the
+familiar convergent squint which burlesque artists imitate, but with
+external or divergent squint of extreme near sight or unequal vision.
+The effect was quite startling. One moment both her eyes were looking
+straight into mine; the next, one of them rolled round until it looked
+out of the uttermost corner, leaving the other gazing steadily forward.
+
+She was evidently conscious of the change, for she turned her head away
+quickly and reddened somewhat. But it was no time for thoughts of
+personal appearance.
+
+"You can save him, doctor! You will not let him die! He must not be
+allowed to die!"
+
+She spoke with as much passion as if he had been the dearest friend that
+she had in the world, which I suspected was far from being the case. But
+her manifest terror had its uses.
+
+"If anything is to be done to save him," I said, "it must be done
+quickly. I will give him some medicine at once, and meanwhile you must
+make some strong coffee."
+
+"Coffee!" she exclaimed. "But we have none in the house. Will not tea
+do, if I make it very strong?"
+
+"No, it will not. I must have coffee; and I must have it quickly."
+
+"Then I suppose I must go and get some. But it is late. The shops will
+be shut. And I don't like leaving Mr. Graves."
+
+"Can't you send the coachman?" I asked.
+
+She shook her head impatiently. "No, that is no use. I must wait until
+Mr. Weiss comes."
+
+"That won't do," I said, sharply. "He will slip through our fingers
+while you are waiting. You must go and get that coffee at once and bring
+it to me as soon as it is ready. And I want a tumbler and some water."
+
+She brought me a water-bottle and glass from the wash-stand and then,
+with a groan of despair, hurried from the room.
+
+I lost no time in applying the remedies that I had to hand. Shaking out
+into the tumbler a few crystals of potassium permanganate, I filled it
+up with water and approached the patient. His stupor was profound. I
+shook him as roughly as was safe in his depressed condition, but
+elicited no resistance or responsive movement. As it seemed very
+doubtful whether he was capable of swallowing, I dared not take the risk
+of pouring the liquid into his mouth for fear of suffocating him. A
+stomach-tube would have solved the difficulty, but, of course, I had not
+one with me. I had, however, a mouth-speculum which also acted as a gag,
+and, having propped the patient's mouth open with this, I hastily
+slipped off one of the rubber tubes from my stethoscope and inserted
+into one end of it a vulcanite ear-speculum to serve as a funnel. Then,
+introducing the other end of the tube into the gullet as far as its
+length would permit, I cautiously poured a small quantity of the
+permanganate solution into the extemporized funnel. To my great relief a
+movement of the throat showed that the swallowing reflex still existed,
+and, thus encouraged, I poured down the tube as much of the fluid as I
+thought it wise to administer at one time.
+
+The dose of permanganate that I had given was enough to neutralize any
+reasonable quantity of the poison that might yet remain in the stomach.
+I had next to deal with that portion of the drug which had already been
+absorbed and was exercising its poisonous effects. Taking my hypodermic
+case from my bag, I prepared in the syringe a full dose of atropine
+sulphate, which I injected forthwith into the unconscious man's arm. And
+that was all that I could do, so far as remedies were concerned, until
+the coffee arrived.
+
+I cleaned and put away the syringe, washed the tube, and then, returning
+to the bedside, endeavoured to rouse the patient from his profound
+lethargy. But great care was necessary. A little injudicious roughness
+of handling, and that thready, flickering pulse might stop for ever; and
+yet it was almost certain that if he were not speedily aroused, his
+stupor would gradually deepen until it shaded off imperceptibly into
+death. I went to work very cautiously, moving his limbs about, flicking
+his face and chest with the corner of a wet towel, tickling the soles
+of his feet, and otherwise applying stimuli that were strong without
+being violent.
+
+So occupied was I with my efforts to resuscitate my mysterious patient
+that I did not notice the opening of the door, and it was with something
+of a start that, happening to glance round, I perceived at the farther
+end of the room the shadowy figure of a man relieved by two spots of
+light reflected from his spectacles. How long he had been watching me I
+cannot say, but, when he saw that I had observed him, he came
+forward--though not very far--and I saw that he was Mr. Weiss.
+
+"I am afraid," he said, "that you do not find my friend so well
+to-night?"
+
+"So well!" I exclaimed. "I don't find him well at all. I am exceedingly
+anxious about him."
+
+"You don't--er--anticipate anything of a--er--anything serious, I hope?"
+
+"There is no need to anticipate," said I. "It is already about as
+serious as it can be. I think he might die at any moment."
+
+"Good God!" he gasped. "You horrify me!"
+
+He was not exaggerating. In his agitation, he stepped forward into the
+lighter part of the room, and I could see that his face was pale to
+ghastliness--except his nose and the adjacent red patches on his cheeks,
+which stood out in grotesquely hideous contrast. Presently, however, he
+recovered a little and said:
+
+"I really think--at least I hope--that you take an unnecessarily serious
+view of his condition. He has been like this before, you know."
+
+I felt pretty certain that he had not, but there was no use in
+discussing the question. I therefore replied, as I continued my efforts
+to rouse the patient:
+
+"That may or may not be. But in any case there comes a last time; and it
+may have come now."
+
+"I hope not," he said; "although I understand that these cases always
+end fatally sooner or later."
+
+"What cases?" I asked.
+
+"I was referring to sleeping sickness; but perhaps you have formed some
+other opinion as to the nature of this dreadful complaint."
+
+I hesitated for a moment, and he continued: "As to your suggestion that
+his symptoms might be due to drugs, I think we may consider that as
+disposed of. He has been watched, practically without cessation since
+you came last, and, moreover, I have myself turned out the room and
+examined the bed and have not found a trace of any drug. Have you gone
+into the question of sleeping sickness?"
+
+I looked at the man narrowly before answering, and distrusted him more
+than ever. But this was no time for reticence. My concern was with the
+patient and his present needs. After all, I was, as Thorndyke had said,
+a doctor, not a detective, and the circumstances called for
+straightforward speech and action on my part.
+
+"I have considered that question," I said, "and have come to a perfectly
+definite conclusion. His symptoms are not those of sleeping sickness.
+They are in my opinion undoubtedly due to morphine poisoning."
+
+"But my dear sir!" he exclaimed, "the thing is impossible! Haven't I
+just told you that he has been watched continuously?"
+
+"I can only judge by the appearances that I find," I answered; and,
+seeing that he was about to offer fresh objections, I continued: "Don't
+let us waste precious time in discussion, or Mr. Graves may be dead
+before we have reached a conclusion. If you will hurry them up about the
+coffee that I asked for some time ago, I will take the other necessary
+measures, and perhaps we may manage to pull him round."
+
+The rather brutal decision of my manner evidently daunted him. It must
+have been plain to him that I was not prepared to accept any explanation
+of the unconscious man's condition other than that of morphine
+poisoning; whence the inference was pretty plain that the alternatives
+were recovery or an inquest. Replying stiffly that I "must do as I
+thought best," he hurried from the room, leaving me to continue my
+efforts without further interruption.
+
+For some time these efforts seemed to make no impression. The man lay as
+still and impassive as a corpse excepting for the slow, shallow and
+rather irregular breathing with its ominous accompanying rattle. But
+presently, by imperceptible degrees, signs of returning life began to
+make their appearance. A sharp slap on the cheek with the wet towel
+produced a sensible flicker of the eyelids; a similar slap on the chest
+was followed by a slight gasp. A pencil, drawn over the sole of the
+foot, occasioned a visible shrinking movement, and, on looking once
+more at the eyes, I detected a slight change that told me that the
+atropine was beginning to take effect.
+
+This was very encouraging, and, so far, quite satisfactory, though it
+would have been premature to rejoice. I kept the patient carefully
+covered and maintained the process of gentle irritation, moving his
+limbs and shoulders, brushing his hair and generally bombarding his
+deadened senses with small but repeated stimuli. And under this
+treatment, the improvement continued so far that on my bawling a
+question into his ear he actually opened his eyes for an instant, though
+in another moment, the lids had sunk back into their former position.
+
+Soon after this, Mr. Weiss re-entered the room, followed by Mrs.
+Schallibaum, who carried a small tray, on which were a jug of coffee, a
+jug of milk, a cup and saucer and a sugar basin.
+
+"How do you find him now?" Mr. Weiss asked anxiously.
+
+"I am glad to say that there is a distinct improvement," I replied. "But
+we must persevere. He is by no means out of the wood yet."
+
+I examined the coffee, which looked black and strong and had a very
+reassuring smell, and, pouring out half a cupful, approached the bed.
+
+"Now, Mr. Graves," I shouted, "we want you to drink some of this."
+
+The flaccid eyelids lifted for an instant but there was no other
+response. I gently opened the unresisting mouth and ladled in a couple
+of spoonfuls of coffee, which were immediately swallowed; whereupon I
+repeated the proceeding and continued at short intervals until the cup
+was empty. The effect of the new remedy soon became apparent. He began
+to mumble and mutter obscurely in response to the questions that I
+bellowed at him, and once or twice he opened his eyes and looked
+dreamily into my face. Then I sat him up and made him drink some coffee
+from the cup, and, all the time, kept up a running fire of questions,
+which made up in volume of sound for what they lacked of relevancy.
+
+Of these proceedings Mr. Weiss and his housekeeper were highly
+interested spectators, and the former, contrary to his usual practice,
+came quite close up to the bed, to get a better view.
+
+"It is really a most remarkable thing," he said, "but it almost looks as
+if you were right, after all. He is certainly much better. But tell me,
+would this treatment produce a similar improvement if the symptoms were
+due to disease?"
+
+"No," I answered, "it certainly would not."
+
+"Then that seems to settle it. But it is a most mysterious affair. Can
+you suggest any way in which he can have concealed a store of the drug?"
+
+I stood up and looked him straight in the face; it was the first chance
+I had had of inspecting him by any but the feeblest light, and I looked
+at him very attentively. Now, it is a curious fact--though one that most
+persons must have observed--that there sometimes occurs a considerable
+interval between the reception of a visual impression and its complete
+transfer to the consciousness. A thing may be seen, as it were,
+unconsciously, and the impression consigned, apparently, to instant
+oblivion; and yet the picture may be subsequently revived by memory with
+such completeness that its details can be studied as though the object
+were still actually visible.
+
+Something of this kind must have happened to me now. Preoccupied as I
+was, by the condition of the patient, the professional habit of rapid
+and close observation caused me to direct a searching glance at the man
+before me. It was only a brief glance--for Mr. Weiss, perhaps
+embarrassed by my keen regard of him, almost immediately withdrew into
+the shadow--and my attention seemed principally to be occupied by the
+odd contrast between the pallor of his face and the redness of his nose
+and by the peculiar stiff, bristly character of his eyebrows. But there
+was another fact, and a very curious one, that was observed by me
+subconsciously and instantly forgotten, to be revived later when I
+reflected on the events of the night. It was this:
+
+As Mr. Weiss stood, with his head slightly turned, I was able to look
+through one glass of his spectacles at the wall beyond. On the wall was
+a framed print; and the edge of the frame, seen through the
+spectacle-glass, appeared quite unaltered and free from distortion,
+magnification or reduction, as if seen through plain window-glass; and
+yet the reflections of the candle-flame in the spectacles showed the
+flame upside down, proving conclusively that the glasses were concave on
+one surface at least. The strange phenomenon was visible only for a
+moment or two, and as it passed out of my sight it passed also out of my
+mind.
+
+"No," I said, replying to the last question; "I can think of no way in
+which he could have effectually hidden a store of morphine. Judging by
+the symptoms, he has taken a large dose, and, if he has been in the
+habit of consuming large quantities, his stock would be pretty bulky. I
+can offer no suggestion whatever."
+
+"I suppose you consider him quite out of danger now?"
+
+"Oh, not at all. I think we can pull him round if we persevere, but he
+must not be allowed to sink back into a state of coma. We must keep him
+on the move until the effects of the drug have really passed off. If you
+will put him into his dressing-gown we will walk him up and down the
+room for a while."
+
+"But is that safe?" Mr. Weiss asked anxiously.
+
+"Quite safe," I answered. "I will watch his pulse carefully. The danger
+is in the possibility, or rather certainty, of a relapse if he is not
+kept moving."
+
+With obvious unwillingness and disapproval, Mr. Weiss produced a
+dressing-gown and together we invested the patient in it. Then we
+dragged him, very limp, but not entirely unresisting, out of bed and
+stood him on his feet. He opened his eyes and blinked owlishly first at
+one and then at the other of us, and mumbled a few unintelligible words
+of protest; regardless of which, we thrust his feet into slippers and
+endeavoured to make him walk. At first he seemed unable to stand, and we
+had to support him by his arms as we urged him forward; but presently
+his trailing legs began to make definite walking movements, and, after
+one or two turns up and down the room, he was not only able partly to
+support his weight, but showed evidence of reviving consciousness in
+more energetic protests.
+
+At this point Mr. Weiss astonished me by transferring the arm that he
+held to the housekeeper.
+
+"If you will excuse me, doctor," said he, "I will go now and attend to
+some rather important business that I have had to leave unfinished. Mrs.
+Schallibaum will be able to give you all the assistance that you
+require, and will order the carriage when you think it safe to leave the
+patient. In case I should not see you again I will say 'good night.' I
+hope you won't think me very unceremonious."
+
+He shook hands with me and went out of the room, leaving me, as I have
+said, profoundly astonished that he should consider any business of more
+moment than the condition of his friend, whose life, even now, was but
+hanging by a thread. However, it was really no concern of mine. I could
+do without him, and the resuscitation of this unfortunate half-dead man
+gave me occupation enough to engross my whole attention.
+
+The melancholy progress up and down the room re-commenced, and with it
+the mumbled protests from the patient. As we walked, and especially as
+we turned, I caught frequent glimpses of the housekeeper's face. But it
+was nearly always in profile. She appeared to avoid looking me in the
+face, though she did so once or twice; and on each of these occasions
+her eyes were directed at me in a normal manner without any sign of a
+squint. Nevertheless, I had the impression that when her face was turned
+away from me she squinted. The "swivel eye"--the left--was towards me as
+she held the patient's right arm, and it was almost continuously turned
+in my direction, whereas I felt convinced that she was really looking
+straight before her, though, of course, her right eye was invisible to
+me. It struck me, even at the time, as an odd affair, but I was too much
+concerned about my charge to give it much consideration.
+
+Meanwhile the patient continued to revive apace. And the more he
+revived, the more energetically did he protest against this wearisome
+perambulation. But he was evidently a polite gentleman, for, muddled as
+his faculties were, he managed to clothe his objections in courteous and
+even gracious forms of speech singularly out of agreement with the
+character that Mr. Weiss had given him.
+
+"I thangyou," he mumbled thickly. "Ver' good take s'much trouble. Think
+I will lie down now." He looked wistfully at the bed, but I wheeled him
+about and marched him once more down the room. He submitted
+unresistingly, but as we again approached the bed he reopened the
+matter.
+
+"S'quite s'fficient, thang you. Gebback to bed now. Much 'bliged frall
+your kindness"--here I turned him round--"no, really; m'feeling rather
+tired. Sh'like to lie down now, f'you'd be s'good."
+
+"You must walk about a little longer, Mr. Graves," I said. "It would be
+very bad for you to go to sleep again."
+
+He looked at me with a curious, dull surprise, and reflected awhile as
+if in some perplexity. Then he looked at me again and said:
+
+"Thing, sir, you are mistake--mistaken me--mist--"
+
+Here Mrs. Schallibaum interrupted sharply:
+
+"The doctor thinks it's good for you to walk about. You've been sleeping
+too much. He doesn't want you to sleep any more just now."
+
+"Don't wanter sleep; wanter lie down," said the patient.
+
+"But you mustn't lie down for a little while. You must walk about for a
+few minutes more. And you'd better not talk. Just walk up and down."
+
+"There's no harm in his talking," said I; "in fact it's good for him. It
+will help to keep him awake."
+
+"I should think it would tire him," said Mrs. Schallibaum; "and it
+worries me to hear him asking to lie down when we can't let him."
+
+She spoke sharply and in an unnecessarily high tone so that the patient
+could not fail to hear. Apparently he took in the very broad hint
+contained in the concluding sentence, for he trudged wearily and
+unsteadily up and down the room for some time without speaking, though
+he continued to look at me from time to time as if something in my
+appearance puzzled him exceedingly. At length his intolerable longing
+for repose overcame his politeness and he returned to the attack.
+
+"Surely v' walked enough now. Feeling very tired. Am really. Would you
+be s'kind 's t'let me lie down few minutes?"
+
+"Don't you think he might lie down for a little while?" Mrs. Schallibaum
+asked.
+
+I felt his pulse, and decided that he was really becoming fatigued, and
+that it would be wiser not to overdo the exercise while he was so weak.
+Accordingly, I consented to his returning to bed, and turned him round
+in that direction; whereupon he tottered gleefully towards his
+resting-place like a tired horse heading for its stable.
+
+As soon as he was tucked in, I gave him a full cup of coffee, which he
+drank with some avidity as if thirsty. Then I sat down by the bedside,
+and, with a view to keeping him awake, began once more to ply him with
+questions.
+
+"Does your head ache, Mr. Graves?" I asked.
+
+"The doctor says 'does your head ache?'" Mrs. Schallibaum squalled, so
+loudly that the patient started perceptibly.
+
+"I heard him, m'dear girl," he answered with a faint smile. "Not deaf
+you know. Yes. Head aches a good deal. But I thing this gennleman
+mistakes--"
+
+"He says you are to keep awake. You mustn't go to sleep again, and you
+are not to close your eyes."
+
+"All ri' Pol'n. Keep'm open," and he proceeded forthwith to shut them
+with an air of infinite peacefulness. I grasped his hand and shook it
+gently, on which he opened his eyes and looked at me sleepily. The
+housekeeper stroked his head, keeping her face half-turned from me--as
+she had done almost constantly, to conceal the squinting eye, as I
+assumed--and said:
+
+"Need we keep you any longer, doctor? It is getting very late and you
+have a long way to go."
+
+I looked doubtfully at the patient. I was loath to leave him,
+distrusting these people as I did. But I had my work to do on the
+morrow, with, perhaps, a night call or two in the interval, and the
+endurance even of a general practitioner has its limits.
+
+"I think I heard the carriage some time ago," Mrs. Schallibaum added.
+
+I rose hesitatingly and looked at my watch. It had turned half-past
+eleven.
+
+"You understand," I said in a low voice, "that the danger is not over?
+If he is left now he will fall asleep, and in all human probability will
+never wake. You clearly understand that?"
+
+"Yes, quite clearly. I promise you he shall not be allowed to fall
+asleep again."
+
+As she spoke, she looked me full in the face for a few moments, and I
+noted that her eyes had a perfectly normal appearance, without any trace
+whatever of a squint.
+
+"Very well," I said. "On that understanding I will go now; and I shall
+hope to find our friend quite recovered at my next visit."
+
+I turned to the patient, who was already dozing, and shook his hand
+heartily.
+
+"Good-bye, Mr. Graves!" I said. "I am sorry to have to disturb your
+repose so much; but you must keep awake, you know. Won't do to go to
+sleep."
+
+"Ver' well," he replied drowsily. "Sorry t' give you all this trouble.
+L' keep awake. But I think you're mistak'n--"
+
+"He says it's very important that you shouldn't go to sleep, and that I
+am to see that you don't. Do you understand?"
+
+"Yes, I un'stan'. But why does this gennlem'n--?"
+
+"Now it's of no use for you to ask a lot of questions," Mrs. Schallibaum
+said playfully; "we'll talk to you to-morrow. Good night, doctor. I'll
+light you down the stairs, but I won't come down with you, or the
+patient will be falling asleep again."
+
+Taking this definite dismissal, I retired, followed by a dreamily
+surprised glance from the sick man. The housekeeper held the candle over
+the balusters until I reached the bottom of the stairs, when I perceived
+through the open door along the passage a glimmer of light from the
+carriage lamps. The coachman was standing just outside, faintly
+illuminated by the very dim lamplight, and as I stepped into the
+carriage he remarked in his Scotch dialect that I "seemed to have been
+makin' a nicht of it." He did not wait for any reply--none being in fact
+needed--but shut the door and locked it.
+
+I lit my little pocket-lamp and hung it on the back cushion. I even drew
+the board and notebook from my pocket. But it seemed rather unnecessary
+to take a fresh set of notes, and, to tell the truth, I rather shirked
+the labour, tired as I was after my late exertions; besides, I wanted
+to think over the events of the evening, while they were fresh in my
+memory. Accordingly I put away the notebook, filled and lighted my pipe,
+and settled myself to review the incidents attending my second visit to
+this rather uncanny house.
+
+Considered in leisurely retrospect, that visit offered quite a number of
+problems that called for elucidation. There was the patient's condition,
+for instance. Any doubt as to the cause of his symptoms was set at rest
+by the effect of the antidotes. Mr. Graves was certainly under the
+influence of morphine, and the only doubtful question was how he had
+become so. That he had taken the poison himself was incredible. No
+morphinomaniac would take such a knock-down dose. It was practically
+certain that the poison had been administered by someone else, and, on
+Mr. Weiss's own showing, there was no one but himself and the
+housekeeper who could have administered it. And to this conclusion all
+the other very queer circumstances pointed.
+
+What were these circumstances? They were, as I have said, numerous,
+though many of them seemed trivial. To begin with, Mr. Weiss's habit of
+appearing some time after my arrival and disappearing some time before
+my departure was decidedly odd. But still more odd was his sudden
+departure this evening on what looked like a mere pretext. That
+departure coincided in time with the sick man's recovery of the power of
+speech. Could it be that Mr. Weiss was afraid that the half-conscious
+man might say something compromising to him in my presence? It looked
+rather like it. And yet he had gone away and left me with the patient
+and the housekeeper.
+
+But when I came to think about it I remembered that Mrs. Schallibaum had
+shown some anxiety to prevent the patient from talking. She had
+interrupted him more than once, and had on two occasions broken in when
+he seemed to be about to ask me some question. I was "mistaken" about
+something. What was that something that he wanted to tell me?
+
+It had struck me as singular that there should be no coffee in the
+house, but a sufficiency of tea. Germans are not usually tea-drinkers
+and they do take coffee. But perhaps there was nothing in this. Rather
+more remarkable was the invisibility of the coachman. Why could he not
+be sent to fetch the coffee, and why did not he, rather than the
+housekeeper, come to take the place of Mr. Weiss when the latter had to
+go away.
+
+There were other points, too. I recalled the word that sounded like
+"Pol'n," which Mr. Graves had used in speaking to the housekeeper.
+Apparently it was a Christian name of some kind; but why did Mr. Graves
+call the woman by her Christian name when Mr. Weiss addressed her
+formally as Mrs. Schallibaum? And, as to the woman herself: what was the
+meaning of that curious disappearing squint? Physically it presented no
+mystery. The woman had an ordinary divergent squint, and, like many
+people, who suffer from this displacement, could, by a strong muscular
+effort, bring the eyes temporarily into their normal parallel position.
+I had detected the displacement when she had tried to maintain the
+effort too long, and the muscular control had given way. But why had she
+done it? Was it only feminine vanity--mere sensitiveness respecting a
+slight personal disfigurement? It might be so; or there might be some
+further motive. It was impossible to say.
+
+Turning this question over, I suddenly remembered the peculiarity of Mr.
+Weiss's spectacles. And here I met with a real poser. I had certainly
+seen through those spectacles as clearly as if they had been plain
+window-glass; and they had certainly given an inverted reflection of the
+candle-flame like that thrown from the surface of a concave lens. Now
+they obviously could not be both flat and concave; but yet they had the
+properties peculiar to both flatness and concavity. And there was a
+further difficulty. If I could see objects unaltered through them, so
+could Mr. Weiss. But the function of spectacles is to alter the
+appearances of objects, by magnification, reduction or compensating
+distortion. If they leave the appearances unchanged they are useless. I
+could make nothing of it. After puzzling over it for quite a long time,
+I had to give it up; which I did the less unwillingly inasmuch as the
+construction of Mr. Weiss's spectacles had no apparent bearing on the
+case.
+
+On arriving home, I looked anxiously at the message-book, and was
+relieved to find that there were no further visits to be made. Having
+made up a mixture for Mr. Graves and handed it to the coachman, I raked
+the ashes of the surgery fire together and sat down to smoke a final
+pipe while I reflected once more on the singular and suspicious case in
+which I had become involved. But fatigue soon put an end to my
+meditations; and having come to the conclusion that the circumstances
+demanded a further consultation with Thorndyke, I turned down the gas to
+a microscopic blue spark and betook myself to bed.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter IV
+
+The Official View
+
+
+I rose on the following morning still possessed by the determination to
+make some oportunity during the day to call on Thorndyke and take his
+advice on the now urgent question as to what I was to do. I use the word
+"urgent" advisedly; for the incidents of the preceding evening had left
+me with the firm conviction that poison was being administered for some
+purpose to my mysterious patient, and that no time must be lost if his
+life was to be saved. Last night he had escaped only by the narrowest
+margin--assuming him to be still alive--and it was only my unexpectedly
+firm attitude that had compelled Mr. Weiss to agree to restorative
+measures.
+
+That I should be sent for again I had not the slightest expectation. If
+what I so strongly suspected was true, Weiss would call in some other
+doctor, in the hope of better luck, and it was imperative that he
+should be stopped before it was too late. This was my view, but I meant
+to have Thorndyke's opinion, and act under his direction, but
+
+
+  "The best laid plans of mice and men
+   Gang aft agley."
+
+When I came downstairs and took a preliminary glance at the rough
+memorandum-book, kept by the bottle-boy, or, in his absence, by the
+housemaid, I stood aghast. The morning's entries looked already like a
+sample page of the Post Office directory. The new calls alone were more
+than equal to an ordinary day's work, and the routine visits remained to
+be added. Gloomily wondering whether the Black Death had made a sudden
+reappearance in England, I hurried to the dining-room and made a hasty
+breakfast, interrupted at intervals by the apparition of the bottle-boy
+to announce new messages.
+
+The first two or three visits solved the mystery. An epidemic of
+influenza had descended on the neighbourhood, and I was getting not only
+our own normal work but a certain amount of overflow from other
+practices. Further, it appeared that a strike in the building trade had
+been followed immediately by a widespread failure of health among the
+bricklayers who were members of a certain benefit club; which accounted
+for the remarkable suddenness of the outbreak.
+
+Of course, my contemplated visit to Thorndyke was out of the question. I
+should have to act on my own responsibility. But in the hurry and rush
+and anxiety of the work--for some of the cases were severe and even
+critical--I had no opportunity to consider any course of action, nor
+time to carry it out. Even with the aid of a hansom which I chartered,
+as Stillbury kept no carriage, I had not finished my last visit until
+near on midnight, and was then so spent with fatigue that I fell asleep
+over my postponed supper.
+
+As the next day opened with a further increase of work, I sent a
+telegram to Dr. Stillbury at Hastings, whither he had gone, like a wise
+man, to recruit after a slight illness. I asked for authority to engage
+an assistant, but the reply informed me that Stillbury himself was on
+his way to town; and to my relief, when I dropped in at the surgery for
+a cup of tea, I found him rubbing his hands over the open day-book.
+
+"It's an ill wind that blows nobody good," he remarked cheerfully as we
+shook hands. "This will pay the expenses of my holiday, including you.
+By the way, you are not anxious to be off, I suppose?"
+
+As a matter of fact, I was; for I had decided to accept Thorndyke's
+offer, and was now eager to take up my duties with him. But it would
+have been shabby to leave Stillbury to battle alone with this rush of
+work or to seek the services of a strange assistant.
+
+"I should like to get off as soon as you can spare me," I replied, "but
+I'm not going to leave you in the lurch."
+
+"That's a good fellow," said Stillbury. "I knew you wouldn't. Let us
+have some tea and divide up the work. Anything of interest going?"
+
+There were one or two unusual cases on the list, and, as we marked off
+our respective patients, I gave him the histories in brief synopsis. And
+then I opened the subject of my mysterious experiences at the house of
+Mr. Weiss.
+
+"There's another affair that I want to tell you about; rather an
+unpleasant business."
+
+"Oh, dear!" exclaimed Stillbury. He put down his cup and regarded me
+with quite painful anxiety.
+
+"It looks to me like an undoubted case of criminal poisoning," I
+continued.
+
+Stillbury's face cleared instantly. "Oh, I'm glad it's nothing more than
+that," he said with an air of relief. "I was afraid, it was some
+confounded woman. There's always that danger, you know, when a locum is
+young and happens--if I may say so, Jervis--to be a good-looking fellow.
+Let us hear about this case."
+
+I gave him a condensed narrative of my connection with the mysterious
+patient, omitting any reference to Thorndyke, and passing lightly over
+my efforts to fix the position of the house, and wound up with the
+remark that the facts ought certainly to be communicated to the police.
+
+"Yes," he admitted reluctantly, "I suppose you're right. Deuced
+unpleasant though. Police cases don't do a practice any good. They waste
+a lot of time, too; keep you hanging about to give evidence. Still, you
+are quite right. We can't stand by and see the poor devil poisoned
+without making some effort. But I don't believe the police will do
+anything in the matter."
+
+"Don't you really?"
+
+"No, I don't. They like to have things pretty well cut and dried before
+they act. A prosecution is an expensive affair, so they don't care to
+prosecute unless they are fairly sure of a conviction. If they fail they
+get hauled over the coals."
+
+"But don't you think they would get a conviction in this case?"
+
+"Not on your evidence, Jervis. They might pick up something fresh, but,
+if they didn't they would fail. You haven't got enough hard-baked facts
+to upset a capable defence. Still, that isn't our affair. You want to
+put the responsibility on the police and I entirely agree with you."
+
+"There ought not to be any delay," said I.
+
+"There needn't be. I shall look in on Mrs. Wackford and you have to see
+the Rummel children; we shall pass the station on our way. Why shouldn't
+we drop in and see the inspector or superintendent?"
+
+The suggestion met my views exactly. As soon as we had finished tea, we
+set forth, and in about ten minutes found ourselves in the bare and
+forbidding office attached to the station.
+
+The presiding officer descended from a high stool, and, carefully laying
+down his pen, shook hands cordially.
+
+"And what can I do for you gentlemen?" he asked, with an affable smile.
+
+Stillbury proceeded to open our business.
+
+"My friend here, Dr. Jervis, who has very kindly been looking after my
+work for a week or two, has had a most remarkable experience, and he
+wants to tell you about it."
+
+"Something in my line of business?" the officer inquired.
+
+"That," said I, "is for you to judge. I think it is, but you may think
+otherwise"; and hereupon, without further preamble, I plunged into the
+history of the case, giving him a condensed statement similar to that
+which I had already made to Stillbury.
+
+He listened with close attention, jotting down from time to time a brief
+note on a sheet of paper; and, when I had finished, he wrote out in a
+black-covered notebook a short précis of my statement.
+
+"I have written down here," he said, "the substance of what you have
+told me. I will read the deposition over to you, and, if it is correct,
+I will ask you to sign it."
+
+He did so, and, when I had signed the document, I asked him what was
+likely to be done in the matter.
+
+"I am afraid," he replied, "that we can't take any active measures. You
+have put us on our guard and we shall keep our eyes open. But I think
+that is all we can do, unless we hear something further."
+
+"But," I exclaimed, "don't you think that it is a very suspicious
+affair?"
+
+"I do," he replied. "A very fishy business indeed, and you were quite
+right to come and tell us about it."
+
+"It seems a pity not to take some measures," I said. "While you are
+waiting to hear something further, they may give the poor wretch a fresh
+dose and kill him."
+
+"In which case we should hear something further, unless some fool of a
+doctor were to give a death certificate."
+
+"But that is very unsatisfactory. The man ought not to be allowed to
+die."
+
+"I quite agree with you, sir. But we've no evidence that he is going to
+die. His friends sent for you, and you treated him skilfully and left
+him in a fair way to recovery. That's all that we really know about it.
+Yes, I know," the officer continued as I made signs of disagreement,
+"you think that a crime is possibly going to be committed and that we
+ought to prevent it. But you overrate our powers. We can only act on
+evidence that a crime has actually been committed or is actually being
+attempted. Now we have no such evidence. Look at your statement, and
+tell me what you can swear to."
+
+"I think I could swear that Mr. Graves had taken a poisonous dose of
+morphine."
+
+"And who gave him that poisonous dose?"
+
+"I very strongly suspect--"
+
+"That's no good, sir," interrupted the officer. "Suspicion isn't
+evidence. We should want you to swear an information and give us enough
+facts to make out a <i>primâ facie</i> case against some definite person. And
+you couldn't do it. Your information amounts to this: that a certain
+person has taken a poisonous dose of morphine and apparently recovered.
+That's all. You can't swear that the names given to you are real names,
+and you can't give us any address or even any locality."
+
+"I took some compass bearings in the carriage," I said. "You could
+locate the house, I think, without much difficulty."
+
+The officer smiled faintly and fixed an abstracted gaze on the clock.
+
+"<i>You</i> could, sir," he replied. "I have no doubt whatever that <i>you</i>
+could. <i>I</i> couldn't. But, in any case, we haven't enough to go upon. If
+you learn anything fresh, I hope you will let me know; and I am very
+much obliged to you for taking so much trouble in the matter. Good
+evening sir. Good evening, Dr. Stillbury."
+
+He shook hands with us both genially, and, accepting perforce this very
+polite but unmistakable dismissal, we took our departure.
+
+Outside the station, Stillbury heaved a comfortable sigh. He was
+evidently relieved to find that no upheavals were to take place in his
+domain.
+
+"I thought that would be their attitude," he said, "and they are quite
+right, you know. The function of law is to prevent crime, it is true;
+but prophylaxis in the sense in which we understand it is not possible
+in legal practice."
+
+I assented without enthusiasm. It was disappointing to find that no
+precautionary measures were to be taken. However, I had done all that I
+could in the matter. No further responsibility lay upon me, and, as it
+was practically certain that I had seen and heard the last of Mr. Graves
+and his mysterious household, I dismissed the case from my mind. At the
+next corner Stillbury and I parted to go our respective ways; and my
+attention was soon transferred from the romance of crime to the
+realities of epidemic influenza.
+
+The plethora of work in Dr. Stillbury's practice continued longer than I
+had bargained for. Day after day went by and still found me tramping the
+dingy streets of Kennington or scrambling up and down narrow stairways;
+turning in at night dead tired, or turning out half awake to the hideous
+jangle of the night bell.
+
+It was very provoking. For months I had resisted Thorndyke's persuasion
+to give up general practice and join him. Not from lack of inclination,
+but from a deep suspicion that he was thinking of my wants rather than
+his own; that his was a charitable rather than a business proposal. Now
+that I knew this not to be the case, I was impatient to join him; and,
+as I trudged through the dreary thoroughfares of this superannuated
+suburb, with its once rustic villas and its faded gardens, my thoughts
+would turn enviously to the quiet dignity of the Temple and my friend's
+chambers in King's Bench Walk.
+
+The closed carriage appeared no more; nor did any whisper either of good
+or evil reach me in connection with the mysterious house from which it
+had come. Mr. Graves had apparently gone out of my life for ever.
+
+But if he had gone out of my life, he had not gone out of my memory.
+Often, as I walked my rounds, would the picture of that dimly-lit room
+rise unbidden. Often would I find myself looking once more into that
+ghastly face, so worn, so wasted and haggard, and yet so far from
+repellent. All the incidents of that last night would reconstitute
+themselves with a vividness that showed the intensity of the impression
+that they had made at the time. I would have gladly forgotten the whole
+affair, for every incident of it was fraught with discomfort. But it
+clung to my memory; it haunted me; and ever as it returned it bore with
+it the disquieting questions: Was Mr. Graves still alive? And, if he was
+not, was there really nothing which could have been done to save him?
+
+Nearly a month passed before the practice began to show signs of
+returning to its normal condition. Then the daily lists became more and
+more contracted and the day's work proportionately shorter. And thus the
+term of my servitude came to an end. One evening, as we were writing up
+the day-book, Stillbury remarked:
+
+"I almost think, Jervis, I could manage by myself now. I know you are
+only staying on for my sake."
+
+"I am staying on to finish my engagement, but I shan't be sorry to clear
+out if you can do without me."
+
+"I think I can. When would you like to be off?"
+
+"As soon as possible. Say to-morrow morning, after I have made a few
+visits and transferred the patients to you."
+
+"Very well," said Stillbury. "Then I will give you your cheque and
+settle up everything to-night, so that you shall be free to go off when
+you like to-morrow morning."
+
+Thus ended my connection with Kennington Lane. On the following day at
+about noon, I found myself strolling across Waterloo Bridge with the
+sensations of a newly liberated convict and a cheque for twenty-five
+guineas in my pocket. My luggage was to follow when I sent for it. Now,
+unhampered even by a hand-bag, I joyfully descended the steps at the
+north end of the bridge and headed for King's Bench Walk by way of the
+Embankment and Middle Temple Lane.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter V
+
+Jeffrey Blackmore's Will
+
+
+My arrival at Thorndyke's chambers was not unexpected, having been
+heralded by a premonitory post-card. The "oak" was open and an
+application of the little brass knocker of the inner door immediately
+produced my colleague himself and a very hearty welcome.
+
+"At last," said Thorndyke, "you have come forth from the house of
+bondage. I began to think that you had taken up your abode in Kennington
+for good."
+
+"I was beginning, myself, to wonder when I should escape. But here I am;
+and I may say at once that I am ready to shake the dust of general
+practice off my feet for ever--that is, if you are still willing to have
+me as your assistant."
+
+"Willing!" exclaimed Thorndyke, "Barkis himself was not more willing
+than I. You will be invaluable to me. Let us settle the terms of our
+comradeship forthwith, and to-morrow we will take measures to enter you
+as a student of the Inner Temple. Shall we have our talk in the open air
+and the spring sunshine?"
+
+I agreed readily to this proposal, for it was a bright, sunny day and
+warm for the time of year--the beginning of April. We descended to the
+Walk and thence slowly made our way to the quiet court behind the
+church, where poor old Oliver Goldsmith lies, as he would surely have
+wished to lie, in the midst of all that had been dear to him in his
+chequered life. I need not record the matter of our conversation. To
+Thorndyke's proposals I had no objections to offer but my own
+unworthiness and his excessive liberality. A few minutes saw our
+covenants fully agreed upon, and when Thorndyke had noted the points on
+a slip of paper, signed and dated it and handed it to me, the business
+was at an end.
+
+"There," my colleague said with a smile as he put away his pocket-book,
+"if people would only settle their affairs in that way, a good part of
+the occupation of lawyers would be gone. Brevity is the soul of wit; and
+the fear of simplicity is the beginning of litigation."
+
+"And now," I said, "I propose that we go and feed. I will invite you to
+lunch to celebrate our contract."
+
+"My learned junior is premature," he replied. "I had already arranged a
+little festivity--or rather had modified one that was already arranged.
+You remember Mr. Marchmont, the solicitor?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"He called this morning to ask me to lunch with him and a new client at
+the 'Cheshire Cheese.' I accepted and notified him that I should bring
+you."
+
+"Why the 'Cheshire Cheese'?" I asked.
+
+"Why not? Marchmont's reasons for the selection were, first, that his
+client has never seen an old-fashioned London tavern, and second, that
+this is Wednesday and he, Marchmont, has a gluttonous affection for a
+really fine beef-steak pudding. You don't object, I hope?"
+
+"Oh, not at all. In fact, now that you mention it, my own sensations
+incline me to sympathize with Marchmont. I breakfasted rather early."
+
+"Then come," said Thorndyke. "The assignation is for one o'clock, and,
+if we walk slowly, we shall just hit it off."
+
+We sauntered up Inner Temple Lane, and, crossing Fleet Street, headed
+sedately for the tavern. As we entered the quaint old-world dining-room,
+Thorndyke looked round and a gentleman, who was seated with a companion
+at a table in one of the little boxes or compartments, rose and saluted
+us.
+
+"Let me introduce you to my friend Mr. Stephen Blackmore," he said as we
+approached. Then, turning to his companion, he introduced us by our
+respective names.
+
+"I engaged this box," he continued, "so that we might be private if we
+wished to have a little preliminary chat; not that beef-steak pudding is
+a great help to conversation. But when people have a certain business
+in view, their talk is sure to drift towards it, sooner or later."
+
+Thorndyke and I sat down opposite the lawyer and his client, and we
+mutually inspected one another. Marchmont I already knew; an elderly,
+professional-looking man, a typical solicitor of the old school;
+fresh-faced, precise, rather irascible, and conveying a not unpleasant
+impression of taking a reasonable interest in his diet. The other man
+was quite young, not more than five-and-twenty, and was a fine
+athletic-looking fellow with a healthy, out-of-door complexion and an
+intelligent and highly prepossessing face. I took a liking to him at the
+first glance, and so, I saw, did Thorndyke.
+
+"You two gentlemen," said Blackmore, addressing us, "seem to be quite
+old acquaintances. I have heard so much about you from my friend, Reuben
+Hornby."
+
+"Ah!" exclaimed Marchmont, "that was a queer case--'The Case of the Red
+Thumb Mark,' as the papers called it. It was an eye-opener to
+old-fashioned lawyers like myself. We've had scientific witnesses
+before--and bullied 'em properly, by Jove! when they wouldn't give the
+evidence that we wanted. But the scientific lawyer is something new. His
+appearance in court made us all sit up, I can assure you."
+
+"I hope we shall make you sit up again," said Thorndyke.
+
+"You won't this time," said Marchmont. "The issues in this case of my
+friend Blackmore's are purely legal; or rather, there are no issues at
+all. There is nothing in dispute. I tried to prevent Blackmore from
+consulting you, but he wouldn't listen to reason. Here! Waiter! How much
+longer are we to be waiters? We shall die of old age before we get our
+victuals!"
+
+The waiter smiled apologetically. "Yessir!" said he. "Coming now, sir."
+And at this very moment there was borne into the room a Gargantuan
+pudding in a great bucket of a basin, which being placed on a
+three-legged stool was forthwith attacked ferociously by the
+white-clothed, white-capped carver. We watched the process--as did every
+one present--with an interest not entirely gluttonous, for it added a
+pleasant touch to the picturesque old room, with its sanded floor, its
+homely, pew-like boxes, its high-backed settles and the friendly
+portrait of the "great lexicographer" that beamed down on us from the
+wall.
+
+"This is a very different affair from your great, glittering modern
+restaurant," Mr. Marchmont remarked.
+
+"It is indeed," said Blackmore, "and if this is the way in which our
+ancestors lived, it would seem that they had a better idea of comfort
+than we have."
+
+There was a short pause, during which Mr. Marchmont glared hungrily at
+the pudding; then Thorndyke said:
+
+"So you refused to listen to reason, Mr. Blackmore?"
+
+"Yes. You see, Mr. Marchmont and his partner had gone into the matter
+and decided that there was nothing to be done. Then I happened to
+mention the affair to Reuben Hornby, and he urged me to ask your advice
+on the case."
+
+"Like his impudence," growled Marchmont, "to meddle with my client."
+
+"On which," continued Blackmore, "I spoke to Mr. Marchmont and he agreed
+that it was worth while to take your opinion on the case, though he
+warned me to cherish no hopes, as the affair was not really within your
+specialty."
+
+"So you understand," said Marchmont, "that we expect nothing. This is
+quite a forlorn hope. We are taking your opinion as a mere formality, to
+be able to say that we have left nothing untried."
+
+"That is an encouraging start," Thorndyke remarked. "It leaves me
+unembarrassed by the possibility of failure. But meanwhile you are
+arousing in me a devouring curiosity as to the nature of the case. Is it
+highly confidential? Because if not, I would mention that Jervis has now
+joined me as my permanent colleague."
+
+"It isn't confidential at all," said Marchmont. "The public are in full
+possession of the facts, and we should be only too happy to put them in
+still fuller possession, through the medium of the Probate Court, if we
+could find a reasonable pretext. But we can't."
+
+Here the waiter charged our table with the fussy rapidity of the
+overdue.
+
+"Sorry to keep you waiting, sir. Rather early, sir. Wouldn't like it
+underdone, sir."
+
+Marchmont inspected his plate critically and remarked:
+
+"I sometimes suspect these oysters of being mussels; and I'll swear the
+larks are sparrows."
+
+"Let us hope so," said Thorndyke. "The lark is better employed 'at
+Heaven's gate singing' than garnishing a beef-steak pudding. But you
+were telling us about your case."
+
+"So I was. Well it's just a matter of--ale or claret? Oh, claret, I
+know. You despise the good old British John Barleycorn."
+
+"He that drinks beer thinks beer," retorted Thorndyke. "But you were
+saying that it is just a matter of--?"
+
+"A matter of a perverse testator and an ill-drawn will. A peculiarly
+irritating case, too, because the defective will replaces a perfectly
+sound one, and the intentions of the testator were--er--were--excellent
+ale, this. A little heady, perhaps, but sound. Better than your sour
+French wine, Thorndyke--were--er--were quite obvious. What he evidently
+desired was--mustard? Better have some mustard. No? Well, well! Even a
+Frenchman would take mustard. You can have no appreciation of flavour,
+Thorndyke, if you take your victuals in that crude, unseasoned state.
+And, talking of flavour, do you suppose that there is really any
+difference between that of a lark and that of a sparrow?"
+
+Thorndyke smiled grimly. "I should suppose," said he, "that they were
+indistinguishable; but the question could easily be put to the test of
+experiment."
+
+"That is true," agreed Marchmont, "and it would really be worth trying,
+for, as you say, sparrows are more easily obtainable than larks. But,
+about this will. I was saying--er--now, what was I saying?"
+
+"I understood you to say," replied Thorndyke, "that the intentions of
+the testator were in some way connected with mustard. Isn't that so,
+Jervis?"
+
+"That was what I gathered," said I.
+
+Marchmont gazed at us for a moment with a surprised expression and then,
+laughing good-humouredly, fortified himself with a draught of ale.
+
+"The moral of which is," Thorndyke added, "that testamentary
+dispositions should not be mixed up with beef-steak pudding."
+
+"I believe you're right, Thorndyke," said the unabashed solicitor.
+"Business is business and eating is eating. We had better talk over our
+case in my office or your chambers after lunch."
+
+"Yes," said Thorndyke, "come over to the Temple with me and I will give
+you a cup of coffee to clear your brain. Are there any documents?"
+
+"I have all the papers here in my bag," replied Marchmont; and the
+conversation--such conversation as is possible "when beards wag all"
+over the festive board--drifted into other channels.
+
+As soon as the meal was finished and the reckoning paid, we trooped out
+of Wine Office Court, and, insinuating ourselves through the line of
+empty hansoms that, in those days, crawled in a continuous procession
+on either side of Fleet Street, betook ourselves by way of Mitre Court
+to King's Bench Walk. There, when the coffee had been requisitioned and
+our chairs drawn up around the fire, Mr. Marchmont unloaded from his bag
+a portentous bundle of papers, and we addressed ourselves to the
+business in hand.
+
+"Now," said Marchmont, "let me repeat what I said before. Legally
+speaking, we have no case--not the ghost of one. But my client wished to
+take your opinion, and I agreed on the bare chance that you might detect
+some point that we had overlooked. I don't think you will, for we have
+gone into the case very thoroughly, but still, there is the
+infinitesimal chance and we may as well take it. Would you like to read
+the two wills, or shall I first explain the circumstances?"
+
+"I think," replied Thorndyke, "a narrative of the events in the order of
+their occurrence would be most helpful. I should like to know as much as
+possible about the testator before I examine the documents."
+
+"Very well," said Marchmont. "Then I will begin with a recital of the
+circumstances, which, briefly stated, are these: My client, Stephen
+Blackmore, is the son of Mr. Edward Blackmore, deceased. Edward
+Blackmore had two brothers who survived him, John, the elder, and
+Jeffrey, the younger. Jeffrey is the testator in this case.
+
+"Some two years ago, Jeffrey Blackmore executed a will by which he made
+his nephew Stephen his executor and sole legatee; and a few months later
+he added a codicil giving two hundred and fifty pounds to his brother
+John."
+
+"What was the value of the estate?" Thorndyke asked.
+
+"About three thousand five hundred pounds, all invested in Consols. The
+testator had a pension from the Foreign Office, on which he lived,
+leaving his capital untouched. Soon after having made his will, he left
+the rooms in Jermyn Street, where he had lived for some years, stored
+his furniture and went to Florence. From thence he moved on to Rome and
+then to Venice and other places in Italy, and so continued to travel
+about until the end of last September, when it appears that he returned
+to England, for at the beginning of October he took a set of chambers in
+New Inn, which he furnished with some of the things from his old rooms.
+As far as we can make out, he never communicated with any of his
+friends, excepting his brother, and the fact of his being in residence
+at New Inn or of his being in England at all became known to them only
+when he died."
+
+"Was this quite in accordance with his ordinary habits?" Thorndyke
+asked.
+
+"I should say not quite," Blackmore answered. "My uncle was a studious,
+solitary man, but he was not formerly a recluse. He was not much of a
+correspondent but he kept up some sort of communication with his
+friends. He used, for instance, to write to me sometimes, and, when I
+came down from Cambridge for the vacations, he had me to stay with him
+at his rooms."
+
+"Is there anything known that accounts for the change in his habits?"
+
+"Yes, there is," replied Marchmont. "We shall come to that presently. To
+proceed with the narrative: On the fifteenth of last March he was found
+dead in his chambers, and a more recent will was then discovered, dated
+the twelfth of November of last year. Now no change had taken place in
+the circumstances of the testator to account for the new will, nor was
+there any appreciable alteration in the disposition of the property. As
+far as we can make out, the new will was drawn with the idea of stating
+the intentions of the testator with greater exactness and for the sake
+of doing away with the codicil. The entire property, with the exception
+of two hundred and fifty pounds, was, as before, bequeathed to Stephen,
+but the separate items were specified, and the testator's brother, John
+Blackmore, was named as the executor and residuary legatee."
+
+"I see," said Thorndyke. "So that your client's interest in the will
+would appear to be practically unaffected by the change."
+
+"Yes. There it is," exclaimed the lawyer, slapping the table to add
+emphasis to his words. "That is the pity of it! If people who have no
+knowledge of law would only refrain from tinkering at their wills, what
+a world of trouble would be saved!"
+
+"Oh, come!" said Thorndyke. "It is not for a lawyer to say that."
+
+"No, I suppose not," Marchmont agreed. "Only, you see, we like the
+muddle to be made by the other side. But, in this case, the muddle is on
+our side. The change, as you say, seems to leave our friend Stephen's
+interests unaffected. That is, of course, what poor Jeffrey Blackmore
+thought. But he was mistaken. The effect of the change is absolutely
+disastrous."
+
+"Indeed!"
+
+"Yes. As I have said, no alteration in the testator's circumstances had
+taken place at the time the new will was executed. <i>But</i> only two days
+before his death, his sister, Mrs. Edmund Wilson, died; and on her will
+being proved it appeared that she had bequeathed to him her entire
+personalty, estimated at about thirty thousand pounds."
+
+"Heigho!" exclaimed Thorndyke. "What an unfortunate affair!"
+
+"You are right," said Mr. Marchmont; "it was a disaster. By the original
+will this great sum would have accrued to our friend Mr. Stephen,
+whereas now, of course, it goes to the residuary legatee, Mr. John
+Blackmore. And what makes it even more exasperating is the fact that
+this is obviously not in accordance with the wishes and intentions of
+Mr. Jeffrey, who clearly desired his nephew to inherit his property."
+
+"Yes," said Thorndyke; "I think you are justified in assuming that. But
+do you know whether Mr. Jeffrey was aware of his sister's intentions?"
+
+"We think not. Her will was executed as recently as the third of
+September last, and it seems that there had been no communication
+between her and Mr. Jeffrey since that date. Besides, if you consider
+Mr. Jeffrey's actions, you will see that they suggest no knowledge or
+expectation of this very important bequest. A man does not make
+elaborate dispositions in regard to three thousand pounds and then leave
+a sum of thirty thousand to be disposed of casually as the residue of
+the estate."
+
+"No," Thorndyke agreed. "And, as you have said, the manifest intention
+of the testator was to leave the bulk of his property to Mr. Stephen. So
+we may take it as virtually certain that Mr. Jeffrey had no knowledge of
+the fact that he was a beneficiary under his sister's will."
+
+"Yes," said Mr. Marchmont, "I think we may take that as nearly certain."
+
+"With reference to the second will," said Thorndyke, "I suppose there is
+no need to ask whether the document itself has been examined; I mean as
+to its being a genuine document and perfectly regular?"
+
+Mr. Marchmont shook his head sadly.
+
+"No," he said, "I am sorry to say that there can be no possible doubt as
+to the authenticity and regularity of the document. The circumstances
+under which it was executed establish its genuineness beyond any
+question."
+
+"What were those circumstances?" Thorndyke asked.
+
+"They were these: On the morning of the twelfth of November last, Mr.
+Jeffrey came to the porter's lodge with a document in his hand. 'This,'
+he said, 'is my will. I want you to witness my signature. Would you mind
+doing so, and can you find another respectable person to act as the
+second witness?' Now it happened that a nephew of the porter's, a
+painter by trade, was at work in the Inn. The porter went out and
+fetched him into the lodge and the two men agreed to witness the
+signature. 'You had better read the will,' said Mr. Jeffrey. 'It is not
+actually necessary, but it is an additional safeguard and there is
+nothing of a private nature in the document.' The two men accordingly
+read the document, and, when Mr. Jeffrey had signed it in their
+presence, they affixed their signatures; and I may add that the painter
+left the recognizable impressions of three greasy fingers."
+
+"And these witnesses have been examined?"
+
+"Yes. They have both sworn to the document and to their own signatures,
+and the painter recognized his finger-marks."
+
+"That," said Thorndyke, "seems to dispose pretty effectually of any
+question as to the genuineness of the will; and if, as I gather, Mr.
+Jeffrey came to the lodge alone, the question of undue influence is
+disposed of too."
+
+"Yes," said Mr. Marchmont. "I think we must pass the will as absolutely
+flawless."
+
+"It strikes me as rather odd," said Thorndyke, "that Jeffrey should have
+known so little about his sister's intentions. Can you explain it, Mr.
+Blackmore?"
+
+"I don't think that it is very remarkable," Stephen replied. "I knew
+very little of my aunt's affairs and I don't think my uncle Jeffrey knew
+much more, for he was under the impression that she had only a life
+interest in her husband's property. And he may have been right. It is
+not clear what money this was that she left to my uncle. She was a very
+taciturn woman and made few confidences to anyone."
+
+"So that it is possible," said Thorndyke, "that she, herself, may have
+acquired this money recently by some bequest?"
+
+"It is quite possible," Stephen answered.
+
+"She died, I understand," said Thorndyke, glancing at the notes that he
+had jotted down, "two days before Mr. Jeffrey. What date would that be?"
+
+"Jeffrey died on the fourteenth of March," said Marchmont.
+
+"So that Mrs. Wilson died on the twelfth of March?"
+
+"That is so," Marchmont replied; and Thorndyke then asked:
+
+"Did she die suddenly?"
+
+"No," replied Stephen; "she died of cancer. I understand that it was
+cancer of the stomach."
+
+"Do you happen to know," Thorndyke asked, "what sort of relations
+existed between Jeffrey and his brother John?"
+
+"At one time," said Stephen, "I know they were not very cordial; but the
+breach may have been made up later, though I don't know that it actually
+was."
+
+"I ask the question," said Thorndyke, "because, as I dare say you have
+noticed, there is, in the first will, some hint of improved relations.
+As it was originally drawn that will makes Mr. Stephen the sole legatee.
+Then, a little later, a codicil is added in favour of John, showing that
+Jeffrey had felt the necessity of making some recognition of his
+brother. This seems to point to some change in the relations, and the
+question arises: if such a change did actually occur, was it the
+beginning of a new and further improving state of feeling between the
+two brothers? Have you any facts bearing on that question?"
+
+Marchmont pursed up his lips with the air of a man considering an
+unwelcome suggestion, and, after a few moments of reflection, answered:
+
+"I think we must say 'yes' to that. There is the undeniable fact that,
+of all Jeffrey's friends, John Blackmore was the only one who knew that
+he was living in New Inn."
+
+"Oh, John knew that, did he?"
+
+"Yes, he certainly did; for it came out in the evidence that he had
+called on Jeffrey at his chambers more than once. There is no denying
+that. But, mark you!" Mr. Marchmont added emphatically, "that does not
+cover the inconsistency of the will. There is nothing in the second will
+to suggest that Jeffrey intended materially to increase the bequest to
+his brother."
+
+"I quite agree with you, Marchmont. I think that is a perfectly sound
+position. You have, I suppose, fully considered the question as to
+whether it would be possible to set aside the second will on the ground
+that it fails to carry out the evident wishes and intentions of the
+testator?"
+
+"Yes. My partner, Winwood, and I went into that question very carefully,
+and we also took counsel's opinion--Sir Horace Barnaby--and he was of
+the same opinion as ourselves; that the court would certainly uphold the
+will."
+
+"I think that would be my own view," said Thorndyke, "especially after
+what you have told me. Do I understand that John Blackmore was the only
+person who knew that Jeffrey was in residence at New Inn?"
+
+"The only one of his private friends. His bankers knew and so did the
+officials from whom he drew his pension."
+
+"Of course he would have to notify his bankers of his change of
+address."
+
+"Yes, of course. And à propos of the bank, I may mention that the
+manager tells me that, of late, they had noticed a slight change in the
+character of Jeffrey's signature--I think you will see the reason of the
+change when you hear the rest of his story. It was very trifling; not
+more than commonly occurs when a man begins to grow old, especially if
+there is some failure of eyesight."
+
+"Was Mr. Jeffrey's eyesight failing?" asked Thorndyke.
+
+"Yes, it was, undoubtedly," said Stephen. "He was practically blind in
+one eye and, in the very last letter that I ever had from him, he
+mentioned that there were signs of commencing cataract in the other."
+
+"You spoke of his pension. He continued to draw that regularly?"
+
+"Yes; he drew his allowance every month, or rather, his bankers drew it
+for him. They had been accustomed to do so when he was abroad, and the
+authorities seem to have allowed the practice to continue."
+
+Thorndyke reflected a while, running his eye over the notes on the slips
+of paper in his hand, and Marchmont surveyed him with a malicious smile.
+Presently the latter remarked:
+
+"Methinks the learned counsel is floored."
+
+Thorndyke laughed. "It seems to me," he retorted, "that your proceedings
+are rather like those of the amiable individual who offered the bear a
+flint pebble, that he might crack it and extract the kernel. Your
+confounded will seems to offer no soft spot on which one could commence
+an attack. But we won't give up. We seem to have sucked the will dry.
+Let us now have a few facts respecting the parties concerned in it; and,
+as Jeffrey is the central figure, let us begin with him and the tragedy
+at New Inn that formed the starting-point of all this trouble."
+
+
+
+
+Chapter VI
+
+Jeffrey Blackmore, Deceased
+
+
+Having made the above proposition, Thorndyke placed a fresh slip of
+paper on the blotting pad on his knee and looked inquiringly at Mr.
+Marchmont; who, in his turn, sighed and looked at the bundle of
+documents on the table.
+
+"What do you want to know?" he asked a little wearily.
+
+"Everything," replied Thorndyke. "You have hinted at circumstances that
+would account for a change in Jeffrey's habits and that would explain an
+alteration in the character of his signature. Let us have those
+circumstances. And, if I might venture on a suggestion, it would be that
+we take the events in the order in which they occurred or in which they
+became known."
+
+"That's the worst of you, Thorndyke," Marchmont grumbled. "When a case
+has been squeezed out to the last drop, in a legal sense, you want to
+begin all over again with the family history of every one concerned and
+a list of his effects and household furniture. But I suppose you will
+have to be humoured; and I imagine that the best way in which to give
+you the information you want will be to recite the circumstances
+surrounding the death of Jeffrey Blackmore. Will that suit you?"
+
+"Perfectly," replied Thorndyke; and thereupon Marchmont began:
+
+"The death of Jeffrey Blackmore was discovered at about eleven o'clock
+in the morning of the fifteenth of March. It seems that a builder's man
+was ascending a ladder to examine a gutter on number 31, New Inn, when,
+on passing a second-floor window that was open at the top, he looked in
+and perceived a gentleman lying on a bed. The gentleman was fully
+clothed and had apparently lain down on the bed to rest; at least so the
+builder thought at the time, for he was merely passing the window on
+his way up, and, very properly, did not make a minute examination. But
+when, some ten minutes later, he came down and saw that the gentleman
+was still in the same position, he looked at him more attentively; and
+this is what he noticed--but perhaps we had better have it in his own
+words as he told the story at the inquest.
+
+"'When I came to look at the gentleman a bit more closely, it struck me
+that he looked rather queer. His face looked very white, or rather pale
+yellow, like parchment, and his mouth was open. He did not seem to be
+breathing. On the bed by his side was a brass object of some kind--I
+could not make out what it was--and he seemed to be holding some small
+metal object in his hand. I thought it rather a queer affair, so, when I
+came down I went across to the lodge and told the porter about it. The
+porter came out across the square with me and I showed him the window.
+Then he told me to go up the stairs to Mr. Blackmore's chambers on the
+second pair and knock and keep on knocking until I got an answer. I went
+up and knocked and kept on knocking as loud as I could, but, though I
+fetched everybody out of all the other chambers in the house, I couldn't
+get any answer from Mr. Blackmore. So I went downstairs again and then
+Mr. Walker, the porter, sent me for a policeman.
+
+"'I went out and met a policeman just by Dane's Inn and told him about
+the affair, and he came back with me. He and the porter consulted
+together, and then they told me to go up the ladder and get in at the
+window and open the door of the chambers from the inside. So I went up;
+and as soon as I got in at the window I saw that the gentleman was dead.
+I went through the other room and opened the outer door and let in the
+porter and the policeman.'
+
+"That," said Mr. Marchmont, laying down the paper containing the
+depositions, "is the way in which poor Jeffrey Blackmore's death came to
+be discovered.
+
+"The constable reported to his inspector and the inspector sent for the
+divisional surgeon, whom he accompanied to New Inn. I need not go into
+the evidence given by the police officers, as the surgeon saw all that
+they saw and his statement covers everything that is known about
+Jeffrey's death. This is what he says, after describing how he was sent
+for and arrived at the Inn:
+
+"'In the bedroom I found the body of a man between fifty and sixty years
+of age, which has since been identified in my presence as that of Mr.
+Jeffrey Blackmore. It was fully dressed and wore boots on which was a
+moderate amount of dry mud. It was lying on its back on the bed, which
+did not appear to have been slept in, and showed no sign of any struggle
+or disturbance. The right hand loosely grasped a hypodermic syringe
+containing a few drops of clear liquid which I have since analysed and
+found to be a concentrated solution of strophanthin.
+
+"'On the bed, close to the left side of the body, was a brass opium-pipe
+of a pattern which I believe is made in China. The bowl of the pipe
+contained a small quantity of charcoal, and a fragment of opium
+together with some ash, and there was on the bed a little ash which
+appeared to have dropped from the bowl when the pipe fell or was laid
+down. On the mantelshelf in the bedroom I found a small glass-stoppered
+jar containing about an ounce of solid opium, and another, larger jar
+containing wood charcoal broken up into small fragments. Also a bowl
+containing a quantity of ash with fragments of half-burned charcoal and
+a few minute particles of charred opium. By the side of the bowl were a
+knife, a kind of awl or pricker and a very small pair of tongs, which I
+believe to have been used for carrying a piece of lighted charcoal to
+the pipe.
+
+"'On the dressing-table were two glass tubes labelled "Hypodermic
+Tabloids: Strophanthin 1/500 grain," and a minute glass mortar and
+pestle, of which the former contained a few crystals which have since
+been analysed by me and found to be strophanthin.
+
+"'On examining the body, I found that it had been dead about twelve
+hours. There were no marks of violence or any abnormal condition
+excepting a single puncture in the right thigh, apparently made by the
+needle of the hypodermic syringe. The puncture was deep and vertical in
+direction as if the needle had been driven in through the clothing.
+
+"'I made a post-mortem examination of the body and found that death was
+due to poisoning by strophanthin, which appeared to have been injected
+into the thigh. The two tubes which I found on the dressing-table would
+each have contained, if full, twenty tabloids, each tabloid
+representing one five-hundredth of a grain of strophanthin. Assuming
+that the whole of this quantity was injected the amount taken would be
+forty five-hundredths, or about one twelfth of a grain. The ordinary
+medicinal dose of strophanthin is one five-hundredth of a grain.
+
+"'I also found in the body appreciable traces of morphine--the principal
+alkaloid of opium--from which I infer that the deceased was a confirmed
+opium-smoker. This inference was supported by the general condition of
+the body, which was ill-nourished and emaciated and presented all the
+appearances usually met with in the bodies of persons addicted to the
+habitual use of opium.'
+
+"That is the evidence of the surgeon. He was recalled later, as we shall
+see, but, meanwhile, I think you will agree with me that the facts
+testified to by him fully account, not only for the change in Jeffrey's
+habits--his solitary and secretive mode of life--but also for the
+alteration in his handwriting."
+
+"Yes," agreed Thorndyke, "that seems to be so. By the way, what did the
+change in the handwriting amount to?"
+
+"Very little," replied Marchmont. "It was hardly perceptible. Just a
+slight loss of firmness and distinctness; such a trifling change as you
+would expect to find in the handwriting of a man who had taken to drink
+or drugs, or anything that might impair the steadiness of his hand. I
+should not have noticed it, myself, but, of course, the people at the
+bank are experts, constantly scrutinizing signatures and scrutinizing
+them with a very critical eye."
+
+"Is there any other evidence that bears on the case?" Thorndyke asked.
+
+Marchmont turned over the bundle of papers and smiled grimly.
+
+"My dear Thorndyke," he said, "none of this evidence has the slightest
+bearing on the case. It is all perfectly irrelevant as far as the will
+is concerned. But I know your little peculiarities and I am indulging
+you, as you see, to the top of your bent. The next evidence is that of
+the chief porter, a very worthy and intelligent man named Walker. This
+is what he says, after the usual preliminaries.
+
+"'I have viewed the body which forms the subject of this inquiry. It is
+that of Mr. Jeffrey Blackmore, the tenant of a set of chambers on the
+second floor of number thirty-one, New Inn. I have known the deceased
+nearly six months, and during that time have seen and conversed with him
+frequently. He took the chambers on the second of last October and came
+into residence at once. Tenants at New Inn have to furnish two
+references. The references that the deceased gave were his bankers and
+his brother, Mr. John Blackmore. I may say that the deceased was very
+well known to me. He was a quiet, pleasant-mannered gentleman, and it
+was his habit to drop in occasionally at the lodge and have a chat with
+me. I went into his chambers with him once or twice on some small
+matters of business and I noticed that there were always a number of
+books and papers on the table. I understood from him that he spent most
+of his time indoors engaged in study and writing. I know very little
+about his way of living. He had no laundress to look after his rooms, so
+I suppose he did his own house-work and cooking; but he told me that he
+took most of his meals outside, at restaurants or his club.
+
+"'Deceased impressed me as a rather melancholy, low-spirited gentleman.
+He was very much troubled about his eyesight and mentioned the matter to
+me on several occasions. He told me that he was practically blind in one
+eye and that the sight of the other was failing rapidly. He said that
+this afflicted him greatly, because his only pleasure in life was in the
+reading of books, and that if he could not read he should not wish to
+live. On another occasion he said that "to a blind man life was not
+worth living."
+
+"'On the twelfth of last November he came to the lodge with a paper in
+his hand which he said was his will'--But I needn't read that," said
+Marchmont, turning over the leaf, "I've told you how the will was signed
+and witnessed. We will pass on to the day of poor Jeffrey's death.
+
+"'On the fourteenth of March,' the porter says, 'at about half-past six
+in the evening, the deceased came to the Inn in a four-wheeled cab. That
+was the day of the great fog. I do not know if there was anyone in the
+cab with the deceased, but I think not, because he came to the lodge
+just before eight o'clock and had a little talk with me. He said that
+he had been overtaken by the fog and could not see at all. He was quite
+blind and had been obliged to ask a stranger to call a cab for him as he
+could not find his way through the streets. He then gave me a cheque for
+the rent. I reminded him that the rent was not due until the
+twenty-fifth, but he said he wished to pay it now. He also gave me some
+money to pay one or two small bills that were owing to some of the
+tradespeople--a milk-man, a baker and a stationer.
+
+"'This struck me as very strange, because he had always managed his
+business and paid the tradespeople himself. He told me that the fog had
+irritated his eye so that he could hardly read, and he was afraid he
+should soon be quite blind. He was very depressed; so much so that I
+felt quite uneasy about him. When he left the lodge, he went back across
+the square as if returning to his chambers. There was then no gate open
+excepting the main gate where the lodge is situated. That was the last
+time that I saw the deceased alive.'"
+
+Mr. Marchmont laid the paper on the table. "That is the porter's
+evidence. The remaining depositions are those of Noble, the night
+porter, John Blackmore and our friend here, Mr. Stephen. The night
+porter had not much to tell. This is the substance of his evidence:
+
+"'I have viewed the body of the deceased and identify it as that of Mr.
+Jeffrey Blackmore. I knew the deceased well by sight and occasionally
+had a few words with him. I know nothing of his habits excepting that he
+used to sit up rather late. It is one of my duties to go round the Inn
+at night and call out the hours until one o'clock in the morning. When
+calling out "one o'clock" I often saw a light in the sitting-room of the
+deceased's chambers. On the night of the fourteenth instant, the light
+was burning until past one o'clock, but it was in the bedroom. The light
+in the sitting-room was out by ten o'clock.'
+
+"We now come to John Blackmore's evidence. He says:
+
+"'I have viewed the body of the deceased and recognize it as that of my
+brother Jeffrey. I last saw him alive on the twenty-third of February,
+when I called at his chambers. He then seemed in a very despondent state
+of mind and told me that his eyesight was fast failing. I was aware that
+he occasionally smoked opium, but I did not know that it was a confirmed
+habit. I urged him, on several occasions, to abandon the practice. I
+have no reason to believe that his affairs were in any way embarrassed
+or that he had any reason for making away with himself other than his
+failing eyesight; but, having regard to his state of mind when I last
+saw him, I am not surprised at what has happened.'
+
+"That is the substance of John Blackmore's evidence, and, as to Mr.
+Stephen, his statement merely sets forth the fact that he had identified
+the body as that of his uncle Jeffrey. And now I think you have all the
+facts. Is there anything more that you want to ask me before I go, for I
+must really run away now?"
+
+"I should like," said Thorndyke, "to know a little more about the
+parties concerned in this affair. But perhaps Mr. Stephen can give me
+the information."
+
+"I expect he can," said Marchmont; "at any rate, he knows more about
+them than I do; so I will be off. If you should happen to think of any
+way," he continued, with a sly smile, "of upsetting that will, just let
+me know, and I will lose no time in entering a caveat. Good-bye! Don't
+trouble to let me out."
+
+As soon as he was gone, Thorndyke turned to Stephen Blackmore.
+
+"I am going," he said, "to ask you a few questions which may appear
+rather trifling, but you must remember that my methods of inquiry
+concern themselves with persons and things rather than with documents.
+For instance, I have not gathered very completely what sort of person
+your uncle Jeffrey was. Could you tell me a little more about him?"
+
+"What shall I tell you?" Stephen asked with a slightly embarrassed air.
+
+"Well, begin with his personal appearance."
+
+"That is rather difficult to describe," said Stephen. "He was a
+medium-sized man and about five feet seven--fair, slightly grey,
+clean-shaved, rather spare and slight, had grey eyes, wore spectacles
+and stooped a little as he walked. He was quiet and gentle in manner,
+rather yielding and irresolute in character, and his health was not at
+all robust though he had no infirmity or disease excepting his bad
+eyesight. His age was about fifty-five."
+
+"How came he to be a civil-service pensioner at fifty-five?" asked
+Thorndyke.
+
+"Oh, that was through an accident. He had a nasty fall from a horse,
+and, being a rather nervous man, the shock was very severe. For some
+time after he was a complete wreck. But the failure of his eyesight was
+the actual cause of his retirement. It seems that the fall damaged his
+eyes in some way; in fact he practically lost the sight of one--the
+right--from that moment; and, as that had been his good eye, the
+accident left his vision very much impaired. So that he was at first
+given sick leave and then allowed to retire on a pension."
+
+Thorndyke noted these particulars and then said:
+
+"Your uncle has been more than once referred to as a man of studious
+habits. Does that mean that he pursued any particular branch of
+learning?"
+
+"Yes. He was an enthusiastic Oriental scholar. His official duties had
+taken him at one time to Yokohama and Tokio and at another to Bagdad,
+and while at those places he gave a good deal of attention to the
+languages, literature and arts of the countries. He was also greatly
+interested in Babylonian and Assyrian archaeology, and I believe he
+assisted for some time in the excavations at Birs Nimroud."
+
+"Indeed!" said Thorndyke. "This is very interesting. I had no idea that
+he was a man of such considerable attainments. The facts mentioned by
+Mr. Marchmont would hardly have led one to think of him as what he seems
+to have been: a scholar of some distinction."
+
+"I don't know that Mr. Marchmont realized the fact himself," said
+Stephen; "or that he would have considered it of any moment if he had.
+Nor, as far as that goes, do I. But, of course, I have no experience of
+legal matters."
+
+"You can never tell beforehand," said Thorndyke, "what facts may turn
+out to be of moment, so that it is best to collect all you can get. By
+the way, were you aware that your uncle was an opium-smoker?"
+
+"No, I was not. I knew that he had an opium-pipe which he brought with
+him when he came home from Japan; but I thought it was only a curio. I
+remember him telling me that he once tried a few puffs at an opium-pipe
+and found it rather pleasant, though it gave him a headache. But I had
+no idea he had contracted the habit; in fact, I may say that I was
+utterly astonished when the fact came out at the inquest."
+
+Thorndyke made a note of this answer, too, and said:
+
+"I think that is all I have to ask you about your uncle Jeffrey. And now
+as to Mr. John Blackmore. What sort of man is he?"
+
+"I am afraid I can't tell you very much about him. Until I saw him at
+the inquest, I had not met him since I was a boy. But he is a very
+different kind of man from Uncle Jeffrey; different in appearance and
+different in character."
+
+"You would say that the two brothers were physically quite unlike,
+then?"
+
+"Well," said Stephen, "I don't know that I ought to say that. Perhaps I
+am exaggerating the difference. I am thinking of Uncle Jeffrey as he was
+when I saw him last and of uncle John as he appeared at the inquest.
+They were very different then. Jeffrey was thin, pale, clean shaven,
+wore spectacles and walked with a stoop. John is a shade taller, a shade
+greyer, has good eyesight, a healthy, florid complexion, a brisk,
+upright carriage, is distinctly stout and wears a beard and moustache
+which are black and only very slightly streaked with grey. To me they
+looked as unlike as two men could, though their features were really of
+the same type; indeed, I have heard it said that, as young men, they
+were rather alike, and they both resembled their mother. But there is no
+doubt as to their difference in character. Jeffrey was quiet, serious
+and studious, whereas John rather inclined to what is called a fast
+life; he used to frequent race meetings, and, I think, gambled a good
+deal at times."
+
+"What is his profession?"
+
+"That would be difficult to tell; he has so many; he is so very
+versatile. I believe he began life as an articled pupil in the
+laboratory of a large brewery, but he soon left that and went on the
+stage. He seems to have remained in 'the profession' for some years,
+touring about this country and making occasional visits to America. The
+life seemed to suit him and I believe he was decidedly successful as an
+actor. But suddenly he left the stage and blossomed out in connection
+with a bucket-shop in London."
+
+"And what is he doing now?"
+
+"At the inquest he described himself as a stockbroker, so I presume he
+is still connected with the bucket-shop."
+
+Thorndyke rose, and taking down from the reference shelves a list of
+members of the Stock Exchange, turned over the leaves.
+
+"Yes," he said, replacing the volume, "he must be an outside broker. His
+name is not in the list of members of 'the House.' From what you tell
+me, it is easy to understand that there should have been no great
+intimacy between the two brothers, without assuming any kind of
+ill-feeling. They simply had very little in common. Do you know of
+anything more?"
+
+"No. I have never heard of any actual quarrel or disagreement. My
+impression that they did not get on very well may have been, I think,
+due to the terms of the will, especially the first will. And they
+certainly did not seek one another's society."
+
+"That is not very conclusive," said Thorndyke. "As to the will, a
+thrifty man is not usually much inclined to bequeath his savings to a
+gentleman who may probably employ them in a merry little flutter on the
+turf or the Stock Exchange. And then there was yourself; clearly a more
+suitable subject for a legacy, as your life is all before you. But this
+is mere speculation and the matter is not of much importance, as far as
+we can see. And now, tell me what John Blackmore's relations were with
+Mrs. Wilson. I gather that she left the bulk of her property to Jeffrey,
+her younger brother. Is that so?"
+
+"Yes. She left nothing to John. The fact is that they were hardly on
+speaking terms. I believe John had treated her rather badly, or, at any
+rate, she thought he had. Mr. Wilson, her late husband, dropped some
+money over an investment in connection with the bucket-shop that I spoke
+of, and I think she suspected John of having let him in. She may have
+been mistaken, but you know what ladies are when they get an idea into
+their heads."
+
+"Did you know your aunt well?"
+
+"No; very slightly. She lived down in Devonshire and saw very little of
+any of us. She was a taciturn, strong-minded woman; quite unlike her
+brothers. She seems to have resembled her father's family."
+
+"You might give me her full name."
+
+"Julia Elizabeth Wilson. Her husband's name was Edmund Wilson."
+
+"Thank you. There is just one more point. What has happened to your
+uncle's chambers in New Inn since his death?"
+
+"They have remained shut up. As all his effects were left to me, I have
+taken over the tenancy for the present to avoid having them disturbed. I
+thought of keeping them for my own use, but I don't think I could live
+in them after what I have seen."
+
+"You have inspected them, then?"
+
+"Yes; I have just looked through them. I went there on the day of the
+inquest."
+
+"Now tell me: as you looked through those rooms, what kind of impression
+did they convey to you as to your uncle's habits and mode of life?"
+
+Stephen smiled apologetically. "I am afraid," said he, "that they did
+not convey any particular impression in that respect. I looked into the
+sitting-room and saw all his old familiar household gods, and then I
+went into the bedroom and saw the impression on the bed where his corpse
+had lain; and that gave me such a sensation of horror that I came away
+at once."
+
+"But the appearance of the rooms must have conveyed something to your
+mind," Thorndyke urged.
+
+"I am afraid it did not. You see, I have not your analytical eye. But
+perhaps you would like to look through them yourself? If you would, pray
+do so. They are my chambers now."
+
+"I think I should like to glance round them," Thorndyke replied.
+
+"Very well," said Stephen. "I will give you my card now, and I will look
+in at the lodge presently and tell the porter to hand you the key
+whenever you like to look over the rooms."
+
+He took a card from his case, and, having written a few lines on it,
+handed it to Thorndyke.
+
+"It is very good of you," he said, "to take so much trouble. Like Mr.
+Marchmont, I have no expectation of any result from your efforts, but I
+am very grateful to you, all the same, for going into the case so
+thoroughly. I suppose you don't see any possibility of upsetting that
+will--if I may ask the question?"
+
+"At present," replied Thorndyke, "I do not. But until I have carefully
+weighed every fact connected with the case--whether it seems to have any
+bearing or not--I shall refrain from expressing, or even entertaining,
+an opinion either way."
+
+Stephen Blackmore now took his leave; and Thorndyke, having collected
+the papers containing his notes, neatly punched a couple of holes in
+their margins and inserted them into a small file, which he slipped into
+his pocket.
+
+"That," said he, "is the nucleus of the body of data on which our
+investigations must be based; and I very much fear that it will not
+receive any great additions. What do you think, Jervis?"
+
+"The case looks about as hopeless as a case could look," I replied.
+
+"That is what I think," said he; "and for that reason I am more than
+ordinarily keen on making something of it. I have not much more hope
+than Marchmont has; but I shall squeeze the case as dry as a bone before
+I let go. What are you going to do? I have to attend a meeting of the
+board of directors of the Griffin Life Office."
+
+"Shall I walk down with you?"
+
+"It is very good of you to offer, Jervis, but I think I will go alone. I
+want to run over these notes and get the facts of the case arranged in
+my mind. When I have done that, I shall be ready to pick up new matter.
+Knowledge is of no use unless it is actually in your mind, so that it
+can be produced at a moment's notice. So you had better get a book and
+your pipe and spend a quiet hour by the fire while I assimilate the
+miscellaneous mental feast that we have just enjoyed. And you might do a
+little rumination yourself."
+
+With this, Thorndyke took his departure; and I, adopting his advice,
+drew my chair closer to the fire and filled my pipe. But I did not
+discover any inclination to read. The curious history that I had just
+heard, and Thorndyke's evident determination to elucidate it further,
+disposed me to meditation. Moreover, as his subordinate, it was my
+business to occupy myself with his affairs. Wherefore, having stirred
+the fire and got my pipe well alight, I abandoned myself to the renewed
+consideration of the facts relating to Jeffrey Blackmore's will.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter VII
+
+The Cuneiform Inscription
+
+
+The surprise which Thorndyke's proceedings usually occasioned,
+especially to lawyers, was principally due, I think, to my friend's
+habit of viewing occurrences from an unusual standpoint. He did not look
+at things quite as other men looked at them. He had no prejudices and he
+knew no conventions. When other men were cocksure, Thorndyke was
+doubtful. When other men despaired, he entertained hopes; and thus it
+happened that he would often undertake cases that had been rejected
+contemptuously by experienced lawyers, and, what is more, would bring
+them to a successful issue.
+
+Thus it had been in the only other case in which I had been personally
+associated with him--the so-called "Red Thumb Mark" case. There he was
+presented with an apparent impossibility; but he had given it careful
+consideration. Then, from the category of the impossible he had brought
+it to that of the possible; from the merely possible to the actually
+probable; from the probable to the certain; and in the end had won the
+case triumphantly.
+
+Was it conceivable that he could make anything of the present case? He
+had not declined it. He had certainly entertained it and was probably
+thinking it over at this moment. Yet could anything be more impossible?
+Here was the case of a man making his own will, probably writing it out
+himself, bringing it voluntarily to a certain place and executing it in
+the presence of competent witnesses. There was no suggestion of any
+compulsion or even influence or persuasion. The testator was admittedly
+sane and responsible; and if the will did not give effect to his
+wishes--which, however, could not be proved--that was due to his own
+carelessness in drafting the will and not to any unusual circumstances.
+And the problem--which Thorndyke seemed to be considering--was how to
+set aside that will.
+
+I reviewed the statements that I had heard, but turn them about as I
+would, I could get nothing out of them but confirmation of Mr.
+Marchmont's estimate of the case. One fact that I had noted with some
+curiosity I again considered; that was Thorndyke's evident desire to
+inspect Jeffrey Blackmore's chambers. He had, it is true, shown no
+eagerness, but I had seen at the time that the questions which he put to
+Stephen were put, not with any expectation of eliciting information but
+for the purpose of getting an opportunity to look over the rooms
+himself.
+
+I was still cogitating on the subject when my colleague returned,
+followed by the watchful Polton with the tea-tray, and I attacked him
+forthwith.
+
+"Well, Thorndyke," I said, "I have been thinking about this Blackmore
+case while you have been gadding about."
+
+"And may I take it that the problem is solved?"
+
+"No, I'm hanged if you may. I can make nothing of it."
+
+"Then you are in much the same position as I am."
+
+"But, if you can make nothing of it, why did you undertake it?"
+
+"I only undertook to think about it," said Thorndyke. "I never reject a
+case off-hand unless it is obviously fishy. It is surprising how
+difficulties, and even impossibilities, dwindle if you look at them
+attentively. My experience has taught me that the most unlikely case is,
+at least, worth thinking over."
+
+"By the way, why do you want to look over Jeffrey's chambers? What do
+you expect to find there?"
+
+"I have no expectations at all. I am simply looking for stray facts."
+
+"And all those questions that you asked Stephen Blackmore; had you
+nothing in your mind--no definite purpose?"
+
+"No purpose beyond getting to know as much about the case as I can."
+
+"But," I exclaimed, "do you mean that you are going to examine those
+rooms without any definite object at all?"
+
+"I wouldn't say that," replied Thorndyke. "This is a legal case. Let me
+put an analogous medical case as being more within your present sphere.
+Supposing that a man should consult you, say, about a progressive loss
+of weight. He can give no explanation. He has no pain, no discomfort, no
+symptoms of any kind; in short, he feels perfectly well in every
+respect; <i>but</i> he is losing weight continuously. What would you do?"
+
+"I should overhaul him thoroughly," I answered.
+
+"Why? What would you expect to find?"
+
+"I don't know that I should start by expecting to find anything in
+particular. But I should overhaul him organ by organ and function by
+function, and if I could find nothing abnormal I should have to give it
+up."
+
+"Exactly," said Thorndyke. "And that is just my position and my line of
+action. Here is a case which is perfectly regular and straightforward
+excepting in one respect. It has a single abnormal feature. And for that
+abnormality there is nothing to account.
+
+"Jeffrey Blackmore made a will. It was a well-drawn will and it
+apparently gave full effect to his intentions. Then he revoked that will
+and made another. No change had occurred in his circumstances or in his
+intentions. The provisions of the new will were believed by him to be
+identical with those of the old one. The new will differed from the old
+one only in having a defect in the drafting from which the first will
+was free, and of which he must have been unaware. Now why did he revoke
+the first will and replace it with another which he believed to be
+identical in its provisions? There is no answer to that question. It is
+an abnormal feature in the case. There must be some explanation of that
+abnormality and it is my business to discover it. But the facts in my
+possession yield no such explanation. Therefore it is my purpose to
+search for new facts which may give me a starting-point for an
+investigation."
+
+This exposition of Thorndyke's proposed conduct of the case, reasonable
+as it was, did not impress me as very convincing. I found myself coming
+back to Marchmont's position, that there was really nothing in dispute.
+But other matters claimed our attention at the moment, and it was not
+until after dinner that my colleague reverted to the subject.
+
+"How should you like to take a turn round to New Inn this evening?" he
+asked.
+
+"I should have thought," said I, "that it would be better to go by
+daylight. Those old chambers are not usually very well illuminated."
+
+"That is well thought of," said Thorndyke. "We had better take a lamp
+with us. Let us go up to the laboratory and get one from Polton."
+
+"There is no need to do that," said I. "The pocket-lamp that you lent me
+is in my overcoat pocket. I put it there to return it to you."
+
+"Did you have occasion to use it?" he asked.
+
+"Yes. I paid another visit to the mysterious house and carried out your
+plan. I must tell you about it later."
+
+"Do. I shall be keenly interested to hear all about your adventures. Is
+there plenty of candle left in the lamp?"
+
+"Oh yes. I only used it for about an hour."
+
+"Then let us be off," said Thorndyke; and we accordingly set forth on
+our quest; and, as we went, I reflected once more on the apparent
+vagueness of our proceedings. Presently I reopened the subject with
+Thorndyke.
+
+"I can't imagine," said I, "that you have absolutely nothing in view.
+That you are going to this place with no defined purpose whatever."
+
+"I did not say exactly that," replied Thorndyke. "I said that I was not
+going to look for any particular thing or fact. I am going in the hope
+that I may observe something that may start a new train of speculation.
+But that is not all. You know that an investigation follows a certain
+logical course. It begins with the observation of the conspicuous facts.
+We have done that. The facts were supplied by Marchmont. The next stage
+is to propose to oneself one or more provisional explanations or
+hypotheses. We have done that, too--or, at least I have, and I suppose
+you have."
+
+"I haven't," said I. "There is Jeffrey's will, but why he should have
+made the change I cannot form the foggiest idea. But I should like to
+hear your provisional theories on the subject."
+
+"You won't hear them at present. They are mere wild conjectures. But to
+resume: what do we do next?"
+
+"Go to New Inn and rake over the deceased gentleman's apartments."
+
+Thorndyke smilingly ignored my answer and continued--
+
+"We examine each explanation in turn and see what follows from it;
+whether it agrees with all the facts and leads to the discovery of new
+ones, or, on the other hand, disagrees with some facts or leads us to an
+absurdity. Let us take a simple example.
+
+"Suppose we find scattered over a field a number of largish masses of
+stone, which are entirely different in character from the rocks found in
+the neighbourhood. The question arises, how did those stones get into
+that field? Three explanations are proposed. One: that they are the
+products of former volcanic action; two: that they were brought from a
+distance by human agency; three: that they were carried thither from
+some distant country by icebergs. Now each of those explanations
+involves certain consequences. If the stones are volcanic, then they
+were once in a state of fusion. But we find that they are unaltered
+limestone and contain fossils. Then they are not volcanic. If they were
+borne by icebergs, then they were once part of a glacier and some of
+them will probably show the flat surfaces with parallel scratches which
+are found on glacier-borne stones. We examine them and find the
+characteristic scratched surfaces. Then they have probably been brought
+to this place by icebergs. But this does not exclude human agency, for
+they might have been brought by men to this place from some other where
+the icebergs had deposited them. A further comparison with other facts
+would be needed.
+
+"So we proceed in cases like this present one. Of the facts that are
+known to us we invent certain explanations. From each of those
+explanations we deduce consequences; and if those consequences agree
+with new facts, they confirm the explanation, whereas if they disagree
+they tend to disprove it. But here we are at our destination."
+
+We turned out of Wych Street into the arched passage leading into New
+Inn, and, halting at the half-door of the lodge, perceived a stout,
+purple-faced man crouching over the fire, coughing violently. He held up
+his hand to intimate that he was fully occupied for the moment, and we
+accordingly waited for his paroxysm to subside. At length he turned
+towards us, wiping his eyes, and inquired our business.
+
+"Mr. Stephen Blackmore," said Thorndyke, "has given me permission to
+look over his chambers. He said that he would mention the matter to
+you."
+
+"So he has, sir," said the porter; "but he has just taken the key
+himself to go to the chambers. If you walk across the Inn you'll find
+him there; it's on the farther side; number thirty-one, second floor."
+
+We made our way across to the house indicated, the ground floor of which
+was occupied by a solicitor's offices and was distinguished by a
+good-sized brass plate. Although it had now been dark some time there
+was no light on the lower stairs, but we encountered on the first-floor
+landing a man who had just lit the lamp there. Thorndyke halted to
+address him.
+
+"Can you tell me who occupies the chambers on the third floor?"
+
+"The third floor has been empty about three months," was the reply.
+
+"We are going up to look at the chambers on the second floor," said
+Thorndyke. "Are they pretty quiet?"
+
+"Quiet!" exclaimed the man. "Lord bless you the place is like a cemetery
+for the deaf and dumb. There's the solicitors on the ground floor and
+the architects on the first floor. They both clear out about six, and
+when they're gone the house is as empty as a blown hegg. I don't wonder
+poor Mr. Blackmore made away with his-self. Livin' up there all alone,
+it must have been like Robinson Crusoe without no man Friday and not
+even a blooming goat to talk to. Quiet! It's quiet enough, if that's
+what you want. Wouldn't be no good to <i>me</i>."
+
+With a contemptuous shake of the head, he turned and retired down the
+next flight, and, as the echoes of his footsteps died away we resumed
+our ascent.
+
+"So it would appear," Thorndyke commented, "that when Jeffrey Blackmore
+came home that last evening, the house was empty."
+
+Arrived on the second-floor landing, we were confronted by a
+solid-looking door on the lintel of which the deceased man's name was
+painted in white lettering which still looked new and fresh. Thorndyke
+knocked at the door, which was at once opened by Stephen Blackmore.
+
+"I haven't wasted any time before taking advantage of your permission,
+you see," my colleague said as we entered.
+
+"No, indeed," said Stephen; "you are very prompt. I have been rather
+wondering what kind of information you expect to gather from an
+inspection of these rooms."
+
+Thorndyke smiled genially, amused, no doubt, by the similarity of
+Stephen's remarks to those of mine which he had so recently criticized.
+
+"A man of science, Mr. Blackmore," he said, "expects nothing. He
+collects facts and keeps an open mind. As to me, I am a mere legal
+Autolycus, a snapper-up of unconsidered trifles of evidence. When I have
+accumulated a few facts, I arrange them, compare them and think about
+them. Sometimes the comparison yields new matter and sometimes it
+doesn't; but in any case, believe me, it is a capital error to decide
+beforehand what data are to be sought for."
+
+"Yes, I suppose that is so," said Stephen; "though, to me, it almost
+looks as if Mr. Marchmont was right; that there is nothing to
+investigate."
+
+"You should have thought of that before you consulted me," laughed
+Thorndyke. "As it is, I am engaged to look into the case and I shall do
+so; and, as I have said, I shall keep an open mind until I have all the
+facts in my possession."
+
+He glanced round the sitting-room, which we had now entered, and
+continued:
+
+"These are fine, dignified old rooms. It seems a sin to have covered up
+all this oak panelling and that carved cornice and mantel with paint.
+Think what it must have been like when the beautiful figured wood was
+exposed."
+
+"It would be very dark," Stephen observed.
+
+"Yes," Thorndyke agreed, "and I suppose we care more for light and less
+for beauty than our ancestors did. But now, tell me; looking round these
+rooms, do they convey to you a similar impression to that which the old
+rooms did? Have they the same general character?"
+
+"Not quite, I think. Of course the rooms in Jermyn Street were in a
+different kind of house, but beyond that, I seem to feel a certain
+difference; which is rather odd, seeing that the furniture is the same.
+But the old rooms were more cosy, more homelike. I find something rather
+bare and cheerless, I was almost going to say squalid, in the look of
+these chambers."
+
+"That is rather what I should have expected," said Thorndyke. "The opium
+habit alters a man's character profoundly; and, somehow, apart from the
+mere furnishing, a room reflects in some subtle way, but very
+distinctly, the personality of its occupant, especially when that
+occupant lives a solitary life. Do you see any evidences of the
+activities that used to occupy your uncle?"
+
+"Not very much," replied Stephen. "But the place may not be quite as he
+left it. I found one or two of his books on the table and put them back
+in the shelves, but I found no manuscript or notes such as he used to
+make. I noticed, too, that his ink-slab which he used to keep so
+scrupulously clean is covered with dry smears and that the stick of ink
+is all cracked at the end, as if he had not used it for months. It seems
+to point to a great change in his habits."
+
+"What used he to do with Chinese ink?" Thorndyke asked.
+
+"He corresponded with some of his native friends in Japan, and he used
+to write in the Japanese character even if they understood English. That
+was what he chiefly used the Chinese ink for. But he also used to copy
+the inscriptions from these things." Here Stephen lifted from the
+mantelpiece what looked like a fossil Bath bun, but was actually a clay
+tablet covered with minute indented writing.
+
+"Your uncle could read the cuneiform character, then?"
+
+"Yes; he was something of an expert. These tablets are, I believe,
+leases and other legal documents from Eridu and other Babylonian cities.
+He used to copy the inscriptions in the cuneiform writing and then
+translate them into English. But I mustn't stay here any longer as I
+have an engagement for this evening. I just dropped in to get these two
+volumes--<i>Thornton's History of Babylonia</i>, which he once advised me to
+read. Shall I give you the key? You'd better have it and leave it with
+the porter as you go out."
+
+He shook hands with us and we walked out with him to the landing and
+stood watching him as he ran down the stairs. Glancing at Thorndyke by
+the light of the gas lamp on the landing, I thought I detected in his
+impassive face that almost imperceptible change of expression to which I
+have already alluded as indicating pleasure or satisfaction.
+
+"You are looking quite pleased with yourself," I remarked.
+
+"I am not displeased," he replied calmly. "Autolycus has picked up a few
+crumbs; very small ones, but still crumbs. No doubt his learned junior
+has picked up a few likewise?"
+
+I shook my head--and inwardly suspected it of being rather a thick head.
+
+"I did not perceive anything in the least degree significant in what
+Stephen was telling you," said I. "It was all very interesting, but it
+did not seem to have any bearing on his uncle's will."
+
+"I was not referring only to what Stephen has told us, although that
+was, as you say, very interesting. While he was talking I was looking
+about the room, and I have seen a very strange thing. Let me show it to
+you."
+
+He linked his arm in mine and, walking me back into the room, halted
+opposite the fire-place.
+
+"There," said he, "look at that. It is a most remarkable object."
+
+[Illustration: THE INVERTED INSCRIPTION.]
+
+I followed the direction of his gaze and saw an oblong frame enclosing a
+large photograph of an inscription in the weird and cabalistic
+arrow-head character. I looked at it in silence for some seconds and
+then, somewhat disappointed, remarked:
+
+"I don't see anything very remarkable in it, under the circumstances. In
+any ordinary room it would be, I admit; but Stephen has just told us
+that his uncle was something of an expert in cuneiform writing."
+
+"Exactly," said Thorndyke. "That is my point. That is what makes it so
+remarkable."
+
+"I don't follow you at all," said I. "That a man should hang upon his
+wall an inscription that is legible to him does not seem to me at all
+out of the way. It would be much more singular if he should hang up an
+inscription that he could <i>not</i> read."
+
+"No doubt," replied Thorndyke. "But you will agree with me that it would
+be still more singular if a man should hang upon his wall an inscription
+that he <i>could</i> read--and hang it upside down."
+
+I stared at Thorndyke in amazement.
+
+"Do you mean to tell me," I exclaimed, "that that photograph is really
+upside down?"
+
+"I do indeed," he replied.
+
+"But how do you know? Have we here yet another Oriental scholar?"
+
+Thorndyke chuckled. "Some fool," he replied, "has said that 'a little
+knowledge is a dangerous thing.' Compared with much knowledge, it may
+be; but it is a vast deal better than no knowledge. Here is a case in
+point. I have read with very keen interest the wonderful history of the
+decipherment of the cuneiform writing, and I happen to recollect one or
+two of the main facts that seemed to me to be worth remembering. This
+particular inscription is in the Persian cuneiform, a much more simple
+and open form of the script than the Babylonian or Assyrian; in fact, I
+suspect that this is the famous inscription from the gateway at
+Persepolis--the first to be deciphered; which would account for its
+presence here in a frame. Now this script consists, as you see, of two
+kinds of characters; the small, solid, acutely pointed characters which
+are known as wedges, and the larger, more obtuse characters, somewhat
+like our government broad arrows, and called arrow-heads. The names are
+rather unfortunate, as both forms are wedge-like and both resemble
+arrow-heads. The script reads from left to right, like our own writing,
+and unlike that of the Semitic peoples and the primitive Greeks; and the
+rule for the placing of the characters is that all the 'wedges' point to
+the right or downwards and the arrow-head forms are open towards the
+right. But if you look at this photograph you will see that all the
+wedges point upwards to the left and that the arrow-head characters are
+open towards the left. Obviously the photograph is upside down."
+
+"But," I exclaimed, "this is really most mysterious. What do you suppose
+can be the explanation?"
+
+"I think," replied Thorndyke, "that we may perhaps get a suggestion from
+the back of the frame. Let us see."
+
+He disengaged the frame from the two nails on which it hung, and,
+turning it round, glanced at the back; which he then presented for my
+inspection. A label on the backing paper bore the words, "J. Budge,
+Frame-maker and Gilder, 16, Gt. Anne Street, W.C."
+
+"Well?" I said, when I had read the label without gathering from it
+anything fresh.
+
+"The label, you observe, is the right way up as it hangs on the wall."
+
+"So it is," I rejoined hastily, a little annoyed that I had not been
+quicker to observe so obvious a fact. "I see your point. You mean that
+the frame-maker hung the thing upside down and Jeffrey never noticed the
+mistake?"
+
+"That is a perfectly sound explanation," said Thorndyke. "But I think
+there is something more. You will notice that the label is an old one;
+it must have been on some years, to judge by its dingy appearance,
+whereas the two mirror-plates look to me comparatively new. But we can
+soon put that matter to the test, for the label was evidently stuck on
+when the frame was new, and if the plates were screwed on at the same
+time, the wood that they cover will be clean and new-looking."
+
+He drew from his pocket a "combination" knife containing, among other
+implements, a screw-driver, with which he carefully extracted the screws
+from one of the little brass plates by which the frame had been
+suspended from the nails.
+
+"You see," he said, when he had removed the plate and carried the
+photograph over to the gasjet, "the wood covered by the plate is as
+dirty and time-stained as the rest of the frame. The plates have been
+put on recently."
+
+"And what are we to infer from that?"
+
+"Well, since there are no other marks of plates or rings upon the
+frame, we may safely infer that the photograph was never hung up until
+it came to these rooms."
+
+"Yes, I suppose we may. But what then? What inference does that lead
+to?"
+
+Thorndyke reflected for a few moments and I continued:
+
+"It is evident that this photograph suggests more to you than it does to
+me. I should like to hear your exposition of its bearing on the case, if
+it has any."
+
+"Whether or no it has any real bearing on the case," Thorndyke answered,
+"it is impossible for me to say at this stage. I told you that I had
+proposed to myself one or two hypotheses to account for and explain
+Jeffrey Blackmore's will, and I may say that the curious misplacement of
+this photograph fits more than one of them. I won't say more than that,
+because I think it would be profitable to you to work at this case
+independently. You have all the facts that I have and you shall have a
+copy of my notes of Marchmont's statement of the case. With this
+material you ought to be able to reach some conclusion. Of course
+neither of us may be able to make anything of the case--it doesn't look
+very hopeful at present--but whatever happens, we can compare notes
+after the event and you will be the richer by so much experience of
+actual investigation. But I will start you off with one hint, which is
+this: that neither you nor Marchmont seem to appreciate in the least the
+very extraordinary nature of the facts that he communicated to us."
+
+"I thought Marchmont seemed pretty much alive to the fact that it was a
+very queer will."
+
+"So he did," agreed Thorndyke. "But that is not quite what I mean. The
+whole set of circumstances, taken together and in relation to one
+another, impressed me as most remarkable; and that is why I am giving so
+much attention to what looks at first sight like such a very unpromising
+case. Copy out my notes, Jervis, and examine the facts critically. I
+think you will see what I mean. And now let us proceed."
+
+He replaced the brass plate and having reinserted the screws, hung up
+the frame, and proceeded to browse slowly round the room, stopping now
+and again to inspect the Japanese colour-prints and framed photographs
+of buildings and other objects of archaeological interest that formed
+the only attempts at wall-decoration. To one of the former he drew my
+attention.
+
+"These things are of some value," he remarked. "Here is one by
+Utamaro--that little circle with the mark over it is his signature--and
+you notice that the paper is becoming spotted in places with mildew. The
+fact is worth noting in more than one connection."
+
+I accordingly made a mental note and the perambulation continued.
+
+"You observe that Jeffrey used a gas-stove, instead of a coal fire, no
+doubt to economize work, but perhaps for other reasons. Presumably he
+cooked by gas, too; let us see."
+
+We wandered into the little cupboard-like kitchen and glanced round. A
+ring-burner on a shelf, a kettle, a frying-pan and a few pieces of
+crockery were its sole appointments. Apparently the porter was correct
+in his statement as to Jeffrey's habits.
+
+Returning to the sitting-room, Thorndyke resumed his inspection, pulling
+out the table drawers, peering inquisitively into cupboards and
+bestowing a passing glance on each of the comparatively few objects that
+the comfortless room contained.
+
+"I have never seen a more characterless apartment," was his final
+comment. "There is nothing that seems to suggest any kind of habitual
+activity on the part of the occupant. Let us look at the bedroom."
+
+We passed through into the chamber of tragic memories, and, when
+Thorndyke had lit the gas, we stood awhile looking about us in silence.
+It was a bare, comfortless room, dirty, neglected and squalid. The bed
+appeared not to have been remade since the catastrophe, for an
+indentation still marked the place where the corpse had lain, and even a
+slight powdering of ash could still be seen on the shabby counterpane.
+It looked to me a typical opium-smoker's bedroom.
+
+"Well," Thorndyke remarked at length, "there is character enough
+here--of a kind. Jeffrey Blackmore would seem to have been a man of few
+needs. One could hardly imagine a bedroom in which less attention seemed
+to have been given to the comfort of the occupant."
+
+He looked about him keenly and continued: "The syringe and the rest of
+the lethal appliances and material have been taken away, I see.
+Probably the analyst did not return them. But there are the opium-pipe
+and the jar and the ash-bowl, and I presume those are the clothes that
+the undertakers removed from the body. Shall we look them over?"
+
+He took up the clothes which lay, roughly folded, on a chair and held
+them up, garment by garment.
+
+"These are evidently the trousers," he remarked, spreading them out on
+the bed. "Here is a little white spot on the middle of the thigh which
+looks like a patch of small crystals from a drop of the solution. Just
+light the lamp, Jervis, and let us examine it with a lens."
+
+I lit the lamp, and when we had examined the spot minutely and
+identified it as a mass of minute crystals, Thorndyke asked:
+
+"What do you make of those creases? You see there is one on each leg."
+
+"It looks as if the trousers had been turned up. But if they have been
+they must have been turned up about seven inches. Poor Jeffrey couldn't
+have had much regard for appearances, for they would have been right
+above his socks. But perhaps the creases were made in undressing the
+body."
+
+"That is possible," said Thorndyke: "though I don't quite see how it
+would have happened. I notice that his pockets seem to have been
+emptied--no, wait; here is something in the waistcoat pocket."
+
+He drew out a shabby, pigskin card-case and a stump of lead pencil, at
+which latter he looked with what seemed to me much more interest than
+was deserved by so commonplace an object.
+
+"The cards, you observe," said he, "are printed from type, not from a
+plate. I would note that fact. And tell me what you make of that."
+
+He handed me the pencil, which I examined with concentrated attention,
+helping myself even with the lamp and my pocket lens. But even with
+these aids I failed to discover anything unusual in its appearance.
+Thorndyke watched me with a mischievous smile, and, when I had finished,
+inquired:
+
+"Well; what is it?"
+
+"Confound you!" I exclaimed. "It's a pencil. Any fool can see that, and
+this particular fool can't see any more. It's a wretched stump of a
+pencil, villainously cut to an abominably bad point. It is coloured dark
+red on the outside and was stamped with some name that began with
+C--O--Co-operative Stores, perhaps."
+
+"Now, my dear Jervis," Thorndyke protested, "don't begin by confusing
+speculation with fact. The letters which remain are C--O. Note that fact
+and find out what pencils there are which have inscriptions beginning
+with those letters. I am not going to help you, because you can easily
+do this for yourself. And it will be good discipline even if the fact
+turns out to mean nothing."
+
+At this moment he stepped back suddenly, and, looking down at the floor,
+said:
+
+"Give me the lamp, Jervis, I've trodden on something that felt like
+glass."
+
+I brought the lamp to the place where he had been standing, close by
+the bed, and we both knelt on the floor, throwing the light of the lamp
+on the bare and dusty boards. Under the bed, just within reach of the
+foot of a person standing close by, was a little patch of fragments of
+glass. Thorndyke produced a piece of paper from his pocket and
+delicately swept the little fragments on to it, remarking:
+
+"By the look of things, I am not the first person who has trodden on
+that object, whatever it is. Do you mind holding the lamp while I
+inspect the remains?"
+
+I took the lamp and held it over the paper while he examined the little
+heap of glass through his lens.
+
+"Well," I asked. "What have you found?"
+
+"That is what I am asking myself," he replied. "As far as I can judge by
+the appearance of these fragments, they appear to be portions of a small
+watch-glass. I wish there were some larger pieces."
+
+"Perhaps there are," said I. "Let us look about the floor under the
+bed."
+
+We resumed our groping about the dirty floor, throwing the light of the
+lamp on one spot after another. Presently, as we moved the lamp about,
+its light fell on a small glass bead, which I instantly picked up and
+exhibited to Thorndyke.
+
+"Is this of any interest to you?" I asked.
+
+Thorndyke took the bead and examined it curiously.
+
+"It is certainly," he said, "a very odd thing to find in the bedroom of
+an old bachelor like Jeffrey, especially as we know that he employed no
+woman to look after his rooms. Of course, it may be a relic of the last
+tenant. Let us see if there are any more."
+
+We renewed our search, crawling under the bed and throwing the light of
+the lamp in all directions over the floor. The result was the discovery
+of three more beads, one entire bugle and the crushed remains of
+another, which had apparently been trodden on. All of these, including
+the fragments of the bugle that had been crushed, Thorndyke placed
+carefully on the paper, which he laid on the dressing-table the more
+conveniently to examine our find.
+
+"I am sorry," said he, "that there are no more fragments of the
+watch-glass, or whatever it was. The broken pieces were evidently picked
+up, with the exception of the one that I trod on, which was an isolated
+fragment that had been overlooked. As to the beads, judging by their
+number and the position in which we found some of them--that crushed
+bugle, for instance--they must have been dropped during Jeffrey's
+tenancy and probably quite recently."
+
+"What sort of garment do you suppose they came from?" I asked.
+
+"They may have been part of a beaded veil or the trimming of a dress,
+but the grouping rather suggests to me a tag of bead fringe. The colour
+is rather unusual."
+
+"I thought they looked like black beads."
+
+"So they do by this light, but I think that by daylight we shall find
+them to be a dark, reddish-brown. You can see the colour now if you look
+at the smaller fragments of the one that is crushed."
+
+He handed me his lens, and, when I had verified his statement, he
+produced from his pocket a small tin box with a closely-fitting lid in
+which he deposited the paper, having first folded it up into a small
+parcel.
+
+"We will put the pencil in too," said he; and, as he returned the box to
+his pocket he added: "you had better get one of these little boxes from
+Polton. It is often useful to have a safe receptacle for small and
+fragile articles."
+
+He folded up and replaced the dead man's clothes as we had found them.
+Then, observing a pair of shoes standing by the wall, he picked them up
+and looked them over thoughtfully, paying special attention to the backs
+of the soles and the fronts of the heels.
+
+"I suppose we may take it," said he, "that these are the shoes that poor
+Jeffrey wore on the night of his death. At any rate there seem to be no
+others. He seems to have been a fairly clean walker. The streets were
+shockingly dirty that day, as I remember most distinctly. Do you see any
+slippers? I haven't noticed any."
+
+He opened and peeped into a cupboard in which an overcoat surmounted by
+a felt hat hung from a peg like an attenuated suicide; he looked in all
+the corners and into the sitting-room, but no slippers were to be seen.
+
+"Our friend seems to have had surprisingly little regard for comfort,"
+Thorndyke remarked. "Think of spending the winter evenings in damp boots
+by a gas fire!"
+
+"Perhaps the opium-pipe compensated," said I; "or he may have gone to
+bed early."
+
+"But he did not. The night porter used to see the light in his rooms at
+one o'clock in the morning. In the sitting-room, too, you remember. But
+he seems to have been in the habit of reading in bed--or perhaps
+smoking--for here is a candlestick with the remains of a whole dynasty
+of candles in it. As there is gas in the room, he couldn't have wanted
+the candle to undress by. He used stearine candles, too; not the common
+paraffin variety. I wonder why he went to that expense."
+
+"Perhaps the smell of the paraffin candle spoiled the aroma of the
+opium," I suggested; to which Thorndyke made no reply but continued his
+inspection of the room, pulling out the drawer of the washstand--which
+contained a single, worn-out nail-brush--and even picking up and
+examining the dry and cracked cake of soap in the dish.
+
+"He seems to have had a fair amount of clothing," said Thorndyke, who
+was now going through the chest of drawers, "though, by the look of it,
+he didn't change very often, and the shirts have a rather yellow and
+faded appearance. I wonder how he managed about his washing. Why, here
+are a couple of pairs of boots in the drawer with his clothes! And here
+is his stock of candles. Quite a large box--though nearly empty now--of
+stearine candles, six to the pound."
+
+He closed the drawer and cast another inquiring look round the room.
+
+"I think we have seen all now, Jervis," he said, "unless there is
+anything more that you would like to look into?"
+
+"No," I replied. "I have seen all that I wanted to see and more than I
+am able to attach any meaning to. So we may as well go."
+
+I blew out the lamp and put it in my overcoat pocket, and, when we had
+turned out the gas in both rooms, we took our departure.
+
+As we approached the lodge, we found our stout friend in the act of
+retiring in favour of the night porter. Thorndyke handed him the key of
+the chambers, and, after a few sympathetic inquiries, about his
+health--which was obviously very indifferent--said:
+
+"Let me see; you were one of the witnesses to Mr. Blackmore's will, I
+think?"
+
+"I was, sir," replied the porter.
+
+"And I believe you read the document through before you witnessed the
+signature?"
+
+"I did, sir."
+
+"Did you read it aloud?"
+
+"Aloud, sir! Lor' bless you, no, sir! Why should I? The other witness
+read it, and, of course, Mr. Blackmore knew what was in it, seeing that
+it was in his own handwriting. What should I want to read it aloud for?"
+
+"No, of course you wouldn't want to. By the way, I have been wondering
+how Mr. Blackmore managed about his washing."
+
+The porter evidently regarded this question with some disfavour, for he
+replied only with an interrogative grunt. It was, in fact, rather an odd
+question.
+
+"Did you get it done for him," Thorndyke pursued.
+
+"No, certainly not, sir. He got it done for himself. The laundry people
+used to deliver the basket here at the lodge, and Mr. Blackmore used to
+take it in with him when he happened to be passing."
+
+"It was not delivered at his chambers, then?"
+
+"No, sir. Mr. Blackmore was a very studious gentleman and he didn't like
+to be disturbed. A studious gentleman would naturally not like to be
+disturbed."
+
+Thorndyke cordially agreed with these very proper sentiments and finally
+wished the porter "good night." We passed out through the gateway into
+Wych Street, and, turning our faces eastward towards the Temple, set
+forth in silence, each thinking his own thoughts. What Thorndyke's were
+I cannot tell, though I have no doubt that he was busily engaged in
+piecing together all that he had seen and heard and considering its
+possible application to the case in hand.
+
+As to me, my mind was in a whirl of confusion. All this searching and
+examining seemed to be the mere flogging of a dead horse. The will was
+obviously a perfectly valid and regular will and there was an end of the
+matter. At least, so it seemed to me. But clearly that was not
+Thorndyke's view. His investigations were certainly not purposeless;
+and, as I walked by his side trying to conceive some purpose in his
+actions, I only became more and more mystified as I recalled them one
+by one, and perhaps most of all by the cryptic questions that I had just
+heard him address to the equally mystified porter.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter VIII
+
+The Track Chart
+
+
+As Thorndyke and I arrived at the main gateway of the Temple and he
+swung round into the narrow lane, it was suddenly borne in on me that I
+had made no arrangements for the night. Events had followed one another
+so continuously and each had been so engrossing that I had lost sight of
+what I may call my domestic affairs.
+
+"We seem to be heading for your chambers, Thorndyke," I ventured to
+remark. "It is a little late to think of it, but I have not yet settled
+where I am to put up to-night."
+
+"My dear fellow," he replied, "you are going to put up in your own
+bedroom which has been waiting in readiness for you ever since you left
+it. Polton went up and inspected it as soon as you arrived. I take it
+that you will consider my chambers yours until such time as you may join
+the benedictine majority and set up a home for yourself."
+
+"That is very handsome of you," said I. "You didn't mention that the
+billet you offered was a resident appointment."
+
+"Rooms and commons included," said Thorndyke; and when I protested that
+I should at least contribute to the costs of living he impatiently
+waved the suggestion away. We were still arguing the question when we
+reached our chambers--as I will now call them--and a diversion was
+occasioned by my taking the lamp from my pocket and placing it on the
+table.
+
+"Ah," my colleague remarked, "that is a little reminder. We will put it
+on the mantelpiece for Polton to collect and you shall give me a full
+account of your further adventures in the wilds of Kennington. That was
+a very odd affair. I have often wondered how it ended."
+
+He drew our two arm-chairs up to the fire, put on some more coal, placed
+the tobacco jar on the table exactly equidistant from the two chairs,
+and settled himself with the air of a man who is anticipating an
+agreeable entertainment.
+
+I filled my pipe, and, taking up the thread of the story where I had
+broken off on the last occasion, began to outline my later experiences.
+But he brought me up short.
+
+"Don't be sketchy, Jervis. To be sketchy is to be vague. Detail, my
+child, detail is the soul of induction. Let us have all the facts. We
+can sort them out afterwards."
+
+I began afresh in a vein of the extremest circumstantiality. With
+deliberate malice I loaded a prolix narrative with every triviality that
+a fairly retentive memory could rake out of the half-forgotten past. I
+cudgelled my brains for irrelevant incidents. I described with the
+minutest accuracy things that had not the faintest significance. I drew
+a vivid picture of the carriage inside and out; I painted a lifelike
+portrait of the horse, even going into particulars of the harness--which
+I was surprised to find that I had noticed. I described the furniture of
+the dining-room and the cobwebs that had hung from the ceiling; the
+auction-ticket on the chest of drawers, the rickety table and the
+melancholy chairs. I gave the number per minute of the patient's
+respirations and the exact quantity of coffee consumed on each occasion,
+with an exhaustive description of the cup from which it was taken; and I
+left no personal details unconsidered, from the patient's finger-nails
+to the roseate pimples on Mr. Weiss's nose.
+
+But my tactics of studied prolixity were a complete failure. The attempt
+to fatigue Thorndyke's brain with superabundant detail was like trying
+to surfeit a pelican with whitebait. He consumed it all with calm
+enjoyment and asked for more; and when, at last, I did really begin to
+think that I had bored him a little, he staggered me by reading over his
+notes and starting a brisk cross-examination to elicit fresh facts! And
+the most surprising thing of all was that when I had finished I seemed
+to know a great deal more about the case than I had ever known before.
+
+"It was a very remarkable affair," he observed, when the
+cross-examination was over--leaving me somewhat in the condition of a
+cider-apple that has just been removed from a hydraulic press--"a very
+suspicious affair with a highly unsatisfactory end. I am not sure that I
+entirely agree with your police officer. Nor do I fancy that some of my
+acquaintances at Scotland Yard would have agreed with him."
+
+"Do you think I ought to have taken any further measures?" I asked
+uneasily.
+
+"No; I don't see how you could. You did all that was possible under the
+circumstances. You gave information, which is all that a private
+individual can do, especially if he is an overworked general
+practitioner. But still, an actual crime is the affair of every good
+citizen. I think we ought to take some action."
+
+"You think there really was a crime, then?"
+
+"What else can one think? What do you think about it yourself?"
+
+"I don't like to think about it at all. The recollection of that
+corpse-like figure in that gloomy bedroom has haunted me ever since I
+left the house. What do you suppose has happened?"
+
+Thorndyke did not answer for a few seconds. At length he said gravely:
+
+"I am afraid, Jervis, that the answer to that question can be given in
+one word."
+
+"Murder?" I asked with a slight shudder.
+
+He nodded, and we were both silent for a while.
+
+"The probability," he resumed after a pause, "that Mr. Graves is alive
+at this moment seems to me infinitesimal. There was evidently a
+conspiracy to murder him, and the deliberate, persistent manner in which
+that object was being pursued points to a very strong and definite
+motive. Then the tactics adopted point to considerable forethought and
+judgment. They are not the tactics of a fool or an ignoramus. We may
+criticize the closed carriage as a tactical mistake, calculated to
+arouse suspicion, but we have to weigh it against its alternative."
+
+"What is that?"
+
+"Well, consider the circumstances. Suppose Weiss had called you in in
+the ordinary way. You would still have detected the use of poison. But
+now you could have located your man and made inquiries about him in the
+neighbourhood. You would probably have given the police a hint and they
+would almost certainly have taken action, as they would have had the
+means of identifying the parties. The result would have been fatal to
+Weiss. The closed carriage invited suspicion, but it was a great
+safeguard. Weiss's method's were not so unsound after all. He is a
+cautious man, but cunning and very persistent. And he could be bold on
+occasion. The use of the blinded carriage was a decidedly audacious
+proceeding. I should put him down as a gambler of a very discreet,
+courageous and resourceful type."
+
+"Which all leads to the probability that he has pursued his scheme and
+brought it to a successful issue."
+
+"I am afraid it does. But--have you got your notes of the
+compass-bearings?"
+
+"The book is in my overcoat pocket with the board. I will fetch them."
+
+I went into the office, where our coats hung, and brought back the
+notebook with the little board to which it was still attached by the
+rubber band. Thorndyke took them from me, and, opening the book, ran
+his eye quickly down one page after another. Suddenly he glanced at the
+clock.
+
+"It is a little late to begin," said he, "but these notes look rather
+alluring. I am inclined to plot them out at once. I fancy, from their
+appearance, that they will enable us to locate the house without much
+difficulty. But don't let me keep you up if you are tired. I can work
+them out by myself."
+
+"You won't do anything of the kind," I exclaimed. "I am as keen on
+plotting them as you are, and, besides, I want to see how it is done. It
+seems to be a rather useful accomplishment."
+
+"It is," said Thorndyke. "In our work, the ability to make a rough but
+reliable sketch survey is often of great value. Have you ever looked
+over these notes?"
+
+"No. I put the book away when I came in and have never looked at it
+since."
+
+"It is a quaint document. You seem to be rich in railway bridges in
+those parts, and the route was certainly none of the most direct, as you
+noticed at the time. However, we will plot it out and then we shall see
+exactly what it looks like and whither it leads us."
+
+He retired to the laboratory and presently returned with a T-square, a
+military protractor, a pair of dividers and a large drawing-board on
+which was pinned a sheet of cartridge paper.
+
+"Now," said he, seating himself at the table with the board before him,
+"as to the method. You started from a known position and you arrived at
+a place the position of which is at present unknown. We shall fix the
+position of that spot by applying two factors, the distance that you
+travelled and the direction in which you were moving. The direction is
+given by the compass; and, as the horse seems to have kept up a
+remarkably even pace, we can take time as representing distance. You
+seem to have been travelling at about eight miles an hour, that is,
+roughly, a seventh of a mile in one minute. So if, on our chart, we take
+one inch as representing one minute, we shall be working with a scale of
+about seven inches to the mile."
+
+"That doesn't sound very exact as to distance," I objected.
+
+"It isn't. But that doesn't matter much. We have certain landmarks, such
+as these railway arches that you have noted, by which the actual
+distance can be settled after the route is plotted. You had better read
+out the entries, and, opposite each, write a number for reference, so
+that we need not confuse the chart by writing details on it. I shall
+start near the middle of the board, as neither you nor I seem to have
+the slightest notion what your general direction was."
+
+I laid the open notebook before me and read out the first entry:
+
+"'Eight fifty-eight. West by South. Start from home. Horse thirteen
+hands.'"
+
+"You turned round at once, I understand," said Thorndyke, "so we draw no
+line in that direction. The next is--?"
+
+"'Eight fifty-eight minutes, thirty seconds, East by North'; and the
+next is 'Eight fifty-nine, North-east.'"
+
+"Then you travelled east by north about a fifteenth of a mile and we
+shall put down half an inch on the chart. Then you turned north-east.
+How long did you go on?"
+
+"Exactly a minute. The next entry is 'Nine. West north-west.'"
+
+"Then you travelled about the seventh of a mile in a north-easterly
+direction and we draw a line an inch long at an angle of forty-five
+degrees to the right of the north and south line. From the end of that
+we carry a line at an angle of fifty-six and a quarter degrees to the
+left of the north and south line, and so on. The method is perfectly
+simple, you see."
+
+"Perfectly; I quite understand it now."
+
+I went back to my chair and continued to read out the entries from the
+notebook while Thorndyke laid off the lines of direction with the
+protractor, taking out the distances with the dividers from a scale of
+equal parts on the back of the instrument. As the work proceeded, I
+noticed, from time to time, a smile of quiet amusement spread over my
+colleague's keen, attentive face, and at each new reference to a railway
+bridge he chuckled softly.
+
+"What, again!" he laughed, as I recorded the passage of the fifth or
+sixth bridge. "It's like a game of croquet. Go on. What is the next?"
+
+I went on reading out the notes until I came to the final one:
+
+"'Nine twenty-four. South-east. In covered way. Stop. Wooden gates
+closed.'"
+
+Thorndyke ruled off the last line, remarking: "Then your covered way is
+on the south side of a street which bears north-east. So we complete our
+chart. Just look at your route, Jervis."
+
+He held up the board with a quizzical smile and I stared in astonishment
+at the chart. The single line, which represented the route of the
+carriage, zigzagged in the most amazing manner, turning, re-turning and
+crossing itself repeatedly, evidently passing more than once down the
+same thoroughfares and terminating at a comparatively short distance
+from its commencement.
+
+"Why!" I exclaimed, the "rascal must have lived quite near to
+Stillbury's house!"
+
+Thorndyke measured with the dividers the distance between the starting
+and arriving points of the route and took it off from the scale.
+
+"Five-eighths of a mile, roughly," he said. "You could have walked it in
+less than ten minutes. And now let us get out the ordnance map and see
+if we can give to each of those marvellously erratic lines 'a local
+habitation and a name.'"
+
+He spread the map out on the table and placed our chart by its side.
+
+"I think," said he, "you started from Lower Kennington Lane?"
+
+"Yes, from this point," I replied, indicating the spot with a pencil.
+
+"Then," said Thorndyke, "if we swing the chart round twenty degrees to
+correct the deviation of the compass, we can compare it with the
+ordnance map."
+
+He set off with the protractor an angle of twenty degrees from the
+north and south line and turned the chart round to that extent. After
+closely scrutinizing the map and the chart and comparing the one with
+the other, he said:
+
+"By mere inspection it seems fairly easy to identify the thoroughfares
+that correspond to the lines of the chart. Take the part that is near
+your destination. At nine twenty-one you passed under a bridge, going
+westward. That would seem to be Glasshouse Street. Then you turned
+south, apparently along the Albert Embankment, where you heard the tug's
+whistle. Then you heard a passenger train start on your left; that would
+be Vauxhall Station. Next you turned round due east and passed under a
+large railway bridge, which suggests the bridge that carries the Station
+over Upper Kennington Lane. If that is so, your house should be on the
+south side of Upper Kennington Lane, some three hundred yards from the
+bridge. But we may as well test our inferences by one or two
+measurements."
+
+"How can you do that if you don't know the exact scale of the chart?"
+
+"I will show you," said Thorndyke. "We shall establish the true scale
+and that will form part of the proof."
+
+He rapidly constructed on the upper blank part of the paper, a
+proportional diagram consisting of two intersecting lines with a single
+cross-line.
+
+"This long line," he explained, "is the distance from Stillbury's house
+to the Vauxhall railway bridge as it appears on the chart; the shorter
+cross-line is the same distance taken from the ordnance map. If our
+inference is correct and the chart is reasonably accurate, all the other
+distances will show a similar proportion. Let us try some of them. Take
+the distance from Vauxhall bridge to the Glasshouse Street bridge."
+
+[Illustration: The Track Chart, showing the route followed by Weiss's
+carriage.
+
+A.--Starting-point in Lower Kennington Lane.
+
+B.--Position of Mr. Weiss's house. The dotted lines connecting the
+bridges indicate probable railway lines.]
+
+He made the two measurements carefully, and, as the point of the
+dividers came down almost precisely in the correct place on the diagram,
+he looked up at me.
+
+"Considering the roughness of the method by which the chart was made, I
+think that is pretty conclusive, though, if you look at the various
+arches that you passed under and see how nearly they appear to follow
+the position of the South-Western Railway line, you hardly need further
+proof. But I will take a few more proportional measurements for the
+satisfaction of proving the case by scientific methods before we proceed
+to verify our conclusions by a visit to the spot."
+
+He took off one or two more distances, and on comparing them with the
+proportional distances on the ordnance map, found them in every case as
+nearly correct as could be expected.
+
+"Yes," said Thorndyke, laying down the dividers, "I think we have
+narrowed down the locality of Mr. Weiss's house to a few yards in a
+known street. We shall get further help from your note of nine
+twenty-three thirty, which records a patch of newly laid macadam
+extending up to the house."
+
+"That new macadam will be pretty well smoothed down by now," I objected.
+
+"Not so very completely," answered Thorndyke. "It is only a little over
+a month ago, and there has been very little wet weather since. It may be
+smooth, but it will be easily distinguishable from the old."
+
+"And do I understand that you propose to go and explore the
+neighbourhood?"
+
+"Undoubtedly I do. That is to say, I intend to convert the locality of
+this house into a definite address; which, I think, will now be
+perfectly easy, unless we should have the bad luck to find more than one
+covered way. Even then, the difficulty would be trifling."
+
+"And when you have ascertained where Mr. Weiss lives? What then?"
+
+"That will depend on circumstances. I think we shall probably call at
+Scotland Yard and have a little talk with our friend Mr. Superintendent
+Miller; unless, for any reason, it seems better to look into the case
+ourselves."
+
+"When is this voyage of exploration to take place?"
+
+Thorndyke considered this question, and, taking out his pocket-book,
+glanced through his engagements.
+
+"It seems to me," he said, "that to-morrow is a fairly free day. We
+could take the morning without neglecting other business. I suggest that
+we start immediately after breakfast. How will that suit my learned
+friend?"
+
+"My time is yours," I replied; "and if you choose to waste it on matters
+that don't concern you, that's your affair."
+
+"Then we will consider the arrangement to stand for to-morrow morning,
+or rather, for this morning, as I see that it is past twelve."
+
+With this Thorndyke gathered up the chart and instruments and we
+separated for the night.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter IX
+
+The House of Mystery
+
+
+Half-past nine on the following morning found us spinning along the
+Albert Embankment in a hansom to the pleasant tinkle of the horse's
+bell. Thorndyke appeared to be in high spirits, though the full
+enjoyment of the matutinal pipe precluded fluent conversation. As a
+precaution, he had put my notebook in his pocket before starting, and
+once or twice he took it out and looked over its pages; but he made no
+reference to the object of our quest, and the few remarks that he
+uttered would have indicated that his thoughts were occupied with other
+matters.
+
+Arrived at Vauxhall Station, we alighted and forthwith made our way to
+the bridge that spans Upper Kennington Lane near its junction with
+Harleyford Road.
+
+"Here is our starting point," said Thorndyke. "From this place to the
+house is about three hundred yards--say four hundred and twenty
+paces--and at about two hundred paces we ought to reach our patch of new
+road-metal. Now, are you ready? If we keep step we shall average our
+stride."
+
+We started together at a good pace, stepping out with military
+regularity and counting aloud as we went. As we told out the hundred and
+ninety-fourth pace I observed Thorndyke nod towards the roadway a little
+ahead, and, looking at it attentively as we approached, it was easy to
+see by the regularity of surface and lighter colour, that it had
+recently been re-metalled.
+
+Having counted out the four hundred and twenty paces, we halted, and
+Thorndyke turned to me with a smile of triumph.
+
+"Not a bad estimate, Jervis," said he. "That will be your house if I am
+not much mistaken. There is no other mews or private roadway in sight."
+
+He pointed to a narrow turning some dozen yards ahead, apparently the
+entrance to a mews or yard and closed by a pair of massive wooden gates.
+
+"Yes," I answered, "there can be no doubt that this is the place; but,
+by Jove!" I added, as we drew nearer, "the nest is empty! Do you see?"
+
+I pointed to a bill that was stuck on the gate, bearing, as I could see
+at this distance, the inscription "To Let."
+
+"Here is a new and startling, if not altogether unexpected,
+development," said Thorndyke, as we stood gazing at the bill; which set
+forth that "these premises, including stabling and workshops," were "to
+be let on lease or otherwise," and referred inquiries to Messrs. Ryebody
+Brothers, house-agents and valuers, Upper Kennington Lane. "The question
+is, should we make a few inquiries of the agent, or should we get the
+keys and have a look at the inside of the house? I am inclined to do
+both, and the latter first, if Messrs. Ryebody Brothers will trust us
+with the keys."
+
+We proceeded up the lane to the address given, and, entering the
+office, Thorndyke made his request--somewhat to the surprise of the
+clerk; for Thorndyke was not quite the kind of person whom one naturally
+associates with stabling and workshops. However, there was no
+difficulty, but as the clerk sorted out the keys from a bunch hanging
+from a hook, he remarked:
+
+"I expect you will find the place in a rather dirty and neglected
+condition. The house has not been cleaned yet; it is just as it was left
+when the brokers took away the furniture."
+
+"Was the last tenant sold up, then?" Thorndyke asked.
+
+"Oh, no. He had to leave rather unexpectedly to take up some business in
+Germany."
+
+"I hope he paid his rent," said Thorndyke.
+
+"Oh, yes. Trust us for that. But I should say that Mr. Weiss--that was
+his name--was a man of some means. He seemed to have plenty of money,
+though he always paid in notes. I don't fancy he had a banking account
+in this country. He hadn't been here more than about six or seven months
+and I imagine he didn't know many people in England, as he paid us a
+cash deposit in lieu of references when he first came."
+
+"I think you said his name was Weiss. It wouldn't be H. Weiss by any
+chance?"
+
+"I believe it was. But I can soon tell you." He opened a drawer and
+consulted what looked like a book of receipt forms. "Yes; H Weiss. Do
+you know him, sir?"
+
+"I knew a Mr. H. Weiss some years ago. He came from Bremen, I
+remember."
+
+"This Mr. Weiss has gone back to Hamburg," the clerk observed.
+
+"Ah," said Thorndyke, "then it would seem not to be the same. My
+acquaintance was a fair man with a beard and a decidedly red nose and he
+wore spectacles."
+
+"That's the man. You've described him exactly," said the clerk, who was
+apparently rather easily satisfied in the matter of description.
+
+"Dear me," said Thorndyke; "what a small world it is. Do you happen to
+have a note of his address in Hamburg?"
+
+"I haven't," the clerk replied. "You see we've done with him, having got
+the rent, though the house is not actually surrendered yet. Mr Weiss's
+housekeeper still has the front-door key. She doesn't start for Hamburg
+for a week or so, and meanwhile she keeps the key so that she can call
+every day and see if there are any letters."
+
+"Indeed," said Thorndyke. "I wonder if he still has the same
+housekeeper."
+
+"This lady is a German," replied the clerk, "with a regular jaw-twisting
+name. Sounded like Shallybang."
+
+"Schallibaum. That is the lady. A fair woman with hardly any eyebrows
+and a pronounced cast in the left eye."
+
+"Now that's very curious, sir," said the clerk. "It's the same name, and
+this is a fair woman with remarkably thin eyebrows, I remember, now that
+you mention it. But it can't be the same person. I have only seen her a
+few times and then only just for a minute or so; but I'm quite certain
+she had no cast in her eye. So, you see, sir, she can't be the same
+person. You can dye your hair or you can wear a wig or you can paint
+your face; but a squint is a squint. There's no faking a swivel eye."
+
+Thorndyke laughed softly. "I suppose not; unless, perhaps, some one
+might invent an adjustable glass eye. Are these the keys?"
+
+"Yes, sir. The large one belongs to the wicket in the front gate. The
+other is the latch-key belonging to the side door. Mrs. Shallybang has
+the key of the front door."
+
+"Thank you," said Thorndyke. He took the keys, to which a wooden label
+was attached, and we made our way back towards the house of mystery,
+discussing the clerk's statements as we went.
+
+"A very communicable young gentleman, that," Thorndyke remarked. "He
+seemed quite pleased to relieve the monotony of office work with a
+little conversation. And I am sure I was very delighted to indulge him."
+
+"He hadn't much to tell, all the same," said I.
+
+Thorndyke looked at me in surprise. "I don't know what you would have,
+Jervis, unless you expect casual strangers to present you with a
+ready-made body of evidence, fully classified, with all the inferences
+and implications stated. It seemed to me that he was a highly
+instructive young man."
+
+"What did you learn from him?" I asked.
+
+"Oh, come, Jervis," he protested; "is that a fair question, under our
+present arrangement? However, I will mention a few points. We learn that
+about six or seven months ago, Mr. H. Weiss dropped from the clouds into
+Kennington Lane and that he has now ascended from Kennington Lane into
+the clouds. That is a useful piece of information. Then we learn that
+Mrs. Schallibaum has remained in England; which might be of little
+importance if it were not for a very interesting corollary that it
+suggests."
+
+"What is that?"
+
+"I must leave you to consider the facts at your leisure; but you will
+have noticed the ostensible reason for her remaining behind. She is
+engaged in puttying up the one gaping joint in their armour. One of them
+has been indiscreet enough to give this address to some
+correspondent--probably a foreign correspondent. Now, as they obviously
+wish to leave no tracks, they cannot give their new address to the Post
+Office to have their letters forwarded, and, on the other hand, a letter
+left in the box might establish such a connection as would enable them
+to be traced. Moreover, the letter might be of a kind that they would
+not wish to fall into the wrong hands. They would not have given this
+address excepting under some peculiar circumstances."
+
+"No, I should think not, if they took this house for the express purpose
+of committing a crime in it."
+
+"Exactly. And then there is one other fact that you may have gathered
+from our young friend's remarks."
+
+"What is that?"
+
+"That a controllable squint is a very valuable asset to a person who
+wishes to avoid identification."
+
+"Yes, I did note that. The fellow seemed to think that it was absolutely
+conclusive."
+
+"And so would most people; especially in the case of a squint of that
+kind. We can all squint towards our noses, but no normal person can turn
+his eyes away from one another. My impression is that the presence or
+absence, as the case might be, of a divergent squint would be accepted
+as absolute disproof of identity. But here we are."
+
+He inserted the key into the wicket of the large gate, and, when we had
+stepped through into the covered way, he locked it from the inside.
+
+"Why have you locked us in?" I asked, seeing that the wicket had a
+latch.
+
+"Because," he replied, "if we now hear any one on the premises we shall
+know who it is. Only one person besides ourselves has a key."
+
+His reply startled me somewhat. I stopped and looked at him.
+
+"That is a quaint situation, Thorndyke. I hadn't thought of it. Why she
+may actually come to the house while we are here; in fact, she may be in
+the house at this moment."
+
+"I hope not," said he. "We don't particularly want Mr. Weiss to be put
+on his guard, for I take it, he is a pretty wide-awake gentleman under
+any circumstances. If she does come, we had better keep out of sight. I
+think we will look over the house first. That is of the most interest to
+us. If the lady does happen to come while we are here, she may stay to
+show us over the place and keep an eye on us. So we will leave the
+stables to the last."
+
+We walked down the entry to the side door at which I had been admitted
+by Mrs. Schallibaum on the occasion of my previous visits. Thorndyke
+inserted the latch-key, and, as soon as we were inside, shut the door
+and walked quickly through into the hall, whither I followed him. He
+made straight for the front door, where, having slipped up the catch of
+the lock, he began very attentively to examine the letter-box. It was a
+somewhat massive wooden box, fitted with a lock of good quality and
+furnished with a wire grille through which one could inspect the
+interior.
+
+"We are in luck, Jervis," Thorndyke remarked. "Our visit has been most
+happily timed. There is a letter in the box."
+
+"Well," I said, "we can't get it out; and if we could, it would be
+hardly justifiable."
+
+"I don't know," he replied, "that I am prepared to assent off-hand to
+either of those propositions; but I would rather not tamper with another
+person's letter, even if that person should happen to be a murderer.
+Perhaps we can get the information we want from the outside of the
+envelope."
+
+He produced from his pocket a little electric lamp fitted with a
+bull's-eye, and, pressing the button, threw a beam of light in through
+the grille. The letter was lying on the bottom of the box face upwards,
+so that the address could easily be read.
+
+"Herrn Dr. H. Weiss," Thorndyke read aloud. "German stamp, postmark
+apparently Darmstadt. You notice that the 'Herrn Dr.' is printed and the
+rest written. What do you make of that?"
+
+"I don't quite know. Do you think he is really a medical man?"
+
+"Perhaps we had better finish our investigation, in case we are
+disturbed, and discuss the bearings of the facts afterwards. The name of
+the sender may be on the flap of the envelope. If it is not, I shall
+pick the lock and take out the letter. Have you got a probe about you?"
+
+"Yes; by force of habit I am still carrying my pocket case."
+
+I took the little case from my pocket and extracting from it a jointed
+probe of thickish silver wire, screwed the two halves together and
+handed the completed instrument to Thorndyke; who passed the slender rod
+through the grille and adroitly turned the letter over.
+
+"Ha!" he exclaimed with deep satisfaction, as the light fell on the
+reverse of the envelope, "we are saved from the necessity of theft--or
+rather, unauthorized borrowing--'Johann Schnitzler, Darmstadt.' That is
+all that we actually want. The German police can do the rest if
+necessary."
+
+He handed me back my probe, pocketed his lamp, released the catch of the
+lock on the door, and turned away along the dark, musty-smelling hall.
+
+"Do you happen to know the name of Johann Schnitzler?" he asked.
+
+I replied that I had no recollection of ever having heard the name
+before.
+
+"Neither have I," said he; "but I think we may form a pretty shrewd
+guess as to his avocation. As you saw, the words 'Herrn Dr.' were
+printed on the envelope, leaving the rest of the address to be written
+by hand. The plain inference is that he is a person who habitually
+addresses letters to medical men, and as the style of the envelope and
+the lettering--which is printed, not embossed--is commercial, we may
+assume that he is engaged in some sort of trade. Now, what is a likely
+trade?"
+
+"He might be an instrument maker or a drug manufacturer; more probably
+the latter, as there is an extensive drug and chemical industry in
+Germany, and as Mr. Weiss seemed to have more use for drugs than
+instruments."
+
+"Yes, I think you are right; but we will look him up when we get home.
+And now we had better take a glance at the bedroom; that is, if you can
+remember which room it was."
+
+"It was on the first floor," said I, "and the door by which I entered
+was just at the head of the stairs."
+
+We ascended the two flights, and, as we reached the landing, I halted.
+
+"This was the door," I said, and was about to turn the handle when
+Thorndyke caught me by the arm.
+
+"One moment, Jervis," said he. "What do you make of this?"
+
+He pointed to a spot near the bottom of the door where, on close
+inspection, four good-sized screw-holes were distinguishable. They had
+been neatly stopped with putty and covered with knotting, and were so
+nearly the colour of the grained and varnished woodwork as to be hardly
+visible.
+
+"Evidently," I answered, "there has been a bolt there, though it seems a
+queer place to fix one."
+
+"Not at all," replied Thorndyke. "If you look up you will see that there
+was another at the top of the door, and, as the lock is in the middle,
+they must have been highly effective. But there are one or two other
+points that strike one. First, you will notice that the bolts have been
+fixed on quite recently, for the paint that they covered is of the same
+grimy tint as that on the rest of the door. Next, they have been taken
+off, which, seeing that they could hardly have been worth the trouble of
+removal, seems to suggest that the person who fixed them considered that
+their presence might appear remarkable, while the screw-holes, which
+have been so skilfully and carefully stopped, would be less conspicuous.
+
+"Then, they are on the outside of the door--an unusual situation for
+bedroom bolts--and were of considerable size. They were long and thick."
+
+"I can see, by the position of the screw-holes, that they were long; but
+how do you arrive at their thickness?"
+
+"By the size of the counter-holes in the jamb of the door. These holes
+have been very carefully filled with wooden plugs covered with knotting;
+but you can make out their diameter, which is that of the bolts, and
+which is decidedly out of proportion for an ordinary bedroom door. Let
+me show you a light."
+
+He flashed his lamp into the dark corner, and I was able to see
+distinctly the portentously large holes into which the bolts had fitted,
+and also to note the remarkable neatness with which they had been
+plugged.
+
+"There was a second door, I remember," said I. "Let us see if that was
+guarded in a similar manner."
+
+We strode through the empty room, awakening dismal echoes as we trod the
+bare boards, and flung open the other door. At top and bottom, similar
+groups of screw-holes showed that this also had been made secure, and
+that these bolts had been of the same very substantial character as the
+others.
+
+Thorndyke turned away from the door with a slight frown.
+
+"If we had any doubts," said he, "as to what has been going on in this
+house, these traces of massive fastenings would be almost enough to
+settle them."
+
+"They might have been there before Weiss came," I suggested. "He only
+came about seven months ago and there is no date on the screw-holes."
+
+"That is quite true. But when, with their recent fixture, you couple the
+facts that they have been removed, that very careful measures have been
+taken to obliterate the traces of their presence, and that they would
+have been indispensable for the commission of the crime that we are
+almost certain was being committed here, it looks like an excess of
+caution to seek other explanations."
+
+"But," I objected, "if the man, Graves, was really imprisoned, could not
+he have smashed the window and called for help?"
+
+"The window looks out on the yard, as you see; but I expect it was
+secured too."
+
+He drew the massive, old-fashioned shutters out of their recess and
+closed them.
+
+"Yes, here we are." He pointed to four groups of screw-holes at the
+corners of the shutters, and, once more producing his lamp, narrowly
+examined the insides of the recesses into which the shutters folded.
+
+"The nature of the fastening is quite evident," said he. "An iron bar
+passed right across at the top and bottom and was secured by a staple
+and padlock. You can see the mark the bar made in the recess when the
+shutters were folded. When these bars were fixed and padlocked and the
+bolts were shot, this room was as secure, for a prisoner unprovided with
+tools, as a cell in Newgate."
+
+We looked at one another for awhile without speaking; and I fancy that
+if Mr. H. Weiss could have seen our faces he might have thought it
+desirable to seek some retreat even more remote than Hamburg.
+
+"It was a diabolical affair, Jervis," Thorndyke said at length, in an
+ominously quiet and even gentle tone. "A sordid, callous, cold-blooded
+crime of a type that is to me utterly unforgivable and incapable of
+extenuation. Of course, it may have failed. Mr. Graves may even now be
+alive. I shall make it my very especial business to ascertain whether he
+is or not. And if he is not, I shall take it to myself as a sacred duty
+to lay my hand on the man who has compassed his death."
+
+I looked at Thorndyke with something akin to awe. In the quiet
+unemotional tone of his voice, in his unruffled manner and the stony
+calm of his face, there was something much more impressive, more
+fateful, than there could have been in the fiercest threats or the most
+passionate denunciations. I felt that in those softly spoken words he
+had pronounced the doom of the fugitive villain.
+
+He turned away from the window and glanced round the empty room. It
+seemed that our discovery of the fastenings had exhausted the
+information that it had to offer.
+
+"It is a thousand pities," I remarked, "that we were unable to look
+round before they moved out the furniture. We might have found some clue
+to the scoundrel's identity."
+
+"Yes," replied Thorndyke; "there isn't much information to be gathered
+here, I am afraid. I see they have swept up the small litter from the
+floor and poked it under the grate. We will turn that over, as there
+seems to be nothing else, and then look at the other rooms."
+
+He raked out the little heap of rubbish with his stick and spread it out
+on the hearth. It certainly looked unpromising enough, being just such a
+rubbish heap as may be swept up in any untidy room during a move. But
+Thorndyke went through it systematically, examining each item
+attentively, even to the local tradesmen's bills and empty paper bags,
+before laying them aside. Another rake of his stick scattered the bulky
+masses of crumpled paper and brought into view an object which he picked
+up with some eagerness. It was a portion of a pair of spectacles, which
+had apparently been trodden on, for the side-bar was twisted and bent
+and the glass was shattered into fragments.
+
+"This ought to give us a hint," said he. "It will probably have belonged
+either to Weiss or Graves, as Mrs. Schallibaum apparently did not wear
+glasses. Let us see if we can find the remainder."
+
+We both groped carefully with our sticks amongst the rubbish, spreading
+it out on the hearth and removing the numerous pieces of crumpled paper.
+Our search was rewarded by the discovery of the second eye-piece of the
+spectacles, of which the glass was badly cracked but less shattered than
+the other. I also picked up two tiny sticks at which Thorndyke looked
+with deep interest before laying them on the mantelshelf.
+
+"We will consider them presently," said he. "Let us finish with the
+spectacles first. You see that the left eye-glass is a concave
+cylindrical lens of some sort. We can make out that much from the
+fragments that remain, and we can measure the curvature when we get them
+home, although that will be easier if we can collect some more fragments
+and stick them together. The right eye is plain glass; that is quite
+evident. Then these will have belonged to your patient, Jervis. You said
+that the tremulous iris was in the right eye, I think?"
+
+"Yes," I replied. "These will be his spectacles, without doubt."
+
+"They are peculiar frames," he continued. "If they were made in this
+country, we might be able to discover the maker. But we must collect as
+many fragments of glass as we can."
+
+Once more we searched amongst the rubbish and succeeded, eventually, in
+recovering some seven or eight small fragments of the broken
+spectacle-glasses, which Thorndyke laid on the mantelshelf beside the
+little sticks.
+
+"By the way, Thorndyke," I said, taking up the latter to examine them
+afresh, "what are these things? Can you make anything of them?"
+
+He looked at them thoughtfully for a few moments and then replied:
+
+"I don't think I will tell you what they are. You should find that out
+for yourself, and it will be well worth your while to do so. They are
+rather suggestive objects under the circumstances. But notice their
+peculiarities carefully. Both are portions of some smooth, stout reed.
+There is a long, thin stick--about six inches long--and a thicker piece
+only three inches in length. The longer piece has a little scrap of red
+paper stuck on at the end; apparently a portion of a label of some kind
+with an ornamental border. The other end of the stick has been broken
+off. The shorter, stouter stick has had its central cavity artificially
+enlarged so that it fits over the other to form a cap or sheath. Make a
+careful note of those facts and try to think what they probably mean;
+what would be the most likely use for an object of this kind. When you
+have ascertained that, you will have learned something new about this
+case. And now, to resume our investigations. Here is a very suggestive
+thing." He picked up a small, wide-mouthed bottle and, holding it up for
+my inspection, continued: "Observe the fly sticking to the inside, and
+the name on the label, 'Fox, Russell Street, Covent Garden.'"
+
+"I don't know Mr. Fox."
+
+"Then I will inform you that he is a dealer in the materials for
+'make-up,' theatrical or otherwise, and will leave you to consider the
+bearing of this bottle on our present investigation. There doesn't seem
+to be anything else of interest in this El Dorado excepting that screw,
+which you notice is about the size of those with which the bolts were
+fastened on the doors. I don't think it is worth while to unstop any of
+the holes to try it; we should learn nothing fresh."
+
+He rose, and, having kicked the discarded rubbish back under the grate,
+gathered up his gleanings from the mantelpiece, carefully bestowing the
+spectacles and the fragments of glass in the tin box that he appeared
+always to carry in his pocket, and wrapping the larger objects in his
+handkerchief.
+
+"A poor collection," was his comment, as he returned the box and
+handkerchief to his pocket, "and yet not so poor as I had feared.
+Perhaps, if we question them closely enough, these unconsidered trifles
+may be made to tell us something worth learning after all. Shall we go
+into the other room?"
+
+We passed out on to the landing and into the front room, where, guided
+by experience, we made straight for the fire-place. But the little heap
+of rubbish there contained nothing that even Thorndyke's inquisitive eye
+could view with interest. We wandered disconsolately round the room,
+peering into the empty cupboards and scanning the floor and the corners
+by the skirting, without discovering a single object or relic of the
+late occupants. In the course of my perambulations I halted by the
+window and was looking down into the street when Thorndyke called to me
+sharply:
+
+"Come away from the window, Jervis! Have you forgotten that Mrs.
+Schallibaum may be in the neighbourhood at this moment?"
+
+As a matter of fact I had entirely forgotten the matter, nor did it now
+strike me as anything but the remotest of possibilities. I replied to
+that effect.
+
+"I don't agree with you," Thorndyke rejoined. "We have heard that she
+comes here to look for letters. Probably she comes every day, or even
+oftener. There is a good deal at stake, remember, and they cannot feel
+quite as secure as they would wish. Weiss must have seen what view you
+took of the case and must have had some uneasy moments thinking of what
+you might do. In fact, we may take it that the fear of you drove them
+out of the neighbourhood, and that they are mighty anxious to get that
+letter and cut the last link that binds them to this house."
+
+"I suppose that is so," I agreed; "and if the lady should happen to pass
+this way and should see me at the window and recognize me, she would
+certainly smell a rat."
+
+"A rat!" exclaimed Thorndyke. "She would smell a whole pack of foxes,
+and Mr. H. Weiss would be more on his guard than ever. Let us have a
+look at the other rooms; there is nothing here."
+
+We went up to the next floor and found traces of recent occupation in
+one room only. The garrets had evidently been unused, and the kitchen
+and ground-floor rooms offered nothing that appeared to Thorndyke worth
+noting. Then we went out by the side door and down the covered way into
+the yard at the back. The workshops were fastened with rusty padlocks
+that looked as if they had not been disturbed for months. The stables
+were empty and had been tentatively cleaned out, the coach-house was
+vacant, and presented no traces of recent use excepting a half-bald
+spoke-brush. We returned up the covered way and I was about to close the
+side door, which Thorndyke had left ajar, when he stopped me.
+
+"We'll have another look at the hall before we go," said he; and,
+walking softly before me, he made his way to the front door, where,
+producing his lamp, he threw a beam of light into the letter-box.
+
+"Any more letters?" I asked.
+
+"Any more!" he repeated. "Look for yourself."
+
+I stooped and peered through the grille into the lighted interior; and
+then I uttered an exclamation.
+
+The box was empty.
+
+Thorndyke regarded me with a grim smile. "We have been caught on the
+hop, Jervis, I suspect," said he.
+
+"It is queer," I replied. "I didn't hear any sound of the opening or
+closing of the door; did you?"
+
+"No; I didn't hear any sound; which makes me suspect that she did. She
+would have heard our voices and she is probably keeping a sharp look-out
+at this very moment. I wonder if she saw you at the window. But whether
+she did or not, we must go very warily. Neither of us must return to the
+Temple direct, and we had better separate when we have returned the keys
+and I will watch you out of sight and see if anyone is following you.
+What are you going to do?"
+
+"If you don't want me, I shall run over to Kensington and drop in to
+lunch at the Hornbys'. I said I would call as soon as I had an hour or
+so free."
+
+"Very well. Do so; and keep a look-out in case you are followed. I have
+to go down to Guildford this afternoon. Under the circumstances, I shall
+not go back home, but send Polton a telegram and take a train at
+Vauxhall and change at some small station where I can watch the
+platform. Be as careful as you can. Remember that what you have to
+avoid is being followed to any place where you are known, and, above
+all, revealing your connection with number Five A, King's Bench Walk."
+
+Having thus considered our immediate movements, we emerged together from
+the wicket, and locking it behind us, walked quickly to the
+house-agents', where an opportune office-boy received the keys without
+remark. As we came out of the office, I halted irresolutely and we both
+looked up and down the lane.
+
+"There is no suspicious looking person in sight at present," Thorndyke
+said, and then asked: "Which way do you think of going?"
+
+"It seems to me," I replied, "that my best plan would be to take a cab
+or an omnibus so as to get out of the neighbourhood as quickly as
+possible. If I go through Ravensden Street into Kennington Park Road, I
+can pick up an omnibus that will take me to the Mansion House, where I
+can change for Kensington. I shall go on the top so that I can keep a
+look-out for any other omnibus or cab that may be following."
+
+"Yes," said Thorndyke, "that seems a good plan. I will walk with you and
+see that you get a fair start."
+
+We walked briskly along the lane and through Ravensden Street to the
+Kennington Park Road. An omnibus was approaching from the south at a
+steady jog-trot and we halted at the corner to wait for it. Several
+people passed us in different directions, but none seemed to take any
+particular notice of us, though we observed them rather narrowly,
+especially the women. Then the omnibus crawled up. I sprang on the
+foot-board and ascended to the roof, where I seated myself and surveyed
+the prospect to the rear. No one else got on the omnibus--which had not
+stopped--and no cab or other passenger vehicle was in sight. I continued
+to watch Thorndyke as he stood sentinel at the corner, and noted that no
+one appeared to be making any effort to overtake the omnibus. Presently
+my colleague waved his hand to me and turned back towards Vauxhall, and
+I, having satisfied myself once more that no pursuing cab or hurrying
+foot-passenger was in sight, decided that our precautions had been
+unnecessary and settled myself in a rather more comfortable position.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter X
+
+The Hunter Hunted
+
+
+The omnibus of those days was a leisurely vehicle. Its ordinary pace was
+a rather sluggish trot, and in a thickly populated thoroughfare its
+speed was further reduced by frequent stoppages. Bearing these facts in
+mind, I gave an occasional backward glance as we jogged northward,
+though my attention soon began to wander from the rather remote
+possibility of pursuit to the incidents of our late exploration.
+
+It had not been difficult to see that Thorndyke was very well pleased
+with the results of our search, but excepting the letter--which
+undoubtedly opened up a channel for further inquiry and possible
+identification--I could not perceive that any of the traces that we had
+found justified his satisfaction. There were the spectacles, for
+instance. They were almost certainly the pair worn by Mr. Graves. But
+what then? It was exceedingly improbable that we should be able to
+discover the maker of them, and if we were, it was still more improbable
+that he would be able to give us any information that would help us.
+Spectacle-makers are not usually on confidential terms with their
+customers.
+
+As to the other objects, I could make nothing of them. The little sticks
+of reed evidently had some use that was known to Thorndyke and
+furnished, by inference, some kind of information about Weiss, Graves,
+or Mrs. Schallibaum. But I had never seen anything like them before and
+they conveyed nothing whatever to me. Then the bottle that had seemed so
+significant to Thorndyke was to me quite uninforming. It did, indeed,
+suggest that some member of the household might be connected with the
+stage, but it gave no hint as to which one. Certainly that person was
+not Mr. Weiss, whose appearance was as remote from that of an actor as
+could well be imagined. At any rate, the bottle and its label gave me no
+more useful hint than it might be worth while to call on Mr. Fox and
+make inquiries; and something told me very emphatically that this was
+not what it had conveyed to Thorndyke.
+
+These reflections occupied me until the omnibus, having rumbled over
+London Bridge and up King William Street, joined the converging streams
+of traffic at the Mansion House. Here I got down and changed to an
+omnibus bound for Kensington; on which I travelled westward pleasantly
+enough, looking down into the teeming streets and whiling away the time
+by meditating upon the very agreeable afternoon that I promised myself,
+and considering how far my new arrangement with Thorndyke would justify
+me in entering into certain domestic engagements of a highly interesting
+kind.
+
+What might have happened under other circumstances it is impossible to
+tell and useless to speculate; the fact is that my journey ended in a
+disappointment. I arrived, all agog, at the familiar house in Endsley
+Gardens only to be told by a sympathetic housemaid that the family was
+out; that Mrs. Hornby had gone into the country and would not be home
+until night, and--which mattered a good deal more to me--that her niece,
+Miss Juliet Gibson, had accompanied her.
+
+Now a man who drops into lunch without announcing his intention or
+previously ascertaining those of his friends has no right to quarrel
+with fate if he finds an empty house. Thus philosophically I reflected
+as I turned away from the house in profound discontent, demanding of the
+universe in general why Mrs. Hornby need have perversely chosen my first
+free day to go gadding into the country, and above all, why she must
+needs spirit away the fair Juliet. This was the crowning misfortune (for
+I could have endured the absence of the elder lady with commendable
+fortitude), and since I could not immediately return to the Temple it
+left me a mere waif and stray for the time being.
+
+Instinct--of the kind that manifests itself especially about one
+o'clock in the afternoon--impelled me in the direction of Brompton Road,
+and finally landed me at a table in a large restaurant apparently
+adjusted to the needs of ladies who had come from a distance to engage
+in the feminine sport of shopping. Here, while waiting for my lunch, I
+sat idly scanning the morning paper and wondering what I should do with
+the rest of the day; and presently it chanced that my eye caught the
+announcement of a matinée at the theatre in Sloane Square. It was quite
+a long time since I had been at a theatre, and, as the play--light
+comedy--seemed likely to satisfy my not very critical taste, I decided
+to devote the afternoon to reviving my acquaintance with the drama.
+Accordingly as soon as my lunch was finished, I walked down the Brompton
+Road, stepped on to an omnibus, and was duly deposited at the door of
+the theatre. A couple of minutes later I found myself occupying an
+excellent seat in the second row of the pit, oblivious alike of my
+recent disappointment and of Thorndyke's words of warning.
+
+I am not an enthusiastic play-goer. To dramatic performances I am
+disposed to assign nothing further than the modest function of
+furnishing entertainment. I do not go to a theatre to be instructed or
+to have my moral outlook elevated. But, by way of compensation, I am not
+difficult to please. To a simple play, adjusted to my primitive taste, I
+can bring a certain bucolic appreciation that enables me to extract from
+the performance the maximum of enjoyment; and when, on this occasion,
+the final curtain fell and the audience rose, I rescued my hat from its
+insecure resting-place and turned to go with the feeling that I had
+spent a highly agreeable afternoon.
+
+Emerging from the theatre, borne on the outgoing stream, I presently
+found myself opposite the door of a tea-shop. Instinct--the five o'clock
+instinct this time--guided me in; for we are creatures of habit,
+especially of the tea habit. The unoccupied table to which I drifted was
+in a shady corner not very far from the pay-desk; and here I had been
+seated less than a minute when a lady passed me on her way to the
+farther table. The glimpse that I caught of her as she approached--it
+was but a glimpse, since she passed behind me--showed that she was
+dressed in black, that she wore a beaded veil and hat, and in addition
+to the glass of milk and the bun that she carried, she was encumbered by
+an umbrella and a small basket, apparently containing some kind of
+needlework. I must confess that I gave her very little attention at the
+time, being occupied in anxious speculation as to how long it would be
+before the fact of my presence would impinge on the consciousness of the
+waitress.
+
+The exact time by the clock on the wall was three minutes and a quarter,
+at the expiration of which an anaemic young woman sauntered up to the
+table and bestowed on me a glance of sullen interrogation, as if mutely
+demanding what the devil I wanted. I humbly requested that I might be
+provided with a pot of tea; whereupon she turned on her heel (which was
+a good deal worn down on the offside) and reported my conduct to a lady
+behind a marble-topped counter.
+
+It seemed that the counter lady took a lenient view of the case, for in
+less than four minutes the waitress returned and gloomily deposited on
+the table before me a tea-pot, a milk-jug, a cup and saucer, a jug of
+hot water, and a small pool of milk. Then she once more departed in
+dudgeon.
+
+I had just given the tea in the pot a preliminary stir and was about to
+pour out the first cup when I felt some one bump lightly against my
+chair and heard something rattle on the floor. I turned quickly and
+perceived the lady, whom I had seen enter, stooping just behind my
+chair. It seemed that having finished her frugal meal she was on her way
+out when she had dropped the little basket that I had noticed hanging
+from her wrist; which basket had promptly disgorged its entire contents
+on the floor.
+
+Now every one must have noticed the demon of agility that seems to enter
+into an inanimate object when it is dropped, and the apparently
+intelligent malice with which it discovers, and rolls into, the most
+inaccessible places. Here was a case in point. This particular basket
+had contained materials for Oriental bead-work; and no sooner had it
+reached the floor than each item of its contents appeared to become
+possessed of a separate and particular devil impelling it to travel at
+headlong speed to some remote and unapproachable corner as distant as
+possible from its fellows.
+
+As the only man--and almost the only person--near, the duty of
+salvage-agent manifestly devolved upon me; and down I went, accordingly,
+on my hands and knees, regardless of a nearly new pair of trousers, to
+grope under tables, chairs and settles in reach of the scattered
+treasure. A ball of the thick thread or twine I recovered from a dark
+and dirty corner after a brief interview with the sharp corner of a
+settle, and a multitude of the large beads with which this infernal
+industry is carried on I gathered from all parts of the compass, coming
+forth at length (quadrupedally) with a double handful of the
+treasure-trove and a very lively appreciation of the resistant qualities
+of a cast-iron table-stand when applied to the human cranium.
+
+The owner of the lost and found property was greatly distressed by the
+accident and the trouble it had caused me; in fact she was quite
+needlessly agitated about it. The hand which held the basket into which
+I poured the rescued trash trembled visibly, and the brief glance that I
+bestowed on her as she murmured her thanks and apologies--with a very
+slight foreign accent--showed me that she was excessively pale. That
+much I could see plainly in spite of the rather dim light in this part
+of the shop and the beaded veil that covered her face; and I could also
+see that she was a rather remarkable looking woman, with a great mass of
+harsh, black hair and very broad black eyebrows that nearly met above
+her nose and contrasted strikingly with the dead white of her skin. But,
+of course, I did not look at her intently. Having returned her property
+and received her acknowledgments, I resumed my seat and left her to go
+on her way.
+
+I had once more grasped the handle of the tea-pot when I made a rather
+curious discovery. At the bottom of the tea-cup lay a single lump of
+sugar. To the majority of persons it would have meant nothing. They
+would have assumed that they had dropped it in and forgotten it and
+would have proceeded to pour out the tea. But it happened that, at this
+time, I did not take sugar in my tea; whence it followed that the lump
+had not been put in by me. Assuming, therefore, that it had been
+carelessly dropped in by the waitress, I turned it out on the table,
+filled the cup, added the milk, and took a tentative draught to test the
+temperature.
+
+The cup was yet at my lips when I chanced to look into the mirror that
+faced my table. Of course it reflected the part of the shop that was
+behind me, including the cashier's desk; at which the owner of the
+basket now stood paying for her refreshment. Between her and me was a
+gas chandelier which cast its light on my back but full on her face; and
+her veil notwithstanding, I could see that she was looking at me
+steadily; was, in fact, watching me intently and with a very curious
+expression--an expression of expectancy mingled with alarm. But this was
+not all. As I returned her intent look--which I could do unobserved,
+since my face, reflected in the mirror, was in deep shadow--I suddenly
+perceived that that steady gaze engaged her right eye only; the other
+eye was looking sharply towards her left shoulder. In short, she had a
+divergent squint of the left eye.
+
+I put down my cup with a thrill of amazement and a sudden surging up of
+suspicion and alarm. An instant's reflection reminded me that when she
+had spoken to me a few moments before, both her eyes had looked into
+mine without the slightest trace of a squint. My thoughts flew back to
+the lump of sugar, to the unguarded milk-jug and the draught of tea that
+I had already swallowed; and, hardly knowing what I intended, I started
+to my feet and turned to confront her. But as I rose, she snatched up
+her change and darted from the shop. Through the glass door, I saw her
+spring on to the foot-board of a passing hansom and give the driver some
+direction. I saw the man whip up his horse, and, by the time I reached
+the door, the cab was moving off swiftly towards Sloane Street.
+
+I stood irresolute. I had not paid and could not run out of the shop
+without making a fuss, and my hat and stick were still on the rail
+opposite my seat. The woman ought to be followed, but I had no fancy for
+the task. If the tea that I had swallowed was innocuous, no harm was
+done and I was rid of my pursuer. So far as I was concerned, the
+incident was closed. I went back to my seat, and picking up the lump of
+sugar which still lay on the table where I had dropped it, put it
+carefully in my pocket. But my appetite for tea was satisfied for the
+present. Moreover it was hardly advisable to stay in the shop lest some
+fresh spy should come to see how I fared. Accordingly I obtained my
+check, handed it in at the cashier's desk and took my departure.
+
+All this time, it will be observed, I had been taking it for granted
+that the lady in black had followed me from Kensington to this shop;
+that, in fact, she was none other than Mrs. Schallibaum. And, indeed,
+the circumstances had rendered the conclusion inevitable. In the very
+instant when I had perceived the displacement of the left eye, complete
+recognition had come upon me. When I had stood facing the woman, the
+brief glance at her face had conveyed to me something dimly reminiscent
+of which I had been but half conscious and had instantly forgotten. But
+the sight of that characteristic squint had at once revived and
+explained it. That the woman was Mrs. Schallibaum I now felt no doubt
+whatever.
+
+Nevertheless, the whole affair was profoundly mysterious. As to the
+change in the woman's appearance, there was little in that. The coarse,
+black hair might be her own, dyed, or it might be a wig. The eyebrows
+were made-up; it was a simple enough proceeding and made still more
+simple by the beaded veil. But how did she come to be there at all? How
+did she happen to be made-up in this fashion at this particular time?
+And, above all, how came she to be provided with a lump of what I had
+little doubt was poisoned sugar?
+
+I turned over the events of the day, and the more I considered them the
+less comprehensible they appeared. No one had followed the omnibus
+either on foot or in a vehicle, as far as I could see; and I had kept a
+careful look-out, not only at starting but for some considerable time
+after. Yet, all the time, Mrs. Schallibaum must have been following.
+But how? If she had known that I was intending to travel by the omnibus
+she might have gone to meet it and entered before I did. But she could
+not have known: and moreover she did not meet the omnibus, for we
+watched its approach from some considerable distance. I considered
+whether she might not have been concealed in the house and overheard me
+mention my destination to Thorndyke. But this failed to explain the
+mystery, since I had mentioned no address beyond "Kensington." I had,
+indeed, mentioned the name of Mrs. Hornby, but the supposition that my
+friends might be known by name to Mrs. Schallibaum, or even that she
+might have looked the name up in the directory, presented a probability
+too remote to be worth entertaining.
+
+But, if I reached no satisfactory conclusion, my cogitations had one
+useful effect; they occupied my mind to the exclusion of that
+unfortunate draught of tea. Not that I had been seriously uneasy after
+the first shock. The quantity that I had swallowed was not large--the
+tea being hotter than I cared for--and I remembered that, when I had
+thrown out the lump of sugar, I had turned the cup upside down on the
+table; so there could have been nothing solid left in it. And the lump
+of sugar was in itself reassuring, for it certainly would not have been
+used in conjunction with any less conspicuous but more incriminating
+form of poison. That lump of sugar was now in my pocket, reserved for
+careful examination at my leisure; and I reflected with a faint grin
+that it would be a little disconcerting if it should turn out to
+contain nothing but sugar after all.
+
+On leaving the tea-shop, I walked up Sloane Street with the intention of
+doing what I ought to have done earlier in the day. I was going to make
+perfectly sure that no spy was dogging my footsteps. But for my
+ridiculous confidence I could have done so quite easily before going to
+Endsley Gardens; and now, made wiser by a startling experience, I
+proceeded with systematic care. It was still broad daylight--for the
+lamps in the tea-shop had been rendered necessary only by the faulty
+construction of the premises and the dullness of the afternoon--and in
+an open space I could see far enough for complete safety. Arriving at
+the top of Sloane Street, I crossed Knightsbridge, and, entering Hyde
+Park, struck out towards the Serpentine. Passing along the eastern
+shore, I entered one of the long paths that lead towards the Marble Arch
+and strode along it at such a pace as would make it necessary for any
+pursuer to hurry in order to keep me in sight. Half-way across the great
+stretch of turf, I halted for a few moments and noted the few people who
+were coming in my direction. Then I turned sharply to the left and
+headed straight for the Victoria Gate, but again, half-way, I turned off
+among a clump of trees, and, standing behind the trunk of one of them,
+took a fresh survey of the people who were moving along the paths. All
+were at a considerable distance and none appeared to be coming my way.
+
+I now moved cautiously from one tree to another and passed through the
+wooded region to the south, crossed the Serpentine bridge at a rapid
+walk and hurrying along the south shore left the Park by Apsley House.
+From hence I walked at the same rapid pace along Piccadilly, insinuating
+myself among the crowd with the skill born of long acquaintance with the
+London streets, crossed amidst the seething traffic at the Circus,
+darted up Windmill Street and began to zigzag amongst the narrow streets
+and courts of Soho. Crossing the Seven Dials and Drury Lane I passed
+through the multitudinous back-streets and alleys that then filled the
+area south of Lincoln's Inn, came out by Newcastle Street, Holywell
+Street and Half-Moon Alley into the Strand, which I crossed immediately,
+ultimately entering the Temple by Devereux Court.
+
+Even then I did not relax my precautions. From one court to another I
+passed quickly, loitering in those dark entries and unexpected passages
+that are known to so few but the regular Templars, and coming out into
+the open only at the last where the wide passage of King's Bench Walk
+admits of no evasion. Half-way up the stairs, I stood for some time in
+the shadow, watching the approaches from the staircase window; and when,
+at length, I felt satisfied that I had taken every precaution that was
+possible, I inserted my key and let myself into our chambers.
+
+Thorndyke had already arrived, and, as I entered, he rose to greet me
+with an expression of evident relief.
+
+"I am glad to see you, Jervis," he said. "I have been rather anxious
+about you."
+
+"Why?" I asked.
+
+"For several reasons. One is that you are the sole danger that threatens
+these people--as far as they know. Another is that we made a most
+ridiculous mistake. We overlooked a fact that ought to have struck us
+instantly. But how have you fared?"
+
+"Better than I deserved. That good lady stuck to me like a burr--at
+least I believe she did."
+
+"I have no doubt she did. We have been caught napping finely, Jervis."
+
+"How?"
+
+"We'll go into that presently. Let us hear about your adventures first."
+
+I gave him a full account of my movements from the time when we parted
+to that of my arrival home, omitting no incident that I was able to
+remember and, as far as I could, reconstituting my exceedingly devious
+homeward route.
+
+"Your retreat was masterly," he remarked with a broad smile. "I should
+think that it would have utterly defeated any pursuer; and the only pity
+is that it was probably wasted on the desert air. Your pursuer had by
+that time become a fugitive. But you were wise to take these
+precautions, for, of course, Weiss might have followed you."
+
+"But I thought he was in Hamburg?"
+
+"Did you? You are a very confiding young gentleman, for a budding
+medical jurist. Of course we don't know that he is not; but the fact
+that he has given Hamburg as his present whereabouts establishes a
+strong presumption that he is somewhere else. I only hope that he has
+not located you, and, from what you tell me of your later methods, I
+fancy that you would have shaken him off even if he had started to
+follow you from the tea-shop."
+
+"I hope so too. But how did that woman manage to stick to me in that
+way? What was the mistake we made?"
+
+Thorndyke laughed grimly. "It was a perfectly asinine mistake, Jervis.
+You started up Kennington Park Road on a leisurely, jog-trotting
+omnibus, and neither you nor I remembered what there is underneath
+Kennington Park Road."
+
+"Underneath!" I exclaimed, completely puzzled for the moment. Then,
+suddenly realizing what he meant, "Of course!" I exclaimed. "Idiot that
+I am! You mean the electric railway?"
+
+"Yes. That explains everything. Mrs. Schallibaum must have watched us
+from some shop and quietly followed us up the lane. There were a good
+many women about and several were walking in our direction. There was
+nothing to distinguish her from the others unless you had recognized
+her, which you would hardly have been able to do if she had worn a veil
+and kept at a fair distance. At least I think not."
+
+"No," I agreed, "I certainly should not. I had only seen her in a
+half-dark room. In outdoor clothes and with a veil, I should never have
+been able to identify her without very close inspection. Besides there
+was the disguise or make-up."
+
+"Not at that time. She would hardly come disguised to her own house,
+for it might have led to her being challenged and asked who she was. I
+think we may take it that there was no actual disguise, although she
+would probably wear a shady hat and a veil; which would have prevented
+either of us from picking her out from the other women in the street."
+
+"And what do you think happened next?"
+
+"I think that she simply walked past us--probably on the other side of
+the road--as we stood waiting for the omnibus, and turned up Kennington
+Park Road. She probably guessed that we were waiting for the omnibus and
+walked up the road in the direction in which it was going. Presently the
+omnibus would pass her, and there were you in full view on top keeping a
+vigilant look-out in the wrong direction. Then she would quicken her
+pace a little and in a minute or two would arrive at the Kennington
+Station of the South London Railway. In a minute or two more she would
+be in one of the electric trains whirling along under the street on
+which your omnibus was crawling. She would get out at the Borough
+Station, or she might take a more risky chance and go on to the
+Monument; but in any case she would wait for your omnibus, hail it and
+get inside. I suppose you took up some passengers on the way?"
+
+"Oh dear, yes. We were stopping every two or three minutes to take up or
+set down passengers; and most of them were women."
+
+"Very well; then we may take it that when you arrived at the Mansion
+House, Mrs. Schallibaum was one of your inside passengers. It was a
+rather quaint situation, I think."
+
+"Yes, confound her! What a couple of noodles she must have thought us!"
+
+"No doubt. And that is the one consoling feature in the case. She will
+have taken us for a pair of absolute greenhorns. But to continue. Of
+course she travelled in your omnibus to Kensington--you ought to have
+gone inside on both occasions, so that you could see every one who
+entered and examine the inside passengers; she will have followed you to
+Endsley Gardens and probably noted the house you went to. Thence she
+will have followed you to the restaurant and may even have lunched
+there."
+
+"It is quite possible," said I. "There were two rooms and they were
+filled principally with women."
+
+"Then she will have followed you to Sloane Street, and, as you persisted
+in riding outside, she could easily take an inside place in your
+omnibus. As to the theatre, she must have taken it as a veritable gift
+of the gods; an arrangement made by you for her special convenience."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"My dear fellow! consider. She had only to follow you in and see you
+safely into your seat and there you were, left till called for. She
+could then go home, make up for her part; draw out a plan of action,
+with the help, perhaps, of Mr. Weiss, provide herself with the necessary
+means and appliances and, at the appointed time, call and collect you."
+
+"That is assuming a good deal," I objected. "It is assuming, for
+instance, that she lives within a moderate distance of Sloane Square.
+Otherwise it would have been impossible."
+
+"Exactly. That is why I assume it. You don't suppose that she goes about
+habitually with lumps of prepared sugar in her pocket. And if not, then
+she must have got that lump from somewhere. Then the beads suggest a
+carefully prepared plan, and, as I said just now, she can hardly have
+been made-up when she met us in Kennington Lane. From all of which it
+seems likely that her present abode is not very far from Sloane Square."
+
+"At any rate," said I, "it was taking a considerable risk. I might have
+left the theatre before she came back."
+
+"Yes," Thorndyke agreed. "But it is like a woman to take chances. A man
+would probably have stuck to you when once he had got you off your
+guard. But she was ready to take chances. She chanced the railway, and
+it came off; she chanced your remaining in the theatre, and that came
+off too. She calculated on the probability of your getting tea when you
+came out, and she hit it off again. And then she took one chance too
+many; she assumed that you probably took sugar in your tea, and she was
+wrong."
+
+"We are taking it for granted that the sugar was prepared," I remarked.
+
+"Yes. Our explanation is entirely hypothetical and may be entirely
+wrong. But it all hangs together, and if we find any poisonous matter in
+the sugar, it will be reasonable to assume that we are right. The sugar
+is the Experimentum Crucis. If you will hand it over to me, we will go
+up to the laboratory and make a preliminary test or two."
+
+I took the lump of sugar from my pocket and gave it to him, and he
+carried it to the gas-burner, by the light of which he examined it with
+a lens.
+
+"I don't see any foreign crystals on the surface," said he; "but we had
+better make a solution and go to work systematically. If it contains any
+poison we may assume that it will be some alkaloid, though I will test
+for arsenic too. But a man of Weiss's type would almost certainly use an
+alkaloid, on account of its smaller bulk and more ready solubility. You
+ought not to have carried this loose in your pocket. For legal purposes
+that would seriously interfere with its value as evidence. Bodies that
+are suspected of containing poison should be carefully isolated and
+preserved from contact with anything that might lead to doubt in the
+analysis. It doesn't matter much to us, as this analysis is only for our
+own information and we can satisfy ourselves as to the state of your
+pocket. But bear the rule in mind another time."
+
+We now ascended to the laboratory, where Thorndyke proceeded at once to
+dissolve the lump of sugar in a measured quantity of distilled water by
+the aid of gentle heat.
+
+"Before we add any acid," said he, "or introduce any fresh matter, we
+will adopt the simple preliminary measure of tasting the solution. The
+sugar is a disturbing factor, but some of the alkaloids and most
+mineral poisons excepting arsenic have a very characteristic taste."
+
+He dipped a glass rod in the warm solution and applied it gingerly to
+his tongue.
+
+"Ha!" he exclaimed, as he carefully wiped his mouth with his
+handkerchief, "simple methods are often very valuable. There isn't much
+doubt as to what is in that sugar. Let me recommend my learned brother
+to try the flavour. But be careful. A little of this will go a long
+way."
+
+He took a fresh rod from the rack, and, dipping it in the solution,
+handed it to me. I cautiously applied it to the tip of my tongue and was
+immediately aware of a peculiar tingling sensation accompanied by a
+feeling of numbness.
+
+"Well," said Thorndyke; "what is it?"
+
+"Aconite," I replied without hesitation.
+
+"Yes," he agreed; "aconite it is, or more probably aconitine. And that,
+I think, gives us all the information we want. We need not trouble now
+to make a complete analysis, though I shall have a quantitative
+examination made later. You note the intensity of the taste and you see
+what the strength of the solution is. Evidently that lump of sugar
+contained a very large dose of the poison. If the sugar had been
+dissolved in your tea, the quantity that you drank would have contained
+enough aconitine to lay you out within a few minutes; which would
+account for Mrs. Schallibaum's anxiety to get clear of the premises. She
+saw you drink from the cup, but I imagine she had not seen you turn the
+sugar out."
+
+"No, I should say not, to judge by her expression. She looked
+terrified. She is not as hardened as her rascally companion."
+
+"Which is fortunate for you, Jervis. If she had not been in such a
+fluster, she would have waited until you had poured out your tea, which
+was what she probably meant to do, or have dropped the sugar into the
+milk-jug. In either case you would have got a poisonous dose before you
+noticed anything amiss."
+
+"They are a pretty pair, Thorndyke," I exclaimed. "A human life seems to
+be no more to them than the life of a fly or a beetle."
+
+"No; that is so. They are typical poisoners of the worst kind; of the
+intelligent, cautious, resourceful kind. They are a standing menace to
+society. As long as they are at large, human lives are in danger, and it
+is our business to see that they do not remain at large a moment longer
+than is unavoidable. And that brings us to another point. You had better
+keep indoors for the next few days."
+
+"Oh, nonsense," I protested. "I can take care of myself."
+
+"I won't dispute that," said Thorndyke, "although I might. But the
+matter is of vital importance and we can't be too careful. Yours is the
+only evidence that could convict these people. They know that and will
+stick at nothing to get rid of you--for by this time they will almost
+certainly have ascertained that the tea-shop plan has failed. Now your
+life is of some value to you and to another person whom I could mention;
+but apart from that, you are the indispensable instrument for ridding
+society of these dangerous vermin. Moreover, if you were seen abroad and
+connected with these chambers, they would get the information that their
+case was really being investigated in a businesslike manner. If Weiss
+has not already left the country he would do so immediately, and if he
+has, Mrs. Schallibaum would join him at once, and we might never be able
+to lay hands on them. You must stay indoors, out of sight, and you had
+better write to Miss Gibson and ask her to warn the servants to give no
+information about you to anyone."
+
+"And how long," I asked, "am I to be held on parole?"
+
+"Not long, I think. We have a very promising start. If I have any luck,
+I shall be able to collect all the evidence I want in about a week. But
+there is an element of chance in some of it which prevents me from
+giving a date. And it is just possible that I may have started on a
+false track. But that I shall be able to tell you better in a day or
+two."
+
+"And I suppose," I said gloomily, "I shall be out of the hunt
+altogether?"
+
+"Not at all," he replied. "You have got the Blackmore case to attend to.
+I shall hand you over all the documents and get you to make an orderly
+digest of the evidence. You will then have all the facts and can work
+out the case for yourself. Also I shall ask you to help Polton in some
+little operations which are designed to throw light into dark places and
+which you will find both entertaining and instructive."
+
+"Supposing Mrs. Hornby should propose to call and take tea with us in
+the gardens?" I suggested.
+
+"And bring Miss Gibson with her?" Thorndyke added dryly. "No, Jervis, it
+would never do. You must make that quite clear to her. It is more
+probable than not that Mrs. Schallibaum made a careful note of the house
+in Endsley Gardens, and as that would be the one place actually known to
+her, she and Weiss--if he is in England--would almost certainly keep a
+watch on it. If they should succeed in connecting that house with these
+chambers, a few inquiries would show them the exact state of the case.
+No; we must keep them in the dark if we possibly can. We have shown too
+much of our hand already. It is hard on you, but it cannot be helped."
+
+"Oh, don't think I am complaining," I exclaimed. "If it is a matter of
+business, I am as keen as you are. I thought at first that you were
+merely considering the safety of my vile body. When shall I start on my
+job?"
+
+"To-morrow morning. I shall give you my notes on the Blackmore case and
+the copies of the will and the depositions, from which you had better
+draw up a digest of the evidence with remarks as to the conclusions that
+it suggests. Then there are our gleanings from New Inn to be looked over
+and considered; and with regard to this case, we have the fragments of a
+pair of spectacles which had better be put together into a rather more
+intelligible form in case we have to produce them in evidence. That will
+keep you occupied for a day or two, together with some work
+appertaining to other cases. And now let us dismiss professional topics.
+You have not dined and neither have I, but I dare say Polton has made
+arrangements for some sort of meal. We will go down and see."
+
+We descended to the lower floor, where Thorndyke's anticipations were
+justified by a neatly laid table to which Polton was giving the
+finishing touches.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XI
+
+The Blackmore Case Reviewed
+
+
+One of the conditions of medical practice is the capability of
+transferring one's attention at a moment's notice from one set of
+circumstances to another equally important but entirely unrelated. At
+each visit on his round, the practitioner finds himself concerned with a
+particular, self-contained group of phenomena which he must consider at
+the moment with the utmost concentration, but which he must instantly
+dismiss from his mind as he moves on to the next case. It is a difficult
+habit to acquire; for an important, distressing or obscure case is apt
+to take possession of the consciousness and hinder the exercise of
+attention that succeeding cases demand; but experience shows the faculty
+to be indispensable, and the practitioner learns in time to forget
+everything but the patient with whose condition he is occupied at the
+moment.
+
+My first morning's work on the Blackmore case showed me that the same
+faculty is demanded in legal practice; and it also showed me that I had
+yet to acquire it. For, as I looked over the depositions and the copy of
+the will, memories of the mysterious house in Kennington Lane
+continually intruded into my reflections, and the figure of Mrs.
+Schallibaum, white-faced, terrified, expectant, haunted me continually.
+
+In truth, my interest in the Blackmore case was little more than
+academic, whereas in the Kennington case I was one of the parties and
+was personally concerned. To me, John Blackmore was but a name, Jeffrey
+but a shadowy figure to which I could assign no definite personality,
+and Stephen himself but a casual stranger. Mr. Graves, on the other
+hand, was a real person. I had seen him amidst the tragic circumstances
+that had probably heralded his death, and had brought away with me, not
+only a lively recollection of him, but a feeling of profound pity and
+concern as to his fate. The villain Weiss, too, and the terrible woman
+who aided, abetted and, perhaps, even directed him, lived in my memory
+as vivid and dreadful realities. Although I had uttered no hint to
+Thorndyke, I lamented inwardly that I had not been given some work--if
+there was any to do--connected with this case, in which I was so deeply
+interested, rather than with the dry, purely legal and utterly
+bewildering case of Jeffrey Blackmore's will.
+
+Nevertheless, I stuck loyally to my task. I read through the depositions
+and the will--without getting a single glimmer of fresh light on the
+case--and I made a careful digest of all the facts. I compared my
+digest with Thorndyke's notes--of which I also made a copy--and found
+that, brief as they were, they contained several matters that I had
+overlooked. I also drew up a brief account of our visit to New Inn, with
+a list of the objects that we had observed or collected. And then I
+addressed myself to the second part of my task, the statement of my
+conclusions from the facts set forth.
+
+It was only when I came to make the attempt that I realized how
+completely I was at sea. In spite of Thorndyke's recommendation to study
+Marchmont's statement as it was summarized in those notes which I had
+copied, and of his hint that I should find in that statement something
+highly significant, I was borne irresistibly to one conclusion, and one
+only--and the wrong one at that, as I suspected: that Jeffrey
+Blackmore's will was a perfectly regular, sound and valid document.
+
+I tried to attack the validity of the will from various directions, and
+failed every time. As to its genuineness, that was obviously not in
+question. There seemed to me only two conceivable respects in which any
+objection could be raised, viz. the competency of Jeffrey to execute a
+will and the possibility of undue influence having been brought to bear
+on him.
+
+With reference to the first, there was the undoubted fact that Jeffrey
+was addicted to the opium habit, and this might, under some
+circumstances, interfere with a testator's competency to make a will.
+But had any such circumstances existed in this case? Had the drug habit
+produced such mental changes in the deceased as would destroy or weaken
+his judgment? There was not a particle of evidence in favour of any such
+belief. Up to the very end he had managed his own affairs, and, if his
+habits of life had undergone a change, they were still the habits of a
+perfectly sane and responsible man.
+
+The question of undue influence was more difficult. If it applied to any
+person in particular, that person could be none other than John
+Blackmore. Now it was an undoubted fact that, of all Jeffrey's
+acquaintance, his brother John was the only one who knew that he was in
+residence at New Inn. Moreover John had visited him there more than
+once. It was therefore possible that influence might have been brought
+to bear on the deceased. But there was no evidence that it had. The fact
+that the deceased man's only brother should be the one person who knew
+where he was living was not a remarkable one, and it had been
+satisfactorily explained by the necessity of Jeffrey's finding a
+reference on applying for the chambers. And against the theory of undue
+influence was the fact that the testator had voluntarily brought his
+will to the lodge and executed it in the presence of entirely
+disinterested witnesses.
+
+In the end I had to give up the problem in despair, and, abandoning the
+documents, turned my attention to the facts elicited by our visit to New
+Inn.
+
+What had we learned from our exploration? It was clear that Thorndyke
+had picked up some facts that had appeared to him important. But
+important in what respect? The only possible issue that could be raised
+was the validity or otherwise of Jeffrey Blackmore's will; and since the
+validity of that will was supported by positive evidence of the most
+incontestable kind, it seemed that nothing that we had observed could
+have any real bearing on the case at all.
+
+But this, of course, could not be. Thorndyke was no dreamer nor was he
+addicted to wild speculation. If the facts observed by us seemed to him
+to be relevant to the case, I was prepared to assume that they were
+relevant, although I could not see their connection with it. And, on
+this assumption, I proceeded to examine them afresh.
+
+Now, whatever Thorndyke might have observed on his own account, I had
+brought away from the dead man's chambers only a single fact; and a very
+extraordinary fact it was. The cuneiform inscription was upside down.
+That was the sum of the evidence that I had collected; and the question
+was, What did it prove? To Thorndyke it conveyed some deep significance.
+What could that significance be?
+
+The inverted position was not a mere temporary accident, as it might
+have been if the frame had been stood on a shelf or support. It was hung
+on the wall, and the plates screwed on the frame showed that its
+position was permanent and that it had never hung in any other. That it
+could have been hung up by Jeffrey himself was clearly inconceivable.
+But allowing that it had been fixed in its present position by some
+workman when the new tenant moved in, the fact remained that there it
+had hung, presumably for months, and that Jeffrey Blackmore, with his
+expert knowledge of the cuneiform character, had never noticed that it
+was upside down; or, if he had noticed it, that he had never taken the
+trouble to have it altered.
+
+What could this mean? If he had noticed the error but had not troubled
+to correct it, that would point to a very singular state of mind, an
+inertness and indifference remarkable even in an opium-smoker. But
+assuming such a state of mind, I could not see that it had any bearing
+on the will, excepting that it was rather inconsistent with the tendency
+to make fussy and needless alterations which the testator had actually
+shown. On the other hand, if he had not noticed the inverted position of
+the photograph he must have been nearly blind or quite idiotic; for the
+photograph was over two feet long and the characters large enough to be
+read easily by a person of ordinary eyesight at a distance of forty or
+fifty feet. Now he obviously was not in a state of dementia, whereas his
+eyesight was admittedly bad; and it seemed to me that the only
+conclusion deducible from the photograph was that it furnished a measure
+of the badness of the deceased man's vision--that it proved him to have
+been verging on total blindness.
+
+But there was nothing startling new in this. He had, himself, declared
+that he was fast losing his sight. And again, what was the bearing of
+his partial blindness on the will? A totally blind man cannot draw up
+his will at all. But if he has eyesight sufficient to enable him to
+write out and sign a will, mere defective vision will not lead him to
+muddle the provisions. Yet something of this kind seemed to be in
+Thorndyke's mind, for now I recalled the question that he had put to the
+porter: "When you read the will over in Mr. Blackmore's presence, did
+you read it aloud?" That question could have but one significance. It
+implied a doubt as to whether the testator was fully aware of the exact
+nature of the document that he was signing. Yet, if he was able to write
+and sign it, surely he was able also to read it through, to say nothing
+of the fact that, unless he was demented, he must have remembered what
+he had written.
+
+Thus, once more, my reasoning only led me into a blind alley at the end
+of which was the will, regular and valid and fulfilling all the
+requirements that the law imposed. Once again I had to confess myself
+beaten and in full agreement with Mr. Marchmont that "there was no
+case"; that "there was nothing in dispute." Nevertheless, I carefully
+fixed in the pocket file that Thorndyke had given me the copy that I had
+made of his notes, together with the notes on our visit to New Inn, and
+the few and unsatisfactory conclusions at which I had arrived; and this
+brought me to the end of my first morning in my new capacity.
+
+"And how," Thorndyke asked as we sat at lunch, "has my learned friend
+progressed? Does he propose that we advise Mr. Marchmont to enter a
+caveat?"
+
+"I've read all the documents and boiled all the evidence down to a stiff
+jelly; and I am in a worse fog than ever."
+
+"There seems to be a slight mixture of metaphors in my learned friend's
+remarks. But never mind the fog, Jervis. There is a certain virtue in
+fog. It serves, like a picture frame, to surround the essential with a
+neutral zone that separates it from the irrelevant."
+
+"That is a very profound observation, Thorndyke," I remarked ironically.
+
+"I was just thinking so myself," he rejoined.
+
+"And if you could contrive to explain what it means--"
+
+"Oh, but that is unreasonable. When one throws off a subtly philosophic
+obiter dictum one looks to the discerning critic to supply the meaning.
+By the way, I am going to introduce you to the gentle art of photography
+this afternoon. I am getting the loan of all the cheques that were drawn
+by Jeffrey Blackmore during his residence at New Inn--there are only
+twenty-three of them, all told--and I am going to photograph them."
+
+"I shouldn't have thought the bank people would have let them go out of
+their possession."
+
+"They are not going to. One of the partners, a Mr. Britton, is bringing
+them here himself and will be present while the photographs are being
+taken; so they will not go out of his custody. But, all the same, it is
+a great concession, and I should not have obtained it but for the fact
+that I have done a good deal of work for the bank and that Mr. Britton
+is more or less a personal friend."
+
+"By the way, how comes it that the cheques are at the bank? Why were
+they not returned to Jeffrey with the pass-book in the usual way?"
+
+"I understand from Britton," replied Thorndyke, "that all Jeffrey's
+cheques were retained by the bank at his request. When he was travelling
+he used to leave his investment securities and other valuable documents
+in his bankers' custody, and, as he has never applied to have them
+returned, the bankers still have them and are retaining them until the
+will is proved, when they will, of course, hand over everything to the
+executors."
+
+"What is the object of photographing these cheques?" I asked.
+
+"There are several objects. First, since a good photograph is
+practically as good as the original, when we have the photographs we
+practically have the cheques for reference. Then, since a photograph can
+be duplicated indefinitely, it is possible to perform experiments on it
+which involve its destruction; which would, of course, be impossible in
+the case of original cheques."
+
+"But the ultimate object, I mean. What are you going to prove?"
+
+"You are incorrigible, Jervis," he exclaimed. "How should I know what I
+am going to prove? This is an investigation. If I knew the result
+beforehand, I shouldn't want to perform the experiment."
+
+He looked at his watch, and, as we rose from the table, he said:
+
+"If we have finished, we had better go up to the laboratory and see that
+the apparatus is ready. Mr. Britton is a busy man, and, as he is doing
+us a great service, we mustn't keep him waiting when he comes."
+
+We ascended to the laboratory, where Polton was already busy inspecting
+the massively built copying camera which--with the long, steel guides on
+which the easel or copy-holder travelled--took up the whole length of
+the room on the side opposite to that occupied by the chemical bench. As
+I was to be inducted into the photographic art, I looked at it with more
+attention than I had ever done before.
+
+"We've made some improvements since you were here last, sir," said
+Polton, who was delicately lubricating the steel guides. "We've fitted
+these steel runners instead of the blackleaded wooden ones that we used
+to have. And we've made two scales instead of one. Hallo! That's the
+downstairs bell. Shall I go sir?"
+
+"Perhaps you'd better," said Thorndyke. "It may not be Mr. Britton, and
+I don't want to be caught and delayed just now."
+
+However, it was Mr. Britton; a breezy alert-looking middle-aged man, who
+came in escorted by Polton and shook our hands cordially, having been
+previously warned of my presence. He carried a small but solid hand-bag,
+to which he clung tenaciously up to the very moment when its contents
+were required for use.
+
+"So that is the camera," said he, running an inquisitive eye over the
+instrument. "Very fine one, too; I am a bit of a photographer myself.
+What is that graduation on the side-bar?"
+
+"Those are the scales," replied Thorndyke, "that shows the degree of
+magnification or reduction. The pointer is fixed to the easel and
+travels with it, of course, showing the exact size of the photograph.
+When the pointer is opposite 0 the photograph will be identical in size
+with the object photographed; when it points to, say, × 6, the
+photograph will be six times as long as the object, or magnified
+thirty-six times superficially, whereas if the pointer is at ÷ 6, the
+photograph will be a sixth of the length of the object, or one
+thirty-sixth superficial."
+
+"Why are there two scales?" Mr. Britton asked.
+
+"There is a separate scale for each of the two lenses that we
+principally use. For great magnification or reduction a lens of
+comparatively short focus must be used, but, as a long-focus lens gives
+a more perfect image, we use one of very long focus--thirty-six
+inches--for copying the same size or for slight magnification or
+reduction."
+
+"Are you going to magnify these cheques?" Mr. Britton asked.
+
+"Not in the first place," replied Thorndyke. "For convenience and speed
+I am going to photograph them half-size, so that six cheques will go on
+one whole plate. Afterwards we can enlarge from the negatives as much as
+we like. But we should probably enlarge only the signatures in any
+case."
+
+The precious bag was now opened and the twenty-three cheques brought out
+and laid on the bench in a consecutive series in the order of their
+dates. They were then fixed by tapes--to avoid making pin-holes in
+them--in batches of six to small drawing boards, each batch being so
+arranged that the signatures were towards the middle. The first board
+was clamped to the easel, the latter was slid along its guides until
+the pointer stood at ÷ 2 on the long-focus scale and Thorndyke proceeded
+to focus the camera with the aid of a little microscope that Polton had
+made for the purpose. When Mr. Britton and I had inspected the
+exquisitely sharp image on the focusing-screen through the microscope,
+Polton introduced the plate and made the first exposure, carrying the
+dark-slide off to develop the plate while the next batch of cheques was
+being fixed in position.
+
+In his photographic technique, as in everything else, Polton followed as
+closely as he could the methods of his principal and instructor; methods
+characterized by that unhurried precision that leads to perfect
+accomplishment. When the first negative was brought forth, dripping,
+from the dark-room, it was without spot or stain, scratch or pin-hole;
+uniform in colour and of exactly the required density. The six cheques
+shown on it--ridiculously small in appearance, though only reduced to
+half-length--looked as clear and sharp as fine etchings; though, to be
+sure, my opportunity for examining them was rather limited, for Polton
+was uncommonly careful to keep the wet plate out of reach and so safe
+from injury.
+
+"Well," said Mr. Britton, when, at the end of the séance, he returned
+his treasures to the bag, "you have now got twenty-three of our cheques,
+to all intents and purposes. I hope you are not going to make any
+unlawful use of them--must tell our cashiers to keep a bright look-out;
+and"--here he lowered his voice impressively and addressed himself to
+me and Polton--"you understand that this is a private matter between Dr.
+Thorndyke and me. Of course, as Mr. Blackmore is dead, there is no
+reason why his cheques should not be photographed for legal purposes;
+but we don't want it talked about; nor, I think, does Dr. Thorndyke."
+
+"Certainly not," Thorndyke agreed emphatically; "but you need not be
+uneasy, Mr. Britton. We are very uncommunicative people in this
+establishment."
+
+As my colleague and I escorted our visitor down the stairs, he returned
+to the subject of the cheques.
+
+"I don't understand what you want them for," he remarked. "There is no
+question turning on signatures in the case of Blackmore deceased, is
+there?"
+
+"I should say not," Thorndyke replied rather evasively.
+
+"I should say very decidedly not," said Mr. Britton, "if I understood
+Marchmont aright. And, even if there were, let me tell you, these
+signatures that you have got wouldn't help you. I have looked them over
+very closely--and I have seen a few signatures in my time, you know.
+Marchmont asked me to glance over them as a matter of form, but I don't
+believe in matters of form; I examined them very carefully. There is an
+appreciable amount of variation; a very appreciable amount. <i>But</i> under
+the variation one can trace the personal character (which is what
+matters); the subtle, indescribable quality that makes it recognizable
+to the expert eye as Jeffrey Blackmore's writing. You understand me.
+There is such a quality, which remains when the coarser characteristics
+vary; just as a man may grow old, or fat, or bald, or may take to drink,
+and become quite changed; and yet, through it all, he preserves a
+certain something which makes him recognizable as a member of a
+particular family. Well, I find that quality in all those signatures,
+and so will you, if you have had enough experience of handwriting. I
+thought it best to mention it in case you might be giving yourself
+unnecessary trouble."
+
+"It is very good of you," said Thorndyke, "and I need not say that the
+information is of great value, coming from such a highly expert source.
+As a matter of fact, your hint will be of great value to me."
+
+He shook hands with Mr. Britton, and, as the latter disappeared down the
+stairs, he turned into the sitting-room and remarked:
+
+"There is a very weighty and significant observation, Jervis. I advise
+you to consider it attentively in all its bearings."
+
+"You mean the fact that these signatures are undoubtedly genuine?"
+
+"I meant, rather, the very interesting general truth that is contained
+in Britton's statement; that physiognomy is not a mere matter of facial
+character. A man carries his personal trademark, not in his face only,
+but in his nervous system and muscles--giving rise to characteristic
+movements and gait; in his larynx--producing an individual voice; and
+even in his mouth, as shown by individual peculiarities of speech and
+accent. And the individual nervous system, by means of these
+characteristic movements, transfers its peculiarities to inanimate
+objects that are the products of such movements; as we see in pictures,
+in carving, in musical execution and in handwriting. No one has ever
+painted quite like Reynolds or Romney; no one has ever played exactly
+like Liszt or Paganini; the pictures or the sounds produced by them,
+were, so to speak, an extension of the physiognomy of the artist. And so
+with handwriting. A particular specimen is the product of a particular
+set of motor centres in an individual brain."
+
+"These are very interesting considerations, Thorndyke," I remarked; "but
+I don't quite see their present application. Do you mean them to bear in
+any special way on the Blackmore case?"
+
+"I think they do bear on it very directly. I thought so while Mr.
+Britton was making his very illuminating remarks."
+
+"I don't see how. In fact I cannot see why you are going into the
+question of the signatures at all. The signature on the will is
+admittedly genuine, and that seems to me to dispose of the whole
+affair."
+
+"My dear Jervis," said he, "you and Marchmont are allowing yourselves to
+be obsessed by a particular fact--a very striking and weighty fact, I
+will admit, but still, only an isolated fact. Jeffrey Blackmore executed
+his will in a regular manner, complying with all the necessary
+formalities and conditions. In the face of that single circumstance you
+and Marchmont would 'chuck up the sponge,' as the old pugilists
+expressed it. Now that is a great mistake. You should never allow
+yourself to be bullied and browbeaten by a single fact."
+
+"But, my dear Thorndyke!" I protested, "this fact seems to be final. It
+covers all possibilities---unless you can suggest any other that would
+cancel it."
+
+"I could suggest a dozen," he replied. "Let us take an instance.
+Supposing Jeffrey executed this will for a wager; that he immediately
+revoked it and made a fresh will, that he placed the latter in the
+custody of some person and that that person has suppressed it."
+
+"Surely you do not make this suggestion seriously!" I exclaimed.
+
+"Certainly I do not," he replied with a smile. "I merely give it as an
+instance to show that your final and absolute fact is really only
+conditional on there being no other fact that cancels it."
+
+"Do you think he might have made a third will?"
+
+"It is obviously possible. A man who makes two wills may make three or
+more; but I may say that I see no present reason for assuming the
+existence of another will. What I want to impress on you is the
+necessity of considering all the facts instead of bumping heavily
+against the most conspicuous one and forgetting all the rest. By the
+way, here is a little problem for you. What was the object of which
+these are the parts?"
+
+He pushed across the table a little cardboard box, having first removed
+the lid. In it were a number of very small pieces of broken glass, some
+of which had been cemented together by their edges.
+
+"These, I suppose," said I, looking with considerable curiosity at the
+little collection, "are the pieces of glass that we picked up in poor
+Blackmore's bedroom?"
+
+"Yes. You see that Polton has been endeavouring to reconstitute the
+object, whatever it was; but he has not been very successful, for the
+fragments were too small and irregular and the collection too
+incomplete. However, here is a specimen, built up of six small pieces,
+which exhibits the general character of the object fairly well."
+
+He picked out the little irregularly shaped object and handed it to me;
+and I could not but admire the neatness with which Polton had joined the
+tiny fragments together.
+
+I took the little "restoration," and, holding it up before my eyes,
+moved it to and fro as I looked through it at the window.
+
+"It was not a lens," I pronounced eventually.
+
+"No," Thorndyke agreed, "it was not a lens."
+
+"And so cannot have been a spectacle-glass. But the surface was
+curved--one side convex and the other concave--and the little piece that
+remains of the original edge seems to have been ground to fit a bezel or
+frame. I should say that these are portions of a watch-glass."
+
+"That is Polton's opinion," said Thorndyke, "and I think you are both
+wrong."
+
+"What do you say to the glass of a miniature or locket?"
+
+"That is rather more probable, but it is not my view."
+
+"What do you think it is?" I asked. But Thorndyke was not to be drawn.
+
+"I am submitting the problem for solution by my learned friend," he
+replied with an exasperating smile, and then added: "I don't say that
+you and Polton are wrong; only that I don't agree with you. Perhaps you
+had better make a note of the properties of this object, and consider it
+at your leisure when you are ruminating on the other data referring to
+the Blackmore case."
+
+"My ruminations," I said, "always lead me back to the same point."
+
+"But you mustn't let them," he replied. "Shuffle your data about. Invent
+hypotheses. Never mind if they seem rather wild. Don't put them aside on
+that account. Take the first hypothesis that you can invent and test it
+thoroughly with your facts. You will probably have to reject it, but you
+will be certain to have learned something new. Then try again with a
+fresh one. You remember what I told you of my methods when I began this
+branch of practice and had plenty of time on my hands?"
+
+"I am not sure that I do."
+
+"Well, I used to occupy my leisure in constructing imaginary cases,
+mostly criminal, for the purpose of study and for the acquirement of
+experience. For instance, I would devise an ingenious fraud and would
+plan it in detail, taking every precaution that I could think of against
+failure or detection, considering, and elaborately providing for, every
+imaginable contingency. For the time being, my entire attention was
+concentrated on it, making it as perfect and secure and undetectable as
+I could with the knowledge and ingenuity at my command. I behaved
+exactly as if I were proposing actually to carry it out, and my life or
+liberty depended on its success--excepting that I made full notes of
+every detail of the scheme. Then when my plans were as complete as I
+could make them, and I could think of no way in which to improve them, I
+changed sides and considered the case from the standpoint of detection.
+I analysed the case, I picked out its inherent and unavoidable
+weaknesses, and, especially, I noted the respects in which a fraudulent
+proceeding of a particular kind differed from the <i>bona fide</i> proceeding
+that it simulated. The exercise was invaluable to me. I acquired as much
+experience from those imaginary cases as I should from real ones, and in
+addition, I learned a method which is the one that I practise to this
+day."
+
+"Do you mean that you still invent imaginary cases as mental exercises?"
+
+"No; I mean that, when I have a problem of any intricacy, I invent a
+case which fits the facts and the assumed motives of one of the parties.
+Then I work at that case until I find whether it leads to elucidation or
+to some fundamental disagreement. In the latter case I reject it and
+begin the process over again."
+
+"Doesn't that method sometimes involve a good deal of wasted time and
+energy?" I asked.
+
+"No; because each time that you fail to establish a given case, you
+exclude a particular explanation of the facts and narrow down the field
+of inquiry. By repeating the process, you are bound, in the end, to
+arrive at an imaginary case which fits all the facts. Then your
+imaginary case is the real case and the problem is solved. Let me
+recommend you to give the method a trial."
+
+I promised to do so, though with no very lively expectations as to the
+result, and with this, the subject was allowed, for the present, to
+drop.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XII
+
+The Portrait
+
+
+The state of mind which Thorndyke had advised me to cultivate was one
+that did not come easily. However much I endeavoured to shuffle the
+facts of the Blackmore case, there was one which inevitably turned up on
+the top of the pack. The circumstances surrounding the execution of
+Jeffrey Blackmore's will intruded into all my cogitations on the subject
+with hopeless persistency. That scene in the porter's lodge was to me
+what King Charles's head was to poor Mr. Dick. In the midst of my
+praiseworthy efforts to construct some intelligible scheme of the case,
+it would make its appearance and reduce my mind to instant chaos.
+
+For the next few days, Thorndyke was very much occupied with one or two
+civil cases, which kept him in court during the whole of the sitting;
+and when he came home, he seemed indisposed to talk on professional
+topics. Meanwhile, Polton worked steadily at the photographs of the
+signatures, and, with a view to gaining experience, I assisted him and
+watched his methods.
+
+In the present case, the signatures were enlarged from their original
+dimensions--rather less than an inch and a half in length--to a length
+of four and a half inches; which rendered all the little peculiarities
+of the handwriting surprisingly distinct and conspicuous. Each signature
+was eventually mounted on a slip of card bearing a number and the date
+of the cheque from which it was taken, so that it was possible to place
+any two signatures together for comparison. I looked over the whole
+series and very carefully compared those which showed any differences,
+but without discovering anything more than might have been expected in
+view of Mr. Britton's statement. There were some trifling variations,
+but they were all very much alike, and no one could doubt, on looking at
+them, that they were all written by the same hand.
+
+As this, however, was apparently not in dispute, it furnished no new
+information. Thorndyke's object--for I felt certain that he had
+something definite in his mind--must be to test something apart from the
+genuineness of the signatures. But what could that something be? I dared
+not ask him, for questions of that kind were anathema, so there was
+nothing for it but to lie low and see what he would do with the
+photographs.
+
+The whole series was finished on the fourth morning after my adventure
+at Sloane Square, and the pack of cards was duly delivered by Polton
+when he brought in the breakfast tray. Thorndyke took up the pack
+somewhat with the air of a whist player, and, as he ran through them, I
+noticed that the number had increased from twenty-three to twenty-four.
+
+"The additional one," Thorndyke explained, "is the signature to the
+first will, which was in Marchmont's possession. I have added it to the
+collection as it carries us back to an earlier date. The signature of
+the second will presumably resembles those of the cheques drawn about
+the same date. But that is not material, or, if it should become so, we
+could claim to examine the second will."
+
+He laid the cards out on the table in the order of their dates and
+slowly ran his eye down the series. I watched him closely and ventured
+presently to ask:
+
+"Do you agree with Mr. Britton as to the general identity of character
+in the whole set of signatures?"
+
+"Yes," he replied. "I should certainly have put them down as being all
+the signatures of one person. The variations are very slight. The later
+signatures are a little stiffer, a little more shaky and indistinct, and
+the B's and k's are both appreciably different from those in the earlier
+ones. But there is another fact which emerges when the whole series is
+seen together, and it is so striking and significant a fact, that I am
+astonished at its not having been remarked on by Mr. Britton."
+
+"Indeed!" said I, stooping to examine the photographs with fresh
+interest; "what is that?"
+
+"It is a very simple fact and very obvious, but yet, as I have said,
+very significant. Look carefully at number one, which is the signature
+of the first will, dated three years ago, and compare it with number
+three, dated the eighteenth of September last year."
+
+"They look to me identical," said I, after a careful comparison.
+
+"So they do to me," said Thorndyke. "Neither of them shows the change
+that occurred later. But if you look at number two, dated the sixteenth
+of September, you will see that it is in the later style. So is number
+four, dated the twenty-third of September; but numbers five and six,
+both at the beginning of October, are in the earlier style, like the
+signature of the will. Thereafter all the signatures are in the new
+style; but, if you compare number two, dated the sixteenth of September
+with number twenty-four, dated the fourteenth of March of this year--the
+day of Jeffrey's death--you see that they exhibit no difference. Both
+are in the 'later style,' but the last shows no greater change than the
+first. Don't you consider these facts very striking and significant?"
+
+I reflected a few moments, trying to make out the deep significance to
+which Thorndyke was directing my attention--and not succeeding very
+triumphantly.
+
+"You mean," I said, "that the occasional reversions to the earlier form
+convey some material suggestion?"
+
+"Yes; but more than that. What we learn from an inspection of this
+series is this: that there was a change in the character of the
+signature; a very slight change, but quite recognizable. Now that change
+was not gradual or insidious nor was it progressive. It occurred at a
+certain definite time. At first there were one or two reversions to the
+earlier form, but after number six the new style continued to the end;
+and you notice that it continued without any increase in the change and
+without any variation. There are no intermediate forms. Some of the
+signatures are in the 'old style' and some in the 'new,' but there are
+none that are half and half. So that, to repeat: We have here two types
+of signature, very much alike, but distinguishable. They alternate, but
+do not merge into one another to produce intermediate forms. The change
+occurs abruptly, but shows no tendency to increase as time goes on; it
+is not a progressive change. What do you make of that, Jervis?"
+
+"It is very remarkable," I said, poring over the cards to verify
+Thorndyke's statements. "I don't quite know what to make of it. If the
+circumstances admitted of the idea of forgery, one would suspect the
+genuineness of some of the signatures. But they don't--at any rate, in
+the case of the later will, to say nothing of Mr. Britton's opinion on
+the signatures."
+
+"Still," said Thorndyke, "there must be some explanation of the change
+in the character of the signatures, and that explanation cannot be the
+failing eyesight of the writer; for that is a gradually progressive and
+continuous condition, whereas the change in the writing is abrupt and
+intermittent."
+
+I considered Thorndyke's remark for a few moments; and then a
+light--though not a very brilliant one--seemed to break on me.
+
+"I think I see what you are driving at," said I. "You mean that the
+change in the writing must be associated with some new condition
+affecting the writer, and that that condition existed intermittently?"
+
+Thorndyke nodded approvingly, and I continued:
+
+"The only intermittent condition that we know of is the effect of opium.
+So that we might consider the clearer signatures to have been made when
+Jeffrey was in his normal state, and the less distinct ones after a bout
+of opium-smoking."
+
+"That is perfectly sound reasoning," said Thorndyke. "What further
+conclusion does it lead to?"
+
+"It suggests that the opium habit had been only recently acquired, since
+the change was noticed only about the time he went to live at New Inn;
+and, since the change in the writing is at first intermittent and then
+continuous, we may infer that the opium-smoking was at first occasional
+and later became a a confirmed habit."
+
+"Quite a reasonable conclusion and very clearly stated," said Thorndyke.
+"I don't say that I entirely agree with you, or that you have exhausted
+the information that these signatures offer. But you have started in the
+right direction."
+
+"I may be on the right road," I said gloomily; "but I am stuck fast in
+one place and I see no chance of getting any farther."
+
+"But you have a quantity of data," said Thorndyke. "You have all the
+facts that I had to start with, from which I constructed the hypothesis
+that I am now busily engaged in verifying. I have a few more data now,
+for 'as money makes money' so knowledge begets knowledge, and I put my
+original capital out to interest. Shall we tabulate the facts that are
+in our joint possession and see what they suggest?"
+
+I grasped eagerly at the offer, though I had conned over my notes again
+and again.
+
+Thorndyke produced a slip of paper from a drawer, and, uncapping his
+fountain-pen, proceeded to write down the leading facts, reading each
+aloud as soon as it was written.
+
+"1. The second will was unnecessary since it contained no new matter,
+expressed no new intentions and met no new conditions, and the first
+will was quite clear and efficient.
+
+"2. The evident intention of the testator was to leave the bulk of his
+property to Stephen Blackmore.
+
+"3. The second will did not, under existing circumstances, give effect
+to this intention, whereas the first will did.
+
+"4. The signature of the second will differs slightly from that of the
+first, and also from what had hitherto been the testator's ordinary
+signature.
+
+"And now we come to a very curious group of dates, which I will advise
+you to consider with great attention.
+
+"5. Mrs. Wilson made her will at the beginning of September last year,
+without acquainting Jeffrey Blackmore, who seems to have been unaware of
+the existence of this will.
+
+"6. His own second will was dated the twelfth of November of last year.
+
+"7. Mrs. Wilson died of cancer on the twelfth of March this present
+year.
+
+"8. Jeffrey Blackmore was last seen alive on the fourteenth of March.
+
+"9. His body was discovered on the fifteenth of March.
+
+"10. The change in the character of his signature began about September
+last year and became permanent after the middle of October.
+
+"You will find that collection of facts repay careful study, Jervis,
+especially when considered in relation to the further data:
+
+"11. That we found in Blackmore's chambers a framed inscription of large
+size, hung upside down, together with what appeared to be the remains of
+a watch-glass and a box of stearine candles and some other objects."
+
+He passed the paper to me and I pored over it intently, focusing my
+attention on the various items with all the power of my will. But,
+struggle as I would, no general conclusion could be made to emerge from
+the mass of apparently disconnected facts.
+
+"Well?" Thorndyke said presently, after watching with grave interest my
+unavailing efforts; "what do you make of it?"
+
+"Nothing!" I exclaimed desperately, slapping the paper down on the
+table. "Of course, I can see that there are some queer coincidences. But
+how do they bear on the case? I understand that you want to upset this
+will; which we know to have been signed without compulsion or even
+suggestion in the presence of two respectable men, who have sworn to the
+identity of the document. That is your object, I believe?"
+
+"Certainly it is."
+
+"Then I am hanged if I see how you are going to do it. Not, I should
+say, by offering a group of vague coincidences that would muddle any
+brain but your own."
+
+Thorndyke chuckled softly but pursued the subject no farther.
+
+"Put that paper in your file with your other notes," he said, "and think
+it over at your leisure. And now I want a little help from you. Have you
+a good memory for faces?"
+
+"Fairly good, I think. Why?"
+
+"Because I have a photograph of a man whom I think you may have met.
+Just look at it and tell me if you remember the face."
+
+He drew a cabinet size photograph from an envelope that had come by the
+morning's post and handed it to me.
+
+"I have certainly seen this face somewhere," said I, taking the portrait
+over to the window to examine it more thoroughly, "but I can't, at the
+moment, remember where."
+
+"Try," said Thorndyke. "If you have seen the face before, you should be
+able to recall the person."
+
+I looked intently at the photograph, and the more I looked, the more
+familiar did the face appear. Suddenly the identity of the man flashed
+into my mind and I exclaimed in astonishment:
+
+"It can't be that poor creature at Kennington, Mr. Graves?"
+
+"I think it can," replied Thorndyke, "and I think it is. But could you
+swear to the identity in a court of law?"
+
+"It is my firm conviction that the photograph is that of Mr. Graves. I
+would swear to that."
+
+"No man ought to swear to more," said Thorndyke. "Identification is
+always a matter of opinion or belief. The man who will swear
+unconditionally to identity from memory only is a man whose evidence
+should be discredited. I think your sworn testimony would be
+sufficient."
+
+It is needless to say that the production of this photograph filled me
+with amazement and curiosity as to how Thorndyke had obtained it. But,
+as he replaced it impassively in its envelope without volunteering any
+explanation, I felt that I could not question him directly.
+Nevertheless, I ventured to approach the subject in an indirect manner.
+
+"Did you get any information from those Darmstadt people?" I asked.
+
+"Schnitzler? Yes. I learned, through the medium of an official
+acquaintance, that Dr. H. Weiss was a stranger to them; that they knew
+nothing about him excepting that he had ordered from them, and been
+supplied with, a hundred grammes of pure hydrochlorate of morphine."
+
+"All at once?"
+
+"No. In separate parcels of twenty-five grammes each."
+
+"Is that all you know about Weiss?"
+
+"It is all that I actually know; but it is not all that I suspect--on
+very substantial grounds. By the way, what did you think of the
+coachman?"
+
+"I don't know that I thought very much about him. Why?"
+
+"You never suspected that he and Weiss were one and the same person?"
+
+"No. How could they be? They weren't in the least alike. And one was a
+Scotchman and the other a German. But perhaps you know that they were
+the same?"
+
+"I only know what you have told me. But considering that you never saw
+them together, that the coachman was never available for messages or
+assistance when Weiss was with you; that Weiss always made his
+appearance some time after you arrived, and disappeared some time before
+you left; it has seemed to me that they might have been the same
+person."
+
+"I should say it was impossible. They were so very different in
+appearance. But supposing that they were the same; would the fact be of
+any importance?"
+
+"It would mean that we could save ourselves the trouble of looking for
+the coachman. And it would suggest some inferences, which will occur to
+you if you think the matter over. But being only a speculative opinion,
+at present, it would not be safe to infer very much from it."
+
+"You have rather taken me by surprise," I remarked. "It seems that you
+have been working at this Kennington case, and working pretty actively I
+imagine, whereas I supposed that your entire attention was taken up by
+the Blackmore affair."
+
+"It doesn't do," he replied, "to allow one's entire attention to be
+taken up by any one case. I have half a dozen others--minor cases,
+mostly--to which I am attending at this moment. Did you think I was
+proposing to keep you under lock and key indefinitely?"
+
+"Well, no. But I thought the Kennington case would have to wait its
+turn. And I had no idea that you were in possession of enough facts to
+enable you to get any farther with it."
+
+"But you knew all the very striking facts of the case, and you saw the
+further evidence that we extracted from the empty house."
+
+"Do you mean those things that we picked out from the rubbish under the
+grate?"
+
+"Yes. You saw those curious little pieces of reed and the pair of
+spectacles. They are lying in the top drawer of that cabinet at this
+moment, and I should recommend you to have another look at them. To me
+they are most instructive. The pieces of reed offered an extremely
+valuable suggestion, and the spectacles enabled me to test that
+suggestion and turn it into actual information."
+
+"Unfortunately," said I, "the pieces of reed convey nothing to me. I
+don't know what they are or of what they have formed a part."
+
+"I think," he replied, "that if you examine them with due consideration,
+you will find their use pretty obvious. Have a good look at them and the
+spectacles too. Think over all that you know of that mysterious group of
+people who lived in that house, and see if you cannot form some coherent
+theory of their actions. Think, also, if we have not some information in
+our possession by which we might be able to identify some of them, and
+infer the identity of the others. You will have a quiet day, as I shall
+not be home until the evening; set yourself this task. I assure you that
+you have the material for identifying--or rather for testing the
+identity of--at least one of those persons. Go over your material
+systematically, and let me know in the evening what further
+investigations you would propose."
+
+"Very well," said I. "It shall be done according to your word. I will
+addle my brain afresh with the affair of Mr. Weiss and his patient, and
+let the Blackmore case rip."
+
+"There is no need to do that. You have a whole day before you. An hour's
+really close consideration of the Kennington case ought to show you what
+your next move should be, and then you could devote yourself to the
+consideration of Jeffrey Blackmore's will."
+
+With this final piece of advice, Thorndyke collected the papers for his
+day's work, and, having deposited them in his brief bag, took his
+departure, leaving me to my meditations.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XIII
+
+The Statement of Samuel Wilkins
+
+
+As soon as I was alone, I commenced my investigations with a rather
+desperate hope of eliciting some startling and unsuspected facts. I
+opened the drawer and taking from it the two pieces of reed and the
+shattered remains of the spectacles, laid them on the table. The repairs
+that Thorndyke had contemplated in the case of the spectacles, had not
+been made. Apparently they had not been necessary. The battered wreck
+that lay before me, just as we had found it, had evidently furnished the
+necessary information; for, since Thorndyke was in possession of a
+portrait of Mr. Graves, it was clear that he had succeeded in
+identifying him so far as to get into communication with some one who
+had known him intimately.
+
+The circumstance should have been encouraging. But somehow it was not.
+What was possible to Thorndyke was, theoretically, possible to me--or to
+anyone else. But the possibility did not realize itself in practice.
+There was the personal equation. Thorndyke's brain was not an ordinary
+brain. Facts of which his mind instantly perceived the relation remained
+to other people unconnected and without meaning. His powers of
+observation and rapid inference were almost incredible, as I had noticed
+again and again, and always with undiminished wonder. He seemed to take
+in everything at a single glance and in an instant to appreciate the
+meaning of everything that he had seen.
+
+Here was a case in point. I had myself seen all that he had seen, and,
+indeed, much more; for I had looked on the very people and witnessed
+their actions, whereas he had never set eyes on any of them. I had
+examined the little handful of rubbish that he had gathered up so
+carefully, and would have flung it back under the grate without a qualm.
+Not a glimmer of light had I perceived in the cloud of mystery, nor even
+a hint of the direction in which to seek enlightenment. And yet
+Thorndyke had, in some incomprehensible manner, contrived to piece
+together facts that I had probably not even observed, and that so
+completely that he had already, in these few days, narrowed down the
+field of inquiry to quite a small area.
+
+From these reflections I returned to the objects on the table. The
+spectacles, as things of which I had some expert knowledge, were not so
+profound a mystery to me. A pair of spectacles might easily afford good
+evidence for identification; that I perceived clearly enough. Not a
+ready-made pair, picked up casually at a shop, but a pair constructed by
+a skilled optician to remedy a particular defect of vision and to fit a
+particular face. And such were the spectacles before me. The build of
+the frames was peculiar; the existence of a cylindrical lens--which I
+could easily make out from the remaining fragments--showed that one
+glass had been cut to a prescribed shape and almost certainly ground to
+a particular formula, and also that the distance between centres must
+have been carefully secured. Hence these spectacles had an individual
+character. But it was manifestly impossible to inquire of all the
+spectacle-makers in Europe--for the glasses were not necessarily made in
+England. As confirmation the spectacles might be valuable; as a
+starting-point they were of no use at all.
+
+From the spectacles I turned to the pieces of reed. These were what had
+given Thorndyke his start. Would they give me a leading hint too? I
+looked at them and wondered what it was that they had told Thorndyke.
+The little fragment of the red paper label had a dark-brown or thin
+black border ornamented with a fret-pattern, and on it I detected a
+couple of tiny points of gold like the dust from leaf-gilding. But I
+learned nothing from that. Then the shorter piece of reed was
+artificially hollowed to fit on the longer piece. Apparently it formed a
+protective sheath or cap. But what did it protect? Presumably a point or
+edge of some kind. Could this be a pocket-knife of any sort, such as a
+small stencil-knife? No; the material was too fragile for a
+knife-handle. It could not be an etching-needle for the same reason; and
+it was not a surgical appliance--at least it was not like any surgical
+instrument that was known to me.
+
+I turned it over and over and cudgelled my brains; and then I had a
+brilliant idea. Was it a reed pen of which the point had been broken
+off? I knew that reed pens were still in use by draughtsmen of
+decorative leanings with an affection for the "fat line." Could any of
+our friends be draughtsmen? This seemed the most probable solution of
+the difficulty, and the more I thought about it the more likely it
+seemed. Draughtsmen usually sign their work intelligibly, and even when
+they use a device instead of a signature their identity is easily
+traceable. Could it be that Mr. Graves, for instance, was an
+illustrator, and that Thorndyke had established his identity by looking
+through the works of all the well-known thick-line draughtsmen?
+
+This problem occupied me for the rest of the day. My explanation did not
+seem quite to fit Thorndyke's description of his methods; but I could
+think of no other. I turned it over during my solitary lunch; I
+meditated on it with the aid of several pipes in the afternoon; and
+having refreshed my brain with a cup of tea, I went forth to walk in the
+Temple gardens--which I was permitted to do without breaking my
+parole--to think it out afresh.
+
+The result was disappointing. I was basing my reasoning on the
+assumption that the pieces of reed were parts of a particular appliance,
+appertaining to a particular craft; whereas they might be the remains of
+something quite different, appertaining to a totally different craft or
+to no craft at all. And in no case did they point to any known
+individual or indicate any but the vaguest kind of search. After pacing
+the pleasant walks for upwards of two hours, I at length turned back
+towards our chambers, where I arrived as the lamp-lighter was just
+finishing his round.
+
+My fruitless speculations had left me somewhat irritable. The lighted
+windows that I had noticed as I approached had given me the impression
+that Thorndyke had returned. I had intended to press him for a little
+further information. When, therefore, I let myself into our chambers and
+found, instead of my colleague, a total stranger--and only a back view
+at that--I was disappointed and annoyed.
+
+The stranger was seated by the table, reading a large document that
+looked like a lease. He made no movement when I entered, but when I
+crossed the room and wished him "Good evening," he half rose and bowed
+silently. It was then that I first saw his face, and a mighty start he
+gave me. For one moment I actually thought he was Mr. Weiss, so close
+was the resemblance, but immediately I perceived that he was a much
+smaller man.
+
+I sat down nearly opposite and stole an occasional furtive glance at
+him. The resemblance to Weiss was really remarkable. The same flaxen
+hair, the same ragged beard and a similar red nose, with the patches of
+<i>acne rosacea</i> spreading to the adjacent cheeks. He wore spectacles,
+too, through which he took a quick glance at me now and again, returning
+immediately to his document.
+
+After some moments of rather embarrassing silence, I ventured to remark
+that it was a mild evening; to which he assented with a sort of Scotch
+"Hm--hm" and nodded slowly. Then came another interval of silence,
+during which I speculated on the possibility of his being a relative of
+Mr. Weiss and wondered what the deuce he was doing in our chambers.
+
+"Have you an appointment with Dr. Thorndyke?" I asked, at length.
+
+He bowed solemnly, and by way of reply--in the affirmative, as I
+assumed--emitted another "hm--hm."
+
+I looked at him sharply, a little nettled by his lack of manners;
+whereupon he opened out the lease so that it screened his face, and as I
+glanced at the back of the document, I was astonished to observe that it
+was shaking rapidly.
+
+The fellow was actually laughing! What he found in my simple question to
+cause him so much amusement I was totally unable to imagine. But there
+it was. The tremulous movements of the document left me in no possible
+doubt that he was for some reason convulsed with laughter.
+
+It was extremely mysterious. Also, it was rather embarrassing. I took
+out my pocket file and began to look over my notes. Then the document
+was lowered and I was able to get another look at the stranger's face.
+He was really extraordinarily like Weiss. The shaggy eyebrows, throwing
+the eye-sockets into shadow, gave him, in conjunction with the
+spectacles, the same owlish, solemn expression that I had noticed in my
+Kennington acquaintance; and which, by the way, was singularly out of
+character with the frivolous behaviour that I had just witnessed.
+
+From time to time as I looked at him, he caught my eye and instantly
+averted his own, turning rather red. Apparently he was a shy, nervous
+man, which might account for his giggling; for I have noticed that shy
+or nervous people have a habit of smiling inopportunely and even
+giggling when embarrassed by meeting an over-steady eye. And it seemed
+my own eye had this disconcerting quality, for even as I looked at him,
+the document suddenly went up again and began to shake violently.
+
+I stood it for a minute or two, but, finding the situation intolerably
+embarrassing, I rose, and brusquely excusing myself, went up to the
+laboratory to look for Polton and inquire at what time Thorndyke was
+expected home. To my surprise, however, on entering, I discovered
+Thorndyke himself just finishing the mounting of a microscopical
+specimen.
+
+"Did you know that there is some one below waiting to see you?" I asked.
+
+"Is it anyone you know?" he inquired.
+
+"No," I answered. "It is a red-nosed, sniggering fool in spectacles. He
+has got a lease or a deed or some other sort of document which he has
+been using to play a sort of idiotic game of Peep-Bo! I couldn't stand
+him, so I came up here."
+
+Thorndyke laughed heartily at my description of his client.
+
+"What are you laughing at?" I asked sourly; at which he laughed yet more
+heartily and added to the aggravation by wiping his eyes.
+
+"Our friend seems to have put you out," he remarked.
+
+"He put me out literally. If I had stayed much longer I should have
+punched his head."
+
+"In that case," said Thorndyke, "I am glad you didn't stay. But come
+down and let me introduce you."
+
+"No, thank you. I've had enough of him for the present."
+
+"But I have a very special reason for wishing to introduce you. I think
+you will get some information from him that will interest you very much;
+and you needn't quarrel with a man for being of a cheerful disposition."
+
+"Cheerful be hanged!" I exclaimed. "I don't call a man cheerful because
+he behaves like a gibbering idiot."
+
+To this Thorndyke made no reply but a broad and appreciative smile, and
+we descended to the lower floor. As we entered the room, the stranger
+rose, and, glancing in an embarrassed way from one of us to the other,
+suddenly broke out into an undeniable snigger. I looked at him sternly,
+and Thorndyke, quite unmoved by his indecorous behaviour, said in a
+grave voice:
+
+"Let me introduce you, Jervis; though I think you have met this
+gentleman before."
+
+"I think not," I said stiffly.
+
+"Oh yes, you have, sir," interposed the stranger; and, as he spoke, I
+started; for the voice was uncommonly like the familiar voice of Polton.
+
+I looked at the speaker with sudden suspicion. And now I could see that
+the flaxen hair was a wig; that the beard had a decidedly artificial
+look, and that the eyes that beamed through the spectacles were
+remarkably like the eyes of our factotum. But the blotchy face, the
+bulbous nose and the shaggy, overhanging eyebrows were alien features
+that I could not reconcile with the personality of our refined and
+aristocratic-looking little assistant.
+
+"Is this a practical joke?" I asked.
+
+"No," replied Thorndyke; "it is a demonstration. When we were talking
+this morning it appeared to me that you did not realize the extent to
+which it is possible to conceal identity under suitable conditions of
+light. So I arranged, with Polton's rather reluctant assistance, to give
+you ocular evidence. The conditions are not favourable--which makes the
+demonstration more convincing. This is a very well-lighted room and
+Polton is a very poor actor; in spite of which it has been possible for
+you to sit opposite him for several minutes and look at him, I have no
+doubt, very attentively, without discovering his identity. If the room
+had been lighted only with a candle, and Polton had been equal to the
+task of supporting his make-up with an appropriate voice and manner, the
+deception would have been perfect."
+
+"I can see that he has a wig on, quite plainly," said I.
+
+"Yes; but you would not in a dimly lighted room. On the other hand, if
+Polton were to walk down Fleet Street at mid-day in this condition, the
+make-up would be conspicuously evident to any moderately observant
+passer-by. The secret of making up consists in a careful adjustment to
+the conditions of light and distance in which the make-up is to be seen.
+That in use on the stage would look ridiculous in an ordinary room; that
+which would serve in an artificially lighted room would look ridiculous
+out of doors by daylight."
+
+"Is any effective make-up possible out of doors in ordinary daylight?" I
+asked.
+
+"Oh, yes," replied Thorndyke. "But it must be on a totally different
+scale from that of the stage. A wig, and especially a beard or
+moustache, must be joined up at the edges with hair actually stuck on
+the skin with transparent cement and carefully trimmed with scissors.
+The same applies to eyebrows; and alterations in the colour of the skin
+must be carried out much more subtly. Polton's nose has been built up
+with a small covering of toupée-paste, the pimples on the cheeks
+produced with little particles of the same material; and the general
+tinting has been done with grease-paint with a very light scumble of
+powder colour to take off some of the shine. This would be possible in
+outdoor make-up, but it would have to be done with the greatest care and
+delicacy; in fact, with what the art-critics call 'reticence.' A very
+little make-up is sufficient and too much is fatal. You would be
+surprised to see how little paste is required to alter the shape of the
+nose and the entire character of the face."
+
+At this moment there came a loud knock at the door; a single, solid dab
+of the knocker which Polton seemed to recognize, for he ejaculated:
+
+"Good lord, sir! That'll be Wilkins, the cabman! I'd forgotten all
+about him. Whatever's to be done?"
+
+He stared at us in ludicrous horror for a moment or two, and then,
+snatching off his wig, beard and spectacles, poked them into a cupboard.
+But his appearance was now too much even for Thorndyke--who hastily got
+behind him--for he had now resumed his ordinary personality--but with a
+very material difference.
+
+"Oh, it's nothing to laugh at, sir," he exclaimed indignantly as I
+crammed my handkerchief into my mouth. "Somebody's got to let him in, or
+he'll go away."
+
+"Yes; and that won't do," said Thorndyke. "But don't worry, Polton. You
+can step into the office. I'll open the door."
+
+Polton's presence of mind, however, seemed to have entirely forsaken
+him, for he only hovered irresolutely in the wake of his principal. As
+the door opened, a thick and husky voice inquired:
+
+"Gent of the name of Polton live here?"
+
+"Yes, quite right," said Thorndyke. "Come in. Your name is Wilkins, I
+think?"
+
+"That's me, sir," said the voice; and in response to Thorndyke's
+invitation, a typical "growler" cabman of the old school, complete even
+to imbricated cape and dangling badge, stalked into the room, and
+glancing round with a mixture of embarrassment and defiance, suddenly
+fixed on Polton's nose a look of devouring curiosity.
+
+"Here you are, then," Polton remarked nervously.
+
+"Yus," replied the cabman in a slightly hostile tone. "Here I am. What
+am I wanted to do? And where's this here Mr. Polton?"
+
+"I am Mr. Polton," replied our abashed assistant.
+
+"Well, it's the other Mr. Polton what I want," said the cabman, with his
+eyes still riveted on the olfactory prominence.
+
+"There isn't any other Mr. Polton," our subordinate replied irritably.
+"I am the--er--person who spoke to you in the shelter."
+
+"Are you though?" said the manifestly incredulous cabby. "I shouldn't
+have thought it; but you ought to know. What do you want me to do?"
+
+"We want you," said Thorndyke, "to answer one or two questions. And the
+first one is, Are you a teetotaller?"
+
+The question being illustrated by the production of a decanter, the
+cabman's dignity relaxed somewhat.
+
+"I ain't bigoted," said he.
+
+"Then sit down and mix yourself a glass of grog. Soda or plain water?"
+
+"May as well have all the extries," replied the cabman, sitting down and
+grasping the decanter with the air of a man who means business. "Per'aps
+you wouldn't mind squirtin' out the soda, sir, bein' more used to it."
+
+While these preliminaries were being arranged, Polton silently slipped
+out of the room, and when our visitor had fortified himself with a gulp
+of the uncommonly stiff mixture, the examination began.
+
+"Your name, I think, is Wilkins?" said Thorndyke.
+
+"That's me, sir. Samuel Wilkins is my name."
+
+"And your occupation?"
+
+"Is a very tryin' one and not paid for as it deserves. I drives a cab,
+sir; a four-wheeled cab is what I drives; and a very poor job it is."
+
+"Do you happen to remember a very foggy day about a month ago?"
+
+"Do I not, sir! A regler sneezer that was! Wednesday, the fourteenth of
+March. I remember the date because my benefit society came down on me
+for arrears that morning."
+
+"Will you tell us what happened to you between six and seven in the
+evening of that day?"
+
+"I will, sir," replied the cabman, emptying his tumbler by way of
+bracing himself up for the effort. "A little before six I was waiting on
+the arrival side of the Great Northern Station, King's Cross, when I see
+a gentleman and a lady coming out. The gentleman he looks up and down
+and then he sees me and walks up to the cab and opens the door and helps
+the lady in. Then he says to me: 'Do you know New Inn?' he says. That's
+what he says to me what was born and brought up in White Horse Alley,
+Drury Lane.
+
+"'Get inside,' says I.
+
+"'Well,' says he, 'you drive in through the gate in Wych Street,' he
+says, as if he expected me to go in by Houghton Street and down the
+steps, 'and then,' he says, 'you drive nearly to the end and you'll see
+a house with a large brass plate at the corner of the doorway. That's
+where we want to be set down,' he says, and with that he nips in and
+pulls up the windows and off we goes.
+
+"It took us a full half-hour to get to New Inn through the fog, for I
+had to get down and lead the horse part of the way. As I drove in under
+the archway, I saw it was half-past six by the clock in the porter's
+lodge. I drove down nearly to the end of the inn and drew up opposite a
+house where there was a big brass plate by the doorway. It was number
+thirty-one. Then the gent crawls out and hands me five bob--two
+'arf-crowns--and then he helps the lady out, and away they waddles to
+the doorway and I see them start up the stairs very slow--regler
+Pilgrim's Progress. And that was the last I see of 'em."
+
+Thorndyke wrote down the cabman's statement verbatim together with his
+own questions, and then asked:
+
+"Can you give us any description of the gentleman?"
+
+"The gent," said Wilkins, was a very respectable-looking gent, though he
+did look as if he'd had a drop of something short, and small blame to
+him on a day like that. But he was all there, and he knew what was the
+proper fare for a foggy evening, which is more than some of 'em do. He
+was a elderly gent, about sixty, and he wore spectacles, but he didn't
+seem to be able to see much through 'em. He was a funny 'un to look at;
+as round in the back as a turtle and he walked with his head stuck
+forward like a goose."
+
+"What made you think he had been drinking?"
+
+"Well, he wasn't as steady as he might have been on his pins. But he
+wasn't drunk, you know. Only a bit wobbly on the plates."
+
+"And the lady; what was she like?"
+
+"I couldn't see much of her because her head was wrapped up in a sort of
+woollen veil. But I should say she wasn't a chicken. Might have been
+about the same age as the gent, but I couldn't swear to that. She seemed
+a trifle rickety on the pins too; in fact they were a rum-looking
+couple. I watched 'em tottering across the pavement and up the stairs,
+hanging on to each other, him peering through his blinkers and she
+trying to see through her veil, and I thought it was a jolly good job
+they'd got a nice sound cab and a steady driver to bring 'em safe home."
+
+"How was the lady dressed?"
+
+"Can't rightly say, not being a hexpert. Her head was done up in this
+here veil like a pudden in a cloth and she had a small hat on. She had a
+dark brown mantle with a fringe of beads round it and a black dress; and
+I noticed when she got into the cab at the station that one of her
+stockings looked like the bellows of a concertina. That's all I can tell
+you."
+
+Thorndyke wrote down the last answer, and, having read the entire
+statement aloud, handed the pen to our visitor.
+
+"If that is all correct," he said, "I will ask you to sign your name at
+the bottom."
+
+"Do you want me to swear a affidavy that it's all true?" asked Wilkins.
+
+"No, thank you," replied Thorndyke. "We may have to call you to give
+evidence in court, and then you'll be sworn; and you'll also be paid for
+your attendance. For the present I want you to keep your own counsel and
+say nothing to anybody about having been here. We have to make some
+other inquiries and we don't want the affair talked about."
+
+"I see, sir," said Wilkins, as he laboriously traced his signature at
+the foot of the statement; "you don't want the other parties for to ogle
+your lay. All right, sir; you can depend on me. I'm fly, I am."
+
+"Thank you, Wilkins," said Thorndyke. "And now what are we to give you
+for your trouble in coming here?"
+
+"I'll leave the fare to you, sir. You know what the information's worth;
+but I should think 'arf a thick-un wouldn't hurt you."
+
+Thorndyke laid on the table a couple of sovereigns, at the sight of
+which the cabman's eyes glistened.
+
+"We have your address, Wilkins," said he. "If we want you as a witness
+we shall let you know, and if not, there will be another two pounds for
+you at the end of a fortnight, provided you have not let this little
+interview leak out."
+
+Wilkins gathered up the spoils gleefully. "You can trust me, sir," said
+he, "for to keep my mouth shut. I knows which side my bread's buttered.
+Good night, gentlemen all."
+
+With this comprehensive salute he moved towards the door and let
+himself out.
+
+"Well, Jervis; what do you think of it?" Thorndyke asked, as the
+cabman's footsteps faded away in a creaky diminuendo.
+
+"I don't know what to think. This woman is a new factor in the case and
+I don't know how to place her."
+
+"Not entirely new," said Thorndyke. "You have not forgotten those beads
+that we found in Jeffrey's bedroom, have you?"
+
+"No, I had not forgotten them, but I did not see that they told us much
+excepting that some woman had apparently been in his bedroom at some
+time."
+
+"That, I think, is all that they did tell us. But now they tell us that
+a particular woman was in his bedroom at a particular time, which is a
+good deal more significant."
+
+"Yes. It almost looks as if she must have been there when he made away
+with himself."
+
+"It does, very much."
+
+"By the way, you were right about the colours of those beads, and also
+about the way they were used."
+
+"As to their use, that was a mere guess; but it has turned out to be
+correct. It was well that we found the beads, for, small as is the
+amount of information they give, it is still enough to carry us a stage
+further."
+
+"How so?"
+
+"I mean that the cabman's evidence tells us only that this woman entered
+the house. The beads tell us that she was in the bedroom; which, as you
+say, seems to connect her to some extent with Jeffrey's death. Not
+necessarily, of course. It is only a suggestion; but a rather strong
+suggestion under the peculiar circumstances."
+
+"Even so," said I, "this new fact seems to me so far from clearing up
+the mystery, only to add to it a fresh element of still deeper mystery.
+The porter's evidence at the inquest could leave no doubt that Jeffrey
+contemplated suicide, and his preparations pointedly suggest this
+particular night as the time selected by him for doing away with
+himself. Is not that so?"
+
+"Certainly. The porter's evidence was very clear on that point."
+
+"Then I don't see where this woman comes in. It is obvious that her
+presence at the inn, and especially in the bedroom, on this occasion and
+in these strange, secret circumstances, has a rather sinister look; but
+yet I do not see in what way she could have been connected with the
+tragedy. Perhaps, after all, she has nothing to do with it. You remember
+that Jeffrey went to the lodge about eight o'clock, to pay his rent, and
+chatted for some time with the porter. That looks as if the lady had
+already left."
+
+"Yes," said Thorndyke. "But, on the other hand, Jeffrey's remarks to the
+porter with reference to the cab do not quite agree with the account
+that we have just heard from Wilkins. Which suggests--as does Wilkins's
+account generally--some secrecy as to the lady's visit to his chambers."
+
+"Do you know who the woman was?" I asked.
+
+"No, I don't know," he replied. "I have a rather strong suspicion that I
+can identify her, but I am waiting for some further facts."
+
+"Is your suspicion founded on some new matter that you have discovered,
+or is it deducible from facts that are known to me?"
+
+"I think," he replied, "that you know practically all that I know,
+although I have, in one instance, turned a very strong suspicion into a
+certainty by further inquiries. But I think you ought to be able to form
+some idea as to who this lady probably was."
+
+"But no woman has been mentioned in the case at all."
+
+"No; but I think you should be able to give this lady a name,
+notwithstanding."
+
+"Should I? Then I begin to suspect that I am not cut out for
+medico-legal practice, for I don't see the faintest glimmer of a
+suggestion."
+
+Thorndyke smiled benevolently. "Don't be discouraged, Jervis," said he.
+"I expect that when you first began to go round the wards, you doubted
+whether you were cut out for medical practice. I did. For special work
+one needs special knowledge and an acquired faculty for making use of
+it. What does a second year's student make of a small thoracic aneurysm?
+He knows the anatomy of the chest; he begins to know the normal heart
+sounds and areas of dullness; but he cannot yet fit his various items of
+knowledge together. Then comes the experienced physician and perhaps
+makes a complete diagnosis without any examination at all, merely from
+hearing the patient speak or cough. He has the same facts as the
+student, but he has acquired the faculty of instantly connecting an
+abnormality of function with its correleated anatomical change. It is a
+matter of experience. And, with your previous training, you will soon
+acquire the faculty. Try to observe everything. Let nothing escape you.
+And try constantly to find some connection between facts and events that
+seem to be unconnected. That is my advice to you; and with that we will
+put away the Blackmore case for the present and consider our day's work
+at an end."
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XIV
+
+Thorndyke Lays the Mine
+
+
+The information supplied by Mr. Samuel Wilkins, so far from dispelling
+the cloud of mystery that hung over the Blackmore case, only enveloped
+it in deeper obscurity, so far as I was concerned. The new problem that
+Thorndyke offered for solution was a tougher one than any of the others.
+He proposed that I should identify and give a name to this mysterious
+woman. But how could I? No woman, excepting Mrs. Wilson, had been
+mentioned in connection with the case. This new <i>dramatis persona</i> had
+appeared suddenly from nowhere and straightway vanished without leaving
+a trace, excepting the two or three beads that we had picked up in
+Jeffrey's room.
+
+Nor was it in the least clear what part, if any, she had played in the
+tragedy. The facts still pointed as plainly to suicide as before her
+appearance. Jeffrey's repeated hints as to his intentions, and the very
+significant preparations that he had made, were enough to negative any
+idea of foul play. And yet the woman's presence in the chambers at that
+time, the secret manner of her arrival and her precautions against
+recognition, strongly suggested some kind of complicity in the dreadful
+event that followed.
+
+But what complicity is possible in the case of suicide? The woman might
+have furnished him with the syringe and the poison, but it would not
+have been necessary for her to go to his chambers for that purpose.
+Vague ideas of persuasion and hypnotic suggestion floated through my
+brain; but the explanations did not fit the case and the hypnotic
+suggestion of crime is not very convincing to the medical mind. Then I
+thought of blackmail in connection with some disgraceful secret; but
+though this was a more hopeful suggestion, it was not very probable,
+considering Jeffrey's age and character.
+
+And all these speculations failed to throw the faintest light on the
+main question: "Who was this woman?"
+
+A couple of days passed, during which Thorndyke made no further
+reference to the case. He was, most of the time, away from home, though
+how he was engaged I had no idea. What was rather more unusual was that
+Polton seemed to have deserted the laboratory and taken to outdoor
+pursuits. I assumed that he had seized the opportunity of leaving me in
+charge, and I dimly surmised that he was acting as Thorndyke's private
+inquiry agent, as he seemed to have done in the case of Samuel Wilkins.
+
+On the evening of the second day Thorndyke came home in obviously good
+spirits, and his first proceedings aroused my expectant curiosity. He
+went to a cupboard and brought forth a box of Trichinopoly cheroots. Now
+the Trichinopoly cheroot was Thorndyke's one dissipation, to be enjoyed
+only on rare and specially festive occasions; which, in practice, meant
+those occasions on which he had scored some important point or solved
+some unusually tough problem. Wherefore I watched him with lively
+interest.
+
+"It's a pity that the 'Trichy' is such a poisonous beast," he remarked,
+taking up one of the cheroots and sniffing at it delicately. "There is
+no other cigar like it, to a really abandoned smoker." He laid the cigar
+back in the box and continued: "I think I shall treat myself to one
+after dinner to celebrate the occasion."
+
+"What occasion?" I asked.
+
+"The completion of the Blackmore case. I am just going to write to
+Marchmont advising him to enter a caveat."
+
+"Do you mean to say that you have discovered a flaw in the will, after
+all?"
+
+"A flaw!" he exclaimed. "My dear Jervis, that second will is a forgery."
+
+I stared at him in amazement; for his assertion sounded like nothing
+more or less than arrant nonsense.
+
+"But the thing is impossible, Thorndyke," I said. "Not only did the
+witnesses recognize their own signatures and the painter's greasy
+finger-marks, but they had both read the will and remembered its
+contents."
+
+"Yes; that is the interesting feature in the case. It is a very pretty
+problem. I shall give you a last chance to solve it. To-morrow evening
+we shall have to give a full explanation, so you have another
+twenty-four hours in which to think it over. And, meanwhile, I am going
+to take you to my club to dine. I think we shall be pretty safe there
+from Mrs. Schallibaum."
+
+He sat down and wrote a letter, which was apparently quite a short one,
+and having addressed and stamped it, prepared to go out.
+
+"Come," said he, "let us away to 'the gay and festive scenes and halls
+of dazzling light.' We will lay the mine in the Fleet Street pillar box.
+I should like to be in Marchmont's office when it explodes."
+
+"I expect, for that matter," said I, "that the explosion will be felt
+pretty distinctly in these chambers."
+
+"I expect so, too," replied Thorndyke; "and that reminds me that I shall
+be out all day to-morrow, so, if Marchmont calls, you must do all that
+you can to persuade him to come round after dinner and bring Stephen
+Blackmore, if possible. I am anxious to have Stephen here, as he will be
+able to give us some further information and confirm certain matters of
+fact."
+
+I promised to exercise my utmost powers of persuasion on Mr. Marchmont
+which I should certainly have done on my own account, being now on the
+very tiptoe of curiosity to hear Thorndyke's explanation of the
+unthinkable conclusion at which he had arrived--and the subject dropped
+completely; nor could I, during the rest of the evening, induce my
+colleague to reopen it even in the most indirect or allusive manner.
+
+Our explanations in respect of Mr. Marchmont were fully realized; for,
+on the following morning, within an hour of Thorndyke's departure from
+our chambers, the knocker was plied with more than usual emphasis, and,
+on my opening the door, I discovered the solicitor in company with a
+somewhat older gentleman. Mr. Marchmont appeared somewhat out of humour,
+while his companion was obviously in a state of extreme irritation.
+
+"How d'you do, Dr. Jervis?" said Marchmont as he entered at my
+invitation. "Your friend, I suppose, is not in just now?"
+
+"No; and he will not be returning until the evening."
+
+"Hm; I'm sorry. We wished to see him rather particularly. This is my
+partner, Mr. Winwood."
+
+The latter gentleman bowed stiffly and Marchmont continued:
+
+"We have had a letter from Dr. Thorndyke, and it is, I may say, a rather
+curious letter; in fact, a very singular letter indeed."
+
+"It is the letter of a madman!" growled Mr. Winwood.
+
+"No, no, Winwood; nothing of the kind. Control yourself, I beg you. But
+really, the letter is rather incomprehensible. It relates to the will of
+the late Jeffrey Blackmore--you know the main facts of the case; and we
+cannot reconcile it with those facts."
+
+"This is the letter," exclaimed Mr. Winwood, dragging the document from
+his wallet and slapping it down on the table. "If you are acquainted
+with the case, sir, just read that, and let us hear what <i>you</i> think."
+
+I took up the letter and read aloud:
+
+"JEFFREY BLACKMORE, DECD.
+
+"DEAR MR. MARCHMONT,--
+
+"I have gone into this case with great care and have now no doubt that
+the second will is a forgery. Criminal proceedings will, I think, be
+inevitable, but meanwhile it would be wise to enter a caveat.
+
+"If you could look in at my chambers to-morrow evening we could talk the
+case over; and I should be glad if you could bring Mr. Stephen
+Blackmore; whose personal knowledge of the events and the parties
+concerned would be of great assistance in clearing up obscure details.
+
+"I am,
+
+"Yours sincerely,
+
+"JOHN EVELYN THORNDYKE
+
+"C.F. MARCHMONT, ESQ."
+
+"Well!" exclaimed Mr. Winwood, glaring ferociously at me, "what do you
+think of the learned counsel's opinion?"
+
+"I knew that Thorndyke was writing to you to this effect," I replied,
+"but I must frankly confess that I can make nothing of it. Have you
+acted on his advice?"
+
+"Certainly not!" shouted the irascible lawyer. "Do you suppose that we
+wish to make ourselves the laughing-stock of the courts? The thing is
+impossible--ridiculously impossible!"
+
+"It can't be that, you know," I said, a little stiffly, for I was
+somewhat nettled by Mr. Winwood's manner, "or Thorndyke would not have
+written this letter. The conclusion looks as impossible to me as it does
+to you; but I have complete confidence in Thorndyke. If he says that the
+will is a forgery, I have no doubt that it is a forgery."
+
+"But how the deuce can it be?" roared Winwood. "You know the
+circumstances under which the will was executed."
+
+"Yes; but so does Thorndyke. And he is not a man who overlooks important
+facts. It is useless to argue with me. I am in a complete fog about the
+case myself. You had better come in this evening and talk it over with
+him as he suggests."
+
+"It is very inconvenient," grumbled Mr. Winwood. "We shall have to dine
+in town."
+
+"Yes," said Marchmont, "but it is the only thing to be done. As Dr.
+Jervis says, we must take it that Thorndyke has something solid to base
+his opinion on. He doesn't make elementary mistakes. And, of course, if
+what he says is correct, Mr. Stephen's position is totally changed."
+
+"Bah!" exclaimed Winwood, "he has found a mare's nest, I tell you.
+Still, I agree that the explanation should be worth hearing."
+
+"You mustn't mind Winwood," said Marchmont, in an apologetic undertone;
+"he's a peppery old fellow with a rough tongue, but he doesn't mean any
+harm." Which statement Winwood assented to--or dissented from; for it
+was impossible to say which--by a prolonged growl.
+
+"We shall expect you then," I said, "about eight to-night, and you will
+try to bring Mr. Stephen with you?"
+
+"Yes," replied Marchmont; "I think we can promise that he shall come
+with us. I have sent him a telegram asking him to attend."
+
+With this the two lawyers took their departure, leaving me to meditate
+upon my colleague's astonishing statement; which I did, considerably to
+the prejudice of other employment. That Thorndyke would be able to
+justify the opinion that he had given, I had no doubt whatever; but yet
+there was no denying that his proposition was what Mr. Dick Swiveller
+would call "a staggerer."
+
+When Thorndyke returned, I informed him of the visit of our two friends,
+and acquainted him with the sentiments that they had expressed; whereat
+he smiled with quiet amusement.
+
+"I thought," he remarked, "that letter would bring Marchmont to our door
+before long. As to Winwood, I have never met him, but I gather that he
+is one of those people whom you 'mustn't mind.' In a general way, I
+object to people who tacitly claim exemption from the ordinary rules of
+conduct that are held to be binding on their fellows. But, as he
+promises to give us what the variety artists call 'an extra turn,' we
+will make the best of him and give him a run for his money."
+
+Here Thorndyke smiled mischievously--I understood the meaning of that
+smile later in the evening--and asked: "What do you think of the affair
+yourself?"
+
+"I have given it up," I answered. "To my paralysed brain, the Blackmore
+case is like an endless algebraical problem propounded by an insane
+mathematician."
+
+Thorndyke laughed at my comparison, which I flatter myself was a rather
+apt one.
+
+"Come and dine," said he, "and let us crack a bottle, that our hearts
+may not turn to water under the frown of the disdainful Winwood. I think
+the old 'Bell' in Holborn will meet our present requirements better than
+the club. There is something jovial and roystering about an ancient
+tavern; but we must keep a sharp lookout for Mrs. Schallibaum."
+
+Thereupon we set forth; and, after a week's close imprisonment, I once
+more looked upon the friendly London streets, the cheerfully lighted
+shop windows and the multitudes of companionable strangers who moved
+unceasingly along the pavements.
+
+
+
+Chapter XV
+
+Thorndyke Explodes the Mine
+
+
+We had not been back in our chambers more than a few minutes when the
+little brass knocker on the inner door rattled out its summons.
+Thorndyke himself opened the door, and, finding our three expected
+visitors on the threshold, he admitted them and closed the "oak."
+
+"We have accepted your invitation, you see," said Marchmont, whose
+manner was now a little flurried and uneasy. "This is my partner, Mr.
+Winwood; you haven't met before, I think. Well, we thought we should
+like to hear some further particulars from you, as we could not quite
+understand your letter."
+
+"My conclusion, I suppose," said Thorndyke, "was a little unexpected?"
+
+"It was more than that, sir," exclaimed Winwood. "It was absolutely
+irreconcilable either with the facts of the case or with common physical
+possibilities."
+
+"At the first glance," Thorndyke agreed, "it would probably have that
+appearance."
+
+"It has that appearance still to me." said Winwood, growing suddenly red
+and wrathful, "and I may say that I speak as a solicitor who was
+practising in the law when you were an infant in arms. You tell us, sir,
+that this will is a forgery; this will, which was executed in broad
+daylight in the presence of two unimpeachable witnesses who have sworn,
+not only to their signatures and the contents of the document, but to
+their very finger-marks on the paper. Are those finger-marks forgeries,
+too? Have you examined and tested them?"
+
+"I have not," replied Thorndyke. "The fact is they are of no interest to
+me, as I am not disputing the witnesses' signatures."
+
+At this, Mr. Winwood fairly danced with irritation.
+
+"Marchmont!" he exclaimed fiercely, "you know this good gentleman, I
+believe. Tell me, is he addicted to practical jokes?"
+
+"Now, my dear Winwood," groaned Marchmont, "I pray you--I beg you to
+control yourself. No doubt--"
+
+"But confound it!" roared Winwood, "you have, yourself, heard him say
+that the will is a forgery, but that he doesn't dispute the signatures;
+which," concluded Winwood, banging his fist down on the table, "is
+damned nonsense."
+
+"May I suggest," interposed Stephen Blackmore, "that we came here to
+receive Dr. Thorndyke's explanation of his letter. Perhaps it would be
+better to postpone any comments until we have heard it."
+
+"Undoubtedly, undoubtedly," said Marchmont. "Let me entreat you,
+Winwood, to listen patiently and refrain from interruption until we have
+heard our learned friend's exposition of the case."
+
+"Oh, very well," Winwood replied sulkily; "I'll say no more."
+
+He sank into a chair with the manner of a man who shuts himself up and
+turns the key; and so remained--excepting when the internal pressure
+approached bursting-point--throughout the subsequent proceedings,
+silent, stony and impassive, like a seated statue of Obstinacy.
+
+"I take it," said Marchmont, "that you have some new facts that are not
+in our possession?"
+
+"Yes," replied Thorndyke; "we have some new facts, and we have made some
+new use of the old ones. But how shall I lay the case before you? Shall
+I state my theory of the sequence of events and furnish the verification
+afterwards? Or shall I retrace the actual course of my investigations
+and give you the facts in the order in which I obtained them myself,
+with the inferences from them?"
+
+"I almost think," said Mr. Marchmont, "that it would be better if you
+would put us in possession of the new facts. Then, if the conclusions
+that follow from them are not sufficiently obvious, we could hear the
+argument. What do you say, Winwood?"
+
+Mr. Winwood roused himself for an instant, barked out the one word
+"Facts," and shut himself up again with a snap.
+
+"You would like to have the new facts by themselves?" said Thorndyke.
+
+"If you please. The facts only, in the first place, at any rate."
+
+"Very well," said Thorndyke; and here I caught his eye with a
+mischievous twinkle in it that I understood perfectly; for I had most of
+the facts myself and realized how much these two lawyers were likely to
+extract from them. Winwood was going to "have a run for his money," as
+Thorndyke had promised.
+
+My colleague, having placed on the table by his side a small cardboard
+box and the sheets of notes from his file, glanced quickly at Mr.
+Winwood and began:
+
+"The first important new facts came into my possession on the day on
+which you introduced the case to me. In the evening, after you left, I
+availed myself of Mr. Stephen's kind invitation to look over his uncle's
+chambers in New Inn. I wished to do so in order to ascertain, if
+possible, what had been the habits of the deceased during his residence
+there. When I arrived with Dr. Jervis, Mr. Stephen was in the chambers,
+and I learned from him that his uncle was an Oriental scholar of some
+position and that he had a very thorough acquaintance with the cuneiform
+writing. Now, while I was talking with Mr. Stephen I made a very curious
+discovery. On the wall over the fire-place hung a large framed
+photograph of an ancient Persian inscription in the cuneiform character;
+and that photograph was upside down."
+
+"Upside down!" exclaimed Stephen. "But that is really very odd."
+
+"Very odd indeed," agreed Thorndyke, "and very suggestive. The way in
+which it came to be inverted is pretty obvious and also rather
+suggestive. The photograph had evidently been in the frame some years
+but had apparently never been hung up before."
+
+"It had not," said Stephen, "though I don't know how you arrived at the
+fact. It used to stand on the mantelpiece in his old rooms in Jermyn
+Street."
+
+"Well," continued Thorndyke, "the frame-maker had pasted his label on
+the back of the frame, and as this label hung the right way up, it
+appeared as if the person who fixed the photograph on the wall had
+adopted it as a guide."
+
+"It is very extraordinary," said Stephen. "I should have thought the
+person who hung it would have asked Uncle Jeffrey which was the right
+way up; and I can't imagine how on earth it could have hung all those
+months without his noticing it. He must have been practically blind."
+
+Here Marchmont, who had been thinking hard, with knitted brows, suddenly
+brightened up.
+
+"I see your point," said he. "You mean that if Jeffrey was as blind as
+that, it would have been possible for some person to substitute a false
+will, which he might sign without noticing the substitution."
+
+"That wouldn't make the will a forgery," growled Winwood. "If Jeffrey
+signed it, it was Jeffrey's will. You could contest it if you could
+prove the fraud. But he said: 'This is my will,' and the two witnesses
+read it and have identified it."
+
+"Did they read it aloud?" asked Stephen.
+
+"No, they did not," replied Thorndyke.
+
+"Can you prove substitution?" asked Marchmont.
+
+"I haven't asserted it," answered Thorndyke, "My position is that the
+will is a forgery."
+
+"But it is not," said Winwood.
+
+"We won't argue it now," said Thorndyke. "I ask you to note the fact
+that the inscription was upside down. I also observed on the walls of
+the chambers some valuable Japanese colour-prints on which were recent
+damp-spots. I noted that the sitting-room had a gas-stove and that the
+kitchen contained practically no stores or remains of food and hardly
+any traces of even the simplest cooking. In the bedroom I found a large
+box that had contained a considerable stock of hard stearine candles,
+six to the pound, and that was now nearly empty. I examined the clothing
+of the deceased. On the soles of the boots I observed dried mud, which
+was unlike that on my own and Jervis's boots, from the gravelly square
+of the inn. I noted a crease on each leg of the deceased man's trousers
+as if they had been turned up half-way to the knee; and in the waistcoat
+pocket I found the stump of a 'Contango' pencil. On the floor of the
+bedroom, I found a portion of an oval glass somewhat like that of a
+watch or locket, but ground at the edge to a double bevel. Dr. Jervis
+and I also found one or two beads and a bugle, all of dark brown glass."
+
+Here Thorndyke paused, and Marchmont, who had been gazing at him with
+growing amazement, said nervously:
+
+"Er--yes. Very interesting. These observations of yours--er--are--"
+
+"Are all the observations that I made at New Inn."
+
+The two lawyers looked at one another and Stephen Blackmore stared
+fixedly at a spot on the hearth-rug. Then Mr. Winwood's face contorted
+itself into a sour, lopsided smile.
+
+"You might have observed a good many other things, sir," said he, "if
+you had looked. If you had examined the doors, you would have noted that
+they had hinges and were covered with paint; and, if you had looked up
+the chimney you might have noted that it was black inside."
+
+"Now, now, Winwood," protested Marchmont in an agony of uneasiness as to
+what his partner might say next, "I must really beg you--er--to refrain
+from--what Mr. Winwood means, Dr. Thorndyke, is that--er--we do not
+quite perceive the relevancy of these--ah--observations of yours."
+
+"Probably not," said Thorndyke, "but you will perceive their relevancy
+later. For the present, I will ask you to note the facts and bear them
+in mind, so that you may be able to follow the argument when we come to
+that.
+
+"The next set of data I acquired on the same evening, when Dr. Jervis
+gave me a detailed account of a very strange adventure that befell him.
+I need not burden you with all the details, but I will give you the
+substance of his story."
+
+He then proceeded to recount the incidents connected with my visits to
+Mr. Graves, dwelling on the personal peculiarities of the parties
+concerned and especially of the patient, and not even forgetting the
+very singular spectacles worn by Mr. Weiss. He also explained briefly
+the construction of the chart, presenting the latter for the inspection
+of his hearers. To this recital our three visitors listened in utter
+bewilderment, as, indeed did I also; for I could not conceive in what
+way my adventures could possibly be related to the affairs of the late
+Mr. Blackmore. This was manifestly the view taken by Mr. Marchmont, for,
+during a pause in which the chart was handed to him, he remarked
+somewhat stiffly:
+
+"I am assuming, Dr. Thorndyke, that the curious story you are telling us
+has some relevance to the matter in which we are interested."
+
+"You are quite correct in your assumption," replied Thorndyke. "The
+story is very relevant indeed, as you will presently be convinced."
+
+"Thank you," said Marchmont, sinking back once more into his chair with
+a sigh of resignation.
+
+"A few days ago," pursued Thorndyke, "Dr. Jervis and I located, with the
+aid of this chart, the house to which he had been called. We found that
+the late tenant had left somewhat hurriedly and that the house was to
+let; and, as no other kind of investigation was possible, we obtained
+the keys and made an exploration of the premises."
+
+Here he gave a brief account of our visit and the conditions that we
+observed, and was proceeding to furnish a list of the articles that we
+had found under the grate, when Mr. Winwood started from his chair.
+
+"Really, sir!" he exclaimed, "this is too much! Have I come here, at
+great personal inconvenience, to hear you read the inventory of a
+dust-heap?"
+
+Thorndyke smiled benevolently and caught my eye, once more, with a gleam
+of amusement.
+
+"Sit down, Mr. Winwood," he said quietly. "You came here to learn the
+facts of the case, and I am giving them to you. Please don't interrupt
+needlessly and waste time."
+
+Winwood stared at him ferociously for several seconds; then, somewhat
+disconcerted by the unruffled calm of his manner, he uttered a snort of
+defiance, sat down heavily and shut himself up again.
+
+"We will now," Thorndyke continued, with unmoved serenity, "consider
+these relics in more detail, and we will begin with this pair of
+spectacles. They belonged to a person who was near-sighted and
+astigmatic in the left eye and almost certainly blind in the right. Such
+a description agrees entirely with Dr. Jervis's account of the sick
+man."
+
+He paused for the moment, and then, as no one made any comment,
+proceeded:
+
+"We next come to these little pieces of reed, which you, Mr. Stephen,
+will probably recognize as the remains of a Japanese brush, such as is
+used for writing in Chinese ink or for making small drawings."
+
+Again he paused, as though expecting some remark from his listeners; but
+no one spoke, and he continued:
+
+"Then there is this bottle with the theatrical wig-maker's label on it,
+which once contained cement such as is used for fixing on false beards,
+moustaches or eyebrows."
+
+He paused once more and looked round expectantly at his audience, none
+of whom, however, volunteered any remark.
+
+"Do none of these objects that I have described and shown you, seem to
+have any significance for us?" he asked, in a tone of some surprise.
+
+"They convey nothing to me," said Mr. Marchmont, glancing at his
+partner, who shook his head like a restive horse.
+
+"Nor to you, Mr. Stephen?"
+
+"No," replied Stephen. "Under the existing circumstances they convey no
+reasonable suggestion to me."
+
+Thorndyke hesitated as if he were half inclined to say something more;
+then, with a slight shrug, he turned over his notes and resumed:
+
+"The next group of new facts is concerned with the signatures of the
+recent cheques. We have photographed them and placed them together for
+the purpose of comparison and analysis."
+
+"I am not prepared to question the signatures." said Winwood. "We have
+had a highly expert opinion, which would override ours in a court of law
+even if we differed from it; which I think we do not."
+
+"Yes," said Marchmont; "that is so. I think we must accept the
+signatures, especially as that of the will has been proved, beyond any
+question" to be authentic."
+
+"Very well," agreed Thorndyke; "we will pass over the signatures. Then
+we have some further evidence in regard to the spectacles, which serves
+to verify our conclusions respecting them."
+
+"Perhaps," said Marchmont, "we might pass over that, too, as we do not
+seem to have reached any conclusions."
+
+"As you please," said Thorndyke. "It is important, but we can reserve it
+for verification. The next item will interest you more, I think. It is
+the signed and witnessed statement of Samuel Wilkins, the driver of the
+cab in which the deceased came home to the inn on the evening of his
+death."
+
+My colleague was right. An actual document, signed by a tangible
+witness, who could be put in the box and sworn, brought both lawyers to
+a state of attention; and when Thorndyke read out the cabman's evidence,
+their attention soon quickened into undisguised astonishment.
+
+"But this is a most mysterious affair," exclaimed Marchmont. "Who could
+this woman have been, and what could she have been doing in Jeffrey's
+chambers at this time? Can you throw any light on it, Mr. Stephen?"
+
+"No, indeed I can't," replied Stephen. "It is a complete mystery to me.
+My uncle Jeffrey was a confirmed old bachelor, and, although he did not
+dislike women, he was far from partial to their society, wrapped up as
+he was in his favourite studies. To the best of my belief, he had not a
+single female friend. He was not on intimate terms even with his sister,
+Mrs. Wilson."
+
+"Very remarkable," mused Marchmont; "most remarkable. But, perhaps, you
+can tell us, Dr. Thorndyke, who this woman was?"
+
+"I think," replied Thorndyke, "that the next item of evidence will
+enable you to form an opinion for yourselves. I only obtained it
+yesterday, and, as it made my case quite complete, I wrote off to you
+immediately. It is the statement of Joseph Ridley, another cabman, and
+unfortunately, a rather dull, unobservant fellow, unlike Wilkins. He has
+not much to tell us, but what little he has is highly instructive. Here
+is the statement, signed by the deponent and witnessed by me:
+
+"'My name is Joseph Ridley. I am the driver of a four-wheeled cab. On
+the fourteenth of March, the day of the great fog, I was waiting at
+Vauxhall Station, where I had just set down a fare. About five o'clock a
+lady came and told me to drive over to Upper Kennington Lane to take up
+a passenger. She was a middle-sized woman. I could not tell what her age
+was, or what she was like, because her head was wrapped up in a sort of
+knitted, woollen veil to keep out the fog. I did not notice how she was
+dressed. She got into the cab and I led the horse over to Upper
+Kennington Lane and a little way up the lane, until the lady tapped at
+the front window for me to stop.
+
+"'She got out of the cab and told me to wait. Then she went away and
+disappeared in the fog. Presently a lady and gentleman came from the
+direction in which she had gone. The lady looked like the same lady, but
+I won't answer to that. Her head was wrapped up in the same kind of veil
+or shawl, and I noticed that she had on a dark coloured mantle with
+bead fringe on it.
+
+"'The gentleman was clean shaved and wore spectacles, and he stooped a
+good deal. I can't say whether his sight was good or bad. He helped the
+lady into the cab and told me to drive to the Great Northern Station,
+King's Cross. Then he got in himself and I drove off. I got to the
+station about a quarter to six and the lady and gentleman got out. The
+gentleman paid my fare and they both went into the station. I did not
+notice anything unusual about either of them. Directly after they had
+gone, I got a fresh fare and drove away.'
+
+"That," Thorndyke concluded, "is Joseph Ridley's statement; and I think
+it will enable you to give a meaning to the other facts that I have
+offered for your consideration."
+
+"I am not so sure about that," said Marchmont. "It is all exceedingly
+mysterious. Your suggestion is, of course, that the woman who came to
+New Inn in the cab was Mrs. Schallibaum!"
+
+"Not at all," replied Thorndyke. "My suggestion is that the woman was
+Jeffrey Blackmore."
+
+There was deathly silence for a few moments. We were all absolutely
+thunderstruck, and sat gaping at Thorndyke in speechless-astonishment.
+Then--Mr. Winwood fairly bounced out of his chair.
+
+"But--my--good--sir!" he screeched. "Jeffrey Blackmore was with her at
+the time!"
+
+"Naturally," replied Thorndyke, "my suggestion implies that the person
+who was with her was not Jeffrey Blackmore."
+
+"But he was!" bawled Winwood. "The porter saw him!"
+
+"The porter saw a person whom he believed to be Jeffrey Blackmore. I
+suggest that the porter's belief was erroneous."
+
+"Well," snapped Winwood, "perhaps you can prove that it was. I don't see
+how you are going to; but perhaps you can."
+
+He subsided once more into his chair and glared defiantly at Thorndyke.
+
+"You seemed," said Stephen, "to suggest some connection between the sick
+man, Graves, and my uncle. I noted it at the time, but put it aside as
+impossible. Was I right. Did you mean to suggest any connection?"
+
+"I suggest something more than a connection. I suggest identity. My
+position is that the sick man, Graves, was your uncle."
+
+"From Dr. Jervis's description," said Stephen, "this man must have been
+very like my uncle. Both were blind in the right eye and had very poor
+vision with the left; and my uncle certainly used brushes of the kind
+that you have shown us, when writing in the Japanese character, for I
+have watched him and admired his skill; but--"
+
+"But," said Marchmont, "there is the insuperable objection that, at the
+very time when this man was lying sick in Kennington Lane, Mr. Jeffrey
+was living at New Inn."
+
+"What evidence is there of that?" asked Thorndyke.
+
+"Evidence!" Marchmont exclaimed impatiently. "Why, my dear sir--"
+
+He paused suddenly, and, leaning forward, regarded Thorndyke with a new
+and rather startled expression.
+
+"You mean to suggest--" he began.
+
+"I suggest that Jeffrey Blackmore never lived at New Inn at all."
+
+For the moment, Marchmont seemed absolutely paralysed by astonishment.
+
+"This is an amazing proposition!" he exclaimed, at length. "Yet the
+thing is certainly not impossible, for, now that you recall the fact, I
+realize that no one who had known him previously--excepting his brother,
+John--ever saw him at the inn. The question of identity was never
+raised."
+
+"Excepting," said Mr. Winwood, "in regard to the body; which was
+certainly that of Jeffrey Blackmore."
+
+"Yes, yes. Of course," said Marchmont. "I had forgotten that for the
+moment. The body was identified beyond doubt. You don't dispute the
+identity of the body, do you?"
+
+"Certainly not," replied Thorndyke.
+
+Here Mr. Winwood grasped his hair with both hands and stuck his elbows
+on his knees, while Marchmont drew forth a large handkerchief and mopped
+his forehead. Stephen Blackmore looked from one to the other
+expectantly, and finally said:
+
+"If I might make a suggestion, it would be that, as Dr. Thorndyke has
+shown us the pieces now of the puzzle, he should be so kind as to put
+them together for our information."
+
+"Yes," agreed Marchmont, "that will be the best plan. Let us have the
+argument, Doctor, and any additional evidence that you possess."
+
+"The argument," said Thorndyke, "will be a rather long one, as the data
+are so numerous, and there are some points in verification on which I
+shall have to dwell in some detail. We will have some coffee to clear
+our brains, and then I will bespeak your patience for what may seem like
+a rather prolix demonstration."
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XVI
+
+An Exposition and a Tragedy
+
+
+"You may have wondered," Thorndyke commenced, when he had poured out the
+coffee and handed round the cups, "what induced me to undertake the
+minute investigation of so apparently simple and straightforward a case.
+Perhaps I had better explain that first and let you see what was the
+real starting-point of the inquiry.
+
+"When you, Mr. Marchmont and Mr. Stephen, introduced the case to me, I
+made a very brief précis of the facts as you presented them, and of
+these there were one or two which immediately attracted my attention. In
+the first place, there was the will. It was a very strange will. It was
+perfectly unnecessary. It contained no new matter; it expressed no
+changed intentions; it met no new circumstances, as known to the
+testator. In short it was not really a new will at all, but merely a
+repetition of the first one, drafted in different and less suitable
+language. It differed only in introducing a certain ambiguity from which
+the original was free. It created the possibility that, in certain
+circumstances, not known to or anticipated by the testator, John
+Blackmore might become the principal beneficiary, contrary to the
+obvious wishes of the testator.
+
+"The next point that impressed me was the manner of Mrs. Wilson's death.
+She died of cancer. Now people do not die suddenly and unexpectedly of
+cancer. This terrible disease stands almost alone in that it marks out
+its victim months in advance. A person who has an incurable cancer is a
+person whose death may be predicted with certainty and its date fixed
+within comparatively narrow limits.
+
+"And now observe the remarkable series of coincidences that are brought
+into light when we consider this peculiarity of the disease. Mrs. Wilson
+died on the twelfth of March of this present year. Mr. Jeffrey's second
+will was signed on the twelfth of November of last year; at a time, that
+is to say, when the existence of cancer must have been known to Mrs.
+Wilson's doctor, and might have been known to any of her relatives who
+chose to inquire after her.
+
+"Then you will observe that the remarkable change in Mr. Jeffrey's
+habits coincides in the most singular way with the same events. The
+cancer must have been detectable as early as September of last year;
+about the time, in fact, at which Mrs. Wilson made her will. Mr. Jeffrey
+went to the inn at the beginning of October. From that time his habits
+were totally changed, and I can demonstrate to you that a change--not a
+gradual, but an abrupt change--took place in the character of his
+signature.
+
+"In short, the whole of this peculiar set of circumstances--the change
+in Jeffrey's habits, the change in his signature, and the execution of
+his strange will--came into existence about the time when Mrs. Wilson
+was first known to be suffering from cancer.
+
+"This struck me as a very suggestive fact.
+
+"Then there is the extraordinarily opportune date of Mr. Jeffrey's
+death. Mrs. Wilson died on the twelfth of March. Mr. Jeffrey was found
+dead on the fifteenth of March, having apparently died on the
+fourteenth, on which day he was seen alive. If he had died only three
+days sooner, he would have predeceased Mrs. Wilson, and her property
+would never have devolved on him at all; while, if he had lived only a
+day or two longer, he would have learned of her death and would
+certainly have made a new will or codicil in his nephew's favour.
+
+"Circumstances, therefore, conspired in the most singular manner in
+favour of John Blackmore.
+
+"But there is yet another coincidence. Jeffrey's body was found, by the
+merest chance, the day after his death. But it might have remained
+undiscovered for weeks, or even months; and if it had, it would have
+been impossible to fix the date of his death. Then Mrs. Wilson's next
+of kin would certainly have contested John Blackmore's claim--and
+probably with success--on the ground that Jeffrey died before Mrs.
+Wilson. But all this uncertainty is provided for by the circumstance
+that Mr. Jeffrey paid his rent personally--and prematurely--to the
+porter on the fourteenth of March, thus establishing beyond question the
+fact that he was alive on that date; and yet further, in case the
+porter's memory should be untrustworthy or his statement doubted,
+Jeffrey furnished a signed and dated document--the cheque--which could
+be produced in a court to furnish incontestable proof of survival.
+
+"To sum up this part of the evidence. Here was a will which enabled John
+Blackmore to inherit the fortune of a man who, almost certainly, had no
+intention of bequeathing it to him. The wording of that will seemed to
+be adjusted to the peculiarities of Mrs. Wilson's disease; and the death
+of the testator occurred under a peculiar set of circumstances which
+seemed to be exactly adjusted to the wording of the will. Or, to put it
+in another way: the wording of the will and the time, the manner and the
+circumstances of the testator's death, all seemed to be precisely
+adjusted to the fact that the approximate date of Mrs. Wilson's death
+was known some months before it occurred.
+
+"Now you must admit that this compound group of coincidences, all
+conspiring to a single end--the enrichment of John Blackmore--has a very
+singular appearance. Coincidences are common enough in real life; but
+we cannot accept too many at a time. My feeling was that there were too
+many in this case and that I could not accept them without searching
+inquiry."
+
+Thorndyke paused, and Mr. Marchmont, who had listened with close
+attention, nodded, as he glanced at his silent partner.
+
+"You have stated the case with remarkable clearness," he said; "and I am
+free to confess that some of the points that you have raised had escaped
+my notice."
+
+"My first idea," Thorndyke resumed, "was that John Blackmore, taking
+advantage of the mental enfeeblement produced by the opium habit, had
+dictated this will to Jeffrey, It was then that I sought permission to
+inspect Jeffrey's chambers; to learn what I could about him and to see
+for myself whether they presented the dirty and disorderly appearance
+characteristic of the regular opium-smoker's den. But when, during a
+walk into the City, I thought over the case, it seemed to me that this
+explanation hardly met the facts. Then I endeavoured to think of some
+other explanation; and looking over my notes I observed two points that
+seemed worth considering. One was that neither of the witnesses to the
+will was really acquainted with Jeffrey Blackmore; both being strangers
+who had accepted his identity on his own statement. The other was that
+no one who had previously known him, with the single exception of his
+brother John, had ever seen Jeffrey at the inn.
+
+"What was the import of these two facts? Probably they had none. But
+still they suggested the desirability of considering the question: Was
+the person who signed the will really Jeffrey Blackmore? The contrary
+supposition--that some one had personated Jeffrey and forged his
+signature to a false will--seemed wildly improbable, especially in view
+of the identification of the body; but it involved no actual
+impossibility; and it offered a complete explanation of the, otherwise
+inexplicable, coincidences that I have mentioned.
+
+"I did not, however, for a moment, think that this was the true
+explanation, but I resolved to bear it in mind, to test it when the
+opportunity arose, and consider it by the light of any fresh facts that
+I might acquire.
+
+"The new facts came sooner than I had expected. That same evening I went
+with Dr. Jervis to New Inn and found Mr. Stephen in the chambers. By him
+I was informed that Jeffrey was a learned Orientalist, with a quite
+expert knowledge of the cuneiform writing; and even as he was telling me
+this, I looked over his shoulder and saw a cuneiform inscription hanging
+on the wall upside down.
+
+"Now, of this there could be only one reasonable explanation.
+Disregarding the fact that no one would screw the suspension plates on a
+frame without ascertaining which was the right way up, and assuming it
+to be hung up inverted, it was impossible that the misplacement could
+have been overlooked by Jeffrey. He was not blind, though his sight was
+defective. The frame was thirty inches long and the individual
+characters nearly an inch in length--about the size of the D 18 letters
+of Snellen's test-types, which can be read by a person of ordinary sight
+at a distance of fifty-five feet. There was, I repeat, only one
+reasonable explanation; which was that the person who had inhabited
+those chambers was not Jeffrey Blackmore.
+
+"This conclusion received considerable support from a fact which I
+observed later, but mention in this place. On examining the soles of the
+shoes taken from the dead man's feet, I found only the ordinary mud of
+the streets. There was no trace of the peculiar gravelly mud that
+adhered to my own boots and Jervis's, and which came from the square of
+the inn. Yet the porter distinctly stated that the deceased, after
+paying the rent, walked back towards his chambers across the square; the
+mud of which should, therefore, have been conspicuous on his shoes.
+
+"Thus, in a moment, a wildly speculative hypothesis had assumed a high
+degree of probability.
+
+"When Mr. Stephen was gone, Jervis and I looked over the chambers
+thoroughly; and then another curious fact came to light. On the wall
+were a number of fine Japanese colour-prints, all of which showed recent
+damp-spots. Now, apart from the consideration that Jeffrey, who had been
+at the trouble and expense of collecting these valuable prints, would
+hardly have allowed them to rot on his walls, there arose the question:
+How came they to be damp? There was a gas stove in the room, and a gas
+stove has at least the virtue of preserving a dry atmosphere. It was
+winter weather, when the stove would naturally be pretty constantly
+alight. How came the walls to be so damp? The answer seemed to be that
+the stove had not been constantly alight, but had been lighted only
+occasionally. This suggestion was borne out by a further examination of
+the rooms. In the kitchen there were practically no stores and hardly
+any arrangements even for simple bachelor cooking; the bedroom offered
+the same suggestion; the soap in the wash-stand was shrivelled and
+cracked; there was no cast-off linen, and the shirts in the drawers,
+though clean, had the peculiar yellowish, faded appearance that linen
+acquires when long out of use. In short, the rooms had the appearance of
+not having been lived in at all, but only visited at intervals.
+
+"Against this view, however, was the statement of the night porter that
+he had often seen a light in Jeffrey's sitting-room at one o'clock in
+the morning, with the apparent implication that it was then turned out.
+Now a light may be left in an empty room, but its extinction implies the
+presence of some person to extinguish it; unless some automatic device
+be adopted for putting it out at a given time. Such a device--the alarm
+movement of a clock, for instance, with a suitable attachment--is a
+simple enough matter, but my search of the rooms failed to discover
+anything of the kind. However, when looking over the drawers in the
+bedroom, I came upon a large box that had held a considerable quantity
+of hard stearine candles. There were only a few left, but a flat
+candlestick with numerous wick-ends in its socket accounted for the
+remainder.
+
+"These candles seemed to dispose of the difficulty. They were not
+necessary for ordinary lighting, since gas was laid on in all three
+rooms. For what purpose, then, were they used, and in such considerable
+quantities? I subsequently obtained some of the same brand--Price's
+stearine candles, six to the pound--and experimented with them. Each
+candle was seven and a quarter inches in length, not counting the cone
+at the top, and I found that they burned in still air at the rate of a
+fraction over one inch in an hour. We may say that one of these candles
+would burn in still air a little over six hours. It would thus be
+possible for the person who inhabited these rooms to go away at seven
+o'clock in the evening and leave a light which would burn until past one
+in the morning and then extinguish itself. This, of course, was only
+surmise, but it destroyed the significance of the night porter's
+statement.
+
+"But, if the person who inhabited these chambers was not Jeffrey, who
+was he?
+
+"The answer to that question seemed plain enough. There was only one
+person who had a strong motive for perpetrating a fraud of this kind,
+and there was only one person to whom it was possible. If this person
+was not Jeffrey, he must have been very like Jeffrey; sufficiently like
+for the body of the one to be mistaken for the body of the other. For
+the production of Jeffrey's body was an essential part of the plan and
+must have been contemplated from the first. But the only person who
+fulfills the conditions is John Blackmore.
+
+"We have learned from Mr. Stephen that John and Jeffrey, though very
+different in appearance in later years, were much alike as young men.
+But when two brothers who are much alike as young men, become unlike in
+later life, we shall find that the unlikeness is produced by superficial
+differences and that the essential likeness remains. Thus, in the
+present case, Jeffrey was clean shaved, had bad eyesight, wore
+spectacles and stooped as he walked; John wore a beard and moustache,
+had good eyesight, did not wear spectacles and had a brisk gait and
+upright carriage. But supposing John to shave off his beard and
+moustache, to put on spectacles and to stoop in his walk, these
+conspicuous but superficial differences would vanish and the original
+likeness reappear.
+
+"There is another consideration. John had been an actor and was an actor
+of some experience. Now, any person can, with some care and practice,
+make up a disguise; the great difficulty is to support that disguise by
+a suitable manner and voice. But to an experienced actor this difficulty
+does not exist. To him, personation is easy; and, moreover, an actor is
+precisely the person to whom the idea of disguise and impersonation
+would occur.
+
+"There is a small item bearing on this point, so small as to be hardly
+worth calling evidence, but just worth noting. In the pocket of the
+waistcoat taken from the body of Jeffrey I found the stump of a
+'Contango' pencil; a pencil that is sold for the use of stock dealers
+and brokers. Now John was an outside broker and might very probably have
+used such a pencil, whereas Jeffrey had no connection with the stock
+markets and there is no reason why he should have possessed a pencil of
+this kind. But the fact is merely suggestive; it has no evidential
+value.
+
+"A more important inference is to be drawn from the collected
+signatures. I have remarked that the change in the signature occurred
+abruptly, with one or two alterations of manner, last September, and
+that there are two distinct forms with no intermediate varieties. This
+is, in itself, remarkable and suspicious. But a remark made by Mr.
+Britton furnishes a really valuable piece of evidence on the point we
+are now considering. He admitted that the character of the signature had
+undergone a change, but observed that the change did not affect the
+individual or personal character of the writing. This is very important;
+for handwriting is, as it were, an extension of the personality of the
+writer. And just as a man to some extent snares his personality with his
+near blood-relations in the form of family resemblances, so his
+handwriting often shows a subtle likeness to that of his near relatives.
+You must have noticed, as I have, how commonly the handwriting of one
+brother resembles that of another, and in just this peculiar and subtle
+way. The inference, then, from Mr. Britton's statement is, that if the
+signature of the will was forged, it was probably forged by a relative
+of the deceased. But the only relative in question is his brother John.
+
+"All the facts, therefore, pointed to John Blackmore as the person who
+occupied these chambers, and I accordingly adopted that view as a
+working hypothesis."
+
+"But this was all pure speculation," objected Mr. Winwood.
+
+"Not speculation," said Thorndyke. "Hypothesis. It was ordinary
+inductive reasoning such as we employ in scientific research. I started
+with the purely tentative hypothesis that the person who signed the will
+was not Jeffrey Blackmore. I assumed this; and I may say that I did not
+believe it at the time, but merely adopted it as a proposition that was
+worth testing. I accordingly tested it, 'Yes?' or 'No?' with each new
+fact; but as each new fact said 'Yes,' and no fact said definitely 'No,'
+its probability increased rapidly by a sort of geometrical progression.
+The probabilities multiplied into one another. It is a perfectly sound
+method, for one knows that if a hypothesis be true, it will lead one,
+sooner or later, to a crucial fact by which its truth can be
+demonstrated.
+
+"To resume our argument. We have now set up the proposition that John
+Blackmore was the tenant of New Inn and that he was personating Jeffrey.
+Let us reason from this and see what it leads to.
+
+"If the tenant of New Inn was John, then Jeffrey must be elsewhere,
+since his concealment at the inn was clearly impossible. But he could
+not have been far away, for he had to be producible at short notice
+whenever the death of Mrs. Wilson should make the production of his
+body necessary. But if he was producible, his person must have been in
+the possession or control of John. He could not have been at large, for
+that would have involved the danger of his being seen and recognized. He
+could not have been in any institution or place where he would be in
+contact with strangers. Then he must be in some sort of confinement. But
+it is difficult to keep an adult in confinement in an ordinary house.
+Such a proceeding would involve great risk of discovery and the use of
+violence which would leave traces on the body, to be observed and
+commented on at the inquest. What alternative method could be suggested?
+
+"The most obvious method is that of keeping the prisoner in such a state
+of debility as would confine him to his bed. But such debility could be
+produced by only starvation, unsuitable food, or chronic poisoning. Of
+these alternatives, poisoning is much more exact, more calculable in its
+effect and more under control. The probabilities, then, were in favour
+of chronic poisoning.
+
+"Having reached this stage, I recalled a singular case which Jervis had
+mentioned to me and which seemed to illustrate this method. On our
+return home I asked him for further particulars, and he then gave me a
+very detailed description of the patient and the circumstances. The
+upshot was rather startling. I had looked on his case as merely
+illustrative, and wished to study it for the sake of the suggestions
+that it might offer. But when I had heard his account, I began to
+suspect that there was something more than mere parallelism of method.
+It began to look as if his patient, Mr. Graves, might actually be
+Jeffrey Blackmore.
+
+"The coincidences were remarkable. The general appearance of the patient
+tallied completely with Mr. Stephen's description of his uncle Jeffrey.
+The patient had a tremulous iris in his right eye and had clearly
+suffered from dislocation of the crystalline lens. But from Mr.
+Stephen's account of his uncle's sudden loss of sight in the right eye
+after a fall, I judged that Jeffrey had also suffered from dislocation
+of the lens and therefore had a tremulous iris in the right eye. The
+patient, Graves, evidently had defective vision in his left eye, as
+proved by the marks made behind his ears by the hooked side-bars of his
+spectacles; for it is only on spectacles that are intended for constant
+use that we find hooked side-bars. But Jeffrey had defective vision in
+his left eye and wore spectacles constantly. Lastly, the patient Graves
+was suffering from chronic morphine poisoning, and morphine was found in
+the body of Jeffrey.
+
+"Once more, it appeared to me that there were too many coincidences.
+
+"The question as to whether Graves and Jeffrey were identical admitted
+of fairly easy disproof; for if Graves was still alive, he could not be
+Jeffrey. It was an important question and I resolved to test it without
+delay. That night, Jervis and I plotted out the chart, and on the
+following morning we located the house. But it was empty and to let.
+The birds had flown, and we failed to discover whither they had gone.
+
+"However, we entered the house and explored. I have told you about the
+massive bolts and fastenings that we found on the bedroom doors and
+window, showing that the room had been used as a prison. I have told you
+of the objects that we picked out of the dust-heap under the grate. Of
+the obvious suggestion offered by the Japanese brush and the bottle of
+'spirit gum' or cement, I need not speak now; but I must trouble you
+with some details concerning the broken spectacles. For here we had come
+upon the crucial fact to which, as I have said, all sound inductive
+reasoning brings one sooner or later.
+
+"The spectacles were of a rather peculiar pattern. The frames were of
+the type invented by Mr. Stopford of Moorfields and known by his name.
+The right eye-piece was fitted with plain glass, as is usual in the case
+of a blind, or useless, eye. It was very much shattered, but its
+character was obvious. The glass of the left eye was much thicker and
+fortunately less damaged, so that I was able accurately to test its
+refraction.
+
+"When I reached home, I laid the pieces of the spectacles together,
+measured the frames very carefully, tested the left eye-glass, and wrote
+down a full description such as would have been given by the surgeon to
+the spectacle-maker. Here it is, and I will ask you to note it
+carefully.
+
+"'Spectacles for constant use. Steel frame, Stopford's pattern, curl
+sides, broad bridge with gold lining. Distance between centres, 6.2
+centimetres; extreme length of side-bars, 13.3 centimetres.
+
+"'Right eye plain glass.
+
+"'Left eye -5.75 D. spherical
+            -------------------
+           -3.25 D. cylindrical axis 35°.'
+
+"The spectacles, you see, were of a very distinctive character and
+seemed to offer a good chance of identification. Stopford's frames are,
+I believe, made by only one firm of opticians in London, Parry & Cuxton
+of Regent Street. I therefore wrote to Mr. Cuxton, who knows me, asking
+him if he had supplied spectacles to the late Jeffrey Blackmore,
+Esq.--here is a copy of my letter--and if so, whether he would mind
+letting me have a full description of them, together with the name of
+the oculist who prescribed them.
+
+"He replied in this letter, which is pinned to the copy of mine, that,
+about four years ago, he supplied a pair of glasses to Mr. Jeffrey
+Blackmore, and described them thus: 'The spectacles were for constant
+use and had steel frames of Stopford's pattern with curl sides, the
+length of the side-bars including the curled ends being 13.3 cm. The
+bridge was broad with a gold lining-plate, shaped as shown by the
+enclosed tracing from the diagram on the prescription. Distance between
+centres 6.2 cm.
+
+"'Right eye plain glass.
+
+"'Left eye -5.75 D. spherical
+            -------------------
+           -3.25 D. cylindrical, axis 35°.'
+
+"'The spectacles were prescribed by Mr. Hindley of Wimpole Street.'
+
+"You see that Mr. Cuxton's description is identical with mine. However,
+for further confirmation, I wrote to Mr. Hindley, asking certain
+questions, to which he replied thus:
+
+"'You are quite right. Mr. Jeffrey Blackmore had a tremulous iris in his
+right eye (which was practically blind), due to dislocation of the lens.
+The pupils were rather large; certainly not contracted.'
+
+"Here, then, we have three important facts. One is that the spectacles
+found by us at Kennington Lane were undoubtedly Jeffrey's; for it is as
+unlikely that there exists another pair of spectacles exactly identical
+with those as that there exists another face exactly like Jeffrey's
+face. The second fact is that the description of Jeffrey tallies
+completely with that of the sick man, Graves, as given by Dr. Jervis;
+and the third is that when Jeffrey was seen by Mr. Hindley, there was no
+sign of his being addicted to the taking of morphine. The first and
+second facts, you will agree, constitute complete identification."
+
+"Yes," said Marchmont; "I think we must admit the identification as
+being quite conclusive, though the evidence is of a kind that is more
+striking to the medical than to the legal mind."
+
+"You will not have that complaint to make against the next item of
+evidence," said Thorndyke. "It is after the lawyer's own heart, as you
+shall hear. A few days ago I wrote to Mr. Stephen asking him if he
+possessed a recent photograph of his uncle Jeffrey. He had one, and he
+sent it to me by return. This portrait I showed to Dr. Jervis and asked
+him if he had ever seen the person it represented. After examining it
+attentively, without any hint whatever from me, he identified it as the
+portrait of the sick man, Graves."
+
+"Indeed!" exclaimed Marchmont. "This is most important. Are you prepared
+to swear to the identity, Dr. Jervis?"
+
+"I have not the slightest doubt," I replied, "that the portrait is that
+of Mr. Graves."
+
+"Excellent!" said Marchmont, rubbing his hands gleefully; "this will be
+much more convincing to a jury. Pray go on, Dr. Thorndyke."
+
+"That," said Thorndyke, "completes the first part of my investigation.
+We had now reached a definite, demonstrable fact; and that fact, as you
+see, disposed at once of the main question--the genuineness of the will.
+For if the man at Kennington Lane was Jeffrey Blackmore, then the man at
+New Inn was not. But it was the latter who had signed the will.
+Therefore the will was not signed by Jeffrey Blackmore; that is to say,
+it was a forgery. The case was complete for the purposes of the civil
+proceedings; the rest of my investigations had reference to the criminal
+prosecution that was inevitable. Shall I proceed, or is your interest
+confined to the will?"
+
+"Hang the will!" exclaimed Stephen. "I want to hear how you propose to
+lay hands on the villain who murdered poor old uncle Jeffrey--for I
+suppose he did murder him?"
+
+"I think there is no doubt of it," replied Thorndyke.
+
+"Then," said Marchmont, "we will hear the rest of the argument, if you
+please."
+
+"Very well," said Thorndyke. "As the evidence stands, we have proved
+that Jeffrey Blackmore was a prisoner in the house in Kennington Lane
+and that some one was personating him at New Inn. That some one, we have
+seen, was, in all probability, John Blackmore. We now have to consider
+the man Weiss. Who was he? and can we connect him in any way with New
+Inn?
+
+"We may note in passing that Weiss and the coachman were apparently one
+and the same person. They were never seen together. When Weiss was
+present, the coachman was not available even for so urgent a service as
+the obtaining of an antidote to the poison. Weiss always appeared some
+time after Jervis's arrival and disappeared some time before his
+departure, in each case sufficiently long to allow of a change of
+disguise. But we need not labour the point, as it is not of primary
+importance.
+
+"To return to Weiss. He was clearly heavily disguised, as we see by his
+unwillingness to show himself even by the light of a candle. But there
+is an item of positive evidence on this point which is important from
+having other bearings. It is furnished by the spectacles worn by Weiss,
+of which you have heard Jervis's description. These spectacles had very
+peculiar optical properties. When you looked <i>through</i> them they had the
+properties of plain glass; when you looked <i>at</i> them they had the
+appearance of lenses. But only one kind of glass possesses these
+properties; namely, that which, like an ordinary watch-glass, has
+curved, parallel surfaces. But for what purpose could a person wear
+'watch-glass' spectacles? Clearly, not to assist his vision. The only
+alternative is disguise.
+
+"The properties of these spectacles introduce a very curious and
+interesting feature into the case. To the majority of persons, the
+wearing of spectacles for the purpose of disguise or personation, seems
+a perfectly simple and easy proceeding. But, to a person of normal
+eyesight, it is nothing of the kind. For, if he wears spectacles suited
+for long sight he cannot see distinctly through them at all; while, if
+he wears concave, or near sight, glasses, the effort to see through them
+produces such strain and fatigue that his eyes become disabled
+altogether. On the stage the difficulty is met by using spectacles of
+plain window-glass, but in real life this would hardly do; the
+'property' spectacles would be detected at once and give rise to
+suspicion.
+
+"The personator is therefore in this dilemma: if he wears actual
+spectacles, he cannot see through them; if he wears sham spectacles of
+plain glass, his disguise will probably be detected. There is only one
+way out of the difficulty, and that not a very satisfactory one; but Mr.
+Weiss seems to have adopted it in lieu of a better. It is that of using
+watch-glass spectacles such as I have described.
+
+"Now, what do we learn from these very peculiar glasses? In the first
+place they confirm our opinion that Weiss was wearing a disguise. But,
+for use in a room so very dimly lighted, the ordinary stage spectacles
+would have answered quite well. The second inference is, then, that
+these spectacles were prepared to be worn under more trying conditions
+of light--out of doors, for instance. The third inference is that Weiss
+was a man with normal eyesight; for otherwise he could have worn real
+spectacles suited to the state of his vision.
+
+"These are inferences by the way, to which we may return. But these
+glasses furnish a much more important suggestion. On the floor of the
+bedroom at New Inn I found some fragments of glass which had been
+trodden on. By joining one or two of them together, we have been able to
+make out the general character of the object of which they formed parts.
+My assistant--who was formerly a watch-maker--judged that object to be
+the thin crystal glass of a lady's watch, and this, I think, was
+Jervis's opinion. But the small part which remains of the original edge
+furnishes proof in two respects that this was not a watch-glass. In the
+first place, on taking a careful tracing of this piece of the edge, I
+found that its curve was part of an ellipse; but watch-glasses,
+nowadays, are invariably circular. In the second place, watch-glasses
+are ground on the edge to a single bevel to snap into the bezel or
+frame; but the edge of this object was ground to a double bevel, like
+the edge of a spectacle-glass, which fits into a groove in the frame and
+is held by the side-bar screw. The inevitable inference was that this
+was a spectacle-glass. But, if so, it was part of a pair of spectacles
+identical in properties with those worn by Mr. Weiss.
+
+"The importance of this conclusion emerges when we consider the
+exceptional character of Mr. Weiss's spectacles. They were not merely
+peculiar or remarkable; they were probably unique. It is exceedingly
+likely that there is not in the entire world another similar pair of
+spectacles. Whence the finding of these fragments of glass in the
+bedroom establishes a considerable probability that Mr. Weiss was, at
+some time, in the chambers at New Inn.
+
+"And now let us gather up the threads of this part of the argument. We
+are inquiring into the identity of the man Weiss. Who was he?
+
+"In the first place, we find him committing a secret crime from which
+John Blackmore alone will benefit. This suggests the <i>prima-facie</i>
+probability that he was John Blackmore.
+
+"Then we find that he was a man of normal eyesight who was wearing
+spectacles for the purpose of disguise. But the tenant of New Inn, whom
+we have seen to be, almost certainly, John Blackmore--and whom we will,
+for the present, assume to have been John Blackmore--was a man with
+normal eyesight who wore spectacles for disguise.
+
+"John Blackmore did not reside at New Inn, but at some place within
+easy reach of it. But Weiss resided at a place within easy reach of New
+Inn.
+
+"John Blackmore must have had possession and control of the person of
+Jeffrey. But Weiss had possession and control of the person of Jeffrey.
+
+"Weiss wore spectacles of a certain peculiar and probably unique
+character. But portions of such spectacles were found in the chambers at
+New Inn.
+
+"The overwhelming probability, therefore, is that Weiss and the tenant
+of New Inn were one and the same person; and that that person was John
+Blackmore."
+
+"That," said Mr. Winwood, "is a very plausible argument. But, you
+observe, sir, that it contains an undistributed middle term."
+
+Thorndyke smiled genially. I think he forgave Winwood everything for
+that remark.
+
+"You are quite right, sir," he said. "It does. And, for that reason, the
+demonstration is not absolute. But we must not forget, what logicians
+seem occasionally to overlook: that the 'undistributed middle,' while it
+interferes with absolute proof, may be quite consistent with a degree of
+probability that approaches very near to certainty. Both the Bertillon
+system and the English fingerprint system involve a process of reasoning
+in which the middle term is undistributed. But the great probabilities
+are accepted in practice as equivalent to certainties."
+
+Mr. Winwood grunted a grudging assent, and Thorndyke resumed:
+
+"We have now furnished fairly conclusive evidence on three heads: we
+have proved that the sick man, Graves, was Jeffrey Blackmore; that the
+tenant of New Inn was John Blackmore; and that the man Weiss was also
+John Blackmore. We now have to prove that John and Jeffrey were together
+in the chambers at New Inn on the night of Jeffrey's death.
+
+"We know that two persons, and two persons only, came from Kennington
+Lane to New Inn. But one of those persons was the tenant of New
+Inn--that is, John Blackmore. Who was the other? Jeffrey is known by us
+to have been at Kennington Lane. His body was found on the following
+morning in the room at New Inn. No third person is known to have come
+from Kennington Lane; no third person is known to have arrived at New
+Inn. The inference, by exclusion, is that the second person--the
+woman--was Jeffrey.
+
+"Again; Jeffrey had to be brought from Kennington to the inn by John.
+But John was personating Jeffrey and was made up to resemble him very
+closely. If Jeffrey were undisguised the two men would be almost exactly
+alike; which would be very noticeable in any case and suspicious after
+the death of one of them. Therefore Jeffrey would have to be disguised
+in some way; and what disguise could be simpler and more effective than
+the one that I suggest was used?
+
+"Again; it was unavoidable that some one--the cabman--should know that
+Jeffrey was not alone when he came to the inn that night. If the fact
+had leaked out and it had become known that a man had accompanied him to
+his chambers, some suspicion might have arisen, and that suspicion would
+have pointed to John, who was directly interested in his brother's
+death. But if it had transpired that Jeffrey was accompanied by a woman,
+there would have been less suspicion, and that suspicion would not have
+pointed to John Blackmore.
+
+"Thus all the general probabilities are in favour of the hypothesis that
+this woman was Jeffrey Blackmore. There is, however, an item of positive
+evidence that strongly supports this view. When I examined the clothing
+of the deceased, I found on the trousers a horizontal crease on each leg
+as if the trousers had been turned up half-way to the knees. This
+appearance is quite understandable if we suppose that the trousers were
+worn under a skirt and were turned up so that they should not be
+accidentally seen. Otherwise it is quite incomprehensible."
+
+"Is it not rather strange," said Marchmont, "that Jeffrey should have
+allowed himself to be dressed up in this remarkable manner?"
+
+"I think not," replied Thorndyke. "There is no reason to suppose that he
+knew how he was dressed. You have heard Jervis's description of his
+condition; that of a mere automaton. You know that without his
+spectacles he was practically blind, and that he could not have worn
+them since we found them at the house in Kennington Lane. Probably his
+head was wrapped up in the veil, and the skirt and mantle put on
+afterwards; but, in any case, his condition rendered him practically
+devoid of will power. That is all the evidence I have to prove that the
+unknown woman was Jeffrey. It is not conclusive but it is convincing
+enough for our purpose, seeing that the case against John Blackmore does
+not depend upon it."
+
+"Your case against him is on the charge of murder, I presume?" said
+Stephen.
+
+"Undoubtedly. And you will notice that the statements made by the
+supposed Jeffrey to the porter, hinting at suicide, are now important
+evidence. By the light of what we know, the announcement of intended
+suicide becomes the announcement of intended murder. It conclusively
+disproves what it was intended to prove; that Jeffrey died by his own
+hand."
+
+"Yes, I see that," said Stephen, and then after a pause he asked: "Did
+you identify Mrs. Schallibaum? You have told us nothing about her."
+
+"I have considered her as being outside the case as far as I am
+concerned," replied Thorndyke. "She was an accessory; my business was
+with the principal. But, of course, she will be swept up in the net. The
+evidence that convicts John Blackmore will convict her. I have not
+troubled about her identity. If John Blackmore is married, she is
+probably his wife. Do you happen to know if he is married?"
+
+"Yes; but Mrs. John Blackmore is not much like Mrs. Schallibaum,
+excepting that she has a cast in the left eye. She is a dark woman with
+very heavy eyebrows."
+
+"That is to say that she differs from Mrs. Schallibaum in those
+peculiarities that can be artificially changed and resembles her in the
+one feature that is unchangeable. Do you know if her Christian name
+happens to be Pauline?"
+
+"Yes, it is. She was a Miss Pauline Hagenbeck, a member of an American
+theatrical company. What made you ask?"
+
+"The name which Jervis heard poor Jeffrey struggling to pronounce seemed
+to me to resemble Pauline more than any other name."
+
+"There is one little point that strikes me," said Marchmont. "Is it not
+rather remarkable that the porter should have noticed no difference
+between the body of Jeffrey and the living man whom he knew by sight,
+and who must, after all, have been distinctly different in appearance?"
+
+"I am glad you raised that question," Thorndyke replied, "for that very
+difficulty presented itself to me at the beginning of the case. But on
+thinking it over, I decided that it was an imaginary difficulty,
+assuming, as we do, that there was a good deal of resemblance between
+the two men. Put yourself in the porter's place and follow his mental
+processes. He is informed that a dead man is lying on the bed in Mr.
+Blackmore's rooms. Naturally, he assumes that the dead man is Mr.
+Blackmore--who, by the way, had hinted at suicide only the night before.
+With this idea he enters the chambers and sees a man a good deal like
+Mr. Blackmore and wearing Mr. Blackmore's clothes, lying on Mr.
+Blackmore's bed. The idea that the body could be that of some other
+person has never entered his mind. If he notes any difference of
+appearance he will put that down to the effects of death; for every one
+knows that a man dead looks somewhat different from the same man alive.
+I take it as evidence of great acuteness on the part of John Blackmore
+that he should have calculated so cleverly, not only the mental process
+of the porter, but the erroneous reasoning which every one would base on
+the porter's conclusions. For, since the body was actually Jeffrey's,
+and was identified by the porter as that of his tenant, it has been
+assumed by every one that no question was possible as to the identity of
+Jeffrey Blackmore and the tenant of New Inn."
+
+There was a brief silence, and then Marchmont asked:
+
+"May we take it that we have now heard all the evidence?"
+
+"Yes," replied Thorndyke. "That is my case."
+
+"Have you given information to the police?" Stephen asked eagerly.
+
+"Yes. As soon as I had obtained the statement of the cabman, Ridley, and
+felt that I had enough evidence to secure a conviction, I called at
+Scotland Yard and had an interview with the Assistant Commissioner. The
+case is in the hands of Superintendent Miller of the Criminal
+Investigation Department, a most acute and energetic officer. I have
+been expecting to hear that the warrant has been executed, for Mr.
+Miller is usually very punctilious in keeping me informed of the
+progress of the cases to which I introduce him. We shall hear to-morrow,
+no doubt."
+
+"And, for the present," said Marchmont, "the case seems to have passed
+out of our hands."
+
+"I shall enter a caveat, all the same," said Mr. Winwood.
+
+"That doesn't seem very necessary," Marchmont objected. "The evidence
+that we have heard is amply sufficient to ensure a conviction and there
+will be plenty more when the police go into the case. And a conviction
+on the charges of forgery and murder would, of course, invalidate the
+second will."
+
+"I shall enter a caveat, all the same," repeated Mr. Winwood.
+
+As the two partners showed a disposition to become heated over this
+question, Thorndyke suggested that they might discuss it at leisure by
+the light of subsequent events. Acting on this hint--for it was now
+close upon midnight--our visitors prepared to depart; and were, in fact,
+just making their way towards the door when the bell rang. Thorndyke
+flung open the door, and, as he recognized his visitor, greeted him with
+evident satisfaction.
+
+"Ha! Mr. Miller; we were just speaking of you. These gentlemen are Mr.
+Stephen Blackmore and his solicitors, Mr. Marchmont and Mr. Winwood. You
+know Dr. Jervis, I think."
+
+The officer bowed to our friends and remarked:
+
+"I am just in time, it seems. A few minutes more and I should have
+missed these gentlemen. I don't know what you'll think of my news."
+
+"You haven't let that villain escape, I hope," Stephen exclaimed.
+
+"Well," said the Superintendent, "he is out of my hands and yours too;
+and so is the woman. Perhaps I had better tell you what has happened."
+
+"If you would be so kind," said Thorndyke, motioning the officer to a
+chair.
+
+The superintendent seated himself with the manner of a man who has had a
+long and strenuous day, and forthwith began his story.
+
+"As soon as we had your information, we procured a warrant for the
+arrest of both parties, and then I went straight to their flat with
+Inspector Badger and a sergeant. There we learned from the attendant
+that they were away from home and were not expected back until to-day
+about noon. We kept a watch on the premises, and this morning, about the
+time appointed, a man and a woman, answering to the description, arrived
+at the flat. We followed them in and saw them enter the lift, and we
+were going to get into the lift too, when the man pulled the rope, and
+away they went. There was nothing for us to do but run up the stairs,
+which we did as fast as we could race; but they got to their landing
+first, and we were only just in time to see them nip in and shut the
+door. However, it seemed that we had them safe enough, for there was no
+dropping out of the windows at that height; so we sent the sergeant to
+get a locksmith to pick the lock or force the door, while we kept on
+ringing the bell.
+
+"About three minutes after the sergeant left, I happened to look out of
+the landing window and saw a hansom pull up opposite the flats. I put my
+head out of the window, and, hang me if I didn't see our two friends
+getting into the cab. It seems that there was a small lift inside the
+flat communicating with the kitchen, and they had slipped down it one at
+a time.
+
+"Well, of course, we raced down the stairs like acrobats, but by the
+time we got to the bottom the cab was off with a fine start. We ran out
+into Victoria Street, and there we could see it half-way down the street
+and going like a chariot race. We managed to pick up another hansom and
+told the cabby to keep the other one in sight, and away we went like the
+very deuce; along Victoria Street and Broad Sanctuary, across Parliament
+Square, over Westminster Bridge and along York Road; we kept the other
+beggar in sight, but we couldn't gain an inch on him. Then we turned
+into Waterloo Station, and, as we were driving up the slope we met
+another hansom coming down; and when the cabby kissed his hand and
+smiled at us, we guessed that he was the sportsman we had been
+following.
+
+"But there was no time to ask questions. It is an awkward station with a
+lot of different exits, and it looked a good deal as if our quarry had
+got away. However, I took a chance. I remembered that the Southampton
+express was due to start about this time, and I took a short cut across
+the lines and made for the platform that it starts from. Just as Badger
+and I got to the end, about thirty yards from the rear of the train, we
+saw a man and a woman running in front of us. Then the guard blew his
+whistle and the train began to move. The man and the woman managed to
+scramble into one of the rear compartments and Badger and I raced up the
+platform like mad. A porter tried to head us off, but Badger capsized
+him and we both sprinted harder than ever, and just hopped on the
+foot-board of the guard's van as the train began to get up speed. The
+guard couldn't risk putting us off, so he had to let us into his van,
+which suited us exactly, as we could watch the train on both sides from
+the look-out. And we did watch, I can tell you; for our friend in front
+had seen us. His head was out of the window as we climbed on to the
+foot-board.
+
+"However, nothing happened until we stopped at Southampton West. There,
+I need not say, we lost no time in hopping out, for we naturally
+expected our friends to make a rush for the exit. But they didn't.
+Badger watched the platform, and I kept a look-out to see that they
+didn't slip away across the line from the off-side. But still there was
+no sign of them. Then I walked up the train to the compartment which I
+had seen them enter. And there they were, apparently fast asleep in the
+corner by the off-side window, the man leaning back with his mouth open
+and the woman resting against him with her head on his shoulder. She
+gave me quite a turn when I went in to look at them, for she had her
+eyes half-closed and seemed to be looking round at me with a most
+horrible expression; but I found afterwards that the peculiar appearance
+of looking round was due to the cast in her eye."
+
+"They were dead, I suppose?" said Thorndyke.
+
+"Yes, sir. Stone dead; and I found these on the floor of the carriage."
+
+He held up two tiny yellow glass tubes, each labelled "Hypodermic
+tabloids. Aconitine Nitrate gr. 1/640."
+
+"Ha!" exclaimed Thorndyke, "this fellow was well up in alkaloidal
+poisons, it seems; and they appear to have gone about prepared for
+emergencies. These tubes each contained twenty tabloids, a thirty-second
+of a grain altogether, so we may assume that about twelve times the
+medicinal dose was swallowed. Death must have occurred in a few minutes,
+and a merciful death too."
+
+"A more merciful death than they deserved," exclaimed Stephen, "when one
+thinks of the misery and suffering that they inflicted on poor old uncle
+Jeffrey. I would sooner have had them hanged."
+
+"It's better as it is, sir," said Miller. "There is no need, now, to
+raise any questions in detail at the inquest. The publicity of a trial
+for murder would have been very unpleasant for you. I wish Dr. Jervis
+had given the tip to me instead of to that confounded,
+over-cautious--but there, I mustn't run down my brother officers: and
+it's easy to be wise after the event.
+
+"Good night, gentlemen. I suppose this accident disposes of your
+business as far as the will is concerned?"
+
+"I suppose it does," agreed Mr. Winwood. "But I shall enter a caveat,
+all the same."
+
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Mystery of 31 New Inn, by R. Austin Freeman
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12187 ***
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+Project Gutenberg's The Mystery of 31 New Inn, by R. Austin Freeman
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Mystery of 31 New Inn
+
+Author: R. Austin Freeman
+
+Release Date: April 28, 2004 [EBook #12187]
+Last updated: February 3, 2011
+Last updated: November 25, 1012
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MYSTERY OF 31 NEW INN ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Steven desJardins and Distributed Proofreaders
+
+
+
+
+
+THE MYSTERY OF 31 NEW INN
+
+BY R. AUSTIN FREEMAN
+
+Author of "The Red Thumb Mark,"
+"The Eye of Osiris," etc.
+
+
+
+
+TO MY FRIEND
+
+BERNARD E. BISHOP
+
+
+
+
+Preface
+
+
+Commenting upon one of my earlier novels, in respect of which I had
+claimed to have been careful to adhere to common probabilities and to
+have made use only of really practicable methods of investigation, a
+critic remarked that this was of no consequence whatever, so long as the
+story was amusing.
+
+Few people, I imagine, will agree with him. To most readers, and
+certainly to the kind of reader for whom an author is willing to take
+trouble, complete realism in respect of incidents and methods is an
+essential factor in maintaining the interest of a detective story. Hence
+it may be worth while to mention that Thorndyke's method of producing
+the track chart, described in Chapters II and III, has been actually
+used in practice. It is a modification of one devised by me many years
+ago when I was crossing Ashanti to the city of Bontuku, the whereabouts
+of which in the far interior was then only vaguely known. My
+instructions were to fix the positions of all towns, villages, rivers
+and mountains as accurately as possible; but finding ordinary methods of
+surveying impracticable in the dense forest which covers the whole
+region, I adopted this simple and apparently rude method, checking the
+distances whenever possible by astronomical observation.
+
+The resulting route-map was surprisingly accurate, as shown by the
+agreement of the outward and homeward tracks, It was published by the
+Royal Geographical Society, and incorporated in the map of this region
+compiled by the Intelligence Branch of the War Office, and it formed the
+basis of the map which accompanied my volume of <i>Travels in Ashanti and
+Jaman</i>. So that Thorndyke's plan must be taken as quite a practicable
+one.
+
+New Inn, the background of this story, and one of the last surviving
+inns of Chancery, has recently passed away after upwards of four
+centuries of newness. Even now, however, a few of the old, dismantled
+houses (including perhaps, the mysterious 31) may be seen from the
+Strand peeping over the iron roof of the skating rink which has
+displaced the picturesque hall, the pension-room and the garden. The
+postern gate, too, in Houghton Street still remains, though the arch is
+bricked up inside. Passing it lately, I made the rough sketch which
+appears on next page, and which shows all that is left of this pleasant
+old London backwater.
+
+R. A. F.
+
+GRAVESEND
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: New Inn]
+
+
+
+
+Contents
+
+
+CHAPTER.
+
+   I  THE MYSTERIOUS PATIENT
+  II  THORNDYKE DEVISES A SCHEME
+ III  "A CHIEL'S AMANG YE TAKIN' NOTES"
+  IV  THE OFFICIAL VIEW
+   V  JEFFREY BLACKMORE'S WILL
+  VI  JEFFREY BLACKMORE, DECEASED
+ VII  THE CUNEIFORM INSCRIPTION
+VIII THE TRACK CHART
+  IX  THE HOUSE OF MYSTERY
+   X  THE HUNTER HUNTED
+  XI  THE BLACKMORE CASE REVIEWED
+ XII  THE PORTRAIT
+XIII  THE STATEMENT OF SAMUEL WILKINS
+ XIV  THORNDYKE LAYS THE MINE
+  XV  THORNDYKE EXPLODES THE MINE
+ XVI  AN EXPOSITION AND A TRAGEDY
+
+
+
+
+Chapter I
+
+The Mysterious Patient
+
+
+As I look back through the years of my association with John Thorndyke,
+I am able to recall a wealth of adventures and strange experiences such
+as falls to the lot of very few men who pass their lives within hearing
+of Big Ben. Many of these experiences I have already placed on record;
+but it now occurs to me that I have hitherto left unrecorded one that
+is, perhaps, the most astonishing and incredible of the whole series; an
+adventure, too, that has for me the added interest that it inaugurated
+my permanent association with my learned and talented friend, and marked
+the close of a rather unhappy and unprosperous period of my life.
+
+Memory, retracing the journey through the passing years to the
+starting-point of those strange events, lands me in a shabby little
+ground-floor room in a house near the Walworth end of Lower Kennington
+Lane. A couple of framed diplomas on the wall, a card of Snellen's
+test-types and a stethoscope lying on the writing-table, proclaim it a
+doctor's consulting-room; and my own position in the round-backed chair
+at the said table, proclaims me the practitioner in charge.
+
+It was nearly nine o'clock. The noisy little clock on the mantelpiece
+announced the fact, and, by its frantic ticking, seemed as anxious as I
+to get the consultation hours over. I glanced wistfully at my
+mud-splashed boots and wondered if I might yet venture to assume the
+slippers that peeped coyly from under the shabby sofa. I even allowed my
+thoughts to wander to the pipe that reposed in my coat pocket. Another
+minute and I could turn down the surgery gas and shut the outer door.
+The fussy little clock gave a sort of preliminary cough or hiccup, as if
+it should say: "Ahem! ladies and gentlemen, I am about to strike." And
+at that moment, the bottle-boy opened the door and, thrusting in his
+head, uttered the one word: "Gentleman."
+
+Extreme economy of words is apt to result in ambiguity. But I
+understood. In Kennington Lane, the race of mere men and women appeared
+to be extinct. They were all gentlemen--unless they were ladies or
+children--even as the Liberian army was said to consist entirely of
+generals. Sweeps, labourers, milkmen, costermongers--all were
+impartially invested by the democratic bottle-boy with the rank and
+title of <i>armigeri</i>. The present nobleman appeared to favour the
+aristocratic recreation of driving a cab or job-master's carriage, and,
+as he entered the room, he touched his hat, closed the door somewhat
+carefully, and then, without remark, handed me a note which bore the
+superscription "Dr. Stillbury."
+
+"You understand," I said, as I prepared to open the envelope, "that I
+am not Dr. Stillbury. He is away at present and I am looking after his
+patients."
+
+"It doesn't signify," the man replied. "You'll do as well."
+
+On this, I opened the envelope and read the note, which was quite brief,
+and, at first sight, in no way remarkable.
+
+"DEAR SIR," it ran, "Would you kindly come and see a friend of mine who
+is staying with me? The bearer of this will give you further particulars
+and convey you to the house. Yours truly, H. WEISS."
+
+There was no address on the paper and no date, and the writer was
+unknown to me.
+
+"This note," I said, "refers to some further particulars. What are
+they?"
+
+The messenger passed his hand over his hair with a gesture of
+embarrassment. "It's a ridicklus affair," he said, with a contemptuous
+laugh. "If I had been Mr. Weiss, I wouldn't have had nothing to do with
+it. The sick gentleman, Mr. Graves, is one of them people what can't
+abear doctors. He's been ailing now for a week or two, but nothing would
+induce him to see a doctor. Mr. Weiss did everything he could to
+persuade him, but it was no go. He wouldn't. However, it seems Mr. Weiss
+threatened to send for a medical man on his own account, because, you
+see, he was getting a bit nervous; and then Mr. Graves gave way. But
+only on one condition. He said the doctor was to come from a distance
+and was not to be told who he was or where he lived or anything about
+him; and he made Mr. Weiss promise to keep to that condition before he'd
+let him send. So Mr. Weiss promised, and, of course, he's got to keep
+his word."
+
+"But," I said, with a smile, "you've just told me his name--if his name
+really is Graves."
+
+"You can form your own opinion on that," said the coachman.
+
+"And," I added, "as to not being told where he lives, I can see that for
+myself. I'm not blind, you know."
+
+"We'll take the risk of what you see," the man replied. "The question
+is, will you take the job on?"
+
+Yes; that was the question, and I considered it for some time before
+replying. We medical men are pretty familiar with the kind of person who
+"can't abear doctors," and we like to have as little to do with him as
+possible. He is a thankless and unsatisfactory patient. Intercourse with
+him is unpleasant, he gives a great deal of trouble and responds badly
+to treatment. If this had been my own practice, I should have declined
+the case off-hand. But it was not my practice. I was only a deputy. I
+could not lightly refuse work which would yield a profit to my
+principal, unpleasant though it might be.
+
+As I turned the matter over in my mind, I half unconsciously scrutinized
+my visitor--somewhat to his embarrassment--and I liked his appearance
+as little as I liked his mission. He kept his station near the door,
+where the light was dim--for the illumination was concentrated on the
+table and the patient's chair--but I could see that he had a somewhat
+sly, unprepossessing face and a greasy, red moustache that seemed out of
+character with his rather perfunctory livery; though this was mere
+prejudice. He wore a wig, too--not that there was anything discreditable
+in that--and the thumb-nail of the hand that held his hat bore
+disfiguring traces of some injury--which, again, though unsightly, in no
+wise reflected on his moral character. Lastly, he watched me keenly with
+a mixture of anxiety and sly complacency that I found distinctly
+unpleasant. In a general way, he impressed me disagreeably. I did not
+like the look of him at all; but nevertheless I decided to undertake the
+case.
+
+"I suppose," I answered, at length, "it is no affair of mine who the
+patient is or where he lives. But how do you propose to manage the
+business? Am I to be led to the house blindfolded, like the visitor to
+the bandit's cave?"
+
+The man grinned slightly and looked very decidedly relieved.
+
+"No, sir," he answered; "we ain't going to blindfold you. I've got a
+carriage outside. I don't think you'll see much out of that."
+
+"Very well," I rejoined, opening the door to let him out, "I'll be with
+you in a minute. I suppose you can't give me any idea as to what is the
+matter with the patient?"
+
+"No, sir, I can't," he replied; and he went out to see to the carriage.
+
+I slipped into a bag an assortment of emergency drugs and a few
+diagnostic instruments, turned down the gas and passed out through the
+surgery. The carriage was standing at the kerb, guarded by the coachman
+and watched with deep interest by the bottle-boy. I viewed it with
+mingled curiosity and disfavour. It was a kind of large brougham, such
+as is used by some commercial travellers, the usual glass windows being
+replaced by wooden shutters intended to conceal the piles of
+sample-boxes, and the doors capable of being locked from outside with a
+railway key.
+
+As I emerged from the house, the coachman unlocked the door and held it
+open.
+
+"How long will the journey take?" I asked, pausing with my foot on the
+step.
+
+The coachman considered a moment or two and replied:
+
+"It took me, I should say, nigh upon half an hour to get here."
+
+This was pleasant hearing. A half an hour each way and a half an hour at
+the patient's house. At that rate it would be half-past ten before I was
+home again, and then it was quite probable that I should find some other
+untimely messenger waiting on the doorstep. With a muttered anathema on
+the unknown Mr. Graves and the unrestful life of a locum tenens, I
+stepped into the uninviting vehicle. Instantly the coachman slammed the
+door and turned the key, leaving me in total darkness.
+
+One comfort was left to me; my pipe was in my pocket. I made shift to
+load it in the dark, and, having lit it with a wax match, took the
+opportunity to inspect the interior of my prison. It was a shabby
+affair. The moth-eaten state of the blue cloth cushions seemed to
+suggest that it had been long out of regular use; the oil-cloth
+floor-covering was worn into holes; ordinary internal fittings there
+were none. But the appearances suggested that the crazy vehicle had been
+prepared with considerable forethought for its present use. The inside
+handles of the doors had apparently been removed; the wooden shutters
+were permanently fixed in their places; and a paper label, stuck on the
+transom below each window, had a suspicious appearance of having been
+put there to cover the painted name and address of the job-master or
+livery-stable keeper who had originally owned the carriage.
+
+These observations gave me abundant food for reflection. This Mr. Weiss
+must be an excessively conscientious man if he had considered that his
+promise to Mr. Graves committed him to such extraordinary precautions.
+Evidently no mere following of the letter of the law was enough to
+satisfy his sensitive conscience. Unless he had reasons for sharing Mr.
+Graves's unreasonable desire for secrecy--for one could not suppose that
+these measures of concealment had been taken by the patient himself.
+
+The further suggestions that evolved themselves from this consideration
+were a little disquieting. Whither was I being carried and for what
+purpose? The idea that I was bound for some den of thieves where I
+might be robbed and possibly murdered, I dismissed with a smile. Thieves
+do not make elaborately concerted plans to rob poor devils like me.
+Poverty has its compensations in that respect. But there were other
+possibilities. Imagination backed by experience had no difficulty in
+conjuring up a number of situations in which a medical man might be
+called upon, with or without coercion, either to witness or actively to
+participate in the commission of some unlawful act.
+
+Reflections of this kind occupied me pretty actively if not very
+agreeably during this strange journey. And the monotony was relieved,
+too, by other distractions. I was, for example, greatly interested to
+notice how, when one sense is in abeyance, the other senses rouse into a
+compensating intensity of perception. I sat smoking my pipe in darkness
+which was absolute save for the dim glow from the smouldering tobacco in
+the bowl, and seemed to be cut off from all knowledge of the world
+without. But yet I was not. The vibrations of the carriage, with its
+hard springs and iron-tired wheels, registered accurately and plainly
+the character of the roadway. The harsh rattle of granite setts, the
+soft bumpiness of macadam, the smooth rumble of wood-pavement, the
+jarring and swerving of crossed tram-lines; all were easily recognizable
+and together sketched the general features of the neighbourhood through
+which I was passing. And the sense of hearing filled in the details. Now
+the hoot of a tug's whistle told of proximity to the river. A sudden
+and brief hollow reverberation announced the passage under a railway
+arch (which, by the way, happened several times during the journey);
+and, when I heard the familiar whistle of a railway-guard followed by
+the quick snorts of a skidding locomotive, I had as clear a picture of a
+heavy passenger-train moving out of a station as if I had seen it in
+broad daylight.
+
+I had just finished my pipe and knocked out the ashes on the heel of my
+boot, when the carriage slowed down and entered a covered way--as I
+could tell by the hollow echoes. Then I distinguished the clang of heavy
+wooden gates closed behind me, and a moment or two later the carriage
+door was unlocked and opened. I stepped out blinking into a covered
+passage paved with cobbles and apparently leading down to a mews; but it
+was all in darkness, and I had no time to make any detailed
+observations, as the carriage had drawn up opposite a side door which
+was open and in which stood a woman holding a lighted candle.
+
+"Is that the doctor?" she asked, speaking with a rather pronounced
+German accent and shading the candle with her hand as she peered at me.
+
+I answered in the affirmative, and she then exclaimed:
+
+"I am glad you have come. Mr. Weiss will be so relieved. Come in,
+please."
+
+I followed her across a dark passage into a dark room, where she set the
+candle down on a chest of drawers and turned to depart. At the door,
+however, she paused and looked back.
+
+"It is not a very nice room to ask you into," she said. "We are very
+untidy just now, but you must excuse us. We have had so much anxiety
+about poor Mr. Graves."
+
+"He has been ill some time, then?"
+
+"Yes. Some little time. At intervals, you know. Sometimes better,
+sometimes not so well."
+
+As she spoke, she gradually backed out into the passage but did not go
+away at once. I accordingly pursued my inquiries.
+
+"He has not been seen by any doctor, has he?"
+
+"No," she answered, "he has always refused to see a doctor. That has
+been a great trouble to us. Mr. Weiss has been very anxious about him.
+He will be so glad to hear that you have come. I had better go and tell
+him. Perhaps you will kindly sit down until he is able to come to you,"
+and with this she departed on her mission.
+
+It struck me as a little odd that, considering his anxiety and the
+apparent urgency of the case, Mr. Weiss should not have been waiting to
+receive me. And when several minutes elapsed without his appearing, the
+oddness of the circumstance impressed me still more. Having no desire,
+after the journey in the carriage, to sit down, I whiled away the time
+by an inspection of the room. And a very curious room it was; bare,
+dirty, neglected and, apparently, unused. A faded carpet had been flung
+untidily on the floor. A small, shabby table stood in the middle of the
+room; and beyond this, three horsehair-covered chairs and a chest of
+drawers formed the entire set of furniture. No pictures hung on the
+mouldy walls, no curtains covered the shuttered windows, and the dark
+drapery of cobwebs that hung from the ceiling to commemorate a long and
+illustrious dynasty of spiders hinted at months of neglect and disuse.
+
+The chest of drawers--an incongruous article of furniture for what
+seemed to be a dining-room--as being the nearest and best lighted object
+received most of my attention. It was a fine old chest of nearly black
+mahogany, very battered and in the last stage of decay, but originally a
+piece of some pretensions. Regretful of its fallen estate, I looked it
+over with some interest and had just observed on its lower corner a
+little label bearing the printed inscription "Lot 201" when I heard
+footsteps descending the stairs. A moment later the door opened and a
+shadowy figure appeared standing close by the threshold.
+
+"Good evening, doctor," said the stranger, in a deep, quiet voice and
+with a distinct, though not strong, German accent. "I must apologize for
+keeping you waiting."
+
+I acknowledged the apology somewhat stiffly and asked: "You are Mr.
+Weiss, I presume?"
+
+"Yes, I am Mr. Weiss. It is very good of you to come so far and so late
+at night and to make no objection to the absurd conditions that my poor
+friend has imposed."
+
+"Not at all," I replied. "It is my business to go when and where I am
+wanted, and it is not my business to inquire into the private affairs of
+my patients."
+
+"That is very true, sir," he agreed cordially, "and I am much obliged
+to you for taking that very proper view of the case. I pointed that out
+to my friend, but he is not a very reasonable man. He is very secretive
+and rather suspicious by nature."
+
+"So I inferred. And as to his condition; is he seriously ill?"
+
+"Ah," said Mr. Weiss, "that is what I want you to tell me. I am very
+much puzzled about him."
+
+"But what is the nature of his illness? What does he complain of?"
+
+"He makes very few complaints of any kind although he is obviously ill.
+But the fact is that he is hardly ever more than half awake. He lies in
+a kind of dreamy stupor from morning to night."
+
+This struck me as excessively strange and by no means in agreement with
+the patient's energetic refusal to see a doctor.
+
+"But," I asked, "does he never rouse completely?"
+
+"Oh, yes," Mr. Weiss answered quickly; "he rouses from time to time and
+is then quite rational, and, as you may have gathered, rather obstinate.
+That is the peculiar and puzzling feature in the case; this alternation
+between a state of stupor and an almost normal and healthy condition.
+But perhaps you had better see him and judge for yourself. He had a
+rather severe attack just now. Follow me, please. The stairs are rather
+dark."
+
+The stairs were very dark, and I noticed that they were without any
+covering of carpet, or even oil-cloth, so that our footsteps resounded
+dismally as if we were in an empty house. I stumbled up after my guide,
+feeling my way by the hand-rail, and on the first floor followed him
+into a room similar in size to the one below and very barely furnished,
+though less squalid than the other. A single candle at the farther end
+threw its feeble light on a figure in the bed, leaving the rest of the
+room in a dim twilight.
+
+As Mr. Weiss tiptoed into the chamber, a woman--the one who had spoken
+to me below--rose from a chair by the bedside and quietly left the room
+by a second door. My conductor halted, and looking fixedly at the figure
+in the bed, called out:
+
+"Philip! Philip! Here is the doctor come to see you."
+
+He paused for a moment or two, and, receiving no answer, said: "He seems
+to be dozing as usual. Will you go and see what you can make of him?"
+
+I stepped forward to the bedside, leaving Mr. Weiss at the end of the
+room near the door by which we had entered, where he remained, slowly
+and noiselessly pacing backwards and forwards in the semi-obscurity. By
+the light of the candle I saw an elderly man with good features and a
+refined, intelligent and even attractive face, but dreadfully emaciated,
+bloodless and sallow. He lay quite motionless except for the scarcely
+perceptible rise and fall of his chest; his eyes were nearly closed, his
+features relaxed, and, though he was not actually asleep, he seemed to
+be in a dreamy, somnolent, lethargic state, as if under the influence of
+some narcotic.
+
+I watched him for a minute or so, timing his slow breathing by my
+watch, and then suddenly and sharply addressed him by name; but the only
+response was a slight lifting of the eyelids, which, after a brief,
+drowsy glance at me, slowly subsided to their former position.
+
+I now proceeded to make a physical examination. First, I felt his pulse,
+grasping his wrist with intentional brusqueness in the hope of rousing
+him from his stupor. The beats were slow, feeble and slightly irregular,
+giving clear evidence, if any were needed, of his generally lowered
+vitality. I listened carefully to his heart, the sounds of which were
+very distinct through the thin walls of his emaciated chest, but found
+nothing abnormal beyond the feebleness and uncertainty of its action.
+Then I turned my attention to his eyes, which I examined closely with
+the aid of the candle and my ophthalmoscope lens, raising the lids
+somewhat roughly so as to expose the whole of the irises. He submitted
+without resistance to my rather ungentle handling of these sensitive
+structures, and showed no signs of discomfort even when I brought the
+candle-flame to within a couple of inches of his eyes.
+
+But this extraordinary tolerance of light was easily explained by closer
+examination; for the pupils were contracted to such an extreme degree
+that only the very minutest point of black was visible at the centre of
+the grey iris. Nor was this the only abnormal peculiarity of the sick
+man's eyes. As he lay on his back, the right iris sagged down slightly
+towards its centre, showing a distinctly concave surface; and, when I
+contrived to produce a slight but quick movement of the eyeball, a
+perceptible undulatory movement could be detected. The patient had, in
+fact, what is known as a tremulous iris, a condition that is seen in
+cases where the crystalline lens has been extracted for the cure of
+cataract, or where it has become accidentally displaced, leaving the
+iris unsupported. In the present case, the complete condition of the
+iris made it clear that the ordinary extraction operation had not been
+performed, nor was I able, on the closest inspection with the aid of my
+lens, to find any trace of the less common "needle operation." The
+inference was that the patient had suffered from the accident known as
+"dislocation of the lens"; and this led to the further inference that he
+was almost or completely blind in the right eye.
+
+This conclusion was, indeed, to some extent negatived by a deep
+indentation on the bridge of the nose, evidently produced by spectacles,
+and by marks which I looked for and found behind the ears, corresponding
+to the hooks or "curl sides" of the glasses. For those spectacles which
+are fitted with curl sides to hook over the ears are usually intended to
+be worn habitually, and this agreed with the indentation on the nose;
+which was deeper than would have been accounted for by the merely
+occasional use of spectacles for reading. But if only one eye was
+useful, a single eye-glass would have answered the purpose; not that
+there was any weight in this objection, for a single eye-glass worn
+constantly would be much less convenient than a pair of hook-sided
+spectacles.
+
+As to the nature of the patient's illness, only one opinion seemed
+possible. It was a clear and typical case of opium or morphine
+poisoning. To this conclusion all his symptoms seemed to point with
+absolute certainty. The coated tongue, which he protruded slowly and
+tremulously in response to a command bawled in his ear; his yellow skin
+and ghastly expression; his contracted pupils and the stupor from which
+he could hardly be roused by the roughest handling and which yet did not
+amount to actual insensibility; all these formed a distinct and coherent
+group of symptoms, not only pointing plainly to the nature of the drug,
+but also suggesting a very formidable dose.
+
+But this conclusion in its turn raised a very awkward and difficult
+question. If a large--a poisonous--dose of the drug had been taken, how,
+and by whom had that dose been administered? The closest scrutiny of
+the patient's arms and legs failed to reveal a single mark such as would
+be made by a hypodermic needle. This man was clearly no common
+morphinomaniac; and in the absence of the usual sprinkling of
+needlemarks, there was nothing to show or suggest whether the drug had
+been taken voluntarily by the patient himself or administered by someone
+else.
+
+And then there remained the possibility that I might, after all, be
+mistaken in my diagnosis. I felt pretty confident. But the wise man
+always holds a doubt in reserve. And, in the present case, having regard
+to the obviously serious condition of the patient, such a doubt was
+eminently disturbing. Indeed, as I pocketed my stethoscope and took a
+last look at the motionless, silent figure, I realized that my position
+was one of extraordinary difficulty and perplexity. On the one hand my
+suspicions--aroused, naturally enough, by the very unusual circumstances
+that surrounded my visit--inclined me to extreme reticence; while, on
+the other, it was evidently my duty to give any information that might
+prove serviceable to the patient.
+
+As I turned away from the bed Mr. Weiss stopped his slow pacing to and
+fro and faced me. The feeble light of the candle now fell on him, and I
+saw him distinctly for the first time. He did not impress me favourably.
+He was a thick-set, round-shouldered man, a typical fair German with
+tow-coloured hair, greased and brushed down smoothly, a large, ragged,
+sandy beard and coarse, sketchy features. His nose was large and thick
+with a bulbous end, and inclined to a reddish purple, a tint which
+extended to the adjacent parts of his face as if the colour had run. His
+eyebrows were large and beetling, overhanging deep-set eyes, and he wore
+a pair of spectacles which gave him a somewhat owlish expression. His
+exterior was unprepossessing, and I was in a state of mind that rendered
+me easily receptive of an unfavourable impression.
+
+"Well," he said, "what do you make of him?" I hesitated, still perplexed
+by the conflicting necessities of caution and frankness, but at length
+replied:
+
+"I think rather badly of him, Mr. Weiss. He is in a very low state."
+
+"Yes, I can see that. But have you come to any decision as to the nature
+of his illness?"
+
+There was a tone of anxiety and suppressed eagerness in the question
+which, while it was natural enough in the circumstances, by no means
+allayed my suspicions, but rather influenced me on the side of caution.
+
+"I cannot give a very definite opinion at present," I replied guardedly.
+"The symptoms are rather obscure and might very well indicate several
+different conditions. They might be due to congestion of the brain, and,
+if no other explanation were possible, I should incline to that view.
+The alternative is some narcotic poison, such as opium or morphia."
+
+"But that is quite impossible. There is no such drug in the house, and
+as he never leaves his room now, he could not get any from outside."
+
+"What about the servants?" I asked.
+
+"There are no servants excepting my housekeeper, and she is absolutely
+trustworthy."
+
+"He might have some store of the drug that you are not aware of. Is he
+left alone much?"
+
+"Very seldom indeed. I spend as much time with him as I can, and when I
+am not able to be in the room, Mrs Schallibaum, my housekeeper, sits
+with him."
+
+"Is he often as drowsy as he is now?"
+
+"Oh, very often; in fact, I should say that is his usual condition. He
+rouses up now and again, and then he is quite lucid and natural for,
+perhaps, an hour or so; but presently he becomes drowsy again and doses
+off, and remains asleep, or half asleep, for hours on end. Do you know
+of any disease that takes people in that way?"
+
+"No," I answered. "The symptoms are not exactly like those of any
+disease that is known to me. But they are much very like those of opium
+poisoning."
+
+"But, my dear sir," Mr. Weiss retorted impatiently, "since it is clearly
+impossible that it can be opium poisoning, it must be something else.
+Now, what else can it be? You were speaking of congestion of the brain."
+
+"Yes. But the objection to that is the very complete recovery that seems
+to take place in the intervals."
+
+"I would not say very complete," said Mr. Weiss. "The recovery is rather
+comparative. He is lucid and fairly natural in his manner, but he is
+still dull and lethargic. He does not, for instance, show any desire to
+go out, or even to leave his room."
+
+I pondered uncomfortably on these rather contradictory statements.
+Clearly Mr. Weiss did not mean to entertain the theory of opium
+poisoning; which was natural enough if he had no knowledge of the drug
+having been used. But still--
+
+"I suppose," said Mr. Weiss, "you have experience of sleeping sickness?"
+
+The suggestion startled me. I had not. Very few people had. At that time
+practically nothing was known about the disease. It was a mere
+pathological curiosity, almost unheard of excepting by a few
+practitioners in remote parts of Africa, and hardly referred to in the
+text-books. Its connection with the trypanosome-bearing insects was as
+yet unsuspected, and, to me, its symptoms were absolutely unknown.
+
+"No, I have not," I replied. "The disease is nothing more than a name to
+me. But why do you ask? Has Mr. Graves been abroad?"
+
+"Yes. He has been travelling for the last three or four years, and I
+know that he spent some time recently in West Africa, where this disease
+occurs. In fact, it was from him that I first heard about it."
+
+This was a new fact. It shook my confidence in my diagnosis very
+considerably, and inclined me to reconsider my suspicions. If Mr. Weiss
+was lying to me, he now had me at a decided disadvantage.
+
+"What do you think?" he asked. "Is it possible that this can be sleeping
+sickness?"
+
+"I should not like to say that it is impossible," I replied. "The
+disease is practically unknown to me. I have never practised out of
+England and have had no occasion to study it. Until I have looked the
+subject up, I should not be in a position to give an opinion. Of course,
+if I could see Mr. Graves in one of what we may call his 'lucid
+intervals' I should be able to form a better idea. Do you think that
+could be managed?"
+
+"It might. I see the importance of it and will certainly do my best; but
+he is a difficult man; a very difficult man. I sincerely hope it is not
+sleeping sickness."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because--as I understood from him--that disease is invariably fatal,
+sooner or later. There seem to be no cure. Do you think you will be able
+to decide when you see him again?"
+
+"I hope so," I replied. "I shall look up the authorities and see exactly
+what the symptoms are--that is, so far as they are known; but my
+impression is that there is very little information available."
+
+"And in the meantime?"
+
+"We will give him some medicine and attend to his general condition, and
+you had better let me see him again as soon as possible." I was about to
+say that the effect of the medicine itself might throw some light on the
+patient's condition, but, as I proposed to treat him for morphine
+poisoning, I thought it wiser to keep this item of information to
+myself. Accordingly, I confined myself to a few general directions as to
+the care of the patient, to which Mr. Weiss listened attentively. "And,"
+I concluded, "we must not lose sight of the opium question. You had
+better search the room carefully and keep a close watch on the patient,
+especially during his intervals of wakefulness."
+
+"Very well, doctor," Mr. Weiss replied, "I will do all that you tell me
+and I will send for you again as soon as possible, if you do not object
+to poor Graves's ridiculous conditions. And now, if you will allow me to
+pay your fee, I will go and order the carriage while you are writing the
+prescription."
+
+"There is no need for a prescription," I said. "I will make up some
+medicine and give it to the coachman."
+
+Mr. Weiss seemed inclined to demur to this arrangement, but I had my own
+reasons for insisting on it. Modern prescriptions are not difficult to
+read, and I did not wish Mr. Weiss to know what treatment the patient
+was having.
+
+As soon as I was left alone, I returned to the bedside and once more
+looked down at the impassive figure. And as I looked, my suspicions
+revived. It was very like morphine poisoning; and, if it was morphine,
+it was no common, medicinal dose that had been given. I opened my bag
+and took out my hypodermic case from which I extracted a little tube of
+atropine tabloids. Shaking out into my hand a couple of the tiny discs,
+I drew down the patient's under-lip and slipped the little tablets under
+his tongue. Then I quickly replaced the tube and dropped the case into
+my bag; and I had hardly done so when the door opened softly and the
+housekeeper entered the room.
+
+"How do you find Mr. Graves?" she asked in what I thought a very
+unnecessarily low tone, considering the patient's lethargic state.
+
+"He seems to be very ill," I answered.
+
+"So!" she rejoined, and added: "I am sorry to hear that. We have been
+anxious about him."
+
+She seated herself on the chair by the bedside, and, shading the candle
+from the patient's face--and her own, too--produced from a bag that hung
+from her waist a half-finished stocking and began to knit silently and
+with the skill characteristic of the German housewife. I looked at her
+attentively (though she was so much in the shadow that I could see her
+but indistinctly) and somehow her appearance prepossessed me as little
+as did that of the other members of the household. Yet she was not an
+ill-looking woman. She had an excellent figure, and the air of a person
+of good social position; her features were good enough and her
+colouring, although a little unusual, was not unpleasant. Like Mr.
+Weiss, she had very fair hair, greased, parted in the middle and brushed
+down as smoothly as the painted hair of a Dutch doll. She appeared to
+have no eyebrows at all--owing, no doubt, to the light colour of the
+hair--and the doll-like character was emphasized by her eyes, which were
+either brown or dark grey, I could not see which. A further peculiarity
+consisted in a "habit spasm," such as one often sees in nervous
+children; a periodical quick jerk of the head, as if a cap-string or
+dangling lock were being shaken off the cheek. Her age I judged to be
+about thirty-five.
+
+The carriage, which one might have expected to be waiting, seemed to
+take some time in getting ready. I sat, with growing impatience,
+listening to the sick man's soft breathing and the click of the
+housekeeper's knitting-needles. I wanted to get home, not only for my
+own sake; the patient's condition made it highly desirable that the
+remedies should be given as quickly as possible. But the minutes dragged
+on, and I was on the point of expostulating when a bell rang on the
+landing.
+
+"The carriage is ready," said Mrs. Schallibaum. "Let me light you down
+the stairs."
+
+She rose, and, taking the candle, preceded me to the head of the stairs,
+where she stood holding the light over the baluster-rail as I descended
+and crossed the passage to the open side door. The carriage was drawn up
+in the covered way as I could see by the faint glimmer of the distant
+candle; which also enabled me dimly to discern the coachman standing
+close by in the shadow. I looked round, rather expecting to see Mr.
+Weiss, but, as he made no appearance, I entered the carriage. The door
+was immediately banged to and locked, and I then heard the heavy bolts
+of the gates withdrawn and the loud creaking of hinges. The carriage
+moved out slowly and stopped; the gates slammed to behind me; I felt the
+lurch as the coachman climbed to his seat and we started forward.
+
+My reflections during the return journey were the reverse of agreeable.
+I could not rid myself of the conviction that I was being involved in
+some very suspicious proceedings. It was possible, of course, that this
+feeling was due to the strange secrecy that surrounded my connection
+with this case; that, had I made my visit under ordinary conditions, I
+might have found in the patient's symptoms nothing to excite suspicion
+or alarm. It might be so, but that consideration did not comfort me.
+
+Then, my diagnosis might be wrong. It might be that this was, in
+reality, a case of some brain affection accompanied by compression, such
+as slow haemorrhage, abscess, tumour or simple congestion. These cases
+were very difficult at times. But the appearances in this one did not
+consistently agree with the symptoms accompanying any of these
+conditions. As to sleeping sickness, it was, perhaps a more hopeful
+suggestion, but I could not decide for or against it until I had more
+knowledge; and against this view was the weighty fact that the symptoms
+did exactly agree with the theory of morphine poisoning.
+
+But even so, there was no conclusive evidence of any criminal act. The
+patient might be a confirmed opium-eater, and the symptoms heightened by
+deliberate deception. The cunning of these unfortunates is proverbial
+and is only equalled by their secretiveness and mendacity. It would be
+quite possible for this man to feign profound stupor so long as he was
+watched, and then, when left alone for a few minutes, to nip out of bed
+and help himself from some secret store of the drug. This would be quite
+in character with his objection to seeing a doctor and his desire for
+secrecy. But still, I did not believe it to be the true explanation. In
+spite of all the various alternative possibilities, my suspicions came
+back to Mr. Weiss and the strange, taciturn woman, and refused to budge.
+
+For all the circumstances of the case were suspicious. The elaborate
+preparations implied by the state of the carriage in which I was
+travelling; the make-shift appearance of the house; the absence of
+ordinary domestic servants, although a coachman was kept; the evident
+desire of Mr. Weiss and the woman to avoid thorough inspection of their
+persons; and, above all, the fact that the former had told me a
+deliberate lie. For he had lied, beyond all doubt. His statement as to
+the almost continuous stupor was absolutely irreconcilable with his
+other statement as to the patient's wilfulness and obstinacy and even
+more irreconcilable with the deep and comparatively fresh marks of the
+spectacles on the patient's nose. That man had certainly worn spectacles
+within twenty-four hours, which he would hardly have done if he had been
+in a state bordering on coma.
+
+My reflections were interrupted by the stopping of the carriage. The
+door was unlocked and thrown open, and I emerged from my dark and stuffy
+prison opposite my own house.
+
+"I will let you have the medicine in a minute or two," I said to the
+coachman; and, as I let myself in with my latch-key, my mind came back
+swiftly from the general circumstances of the case to the very critical
+condition of the patient. Already I was regretting that I had not taken
+more energetic measures to rouse him and restore his flagging vitality;
+for it would be a terrible thing if he should take a turn for the worse
+and die before the coachman returned with the remedies. Spurred on by
+this alarming thought, I made up the medicines quickly and carried the
+hastily wrapped bottles out to the man, whom I found standing by the
+horse's head.
+
+"Get back as quickly as you can," I said, "and tell Mr. Weiss to lose no
+time in giving the patient the draught in the small bottle. The
+directions are on the labels."
+
+The coachman took the packages from me without reply, climbed to his
+seat, touched the horse with his whip and drove off at a rapid pace
+towards Newington Butts.
+
+The little clock in the consulting-room showed that it was close on
+eleven; time for a tired G.P. to be thinking of bed. But I was not
+sleepy. Over my frugal supper I found myself taking up anew the thread
+of my meditations, and afterwards, as I smoked my last pipe by the
+expiring surgery fire, the strange and sinister features of the case
+continued to obtrude themselves on my notice. I looked up Stillbury's
+little reference library for information on the subject of sleeping
+sickness, but learned no more than that it was "a rare and obscure
+disease of which very little was known at present." I read up morphine
+poisoning and was only further confirmed in the belief that my diagnosis
+was correct; which would have been more satisfactory if the
+circumstances had been different.
+
+For the interest of the case was not merely academic. I was in a
+position of great difficulty and responsibility and had to decide on a
+course of action. What ought I to do? Should I maintain the professional
+secrecy to which I was tacitly committed, or ought I to convey a hint to
+the police?
+
+Suddenly, and with a singular feeling of relief, I bethought myself of
+my old friend and fellow-student, John Thorndyke, now an eminent
+authority on Medical Jurisprudence. I had been associated with him
+temporarily in one case as his assistant, and had then been deeply
+impressed by his versatile learning, his acuteness and his marvellous
+resourcefulness. Thorndyke was a barrister in extensive practice, and so
+would be able to tell me at once what was my duty from a legal point of
+view; and, as he was also a doctor of medicine, he would understand the
+exigencies of medical practice. If I could find time to call at the
+Temple and lay the case before him, all my doubts and difficulties would
+be resolved.
+
+Anxiously, I opened my visiting-list to see what kind of day's work was
+in store for me on the morrow. It was not a heavy day, even allowing for
+one or two extra calls in the morning, but yet I was doubtful whether it
+would allow of my going so far from my district, until my eye caught,
+near the foot of the page, the name of Burton. Now Mr. Burton lived in
+one of the old houses on the east side of Bouverie Street, less than
+five minutes' walk from Thorndyke's chambers in King's Bench Walk; and
+he was, moreover, a "chronic" who could safely be left for the last.
+When I had done with Mr. Burton I could look in on my friend with a very
+good chance of catching him on his return from the hospital. I could
+allow myself time for quite a long chat with him, and, by taking a
+hansom, still get back in good time for the evening's work.
+
+This was a great comfort. At the prospect of sharing my responsibilities
+with a friend on whose judgment I could so entirely rely, my
+embarrassments seemed to drop from me in a moment. Having entered the
+engagement in my visiting-list, I rose, in greatly improved spirits, and
+knocked out my pipe just as the little clock banged out impatiently the
+hour of midnight.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter II
+
+Thorndyke Devises a Scheme
+
+
+As I entered the Temple by the Tudor Street gate the aspect of the place
+smote my senses with an air of agreeable familiarity. Here had I spent
+many a delightful hour when working with Thorndyke at the remarkable
+Hornby case, which the newspapers had called "The Case of the Red Thumb
+Mark"; and here had I met the romance of my life, the story whereof is
+told elsewhere. The place was thus endeared to me by pleasant
+recollections of a happy past, and its associations suggested hopes of
+happiness yet to come and in the not too far distant future.
+
+My brisk tattoo on the little brass knocker brought to the door no less
+a person than Thorndyke himself; and the warmth of his greeting made me
+at once proud and ashamed. For I had not only been an absentee; I had
+been a very poor correspondent.
+
+"The prodigal has returned, Polton," he exclaimed, looking into the
+room. "Here is Dr. Jervis."
+
+I followed him into the room and found Polton--his confidential servant,
+laboratory assistant, artificer and general "familiar"--setting out the
+tea-tray on a small table. The little man shook hands cordially with me,
+and his face crinkled up into the sort of smile that one might expect to
+see on a benevolent walnut.
+
+"We've often talked about you, sir," said he. "The doctor was wondering
+only yesterday when you were coming back to us."
+
+As I was not "coming back to them" quite in the sense intended I felt a
+little guilty, but reserved my confidences for Thorndyke's ear and
+replied in polite generalities. Then Polton fetched the tea-pot from the
+laboratory, made up the fire and departed, and Thorndyke and I subsided,
+as of old, into our respective arm-chairs.
+
+"And whence do you spring from in this unexpected fashion?" my colleague
+asked. "You look as if you had been making professional visits."
+
+"I have. The base of operations is in Lower Kennington Lane."
+
+"Ah! Then you are 'back once more on the old trail'?"
+
+"Yes," I answered, with a laugh, "'the old trail, the long trail, the
+trail that is always new.'"
+
+"And leads nowhere," Thorndyke added grimly.
+
+I laughed again; not very heartily, for there was an uncomfortable
+element of truth in my friend's remark, to which my own experience bore
+only too complete testimony. The medical practitioner whose lack of
+means forces him to subsist by taking temporary charge of other men's
+practices is apt to find that the passing years bring him little but
+grey hairs and a wealth of disagreeable experience.
+
+"You will have to drop it, Jervis; you will, indeed," Thorndyke resumed
+after a pause. "This casual employment is preposterous for a man of your
+class and professional attainments. Besides, are you not engaged to be
+married and to a most charming girl?"
+
+"Yes, I know. I have been a fool. But I will really amend my ways. If
+necessary, I will pocket my pride and let Juliet advance the money to
+buy a practice."
+
+"That," said Thorndyke, "is a very proper resolution. Pride and reserve
+between people who are going to be husband and wife, is an absurdity.
+But why buy a practice? Have you forgotten my proposal?"
+
+"I should be an ungrateful brute if I had."
+
+"Very well. I repeat it now. Come to me as my junior, read for the Bar
+and work with me, and, with your abilities, you will have a chance of
+something like a career. I want you, Jervis," he added, earnestly. "I
+must have a junior, with my increasing practice, and you are the junior
+I want. We are old and tried friends; we have worked together; we like
+and trust one another, and you are the best man for the job that I know.
+Come; I am not going to take a refusal. This is an ultimatum."
+
+"And what is the alternative?" I asked with a smile at his eagerness.
+
+"There isn't any. You are going to say yes."
+
+"I believe I am," I answered, not without emotion; "and I am more
+rejoiced at your offer and more grateful than I can tell you. But we
+must leave the final arrangements for our next meeting--in a week or so,
+I hope--for I have to be back in an hour, and I want to consult you on
+a matter of some importance."
+
+"Very well," said Thorndyke; "we will leave the formal agreement for
+consideration at our next meeting. What is it that you want my opinion
+on?"
+
+"The fact is," I said, "I am in a rather awkward dilemma, and I want you
+to tell me what you think I ought to do."
+
+Thorndyke paused in the act of refilling my cup and glanced at me with
+unmistakable anxiety.
+
+"Nothing of an unpleasant nature, I hope," said he.
+
+"No, no; nothing of that kind," I answered with a smile as I interpreted
+the euphemism; for "something unpleasant," in the case of a young and
+reasonably presentable medical man is ordinarily the equivalent of
+trouble with the female of his species. "It is nothing that concerns me
+personally at all," I continued; "it is a question of professional
+responsibility. But I had better give you an account of the affair in a
+complete narrative, as I know that you like to have your data in a
+regular and consecutive order."
+
+Thereupon I proceeded to relate the history of my visit to the
+mysterious Mr. Graves, not omitting any single circumstance or detail
+that I could recollect.
+
+Thorndyke listened from the very beginning of my story with the closest
+attention. His face was the most impassive that I have ever seen;
+ordinarily as inscrutable as a bronze mask; but to me, who knew him
+intimately, there was a certain something--a change of colour, perhaps,
+or an additional sparkle of the eye--that told me when his curious
+passion for investigation was fully aroused. And now, as I told him of
+that weird journey and the strange, secret house to which it had brought
+me, I could see that it offered a problem after his very heart. During
+the whole of my narration he sat as motionless as a statue, evidently
+committing the whole story to memory, detail by detail; and even when I
+had finished he remained for an appreciable time without moving or
+speaking.
+
+At length he looked up at me. "This is a very extraordinary affair,
+Jervis," he said.
+
+"Very," I agreed; "and the question that is agitating me is, what is to
+be done?"
+
+"Yes," he said, meditatively, "that is the question; and an uncommonly
+difficult question it is. It really involves the settlement of the
+antecedent question: What is it that is happening at that house?"
+
+"What do you think is happening at that house?" I asked.
+
+"We must go slow, Jervis," he replied. "We must carefully separate the
+legal tissues from the medical, and avoid confusing what we know with
+what we suspect. Now, with reference to the medical aspects of the case.
+The first question that confronts us is that of sleeping sickness, or
+negro-lethargy as it is sometimes called; and here we are in a
+difficulty. We have not enough knowledge. Neither of us, I take it, has
+ever seen a case, and the extant descriptions are inadequate. From what
+I know of the disease, its symptoms agree with those in your case in
+respect of the alleged moroseness and in the gradually increasing
+periods of lethargy alternating with periods of apparent recovery. On
+the other hand, the disease is said to be confined to negroes; but that
+probably means only that negroes alone have hitherto been exposed to the
+conditions that produce it. A more important fact is that, as far as I
+know, extreme contraction of the pupils is not a symptom of sleeping
+sickness. To sum up, the probabilities are against sleeping sickness,
+but with our insufficient knowledge, we cannot definitely exclude it."
+
+"You think that it may really be sleeping sickness?"
+
+"No; personally I do not entertain that theory for a moment. But I am
+considering the evidence apart from our opinions on the subject. We have
+to accept it as a conceivable hypothesis that it may be sleeping
+sickness because we cannot positively prove that it is not. That is all.
+But when we come to the hypothesis of morphine poisoning, the case is
+different. The symptoms agree with those of morphine poisoning in every
+respect. There is no exception or disagreement whatever. The common
+sense of the matter is therefore that we adopt morphine poisoning as our
+working diagnosis; which is what you seem to have done."
+
+"Yes. For purposes of treatment."
+
+"Exactly. For medical purposes you adopted the more probable view and
+dismissed the less probable. That was the reasonable thing to do. But
+for legal purposes you must entertain both possibilities; for the
+hypothesis of poisoning involves serious legal issues, whereas the
+hypothesis of disease involves no legal issues at all."
+
+"That doesn't sound very helpful," I remarked.
+
+"It indicates the necessity for caution," he retorted.
+
+"Yes, I see that. But what is your own opinion of the case?"
+
+"Well," he said, "let us consider the facts in order. Here is a man who,
+we assume, is under the influence of a poisonous dose of morphine. The
+question is, did he take that dose himself or was it administered to him
+by some other person? If he took it himself, with what object did he
+take it? The history that was given to you seems completely to exclude
+the idea of suicide. But the patient's condition seems equally to
+exclude the idea of morphinomania. Your opium-eater does not reduce
+himself to a state of coma. He usually keeps well within the limits of
+the tolerance that has been established. The conclusion that emerges is,
+I think, that the drug was administered by some other person; and the
+most likely person seems to be Mr. Weiss."
+
+"Isn't morphine a very unusual poison?"
+
+"Very; and most inconvenient except in a single, fatal dose, by reason
+of the rapidity with which tolerance of the drug is established. But we
+must not forget that slow morphine poisoning might be eminently
+suitable in certain cases. The manner in which it enfeebles the will,
+confuses the judgment and debilitates the body might make it very useful
+to a poisoner whose aim was to get some instrument or document executed,
+such as a will, deed or assignment. And death could be produced
+afterwards by other means. You see the important bearing of this?"
+
+"You mean in respect of a death certificate?"
+
+"Yes. Suppose Mr. Weiss to have given a large dose of morphine. He then
+sends for you and throws out a suggestion of sleeping sickness. If you
+accept the suggestion he is pretty safe. He can repeat the process until
+he kills his victim and then get a certificate from you which will cover
+the murder. It was quite an ingenious scheme--which, by the way, is
+characteristic of intricate crimes; your subtle criminal often plans his
+crime like a genius, but he generally executes it like a fool--as this
+man seems to have done, if we are not doing him an injustice."
+
+"How has he acted like a fool?"
+
+"In several respects. In the first place, he should have chosen his
+doctor. A good, brisk, confident man who 'knows his own mind' is the
+sort of person who would have suited him; a man who would have jumped at
+a diagnosis and stuck to it; or else an ignorant weakling of alcoholic
+tendencies. It was shockingly bad luck to run against a cautious
+scientific practitioner like my learned friend. Then, of course, all
+this secrecy was sheer tomfoolery, exactly calculated to put a careful
+man on his guard; as it has actually done. If Mr. Weiss is really a
+criminal, he has mismanaged his affairs badly."
+
+"And you apparently think that he is a criminal?"
+
+"I suspect him deeply. But I should like to ask you one or two questions
+about him. You say he spoke with a German accent. What command of
+English had he? Was his vocabulary good? Did he use any German idioms?"
+
+"No. I should say that his English was perfect, and I noticed that his
+phrases were quite well chosen even for an Englishman."
+
+"Did he seem to you 'made up' in any way; disguised, I mean?"
+
+"I couldn't say. The light was so very feeble."
+
+"You couldn't see the colour of his eyes, for instance?"
+
+"No. I think they were grey, but I couldn't be sure."
+
+"And as to the coachman. He wore a wig, you said. Could you see the
+colour of his eyes? Or any peculiarity by which you could recognize
+him?"
+
+"He had a malformed thumb-nail on his right hand. That is all I can say
+about him."
+
+"He didn't strike you as resembling Weiss in any way; in voice or
+features?"
+
+"Not at all; and he spoke, as I told you, with a distinct Scotch
+accent."
+
+"The reason I ask is that if Weiss is attempting to poison this man, the
+coachman is almost certain to be a confederate and might be a relative.
+You had better examine him closely if you get another chance."
+
+"I will. And that brings me back to the question, What am I to do? Ought
+I to report the case to the police?"
+
+"I am inclined to think not. You have hardly enough facts. Of course, if
+Mr. Weiss has administered poison 'unlawfully and maliciously' he has
+committed a felony, and is liable under the Consolidation Acts of 1861
+to ten years' penal servitude. But I do not see how you could swear an
+information. You don't know that he administered the poison--if poison
+has really been administered--and you cannot give any reliable name or
+any address whatever. Then there is the question of sleeping sickness.
+You reject it for medical purposes, but you could not swear, in a court
+of law, that this is not a case of sleeping sickness."
+
+"No," I admitted, "I could not."
+
+"Then I think the police would decline to move in the matter, and you
+might find that you had raised a scandal in Dr. Stillbury's practice to
+no purpose."
+
+"So you think I had better do nothing in the matter?"
+
+"For the present. It is, of course, a medical man's duty to assist
+justice in any way that is possible. But a doctor is not a detective; he
+should not go out of his way to assume police functions. He should keep
+his eyes and ears open, and, though, in general, he should keep his own
+counsel, it is his duty to note very carefully anything that seems to
+him likely to bear on any important legal issues. It is not his
+business officiously to initiate criminal inquiries, but it is
+emphatically his business to be ready, if called upon, to assist justice
+with information that his special knowledge and opportunities have
+rendered accessible to him. You see the bearing of this?"
+
+"You mean that I should note down what I have seen and heard and say
+nothing about it until I am asked."
+
+"Yes; if nothing further happens. But if you should be sent for again, I
+think it is your duty to make further observations with a view, if
+necessary, to informing the police. It may be, for instance, of vital
+importance to identify the house, and it is your duty to secure the
+means of doing so."
+
+"But, my dear Thorndyke," I expostulated, "I have told you how I was
+conveyed to the house. Now, will you kindly explain to me how a man,
+boxed up in a pitch-dark carriage, is going to identify any place to
+which he may be carried?"
+
+"The problem doesn't appear to me to present any serious difficulties,"
+he replied.
+
+"Doesn't it?" said I. "To me it looks like a pretty solid impossibility.
+But what do you suggest? Should I break out of the house and run away up
+the street? Or should I bore a hole through the shutter of the carriage
+and peep out?"
+
+Thorndyke smiled indulgently. "The methods proposed by my learned friend
+display a certain crudity inappropriate to the character of a man of
+science; to say nothing of the disadvantage of letting the enemy into
+our counsels. No, no, Jervis; we can do something better than that.
+Just excuse me for a minute while I run up to the laboratory."
+
+He hurried away to Polton's sanctum on the upper floor, leaving me to
+speculate on the method by which he proposed that a man should be
+enabled, as Sam Weller would express it, "to see through a flight of
+stairs and a deal door"; or, what was equally opaque, the wooden
+shutters of a closed carriage.
+
+"Now," he said, when he returned a couple of minutes later with a small,
+paper-covered notebook in his hand, "I have set Polton to work on a
+little appliance that will, I think, solve our difficulty, and I will
+show you how I propose that you should make your observations. First of
+all, we have to rule the pages of this book into columns."
+
+He sat down at the table and began methodically to rule the pages each
+into three columns, two quite narrow and one broad. The process occupied
+some time, during which I sat and watched with impatient curiosity the
+unhurried, precise movements of Thorndyke's pencil, all agog to hear the
+promised explanation. He was just finishing the last page when there
+came a gentle tap at the door, and Polton entered with a satisfied smile
+on his dry, shrewd-looking face and a small board in his hand.
+
+"Will this do, sir?" he asked.
+
+As he spoke he handed the little board to Thorndyke, who looked at it
+and passed it to me.
+
+"The very thing, Polton," my friend replied. "Where did you find it?
+It's of no use for you to pretend that you've made it in about two
+minutes and a half."
+
+Polton smiled one of his queer crinkly smiles, and remarking that "it
+didn't take much making," departed much gratified by the compliment.
+
+"What a wonderful old fellow that is, Jervis," Thorndyke observed as his
+factotum retired. "He took in the idea instantly and seems to have
+produced the finished article by magic, as the conjurers bring forth
+rabbits and bowls of goldfish at a moment's notice. I suppose you see
+what your <i>modus operandi</i> is to be?"
+
+I had gathered a clue from the little appliance--a plate of white
+fret-wood about seven inches by five, to one corner of which a
+pocket-compass had been fixed with shellac--but was not quite clear as
+to the details of the method.
+
+"You can read a compass pretty quickly, I think?" Thorndyke said.
+
+"Of course I can. Used we not to sail a yacht together when we were
+students?"
+
+"To be sure we did; and we will again before we die. And now as to your
+method of locating this house. Here is a pocket reading-lamp which you
+can hook on the carriage lining. This notebook can be fixed to the board
+with an india-rubber band--thus. You observe that the thoughtful Polton
+has stuck a piece of thread on the glass of the compass to serve as a
+lubber's line. This is how you will proceed. As soon as you are locked
+in the carriage, light your lamp--better have a book with you in case
+the light is noticed--take out your watch and put the board on your
+knee, keeping its long side exactly in a line with the axis of the
+carriage. Then enter in one narrow column of your notebook the time, in
+the other the direction shown by the compass, and in the broad column
+any particulars, including the number of steps the horse makes in a
+minute. Like this."
+
+He took a loose sheet of paper and made one or two sample entries on it
+in pencil, thus--
+
+  "9.40.  S.E.    Start from home.
+   9.41   S.W.    Granite setts.
+   9.43.  S.W.    Wood pavement. Hoofs 104.
+   9.47.  W. by S Granite crossing. Macadam--
+
+and so on. Note every change of direction, with the time; and whenever
+you hear or feel anything from outside, note it, with the time and
+direction; and don't forget to note any variations in the horse's pace.
+You follow the process?"
+
+"Perfectly. But do you think the method is accurate enough to fix the
+position of a house? Remember, this is only a pocket-compass with no
+dial, and it will jump frightfully. And the mode of estimating distance
+is very rough."
+
+"That is all perfectly true," Thorndyke answered. "But you are
+overlooking certain important facts. The track-chart that you will
+produce can be checked by other data. The house, for instance, has a
+covered way by which you could identify it if you knew approximately
+where to look for it. Then you must remember that your carriage is not
+travelling over a featureless plain. It is passing through streets which
+have a determined position and direction and which are accurately
+represented on the ordnance map. I think, Jervis, that, in spite of the
+apparent roughness of the method, if you make your observations
+carefully, we shall have no trouble in narrowing down the inquiry to a
+quite small area. If we get the chance, that is to say."
+
+"Yes, if we do. I am doubtful whether Mr. Weiss will require my services
+again, but I sincerely hope he will. It would be rare sport to locate
+his secret burrow, all unsuspected. But now I must really be off."
+
+"Good-bye, then," said Thorndyke, slipping a well-sharpened pencil
+through the rubber band that fixed the notebook to the board. "Let me
+know how the adventure progresses--if it progresses at all--and
+remember, I hold your promise to come and see me again quite soon in any
+case."
+
+He handed me the board and the lamp, and, when I had slipped them into
+my pocket, we shook hands and I hurried away, a little uneasy at having
+left my charge so long.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter III
+
+"A Chiel's Amang Ye Takin' Notes"
+
+
+The attitude of the suspicious man tends to generate in others the kind
+of conduct that seems to justify his suspicions. In most of us there
+lurks a certain strain of mischief which trustfulness disarms but
+distrust encourages. The inexperienced kitten which approaches us
+confidingly with arched back and upright tail, soliciting caresses,
+generally receives the gentle treatment that it expects; whereas the
+worldly-wise tom-cat, who, in response to friendly advances, scampers
+away and grins at us suspiciously from the fancied security of an
+adjacent wall, impels us to accelerate his retreat with a well-directed
+clod.
+
+Now the proceedings of Mr. H. Weiss resembled those of the tom-cat
+aforesaid and invited an analogous reply. To a responsible professional
+man his extraordinary precautions were at once an affront and a
+challenge. Apart from graver considerations, I found myself dwelling
+with unholy pleasure on the prospect of locating the secret hiding-place
+from which he seemed to grin at me with such complacent defiance; and I
+lost no time and spared no trouble in preparing myself for the
+adventure. The very hansom which bore me from the Temple to Kennington
+Lane was utilized for a preliminary test of Thorndyke's little
+apparatus. During the whole of that brief journey I watched the compass
+closely, noted the feel and sound of the road-material and timed the
+trotting of the horse. And the result was quite encouraging. It is true
+that the compass-needle oscillated wildly to the vibration of the cab,
+but still its oscillations took place around a definite point which was
+the average direction, and it was evident to me that the data it
+furnished were very fairly reliable. I felt very little doubt, after the
+preliminary trial, as to my being able to produce a moderately
+intelligible track-chart if only I should get an opportunity to exercise
+my skill.
+
+But it looked as if I should not. Mr. Weiss's promise to send for me
+again soon was not fulfilled. Three days passed and still he made no
+sign. I began to fear that I had been too outspoken; that the shuttered
+carriage had gone forth to seek some more confiding and easy-going
+practitioner, and that our elaborate preparations had been made in vain.
+When the fourth day drew towards a close and still no summons had come,
+I was disposed reluctantly to write the case off as a lost opportunity.
+
+And at that moment, in the midst of my regrets, the bottle-boy thrust an
+uncomely head in at the door. His voice was coarse, his accent was
+hideous, and his grammatical construction beneath contempt; but I
+forgave him all when I gathered the import of his message.
+
+"Mr. Weiss's carriage is waiting, and he says will you come as quickly
+as you can because he's took very bad to-night."
+
+I sprang from my chair and hastily collected the necessaries for the
+journey. The little board and the lamp I put in my overcoat pocket; I
+overhauled the emergency bag and added to its usual contents a bottle of
+permanganate of potassium which I thought I might require. Then I tucked
+the evening paper under my arm and went out.
+
+The coachman, who was standing at the horse's head as I emerged, touched
+his hat and came forward to open the door.
+
+"I have fortified myself for the long drive, you see," I remarked,
+exhibiting the newspaper as I stepped into the carriage.
+
+"But you can't read in the dark," said he.
+
+"No, but I have provided myself with a lamp," I replied, producing it
+and striking a match.
+
+He watched me as I lit the lamp and hooked it on the back cushion, and
+observed:
+
+"I suppose you found it rather a dull ride last time. It's a longish
+way. They might have fitted the carriage with an inside lamp. But we
+shall have to make it a quicker passage to-night. Governor says Mr.
+Graves is uncommon bad."
+
+With this he slammed the door and locked it. I drew the board from my
+pocket, laid it on my knee, glanced at my watch, and, as the coachman
+climbed to his seat, I made the first entry in the little book.
+
+"8.58. W. by S. Start from home. Horse 13 hands."
+
+The first move of the carriage on starting was to turn round as if
+heading for Newington Butts, and the second entry accordingly read:
+
+"8.58.30. E. by N."
+
+But this direction was not maintained long. Very soon we turned south
+and then west and then south again. I sat with my eyes riveted on the
+compass, following with some difficulty its rapid changes. The needle
+swung to and fro incessantly but always within a definite arc, the
+centre of which was the true direction. But this direction varied from
+minute to minute in the most astonishing manner. West, south, east,
+north, the carriage turned, "boxing" the compass until I lost all count
+of direction. It was an amazing performance. Considering that the man
+was driving against time on a mission of life and death urgency, his
+carelessness as to direction was astounding. The tortuousness of the
+route must have made the journey twice as long as it need have been
+with a little more careful selection. At least so it appeared to me,
+though, naturally, I was not in a position to offer an authoritative
+criticism.
+
+As far as I could judge, we followed the same route as before. Once I
+heard a tug's whistle and knew that we were near the river, and we
+passed the railway station, apparently at the same time as on the
+previous occasion, for I heard a passenger train start and assumed that
+it was the same train. We crossed quite a number of thoroughfares with
+tram-lines--I had no idea there were so many--and it was a revelation to
+me to find how numerous the railway arches were in this part of London
+and how continually the nature of the road-metal varied.
+
+It was by no means a dull journey this time. The incessant changes of
+direction and variations in the character of the road kept me most
+uncommonly busy; for I had hardly time to scribble down one entry before
+the compass-needle would swing round sharply, showing that we had once
+more turned a corner; and I was quite taken by surprise when the
+carriage slowed down and turned into the covered way. Very hastily I
+scribbled down the final entry ("9.24. S.E. In covered way"), and having
+closed the book and slipped it and the board into my pocket, had just
+opened out the newspaper when the carriage door was unlocked and opened,
+whereupon I unhooked and blew out the lamp and pocketed that too,
+reflecting that it might be useful later.
+
+As on the last occasion, Mrs. Schallibaum stood in the open doorway with
+a lighted candle. But she was a good deal less self-possessed this time.
+In fact she looked rather wild and terrified. Even by the candle-light
+I could see that she was very pale and she seemed unable to keep still.
+As she gave me the few necessary words of explanation, she fidgeted
+incessantly and her hands and feet were in constant movement.
+
+"You had better come up with me at once," she said. "Mr. Graves is much
+worse to-night. We will wait not for Mr. Weiss."
+
+Without waiting for a reply she quickly ascended the stairs and I
+followed. The room was in much the same condition as before. But the
+patient was not. As soon as I entered the room, a soft, rhythmical
+gurgle from the bed gave me a very clear warning of danger. I stepped
+forward quickly and looked down at the prostrate figure, and the warning
+gathered emphasis. The sick man's ghastly face was yet more ghastly; his
+eyes were more sunken, his skin more livid; "his nose was as sharp as a
+pen," and if he did not "babble of green fields" it was because he
+seemed to be beyond even that. If it had been a case of disease, I
+should have said at once that he was dying. He had all the appearance of
+a man <i>in articulo mortis</i>. Even as it was, feeling convinced that the
+case was one of morphine poisoning, I was far from confident that I
+should be able to draw him back from the extreme edge of vitality on
+which he trembled so insecurely.
+
+"He is very ill? He is dying?"
+
+It was Mrs. Schallibaum's voice; very low, but eager and intense. I
+turned, with my finger on the patient's wrist, and looked into the face
+of the most thoroughly scared woman I have ever seen. She made no
+attempt now to avoid the light, but looked me squarely in the face, and
+I noticed, half-unconsciously, that her eyes were brown and had a
+curious strained expression.
+
+"Yes," I answered, "he is very ill. He is in great danger."
+
+She still stared at me fixedly for some seconds. And then a very odd
+thing occurred. Suddenly she squinted--squinted horribly; not with the
+familiar convergent squint which burlesque artists imitate, but with
+external or divergent squint of extreme near sight or unequal vision.
+The effect was quite startling. One moment both her eyes were looking
+straight into mine; the next, one of them rolled round until it looked
+out of the uttermost corner, leaving the other gazing steadily forward.
+
+She was evidently conscious of the change, for she turned her head away
+quickly and reddened somewhat. But it was no time for thoughts of
+personal appearance.
+
+"You can save him, doctor! You will not let him die! He must not be
+allowed to die!"
+
+She spoke with as much passion as if he had been the dearest friend that
+she had in the world, which I suspected was far from being the case. But
+her manifest terror had its uses.
+
+"If anything is to be done to save him," I said, "it must be done
+quickly. I will give him some medicine at once, and meanwhile you must
+make some strong coffee."
+
+"Coffee!" she exclaimed. "But we have none in the house. Will not tea
+do, if I make it very strong?"
+
+"No, it will not. I must have coffee; and I must have it quickly."
+
+"Then I suppose I must go and get some. But it is late. The shops will
+be shut. And I don't like leaving Mr. Graves."
+
+"Can't you send the coachman?" I asked.
+
+She shook her head impatiently. "No, that is no use. I must wait until
+Mr. Weiss comes."
+
+"That won't do," I said, sharply. "He will slip through our fingers
+while you are waiting. You must go and get that coffee at once and bring
+it to me as soon as it is ready. And I want a tumbler and some water."
+
+She brought me a water-bottle and glass from the wash-stand and then,
+with a groan of despair, hurried from the room.
+
+I lost no time in applying the remedies that I had to hand. Shaking out
+into the tumbler a few crystals of potassium permanganate, I filled it
+up with water and approached the patient. His stupor was profound. I
+shook him as roughly as was safe in his depressed condition, but
+elicited no resistance or responsive movement. As it seemed very
+doubtful whether he was capable of swallowing, I dared not take the risk
+of pouring the liquid into his mouth for fear of suffocating him. A
+stomach-tube would have solved the difficulty, but, of course, I had not
+one with me. I had, however, a mouth-speculum which also acted as a gag,
+and, having propped the patient's mouth open with this, I hastily
+slipped off one of the rubber tubes from my stethoscope and inserted
+into one end of it a vulcanite ear-speculum to serve as a funnel. Then,
+introducing the other end of the tube into the gullet as far as its
+length would permit, I cautiously poured a small quantity of the
+permanganate solution into the extemporized funnel. To my great relief a
+movement of the throat showed that the swallowing reflex still existed,
+and, thus encouraged, I poured down the tube as much of the fluid as I
+thought it wise to administer at one time.
+
+The dose of permanganate that I had given was enough to neutralize any
+reasonable quantity of the poison that might yet remain in the stomach.
+I had next to deal with that portion of the drug which had already been
+absorbed and was exercising its poisonous effects. Taking my hypodermic
+case from my bag, I prepared in the syringe a full dose of atropine
+sulphate, which I injected forthwith into the unconscious man's arm. And
+that was all that I could do, so far as remedies were concerned, until
+the coffee arrived.
+
+I cleaned and put away the syringe, washed the tube, and then, returning
+to the bedside, endeavoured to rouse the patient from his profound
+lethargy. But great care was necessary. A little injudicious roughness
+of handling, and that thready, flickering pulse might stop for ever; and
+yet it was almost certain that if he were not speedily aroused, his
+stupor would gradually deepen until it shaded off imperceptibly into
+death. I went to work very cautiously, moving his limbs about, flicking
+his face and chest with the corner of a wet towel, tickling the soles
+of his feet, and otherwise applying stimuli that were strong without
+being violent.
+
+So occupied was I with my efforts to resuscitate my mysterious patient
+that I did not notice the opening of the door, and it was with something
+of a start that, happening to glance round, I perceived at the farther
+end of the room the shadowy figure of a man relieved by two spots of
+light reflected from his spectacles. How long he had been watching me I
+cannot say, but, when he saw that I had observed him, he came
+forward--though not very far--and I saw that he was Mr. Weiss.
+
+"I am afraid," he said, "that you do not find my friend so well
+to-night?"
+
+"So well!" I exclaimed. "I don't find him well at all. I am exceedingly
+anxious about him."
+
+"You don't--er--anticipate anything of a--er--anything serious, I hope?"
+
+"There is no need to anticipate," said I. "It is already about as
+serious as it can be. I think he might die at any moment."
+
+"Good God!" he gasped. "You horrify me!"
+
+He was not exaggerating. In his agitation, he stepped forward into the
+lighter part of the room, and I could see that his face was pale to
+ghastliness--except his nose and the adjacent red patches on his cheeks,
+which stood out in grotesquely hideous contrast. Presently, however, he
+recovered a little and said:
+
+"I really think--at least I hope--that you take an unnecessarily serious
+view of his condition. He has been like this before, you know."
+
+I felt pretty certain that he had not, but there was no use in
+discussing the question. I therefore replied, as I continued my efforts
+to rouse the patient:
+
+"That may or may not be. But in any case there comes a last time; and it
+may have come now."
+
+"I hope not," he said; "although I understand that these cases always
+end fatally sooner or later."
+
+"What cases?" I asked.
+
+"I was referring to sleeping sickness; but perhaps you have formed some
+other opinion as to the nature of this dreadful complaint."
+
+I hesitated for a moment, and he continued: "As to your suggestion that
+his symptoms might be due to drugs, I think we may consider that as
+disposed of. He has been watched, practically without cessation since
+you came last, and, moreover, I have myself turned out the room and
+examined the bed and have not found a trace of any drug. Have you gone
+into the question of sleeping sickness?"
+
+I looked at the man narrowly before answering, and distrusted him more
+than ever. But this was no time for reticence. My concern was with the
+patient and his present needs. After all, I was, as Thorndyke had said,
+a doctor, not a detective, and the circumstances called for
+straightforward speech and action on my part.
+
+"I have considered that question," I said, "and have come to a perfectly
+definite conclusion. His symptoms are not those of sleeping sickness.
+They are in my opinion undoubtedly due to morphine poisoning."
+
+"But my dear sir!" he exclaimed, "the thing is impossible! Haven't I
+just told you that he has been watched continuously?"
+
+"I can only judge by the appearances that I find," I answered; and,
+seeing that he was about to offer fresh objections, I continued: "Don't
+let us waste precious time in discussion, or Mr. Graves may be dead
+before we have reached a conclusion. If you will hurry them up about the
+coffee that I asked for some time ago, I will take the other necessary
+measures, and perhaps we may manage to pull him round."
+
+The rather brutal decision of my manner evidently daunted him. It must
+have been plain to him that I was not prepared to accept any explanation
+of the unconscious man's condition other than that of morphine
+poisoning; whence the inference was pretty plain that the alternatives
+were recovery or an inquest. Replying stiffly that I "must do as I
+thought best," he hurried from the room, leaving me to continue my
+efforts without further interruption.
+
+For some time these efforts seemed to make no impression. The man lay as
+still and impassive as a corpse excepting for the slow, shallow and
+rather irregular breathing with its ominous accompanying rattle. But
+presently, by imperceptible degrees, signs of returning life began to
+make their appearance. A sharp slap on the cheek with the wet towel
+produced a sensible flicker of the eyelids; a similar slap on the chest
+was followed by a slight gasp. A pencil, drawn over the sole of the
+foot, occasioned a visible shrinking movement, and, on looking once
+more at the eyes, I detected a slight change that told me that the
+atropine was beginning to take effect.
+
+This was very encouraging, and, so far, quite satisfactory, though it
+would have been premature to rejoice. I kept the patient carefully
+covered and maintained the process of gentle irritation, moving his
+limbs and shoulders, brushing his hair and generally bombarding his
+deadened senses with small but repeated stimuli. And under this
+treatment, the improvement continued so far that on my bawling a
+question into his ear he actually opened his eyes for an instant, though
+in another moment, the lids had sunk back into their former position.
+
+Soon after this, Mr. Weiss re-entered the room, followed by Mrs.
+Schallibaum, who carried a small tray, on which were a jug of coffee, a
+jug of milk, a cup and saucer and a sugar basin.
+
+"How do you find him now?" Mr. Weiss asked anxiously.
+
+"I am glad to say that there is a distinct improvement," I replied. "But
+we must persevere. He is by no means out of the wood yet."
+
+I examined the coffee, which looked black and strong and had a very
+reassuring smell, and, pouring out half a cupful, approached the bed.
+
+"Now, Mr. Graves," I shouted, "we want you to drink some of this."
+
+The flaccid eyelids lifted for an instant but there was no other
+response. I gently opened the unresisting mouth and ladled in a couple
+of spoonfuls of coffee, which were immediately swallowed; whereupon I
+repeated the proceeding and continued at short intervals until the cup
+was empty. The effect of the new remedy soon became apparent. He began
+to mumble and mutter obscurely in response to the questions that I
+bellowed at him, and once or twice he opened his eyes and looked
+dreamily into my face. Then I sat him up and made him drink some coffee
+from the cup, and, all the time, kept up a running fire of questions,
+which made up in volume of sound for what they lacked of relevancy.
+
+Of these proceedings Mr. Weiss and his housekeeper were highly
+interested spectators, and the former, contrary to his usual practice,
+came quite close up to the bed, to get a better view.
+
+"It is really a most remarkable thing," he said, "but it almost looks as
+if you were right, after all. He is certainly much better. But tell me,
+would this treatment produce a similar improvement if the symptoms were
+due to disease?"
+
+"No," I answered, "it certainly would not."
+
+"Then that seems to settle it. But it is a most mysterious affair. Can
+you suggest any way in which he can have concealed a store of the drug?"
+
+I stood up and looked him straight in the face; it was the first chance
+I had had of inspecting him by any but the feeblest light, and I looked
+at him very attentively. Now, it is a curious fact--though one that most
+persons must have observed--that there sometimes occurs a considerable
+interval between the reception of a visual impression and its complete
+transfer to the consciousness. A thing may be seen, as it were,
+unconsciously, and the impression consigned, apparently, to instant
+oblivion; and yet the picture may be subsequently revived by memory with
+such completeness that its details can be studied as though the object
+were still actually visible.
+
+Something of this kind must have happened to me now. Preoccupied as I
+was, by the condition of the patient, the professional habit of rapid
+and close observation caused me to direct a searching glance at the man
+before me. It was only a brief glance--for Mr. Weiss, perhaps
+embarrassed by my keen regard of him, almost immediately withdrew into
+the shadow--and my attention seemed principally to be occupied by the
+odd contrast between the pallor of his face and the redness of his nose
+and by the peculiar stiff, bristly character of his eyebrows. But there
+was another fact, and a very curious one, that was observed by me
+subconsciously and instantly forgotten, to be revived later when I
+reflected on the events of the night. It was this:
+
+As Mr. Weiss stood, with his head slightly turned, I was able to look
+through one glass of his spectacles at the wall beyond. On the wall was
+a framed print; and the edge of the frame, seen through the
+spectacle-glass, appeared quite unaltered and free from distortion,
+magnification or reduction, as if seen through plain window-glass; and
+yet the reflections of the candle-flame in the spectacles showed the
+flame upside down, proving conclusively that the glasses were concave on
+one surface at least. The strange phenomenon was visible only for a
+moment or two, and as it passed out of my sight it passed also out of my
+mind.
+
+"No," I said, replying to the last question; "I can think of no way in
+which he could have effectually hidden a store of morphine. Judging by
+the symptoms, he has taken a large dose, and, if he has been in the
+habit of consuming large quantities, his stock would be pretty bulky. I
+can offer no suggestion whatever."
+
+"I suppose you consider him quite out of danger now?"
+
+"Oh, not at all. I think we can pull him round if we persevere, but he
+must not be allowed to sink back into a state of coma. We must keep him
+on the move until the effects of the drug have really passed off. If you
+will put him into his dressing-gown we will walk him up and down the
+room for a while."
+
+"But is that safe?" Mr. Weiss asked anxiously.
+
+"Quite safe," I answered. "I will watch his pulse carefully. The danger
+is in the possibility, or rather certainty, of a relapse if he is not
+kept moving."
+
+With obvious unwillingness and disapproval, Mr. Weiss produced a
+dressing-gown and together we invested the patient in it. Then we
+dragged him, very limp, but not entirely unresisting, out of bed and
+stood him on his feet. He opened his eyes and blinked owlishly first at
+one and then at the other of us, and mumbled a few unintelligible words
+of protest; regardless of which, we thrust his feet into slippers and
+endeavoured to make him walk. At first he seemed unable to stand, and we
+had to support him by his arms as we urged him forward; but presently
+his trailing legs began to make definite walking movements, and, after
+one or two turns up and down the room, he was not only able partly to
+support his weight, but showed evidence of reviving consciousness in
+more energetic protests.
+
+At this point Mr. Weiss astonished me by transferring the arm that he
+held to the housekeeper.
+
+"If you will excuse me, doctor," said he, "I will go now and attend to
+some rather important business that I have had to leave unfinished. Mrs.
+Schallibaum will be able to give you all the assistance that you
+require, and will order the carriage when you think it safe to leave the
+patient. In case I should not see you again I will say 'good night.' I
+hope you won't think me very unceremonious."
+
+He shook hands with me and went out of the room, leaving me, as I have
+said, profoundly astonished that he should consider any business of more
+moment than the condition of his friend, whose life, even now, was but
+hanging by a thread. However, it was really no concern of mine. I could
+do without him, and the resuscitation of this unfortunate half-dead man
+gave me occupation enough to engross my whole attention.
+
+The melancholy progress up and down the room re-commenced, and with it
+the mumbled protests from the patient. As we walked, and especially as
+we turned, I caught frequent glimpses of the housekeeper's face. But it
+was nearly always in profile. She appeared to avoid looking me in the
+face, though she did so once or twice; and on each of these occasions
+her eyes were directed at me in a normal manner without any sign of a
+squint. Nevertheless, I had the impression that when her face was turned
+away from me she squinted. The "swivel eye"--the left--was towards me as
+she held the patient's right arm, and it was almost continuously turned
+in my direction, whereas I felt convinced that she was really looking
+straight before her, though, of course, her right eye was invisible to
+me. It struck me, even at the time, as an odd affair, but I was too much
+concerned about my charge to give it much consideration.
+
+Meanwhile the patient continued to revive apace. And the more he
+revived, the more energetically did he protest against this wearisome
+perambulation. But he was evidently a polite gentleman, for, muddled as
+his faculties were, he managed to clothe his objections in courteous and
+even gracious forms of speech singularly out of agreement with the
+character that Mr. Weiss had given him.
+
+"I thangyou," he mumbled thickly. "Ver' good take s'much trouble. Think
+I will lie down now." He looked wistfully at the bed, but I wheeled him
+about and marched him once more down the room. He submitted
+unresistingly, but as we again approached the bed he reopened the
+matter.
+
+"S'quite s'fficient, thang you. Gebback to bed now. Much 'bliged frall
+your kindness"--here I turned him round--"no, really; m'feeling rather
+tired. Sh'like to lie down now, f'you'd be s'good."
+
+"You must walk about a little longer, Mr. Graves," I said. "It would be
+very bad for you to go to sleep again."
+
+He looked at me with a curious, dull surprise, and reflected awhile as
+if in some perplexity. Then he looked at me again and said:
+
+"Thing, sir, you are mistake--mistaken me--mist--"
+
+Here Mrs. Schallibaum interrupted sharply:
+
+"The doctor thinks it's good for you to walk about. You've been sleeping
+too much. He doesn't want you to sleep any more just now."
+
+"Don't wanter sleep; wanter lie down," said the patient.
+
+"But you mustn't lie down for a little while. You must walk about for a
+few minutes more. And you'd better not talk. Just walk up and down."
+
+"There's no harm in his talking," said I; "in fact it's good for him. It
+will help to keep him awake."
+
+"I should think it would tire him," said Mrs. Schallibaum; "and it
+worries me to hear him asking to lie down when we can't let him."
+
+She spoke sharply and in an unnecessarily high tone so that the patient
+could not fail to hear. Apparently he took in the very broad hint
+contained in the concluding sentence, for he trudged wearily and
+unsteadily up and down the room for some time without speaking, though
+he continued to look at me from time to time as if something in my
+appearance puzzled him exceedingly. At length his intolerable longing
+for repose overcame his politeness and he returned to the attack.
+
+"Surely v' walked enough now. Feeling very tired. Am really. Would you
+be s'kind 's t'let me lie down few minutes?"
+
+"Don't you think he might lie down for a little while?" Mrs. Schallibaum
+asked.
+
+I felt his pulse, and decided that he was really becoming fatigued, and
+that it would be wiser not to overdo the exercise while he was so weak.
+Accordingly, I consented to his returning to bed, and turned him round
+in that direction; whereupon he tottered gleefully towards his
+resting-place like a tired horse heading for its stable.
+
+As soon as he was tucked in, I gave him a full cup of coffee, which he
+drank with some avidity as if thirsty. Then I sat down by the bedside,
+and, with a view to keeping him awake, began once more to ply him with
+questions.
+
+"Does your head ache, Mr. Graves?" I asked.
+
+"The doctor says 'does your head ache?'" Mrs. Schallibaum squalled, so
+loudly that the patient started perceptibly.
+
+"I heard him, m'dear girl," he answered with a faint smile. "Not deaf
+you know. Yes. Head aches a good deal. But I thing this gennleman
+mistakes--"
+
+"He says you are to keep awake. You mustn't go to sleep again, and you
+are not to close your eyes."
+
+"All ri' Pol'n. Keep'm open," and he proceeded forthwith to shut them
+with an air of infinite peacefulness. I grasped his hand and shook it
+gently, on which he opened his eyes and looked at me sleepily. The
+housekeeper stroked his head, keeping her face half-turned from me--as
+she had done almost constantly, to conceal the squinting eye, as I
+assumed--and said:
+
+"Need we keep you any longer, doctor? It is getting very late and you
+have a long way to go."
+
+I looked doubtfully at the patient. I was loath to leave him,
+distrusting these people as I did. But I had my work to do on the
+morrow, with, perhaps, a night call or two in the interval, and the
+endurance even of a general practitioner has its limits.
+
+"I think I heard the carriage some time ago," Mrs. Schallibaum added.
+
+I rose hesitatingly and looked at my watch. It had turned half-past
+eleven.
+
+"You understand," I said in a low voice, "that the danger is not over?
+If he is left now he will fall asleep, and in all human probability will
+never wake. You clearly understand that?"
+
+"Yes, quite clearly. I promise you he shall not be allowed to fall
+asleep again."
+
+As she spoke, she looked me full in the face for a few moments, and I
+noted that her eyes had a perfectly normal appearance, without any trace
+whatever of a squint.
+
+"Very well," I said. "On that understanding I will go now; and I shall
+hope to find our friend quite recovered at my next visit."
+
+I turned to the patient, who was already dozing, and shook his hand
+heartily.
+
+"Good-bye, Mr. Graves!" I said. "I am sorry to have to disturb your
+repose so much; but you must keep awake, you know. Won't do to go to
+sleep."
+
+"Ver' well," he replied drowsily. "Sorry t' give you all this trouble.
+L' keep awake. But I think you're mistak'n--"
+
+"He says it's very important that you shouldn't go to sleep, and that I
+am to see that you don't. Do you understand?"
+
+"Yes, I un'stan'. But why does this gennlem'n--?"
+
+"Now it's of no use for you to ask a lot of questions," Mrs. Schallibaum
+said playfully; "we'll talk to you to-morrow. Good night, doctor. I'll
+light you down the stairs, but I won't come down with you, or the
+patient will be falling asleep again."
+
+Taking this definite dismissal, I retired, followed by a dreamily
+surprised glance from the sick man. The housekeeper held the candle over
+the balusters until I reached the bottom of the stairs, when I perceived
+through the open door along the passage a glimmer of light from the
+carriage lamps. The coachman was standing just outside, faintly
+illuminated by the very dim lamplight, and as I stepped into the
+carriage he remarked in his Scotch dialect that I "seemed to have been
+makin' a nicht of it." He did not wait for any reply--none being in fact
+needed--but shut the door and locked it.
+
+I lit my little pocket-lamp and hung it on the back cushion. I even drew
+the board and notebook from my pocket. But it seemed rather unnecessary
+to take a fresh set of notes, and, to tell the truth, I rather shirked
+the labour, tired as I was after my late exertions; besides, I wanted
+to think over the events of the evening, while they were fresh in my
+memory. Accordingly I put away the notebook, filled and lighted my pipe,
+and settled myself to review the incidents attending my second visit to
+this rather uncanny house.
+
+Considered in leisurely retrospect, that visit offered quite a number of
+problems that called for elucidation. There was the patient's condition,
+for instance. Any doubt as to the cause of his symptoms was set at rest
+by the effect of the antidotes. Mr. Graves was certainly under the
+influence of morphine, and the only doubtful question was how he had
+become so. That he had taken the poison himself was incredible. No
+morphinomaniac would take such a knock-down dose. It was practically
+certain that the poison had been administered by someone else, and, on
+Mr. Weiss's own showing, there was no one but himself and the
+housekeeper who could have administered it. And to this conclusion all
+the other very queer circumstances pointed.
+
+What were these circumstances? They were, as I have said, numerous,
+though many of them seemed trivial. To begin with, Mr. Weiss's habit of
+appearing some time after my arrival and disappearing some time before
+my departure was decidedly odd. But still more odd was his sudden
+departure this evening on what looked like a mere pretext. That
+departure coincided in time with the sick man's recovery of the power of
+speech. Could it be that Mr. Weiss was afraid that the half-conscious
+man might say something compromising to him in my presence? It looked
+rather like it. And yet he had gone away and left me with the patient
+and the housekeeper.
+
+But when I came to think about it I remembered that Mrs. Schallibaum had
+shown some anxiety to prevent the patient from talking. She had
+interrupted him more than once, and had on two occasions broken in when
+he seemed to be about to ask me some question. I was "mistaken" about
+something. What was that something that he wanted to tell me?
+
+It had struck me as singular that there should be no coffee in the
+house, but a sufficiency of tea. Germans are not usually tea-drinkers
+and they do take coffee. But perhaps there was nothing in this. Rather
+more remarkable was the invisibility of the coachman. Why could he not
+be sent to fetch the coffee, and why did not he, rather than the
+housekeeper, come to take the place of Mr. Weiss when the latter had to
+go away.
+
+There were other points, too. I recalled the word that sounded like
+"Pol'n," which Mr. Graves had used in speaking to the housekeeper.
+Apparently it was a Christian name of some kind; but why did Mr. Graves
+call the woman by her Christian name when Mr. Weiss addressed her
+formally as Mrs. Schallibaum? And, as to the woman herself: what was the
+meaning of that curious disappearing squint? Physically it presented no
+mystery. The woman had an ordinary divergent squint, and, like many
+people, who suffer from this displacement, could, by a strong muscular
+effort, bring the eyes temporarily into their normal parallel position.
+I had detected the displacement when she had tried to maintain the
+effort too long, and the muscular control had given way. But why had she
+done it? Was it only feminine vanity--mere sensitiveness respecting a
+slight personal disfigurement? It might be so; or there might be some
+further motive. It was impossible to say.
+
+Turning this question over, I suddenly remembered the peculiarity of Mr.
+Weiss's spectacles. And here I met with a real poser. I had certainly
+seen through those spectacles as clearly as if they had been plain
+window-glass; and they had certainly given an inverted reflection of the
+candle-flame like that thrown from the surface of a concave lens. Now
+they obviously could not be both flat and concave; but yet they had the
+properties peculiar to both flatness and concavity. And there was a
+further difficulty. If I could see objects unaltered through them, so
+could Mr. Weiss. But the function of spectacles is to alter the
+appearances of objects, by magnification, reduction or compensating
+distortion. If they leave the appearances unchanged they are useless. I
+could make nothing of it. After puzzling over it for quite a long time,
+I had to give it up; which I did the less unwillingly inasmuch as the
+construction of Mr. Weiss's spectacles had no apparent bearing on the
+case.
+
+On arriving home, I looked anxiously at the message-book, and was
+relieved to find that there were no further visits to be made. Having
+made up a mixture for Mr. Graves and handed it to the coachman, I raked
+the ashes of the surgery fire together and sat down to smoke a final
+pipe while I reflected once more on the singular and suspicious case in
+which I had become involved. But fatigue soon put an end to my
+meditations; and having come to the conclusion that the circumstances
+demanded a further consultation with Thorndyke, I turned down the gas to
+a microscopic blue spark and betook myself to bed.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter IV
+
+The Official View
+
+
+I rose on the following morning still possessed by the determination to
+make some oportunity during the day to call on Thorndyke and take his
+advice on the now urgent question as to what I was to do. I use the word
+"urgent" advisedly; for the incidents of the preceding evening had left
+me with the firm conviction that poison was being administered for some
+purpose to my mysterious patient, and that no time must be lost if his
+life was to be saved. Last night he had escaped only by the narrowest
+margin--assuming him to be still alive--and it was only my unexpectedly
+firm attitude that had compelled Mr. Weiss to agree to restorative
+measures.
+
+That I should be sent for again I had not the slightest expectation. If
+what I so strongly suspected was true, Weiss would call in some other
+doctor, in the hope of better luck, and it was imperative that he
+should be stopped before it was too late. This was my view, but I meant
+to have Thorndyke's opinion, and act under his direction, but
+
+
+  "The best laid plans of mice and men
+   Gang aft agley."
+
+When I came downstairs and took a preliminary glance at the rough
+memorandum-book, kept by the bottle-boy, or, in his absence, by the
+housemaid, I stood aghast. The morning's entries looked already like a
+sample page of the Post Office directory. The new calls alone were more
+than equal to an ordinary day's work, and the routine visits remained to
+be added. Gloomily wondering whether the Black Death had made a sudden
+reappearance in England, I hurried to the dining-room and made a hasty
+breakfast, interrupted at intervals by the apparition of the bottle-boy
+to announce new messages.
+
+The first two or three visits solved the mystery. An epidemic of
+influenza had descended on the neighbourhood, and I was getting not only
+our own normal work but a certain amount of overflow from other
+practices. Further, it appeared that a strike in the building trade had
+been followed immediately by a widespread failure of health among the
+bricklayers who were members of a certain benefit club; which accounted
+for the remarkable suddenness of the outbreak.
+
+Of course, my contemplated visit to Thorndyke was out of the question. I
+should have to act on my own responsibility. But in the hurry and rush
+and anxiety of the work--for some of the cases were severe and even
+critical--I had no opportunity to consider any course of action, nor
+time to carry it out. Even with the aid of a hansom which I chartered,
+as Stillbury kept no carriage, I had not finished my last visit until
+near on midnight, and was then so spent with fatigue that I fell asleep
+over my postponed supper.
+
+As the next day opened with a further increase of work, I sent a
+telegram to Dr. Stillbury at Hastings, whither he had gone, like a wise
+man, to recruit after a slight illness. I asked for authority to engage
+an assistant, but the reply informed me that Stillbury himself was on
+his way to town; and to my relief, when I dropped in at the surgery for
+a cup of tea, I found him rubbing his hands over the open day-book.
+
+"It's an ill wind that blows nobody good," he remarked cheerfully as we
+shook hands. "This will pay the expenses of my holiday, including you.
+By the way, you are not anxious to be off, I suppose?"
+
+As a matter of fact, I was; for I had decided to accept Thorndyke's
+offer, and was now eager to take up my duties with him. But it would
+have been shabby to leave Stillbury to battle alone with this rush of
+work or to seek the services of a strange assistant.
+
+"I should like to get off as soon as you can spare me," I replied, "but
+I'm not going to leave you in the lurch."
+
+"That's a good fellow," said Stillbury. "I knew you wouldn't. Let us
+have some tea and divide up the work. Anything of interest going?"
+
+There were one or two unusual cases on the list, and, as we marked off
+our respective patients, I gave him the histories in brief synopsis. And
+then I opened the subject of my mysterious experiences at the house of
+Mr. Weiss.
+
+"There's another affair that I want to tell you about; rather an
+unpleasant business."
+
+"Oh, dear!" exclaimed Stillbury. He put down his cup and regarded me
+with quite painful anxiety.
+
+"It looks to me like an undoubted case of criminal poisoning," I
+continued.
+
+Stillbury's face cleared instantly. "Oh, I'm glad it's nothing more than
+that," he said with an air of relief. "I was afraid, it was some
+confounded woman. There's always that danger, you know, when a locum is
+young and happens--if I may say so, Jervis--to be a good-looking fellow.
+Let us hear about this case."
+
+I gave him a condensed narrative of my connection with the mysterious
+patient, omitting any reference to Thorndyke, and passing lightly over
+my efforts to fix the position of the house, and wound up with the
+remark that the facts ought certainly to be communicated to the police.
+
+"Yes," he admitted reluctantly, "I suppose you're right. Deuced
+unpleasant though. Police cases don't do a practice any good. They waste
+a lot of time, too; keep you hanging about to give evidence. Still, you
+are quite right. We can't stand by and see the poor devil poisoned
+without making some effort. But I don't believe the police will do
+anything in the matter."
+
+"Don't you really?"
+
+"No, I don't. They like to have things pretty well cut and dried before
+they act. A prosecution is an expensive affair, so they don't care to
+prosecute unless they are fairly sure of a conviction. If they fail they
+get hauled over the coals."
+
+"But don't you think they would get a conviction in this case?"
+
+"Not on your evidence, Jervis. They might pick up something fresh, but,
+if they didn't they would fail. You haven't got enough hard-baked facts
+to upset a capable defence. Still, that isn't our affair. You want to
+put the responsibility on the police and I entirely agree with you."
+
+"There ought not to be any delay," said I.
+
+"There needn't be. I shall look in on Mrs. Wackford and you have to see
+the Rummel children; we shall pass the station on our way. Why shouldn't
+we drop in and see the inspector or superintendent?"
+
+The suggestion met my views exactly. As soon as we had finished tea, we
+set forth, and in about ten minutes found ourselves in the bare and
+forbidding office attached to the station.
+
+The presiding officer descended from a high stool, and, carefully laying
+down his pen, shook hands cordially.
+
+"And what can I do for you gentlemen?" he asked, with an affable smile.
+
+Stillbury proceeded to open our business.
+
+"My friend here, Dr. Jervis, who has very kindly been looking after my
+work for a week or two, has had a most remarkable experience, and he
+wants to tell you about it."
+
+"Something in my line of business?" the officer inquired.
+
+"That," said I, "is for you to judge. I think it is, but you may think
+otherwise"; and hereupon, without further preamble, I plunged into the
+history of the case, giving him a condensed statement similar to that
+which I had already made to Stillbury.
+
+He listened with close attention, jotting down from time to time a brief
+note on a sheet of paper; and, when I had finished, he wrote out in a
+black-covered notebook a short précis of my statement.
+
+"I have written down here," he said, "the substance of what you have
+told me. I will read the deposition over to you, and, if it is correct,
+I will ask you to sign it."
+
+He did so, and, when I had signed the document, I asked him what was
+likely to be done in the matter.
+
+"I am afraid," he replied, "that we can't take any active measures. You
+have put us on our guard and we shall keep our eyes open. But I think
+that is all we can do, unless we hear something further."
+
+"But," I exclaimed, "don't you think that it is a very suspicious
+affair?"
+
+"I do," he replied. "A very fishy business indeed, and you were quite
+right to come and tell us about it."
+
+"It seems a pity not to take some measures," I said. "While you are
+waiting to hear something further, they may give the poor wretch a fresh
+dose and kill him."
+
+"In which case we should hear something further, unless some fool of a
+doctor were to give a death certificate."
+
+"But that is very unsatisfactory. The man ought not to be allowed to
+die."
+
+"I quite agree with you, sir. But we've no evidence that he is going to
+die. His friends sent for you, and you treated him skilfully and left
+him in a fair way to recovery. That's all that we really know about it.
+Yes, I know," the officer continued as I made signs of disagreement,
+"you think that a crime is possibly going to be committed and that we
+ought to prevent it. But you overrate our powers. We can only act on
+evidence that a crime has actually been committed or is actually being
+attempted. Now we have no such evidence. Look at your statement, and
+tell me what you can swear to."
+
+"I think I could swear that Mr. Graves had taken a poisonous dose of
+morphine."
+
+"And who gave him that poisonous dose?"
+
+"I very strongly suspect--"
+
+"That's no good, sir," interrupted the officer. "Suspicion isn't
+evidence. We should want you to swear an information and give us enough
+facts to make out a <i>primâ facie</i> case against some definite person. And
+you couldn't do it. Your information amounts to this: that a certain
+person has taken a poisonous dose of morphine and apparently recovered.
+That's all. You can't swear that the names given to you are real names,
+and you can't give us any address or even any locality."
+
+"I took some compass bearings in the carriage," I said. "You could
+locate the house, I think, without much difficulty."
+
+The officer smiled faintly and fixed an abstracted gaze on the clock.
+
+"<i>You</i> could, sir," he replied. "I have no doubt whatever that <i>you</i>
+could. <i>I</i> couldn't. But, in any case, we haven't enough to go upon. If
+you learn anything fresh, I hope you will let me know; and I am very
+much obliged to you for taking so much trouble in the matter. Good
+evening sir. Good evening, Dr. Stillbury."
+
+He shook hands with us both genially, and, accepting perforce this very
+polite but unmistakable dismissal, we took our departure.
+
+Outside the station, Stillbury heaved a comfortable sigh. He was
+evidently relieved to find that no upheavals were to take place in his
+domain.
+
+"I thought that would be their attitude," he said, "and they are quite
+right, you know. The function of law is to prevent crime, it is true;
+but prophylaxis in the sense in which we understand it is not possible
+in legal practice."
+
+I assented without enthusiasm. It was disappointing to find that no
+precautionary measures were to be taken. However, I had done all that I
+could in the matter. No further responsibility lay upon me, and, as it
+was practically certain that I had seen and heard the last of Mr. Graves
+and his mysterious household, I dismissed the case from my mind. At the
+next corner Stillbury and I parted to go our respective ways; and my
+attention was soon transferred from the romance of crime to the
+realities of epidemic influenza.
+
+The plethora of work in Dr. Stillbury's practice continued longer than I
+had bargained for. Day after day went by and still found me tramping the
+dingy streets of Kennington or scrambling up and down narrow stairways;
+turning in at night dead tired, or turning out half awake to the hideous
+jangle of the night bell.
+
+It was very provoking. For months I had resisted Thorndyke's persuasion
+to give up general practice and join him. Not from lack of inclination,
+but from a deep suspicion that he was thinking of my wants rather than
+his own; that his was a charitable rather than a business proposal. Now
+that I knew this not to be the case, I was impatient to join him; and,
+as I trudged through the dreary thoroughfares of this superannuated
+suburb, with its once rustic villas and its faded gardens, my thoughts
+would turn enviously to the quiet dignity of the Temple and my friend's
+chambers in King's Bench Walk.
+
+The closed carriage appeared no more; nor did any whisper either of good
+or evil reach me in connection with the mysterious house from which it
+had come. Mr. Graves had apparently gone out of my life for ever.
+
+But if he had gone out of my life, he had not gone out of my memory.
+Often, as I walked my rounds, would the picture of that dimly-lit room
+rise unbidden. Often would I find myself looking once more into that
+ghastly face, so worn, so wasted and haggard, and yet so far from
+repellent. All the incidents of that last night would reconstitute
+themselves with a vividness that showed the intensity of the impression
+that they had made at the time. I would have gladly forgotten the whole
+affair, for every incident of it was fraught with discomfort. But it
+clung to my memory; it haunted me; and ever as it returned it bore with
+it the disquieting questions: Was Mr. Graves still alive? And, if he was
+not, was there really nothing which could have been done to save him?
+
+Nearly a month passed before the practice began to show signs of
+returning to its normal condition. Then the daily lists became more and
+more contracted and the day's work proportionately shorter. And thus the
+term of my servitude came to an end. One evening, as we were writing up
+the day-book, Stillbury remarked:
+
+"I almost think, Jervis, I could manage by myself now. I know you are
+only staying on for my sake."
+
+"I am staying on to finish my engagement, but I shan't be sorry to clear
+out if you can do without me."
+
+"I think I can. When would you like to be off?"
+
+"As soon as possible. Say to-morrow morning, after I have made a few
+visits and transferred the patients to you."
+
+"Very well," said Stillbury. "Then I will give you your cheque and
+settle up everything to-night, so that you shall be free to go off when
+you like to-morrow morning."
+
+Thus ended my connection with Kennington Lane. On the following day at
+about noon, I found myself strolling across Waterloo Bridge with the
+sensations of a newly liberated convict and a cheque for twenty-five
+guineas in my pocket. My luggage was to follow when I sent for it. Now,
+unhampered even by a hand-bag, I joyfully descended the steps at the
+north end of the bridge and headed for King's Bench Walk by way of the
+Embankment and Middle Temple Lane.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter V
+
+Jeffrey Blackmore's Will
+
+
+My arrival at Thorndyke's chambers was not unexpected, having been
+heralded by a premonitory post-card. The "oak" was open and an
+application of the little brass knocker of the inner door immediately
+produced my colleague himself and a very hearty welcome.
+
+"At last," said Thorndyke, "you have come forth from the house of
+bondage. I began to think that you had taken up your abode in Kennington
+for good."
+
+"I was beginning, myself, to wonder when I should escape. But here I am;
+and I may say at once that I am ready to shake the dust of general
+practice off my feet for ever--that is, if you are still willing to have
+me as your assistant."
+
+"Willing!" exclaimed Thorndyke, "Barkis himself was not more willing
+than I. You will be invaluable to me. Let us settle the terms of our
+comradeship forthwith, and to-morrow we will take measures to enter you
+as a student of the Inner Temple. Shall we have our talk in the open air
+and the spring sunshine?"
+
+I agreed readily to this proposal, for it was a bright, sunny day and
+warm for the time of year--the beginning of April. We descended to the
+Walk and thence slowly made our way to the quiet court behind the
+church, where poor old Oliver Goldsmith lies, as he would surely have
+wished to lie, in the midst of all that had been dear to him in his
+chequered life. I need not record the matter of our conversation. To
+Thorndyke's proposals I had no objections to offer but my own
+unworthiness and his excessive liberality. A few minutes saw our
+covenants fully agreed upon, and when Thorndyke had noted the points on
+a slip of paper, signed and dated it and handed it to me, the business
+was at an end.
+
+"There," my colleague said with a smile as he put away his pocket-book,
+"if people would only settle their affairs in that way, a good part of
+the occupation of lawyers would be gone. Brevity is the soul of wit; and
+the fear of simplicity is the beginning of litigation."
+
+"And now," I said, "I propose that we go and feed. I will invite you to
+lunch to celebrate our contract."
+
+"My learned junior is premature," he replied. "I had already arranged a
+little festivity--or rather had modified one that was already arranged.
+You remember Mr. Marchmont, the solicitor?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"He called this morning to ask me to lunch with him and a new client at
+the 'Cheshire Cheese.' I accepted and notified him that I should bring
+you."
+
+"Why the 'Cheshire Cheese'?" I asked.
+
+"Why not? Marchmont's reasons for the selection were, first, that his
+client has never seen an old-fashioned London tavern, and second, that
+this is Wednesday and he, Marchmont, has a gluttonous affection for a
+really fine beef-steak pudding. You don't object, I hope?"
+
+"Oh, not at all. In fact, now that you mention it, my own sensations
+incline me to sympathize with Marchmont. I breakfasted rather early."
+
+"Then come," said Thorndyke. "The assignation is for one o'clock, and,
+if we walk slowly, we shall just hit it off."
+
+We sauntered up Inner Temple Lane, and, crossing Fleet Street, headed
+sedately for the tavern. As we entered the quaint old-world dining-room,
+Thorndyke looked round and a gentleman, who was seated with a companion
+at a table in one of the little boxes or compartments, rose and saluted
+us.
+
+"Let me introduce you to my friend Mr. Stephen Blackmore," he said as we
+approached. Then, turning to his companion, he introduced us by our
+respective names.
+
+"I engaged this box," he continued, "so that we might be private if we
+wished to have a little preliminary chat; not that beef-steak pudding is
+a great help to conversation. But when people have a certain business
+in view, their talk is sure to drift towards it, sooner or later."
+
+Thorndyke and I sat down opposite the lawyer and his client, and we
+mutually inspected one another. Marchmont I already knew; an elderly,
+professional-looking man, a typical solicitor of the old school;
+fresh-faced, precise, rather irascible, and conveying a not unpleasant
+impression of taking a reasonable interest in his diet. The other man
+was quite young, not more than five-and-twenty, and was a fine
+athletic-looking fellow with a healthy, out-of-door complexion and an
+intelligent and highly prepossessing face. I took a liking to him at the
+first glance, and so, I saw, did Thorndyke.
+
+"You two gentlemen," said Blackmore, addressing us, "seem to be quite
+old acquaintances. I have heard so much about you from my friend, Reuben
+Hornby."
+
+"Ah!" exclaimed Marchmont, "that was a queer case--'The Case of the Red
+Thumb Mark,' as the papers called it. It was an eye-opener to
+old-fashioned lawyers like myself. We've had scientific witnesses
+before--and bullied 'em properly, by Jove! when they wouldn't give the
+evidence that we wanted. But the scientific lawyer is something new. His
+appearance in court made us all sit up, I can assure you."
+
+"I hope we shall make you sit up again," said Thorndyke.
+
+"You won't this time," said Marchmont. "The issues in this case of my
+friend Blackmore's are purely legal; or rather, there are no issues at
+all. There is nothing in dispute. I tried to prevent Blackmore from
+consulting you, but he wouldn't listen to reason. Here! Waiter! How much
+longer are we to be waiters? We shall die of old age before we get our
+victuals!"
+
+The waiter smiled apologetically. "Yessir!" said he. "Coming now, sir."
+And at this very moment there was borne into the room a Gargantuan
+pudding in a great bucket of a basin, which being placed on a
+three-legged stool was forthwith attacked ferociously by the
+white-clothed, white-capped carver. We watched the process--as did every
+one present--with an interest not entirely gluttonous, for it added a
+pleasant touch to the picturesque old room, with its sanded floor, its
+homely, pew-like boxes, its high-backed settles and the friendly
+portrait of the "great lexicographer" that beamed down on us from the
+wall.
+
+"This is a very different affair from your great, glittering modern
+restaurant," Mr. Marchmont remarked.
+
+"It is indeed," said Blackmore, "and if this is the way in which our
+ancestors lived, it would seem that they had a better idea of comfort
+than we have."
+
+There was a short pause, during which Mr. Marchmont glared hungrily at
+the pudding; then Thorndyke said:
+
+"So you refused to listen to reason, Mr. Blackmore?"
+
+"Yes. You see, Mr. Marchmont and his partner had gone into the matter
+and decided that there was nothing to be done. Then I happened to
+mention the affair to Reuben Hornby, and he urged me to ask your advice
+on the case."
+
+"Like his impudence," growled Marchmont, "to meddle with my client."
+
+"On which," continued Blackmore, "I spoke to Mr. Marchmont and he agreed
+that it was worth while to take your opinion on the case, though he
+warned me to cherish no hopes, as the affair was not really within your
+specialty."
+
+"So you understand," said Marchmont, "that we expect nothing. This is
+quite a forlorn hope. We are taking your opinion as a mere formality, to
+be able to say that we have left nothing untried."
+
+"That is an encouraging start," Thorndyke remarked. "It leaves me
+unembarrassed by the possibility of failure. But meanwhile you are
+arousing in me a devouring curiosity as to the nature of the case. Is it
+highly confidential? Because if not, I would mention that Jervis has now
+joined me as my permanent colleague."
+
+"It isn't confidential at all," said Marchmont. "The public are in full
+possession of the facts, and we should be only too happy to put them in
+still fuller possession, through the medium of the Probate Court, if we
+could find a reasonable pretext. But we can't."
+
+Here the waiter charged our table with the fussy rapidity of the
+overdue.
+
+"Sorry to keep you waiting, sir. Rather early, sir. Wouldn't like it
+underdone, sir."
+
+Marchmont inspected his plate critically and remarked:
+
+"I sometimes suspect these oysters of being mussels; and I'll swear the
+larks are sparrows."
+
+"Let us hope so," said Thorndyke. "The lark is better employed 'at
+Heaven's gate singing' than garnishing a beef-steak pudding. But you
+were telling us about your case."
+
+"So I was. Well it's just a matter of--ale or claret? Oh, claret, I
+know. You despise the good old British John Barleycorn."
+
+"He that drinks beer thinks beer," retorted Thorndyke. "But you were
+saying that it is just a matter of--?"
+
+"A matter of a perverse testator and an ill-drawn will. A peculiarly
+irritating case, too, because the defective will replaces a perfectly
+sound one, and the intentions of the testator were--er--were--excellent
+ale, this. A little heady, perhaps, but sound. Better than your sour
+French wine, Thorndyke--were--er--were quite obvious. What he evidently
+desired was--mustard? Better have some mustard. No? Well, well! Even a
+Frenchman would take mustard. You can have no appreciation of flavour,
+Thorndyke, if you take your victuals in that crude, unseasoned state.
+And, talking of flavour, do you suppose that there is really any
+difference between that of a lark and that of a sparrow?"
+
+Thorndyke smiled grimly. "I should suppose," said he, "that they were
+indistinguishable; but the question could easily be put to the test of
+experiment."
+
+"That is true," agreed Marchmont, "and it would really be worth trying,
+for, as you say, sparrows are more easily obtainable than larks. But,
+about this will. I was saying--er--now, what was I saying?"
+
+"I understood you to say," replied Thorndyke, "that the intentions of
+the testator were in some way connected with mustard. Isn't that so,
+Jervis?"
+
+"That was what I gathered," said I.
+
+Marchmont gazed at us for a moment with a surprised expression and then,
+laughing good-humouredly, fortified himself with a draught of ale.
+
+"The moral of which is," Thorndyke added, "that testamentary
+dispositions should not be mixed up with beef-steak pudding."
+
+"I believe you're right, Thorndyke," said the unabashed solicitor.
+"Business is business and eating is eating. We had better talk over our
+case in my office or your chambers after lunch."
+
+"Yes," said Thorndyke, "come over to the Temple with me and I will give
+you a cup of coffee to clear your brain. Are there any documents?"
+
+"I have all the papers here in my bag," replied Marchmont; and the
+conversation--such conversation as is possible "when beards wag all"
+over the festive board--drifted into other channels.
+
+As soon as the meal was finished and the reckoning paid, we trooped out
+of Wine Office Court, and, insinuating ourselves through the line of
+empty hansoms that, in those days, crawled in a continuous procession
+on either side of Fleet Street, betook ourselves by way of Mitre Court
+to King's Bench Walk. There, when the coffee had been requisitioned and
+our chairs drawn up around the fire, Mr. Marchmont unloaded from his bag
+a portentous bundle of papers, and we addressed ourselves to the
+business in hand.
+
+"Now," said Marchmont, "let me repeat what I said before. Legally
+speaking, we have no case--not the ghost of one. But my client wished to
+take your opinion, and I agreed on the bare chance that you might detect
+some point that we had overlooked. I don't think you will, for we have
+gone into the case very thoroughly, but still, there is the
+infinitesimal chance and we may as well take it. Would you like to read
+the two wills, or shall I first explain the circumstances?"
+
+"I think," replied Thorndyke, "a narrative of the events in the order of
+their occurrence would be most helpful. I should like to know as much as
+possible about the testator before I examine the documents."
+
+"Very well," said Marchmont. "Then I will begin with a recital of the
+circumstances, which, briefly stated, are these: My client, Stephen
+Blackmore, is the son of Mr. Edward Blackmore, deceased. Edward
+Blackmore had two brothers who survived him, John, the elder, and
+Jeffrey, the younger. Jeffrey is the testator in this case.
+
+"Some two years ago, Jeffrey Blackmore executed a will by which he made
+his nephew Stephen his executor and sole legatee; and a few months later
+he added a codicil giving two hundred and fifty pounds to his brother
+John."
+
+"What was the value of the estate?" Thorndyke asked.
+
+"About three thousand five hundred pounds, all invested in Consols. The
+testator had a pension from the Foreign Office, on which he lived,
+leaving his capital untouched. Soon after having made his will, he left
+the rooms in Jermyn Street, where he had lived for some years, stored
+his furniture and went to Florence. From thence he moved on to Rome and
+then to Venice and other places in Italy, and so continued to travel
+about until the end of last September, when it appears that he returned
+to England, for at the beginning of October he took a set of chambers in
+New Inn, which he furnished with some of the things from his old rooms.
+As far as we can make out, he never communicated with any of his
+friends, excepting his brother, and the fact of his being in residence
+at New Inn or of his being in England at all became known to them only
+when he died."
+
+"Was this quite in accordance with his ordinary habits?" Thorndyke
+asked.
+
+"I should say not quite," Blackmore answered. "My uncle was a studious,
+solitary man, but he was not formerly a recluse. He was not much of a
+correspondent but he kept up some sort of communication with his
+friends. He used, for instance, to write to me sometimes, and, when I
+came down from Cambridge for the vacations, he had me to stay with him
+at his rooms."
+
+"Is there anything known that accounts for the change in his habits?"
+
+"Yes, there is," replied Marchmont. "We shall come to that presently. To
+proceed with the narrative: On the fifteenth of last March he was found
+dead in his chambers, and a more recent will was then discovered, dated
+the twelfth of November of last year. Now no change had taken place in
+the circumstances of the testator to account for the new will, nor was
+there any appreciable alteration in the disposition of the property. As
+far as we can make out, the new will was drawn with the idea of stating
+the intentions of the testator with greater exactness and for the sake
+of doing away with the codicil. The entire property, with the exception
+of two hundred and fifty pounds, was, as before, bequeathed to Stephen,
+but the separate items were specified, and the testator's brother, John
+Blackmore, was named as the executor and residuary legatee."
+
+"I see," said Thorndyke. "So that your client's interest in the will
+would appear to be practically unaffected by the change."
+
+"Yes. There it is," exclaimed the lawyer, slapping the table to add
+emphasis to his words. "That is the pity of it! If people who have no
+knowledge of law would only refrain from tinkering at their wills, what
+a world of trouble would be saved!"
+
+"Oh, come!" said Thorndyke. "It is not for a lawyer to say that."
+
+"No, I suppose not," Marchmont agreed. "Only, you see, we like the
+muddle to be made by the other side. But, in this case, the muddle is on
+our side. The change, as you say, seems to leave our friend Stephen's
+interests unaffected. That is, of course, what poor Jeffrey Blackmore
+thought. But he was mistaken. The effect of the change is absolutely
+disastrous."
+
+"Indeed!"
+
+"Yes. As I have said, no alteration in the testator's circumstances had
+taken place at the time the new will was executed. <i>But</i> only two days
+before his death, his sister, Mrs. Edmund Wilson, died; and on her will
+being proved it appeared that she had bequeathed to him her entire
+personalty, estimated at about thirty thousand pounds."
+
+"Heigho!" exclaimed Thorndyke. "What an unfortunate affair!"
+
+"You are right," said Mr. Marchmont; "it was a disaster. By the original
+will this great sum would have accrued to our friend Mr. Stephen,
+whereas now, of course, it goes to the residuary legatee, Mr. John
+Blackmore. And what makes it even more exasperating is the fact that
+this is obviously not in accordance with the wishes and intentions of
+Mr. Jeffrey, who clearly desired his nephew to inherit his property."
+
+"Yes," said Thorndyke; "I think you are justified in assuming that. But
+do you know whether Mr. Jeffrey was aware of his sister's intentions?"
+
+"We think not. Her will was executed as recently as the third of
+September last, and it seems that there had been no communication
+between her and Mr. Jeffrey since that date. Besides, if you consider
+Mr. Jeffrey's actions, you will see that they suggest no knowledge or
+expectation of this very important bequest. A man does not make
+elaborate dispositions in regard to three thousand pounds and then leave
+a sum of thirty thousand to be disposed of casually as the residue of
+the estate."
+
+"No," Thorndyke agreed. "And, as you have said, the manifest intention
+of the testator was to leave the bulk of his property to Mr. Stephen. So
+we may take it as virtually certain that Mr. Jeffrey had no knowledge of
+the fact that he was a beneficiary under his sister's will."
+
+"Yes," said Mr. Marchmont, "I think we may take that as nearly certain."
+
+"With reference to the second will," said Thorndyke, "I suppose there is
+no need to ask whether the document itself has been examined; I mean as
+to its being a genuine document and perfectly regular?"
+
+Mr. Marchmont shook his head sadly.
+
+"No," he said, "I am sorry to say that there can be no possible doubt as
+to the authenticity and regularity of the document. The circumstances
+under which it was executed establish its genuineness beyond any
+question."
+
+"What were those circumstances?" Thorndyke asked.
+
+"They were these: On the morning of the twelfth of November last, Mr.
+Jeffrey came to the porter's lodge with a document in his hand. 'This,'
+he said, 'is my will. I want you to witness my signature. Would you mind
+doing so, and can you find another respectable person to act as the
+second witness?' Now it happened that a nephew of the porter's, a
+painter by trade, was at work in the Inn. The porter went out and
+fetched him into the lodge and the two men agreed to witness the
+signature. 'You had better read the will,' said Mr. Jeffrey. 'It is not
+actually necessary, but it is an additional safeguard and there is
+nothing of a private nature in the document.' The two men accordingly
+read the document, and, when Mr. Jeffrey had signed it in their
+presence, they affixed their signatures; and I may add that the painter
+left the recognizable impressions of three greasy fingers."
+
+"And these witnesses have been examined?"
+
+"Yes. They have both sworn to the document and to their own signatures,
+and the painter recognized his finger-marks."
+
+"That," said Thorndyke, "seems to dispose pretty effectually of any
+question as to the genuineness of the will; and if, as I gather, Mr.
+Jeffrey came to the lodge alone, the question of undue influence is
+disposed of too."
+
+"Yes," said Mr. Marchmont. "I think we must pass the will as absolutely
+flawless."
+
+"It strikes me as rather odd," said Thorndyke, "that Jeffrey should have
+known so little about his sister's intentions. Can you explain it, Mr.
+Blackmore?"
+
+"I don't think that it is very remarkable," Stephen replied. "I knew
+very little of my aunt's affairs and I don't think my uncle Jeffrey knew
+much more, for he was under the impression that she had only a life
+interest in her husband's property. And he may have been right. It is
+not clear what money this was that she left to my uncle. She was a very
+taciturn woman and made few confidences to anyone."
+
+"So that it is possible," said Thorndyke, "that she, herself, may have
+acquired this money recently by some bequest?"
+
+"It is quite possible," Stephen answered.
+
+"She died, I understand," said Thorndyke, glancing at the notes that he
+had jotted down, "two days before Mr. Jeffrey. What date would that be?"
+
+"Jeffrey died on the fourteenth of March," said Marchmont.
+
+"So that Mrs. Wilson died on the twelfth of March?"
+
+"That is so," Marchmont replied; and Thorndyke then asked:
+
+"Did she die suddenly?"
+
+"No," replied Stephen; "she died of cancer. I understand that it was
+cancer of the stomach."
+
+"Do you happen to know," Thorndyke asked, "what sort of relations
+existed between Jeffrey and his brother John?"
+
+"At one time," said Stephen, "I know they were not very cordial; but the
+breach may have been made up later, though I don't know that it actually
+was."
+
+"I ask the question," said Thorndyke, "because, as I dare say you have
+noticed, there is, in the first will, some hint of improved relations.
+As it was originally drawn that will makes Mr. Stephen the sole legatee.
+Then, a little later, a codicil is added in favour of John, showing that
+Jeffrey had felt the necessity of making some recognition of his
+brother. This seems to point to some change in the relations, and the
+question arises: if such a change did actually occur, was it the
+beginning of a new and further improving state of feeling between the
+two brothers? Have you any facts bearing on that question?"
+
+Marchmont pursed up his lips with the air of a man considering an
+unwelcome suggestion, and, after a few moments of reflection, answered:
+
+"I think we must say 'yes' to that. There is the undeniable fact that,
+of all Jeffrey's friends, John Blackmore was the only one who knew that
+he was living in New Inn."
+
+"Oh, John knew that, did he?"
+
+"Yes, he certainly did; for it came out in the evidence that he had
+called on Jeffrey at his chambers more than once. There is no denying
+that. But, mark you!" Mr. Marchmont added emphatically, "that does not
+cover the inconsistency of the will. There is nothing in the second will
+to suggest that Jeffrey intended materially to increase the bequest to
+his brother."
+
+"I quite agree with you, Marchmont. I think that is a perfectly sound
+position. You have, I suppose, fully considered the question as to
+whether it would be possible to set aside the second will on the ground
+that it fails to carry out the evident wishes and intentions of the
+testator?"
+
+"Yes. My partner, Winwood, and I went into that question very carefully,
+and we also took counsel's opinion--Sir Horace Barnaby--and he was of
+the same opinion as ourselves; that the court would certainly uphold the
+will."
+
+"I think that would be my own view," said Thorndyke, "especially after
+what you have told me. Do I understand that John Blackmore was the only
+person who knew that Jeffrey was in residence at New Inn?"
+
+"The only one of his private friends. His bankers knew and so did the
+officials from whom he drew his pension."
+
+"Of course he would have to notify his bankers of his change of
+address."
+
+"Yes, of course. And à propos of the bank, I may mention that the
+manager tells me that, of late, they had noticed a slight change in the
+character of Jeffrey's signature--I think you will see the reason of the
+change when you hear the rest of his story. It was very trifling; not
+more than commonly occurs when a man begins to grow old, especially if
+there is some failure of eyesight."
+
+"Was Mr. Jeffrey's eyesight failing?" asked Thorndyke.
+
+"Yes, it was, undoubtedly," said Stephen. "He was practically blind in
+one eye and, in the very last letter that I ever had from him, he
+mentioned that there were signs of commencing cataract in the other."
+
+"You spoke of his pension. He continued to draw that regularly?"
+
+"Yes; he drew his allowance every month, or rather, his bankers drew it
+for him. They had been accustomed to do so when he was abroad, and the
+authorities seem to have allowed the practice to continue."
+
+Thorndyke reflected a while, running his eye over the notes on the slips
+of paper in his hand, and Marchmont surveyed him with a malicious smile.
+Presently the latter remarked:
+
+"Methinks the learned counsel is floored."
+
+Thorndyke laughed. "It seems to me," he retorted, "that your proceedings
+are rather like those of the amiable individual who offered the bear a
+flint pebble, that he might crack it and extract the kernel. Your
+confounded will seems to offer no soft spot on which one could commence
+an attack. But we won't give up. We seem to have sucked the will dry.
+Let us now have a few facts respecting the parties concerned in it; and,
+as Jeffrey is the central figure, let us begin with him and the tragedy
+at New Inn that formed the starting-point of all this trouble."
+
+
+
+
+Chapter VI
+
+Jeffrey Blackmore, Deceased
+
+
+Having made the above proposition, Thorndyke placed a fresh slip of
+paper on the blotting pad on his knee and looked inquiringly at Mr.
+Marchmont; who, in his turn, sighed and looked at the bundle of
+documents on the table.
+
+"What do you want to know?" he asked a little wearily.
+
+"Everything," replied Thorndyke. "You have hinted at circumstances that
+would account for a change in Jeffrey's habits and that would explain an
+alteration in the character of his signature. Let us have those
+circumstances. And, if I might venture on a suggestion, it would be that
+we take the events in the order in which they occurred or in which they
+became known."
+
+"That's the worst of you, Thorndyke," Marchmont grumbled. "When a case
+has been squeezed out to the last drop, in a legal sense, you want to
+begin all over again with the family history of every one concerned and
+a list of his effects and household furniture. But I suppose you will
+have to be humoured; and I imagine that the best way in which to give
+you the information you want will be to recite the circumstances
+surrounding the death of Jeffrey Blackmore. Will that suit you?"
+
+"Perfectly," replied Thorndyke; and thereupon Marchmont began:
+
+"The death of Jeffrey Blackmore was discovered at about eleven o'clock
+in the morning of the fifteenth of March. It seems that a builder's man
+was ascending a ladder to examine a gutter on number 31, New Inn, when,
+on passing a second-floor window that was open at the top, he looked in
+and perceived a gentleman lying on a bed. The gentleman was fully
+clothed and had apparently lain down on the bed to rest; at least so the
+builder thought at the time, for he was merely passing the window on
+his way up, and, very properly, did not make a minute examination. But
+when, some ten minutes later, he came down and saw that the gentleman
+was still in the same position, he looked at him more attentively; and
+this is what he noticed--but perhaps we had better have it in his own
+words as he told the story at the inquest.
+
+"'When I came to look at the gentleman a bit more closely, it struck me
+that he looked rather queer. His face looked very white, or rather pale
+yellow, like parchment, and his mouth was open. He did not seem to be
+breathing. On the bed by his side was a brass object of some kind--I
+could not make out what it was--and he seemed to be holding some small
+metal object in his hand. I thought it rather a queer affair, so, when I
+came down I went across to the lodge and told the porter about it. The
+porter came out across the square with me and I showed him the window.
+Then he told me to go up the stairs to Mr. Blackmore's chambers on the
+second pair and knock and keep on knocking until I got an answer. I went
+up and knocked and kept on knocking as loud as I could, but, though I
+fetched everybody out of all the other chambers in the house, I couldn't
+get any answer from Mr. Blackmore. So I went downstairs again and then
+Mr. Walker, the porter, sent me for a policeman.
+
+"'I went out and met a policeman just by Dane's Inn and told him about
+the affair, and he came back with me. He and the porter consulted
+together, and then they told me to go up the ladder and get in at the
+window and open the door of the chambers from the inside. So I went up;
+and as soon as I got in at the window I saw that the gentleman was dead.
+I went through the other room and opened the outer door and let in the
+porter and the policeman.'
+
+"That," said Mr. Marchmont, laying down the paper containing the
+depositions, "is the way in which poor Jeffrey Blackmore's death came to
+be discovered.
+
+"The constable reported to his inspector and the inspector sent for the
+divisional surgeon, whom he accompanied to New Inn. I need not go into
+the evidence given by the police officers, as the surgeon saw all that
+they saw and his statement covers everything that is known about
+Jeffrey's death. This is what he says, after describing how he was sent
+for and arrived at the Inn:
+
+"'In the bedroom I found the body of a man between fifty and sixty years
+of age, which has since been identified in my presence as that of Mr.
+Jeffrey Blackmore. It was fully dressed and wore boots on which was a
+moderate amount of dry mud. It was lying on its back on the bed, which
+did not appear to have been slept in, and showed no sign of any struggle
+or disturbance. The right hand loosely grasped a hypodermic syringe
+containing a few drops of clear liquid which I have since analysed and
+found to be a concentrated solution of strophanthin.
+
+"'On the bed, close to the left side of the body, was a brass opium-pipe
+of a pattern which I believe is made in China. The bowl of the pipe
+contained a small quantity of charcoal, and a fragment of opium
+together with some ash, and there was on the bed a little ash which
+appeared to have dropped from the bowl when the pipe fell or was laid
+down. On the mantelshelf in the bedroom I found a small glass-stoppered
+jar containing about an ounce of solid opium, and another, larger jar
+containing wood charcoal broken up into small fragments. Also a bowl
+containing a quantity of ash with fragments of half-burned charcoal and
+a few minute particles of charred opium. By the side of the bowl were a
+knife, a kind of awl or pricker and a very small pair of tongs, which I
+believe to have been used for carrying a piece of lighted charcoal to
+the pipe.
+
+"'On the dressing-table were two glass tubes labelled "Hypodermic
+Tabloids: Strophanthin 1/500 grain," and a minute glass mortar and
+pestle, of which the former contained a few crystals which have since
+been analysed by me and found to be strophanthin.
+
+"'On examining the body, I found that it had been dead about twelve
+hours. There were no marks of violence or any abnormal condition
+excepting a single puncture in the right thigh, apparently made by the
+needle of the hypodermic syringe. The puncture was deep and vertical in
+direction as if the needle had been driven in through the clothing.
+
+"'I made a post-mortem examination of the body and found that death was
+due to poisoning by strophanthin, which appeared to have been injected
+into the thigh. The two tubes which I found on the dressing-table would
+each have contained, if full, twenty tabloids, each tabloid
+representing one five-hundredth of a grain of strophanthin. Assuming
+that the whole of this quantity was injected the amount taken would be
+forty five-hundredths, or about one twelfth of a grain. The ordinary
+medicinal dose of strophanthin is one five-hundredth of a grain.
+
+"'I also found in the body appreciable traces of morphine--the principal
+alkaloid of opium--from which I infer that the deceased was a confirmed
+opium-smoker. This inference was supported by the general condition of
+the body, which was ill-nourished and emaciated and presented all the
+appearances usually met with in the bodies of persons addicted to the
+habitual use of opium.'
+
+"That is the evidence of the surgeon. He was recalled later, as we shall
+see, but, meanwhile, I think you will agree with me that the facts
+testified to by him fully account, not only for the change in Jeffrey's
+habits--his solitary and secretive mode of life--but also for the
+alteration in his handwriting."
+
+"Yes," agreed Thorndyke, "that seems to be so. By the way, what did the
+change in the handwriting amount to?"
+
+"Very little," replied Marchmont. "It was hardly perceptible. Just a
+slight loss of firmness and distinctness; such a trifling change as you
+would expect to find in the handwriting of a man who had taken to drink
+or drugs, or anything that might impair the steadiness of his hand. I
+should not have noticed it, myself, but, of course, the people at the
+bank are experts, constantly scrutinizing signatures and scrutinizing
+them with a very critical eye."
+
+"Is there any other evidence that bears on the case?" Thorndyke asked.
+
+Marchmont turned over the bundle of papers and smiled grimly.
+
+"My dear Thorndyke," he said, "none of this evidence has the slightest
+bearing on the case. It is all perfectly irrelevant as far as the will
+is concerned. But I know your little peculiarities and I am indulging
+you, as you see, to the top of your bent. The next evidence is that of
+the chief porter, a very worthy and intelligent man named Walker. This
+is what he says, after the usual preliminaries.
+
+"'I have viewed the body which forms the subject of this inquiry. It is
+that of Mr. Jeffrey Blackmore, the tenant of a set of chambers on the
+second floor of number thirty-one, New Inn. I have known the deceased
+nearly six months, and during that time have seen and conversed with him
+frequently. He took the chambers on the second of last October and came
+into residence at once. Tenants at New Inn have to furnish two
+references. The references that the deceased gave were his bankers and
+his brother, Mr. John Blackmore. I may say that the deceased was very
+well known to me. He was a quiet, pleasant-mannered gentleman, and it
+was his habit to drop in occasionally at the lodge and have a chat with
+me. I went into his chambers with him once or twice on some small
+matters of business and I noticed that there were always a number of
+books and papers on the table. I understood from him that he spent most
+of his time indoors engaged in study and writing. I know very little
+about his way of living. He had no laundress to look after his rooms, so
+I suppose he did his own house-work and cooking; but he told me that he
+took most of his meals outside, at restaurants or his club.
+
+"'Deceased impressed me as a rather melancholy, low-spirited gentleman.
+He was very much troubled about his eyesight and mentioned the matter to
+me on several occasions. He told me that he was practically blind in one
+eye and that the sight of the other was failing rapidly. He said that
+this afflicted him greatly, because his only pleasure in life was in the
+reading of books, and that if he could not read he should not wish to
+live. On another occasion he said that "to a blind man life was not
+worth living."
+
+"'On the twelfth of last November he came to the lodge with a paper in
+his hand which he said was his will'--But I needn't read that," said
+Marchmont, turning over the leaf, "I've told you how the will was signed
+and witnessed. We will pass on to the day of poor Jeffrey's death.
+
+"'On the fourteenth of March,' the porter says, 'at about half-past six
+in the evening, the deceased came to the Inn in a four-wheeled cab. That
+was the day of the great fog. I do not know if there was anyone in the
+cab with the deceased, but I think not, because he came to the lodge
+just before eight o'clock and had a little talk with me. He said that
+he had been overtaken by the fog and could not see at all. He was quite
+blind and had been obliged to ask a stranger to call a cab for him as he
+could not find his way through the streets. He then gave me a cheque for
+the rent. I reminded him that the rent was not due until the
+twenty-fifth, but he said he wished to pay it now. He also gave me some
+money to pay one or two small bills that were owing to some of the
+tradespeople--a milk-man, a baker and a stationer.
+
+"'This struck me as very strange, because he had always managed his
+business and paid the tradespeople himself. He told me that the fog had
+irritated his eye so that he could hardly read, and he was afraid he
+should soon be quite blind. He was very depressed; so much so that I
+felt quite uneasy about him. When he left the lodge, he went back across
+the square as if returning to his chambers. There was then no gate open
+excepting the main gate where the lodge is situated. That was the last
+time that I saw the deceased alive.'"
+
+Mr. Marchmont laid the paper on the table. "That is the porter's
+evidence. The remaining depositions are those of Noble, the night
+porter, John Blackmore and our friend here, Mr. Stephen. The night
+porter had not much to tell. This is the substance of his evidence:
+
+"'I have viewed the body of the deceased and identify it as that of Mr.
+Jeffrey Blackmore. I knew the deceased well by sight and occasionally
+had a few words with him. I know nothing of his habits excepting that he
+used to sit up rather late. It is one of my duties to go round the Inn
+at night and call out the hours until one o'clock in the morning. When
+calling out "one o'clock" I often saw a light in the sitting-room of the
+deceased's chambers. On the night of the fourteenth instant, the light
+was burning until past one o'clock, but it was in the bedroom. The light
+in the sitting-room was out by ten o'clock.'
+
+"We now come to John Blackmore's evidence. He says:
+
+"'I have viewed the body of the deceased and recognize it as that of my
+brother Jeffrey. I last saw him alive on the twenty-third of February,
+when I called at his chambers. He then seemed in a very despondent state
+of mind and told me that his eyesight was fast failing. I was aware that
+he occasionally smoked opium, but I did not know that it was a confirmed
+habit. I urged him, on several occasions, to abandon the practice. I
+have no reason to believe that his affairs were in any way embarrassed
+or that he had any reason for making away with himself other than his
+failing eyesight; but, having regard to his state of mind when I last
+saw him, I am not surprised at what has happened.'
+
+"That is the substance of John Blackmore's evidence, and, as to Mr.
+Stephen, his statement merely sets forth the fact that he had identified
+the body as that of his uncle Jeffrey. And now I think you have all the
+facts. Is there anything more that you want to ask me before I go, for I
+must really run away now?"
+
+"I should like," said Thorndyke, "to know a little more about the
+parties concerned in this affair. But perhaps Mr. Stephen can give me
+the information."
+
+"I expect he can," said Marchmont; "at any rate, he knows more about
+them than I do; so I will be off. If you should happen to think of any
+way," he continued, with a sly smile, "of upsetting that will, just let
+me know, and I will lose no time in entering a caveat. Good-bye! Don't
+trouble to let me out."
+
+As soon as he was gone, Thorndyke turned to Stephen Blackmore.
+
+"I am going," he said, "to ask you a few questions which may appear
+rather trifling, but you must remember that my methods of inquiry
+concern themselves with persons and things rather than with documents.
+For instance, I have not gathered very completely what sort of person
+your uncle Jeffrey was. Could you tell me a little more about him?"
+
+"What shall I tell you?" Stephen asked with a slightly embarrassed air.
+
+"Well, begin with his personal appearance."
+
+"That is rather difficult to describe," said Stephen. "He was a
+medium-sized man and about five feet seven--fair, slightly grey,
+clean-shaved, rather spare and slight, had grey eyes, wore spectacles
+and stooped a little as he walked. He was quiet and gentle in manner,
+rather yielding and irresolute in character, and his health was not at
+all robust though he had no infirmity or disease excepting his bad
+eyesight. His age was about fifty-five."
+
+"How came he to be a civil-service pensioner at fifty-five?" asked
+Thorndyke.
+
+"Oh, that was through an accident. He had a nasty fall from a horse,
+and, being a rather nervous man, the shock was very severe. For some
+time after he was a complete wreck. But the failure of his eyesight was
+the actual cause of his retirement. It seems that the fall damaged his
+eyes in some way; in fact he practically lost the sight of one--the
+right--from that moment; and, as that had been his good eye, the
+accident left his vision very much impaired. So that he was at first
+given sick leave and then allowed to retire on a pension."
+
+Thorndyke noted these particulars and then said:
+
+"Your uncle has been more than once referred to as a man of studious
+habits. Does that mean that he pursued any particular branch of
+learning?"
+
+"Yes. He was an enthusiastic Oriental scholar. His official duties had
+taken him at one time to Yokohama and Tokio and at another to Bagdad,
+and while at those places he gave a good deal of attention to the
+languages, literature and arts of the countries. He was also greatly
+interested in Babylonian and Assyrian archaeology, and I believe he
+assisted for some time in the excavations at Birs Nimroud."
+
+"Indeed!" said Thorndyke. "This is very interesting. I had no idea that
+he was a man of such considerable attainments. The facts mentioned by
+Mr. Marchmont would hardly have led one to think of him as what he seems
+to have been: a scholar of some distinction."
+
+"I don't know that Mr. Marchmont realized the fact himself," said
+Stephen; "or that he would have considered it of any moment if he had.
+Nor, as far as that goes, do I. But, of course, I have no experience of
+legal matters."
+
+"You can never tell beforehand," said Thorndyke, "what facts may turn
+out to be of moment, so that it is best to collect all you can get. By
+the way, were you aware that your uncle was an opium-smoker?"
+
+"No, I was not. I knew that he had an opium-pipe which he brought with
+him when he came home from Japan; but I thought it was only a curio. I
+remember him telling me that he once tried a few puffs at an opium-pipe
+and found it rather pleasant, though it gave him a headache. But I had
+no idea he had contracted the habit; in fact, I may say that I was
+utterly astonished when the fact came out at the inquest."
+
+Thorndyke made a note of this answer, too, and said:
+
+"I think that is all I have to ask you about your uncle Jeffrey. And now
+as to Mr. John Blackmore. What sort of man is he?"
+
+"I am afraid I can't tell you very much about him. Until I saw him at
+the inquest, I had not met him since I was a boy. But he is a very
+different kind of man from Uncle Jeffrey; different in appearance and
+different in character."
+
+"You would say that the two brothers were physically quite unlike,
+then?"
+
+"Well," said Stephen, "I don't know that I ought to say that. Perhaps I
+am exaggerating the difference. I am thinking of Uncle Jeffrey as he was
+when I saw him last and of uncle John as he appeared at the inquest.
+They were very different then. Jeffrey was thin, pale, clean shaven,
+wore spectacles and walked with a stoop. John is a shade taller, a shade
+greyer, has good eyesight, a healthy, florid complexion, a brisk,
+upright carriage, is distinctly stout and wears a beard and moustache
+which are black and only very slightly streaked with grey. To me they
+looked as unlike as two men could, though their features were really of
+the same type; indeed, I have heard it said that, as young men, they
+were rather alike, and they both resembled their mother. But there is no
+doubt as to their difference in character. Jeffrey was quiet, serious
+and studious, whereas John rather inclined to what is called a fast
+life; he used to frequent race meetings, and, I think, gambled a good
+deal at times."
+
+"What is his profession?"
+
+"That would be difficult to tell; he has so many; he is so very
+versatile. I believe he began life as an articled pupil in the
+laboratory of a large brewery, but he soon left that and went on the
+stage. He seems to have remained in 'the profession' for some years,
+touring about this country and making occasional visits to America. The
+life seemed to suit him and I believe he was decidedly successful as an
+actor. But suddenly he left the stage and blossomed out in connection
+with a bucket-shop in London."
+
+"And what is he doing now?"
+
+"At the inquest he described himself as a stockbroker, so I presume he
+is still connected with the bucket-shop."
+
+Thorndyke rose, and taking down from the reference shelves a list of
+members of the Stock Exchange, turned over the leaves.
+
+"Yes," he said, replacing the volume, "he must be an outside broker. His
+name is not in the list of members of 'the House.' From what you tell
+me, it is easy to understand that there should have been no great
+intimacy between the two brothers, without assuming any kind of
+ill-feeling. They simply had very little in common. Do you know of
+anything more?"
+
+"No. I have never heard of any actual quarrel or disagreement. My
+impression that they did not get on very well may have been, I think,
+due to the terms of the will, especially the first will. And they
+certainly did not seek one another's society."
+
+"That is not very conclusive," said Thorndyke. "As to the will, a
+thrifty man is not usually much inclined to bequeath his savings to a
+gentleman who may probably employ them in a merry little flutter on the
+turf or the Stock Exchange. And then there was yourself; clearly a more
+suitable subject for a legacy, as your life is all before you. But this
+is mere speculation and the matter is not of much importance, as far as
+we can see. And now, tell me what John Blackmore's relations were with
+Mrs. Wilson. I gather that she left the bulk of her property to Jeffrey,
+her younger brother. Is that so?"
+
+"Yes. She left nothing to John. The fact is that they were hardly on
+speaking terms. I believe John had treated her rather badly, or, at any
+rate, she thought he had. Mr. Wilson, her late husband, dropped some
+money over an investment in connection with the bucket-shop that I spoke
+of, and I think she suspected John of having let him in. She may have
+been mistaken, but you know what ladies are when they get an idea into
+their heads."
+
+"Did you know your aunt well?"
+
+"No; very slightly. She lived down in Devonshire and saw very little of
+any of us. She was a taciturn, strong-minded woman; quite unlike her
+brothers. She seems to have resembled her father's family."
+
+"You might give me her full name."
+
+"Julia Elizabeth Wilson. Her husband's name was Edmund Wilson."
+
+"Thank you. There is just one more point. What has happened to your
+uncle's chambers in New Inn since his death?"
+
+"They have remained shut up. As all his effects were left to me, I have
+taken over the tenancy for the present to avoid having them disturbed. I
+thought of keeping them for my own use, but I don't think I could live
+in them after what I have seen."
+
+"You have inspected them, then?"
+
+"Yes; I have just looked through them. I went there on the day of the
+inquest."
+
+"Now tell me: as you looked through those rooms, what kind of impression
+did they convey to you as to your uncle's habits and mode of life?"
+
+Stephen smiled apologetically. "I am afraid," said he, "that they did
+not convey any particular impression in that respect. I looked into the
+sitting-room and saw all his old familiar household gods, and then I
+went into the bedroom and saw the impression on the bed where his corpse
+had lain; and that gave me such a sensation of horror that I came away
+at once."
+
+"But the appearance of the rooms must have conveyed something to your
+mind," Thorndyke urged.
+
+"I am afraid it did not. You see, I have not your analytical eye. But
+perhaps you would like to look through them yourself? If you would, pray
+do so. They are my chambers now."
+
+"I think I should like to glance round them," Thorndyke replied.
+
+"Very well," said Stephen. "I will give you my card now, and I will look
+in at the lodge presently and tell the porter to hand you the key
+whenever you like to look over the rooms."
+
+He took a card from his case, and, having written a few lines on it,
+handed it to Thorndyke.
+
+"It is very good of you," he said, "to take so much trouble. Like Mr.
+Marchmont, I have no expectation of any result from your efforts, but I
+am very grateful to you, all the same, for going into the case so
+thoroughly. I suppose you don't see any possibility of upsetting that
+will--if I may ask the question?"
+
+"At present," replied Thorndyke, "I do not. But until I have carefully
+weighed every fact connected with the case--whether it seems to have any
+bearing or not--I shall refrain from expressing, or even entertaining,
+an opinion either way."
+
+Stephen Blackmore now took his leave; and Thorndyke, having collected
+the papers containing his notes, neatly punched a couple of holes in
+their margins and inserted them into a small file, which he slipped into
+his pocket.
+
+"That," said he, "is the nucleus of the body of data on which our
+investigations must be based; and I very much fear that it will not
+receive any great additions. What do you think, Jervis?"
+
+"The case looks about as hopeless as a case could look," I replied.
+
+"That is what I think," said he; "and for that reason I am more than
+ordinarily keen on making something of it. I have not much more hope
+than Marchmont has; but I shall squeeze the case as dry as a bone before
+I let go. What are you going to do? I have to attend a meeting of the
+board of directors of the Griffin Life Office."
+
+"Shall I walk down with you?"
+
+"It is very good of you to offer, Jervis, but I think I will go alone. I
+want to run over these notes and get the facts of the case arranged in
+my mind. When I have done that, I shall be ready to pick up new matter.
+Knowledge is of no use unless it is actually in your mind, so that it
+can be produced at a moment's notice. So you had better get a book and
+your pipe and spend a quiet hour by the fire while I assimilate the
+miscellaneous mental feast that we have just enjoyed. And you might do a
+little rumination yourself."
+
+With this, Thorndyke took his departure; and I, adopting his advice,
+drew my chair closer to the fire and filled my pipe. But I did not
+discover any inclination to read. The curious history that I had just
+heard, and Thorndyke's evident determination to elucidate it further,
+disposed me to meditation. Moreover, as his subordinate, it was my
+business to occupy myself with his affairs. Wherefore, having stirred
+the fire and got my pipe well alight, I abandoned myself to the renewed
+consideration of the facts relating to Jeffrey Blackmore's will.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter VII
+
+The Cuneiform Inscription
+
+
+The surprise which Thorndyke's proceedings usually occasioned,
+especially to lawyers, was principally due, I think, to my friend's
+habit of viewing occurrences from an unusual standpoint. He did not look
+at things quite as other men looked at them. He had no prejudices and he
+knew no conventions. When other men were cocksure, Thorndyke was
+doubtful. When other men despaired, he entertained hopes; and thus it
+happened that he would often undertake cases that had been rejected
+contemptuously by experienced lawyers, and, what is more, would bring
+them to a successful issue.
+
+Thus it had been in the only other case in which I had been personally
+associated with him--the so-called "Red Thumb Mark" case. There he was
+presented with an apparent impossibility; but he had given it careful
+consideration. Then, from the category of the impossible he had brought
+it to that of the possible; from the merely possible to the actually
+probable; from the probable to the certain; and in the end had won the
+case triumphantly.
+
+Was it conceivable that he could make anything of the present case? He
+had not declined it. He had certainly entertained it and was probably
+thinking it over at this moment. Yet could anything be more impossible?
+Here was the case of a man making his own will, probably writing it out
+himself, bringing it voluntarily to a certain place and executing it in
+the presence of competent witnesses. There was no suggestion of any
+compulsion or even influence or persuasion. The testator was admittedly
+sane and responsible; and if the will did not give effect to his
+wishes--which, however, could not be proved--that was due to his own
+carelessness in drafting the will and not to any unusual circumstances.
+And the problem--which Thorndyke seemed to be considering--was how to
+set aside that will.
+
+I reviewed the statements that I had heard, but turn them about as I
+would, I could get nothing out of them but confirmation of Mr.
+Marchmont's estimate of the case. One fact that I had noted with some
+curiosity I again considered; that was Thorndyke's evident desire to
+inspect Jeffrey Blackmore's chambers. He had, it is true, shown no
+eagerness, but I had seen at the time that the questions which he put to
+Stephen were put, not with any expectation of eliciting information but
+for the purpose of getting an opportunity to look over the rooms
+himself.
+
+I was still cogitating on the subject when my colleague returned,
+followed by the watchful Polton with the tea-tray, and I attacked him
+forthwith.
+
+"Well, Thorndyke," I said, "I have been thinking about this Blackmore
+case while you have been gadding about."
+
+"And may I take it that the problem is solved?"
+
+"No, I'm hanged if you may. I can make nothing of it."
+
+"Then you are in much the same position as I am."
+
+"But, if you can make nothing of it, why did you undertake it?"
+
+"I only undertook to think about it," said Thorndyke. "I never reject a
+case off-hand unless it is obviously fishy. It is surprising how
+difficulties, and even impossibilities, dwindle if you look at them
+attentively. My experience has taught me that the most unlikely case is,
+at least, worth thinking over."
+
+"By the way, why do you want to look over Jeffrey's chambers? What do
+you expect to find there?"
+
+"I have no expectations at all. I am simply looking for stray facts."
+
+"And all those questions that you asked Stephen Blackmore; had you
+nothing in your mind--no definite purpose?"
+
+"No purpose beyond getting to know as much about the case as I can."
+
+"But," I exclaimed, "do you mean that you are going to examine those
+rooms without any definite object at all?"
+
+"I wouldn't say that," replied Thorndyke. "This is a legal case. Let me
+put an analogous medical case as being more within your present sphere.
+Supposing that a man should consult you, say, about a progressive loss
+of weight. He can give no explanation. He has no pain, no discomfort, no
+symptoms of any kind; in short, he feels perfectly well in every
+respect; <i>but</i> he is losing weight continuously. What would you do?"
+
+"I should overhaul him thoroughly," I answered.
+
+"Why? What would you expect to find?"
+
+"I don't know that I should start by expecting to find anything in
+particular. But I should overhaul him organ by organ and function by
+function, and if I could find nothing abnormal I should have to give it
+up."
+
+"Exactly," said Thorndyke. "And that is just my position and my line of
+action. Here is a case which is perfectly regular and straightforward
+excepting in one respect. It has a single abnormal feature. And for that
+abnormality there is nothing to account.
+
+"Jeffrey Blackmore made a will. It was a well-drawn will and it
+apparently gave full effect to his intentions. Then he revoked that will
+and made another. No change had occurred in his circumstances or in his
+intentions. The provisions of the new will were believed by him to be
+identical with those of the old one. The new will differed from the old
+one only in having a defect in the drafting from which the first will
+was free, and of which he must have been unaware. Now why did he revoke
+the first will and replace it with another which he believed to be
+identical in its provisions? There is no answer to that question. It is
+an abnormal feature in the case. There must be some explanation of that
+abnormality and it is my business to discover it. But the facts in my
+possession yield no such explanation. Therefore it is my purpose to
+search for new facts which may give me a starting-point for an
+investigation."
+
+This exposition of Thorndyke's proposed conduct of the case, reasonable
+as it was, did not impress me as very convincing. I found myself coming
+back to Marchmont's position, that there was really nothing in dispute.
+But other matters claimed our attention at the moment, and it was not
+until after dinner that my colleague reverted to the subject.
+
+"How should you like to take a turn round to New Inn this evening?" he
+asked.
+
+"I should have thought," said I, "that it would be better to go by
+daylight. Those old chambers are not usually very well illuminated."
+
+"That is well thought of," said Thorndyke. "We had better take a lamp
+with us. Let us go up to the laboratory and get one from Polton."
+
+"There is no need to do that," said I. "The pocket-lamp that you lent me
+is in my overcoat pocket. I put it there to return it to you."
+
+"Did you have occasion to use it?" he asked.
+
+"Yes. I paid another visit to the mysterious house and carried out your
+plan. I must tell you about it later."
+
+"Do. I shall be keenly interested to hear all about your adventures. Is
+there plenty of candle left in the lamp?"
+
+"Oh yes. I only used it for about an hour."
+
+"Then let us be off," said Thorndyke; and we accordingly set forth on
+our quest; and, as we went, I reflected once more on the apparent
+vagueness of our proceedings. Presently I reopened the subject with
+Thorndyke.
+
+"I can't imagine," said I, "that you have absolutely nothing in view.
+That you are going to this place with no defined purpose whatever."
+
+"I did not say exactly that," replied Thorndyke. "I said that I was not
+going to look for any particular thing or fact. I am going in the hope
+that I may observe something that may start a new train of speculation.
+But that is not all. You know that an investigation follows a certain
+logical course. It begins with the observation of the conspicuous facts.
+We have done that. The facts were supplied by Marchmont. The next stage
+is to propose to oneself one or more provisional explanations or
+hypotheses. We have done that, too--or, at least I have, and I suppose
+you have."
+
+"I haven't," said I. "There is Jeffrey's will, but why he should have
+made the change I cannot form the foggiest idea. But I should like to
+hear your provisional theories on the subject."
+
+"You won't hear them at present. They are mere wild conjectures. But to
+resume: what do we do next?"
+
+"Go to New Inn and rake over the deceased gentleman's apartments."
+
+Thorndyke smilingly ignored my answer and continued--
+
+"We examine each explanation in turn and see what follows from it;
+whether it agrees with all the facts and leads to the discovery of new
+ones, or, on the other hand, disagrees with some facts or leads us to an
+absurdity. Let us take a simple example.
+
+"Suppose we find scattered over a field a number of largish masses of
+stone, which are entirely different in character from the rocks found in
+the neighbourhood. The question arises, how did those stones get into
+that field? Three explanations are proposed. One: that they are the
+products of former volcanic action; two: that they were brought from a
+distance by human agency; three: that they were carried thither from
+some distant country by icebergs. Now each of those explanations
+involves certain consequences. If the stones are volcanic, then they
+were once in a state of fusion. But we find that they are unaltered
+limestone and contain fossils. Then they are not volcanic. If they were
+borne by icebergs, then they were once part of a glacier and some of
+them will probably show the flat surfaces with parallel scratches which
+are found on glacier-borne stones. We examine them and find the
+characteristic scratched surfaces. Then they have probably been brought
+to this place by icebergs. But this does not exclude human agency, for
+they might have been brought by men to this place from some other where
+the icebergs had deposited them. A further comparison with other facts
+would be needed.
+
+"So we proceed in cases like this present one. Of the facts that are
+known to us we invent certain explanations. From each of those
+explanations we deduce consequences; and if those consequences agree
+with new facts, they confirm the explanation, whereas if they disagree
+they tend to disprove it. But here we are at our destination."
+
+We turned out of Wych Street into the arched passage leading into New
+Inn, and, halting at the half-door of the lodge, perceived a stout,
+purple-faced man crouching over the fire, coughing violently. He held up
+his hand to intimate that he was fully occupied for the moment, and we
+accordingly waited for his paroxysm to subside. At length he turned
+towards us, wiping his eyes, and inquired our business.
+
+"Mr. Stephen Blackmore," said Thorndyke, "has given me permission to
+look over his chambers. He said that he would mention the matter to
+you."
+
+"So he has, sir," said the porter; "but he has just taken the key
+himself to go to the chambers. If you walk across the Inn you'll find
+him there; it's on the farther side; number thirty-one, second floor."
+
+We made our way across to the house indicated, the ground floor of which
+was occupied by a solicitor's offices and was distinguished by a
+good-sized brass plate. Although it had now been dark some time there
+was no light on the lower stairs, but we encountered on the first-floor
+landing a man who had just lit the lamp there. Thorndyke halted to
+address him.
+
+"Can you tell me who occupies the chambers on the third floor?"
+
+"The third floor has been empty about three months," was the reply.
+
+"We are going up to look at the chambers on the second floor," said
+Thorndyke. "Are they pretty quiet?"
+
+"Quiet!" exclaimed the man. "Lord bless you the place is like a cemetery
+for the deaf and dumb. There's the solicitors on the ground floor and
+the architects on the first floor. They both clear out about six, and
+when they're gone the house is as empty as a blown hegg. I don't wonder
+poor Mr. Blackmore made away with his-self. Livin' up there all alone,
+it must have been like Robinson Crusoe without no man Friday and not
+even a blooming goat to talk to. Quiet! It's quiet enough, if that's
+what you want. Wouldn't be no good to <i>me</i>."
+
+With a contemptuous shake of the head, he turned and retired down the
+next flight, and, as the echoes of his footsteps died away we resumed
+our ascent.
+
+"So it would appear," Thorndyke commented, "that when Jeffrey Blackmore
+came home that last evening, the house was empty."
+
+Arrived on the second-floor landing, we were confronted by a
+solid-looking door on the lintel of which the deceased man's name was
+painted in white lettering which still looked new and fresh. Thorndyke
+knocked at the door, which was at once opened by Stephen Blackmore.
+
+"I haven't wasted any time before taking advantage of your permission,
+you see," my colleague said as we entered.
+
+"No, indeed," said Stephen; "you are very prompt. I have been rather
+wondering what kind of information you expect to gather from an
+inspection of these rooms."
+
+Thorndyke smiled genially, amused, no doubt, by the similarity of
+Stephen's remarks to those of mine which he had so recently criticized.
+
+"A man of science, Mr. Blackmore," he said, "expects nothing. He
+collects facts and keeps an open mind. As to me, I am a mere legal
+Autolycus, a snapper-up of unconsidered trifles of evidence. When I have
+accumulated a few facts, I arrange them, compare them and think about
+them. Sometimes the comparison yields new matter and sometimes it
+doesn't; but in any case, believe me, it is a capital error to decide
+beforehand what data are to be sought for."
+
+"Yes, I suppose that is so," said Stephen; "though, to me, it almost
+looks as if Mr. Marchmont was right; that there is nothing to
+investigate."
+
+"You should have thought of that before you consulted me," laughed
+Thorndyke. "As it is, I am engaged to look into the case and I shall do
+so; and, as I have said, I shall keep an open mind until I have all the
+facts in my possession."
+
+He glanced round the sitting-room, which we had now entered, and
+continued:
+
+"These are fine, dignified old rooms. It seems a sin to have covered up
+all this oak panelling and that carved cornice and mantel with paint.
+Think what it must have been like when the beautiful figured wood was
+exposed."
+
+"It would be very dark," Stephen observed.
+
+"Yes," Thorndyke agreed, "and I suppose we care more for light and less
+for beauty than our ancestors did. But now, tell me; looking round these
+rooms, do they convey to you a similar impression to that which the old
+rooms did? Have they the same general character?"
+
+"Not quite, I think. Of course the rooms in Jermyn Street were in a
+different kind of house, but beyond that, I seem to feel a certain
+difference; which is rather odd, seeing that the furniture is the same.
+But the old rooms were more cosy, more homelike. I find something rather
+bare and cheerless, I was almost going to say squalid, in the look of
+these chambers."
+
+"That is rather what I should have expected," said Thorndyke. "The opium
+habit alters a man's character profoundly; and, somehow, apart from the
+mere furnishing, a room reflects in some subtle way, but very
+distinctly, the personality of its occupant, especially when that
+occupant lives a solitary life. Do you see any evidences of the
+activities that used to occupy your uncle?"
+
+"Not very much," replied Stephen. "But the place may not be quite as he
+left it. I found one or two of his books on the table and put them back
+in the shelves, but I found no manuscript or notes such as he used to
+make. I noticed, too, that his ink-slab which he used to keep so
+scrupulously clean is covered with dry smears and that the stick of ink
+is all cracked at the end, as if he had not used it for months. It seems
+to point to a great change in his habits."
+
+"What used he to do with Chinese ink?" Thorndyke asked.
+
+"He corresponded with some of his native friends in Japan, and he used
+to write in the Japanese character even if they understood English. That
+was what he chiefly used the Chinese ink for. But he also used to copy
+the inscriptions from these things." Here Stephen lifted from the
+mantelpiece what looked like a fossil Bath bun, but was actually a clay
+tablet covered with minute indented writing.
+
+"Your uncle could read the cuneiform character, then?"
+
+"Yes; he was something of an expert. These tablets are, I believe,
+leases and other legal documents from Eridu and other Babylonian cities.
+He used to copy the inscriptions in the cuneiform writing and then
+translate them into English. But I mustn't stay here any longer as I
+have an engagement for this evening. I just dropped in to get these two
+volumes--<i>Thornton's History of Babylonia</i>, which he once advised me to
+read. Shall I give you the key? You'd better have it and leave it with
+the porter as you go out."
+
+He shook hands with us and we walked out with him to the landing and
+stood watching him as he ran down the stairs. Glancing at Thorndyke by
+the light of the gas lamp on the landing, I thought I detected in his
+impassive face that almost imperceptible change of expression to which I
+have already alluded as indicating pleasure or satisfaction.
+
+"You are looking quite pleased with yourself," I remarked.
+
+"I am not displeased," he replied calmly. "Autolycus has picked up a few
+crumbs; very small ones, but still crumbs. No doubt his learned junior
+has picked up a few likewise?"
+
+I shook my head--and inwardly suspected it of being rather a thick head.
+
+"I did not perceive anything in the least degree significant in what
+Stephen was telling you," said I. "It was all very interesting, but it
+did not seem to have any bearing on his uncle's will."
+
+"I was not referring only to what Stephen has told us, although that
+was, as you say, very interesting. While he was talking I was looking
+about the room, and I have seen a very strange thing. Let me show it to
+you."
+
+He linked his arm in mine and, walking me back into the room, halted
+opposite the fire-place.
+
+"There," said he, "look at that. It is a most remarkable object."
+
+[Illustration: THE INVERTED INSCRIPTION.]
+
+I followed the direction of his gaze and saw an oblong frame enclosing a
+large photograph of an inscription in the weird and cabalistic
+arrow-head character. I looked at it in silence for some seconds and
+then, somewhat disappointed, remarked:
+
+"I don't see anything very remarkable in it, under the circumstances. In
+any ordinary room it would be, I admit; but Stephen has just told us
+that his uncle was something of an expert in cuneiform writing."
+
+"Exactly," said Thorndyke. "That is my point. That is what makes it so
+remarkable."
+
+"I don't follow you at all," said I. "That a man should hang upon his
+wall an inscription that is legible to him does not seem to me at all
+out of the way. It would be much more singular if he should hang up an
+inscription that he could <i>not</i> read."
+
+"No doubt," replied Thorndyke. "But you will agree with me that it would
+be still more singular if a man should hang upon his wall an inscription
+that he <i>could</i> read--and hang it upside down."
+
+I stared at Thorndyke in amazement.
+
+"Do you mean to tell me," I exclaimed, "that that photograph is really
+upside down?"
+
+"I do indeed," he replied.
+
+"But how do you know? Have we here yet another Oriental scholar?"
+
+Thorndyke chuckled. "Some fool," he replied, "has said that 'a little
+knowledge is a dangerous thing.' Compared with much knowledge, it may
+be; but it is a vast deal better than no knowledge. Here is a case in
+point. I have read with very keen interest the wonderful history of the
+decipherment of the cuneiform writing, and I happen to recollect one or
+two of the main facts that seemed to me to be worth remembering. This
+particular inscription is in the Persian cuneiform, a much more simple
+and open form of the script than the Babylonian or Assyrian; in fact, I
+suspect that this is the famous inscription from the gateway at
+Persepolis--the first to be deciphered; which would account for its
+presence here in a frame. Now this script consists, as you see, of two
+kinds of characters; the small, solid, acutely pointed characters which
+are known as wedges, and the larger, more obtuse characters, somewhat
+like our government broad arrows, and called arrow-heads. The names are
+rather unfortunate, as both forms are wedge-like and both resemble
+arrow-heads. The script reads from left to right, like our own writing,
+and unlike that of the Semitic peoples and the primitive Greeks; and the
+rule for the placing of the characters is that all the 'wedges' point to
+the right or downwards and the arrow-head forms are open towards the
+right. But if you look at this photograph you will see that all the
+wedges point upwards to the left and that the arrow-head characters are
+open towards the left. Obviously the photograph is upside down."
+
+"But," I exclaimed, "this is really most mysterious. What do you suppose
+can be the explanation?"
+
+"I think," replied Thorndyke, "that we may perhaps get a suggestion from
+the back of the frame. Let us see."
+
+He disengaged the frame from the two nails on which it hung, and,
+turning it round, glanced at the back; which he then presented for my
+inspection. A label on the backing paper bore the words, "J. Budge,
+Frame-maker and Gilder, 16, Gt. Anne Street, W.C."
+
+"Well?" I said, when I had read the label without gathering from it
+anything fresh.
+
+"The label, you observe, is the right way up as it hangs on the wall."
+
+"So it is," I rejoined hastily, a little annoyed that I had not been
+quicker to observe so obvious a fact. "I see your point. You mean that
+the frame-maker hung the thing upside down and Jeffrey never noticed the
+mistake?"
+
+"That is a perfectly sound explanation," said Thorndyke. "But I think
+there is something more. You will notice that the label is an old one;
+it must have been on some years, to judge by its dingy appearance,
+whereas the two mirror-plates look to me comparatively new. But we can
+soon put that matter to the test, for the label was evidently stuck on
+when the frame was new, and if the plates were screwed on at the same
+time, the wood that they cover will be clean and new-looking."
+
+He drew from his pocket a "combination" knife containing, among other
+implements, a screw-driver, with which he carefully extracted the screws
+from one of the little brass plates by which the frame had been
+suspended from the nails.
+
+"You see," he said, when he had removed the plate and carried the
+photograph over to the gasjet, "the wood covered by the plate is as
+dirty and time-stained as the rest of the frame. The plates have been
+put on recently."
+
+"And what are we to infer from that?"
+
+"Well, since there are no other marks of plates or rings upon the
+frame, we may safely infer that the photograph was never hung up until
+it came to these rooms."
+
+"Yes, I suppose we may. But what then? What inference does that lead
+to?"
+
+Thorndyke reflected for a few moments and I continued:
+
+"It is evident that this photograph suggests more to you than it does to
+me. I should like to hear your exposition of its bearing on the case, if
+it has any."
+
+"Whether or no it has any real bearing on the case," Thorndyke answered,
+"it is impossible for me to say at this stage. I told you that I had
+proposed to myself one or two hypotheses to account for and explain
+Jeffrey Blackmore's will, and I may say that the curious misplacement of
+this photograph fits more than one of them. I won't say more than that,
+because I think it would be profitable to you to work at this case
+independently. You have all the facts that I have and you shall have a
+copy of my notes of Marchmont's statement of the case. With this
+material you ought to be able to reach some conclusion. Of course
+neither of us may be able to make anything of the case--it doesn't look
+very hopeful at present--but whatever happens, we can compare notes
+after the event and you will be the richer by so much experience of
+actual investigation. But I will start you off with one hint, which is
+this: that neither you nor Marchmont seem to appreciate in the least the
+very extraordinary nature of the facts that he communicated to us."
+
+"I thought Marchmont seemed pretty much alive to the fact that it was a
+very queer will."
+
+"So he did," agreed Thorndyke. "But that is not quite what I mean. The
+whole set of circumstances, taken together and in relation to one
+another, impressed me as most remarkable; and that is why I am giving so
+much attention to what looks at first sight like such a very unpromising
+case. Copy out my notes, Jervis, and examine the facts critically. I
+think you will see what I mean. And now let us proceed."
+
+He replaced the brass plate and having reinserted the screws, hung up
+the frame, and proceeded to browse slowly round the room, stopping now
+and again to inspect the Japanese colour-prints and framed photographs
+of buildings and other objects of archaeological interest that formed
+the only attempts at wall-decoration. To one of the former he drew my
+attention.
+
+"These things are of some value," he remarked. "Here is one by
+Utamaro--that little circle with the mark over it is his signature--and
+you notice that the paper is becoming spotted in places with mildew. The
+fact is worth noting in more than one connection."
+
+I accordingly made a mental note and the perambulation continued.
+
+"You observe that Jeffrey used a gas-stove, instead of a coal fire, no
+doubt to economize work, but perhaps for other reasons. Presumably he
+cooked by gas, too; let us see."
+
+We wandered into the little cupboard-like kitchen and glanced round. A
+ring-burner on a shelf, a kettle, a frying-pan and a few pieces of
+crockery were its sole appointments. Apparently the porter was correct
+in his statement as to Jeffrey's habits.
+
+Returning to the sitting-room, Thorndyke resumed his inspection, pulling
+out the table drawers, peering inquisitively into cupboards and
+bestowing a passing glance on each of the comparatively few objects that
+the comfortless room contained.
+
+"I have never seen a more characterless apartment," was his final
+comment. "There is nothing that seems to suggest any kind of habitual
+activity on the part of the occupant. Let us look at the bedroom."
+
+We passed through into the chamber of tragic memories, and, when
+Thorndyke had lit the gas, we stood awhile looking about us in silence.
+It was a bare, comfortless room, dirty, neglected and squalid. The bed
+appeared not to have been remade since the catastrophe, for an
+indentation still marked the place where the corpse had lain, and even a
+slight powdering of ash could still be seen on the shabby counterpane.
+It looked to me a typical opium-smoker's bedroom.
+
+"Well," Thorndyke remarked at length, "there is character enough
+here--of a kind. Jeffrey Blackmore would seem to have been a man of few
+needs. One could hardly imagine a bedroom in which less attention seemed
+to have been given to the comfort of the occupant."
+
+He looked about him keenly and continued: "The syringe and the rest of
+the lethal appliances and material have been taken away, I see.
+Probably the analyst did not return them. But there are the opium-pipe
+and the jar and the ash-bowl, and I presume those are the clothes that
+the undertakers removed from the body. Shall we look them over?"
+
+He took up the clothes which lay, roughly folded, on a chair and held
+them up, garment by garment.
+
+"These are evidently the trousers," he remarked, spreading them out on
+the bed. "Here is a little white spot on the middle of the thigh which
+looks like a patch of small crystals from a drop of the solution. Just
+light the lamp, Jervis, and let us examine it with a lens."
+
+I lit the lamp, and when we had examined the spot minutely and
+identified it as a mass of minute crystals, Thorndyke asked:
+
+"What do you make of those creases? You see there is one on each leg."
+
+"It looks as if the trousers had been turned up. But if they have been
+they must have been turned up about seven inches. Poor Jeffrey couldn't
+have had much regard for appearances, for they would have been right
+above his socks. But perhaps the creases were made in undressing the
+body."
+
+"That is possible," said Thorndyke: "though I don't quite see how it
+would have happened. I notice that his pockets seem to have been
+emptied--no, wait; here is something in the waistcoat pocket."
+
+He drew out a shabby, pigskin card-case and a stump of lead pencil, at
+which latter he looked with what seemed to me much more interest than
+was deserved by so commonplace an object.
+
+"The cards, you observe," said he, "are printed from type, not from a
+plate. I would note that fact. And tell me what you make of that."
+
+He handed me the pencil, which I examined with concentrated attention,
+helping myself even with the lamp and my pocket lens. But even with
+these aids I failed to discover anything unusual in its appearance.
+Thorndyke watched me with a mischievous smile, and, when I had finished,
+inquired:
+
+"Well; what is it?"
+
+"Confound you!" I exclaimed. "It's a pencil. Any fool can see that, and
+this particular fool can't see any more. It's a wretched stump of a
+pencil, villainously cut to an abominably bad point. It is coloured dark
+red on the outside and was stamped with some name that began with
+C--O--Co-operative Stores, perhaps."
+
+"Now, my dear Jervis," Thorndyke protested, "don't begin by confusing
+speculation with fact. The letters which remain are C--O. Note that fact
+and find out what pencils there are which have inscriptions beginning
+with those letters. I am not going to help you, because you can easily
+do this for yourself. And it will be good discipline even if the fact
+turns out to mean nothing."
+
+At this moment he stepped back suddenly, and, looking down at the floor,
+said:
+
+"Give me the lamp, Jervis, I've trodden on something that felt like
+glass."
+
+I brought the lamp to the place where he had been standing, close by
+the bed, and we both knelt on the floor, throwing the light of the lamp
+on the bare and dusty boards. Under the bed, just within reach of the
+foot of a person standing close by, was a little patch of fragments of
+glass. Thorndyke produced a piece of paper from his pocket and
+delicately swept the little fragments on to it, remarking:
+
+"By the look of things, I am not the first person who has trodden on
+that object, whatever it is. Do you mind holding the lamp while I
+inspect the remains?"
+
+I took the lamp and held it over the paper while he examined the little
+heap of glass through his lens.
+
+"Well," I asked. "What have you found?"
+
+"That is what I am asking myself," he replied. "As far as I can judge by
+the appearance of these fragments, they appear to be portions of a small
+watch-glass. I wish there were some larger pieces."
+
+"Perhaps there are," said I. "Let us look about the floor under the
+bed."
+
+We resumed our groping about the dirty floor, throwing the light of the
+lamp on one spot after another. Presently, as we moved the lamp about,
+its light fell on a small glass bead, which I instantly picked up and
+exhibited to Thorndyke.
+
+"Is this of any interest to you?" I asked.
+
+Thorndyke took the bead and examined it curiously.
+
+"It is certainly," he said, "a very odd thing to find in the bedroom of
+an old bachelor like Jeffrey, especially as we know that he employed no
+woman to look after his rooms. Of course, it may be a relic of the last
+tenant. Let us see if there are any more."
+
+We renewed our search, crawling under the bed and throwing the light of
+the lamp in all directions over the floor. The result was the discovery
+of three more beads, one entire bugle and the crushed remains of
+another, which had apparently been trodden on. All of these, including
+the fragments of the bugle that had been crushed, Thorndyke placed
+carefully on the paper, which he laid on the dressing-table the more
+conveniently to examine our find.
+
+"I am sorry," said he, "that there are no more fragments of the
+watch-glass, or whatever it was. The broken pieces were evidently picked
+up, with the exception of the one that I trod on, which was an isolated
+fragment that had been overlooked. As to the beads, judging by their
+number and the position in which we found some of them--that crushed
+bugle, for instance--they must have been dropped during Jeffrey's
+tenancy and probably quite recently."
+
+"What sort of garment do you suppose they came from?" I asked.
+
+"They may have been part of a beaded veil or the trimming of a dress,
+but the grouping rather suggests to me a tag of bead fringe. The colour
+is rather unusual."
+
+"I thought they looked like black beads."
+
+"So they do by this light, but I think that by daylight we shall find
+them to be a dark, reddish-brown. You can see the colour now if you look
+at the smaller fragments of the one that is crushed."
+
+He handed me his lens, and, when I had verified his statement, he
+produced from his pocket a small tin box with a closely-fitting lid in
+which he deposited the paper, having first folded it up into a small
+parcel.
+
+"We will put the pencil in too," said he; and, as he returned the box to
+his pocket he added: "you had better get one of these little boxes from
+Polton. It is often useful to have a safe receptacle for small and
+fragile articles."
+
+He folded up and replaced the dead man's clothes as we had found them.
+Then, observing a pair of shoes standing by the wall, he picked them up
+and looked them over thoughtfully, paying special attention to the backs
+of the soles and the fronts of the heels.
+
+"I suppose we may take it," said he, "that these are the shoes that poor
+Jeffrey wore on the night of his death. At any rate there seem to be no
+others. He seems to have been a fairly clean walker. The streets were
+shockingly dirty that day, as I remember most distinctly. Do you see any
+slippers? I haven't noticed any."
+
+He opened and peeped into a cupboard in which an overcoat surmounted by
+a felt hat hung from a peg like an attenuated suicide; he looked in all
+the corners and into the sitting-room, but no slippers were to be seen.
+
+"Our friend seems to have had surprisingly little regard for comfort,"
+Thorndyke remarked. "Think of spending the winter evenings in damp boots
+by a gas fire!"
+
+"Perhaps the opium-pipe compensated," said I; "or he may have gone to
+bed early."
+
+"But he did not. The night porter used to see the light in his rooms at
+one o'clock in the morning. In the sitting-room, too, you remember. But
+he seems to have been in the habit of reading in bed--or perhaps
+smoking--for here is a candlestick with the remains of a whole dynasty
+of candles in it. As there is gas in the room, he couldn't have wanted
+the candle to undress by. He used stearine candles, too; not the common
+paraffin variety. I wonder why he went to that expense."
+
+"Perhaps the smell of the paraffin candle spoiled the aroma of the
+opium," I suggested; to which Thorndyke made no reply but continued his
+inspection of the room, pulling out the drawer of the washstand--which
+contained a single, worn-out nail-brush--and even picking up and
+examining the dry and cracked cake of soap in the dish.
+
+"He seems to have had a fair amount of clothing," said Thorndyke, who
+was now going through the chest of drawers, "though, by the look of it,
+he didn't change very often, and the shirts have a rather yellow and
+faded appearance. I wonder how he managed about his washing. Why, here
+are a couple of pairs of boots in the drawer with his clothes! And here
+is his stock of candles. Quite a large box--though nearly empty now--of
+stearine candles, six to the pound."
+
+He closed the drawer and cast another inquiring look round the room.
+
+"I think we have seen all now, Jervis," he said, "unless there is
+anything more that you would like to look into?"
+
+"No," I replied. "I have seen all that I wanted to see and more than I
+am able to attach any meaning to. So we may as well go."
+
+I blew out the lamp and put it in my overcoat pocket, and, when we had
+turned out the gas in both rooms, we took our departure.
+
+As we approached the lodge, we found our stout friend in the act of
+retiring in favour of the night porter. Thorndyke handed him the key of
+the chambers, and, after a few sympathetic inquiries, about his
+health--which was obviously very indifferent--said:
+
+"Let me see; you were one of the witnesses to Mr. Blackmore's will, I
+think?"
+
+"I was, sir," replied the porter.
+
+"And I believe you read the document through before you witnessed the
+signature?"
+
+"I did, sir."
+
+"Did you read it aloud?"
+
+"Aloud, sir! Lor' bless you, no, sir! Why should I? The other witness
+read it, and, of course, Mr. Blackmore knew what was in it, seeing that
+it was in his own handwriting. What should I want to read it aloud for?"
+
+"No, of course you wouldn't want to. By the way, I have been wondering
+how Mr. Blackmore managed about his washing."
+
+The porter evidently regarded this question with some disfavour, for he
+replied only with an interrogative grunt. It was, in fact, rather an odd
+question.
+
+"Did you get it done for him," Thorndyke pursued.
+
+"No, certainly not, sir. He got it done for himself. The laundry people
+used to deliver the basket here at the lodge, and Mr. Blackmore used to
+take it in with him when he happened to be passing."
+
+"It was not delivered at his chambers, then?"
+
+"No, sir. Mr. Blackmore was a very studious gentleman and he didn't like
+to be disturbed. A studious gentleman would naturally not like to be
+disturbed."
+
+Thorndyke cordially agreed with these very proper sentiments and finally
+wished the porter "good night." We passed out through the gateway into
+Wych Street, and, turning our faces eastward towards the Temple, set
+forth in silence, each thinking his own thoughts. What Thorndyke's were
+I cannot tell, though I have no doubt that he was busily engaged in
+piecing together all that he had seen and heard and considering its
+possible application to the case in hand.
+
+As to me, my mind was in a whirl of confusion. All this searching and
+examining seemed to be the mere flogging of a dead horse. The will was
+obviously a perfectly valid and regular will and there was an end of the
+matter. At least, so it seemed to me. But clearly that was not
+Thorndyke's view. His investigations were certainly not purposeless;
+and, as I walked by his side trying to conceive some purpose in his
+actions, I only became more and more mystified as I recalled them one
+by one, and perhaps most of all by the cryptic questions that I had just
+heard him address to the equally mystified porter.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter VIII
+
+The Track Chart
+
+
+As Thorndyke and I arrived at the main gateway of the Temple and he
+swung round into the narrow lane, it was suddenly borne in on me that I
+had made no arrangements for the night. Events had followed one another
+so continuously and each had been so engrossing that I had lost sight of
+what I may call my domestic affairs.
+
+"We seem to be heading for your chambers, Thorndyke," I ventured to
+remark. "It is a little late to think of it, but I have not yet settled
+where I am to put up to-night."
+
+"My dear fellow," he replied, "you are going to put up in your own
+bedroom which has been waiting in readiness for you ever since you left
+it. Polton went up and inspected it as soon as you arrived. I take it
+that you will consider my chambers yours until such time as you may join
+the benedictine majority and set up a home for yourself."
+
+"That is very handsome of you," said I. "You didn't mention that the
+billet you offered was a resident appointment."
+
+"Rooms and commons included," said Thorndyke; and when I protested that
+I should at least contribute to the costs of living he impatiently
+waved the suggestion away. We were still arguing the question when we
+reached our chambers--as I will now call them--and a diversion was
+occasioned by my taking the lamp from my pocket and placing it on the
+table.
+
+"Ah," my colleague remarked, "that is a little reminder. We will put it
+on the mantelpiece for Polton to collect and you shall give me a full
+account of your further adventures in the wilds of Kennington. That was
+a very odd affair. I have often wondered how it ended."
+
+He drew our two arm-chairs up to the fire, put on some more coal, placed
+the tobacco jar on the table exactly equidistant from the two chairs,
+and settled himself with the air of a man who is anticipating an
+agreeable entertainment.
+
+I filled my pipe, and, taking up the thread of the story where I had
+broken off on the last occasion, began to outline my later experiences.
+But he brought me up short.
+
+"Don't be sketchy, Jervis. To be sketchy is to be vague. Detail, my
+child, detail is the soul of induction. Let us have all the facts. We
+can sort them out afterwards."
+
+I began afresh in a vein of the extremest circumstantiality. With
+deliberate malice I loaded a prolix narrative with every triviality that
+a fairly retentive memory could rake out of the half-forgotten past. I
+cudgelled my brains for irrelevant incidents. I described with the
+minutest accuracy things that had not the faintest significance. I drew
+a vivid picture of the carriage inside and out; I painted a lifelike
+portrait of the horse, even going into particulars of the harness--which
+I was surprised to find that I had noticed. I described the furniture of
+the dining-room and the cobwebs that had hung from the ceiling; the
+auction-ticket on the chest of drawers, the rickety table and the
+melancholy chairs. I gave the number per minute of the patient's
+respirations and the exact quantity of coffee consumed on each occasion,
+with an exhaustive description of the cup from which it was taken; and I
+left no personal details unconsidered, from the patient's finger-nails
+to the roseate pimples on Mr. Weiss's nose.
+
+But my tactics of studied prolixity were a complete failure. The attempt
+to fatigue Thorndyke's brain with superabundant detail was like trying
+to surfeit a pelican with whitebait. He consumed it all with calm
+enjoyment and asked for more; and when, at last, I did really begin to
+think that I had bored him a little, he staggered me by reading over his
+notes and starting a brisk cross-examination to elicit fresh facts! And
+the most surprising thing of all was that when I had finished I seemed
+to know a great deal more about the case than I had ever known before.
+
+"It was a very remarkable affair," he observed, when the
+cross-examination was over--leaving me somewhat in the condition of a
+cider-apple that has just been removed from a hydraulic press--"a very
+suspicious affair with a highly unsatisfactory end. I am not sure that I
+entirely agree with your police officer. Nor do I fancy that some of my
+acquaintances at Scotland Yard would have agreed with him."
+
+"Do you think I ought to have taken any further measures?" I asked
+uneasily.
+
+"No; I don't see how you could. You did all that was possible under the
+circumstances. You gave information, which is all that a private
+individual can do, especially if he is an overworked general
+practitioner. But still, an actual crime is the affair of every good
+citizen. I think we ought to take some action."
+
+"You think there really was a crime, then?"
+
+"What else can one think? What do you think about it yourself?"
+
+"I don't like to think about it at all. The recollection of that
+corpse-like figure in that gloomy bedroom has haunted me ever since I
+left the house. What do you suppose has happened?"
+
+Thorndyke did not answer for a few seconds. At length he said gravely:
+
+"I am afraid, Jervis, that the answer to that question can be given in
+one word."
+
+"Murder?" I asked with a slight shudder.
+
+He nodded, and we were both silent for a while.
+
+"The probability," he resumed after a pause, "that Mr. Graves is alive
+at this moment seems to me infinitesimal. There was evidently a
+conspiracy to murder him, and the deliberate, persistent manner in which
+that object was being pursued points to a very strong and definite
+motive. Then the tactics adopted point to considerable forethought and
+judgment. They are not the tactics of a fool or an ignoramus. We may
+criticize the closed carriage as a tactical mistake, calculated to
+arouse suspicion, but we have to weigh it against its alternative."
+
+"What is that?"
+
+"Well, consider the circumstances. Suppose Weiss had called you in in
+the ordinary way. You would still have detected the use of poison. But
+now you could have located your man and made inquiries about him in the
+neighbourhood. You would probably have given the police a hint and they
+would almost certainly have taken action, as they would have had the
+means of identifying the parties. The result would have been fatal to
+Weiss. The closed carriage invited suspicion, but it was a great
+safeguard. Weiss's method's were not so unsound after all. He is a
+cautious man, but cunning and very persistent. And he could be bold on
+occasion. The use of the blinded carriage was a decidedly audacious
+proceeding. I should put him down as a gambler of a very discreet,
+courageous and resourceful type."
+
+"Which all leads to the probability that he has pursued his scheme and
+brought it to a successful issue."
+
+"I am afraid it does. But--have you got your notes of the
+compass-bearings?"
+
+"The book is in my overcoat pocket with the board. I will fetch them."
+
+I went into the office, where our coats hung, and brought back the
+notebook with the little board to which it was still attached by the
+rubber band. Thorndyke took them from me, and, opening the book, ran
+his eye quickly down one page after another. Suddenly he glanced at the
+clock.
+
+"It is a little late to begin," said he, "but these notes look rather
+alluring. I am inclined to plot them out at once. I fancy, from their
+appearance, that they will enable us to locate the house without much
+difficulty. But don't let me keep you up if you are tired. I can work
+them out by myself."
+
+"You won't do anything of the kind," I exclaimed. "I am as keen on
+plotting them as you are, and, besides, I want to see how it is done. It
+seems to be a rather useful accomplishment."
+
+"It is," said Thorndyke. "In our work, the ability to make a rough but
+reliable sketch survey is often of great value. Have you ever looked
+over these notes?"
+
+"No. I put the book away when I came in and have never looked at it
+since."
+
+"It is a quaint document. You seem to be rich in railway bridges in
+those parts, and the route was certainly none of the most direct, as you
+noticed at the time. However, we will plot it out and then we shall see
+exactly what it looks like and whither it leads us."
+
+He retired to the laboratory and presently returned with a T-square, a
+military protractor, a pair of dividers and a large drawing-board on
+which was pinned a sheet of cartridge paper.
+
+"Now," said he, seating himself at the table with the board before him,
+"as to the method. You started from a known position and you arrived at
+a place the position of which is at present unknown. We shall fix the
+position of that spot by applying two factors, the distance that you
+travelled and the direction in which you were moving. The direction is
+given by the compass; and, as the horse seems to have kept up a
+remarkably even pace, we can take time as representing distance. You
+seem to have been travelling at about eight miles an hour, that is,
+roughly, a seventh of a mile in one minute. So if, on our chart, we take
+one inch as representing one minute, we shall be working with a scale of
+about seven inches to the mile."
+
+"That doesn't sound very exact as to distance," I objected.
+
+"It isn't. But that doesn't matter much. We have certain landmarks, such
+as these railway arches that you have noted, by which the actual
+distance can be settled after the route is plotted. You had better read
+out the entries, and, opposite each, write a number for reference, so
+that we need not confuse the chart by writing details on it. I shall
+start near the middle of the board, as neither you nor I seem to have
+the slightest notion what your general direction was."
+
+I laid the open notebook before me and read out the first entry:
+
+"'Eight fifty-eight. West by South. Start from home. Horse thirteen
+hands.'"
+
+"You turned round at once, I understand," said Thorndyke, "so we draw no
+line in that direction. The next is--?"
+
+"'Eight fifty-eight minutes, thirty seconds, East by North'; and the
+next is 'Eight fifty-nine, North-east.'"
+
+"Then you travelled east by north about a fifteenth of a mile and we
+shall put down half an inch on the chart. Then you turned north-east.
+How long did you go on?"
+
+"Exactly a minute. The next entry is 'Nine. West north-west.'"
+
+"Then you travelled about the seventh of a mile in a north-easterly
+direction and we draw a line an inch long at an angle of forty-five
+degrees to the right of the north and south line. From the end of that
+we carry a line at an angle of fifty-six and a quarter degrees to the
+left of the north and south line, and so on. The method is perfectly
+simple, you see."
+
+"Perfectly; I quite understand it now."
+
+I went back to my chair and continued to read out the entries from the
+notebook while Thorndyke laid off the lines of direction with the
+protractor, taking out the distances with the dividers from a scale of
+equal parts on the back of the instrument. As the work proceeded, I
+noticed, from time to time, a smile of quiet amusement spread over my
+colleague's keen, attentive face, and at each new reference to a railway
+bridge he chuckled softly.
+
+"What, again!" he laughed, as I recorded the passage of the fifth or
+sixth bridge. "It's like a game of croquet. Go on. What is the next?"
+
+I went on reading out the notes until I came to the final one:
+
+"'Nine twenty-four. South-east. In covered way. Stop. Wooden gates
+closed.'"
+
+Thorndyke ruled off the last line, remarking: "Then your covered way is
+on the south side of a street which bears north-east. So we complete our
+chart. Just look at your route, Jervis."
+
+He held up the board with a quizzical smile and I stared in astonishment
+at the chart. The single line, which represented the route of the
+carriage, zigzagged in the most amazing manner, turning, re-turning and
+crossing itself repeatedly, evidently passing more than once down the
+same thoroughfares and terminating at a comparatively short distance
+from its commencement.
+
+"Why!" I exclaimed, the "rascal must have lived quite near to
+Stillbury's house!"
+
+Thorndyke measured with the dividers the distance between the starting
+and arriving points of the route and took it off from the scale.
+
+"Five-eighths of a mile, roughly," he said. "You could have walked it in
+less than ten minutes. And now let us get out the ordnance map and see
+if we can give to each of those marvellously erratic lines 'a local
+habitation and a name.'"
+
+He spread the map out on the table and placed our chart by its side.
+
+"I think," said he, "you started from Lower Kennington Lane?"
+
+"Yes, from this point," I replied, indicating the spot with a pencil.
+
+"Then," said Thorndyke, "if we swing the chart round twenty degrees to
+correct the deviation of the compass, we can compare it with the
+ordnance map."
+
+He set off with the protractor an angle of twenty degrees from the
+north and south line and turned the chart round to that extent. After
+closely scrutinizing the map and the chart and comparing the one with
+the other, he said:
+
+"By mere inspection it seems fairly easy to identify the thoroughfares
+that correspond to the lines of the chart. Take the part that is near
+your destination. At nine twenty-one you passed under a bridge, going
+westward. That would seem to be Glasshouse Street. Then you turned
+south, apparently along the Albert Embankment, where you heard the tug's
+whistle. Then you heard a passenger train start on your left; that would
+be Vauxhall Station. Next you turned round due east and passed under a
+large railway bridge, which suggests the bridge that carries the Station
+over Upper Kennington Lane. If that is so, your house should be on the
+south side of Upper Kennington Lane, some three hundred yards from the
+bridge. But we may as well test our inferences by one or two
+measurements."
+
+"How can you do that if you don't know the exact scale of the chart?"
+
+"I will show you," said Thorndyke. "We shall establish the true scale
+and that will form part of the proof."
+
+He rapidly constructed on the upper blank part of the paper, a
+proportional diagram consisting of two intersecting lines with a single
+cross-line.
+
+"This long line," he explained, "is the distance from Stillbury's house
+to the Vauxhall railway bridge as it appears on the chart; the shorter
+cross-line is the same distance taken from the ordnance map. If our
+inference is correct and the chart is reasonably accurate, all the other
+distances will show a similar proportion. Let us try some of them. Take
+the distance from Vauxhall bridge to the Glasshouse Street bridge."
+
+[Illustration: The Track Chart, showing the route followed by Weiss's
+carriage.
+
+A.--Starting-point in Lower Kennington Lane.
+
+B.--Position of Mr. Weiss's house. The dotted lines connecting the
+bridges indicate probable railway lines.]
+
+He made the two measurements carefully, and, as the point of the
+dividers came down almost precisely in the correct place on the diagram,
+he looked up at me.
+
+"Considering the roughness of the method by which the chart was made, I
+think that is pretty conclusive, though, if you look at the various
+arches that you passed under and see how nearly they appear to follow
+the position of the South-Western Railway line, you hardly need further
+proof. But I will take a few more proportional measurements for the
+satisfaction of proving the case by scientific methods before we proceed
+to verify our conclusions by a visit to the spot."
+
+He took off one or two more distances, and on comparing them with the
+proportional distances on the ordnance map, found them in every case as
+nearly correct as could be expected.
+
+"Yes," said Thorndyke, laying down the dividers, "I think we have
+narrowed down the locality of Mr. Weiss's house to a few yards in a
+known street. We shall get further help from your note of nine
+twenty-three thirty, which records a patch of newly laid macadam
+extending up to the house."
+
+"That new macadam will be pretty well smoothed down by now," I objected.
+
+"Not so very completely," answered Thorndyke. "It is only a little over
+a month ago, and there has been very little wet weather since. It may be
+smooth, but it will be easily distinguishable from the old."
+
+"And do I understand that you propose to go and explore the
+neighbourhood?"
+
+"Undoubtedly I do. That is to say, I intend to convert the locality of
+this house into a definite address; which, I think, will now be
+perfectly easy, unless we should have the bad luck to find more than one
+covered way. Even then, the difficulty would be trifling."
+
+"And when you have ascertained where Mr. Weiss lives? What then?"
+
+"That will depend on circumstances. I think we shall probably call at
+Scotland Yard and have a little talk with our friend Mr. Superintendent
+Miller; unless, for any reason, it seems better to look into the case
+ourselves."
+
+"When is this voyage of exploration to take place?"
+
+Thorndyke considered this question, and, taking out his pocket-book,
+glanced through his engagements.
+
+"It seems to me," he said, "that to-morrow is a fairly free day. We
+could take the morning without neglecting other business. I suggest that
+we start immediately after breakfast. How will that suit my learned
+friend?"
+
+"My time is yours," I replied; "and if you choose to waste it on matters
+that don't concern you, that's your affair."
+
+"Then we will consider the arrangement to stand for to-morrow morning,
+or rather, for this morning, as I see that it is past twelve."
+
+With this Thorndyke gathered up the chart and instruments and we
+separated for the night.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter IX
+
+The House of Mystery
+
+
+Half-past nine on the following morning found us spinning along the
+Albert Embankment in a hansom to the pleasant tinkle of the horse's
+bell. Thorndyke appeared to be in high spirits, though the full
+enjoyment of the matutinal pipe precluded fluent conversation. As a
+precaution, he had put my notebook in his pocket before starting, and
+once or twice he took it out and looked over its pages; but he made no
+reference to the object of our quest, and the few remarks that he
+uttered would have indicated that his thoughts were occupied with other
+matters.
+
+Arrived at Vauxhall Station, we alighted and forthwith made our way to
+the bridge that spans Upper Kennington Lane near its junction with
+Harleyford Road.
+
+"Here is our starting point," said Thorndyke. "From this place to the
+house is about three hundred yards--say four hundred and twenty
+paces--and at about two hundred paces we ought to reach our patch of new
+road-metal. Now, are you ready? If we keep step we shall average our
+stride."
+
+We started together at a good pace, stepping out with military
+regularity and counting aloud as we went. As we told out the hundred and
+ninety-fourth pace I observed Thorndyke nod towards the roadway a little
+ahead, and, looking at it attentively as we approached, it was easy to
+see by the regularity of surface and lighter colour, that it had
+recently been re-metalled.
+
+Having counted out the four hundred and twenty paces, we halted, and
+Thorndyke turned to me with a smile of triumph.
+
+"Not a bad estimate, Jervis," said he. "That will be your house if I am
+not much mistaken. There is no other mews or private roadway in sight."
+
+He pointed to a narrow turning some dozen yards ahead, apparently the
+entrance to a mews or yard and closed by a pair of massive wooden gates.
+
+"Yes," I answered, "there can be no doubt that this is the place; but,
+by Jove!" I added, as we drew nearer, "the nest is empty! Do you see?"
+
+I pointed to a bill that was stuck on the gate, bearing, as I could see
+at this distance, the inscription "To Let."
+
+"Here is a new and startling, if not altogether unexpected,
+development," said Thorndyke, as we stood gazing at the bill; which set
+forth that "these premises, including stabling and workshops," were "to
+be let on lease or otherwise," and referred inquiries to Messrs. Ryebody
+Brothers, house-agents and valuers, Upper Kennington Lane. "The question
+is, should we make a few inquiries of the agent, or should we get the
+keys and have a look at the inside of the house? I am inclined to do
+both, and the latter first, if Messrs. Ryebody Brothers will trust us
+with the keys."
+
+We proceeded up the lane to the address given, and, entering the
+office, Thorndyke made his request--somewhat to the surprise of the
+clerk; for Thorndyke was not quite the kind of person whom one naturally
+associates with stabling and workshops. However, there was no
+difficulty, but as the clerk sorted out the keys from a bunch hanging
+from a hook, he remarked:
+
+"I expect you will find the place in a rather dirty and neglected
+condition. The house has not been cleaned yet; it is just as it was left
+when the brokers took away the furniture."
+
+"Was the last tenant sold up, then?" Thorndyke asked.
+
+"Oh, no. He had to leave rather unexpectedly to take up some business in
+Germany."
+
+"I hope he paid his rent," said Thorndyke.
+
+"Oh, yes. Trust us for that. But I should say that Mr. Weiss--that was
+his name--was a man of some means. He seemed to have plenty of money,
+though he always paid in notes. I don't fancy he had a banking account
+in this country. He hadn't been here more than about six or seven months
+and I imagine he didn't know many people in England, as he paid us a
+cash deposit in lieu of references when he first came."
+
+"I think you said his name was Weiss. It wouldn't be H. Weiss by any
+chance?"
+
+"I believe it was. But I can soon tell you." He opened a drawer and
+consulted what looked like a book of receipt forms. "Yes; H Weiss. Do
+you know him, sir?"
+
+"I knew a Mr. H. Weiss some years ago. He came from Bremen, I
+remember."
+
+"This Mr. Weiss has gone back to Hamburg," the clerk observed.
+
+"Ah," said Thorndyke, "then it would seem not to be the same. My
+acquaintance was a fair man with a beard and a decidedly red nose and he
+wore spectacles."
+
+"That's the man. You've described him exactly," said the clerk, who was
+apparently rather easily satisfied in the matter of description.
+
+"Dear me," said Thorndyke; "what a small world it is. Do you happen to
+have a note of his address in Hamburg?"
+
+"I haven't," the clerk replied. "You see we've done with him, having got
+the rent, though the house is not actually surrendered yet. Mr Weiss's
+housekeeper still has the front-door key. She doesn't start for Hamburg
+for a week or so, and meanwhile she keeps the key so that she can call
+every day and see if there are any letters."
+
+"Indeed," said Thorndyke. "I wonder if he still has the same
+housekeeper."
+
+"This lady is a German," replied the clerk, "with a regular jaw-twisting
+name. Sounded like Shallybang."
+
+"Schallibaum. That is the lady. A fair woman with hardly any eyebrows
+and a pronounced cast in the left eye."
+
+"Now that's very curious, sir," said the clerk. "It's the same name, and
+this is a fair woman with remarkably thin eyebrows, I remember, now that
+you mention it. But it can't be the same person. I have only seen her a
+few times and then only just for a minute or so; but I'm quite certain
+she had no cast in her eye. So, you see, sir, she can't be the same
+person. You can dye your hair or you can wear a wig or you can paint
+your face; but a squint is a squint. There's no faking a swivel eye."
+
+Thorndyke laughed softly. "I suppose not; unless, perhaps, some one
+might invent an adjustable glass eye. Are these the keys?"
+
+"Yes, sir. The large one belongs to the wicket in the front gate. The
+other is the latch-key belonging to the side door. Mrs. Shallybang has
+the key of the front door."
+
+"Thank you," said Thorndyke. He took the keys, to which a wooden label
+was attached, and we made our way back towards the house of mystery,
+discussing the clerk's statements as we went.
+
+"A very communicable young gentleman, that," Thorndyke remarked. "He
+seemed quite pleased to relieve the monotony of office work with a
+little conversation. And I am sure I was very delighted to indulge him."
+
+"He hadn't much to tell, all the same," said I.
+
+Thorndyke looked at me in surprise. "I don't know what you would have,
+Jervis, unless you expect casual strangers to present you with a
+ready-made body of evidence, fully classified, with all the inferences
+and implications stated. It seemed to me that he was a highly
+instructive young man."
+
+"What did you learn from him?" I asked.
+
+"Oh, come, Jervis," he protested; "is that a fair question, under our
+present arrangement? However, I will mention a few points. We learn that
+about six or seven months ago, Mr. H. Weiss dropped from the clouds into
+Kennington Lane and that he has now ascended from Kennington Lane into
+the clouds. That is a useful piece of information. Then we learn that
+Mrs. Schallibaum has remained in England; which might be of little
+importance if it were not for a very interesting corollary that it
+suggests."
+
+"What is that?"
+
+"I must leave you to consider the facts at your leisure; but you will
+have noticed the ostensible reason for her remaining behind. She is
+engaged in puttying up the one gaping joint in their armour. One of them
+has been indiscreet enough to give this address to some
+correspondent--probably a foreign correspondent. Now, as they obviously
+wish to leave no tracks, they cannot give their new address to the Post
+Office to have their letters forwarded, and, on the other hand, a letter
+left in the box might establish such a connection as would enable them
+to be traced. Moreover, the letter might be of a kind that they would
+not wish to fall into the wrong hands. They would not have given this
+address excepting under some peculiar circumstances."
+
+"No, I should think not, if they took this house for the express purpose
+of committing a crime in it."
+
+"Exactly. And then there is one other fact that you may have gathered
+from our young friend's remarks."
+
+"What is that?"
+
+"That a controllable squint is a very valuable asset to a person who
+wishes to avoid identification."
+
+"Yes, I did note that. The fellow seemed to think that it was absolutely
+conclusive."
+
+"And so would most people; especially in the case of a squint of that
+kind. We can all squint towards our noses, but no normal person can turn
+his eyes away from one another. My impression is that the presence or
+absence, as the case might be, of a divergent squint would be accepted
+as absolute disproof of identity. But here we are."
+
+He inserted the key into the wicket of the large gate, and, when we had
+stepped through into the covered way, he locked it from the inside.
+
+"Why have you locked us in?" I asked, seeing that the wicket had a
+latch.
+
+"Because," he replied, "if we now hear any one on the premises we shall
+know who it is. Only one person besides ourselves has a key."
+
+His reply startled me somewhat. I stopped and looked at him.
+
+"That is a quaint situation, Thorndyke. I hadn't thought of it. Why she
+may actually come to the house while we are here; in fact, she may be in
+the house at this moment."
+
+"I hope not," said he. "We don't particularly want Mr. Weiss to be put
+on his guard, for I take it, he is a pretty wide-awake gentleman under
+any circumstances. If she does come, we had better keep out of sight. I
+think we will look over the house first. That is of the most interest to
+us. If the lady does happen to come while we are here, she may stay to
+show us over the place and keep an eye on us. So we will leave the
+stables to the last."
+
+We walked down the entry to the side door at which I had been admitted
+by Mrs. Schallibaum on the occasion of my previous visits. Thorndyke
+inserted the latch-key, and, as soon as we were inside, shut the door
+and walked quickly through into the hall, whither I followed him. He
+made straight for the front door, where, having slipped up the catch of
+the lock, he began very attentively to examine the letter-box. It was a
+somewhat massive wooden box, fitted with a lock of good quality and
+furnished with a wire grille through which one could inspect the
+interior.
+
+"We are in luck, Jervis," Thorndyke remarked. "Our visit has been most
+happily timed. There is a letter in the box."
+
+"Well," I said, "we can't get it out; and if we could, it would be
+hardly justifiable."
+
+"I don't know," he replied, "that I am prepared to assent off-hand to
+either of those propositions; but I would rather not tamper with another
+person's letter, even if that person should happen to be a murderer.
+Perhaps we can get the information we want from the outside of the
+envelope."
+
+He produced from his pocket a little electric lamp fitted with a
+bull's-eye, and, pressing the button, threw a beam of light in through
+the grille. The letter was lying on the bottom of the box face upwards,
+so that the address could easily be read.
+
+"Herrn Dr. H. Weiss," Thorndyke read aloud. "German stamp, postmark
+apparently Darmstadt. You notice that the 'Herrn Dr.' is printed and the
+rest written. What do you make of that?"
+
+"I don't quite know. Do you think he is really a medical man?"
+
+"Perhaps we had better finish our investigation, in case we are
+disturbed, and discuss the bearings of the facts afterwards. The name of
+the sender may be on the flap of the envelope. If it is not, I shall
+pick the lock and take out the letter. Have you got a probe about you?"
+
+"Yes; by force of habit I am still carrying my pocket case."
+
+I took the little case from my pocket and extracting from it a jointed
+probe of thickish silver wire, screwed the two halves together and
+handed the completed instrument to Thorndyke; who passed the slender rod
+through the grille and adroitly turned the letter over.
+
+"Ha!" he exclaimed with deep satisfaction, as the light fell on the
+reverse of the envelope, "we are saved from the necessity of theft--or
+rather, unauthorized borrowing--'Johann Schnitzler, Darmstadt.' That is
+all that we actually want. The German police can do the rest if
+necessary."
+
+He handed me back my probe, pocketed his lamp, released the catch of the
+lock on the door, and turned away along the dark, musty-smelling hall.
+
+"Do you happen to know the name of Johann Schnitzler?" he asked.
+
+I replied that I had no recollection of ever having heard the name
+before.
+
+"Neither have I," said he; "but I think we may form a pretty shrewd
+guess as to his avocation. As you saw, the words 'Herrn Dr.' were
+printed on the envelope, leaving the rest of the address to be written
+by hand. The plain inference is that he is a person who habitually
+addresses letters to medical men, and as the style of the envelope and
+the lettering--which is printed, not embossed--is commercial, we may
+assume that he is engaged in some sort of trade. Now, what is a likely
+trade?"
+
+"He might be an instrument maker or a drug manufacturer; more probably
+the latter, as there is an extensive drug and chemical industry in
+Germany, and as Mr. Weiss seemed to have more use for drugs than
+instruments."
+
+"Yes, I think you are right; but we will look him up when we get home.
+And now we had better take a glance at the bedroom; that is, if you can
+remember which room it was."
+
+"It was on the first floor," said I, "and the door by which I entered
+was just at the head of the stairs."
+
+We ascended the two flights, and, as we reached the landing, I halted.
+
+"This was the door," I said, and was about to turn the handle when
+Thorndyke caught me by the arm.
+
+"One moment, Jervis," said he. "What do you make of this?"
+
+He pointed to a spot near the bottom of the door where, on close
+inspection, four good-sized screw-holes were distinguishable. They had
+been neatly stopped with putty and covered with knotting, and were so
+nearly the colour of the grained and varnished woodwork as to be hardly
+visible.
+
+"Evidently," I answered, "there has been a bolt there, though it seems a
+queer place to fix one."
+
+"Not at all," replied Thorndyke. "If you look up you will see that there
+was another at the top of the door, and, as the lock is in the middle,
+they must have been highly effective. But there are one or two other
+points that strike one. First, you will notice that the bolts have been
+fixed on quite recently, for the paint that they covered is of the same
+grimy tint as that on the rest of the door. Next, they have been taken
+off, which, seeing that they could hardly have been worth the trouble of
+removal, seems to suggest that the person who fixed them considered that
+their presence might appear remarkable, while the screw-holes, which
+have been so skilfully and carefully stopped, would be less conspicuous.
+
+"Then, they are on the outside of the door--an unusual situation for
+bedroom bolts--and were of considerable size. They were long and thick."
+
+"I can see, by the position of the screw-holes, that they were long; but
+how do you arrive at their thickness?"
+
+"By the size of the counter-holes in the jamb of the door. These holes
+have been very carefully filled with wooden plugs covered with knotting;
+but you can make out their diameter, which is that of the bolts, and
+which is decidedly out of proportion for an ordinary bedroom door. Let
+me show you a light."
+
+He flashed his lamp into the dark corner, and I was able to see
+distinctly the portentously large holes into which the bolts had fitted,
+and also to note the remarkable neatness with which they had been
+plugged.
+
+"There was a second door, I remember," said I. "Let us see if that was
+guarded in a similar manner."
+
+We strode through the empty room, awakening dismal echoes as we trod the
+bare boards, and flung open the other door. At top and bottom, similar
+groups of screw-holes showed that this also had been made secure, and
+that these bolts had been of the same very substantial character as the
+others.
+
+Thorndyke turned away from the door with a slight frown.
+
+"If we had any doubts," said he, "as to what has been going on in this
+house, these traces of massive fastenings would be almost enough to
+settle them."
+
+"They might have been there before Weiss came," I suggested. "He only
+came about seven months ago and there is no date on the screw-holes."
+
+"That is quite true. But when, with their recent fixture, you couple the
+facts that they have been removed, that very careful measures have been
+taken to obliterate the traces of their presence, and that they would
+have been indispensable for the commission of the crime that we are
+almost certain was being committed here, it looks like an excess of
+caution to seek other explanations."
+
+"But," I objected, "if the man, Graves, was really imprisoned, could not
+he have smashed the window and called for help?"
+
+"The window looks out on the yard, as you see; but I expect it was
+secured too."
+
+He drew the massive, old-fashioned shutters out of their recess and
+closed them.
+
+"Yes, here we are." He pointed to four groups of screw-holes at the
+corners of the shutters, and, once more producing his lamp, narrowly
+examined the insides of the recesses into which the shutters folded.
+
+"The nature of the fastening is quite evident," said he. "An iron bar
+passed right across at the top and bottom and was secured by a staple
+and padlock. You can see the mark the bar made in the recess when the
+shutters were folded. When these bars were fixed and padlocked and the
+bolts were shot, this room was as secure, for a prisoner unprovided with
+tools, as a cell in Newgate."
+
+We looked at one another for awhile without speaking; and I fancy that
+if Mr. H. Weiss could have seen our faces he might have thought it
+desirable to seek some retreat even more remote than Hamburg.
+
+"It was a diabolical affair, Jervis," Thorndyke said at length, in an
+ominously quiet and even gentle tone. "A sordid, callous, cold-blooded
+crime of a type that is to me utterly unforgivable and incapable of
+extenuation. Of course, it may have failed. Mr. Graves may even now be
+alive. I shall make it my very especial business to ascertain whether he
+is or not. And if he is not, I shall take it to myself as a sacred duty
+to lay my hand on the man who has compassed his death."
+
+I looked at Thorndyke with something akin to awe. In the quiet
+unemotional tone of his voice, in his unruffled manner and the stony
+calm of his face, there was something much more impressive, more
+fateful, than there could have been in the fiercest threats or the most
+passionate denunciations. I felt that in those softly spoken words he
+had pronounced the doom of the fugitive villain.
+
+He turned away from the window and glanced round the empty room. It
+seemed that our discovery of the fastenings had exhausted the
+information that it had to offer.
+
+"It is a thousand pities," I remarked, "that we were unable to look
+round before they moved out the furniture. We might have found some clue
+to the scoundrel's identity."
+
+"Yes," replied Thorndyke; "there isn't much information to be gathered
+here, I am afraid. I see they have swept up the small litter from the
+floor and poked it under the grate. We will turn that over, as there
+seems to be nothing else, and then look at the other rooms."
+
+He raked out the little heap of rubbish with his stick and spread it out
+on the hearth. It certainly looked unpromising enough, being just such a
+rubbish heap as may be swept up in any untidy room during a move. But
+Thorndyke went through it systematically, examining each item
+attentively, even to the local tradesmen's bills and empty paper bags,
+before laying them aside. Another rake of his stick scattered the bulky
+masses of crumpled paper and brought into view an object which he picked
+up with some eagerness. It was a portion of a pair of spectacles, which
+had apparently been trodden on, for the side-bar was twisted and bent
+and the glass was shattered into fragments.
+
+"This ought to give us a hint," said he. "It will probably have belonged
+either to Weiss or Graves, as Mrs. Schallibaum apparently did not wear
+glasses. Let us see if we can find the remainder."
+
+We both groped carefully with our sticks amongst the rubbish, spreading
+it out on the hearth and removing the numerous pieces of crumpled paper.
+Our search was rewarded by the discovery of the second eye-piece of the
+spectacles, of which the glass was badly cracked but less shattered than
+the other. I also picked up two tiny sticks at which Thorndyke looked
+with deep interest before laying them on the mantelshelf.
+
+"We will consider them presently," said he. "Let us finish with the
+spectacles first. You see that the left eye-glass is a concave
+cylindrical lens of some sort. We can make out that much from the
+fragments that remain, and we can measure the curvature when we get them
+home, although that will be easier if we can collect some more fragments
+and stick them together. The right eye is plain glass; that is quite
+evident. Then these will have belonged to your patient, Jervis. You said
+that the tremulous iris was in the right eye, I think?"
+
+"Yes," I replied. "These will be his spectacles, without doubt."
+
+"They are peculiar frames," he continued. "If they were made in this
+country, we might be able to discover the maker. But we must collect as
+many fragments of glass as we can."
+
+Once more we searched amongst the rubbish and succeeded, eventually, in
+recovering some seven or eight small fragments of the broken
+spectacle-glasses, which Thorndyke laid on the mantelshelf beside the
+little sticks.
+
+"By the way, Thorndyke," I said, taking up the latter to examine them
+afresh, "what are these things? Can you make anything of them?"
+
+He looked at them thoughtfully for a few moments and then replied:
+
+"I don't think I will tell you what they are. You should find that out
+for yourself, and it will be well worth your while to do so. They are
+rather suggestive objects under the circumstances. But notice their
+peculiarities carefully. Both are portions of some smooth, stout reed.
+There is a long, thin stick--about six inches long--and a thicker piece
+only three inches in length. The longer piece has a little scrap of red
+paper stuck on at the end; apparently a portion of a label of some kind
+with an ornamental border. The other end of the stick has been broken
+off. The shorter, stouter stick has had its central cavity artificially
+enlarged so that it fits over the other to form a cap or sheath. Make a
+careful note of those facts and try to think what they probably mean;
+what would be the most likely use for an object of this kind. When you
+have ascertained that, you will have learned something new about this
+case. And now, to resume our investigations. Here is a very suggestive
+thing." He picked up a small, wide-mouthed bottle and, holding it up for
+my inspection, continued: "Observe the fly sticking to the inside, and
+the name on the label, 'Fox, Russell Street, Covent Garden.'"
+
+"I don't know Mr. Fox."
+
+"Then I will inform you that he is a dealer in the materials for
+'make-up,' theatrical or otherwise, and will leave you to consider the
+bearing of this bottle on our present investigation. There doesn't seem
+to be anything else of interest in this El Dorado excepting that screw,
+which you notice is about the size of those with which the bolts were
+fastened on the doors. I don't think it is worth while to unstop any of
+the holes to try it; we should learn nothing fresh."
+
+He rose, and, having kicked the discarded rubbish back under the grate,
+gathered up his gleanings from the mantelpiece, carefully bestowing the
+spectacles and the fragments of glass in the tin box that he appeared
+always to carry in his pocket, and wrapping the larger objects in his
+handkerchief.
+
+"A poor collection," was his comment, as he returned the box and
+handkerchief to his pocket, "and yet not so poor as I had feared.
+Perhaps, if we question them closely enough, these unconsidered trifles
+may be made to tell us something worth learning after all. Shall we go
+into the other room?"
+
+We passed out on to the landing and into the front room, where, guided
+by experience, we made straight for the fire-place. But the little heap
+of rubbish there contained nothing that even Thorndyke's inquisitive eye
+could view with interest. We wandered disconsolately round the room,
+peering into the empty cupboards and scanning the floor and the corners
+by the skirting, without discovering a single object or relic of the
+late occupants. In the course of my perambulations I halted by the
+window and was looking down into the street when Thorndyke called to me
+sharply:
+
+"Come away from the window, Jervis! Have you forgotten that Mrs.
+Schallibaum may be in the neighbourhood at this moment?"
+
+As a matter of fact I had entirely forgotten the matter, nor did it now
+strike me as anything but the remotest of possibilities. I replied to
+that effect.
+
+"I don't agree with you," Thorndyke rejoined. "We have heard that she
+comes here to look for letters. Probably she comes every day, or even
+oftener. There is a good deal at stake, remember, and they cannot feel
+quite as secure as they would wish. Weiss must have seen what view you
+took of the case and must have had some uneasy moments thinking of what
+you might do. In fact, we may take it that the fear of you drove them
+out of the neighbourhood, and that they are mighty anxious to get that
+letter and cut the last link that binds them to this house."
+
+"I suppose that is so," I agreed; "and if the lady should happen to pass
+this way and should see me at the window and recognize me, she would
+certainly smell a rat."
+
+"A rat!" exclaimed Thorndyke. "She would smell a whole pack of foxes,
+and Mr. H. Weiss would be more on his guard than ever. Let us have a
+look at the other rooms; there is nothing here."
+
+We went up to the next floor and found traces of recent occupation in
+one room only. The garrets had evidently been unused, and the kitchen
+and ground-floor rooms offered nothing that appeared to Thorndyke worth
+noting. Then we went out by the side door and down the covered way into
+the yard at the back. The workshops were fastened with rusty padlocks
+that looked as if they had not been disturbed for months. The stables
+were empty and had been tentatively cleaned out, the coach-house was
+vacant, and presented no traces of recent use excepting a half-bald
+spoke-brush. We returned up the covered way and I was about to close the
+side door, which Thorndyke had left ajar, when he stopped me.
+
+"We'll have another look at the hall before we go," said he; and,
+walking softly before me, he made his way to the front door, where,
+producing his lamp, he threw a beam of light into the letter-box.
+
+"Any more letters?" I asked.
+
+"Any more!" he repeated. "Look for yourself."
+
+I stooped and peered through the grille into the lighted interior; and
+then I uttered an exclamation.
+
+The box was empty.
+
+Thorndyke regarded me with a grim smile. "We have been caught on the
+hop, Jervis, I suspect," said he.
+
+"It is queer," I replied. "I didn't hear any sound of the opening or
+closing of the door; did you?"
+
+"No; I didn't hear any sound; which makes me suspect that she did. She
+would have heard our voices and she is probably keeping a sharp look-out
+at this very moment. I wonder if she saw you at the window. But whether
+she did or not, we must go very warily. Neither of us must return to the
+Temple direct, and we had better separate when we have returned the keys
+and I will watch you out of sight and see if anyone is following you.
+What are you going to do?"
+
+"If you don't want me, I shall run over to Kensington and drop in to
+lunch at the Hornbys'. I said I would call as soon as I had an hour or
+so free."
+
+"Very well. Do so; and keep a look-out in case you are followed. I have
+to go down to Guildford this afternoon. Under the circumstances, I shall
+not go back home, but send Polton a telegram and take a train at
+Vauxhall and change at some small station where I can watch the
+platform. Be as careful as you can. Remember that what you have to
+avoid is being followed to any place where you are known, and, above
+all, revealing your connection with number Five A, King's Bench Walk."
+
+Having thus considered our immediate movements, we emerged together from
+the wicket, and locking it behind us, walked quickly to the
+house-agents', where an opportune office-boy received the keys without
+remark. As we came out of the office, I halted irresolutely and we both
+looked up and down the lane.
+
+"There is no suspicious looking person in sight at present," Thorndyke
+said, and then asked: "Which way do you think of going?"
+
+"It seems to me," I replied, "that my best plan would be to take a cab
+or an omnibus so as to get out of the neighbourhood as quickly as
+possible. If I go through Ravensden Street into Kennington Park Road, I
+can pick up an omnibus that will take me to the Mansion House, where I
+can change for Kensington. I shall go on the top so that I can keep a
+look-out for any other omnibus or cab that may be following."
+
+"Yes," said Thorndyke, "that seems a good plan. I will walk with you and
+see that you get a fair start."
+
+We walked briskly along the lane and through Ravensden Street to the
+Kennington Park Road. An omnibus was approaching from the south at a
+steady jog-trot and we halted at the corner to wait for it. Several
+people passed us in different directions, but none seemed to take any
+particular notice of us, though we observed them rather narrowly,
+especially the women. Then the omnibus crawled up. I sprang on the
+foot-board and ascended to the roof, where I seated myself and surveyed
+the prospect to the rear. No one else got on the omnibus--which had not
+stopped--and no cab or other passenger vehicle was in sight. I continued
+to watch Thorndyke as he stood sentinel at the corner, and noted that no
+one appeared to be making any effort to overtake the omnibus. Presently
+my colleague waved his hand to me and turned back towards Vauxhall, and
+I, having satisfied myself once more that no pursuing cab or hurrying
+foot-passenger was in sight, decided that our precautions had been
+unnecessary and settled myself in a rather more comfortable position.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter X
+
+The Hunter Hunted
+
+
+The omnibus of those days was a leisurely vehicle. Its ordinary pace was
+a rather sluggish trot, and in a thickly populated thoroughfare its
+speed was further reduced by frequent stoppages. Bearing these facts in
+mind, I gave an occasional backward glance as we jogged northward,
+though my attention soon began to wander from the rather remote
+possibility of pursuit to the incidents of our late exploration.
+
+It had not been difficult to see that Thorndyke was very well pleased
+with the results of our search, but excepting the letter--which
+undoubtedly opened up a channel for further inquiry and possible
+identification--I could not perceive that any of the traces that we had
+found justified his satisfaction. There were the spectacles, for
+instance. They were almost certainly the pair worn by Mr. Graves. But
+what then? It was exceedingly improbable that we should be able to
+discover the maker of them, and if we were, it was still more improbable
+that he would be able to give us any information that would help us.
+Spectacle-makers are not usually on confidential terms with their
+customers.
+
+As to the other objects, I could make nothing of them. The little sticks
+of reed evidently had some use that was known to Thorndyke and
+furnished, by inference, some kind of information about Weiss, Graves,
+or Mrs. Schallibaum. But I had never seen anything like them before and
+they conveyed nothing whatever to me. Then the bottle that had seemed so
+significant to Thorndyke was to me quite uninforming. It did, indeed,
+suggest that some member of the household might be connected with the
+stage, but it gave no hint as to which one. Certainly that person was
+not Mr. Weiss, whose appearance was as remote from that of an actor as
+could well be imagined. At any rate, the bottle and its label gave me no
+more useful hint than it might be worth while to call on Mr. Fox and
+make inquiries; and something told me very emphatically that this was
+not what it had conveyed to Thorndyke.
+
+These reflections occupied me until the omnibus, having rumbled over
+London Bridge and up King William Street, joined the converging streams
+of traffic at the Mansion House. Here I got down and changed to an
+omnibus bound for Kensington; on which I travelled westward pleasantly
+enough, looking down into the teeming streets and whiling away the time
+by meditating upon the very agreeable afternoon that I promised myself,
+and considering how far my new arrangement with Thorndyke would justify
+me in entering into certain domestic engagements of a highly interesting
+kind.
+
+What might have happened under other circumstances it is impossible to
+tell and useless to speculate; the fact is that my journey ended in a
+disappointment. I arrived, all agog, at the familiar house in Endsley
+Gardens only to be told by a sympathetic housemaid that the family was
+out; that Mrs. Hornby had gone into the country and would not be home
+until night, and--which mattered a good deal more to me--that her niece,
+Miss Juliet Gibson, had accompanied her.
+
+Now a man who drops into lunch without announcing his intention or
+previously ascertaining those of his friends has no right to quarrel
+with fate if he finds an empty house. Thus philosophically I reflected
+as I turned away from the house in profound discontent, demanding of the
+universe in general why Mrs. Hornby need have perversely chosen my first
+free day to go gadding into the country, and above all, why she must
+needs spirit away the fair Juliet. This was the crowning misfortune (for
+I could have endured the absence of the elder lady with commendable
+fortitude), and since I could not immediately return to the Temple it
+left me a mere waif and stray for the time being.
+
+Instinct--of the kind that manifests itself especially about one
+o'clock in the afternoon--impelled me in the direction of Brompton Road,
+and finally landed me at a table in a large restaurant apparently
+adjusted to the needs of ladies who had come from a distance to engage
+in the feminine sport of shopping. Here, while waiting for my lunch, I
+sat idly scanning the morning paper and wondering what I should do with
+the rest of the day; and presently it chanced that my eye caught the
+announcement of a matinée at the theatre in Sloane Square. It was quite
+a long time since I had been at a theatre, and, as the play--light
+comedy--seemed likely to satisfy my not very critical taste, I decided
+to devote the afternoon to reviving my acquaintance with the drama.
+Accordingly as soon as my lunch was finished, I walked down the Brompton
+Road, stepped on to an omnibus, and was duly deposited at the door of
+the theatre. A couple of minutes later I found myself occupying an
+excellent seat in the second row of the pit, oblivious alike of my
+recent disappointment and of Thorndyke's words of warning.
+
+I am not an enthusiastic play-goer. To dramatic performances I am
+disposed to assign nothing further than the modest function of
+furnishing entertainment. I do not go to a theatre to be instructed or
+to have my moral outlook elevated. But, by way of compensation, I am not
+difficult to please. To a simple play, adjusted to my primitive taste, I
+can bring a certain bucolic appreciation that enables me to extract from
+the performance the maximum of enjoyment; and when, on this occasion,
+the final curtain fell and the audience rose, I rescued my hat from its
+insecure resting-place and turned to go with the feeling that I had
+spent a highly agreeable afternoon.
+
+Emerging from the theatre, borne on the outgoing stream, I presently
+found myself opposite the door of a tea-shop. Instinct--the five o'clock
+instinct this time--guided me in; for we are creatures of habit,
+especially of the tea habit. The unoccupied table to which I drifted was
+in a shady corner not very far from the pay-desk; and here I had been
+seated less than a minute when a lady passed me on her way to the
+farther table. The glimpse that I caught of her as she approached--it
+was but a glimpse, since she passed behind me--showed that she was
+dressed in black, that she wore a beaded veil and hat, and in addition
+to the glass of milk and the bun that she carried, she was encumbered by
+an umbrella and a small basket, apparently containing some kind of
+needlework. I must confess that I gave her very little attention at the
+time, being occupied in anxious speculation as to how long it would be
+before the fact of my presence would impinge on the consciousness of the
+waitress.
+
+The exact time by the clock on the wall was three minutes and a quarter,
+at the expiration of which an anaemic young woman sauntered up to the
+table and bestowed on me a glance of sullen interrogation, as if mutely
+demanding what the devil I wanted. I humbly requested that I might be
+provided with a pot of tea; whereupon she turned on her heel (which was
+a good deal worn down on the offside) and reported my conduct to a lady
+behind a marble-topped counter.
+
+It seemed that the counter lady took a lenient view of the case, for in
+less than four minutes the waitress returned and gloomily deposited on
+the table before me a tea-pot, a milk-jug, a cup and saucer, a jug of
+hot water, and a small pool of milk. Then she once more departed in
+dudgeon.
+
+I had just given the tea in the pot a preliminary stir and was about to
+pour out the first cup when I felt some one bump lightly against my
+chair and heard something rattle on the floor. I turned quickly and
+perceived the lady, whom I had seen enter, stooping just behind my
+chair. It seemed that having finished her frugal meal she was on her way
+out when she had dropped the little basket that I had noticed hanging
+from her wrist; which basket had promptly disgorged its entire contents
+on the floor.
+
+Now every one must have noticed the demon of agility that seems to enter
+into an inanimate object when it is dropped, and the apparently
+intelligent malice with which it discovers, and rolls into, the most
+inaccessible places. Here was a case in point. This particular basket
+had contained materials for Oriental bead-work; and no sooner had it
+reached the floor than each item of its contents appeared to become
+possessed of a separate and particular devil impelling it to travel at
+headlong speed to some remote and unapproachable corner as distant as
+possible from its fellows.
+
+As the only man--and almost the only person--near, the duty of
+salvage-agent manifestly devolved upon me; and down I went, accordingly,
+on my hands and knees, regardless of a nearly new pair of trousers, to
+grope under tables, chairs and settles in reach of the scattered
+treasure. A ball of the thick thread or twine I recovered from a dark
+and dirty corner after a brief interview with the sharp corner of a
+settle, and a multitude of the large beads with which this infernal
+industry is carried on I gathered from all parts of the compass, coming
+forth at length (quadrupedally) with a double handful of the
+treasure-trove and a very lively appreciation of the resistant qualities
+of a cast-iron table-stand when applied to the human cranium.
+
+The owner of the lost and found property was greatly distressed by the
+accident and the trouble it had caused me; in fact she was quite
+needlessly agitated about it. The hand which held the basket into which
+I poured the rescued trash trembled visibly, and the brief glance that I
+bestowed on her as she murmured her thanks and apologies--with a very
+slight foreign accent--showed me that she was excessively pale. That
+much I could see plainly in spite of the rather dim light in this part
+of the shop and the beaded veil that covered her face; and I could also
+see that she was a rather remarkable looking woman, with a great mass of
+harsh, black hair and very broad black eyebrows that nearly met above
+her nose and contrasted strikingly with the dead white of her skin. But,
+of course, I did not look at her intently. Having returned her property
+and received her acknowledgments, I resumed my seat and left her to go
+on her way.
+
+I had once more grasped the handle of the tea-pot when I made a rather
+curious discovery. At the bottom of the tea-cup lay a single lump of
+sugar. To the majority of persons it would have meant nothing. They
+would have assumed that they had dropped it in and forgotten it and
+would have proceeded to pour out the tea. But it happened that, at this
+time, I did not take sugar in my tea; whence it followed that the lump
+had not been put in by me. Assuming, therefore, that it had been
+carelessly dropped in by the waitress, I turned it out on the table,
+filled the cup, added the milk, and took a tentative draught to test the
+temperature.
+
+The cup was yet at my lips when I chanced to look into the mirror that
+faced my table. Of course it reflected the part of the shop that was
+behind me, including the cashier's desk; at which the owner of the
+basket now stood paying for her refreshment. Between her and me was a
+gas chandelier which cast its light on my back but full on her face; and
+her veil notwithstanding, I could see that she was looking at me
+steadily; was, in fact, watching me intently and with a very curious
+expression--an expression of expectancy mingled with alarm. But this was
+not all. As I returned her intent look--which I could do unobserved,
+since my face, reflected in the mirror, was in deep shadow--I suddenly
+perceived that that steady gaze engaged her right eye only; the other
+eye was looking sharply towards her left shoulder. In short, she had a
+divergent squint of the left eye.
+
+I put down my cup with a thrill of amazement and a sudden surging up of
+suspicion and alarm. An instant's reflection reminded me that when she
+had spoken to me a few moments before, both her eyes had looked into
+mine without the slightest trace of a squint. My thoughts flew back to
+the lump of sugar, to the unguarded milk-jug and the draught of tea that
+I had already swallowed; and, hardly knowing what I intended, I started
+to my feet and turned to confront her. But as I rose, she snatched up
+her change and darted from the shop. Through the glass door, I saw her
+spring on to the foot-board of a passing hansom and give the driver some
+direction. I saw the man whip up his horse, and, by the time I reached
+the door, the cab was moving off swiftly towards Sloane Street.
+
+I stood irresolute. I had not paid and could not run out of the shop
+without making a fuss, and my hat and stick were still on the rail
+opposite my seat. The woman ought to be followed, but I had no fancy for
+the task. If the tea that I had swallowed was innocuous, no harm was
+done and I was rid of my pursuer. So far as I was concerned, the
+incident was closed. I went back to my seat, and picking up the lump of
+sugar which still lay on the table where I had dropped it, put it
+carefully in my pocket. But my appetite for tea was satisfied for the
+present. Moreover it was hardly advisable to stay in the shop lest some
+fresh spy should come to see how I fared. Accordingly I obtained my
+check, handed it in at the cashier's desk and took my departure.
+
+All this time, it will be observed, I had been taking it for granted
+that the lady in black had followed me from Kensington to this shop;
+that, in fact, she was none other than Mrs. Schallibaum. And, indeed,
+the circumstances had rendered the conclusion inevitable. In the very
+instant when I had perceived the displacement of the left eye, complete
+recognition had come upon me. When I had stood facing the woman, the
+brief glance at her face had conveyed to me something dimly reminiscent
+of which I had been but half conscious and had instantly forgotten. But
+the sight of that characteristic squint had at once revived and
+explained it. That the woman was Mrs. Schallibaum I now felt no doubt
+whatever.
+
+Nevertheless, the whole affair was profoundly mysterious. As to the
+change in the woman's appearance, there was little in that. The coarse,
+black hair might be her own, dyed, or it might be a wig. The eyebrows
+were made-up; it was a simple enough proceeding and made still more
+simple by the beaded veil. But how did she come to be there at all? How
+did she happen to be made-up in this fashion at this particular time?
+And, above all, how came she to be provided with a lump of what I had
+little doubt was poisoned sugar?
+
+I turned over the events of the day, and the more I considered them the
+less comprehensible they appeared. No one had followed the omnibus
+either on foot or in a vehicle, as far as I could see; and I had kept a
+careful look-out, not only at starting but for some considerable time
+after. Yet, all the time, Mrs. Schallibaum must have been following.
+But how? If she had known that I was intending to travel by the omnibus
+she might have gone to meet it and entered before I did. But she could
+not have known: and moreover she did not meet the omnibus, for we
+watched its approach from some considerable distance. I considered
+whether she might not have been concealed in the house and overheard me
+mention my destination to Thorndyke. But this failed to explain the
+mystery, since I had mentioned no address beyond "Kensington." I had,
+indeed, mentioned the name of Mrs. Hornby, but the supposition that my
+friends might be known by name to Mrs. Schallibaum, or even that she
+might have looked the name up in the directory, presented a probability
+too remote to be worth entertaining.
+
+But, if I reached no satisfactory conclusion, my cogitations had one
+useful effect; they occupied my mind to the exclusion of that
+unfortunate draught of tea. Not that I had been seriously uneasy after
+the first shock. The quantity that I had swallowed was not large--the
+tea being hotter than I cared for--and I remembered that, when I had
+thrown out the lump of sugar, I had turned the cup upside down on the
+table; so there could have been nothing solid left in it. And the lump
+of sugar was in itself reassuring, for it certainly would not have been
+used in conjunction with any less conspicuous but more incriminating
+form of poison. That lump of sugar was now in my pocket, reserved for
+careful examination at my leisure; and I reflected with a faint grin
+that it would be a little disconcerting if it should turn out to
+contain nothing but sugar after all.
+
+On leaving the tea-shop, I walked up Sloane Street with the intention of
+doing what I ought to have done earlier in the day. I was going to make
+perfectly sure that no spy was dogging my footsteps. But for my
+ridiculous confidence I could have done so quite easily before going to
+Endsley Gardens; and now, made wiser by a startling experience, I
+proceeded with systematic care. It was still broad daylight--for the
+lamps in the tea-shop had been rendered necessary only by the faulty
+construction of the premises and the dullness of the afternoon--and in
+an open space I could see far enough for complete safety. Arriving at
+the top of Sloane Street, I crossed Knightsbridge, and, entering Hyde
+Park, struck out towards the Serpentine. Passing along the eastern
+shore, I entered one of the long paths that lead towards the Marble Arch
+and strode along it at such a pace as would make it necessary for any
+pursuer to hurry in order to keep me in sight. Half-way across the great
+stretch of turf, I halted for a few moments and noted the few people who
+were coming in my direction. Then I turned sharply to the left and
+headed straight for the Victoria Gate, but again, half-way, I turned off
+among a clump of trees, and, standing behind the trunk of one of them,
+took a fresh survey of the people who were moving along the paths. All
+were at a considerable distance and none appeared to be coming my way.
+
+I now moved cautiously from one tree to another and passed through the
+wooded region to the south, crossed the Serpentine bridge at a rapid
+walk and hurrying along the south shore left the Park by Apsley House.
+From hence I walked at the same rapid pace along Piccadilly, insinuating
+myself among the crowd with the skill born of long acquaintance with the
+London streets, crossed amidst the seething traffic at the Circus,
+darted up Windmill Street and began to zigzag amongst the narrow streets
+and courts of Soho. Crossing the Seven Dials and Drury Lane I passed
+through the multitudinous back-streets and alleys that then filled the
+area south of Lincoln's Inn, came out by Newcastle Street, Holywell
+Street and Half-Moon Alley into the Strand, which I crossed immediately,
+ultimately entering the Temple by Devereux Court.
+
+Even then I did not relax my precautions. From one court to another I
+passed quickly, loitering in those dark entries and unexpected passages
+that are known to so few but the regular Templars, and coming out into
+the open only at the last where the wide passage of King's Bench Walk
+admits of no evasion. Half-way up the stairs, I stood for some time in
+the shadow, watching the approaches from the staircase window; and when,
+at length, I felt satisfied that I had taken every precaution that was
+possible, I inserted my key and let myself into our chambers.
+
+Thorndyke had already arrived, and, as I entered, he rose to greet me
+with an expression of evident relief.
+
+"I am glad to see you, Jervis," he said. "I have been rather anxious
+about you."
+
+"Why?" I asked.
+
+"For several reasons. One is that you are the sole danger that threatens
+these people--as far as they know. Another is that we made a most
+ridiculous mistake. We overlooked a fact that ought to have struck us
+instantly. But how have you fared?"
+
+"Better than I deserved. That good lady stuck to me like a burr--at
+least I believe she did."
+
+"I have no doubt she did. We have been caught napping finely, Jervis."
+
+"How?"
+
+"We'll go into that presently. Let us hear about your adventures first."
+
+I gave him a full account of my movements from the time when we parted
+to that of my arrival home, omitting no incident that I was able to
+remember and, as far as I could, reconstituting my exceedingly devious
+homeward route.
+
+"Your retreat was masterly," he remarked with a broad smile. "I should
+think that it would have utterly defeated any pursuer; and the only pity
+is that it was probably wasted on the desert air. Your pursuer had by
+that time become a fugitive. But you were wise to take these
+precautions, for, of course, Weiss might have followed you."
+
+"But I thought he was in Hamburg?"
+
+"Did you? You are a very confiding young gentleman, for a budding
+medical jurist. Of course we don't know that he is not; but the fact
+that he has given Hamburg as his present whereabouts establishes a
+strong presumption that he is somewhere else. I only hope that he has
+not located you, and, from what you tell me of your later methods, I
+fancy that you would have shaken him off even if he had started to
+follow you from the tea-shop."
+
+"I hope so too. But how did that woman manage to stick to me in that
+way? What was the mistake we made?"
+
+Thorndyke laughed grimly. "It was a perfectly asinine mistake, Jervis.
+You started up Kennington Park Road on a leisurely, jog-trotting
+omnibus, and neither you nor I remembered what there is underneath
+Kennington Park Road."
+
+"Underneath!" I exclaimed, completely puzzled for the moment. Then,
+suddenly realizing what he meant, "Of course!" I exclaimed. "Idiot that
+I am! You mean the electric railway?"
+
+"Yes. That explains everything. Mrs. Schallibaum must have watched us
+from some shop and quietly followed us up the lane. There were a good
+many women about and several were walking in our direction. There was
+nothing to distinguish her from the others unless you had recognized
+her, which you would hardly have been able to do if she had worn a veil
+and kept at a fair distance. At least I think not."
+
+"No," I agreed, "I certainly should not. I had only seen her in a
+half-dark room. In outdoor clothes and with a veil, I should never have
+been able to identify her without very close inspection. Besides there
+was the disguise or make-up."
+
+"Not at that time. She would hardly come disguised to her own house,
+for it might have led to her being challenged and asked who she was. I
+think we may take it that there was no actual disguise, although she
+would probably wear a shady hat and a veil; which would have prevented
+either of us from picking her out from the other women in the street."
+
+"And what do you think happened next?"
+
+"I think that she simply walked past us--probably on the other side of
+the road--as we stood waiting for the omnibus, and turned up Kennington
+Park Road. She probably guessed that we were waiting for the omnibus and
+walked up the road in the direction in which it was going. Presently the
+omnibus would pass her, and there were you in full view on top keeping a
+vigilant look-out in the wrong direction. Then she would quicken her
+pace a little and in a minute or two would arrive at the Kennington
+Station of the South London Railway. In a minute or two more she would
+be in one of the electric trains whirling along under the street on
+which your omnibus was crawling. She would get out at the Borough
+Station, or she might take a more risky chance and go on to the
+Monument; but in any case she would wait for your omnibus, hail it and
+get inside. I suppose you took up some passengers on the way?"
+
+"Oh dear, yes. We were stopping every two or three minutes to take up or
+set down passengers; and most of them were women."
+
+"Very well; then we may take it that when you arrived at the Mansion
+House, Mrs. Schallibaum was one of your inside passengers. It was a
+rather quaint situation, I think."
+
+"Yes, confound her! What a couple of noodles she must have thought us!"
+
+"No doubt. And that is the one consoling feature in the case. She will
+have taken us for a pair of absolute greenhorns. But to continue. Of
+course she travelled in your omnibus to Kensington--you ought to have
+gone inside on both occasions, so that you could see every one who
+entered and examine the inside passengers; she will have followed you to
+Endsley Gardens and probably noted the house you went to. Thence she
+will have followed you to the restaurant and may even have lunched
+there."
+
+"It is quite possible," said I. "There were two rooms and they were
+filled principally with women."
+
+"Then she will have followed you to Sloane Street, and, as you persisted
+in riding outside, she could easily take an inside place in your
+omnibus. As to the theatre, she must have taken it as a veritable gift
+of the gods; an arrangement made by you for her special convenience."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"My dear fellow! consider. She had only to follow you in and see you
+safely into your seat and there you were, left till called for. She
+could then go home, make up for her part; draw out a plan of action,
+with the help, perhaps, of Mr. Weiss, provide herself with the necessary
+means and appliances and, at the appointed time, call and collect you."
+
+"That is assuming a good deal," I objected. "It is assuming, for
+instance, that she lives within a moderate distance of Sloane Square.
+Otherwise it would have been impossible."
+
+"Exactly. That is why I assume it. You don't suppose that she goes about
+habitually with lumps of prepared sugar in her pocket. And if not, then
+she must have got that lump from somewhere. Then the beads suggest a
+carefully prepared plan, and, as I said just now, she can hardly have
+been made-up when she met us in Kennington Lane. From all of which it
+seems likely that her present abode is not very far from Sloane Square."
+
+"At any rate," said I, "it was taking a considerable risk. I might have
+left the theatre before she came back."
+
+"Yes," Thorndyke agreed. "But it is like a woman to take chances. A man
+would probably have stuck to you when once he had got you off your
+guard. But she was ready to take chances. She chanced the railway, and
+it came off; she chanced your remaining in the theatre, and that came
+off too. She calculated on the probability of your getting tea when you
+came out, and she hit it off again. And then she took one chance too
+many; she assumed that you probably took sugar in your tea, and she was
+wrong."
+
+"We are taking it for granted that the sugar was prepared," I remarked.
+
+"Yes. Our explanation is entirely hypothetical and may be entirely
+wrong. But it all hangs together, and if we find any poisonous matter in
+the sugar, it will be reasonable to assume that we are right. The sugar
+is the Experimentum Crucis. If you will hand it over to me, we will go
+up to the laboratory and make a preliminary test or two."
+
+I took the lump of sugar from my pocket and gave it to him, and he
+carried it to the gas-burner, by the light of which he examined it with
+a lens.
+
+"I don't see any foreign crystals on the surface," said he; "but we had
+better make a solution and go to work systematically. If it contains any
+poison we may assume that it will be some alkaloid, though I will test
+for arsenic too. But a man of Weiss's type would almost certainly use an
+alkaloid, on account of its smaller bulk and more ready solubility. You
+ought not to have carried this loose in your pocket. For legal purposes
+that would seriously interfere with its value as evidence. Bodies that
+are suspected of containing poison should be carefully isolated and
+preserved from contact with anything that might lead to doubt in the
+analysis. It doesn't matter much to us, as this analysis is only for our
+own information and we can satisfy ourselves as to the state of your
+pocket. But bear the rule in mind another time."
+
+We now ascended to the laboratory, where Thorndyke proceeded at once to
+dissolve the lump of sugar in a measured quantity of distilled water by
+the aid of gentle heat.
+
+"Before we add any acid," said he, "or introduce any fresh matter, we
+will adopt the simple preliminary measure of tasting the solution. The
+sugar is a disturbing factor, but some of the alkaloids and most
+mineral poisons excepting arsenic have a very characteristic taste."
+
+He dipped a glass rod in the warm solution and applied it gingerly to
+his tongue.
+
+"Ha!" he exclaimed, as he carefully wiped his mouth with his
+handkerchief, "simple methods are often very valuable. There isn't much
+doubt as to what is in that sugar. Let me recommend my learned brother
+to try the flavour. But be careful. A little of this will go a long
+way."
+
+He took a fresh rod from the rack, and, dipping it in the solution,
+handed it to me. I cautiously applied it to the tip of my tongue and was
+immediately aware of a peculiar tingling sensation accompanied by a
+feeling of numbness.
+
+"Well," said Thorndyke; "what is it?"
+
+"Aconite," I replied without hesitation.
+
+"Yes," he agreed; "aconite it is, or more probably aconitine. And that,
+I think, gives us all the information we want. We need not trouble now
+to make a complete analysis, though I shall have a quantitative
+examination made later. You note the intensity of the taste and you see
+what the strength of the solution is. Evidently that lump of sugar
+contained a very large dose of the poison. If the sugar had been
+dissolved in your tea, the quantity that you drank would have contained
+enough aconitine to lay you out within a few minutes; which would
+account for Mrs. Schallibaum's anxiety to get clear of the premises. She
+saw you drink from the cup, but I imagine she had not seen you turn the
+sugar out."
+
+"No, I should say not, to judge by her expression. She looked
+terrified. She is not as hardened as her rascally companion."
+
+"Which is fortunate for you, Jervis. If she had not been in such a
+fluster, she would have waited until you had poured out your tea, which
+was what she probably meant to do, or have dropped the sugar into the
+milk-jug. In either case you would have got a poisonous dose before you
+noticed anything amiss."
+
+"They are a pretty pair, Thorndyke," I exclaimed. "A human life seems to
+be no more to them than the life of a fly or a beetle."
+
+"No; that is so. They are typical poisoners of the worst kind; of the
+intelligent, cautious, resourceful kind. They are a standing menace to
+society. As long as they are at large, human lives are in danger, and it
+is our business to see that they do not remain at large a moment longer
+than is unavoidable. And that brings us to another point. You had better
+keep indoors for the next few days."
+
+"Oh, nonsense," I protested. "I can take care of myself."
+
+"I won't dispute that," said Thorndyke, "although I might. But the
+matter is of vital importance and we can't be too careful. Yours is the
+only evidence that could convict these people. They know that and will
+stick at nothing to get rid of you--for by this time they will almost
+certainly have ascertained that the tea-shop plan has failed. Now your
+life is of some value to you and to another person whom I could mention;
+but apart from that, you are the indispensable instrument for ridding
+society of these dangerous vermin. Moreover, if you were seen abroad and
+connected with these chambers, they would get the information that their
+case was really being investigated in a businesslike manner. If Weiss
+has not already left the country he would do so immediately, and if he
+has, Mrs. Schallibaum would join him at once, and we might never be able
+to lay hands on them. You must stay indoors, out of sight, and you had
+better write to Miss Gibson and ask her to warn the servants to give no
+information about you to anyone."
+
+"And how long," I asked, "am I to be held on parole?"
+
+"Not long, I think. We have a very promising start. If I have any luck,
+I shall be able to collect all the evidence I want in about a week. But
+there is an element of chance in some of it which prevents me from
+giving a date. And it is just possible that I may have started on a
+false track. But that I shall be able to tell you better in a day or
+two."
+
+"And I suppose," I said gloomily, "I shall be out of the hunt
+altogether?"
+
+"Not at all," he replied. "You have got the Blackmore case to attend to.
+I shall hand you over all the documents and get you to make an orderly
+digest of the evidence. You will then have all the facts and can work
+out the case for yourself. Also I shall ask you to help Polton in some
+little operations which are designed to throw light into dark places and
+which you will find both entertaining and instructive."
+
+"Supposing Mrs. Hornby should propose to call and take tea with us in
+the gardens?" I suggested.
+
+"And bring Miss Gibson with her?" Thorndyke added dryly. "No, Jervis, it
+would never do. You must make that quite clear to her. It is more
+probable than not that Mrs. Schallibaum made a careful note of the house
+in Endsley Gardens, and as that would be the one place actually known to
+her, she and Weiss--if he is in England--would almost certainly keep a
+watch on it. If they should succeed in connecting that house with these
+chambers, a few inquiries would show them the exact state of the case.
+No; we must keep them in the dark if we possibly can. We have shown too
+much of our hand already. It is hard on you, but it cannot be helped."
+
+"Oh, don't think I am complaining," I exclaimed. "If it is a matter of
+business, I am as keen as you are. I thought at first that you were
+merely considering the safety of my vile body. When shall I start on my
+job?"
+
+"To-morrow morning. I shall give you my notes on the Blackmore case and
+the copies of the will and the depositions, from which you had better
+draw up a digest of the evidence with remarks as to the conclusions that
+it suggests. Then there are our gleanings from New Inn to be looked over
+and considered; and with regard to this case, we have the fragments of a
+pair of spectacles which had better be put together into a rather more
+intelligible form in case we have to produce them in evidence. That will
+keep you occupied for a day or two, together with some work
+appertaining to other cases. And now let us dismiss professional topics.
+You have not dined and neither have I, but I dare say Polton has made
+arrangements for some sort of meal. We will go down and see."
+
+We descended to the lower floor, where Thorndyke's anticipations were
+justified by a neatly laid table to which Polton was giving the
+finishing touches.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XI
+
+The Blackmore Case Reviewed
+
+
+One of the conditions of medical practice is the capability of
+transferring one's attention at a moment's notice from one set of
+circumstances to another equally important but entirely unrelated. At
+each visit on his round, the practitioner finds himself concerned with a
+particular, self-contained group of phenomena which he must consider at
+the moment with the utmost concentration, but which he must instantly
+dismiss from his mind as he moves on to the next case. It is a difficult
+habit to acquire; for an important, distressing or obscure case is apt
+to take possession of the consciousness and hinder the exercise of
+attention that succeeding cases demand; but experience shows the faculty
+to be indispensable, and the practitioner learns in time to forget
+everything but the patient with whose condition he is occupied at the
+moment.
+
+My first morning's work on the Blackmore case showed me that the same
+faculty is demanded in legal practice; and it also showed me that I had
+yet to acquire it. For, as I looked over the depositions and the copy of
+the will, memories of the mysterious house in Kennington Lane
+continually intruded into my reflections, and the figure of Mrs.
+Schallibaum, white-faced, terrified, expectant, haunted me continually.
+
+In truth, my interest in the Blackmore case was little more than
+academic, whereas in the Kennington case I was one of the parties and
+was personally concerned. To me, John Blackmore was but a name, Jeffrey
+but a shadowy figure to which I could assign no definite personality,
+and Stephen himself but a casual stranger. Mr. Graves, on the other
+hand, was a real person. I had seen him amidst the tragic circumstances
+that had probably heralded his death, and had brought away with me, not
+only a lively recollection of him, but a feeling of profound pity and
+concern as to his fate. The villain Weiss, too, and the terrible woman
+who aided, abetted and, perhaps, even directed him, lived in my memory
+as vivid and dreadful realities. Although I had uttered no hint to
+Thorndyke, I lamented inwardly that I had not been given some work--if
+there was any to do--connected with this case, in which I was so deeply
+interested, rather than with the dry, purely legal and utterly
+bewildering case of Jeffrey Blackmore's will.
+
+Nevertheless, I stuck loyally to my task. I read through the depositions
+and the will--without getting a single glimmer of fresh light on the
+case--and I made a careful digest of all the facts. I compared my
+digest with Thorndyke's notes--of which I also made a copy--and found
+that, brief as they were, they contained several matters that I had
+overlooked. I also drew up a brief account of our visit to New Inn, with
+a list of the objects that we had observed or collected. And then I
+addressed myself to the second part of my task, the statement of my
+conclusions from the facts set forth.
+
+It was only when I came to make the attempt that I realized how
+completely I was at sea. In spite of Thorndyke's recommendation to study
+Marchmont's statement as it was summarized in those notes which I had
+copied, and of his hint that I should find in that statement something
+highly significant, I was borne irresistibly to one conclusion, and one
+only--and the wrong one at that, as I suspected: that Jeffrey
+Blackmore's will was a perfectly regular, sound and valid document.
+
+I tried to attack the validity of the will from various directions, and
+failed every time. As to its genuineness, that was obviously not in
+question. There seemed to me only two conceivable respects in which any
+objection could be raised, viz. the competency of Jeffrey to execute a
+will and the possibility of undue influence having been brought to bear
+on him.
+
+With reference to the first, there was the undoubted fact that Jeffrey
+was addicted to the opium habit, and this might, under some
+circumstances, interfere with a testator's competency to make a will.
+But had any such circumstances existed in this case? Had the drug habit
+produced such mental changes in the deceased as would destroy or weaken
+his judgment? There was not a particle of evidence in favour of any such
+belief. Up to the very end he had managed his own affairs, and, if his
+habits of life had undergone a change, they were still the habits of a
+perfectly sane and responsible man.
+
+The question of undue influence was more difficult. If it applied to any
+person in particular, that person could be none other than John
+Blackmore. Now it was an undoubted fact that, of all Jeffrey's
+acquaintance, his brother John was the only one who knew that he was in
+residence at New Inn. Moreover John had visited him there more than
+once. It was therefore possible that influence might have been brought
+to bear on the deceased. But there was no evidence that it had. The fact
+that the deceased man's only brother should be the one person who knew
+where he was living was not a remarkable one, and it had been
+satisfactorily explained by the necessity of Jeffrey's finding a
+reference on applying for the chambers. And against the theory of undue
+influence was the fact that the testator had voluntarily brought his
+will to the lodge and executed it in the presence of entirely
+disinterested witnesses.
+
+In the end I had to give up the problem in despair, and, abandoning the
+documents, turned my attention to the facts elicited by our visit to New
+Inn.
+
+What had we learned from our exploration? It was clear that Thorndyke
+had picked up some facts that had appeared to him important. But
+important in what respect? The only possible issue that could be raised
+was the validity or otherwise of Jeffrey Blackmore's will; and since the
+validity of that will was supported by positive evidence of the most
+incontestable kind, it seemed that nothing that we had observed could
+have any real bearing on the case at all.
+
+But this, of course, could not be. Thorndyke was no dreamer nor was he
+addicted to wild speculation. If the facts observed by us seemed to him
+to be relevant to the case, I was prepared to assume that they were
+relevant, although I could not see their connection with it. And, on
+this assumption, I proceeded to examine them afresh.
+
+Now, whatever Thorndyke might have observed on his own account, I had
+brought away from the dead man's chambers only a single fact; and a very
+extraordinary fact it was. The cuneiform inscription was upside down.
+That was the sum of the evidence that I had collected; and the question
+was, What did it prove? To Thorndyke it conveyed some deep significance.
+What could that significance be?
+
+The inverted position was not a mere temporary accident, as it might
+have been if the frame had been stood on a shelf or support. It was hung
+on the wall, and the plates screwed on the frame showed that its
+position was permanent and that it had never hung in any other. That it
+could have been hung up by Jeffrey himself was clearly inconceivable.
+But allowing that it had been fixed in its present position by some
+workman when the new tenant moved in, the fact remained that there it
+had hung, presumably for months, and that Jeffrey Blackmore, with his
+expert knowledge of the cuneiform character, had never noticed that it
+was upside down; or, if he had noticed it, that he had never taken the
+trouble to have it altered.
+
+What could this mean? If he had noticed the error but had not troubled
+to correct it, that would point to a very singular state of mind, an
+inertness and indifference remarkable even in an opium-smoker. But
+assuming such a state of mind, I could not see that it had any bearing
+on the will, excepting that it was rather inconsistent with the tendency
+to make fussy and needless alterations which the testator had actually
+shown. On the other hand, if he had not noticed the inverted position of
+the photograph he must have been nearly blind or quite idiotic; for the
+photograph was over two feet long and the characters large enough to be
+read easily by a person of ordinary eyesight at a distance of forty or
+fifty feet. Now he obviously was not in a state of dementia, whereas his
+eyesight was admittedly bad; and it seemed to me that the only
+conclusion deducible from the photograph was that it furnished a measure
+of the badness of the deceased man's vision--that it proved him to have
+been verging on total blindness.
+
+But there was nothing startling new in this. He had, himself, declared
+that he was fast losing his sight. And again, what was the bearing of
+his partial blindness on the will? A totally blind man cannot draw up
+his will at all. But if he has eyesight sufficient to enable him to
+write out and sign a will, mere defective vision will not lead him to
+muddle the provisions. Yet something of this kind seemed to be in
+Thorndyke's mind, for now I recalled the question that he had put to the
+porter: "When you read the will over in Mr. Blackmore's presence, did
+you read it aloud?" That question could have but one significance. It
+implied a doubt as to whether the testator was fully aware of the exact
+nature of the document that he was signing. Yet, if he was able to write
+and sign it, surely he was able also to read it through, to say nothing
+of the fact that, unless he was demented, he must have remembered what
+he had written.
+
+Thus, once more, my reasoning only led me into a blind alley at the end
+of which was the will, regular and valid and fulfilling all the
+requirements that the law imposed. Once again I had to confess myself
+beaten and in full agreement with Mr. Marchmont that "there was no
+case"; that "there was nothing in dispute." Nevertheless, I carefully
+fixed in the pocket file that Thorndyke had given me the copy that I had
+made of his notes, together with the notes on our visit to New Inn, and
+the few and unsatisfactory conclusions at which I had arrived; and this
+brought me to the end of my first morning in my new capacity.
+
+"And how," Thorndyke asked as we sat at lunch, "has my learned friend
+progressed? Does he propose that we advise Mr. Marchmont to enter a
+caveat?"
+
+"I've read all the documents and boiled all the evidence down to a stiff
+jelly; and I am in a worse fog than ever."
+
+"There seems to be a slight mixture of metaphors in my learned friend's
+remarks. But never mind the fog, Jervis. There is a certain virtue in
+fog. It serves, like a picture frame, to surround the essential with a
+neutral zone that separates it from the irrelevant."
+
+"That is a very profound observation, Thorndyke," I remarked ironically.
+
+"I was just thinking so myself," he rejoined.
+
+"And if you could contrive to explain what it means--"
+
+"Oh, but that is unreasonable. When one throws off a subtly philosophic
+obiter dictum one looks to the discerning critic to supply the meaning.
+By the way, I am going to introduce you to the gentle art of photography
+this afternoon. I am getting the loan of all the cheques that were drawn
+by Jeffrey Blackmore during his residence at New Inn--there are only
+twenty-three of them, all told--and I am going to photograph them."
+
+"I shouldn't have thought the bank people would have let them go out of
+their possession."
+
+"They are not going to. One of the partners, a Mr. Britton, is bringing
+them here himself and will be present while the photographs are being
+taken; so they will not go out of his custody. But, all the same, it is
+a great concession, and I should not have obtained it but for the fact
+that I have done a good deal of work for the bank and that Mr. Britton
+is more or less a personal friend."
+
+"By the way, how comes it that the cheques are at the bank? Why were
+they not returned to Jeffrey with the pass-book in the usual way?"
+
+"I understand from Britton," replied Thorndyke, "that all Jeffrey's
+cheques were retained by the bank at his request. When he was travelling
+he used to leave his investment securities and other valuable documents
+in his bankers' custody, and, as he has never applied to have them
+returned, the bankers still have them and are retaining them until the
+will is proved, when they will, of course, hand over everything to the
+executors."
+
+"What is the object of photographing these cheques?" I asked.
+
+"There are several objects. First, since a good photograph is
+practically as good as the original, when we have the photographs we
+practically have the cheques for reference. Then, since a photograph can
+be duplicated indefinitely, it is possible to perform experiments on it
+which involve its destruction; which would, of course, be impossible in
+the case of original cheques."
+
+"But the ultimate object, I mean. What are you going to prove?"
+
+"You are incorrigible, Jervis," he exclaimed. "How should I know what I
+am going to prove? This is an investigation. If I knew the result
+beforehand, I shouldn't want to perform the experiment."
+
+He looked at his watch, and, as we rose from the table, he said:
+
+"If we have finished, we had better go up to the laboratory and see that
+the apparatus is ready. Mr. Britton is a busy man, and, as he is doing
+us a great service, we mustn't keep him waiting when he comes."
+
+We ascended to the laboratory, where Polton was already busy inspecting
+the massively built copying camera which--with the long, steel guides on
+which the easel or copy-holder travelled--took up the whole length of
+the room on the side opposite to that occupied by the chemical bench. As
+I was to be inducted into the photographic art, I looked at it with more
+attention than I had ever done before.
+
+"We've made some improvements since you were here last, sir," said
+Polton, who was delicately lubricating the steel guides. "We've fitted
+these steel runners instead of the blackleaded wooden ones that we used
+to have. And we've made two scales instead of one. Hallo! That's the
+downstairs bell. Shall I go sir?"
+
+"Perhaps you'd better," said Thorndyke. "It may not be Mr. Britton, and
+I don't want to be caught and delayed just now."
+
+However, it was Mr. Britton; a breezy alert-looking middle-aged man, who
+came in escorted by Polton and shook our hands cordially, having been
+previously warned of my presence. He carried a small but solid hand-bag,
+to which he clung tenaciously up to the very moment when its contents
+were required for use.
+
+"So that is the camera," said he, running an inquisitive eye over the
+instrument. "Very fine one, too; I am a bit of a photographer myself.
+What is that graduation on the side-bar?"
+
+"Those are the scales," replied Thorndyke, "that shows the degree of
+magnification or reduction. The pointer is fixed to the easel and
+travels with it, of course, showing the exact size of the photograph.
+When the pointer is opposite 0 the photograph will be identical in size
+with the object photographed; when it points to, say, × 6, the
+photograph will be six times as long as the object, or magnified
+thirty-six times superficially, whereas if the pointer is at ÷ 6, the
+photograph will be a sixth of the length of the object, or one
+thirty-sixth superficial."
+
+"Why are there two scales?" Mr. Britton asked.
+
+"There is a separate scale for each of the two lenses that we
+principally use. For great magnification or reduction a lens of
+comparatively short focus must be used, but, as a long-focus lens gives
+a more perfect image, we use one of very long focus--thirty-six
+inches--for copying the same size or for slight magnification or
+reduction."
+
+"Are you going to magnify these cheques?" Mr. Britton asked.
+
+"Not in the first place," replied Thorndyke. "For convenience and speed
+I am going to photograph them half-size, so that six cheques will go on
+one whole plate. Afterwards we can enlarge from the negatives as much as
+we like. But we should probably enlarge only the signatures in any
+case."
+
+The precious bag was now opened and the twenty-three cheques brought out
+and laid on the bench in a consecutive series in the order of their
+dates. They were then fixed by tapes--to avoid making pin-holes in
+them--in batches of six to small drawing boards, each batch being so
+arranged that the signatures were towards the middle. The first board
+was clamped to the easel, the latter was slid along its guides until
+the pointer stood at ÷ 2 on the long-focus scale and Thorndyke proceeded
+to focus the camera with the aid of a little microscope that Polton had
+made for the purpose. When Mr. Britton and I had inspected the
+exquisitely sharp image on the focusing-screen through the microscope,
+Polton introduced the plate and made the first exposure, carrying the
+dark-slide off to develop the plate while the next batch of cheques was
+being fixed in position.
+
+In his photographic technique, as in everything else, Polton followed as
+closely as he could the methods of his principal and instructor; methods
+characterized by that unhurried precision that leads to perfect
+accomplishment. When the first negative was brought forth, dripping,
+from the dark-room, it was without spot or stain, scratch or pin-hole;
+uniform in colour and of exactly the required density. The six cheques
+shown on it--ridiculously small in appearance, though only reduced to
+half-length--looked as clear and sharp as fine etchings; though, to be
+sure, my opportunity for examining them was rather limited, for Polton
+was uncommonly careful to keep the wet plate out of reach and so safe
+from injury.
+
+"Well," said Mr. Britton, when, at the end of the séance, he returned
+his treasures to the bag, "you have now got twenty-three of our cheques,
+to all intents and purposes. I hope you are not going to make any
+unlawful use of them--must tell our cashiers to keep a bright look-out;
+and"--here he lowered his voice impressively and addressed himself to
+me and Polton--"you understand that this is a private matter between Dr.
+Thorndyke and me. Of course, as Mr. Blackmore is dead, there is no
+reason why his cheques should not be photographed for legal purposes;
+but we don't want it talked about; nor, I think, does Dr. Thorndyke."
+
+"Certainly not," Thorndyke agreed emphatically; "but you need not be
+uneasy, Mr. Britton. We are very uncommunicative people in this
+establishment."
+
+As my colleague and I escorted our visitor down the stairs, he returned
+to the subject of the cheques.
+
+"I don't understand what you want them for," he remarked. "There is no
+question turning on signatures in the case of Blackmore deceased, is
+there?"
+
+"I should say not," Thorndyke replied rather evasively.
+
+"I should say very decidedly not," said Mr. Britton, "if I understood
+Marchmont aright. And, even if there were, let me tell you, these
+signatures that you have got wouldn't help you. I have looked them over
+very closely--and I have seen a few signatures in my time, you know.
+Marchmont asked me to glance over them as a matter of form, but I don't
+believe in matters of form; I examined them very carefully. There is an
+appreciable amount of variation; a very appreciable amount. <i>But</i> under
+the variation one can trace the personal character (which is what
+matters); the subtle, indescribable quality that makes it recognizable
+to the expert eye as Jeffrey Blackmore's writing. You understand me.
+There is such a quality, which remains when the coarser characteristics
+vary; just as a man may grow old, or fat, or bald, or may take to drink,
+and become quite changed; and yet, through it all, he preserves a
+certain something which makes him recognizable as a member of a
+particular family. Well, I find that quality in all those signatures,
+and so will you, if you have had enough experience of handwriting. I
+thought it best to mention it in case you might be giving yourself
+unnecessary trouble."
+
+"It is very good of you," said Thorndyke, "and I need not say that the
+information is of great value, coming from such a highly expert source.
+As a matter of fact, your hint will be of great value to me."
+
+He shook hands with Mr. Britton, and, as the latter disappeared down the
+stairs, he turned into the sitting-room and remarked:
+
+"There is a very weighty and significant observation, Jervis. I advise
+you to consider it attentively in all its bearings."
+
+"You mean the fact that these signatures are undoubtedly genuine?"
+
+"I meant, rather, the very interesting general truth that is contained
+in Britton's statement; that physiognomy is not a mere matter of facial
+character. A man carries his personal trademark, not in his face only,
+but in his nervous system and muscles--giving rise to characteristic
+movements and gait; in his larynx--producing an individual voice; and
+even in his mouth, as shown by individual peculiarities of speech and
+accent. And the individual nervous system, by means of these
+characteristic movements, transfers its peculiarities to inanimate
+objects that are the products of such movements; as we see in pictures,
+in carving, in musical execution and in handwriting. No one has ever
+painted quite like Reynolds or Romney; no one has ever played exactly
+like Liszt or Paganini; the pictures or the sounds produced by them,
+were, so to speak, an extension of the physiognomy of the artist. And so
+with handwriting. A particular specimen is the product of a particular
+set of motor centres in an individual brain."
+
+"These are very interesting considerations, Thorndyke," I remarked; "but
+I don't quite see their present application. Do you mean them to bear in
+any special way on the Blackmore case?"
+
+"I think they do bear on it very directly. I thought so while Mr.
+Britton was making his very illuminating remarks."
+
+"I don't see how. In fact I cannot see why you are going into the
+question of the signatures at all. The signature on the will is
+admittedly genuine, and that seems to me to dispose of the whole
+affair."
+
+"My dear Jervis," said he, "you and Marchmont are allowing yourselves to
+be obsessed by a particular fact--a very striking and weighty fact, I
+will admit, but still, only an isolated fact. Jeffrey Blackmore executed
+his will in a regular manner, complying with all the necessary
+formalities and conditions. In the face of that single circumstance you
+and Marchmont would 'chuck up the sponge,' as the old pugilists
+expressed it. Now that is a great mistake. You should never allow
+yourself to be bullied and browbeaten by a single fact."
+
+"But, my dear Thorndyke!" I protested, "this fact seems to be final. It
+covers all possibilities---unless you can suggest any other that would
+cancel it."
+
+"I could suggest a dozen," he replied. "Let us take an instance.
+Supposing Jeffrey executed this will for a wager; that he immediately
+revoked it and made a fresh will, that he placed the latter in the
+custody of some person and that that person has suppressed it."
+
+"Surely you do not make this suggestion seriously!" I exclaimed.
+
+"Certainly I do not," he replied with a smile. "I merely give it as an
+instance to show that your final and absolute fact is really only
+conditional on there being no other fact that cancels it."
+
+"Do you think he might have made a third will?"
+
+"It is obviously possible. A man who makes two wills may make three or
+more; but I may say that I see no present reason for assuming the
+existence of another will. What I want to impress on you is the
+necessity of considering all the facts instead of bumping heavily
+against the most conspicuous one and forgetting all the rest. By the
+way, here is a little problem for you. What was the object of which
+these are the parts?"
+
+He pushed across the table a little cardboard box, having first removed
+the lid. In it were a number of very small pieces of broken glass, some
+of which had been cemented together by their edges.
+
+"These, I suppose," said I, looking with considerable curiosity at the
+little collection, "are the pieces of glass that we picked up in poor
+Blackmore's bedroom?"
+
+"Yes. You see that Polton has been endeavouring to reconstitute the
+object, whatever it was; but he has not been very successful, for the
+fragments were too small and irregular and the collection too
+incomplete. However, here is a specimen, built up of six small pieces,
+which exhibits the general character of the object fairly well."
+
+He picked out the little irregularly shaped object and handed it to me;
+and I could not but admire the neatness with which Polton had joined the
+tiny fragments together.
+
+I took the little "restoration," and, holding it up before my eyes,
+moved it to and fro as I looked through it at the window.
+
+"It was not a lens," I pronounced eventually.
+
+"No," Thorndyke agreed, "it was not a lens."
+
+"And so cannot have been a spectacle-glass. But the surface was
+curved--one side convex and the other concave--and the little piece that
+remains of the original edge seems to have been ground to fit a bezel or
+frame. I should say that these are portions of a watch-glass."
+
+"That is Polton's opinion," said Thorndyke, "and I think you are both
+wrong."
+
+"What do you say to the glass of a miniature or locket?"
+
+"That is rather more probable, but it is not my view."
+
+"What do you think it is?" I asked. But Thorndyke was not to be drawn.
+
+"I am submitting the problem for solution by my learned friend," he
+replied with an exasperating smile, and then added: "I don't say that
+you and Polton are wrong; only that I don't agree with you. Perhaps you
+had better make a note of the properties of this object, and consider it
+at your leisure when you are ruminating on the other data referring to
+the Blackmore case."
+
+"My ruminations," I said, "always lead me back to the same point."
+
+"But you mustn't let them," he replied. "Shuffle your data about. Invent
+hypotheses. Never mind if they seem rather wild. Don't put them aside on
+that account. Take the first hypothesis that you can invent and test it
+thoroughly with your facts. You will probably have to reject it, but you
+will be certain to have learned something new. Then try again with a
+fresh one. You remember what I told you of my methods when I began this
+branch of practice and had plenty of time on my hands?"
+
+"I am not sure that I do."
+
+"Well, I used to occupy my leisure in constructing imaginary cases,
+mostly criminal, for the purpose of study and for the acquirement of
+experience. For instance, I would devise an ingenious fraud and would
+plan it in detail, taking every precaution that I could think of against
+failure or detection, considering, and elaborately providing for, every
+imaginable contingency. For the time being, my entire attention was
+concentrated on it, making it as perfect and secure and undetectable as
+I could with the knowledge and ingenuity at my command. I behaved
+exactly as if I were proposing actually to carry it out, and my life or
+liberty depended on its success--excepting that I made full notes of
+every detail of the scheme. Then when my plans were as complete as I
+could make them, and I could think of no way in which to improve them, I
+changed sides and considered the case from the standpoint of detection.
+I analysed the case, I picked out its inherent and unavoidable
+weaknesses, and, especially, I noted the respects in which a fraudulent
+proceeding of a particular kind differed from the <i>bona fide</i> proceeding
+that it simulated. The exercise was invaluable to me. I acquired as much
+experience from those imaginary cases as I should from real ones, and in
+addition, I learned a method which is the one that I practise to this
+day."
+
+"Do you mean that you still invent imaginary cases as mental exercises?"
+
+"No; I mean that, when I have a problem of any intricacy, I invent a
+case which fits the facts and the assumed motives of one of the parties.
+Then I work at that case until I find whether it leads to elucidation or
+to some fundamental disagreement. In the latter case I reject it and
+begin the process over again."
+
+"Doesn't that method sometimes involve a good deal of wasted time and
+energy?" I asked.
+
+"No; because each time that you fail to establish a given case, you
+exclude a particular explanation of the facts and narrow down the field
+of inquiry. By repeating the process, you are bound, in the end, to
+arrive at an imaginary case which fits all the facts. Then your
+imaginary case is the real case and the problem is solved. Let me
+recommend you to give the method a trial."
+
+I promised to do so, though with no very lively expectations as to the
+result, and with this, the subject was allowed, for the present, to
+drop.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XII
+
+The Portrait
+
+
+The state of mind which Thorndyke had advised me to cultivate was one
+that did not come easily. However much I endeavoured to shuffle the
+facts of the Blackmore case, there was one which inevitably turned up on
+the top of the pack. The circumstances surrounding the execution of
+Jeffrey Blackmore's will intruded into all my cogitations on the subject
+with hopeless persistency. That scene in the porter's lodge was to me
+what King Charles's head was to poor Mr. Dick. In the midst of my
+praiseworthy efforts to construct some intelligible scheme of the case,
+it would make its appearance and reduce my mind to instant chaos.
+
+For the next few days, Thorndyke was very much occupied with one or two
+civil cases, which kept him in court during the whole of the sitting;
+and when he came home, he seemed indisposed to talk on professional
+topics. Meanwhile, Polton worked steadily at the photographs of the
+signatures, and, with a view to gaining experience, I assisted him and
+watched his methods.
+
+In the present case, the signatures were enlarged from their original
+dimensions--rather less than an inch and a half in length--to a length
+of four and a half inches; which rendered all the little peculiarities
+of the handwriting surprisingly distinct and conspicuous. Each signature
+was eventually mounted on a slip of card bearing a number and the date
+of the cheque from which it was taken, so that it was possible to place
+any two signatures together for comparison. I looked over the whole
+series and very carefully compared those which showed any differences,
+but without discovering anything more than might have been expected in
+view of Mr. Britton's statement. There were some trifling variations,
+but they were all very much alike, and no one could doubt, on looking at
+them, that they were all written by the same hand.
+
+As this, however, was apparently not in dispute, it furnished no new
+information. Thorndyke's object--for I felt certain that he had
+something definite in his mind--must be to test something apart from the
+genuineness of the signatures. But what could that something be? I dared
+not ask him, for questions of that kind were anathema, so there was
+nothing for it but to lie low and see what he would do with the
+photographs.
+
+The whole series was finished on the fourth morning after my adventure
+at Sloane Square, and the pack of cards was duly delivered by Polton
+when he brought in the breakfast tray. Thorndyke took up the pack
+somewhat with the air of a whist player, and, as he ran through them, I
+noticed that the number had increased from twenty-three to twenty-four.
+
+"The additional one," Thorndyke explained, "is the signature to the
+first will, which was in Marchmont's possession. I have added it to the
+collection as it carries us back to an earlier date. The signature of
+the second will presumably resembles those of the cheques drawn about
+the same date. But that is not material, or, if it should become so, we
+could claim to examine the second will."
+
+He laid the cards out on the table in the order of their dates and
+slowly ran his eye down the series. I watched him closely and ventured
+presently to ask:
+
+"Do you agree with Mr. Britton as to the general identity of character
+in the whole set of signatures?"
+
+"Yes," he replied. "I should certainly have put them down as being all
+the signatures of one person. The variations are very slight. The later
+signatures are a little stiffer, a little more shaky and indistinct, and
+the B's and k's are both appreciably different from those in the earlier
+ones. But there is another fact which emerges when the whole series is
+seen together, and it is so striking and significant a fact, that I am
+astonished at its not having been remarked on by Mr. Britton."
+
+"Indeed!" said I, stooping to examine the photographs with fresh
+interest; "what is that?"
+
+"It is a very simple fact and very obvious, but yet, as I have said,
+very significant. Look carefully at number one, which is the signature
+of the first will, dated three years ago, and compare it with number
+three, dated the eighteenth of September last year."
+
+"They look to me identical," said I, after a careful comparison.
+
+"So they do to me," said Thorndyke. "Neither of them shows the change
+that occurred later. But if you look at number two, dated the sixteenth
+of September, you will see that it is in the later style. So is number
+four, dated the twenty-third of September; but numbers five and six,
+both at the beginning of October, are in the earlier style, like the
+signature of the will. Thereafter all the signatures are in the new
+style; but, if you compare number two, dated the sixteenth of September
+with number twenty-four, dated the fourteenth of March of this year--the
+day of Jeffrey's death--you see that they exhibit no difference. Both
+are in the 'later style,' but the last shows no greater change than the
+first. Don't you consider these facts very striking and significant?"
+
+I reflected a few moments, trying to make out the deep significance to
+which Thorndyke was directing my attention--and not succeeding very
+triumphantly.
+
+"You mean," I said, "that the occasional reversions to the earlier form
+convey some material suggestion?"
+
+"Yes; but more than that. What we learn from an inspection of this
+series is this: that there was a change in the character of the
+signature; a very slight change, but quite recognizable. Now that change
+was not gradual or insidious nor was it progressive. It occurred at a
+certain definite time. At first there were one or two reversions to the
+earlier form, but after number six the new style continued to the end;
+and you notice that it continued without any increase in the change and
+without any variation. There are no intermediate forms. Some of the
+signatures are in the 'old style' and some in the 'new,' but there are
+none that are half and half. So that, to repeat: We have here two types
+of signature, very much alike, but distinguishable. They alternate, but
+do not merge into one another to produce intermediate forms. The change
+occurs abruptly, but shows no tendency to increase as time goes on; it
+is not a progressive change. What do you make of that, Jervis?"
+
+"It is very remarkable," I said, poring over the cards to verify
+Thorndyke's statements. "I don't quite know what to make of it. If the
+circumstances admitted of the idea of forgery, one would suspect the
+genuineness of some of the signatures. But they don't--at any rate, in
+the case of the later will, to say nothing of Mr. Britton's opinion on
+the signatures."
+
+"Still," said Thorndyke, "there must be some explanation of the change
+in the character of the signatures, and that explanation cannot be the
+failing eyesight of the writer; for that is a gradually progressive and
+continuous condition, whereas the change in the writing is abrupt and
+intermittent."
+
+I considered Thorndyke's remark for a few moments; and then a
+light--though not a very brilliant one--seemed to break on me.
+
+"I think I see what you are driving at," said I. "You mean that the
+change in the writing must be associated with some new condition
+affecting the writer, and that that condition existed intermittently?"
+
+Thorndyke nodded approvingly, and I continued:
+
+"The only intermittent condition that we know of is the effect of opium.
+So that we might consider the clearer signatures to have been made when
+Jeffrey was in his normal state, and the less distinct ones after a bout
+of opium-smoking."
+
+"That is perfectly sound reasoning," said Thorndyke. "What further
+conclusion does it lead to?"
+
+"It suggests that the opium habit had been only recently acquired, since
+the change was noticed only about the time he went to live at New Inn;
+and, since the change in the writing is at first intermittent and then
+continuous, we may infer that the opium-smoking was at first occasional
+and later became a a confirmed habit."
+
+"Quite a reasonable conclusion and very clearly stated," said Thorndyke.
+"I don't say that I entirely agree with you, or that you have exhausted
+the information that these signatures offer. But you have started in the
+right direction."
+
+"I may be on the right road," I said gloomily; "but I am stuck fast in
+one place and I see no chance of getting any farther."
+
+"But you have a quantity of data," said Thorndyke. "You have all the
+facts that I had to start with, from which I constructed the hypothesis
+that I am now busily engaged in verifying. I have a few more data now,
+for 'as money makes money' so knowledge begets knowledge, and I put my
+original capital out to interest. Shall we tabulate the facts that are
+in our joint possession and see what they suggest?"
+
+I grasped eagerly at the offer, though I had conned over my notes again
+and again.
+
+Thorndyke produced a slip of paper from a drawer, and, uncapping his
+fountain-pen, proceeded to write down the leading facts, reading each
+aloud as soon as it was written.
+
+"1. The second will was unnecessary since it contained no new matter,
+expressed no new intentions and met no new conditions, and the first
+will was quite clear and efficient.
+
+"2. The evident intention of the testator was to leave the bulk of his
+property to Stephen Blackmore.
+
+"3. The second will did not, under existing circumstances, give effect
+to this intention, whereas the first will did.
+
+"4. The signature of the second will differs slightly from that of the
+first, and also from what had hitherto been the testator's ordinary
+signature.
+
+"And now we come to a very curious group of dates, which I will advise
+you to consider with great attention.
+
+"5. Mrs. Wilson made her will at the beginning of September last year,
+without acquainting Jeffrey Blackmore, who seems to have been unaware of
+the existence of this will.
+
+"6. His own second will was dated the twelfth of November of last year.
+
+"7. Mrs. Wilson died of cancer on the twelfth of March this present
+year.
+
+"8. Jeffrey Blackmore was last seen alive on the fourteenth of March.
+
+"9. His body was discovered on the fifteenth of March.
+
+"10. The change in the character of his signature began about September
+last year and became permanent after the middle of October.
+
+"You will find that collection of facts repay careful study, Jervis,
+especially when considered in relation to the further data:
+
+"11. That we found in Blackmore's chambers a framed inscription of large
+size, hung upside down, together with what appeared to be the remains of
+a watch-glass and a box of stearine candles and some other objects."
+
+He passed the paper to me and I pored over it intently, focusing my
+attention on the various items with all the power of my will. But,
+struggle as I would, no general conclusion could be made to emerge from
+the mass of apparently disconnected facts.
+
+"Well?" Thorndyke said presently, after watching with grave interest my
+unavailing efforts; "what do you make of it?"
+
+"Nothing!" I exclaimed desperately, slapping the paper down on the
+table. "Of course, I can see that there are some queer coincidences. But
+how do they bear on the case? I understand that you want to upset this
+will; which we know to have been signed without compulsion or even
+suggestion in the presence of two respectable men, who have sworn to the
+identity of the document. That is your object, I believe?"
+
+"Certainly it is."
+
+"Then I am hanged if I see how you are going to do it. Not, I should
+say, by offering a group of vague coincidences that would muddle any
+brain but your own."
+
+Thorndyke chuckled softly but pursued the subject no farther.
+
+"Put that paper in your file with your other notes," he said, "and think
+it over at your leisure. And now I want a little help from you. Have you
+a good memory for faces?"
+
+"Fairly good, I think. Why?"
+
+"Because I have a photograph of a man whom I think you may have met.
+Just look at it and tell me if you remember the face."
+
+He drew a cabinet size photograph from an envelope that had come by the
+morning's post and handed it to me.
+
+"I have certainly seen this face somewhere," said I, taking the portrait
+over to the window to examine it more thoroughly, "but I can't, at the
+moment, remember where."
+
+"Try," said Thorndyke. "If you have seen the face before, you should be
+able to recall the person."
+
+I looked intently at the photograph, and the more I looked, the more
+familiar did the face appear. Suddenly the identity of the man flashed
+into my mind and I exclaimed in astonishment:
+
+"It can't be that poor creature at Kennington, Mr. Graves?"
+
+"I think it can," replied Thorndyke, "and I think it is. But could you
+swear to the identity in a court of law?"
+
+"It is my firm conviction that the photograph is that of Mr. Graves. I
+would swear to that."
+
+"No man ought to swear to more," said Thorndyke. "Identification is
+always a matter of opinion or belief. The man who will swear
+unconditionally to identity from memory only is a man whose evidence
+should be discredited. I think your sworn testimony would be
+sufficient."
+
+It is needless to say that the production of this photograph filled me
+with amazement and curiosity as to how Thorndyke had obtained it. But,
+as he replaced it impassively in its envelope without volunteering any
+explanation, I felt that I could not question him directly.
+Nevertheless, I ventured to approach the subject in an indirect manner.
+
+"Did you get any information from those Darmstadt people?" I asked.
+
+"Schnitzler? Yes. I learned, through the medium of an official
+acquaintance, that Dr. H. Weiss was a stranger to them; that they knew
+nothing about him excepting that he had ordered from them, and been
+supplied with, a hundred grammes of pure hydrochlorate of morphine."
+
+"All at once?"
+
+"No. In separate parcels of twenty-five grammes each."
+
+"Is that all you know about Weiss?"
+
+"It is all that I actually know; but it is not all that I suspect--on
+very substantial grounds. By the way, what did you think of the
+coachman?"
+
+"I don't know that I thought very much about him. Why?"
+
+"You never suspected that he and Weiss were one and the same person?"
+
+"No. How could they be? They weren't in the least alike. And one was a
+Scotchman and the other a German. But perhaps you know that they were
+the same?"
+
+"I only know what you have told me. But considering that you never saw
+them together, that the coachman was never available for messages or
+assistance when Weiss was with you; that Weiss always made his
+appearance some time after you arrived, and disappeared some time before
+you left; it has seemed to me that they might have been the same
+person."
+
+"I should say it was impossible. They were so very different in
+appearance. But supposing that they were the same; would the fact be of
+any importance?"
+
+"It would mean that we could save ourselves the trouble of looking for
+the coachman. And it would suggest some inferences, which will occur to
+you if you think the matter over. But being only a speculative opinion,
+at present, it would not be safe to infer very much from it."
+
+"You have rather taken me by surprise," I remarked. "It seems that you
+have been working at this Kennington case, and working pretty actively I
+imagine, whereas I supposed that your entire attention was taken up by
+the Blackmore affair."
+
+"It doesn't do," he replied, "to allow one's entire attention to be
+taken up by any one case. I have half a dozen others--minor cases,
+mostly--to which I am attending at this moment. Did you think I was
+proposing to keep you under lock and key indefinitely?"
+
+"Well, no. But I thought the Kennington case would have to wait its
+turn. And I had no idea that you were in possession of enough facts to
+enable you to get any farther with it."
+
+"But you knew all the very striking facts of the case, and you saw the
+further evidence that we extracted from the empty house."
+
+"Do you mean those things that we picked out from the rubbish under the
+grate?"
+
+"Yes. You saw those curious little pieces of reed and the pair of
+spectacles. They are lying in the top drawer of that cabinet at this
+moment, and I should recommend you to have another look at them. To me
+they are most instructive. The pieces of reed offered an extremely
+valuable suggestion, and the spectacles enabled me to test that
+suggestion and turn it into actual information."
+
+"Unfortunately," said I, "the pieces of reed convey nothing to me. I
+don't know what they are or of what they have formed a part."
+
+"I think," he replied, "that if you examine them with due consideration,
+you will find their use pretty obvious. Have a good look at them and the
+spectacles too. Think over all that you know of that mysterious group of
+people who lived in that house, and see if you cannot form some coherent
+theory of their actions. Think, also, if we have not some information in
+our possession by which we might be able to identify some of them, and
+infer the identity of the others. You will have a quiet day, as I shall
+not be home until the evening; set yourself this task. I assure you that
+you have the material for identifying--or rather for testing the
+identity of--at least one of those persons. Go over your material
+systematically, and let me know in the evening what further
+investigations you would propose."
+
+"Very well," said I. "It shall be done according to your word. I will
+addle my brain afresh with the affair of Mr. Weiss and his patient, and
+let the Blackmore case rip."
+
+"There is no need to do that. You have a whole day before you. An hour's
+really close consideration of the Kennington case ought to show you what
+your next move should be, and then you could devote yourself to the
+consideration of Jeffrey Blackmore's will."
+
+With this final piece of advice, Thorndyke collected the papers for his
+day's work, and, having deposited them in his brief bag, took his
+departure, leaving me to my meditations.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XIII
+
+The Statement of Samuel Wilkins
+
+
+As soon as I was alone, I commenced my investigations with a rather
+desperate hope of eliciting some startling and unsuspected facts. I
+opened the drawer and taking from it the two pieces of reed and the
+shattered remains of the spectacles, laid them on the table. The repairs
+that Thorndyke had contemplated in the case of the spectacles, had not
+been made. Apparently they had not been necessary. The battered wreck
+that lay before me, just as we had found it, had evidently furnished the
+necessary information; for, since Thorndyke was in possession of a
+portrait of Mr. Graves, it was clear that he had succeeded in
+identifying him so far as to get into communication with some one who
+had known him intimately.
+
+The circumstance should have been encouraging. But somehow it was not.
+What was possible to Thorndyke was, theoretically, possible to me--or to
+anyone else. But the possibility did not realize itself in practice.
+There was the personal equation. Thorndyke's brain was not an ordinary
+brain. Facts of which his mind instantly perceived the relation remained
+to other people unconnected and without meaning. His powers of
+observation and rapid inference were almost incredible, as I had noticed
+again and again, and always with undiminished wonder. He seemed to take
+in everything at a single glance and in an instant to appreciate the
+meaning of everything that he had seen.
+
+Here was a case in point. I had myself seen all that he had seen, and,
+indeed, much more; for I had looked on the very people and witnessed
+their actions, whereas he had never set eyes on any of them. I had
+examined the little handful of rubbish that he had gathered up so
+carefully, and would have flung it back under the grate without a qualm.
+Not a glimmer of light had I perceived in the cloud of mystery, nor even
+a hint of the direction in which to seek enlightenment. And yet
+Thorndyke had, in some incomprehensible manner, contrived to piece
+together facts that I had probably not even observed, and that so
+completely that he had already, in these few days, narrowed down the
+field of inquiry to quite a small area.
+
+From these reflections I returned to the objects on the table. The
+spectacles, as things of which I had some expert knowledge, were not so
+profound a mystery to me. A pair of spectacles might easily afford good
+evidence for identification; that I perceived clearly enough. Not a
+ready-made pair, picked up casually at a shop, but a pair constructed by
+a skilled optician to remedy a particular defect of vision and to fit a
+particular face. And such were the spectacles before me. The build of
+the frames was peculiar; the existence of a cylindrical lens--which I
+could easily make out from the remaining fragments--showed that one
+glass had been cut to a prescribed shape and almost certainly ground to
+a particular formula, and also that the distance between centres must
+have been carefully secured. Hence these spectacles had an individual
+character. But it was manifestly impossible to inquire of all the
+spectacle-makers in Europe--for the glasses were not necessarily made in
+England. As confirmation the spectacles might be valuable; as a
+starting-point they were of no use at all.
+
+From the spectacles I turned to the pieces of reed. These were what had
+given Thorndyke his start. Would they give me a leading hint too? I
+looked at them and wondered what it was that they had told Thorndyke.
+The little fragment of the red paper label had a dark-brown or thin
+black border ornamented with a fret-pattern, and on it I detected a
+couple of tiny points of gold like the dust from leaf-gilding. But I
+learned nothing from that. Then the shorter piece of reed was
+artificially hollowed to fit on the longer piece. Apparently it formed a
+protective sheath or cap. But what did it protect? Presumably a point or
+edge of some kind. Could this be a pocket-knife of any sort, such as a
+small stencil-knife? No; the material was too fragile for a
+knife-handle. It could not be an etching-needle for the same reason; and
+it was not a surgical appliance--at least it was not like any surgical
+instrument that was known to me.
+
+I turned it over and over and cudgelled my brains; and then I had a
+brilliant idea. Was it a reed pen of which the point had been broken
+off? I knew that reed pens were still in use by draughtsmen of
+decorative leanings with an affection for the "fat line." Could any of
+our friends be draughtsmen? This seemed the most probable solution of
+the difficulty, and the more I thought about it the more likely it
+seemed. Draughtsmen usually sign their work intelligibly, and even when
+they use a device instead of a signature their identity is easily
+traceable. Could it be that Mr. Graves, for instance, was an
+illustrator, and that Thorndyke had established his identity by looking
+through the works of all the well-known thick-line draughtsmen?
+
+This problem occupied me for the rest of the day. My explanation did not
+seem quite to fit Thorndyke's description of his methods; but I could
+think of no other. I turned it over during my solitary lunch; I
+meditated on it with the aid of several pipes in the afternoon; and
+having refreshed my brain with a cup of tea, I went forth to walk in the
+Temple gardens--which I was permitted to do without breaking my
+parole--to think it out afresh.
+
+The result was disappointing. I was basing my reasoning on the
+assumption that the pieces of reed were parts of a particular appliance,
+appertaining to a particular craft; whereas they might be the remains of
+something quite different, appertaining to a totally different craft or
+to no craft at all. And in no case did they point to any known
+individual or indicate any but the vaguest kind of search. After pacing
+the pleasant walks for upwards of two hours, I at length turned back
+towards our chambers, where I arrived as the lamp-lighter was just
+finishing his round.
+
+My fruitless speculations had left me somewhat irritable. The lighted
+windows that I had noticed as I approached had given me the impression
+that Thorndyke had returned. I had intended to press him for a little
+further information. When, therefore, I let myself into our chambers and
+found, instead of my colleague, a total stranger--and only a back view
+at that--I was disappointed and annoyed.
+
+The stranger was seated by the table, reading a large document that
+looked like a lease. He made no movement when I entered, but when I
+crossed the room and wished him "Good evening," he half rose and bowed
+silently. It was then that I first saw his face, and a mighty start he
+gave me. For one moment I actually thought he was Mr. Weiss, so close
+was the resemblance, but immediately I perceived that he was a much
+smaller man.
+
+I sat down nearly opposite and stole an occasional furtive glance at
+him. The resemblance to Weiss was really remarkable. The same flaxen
+hair, the same ragged beard and a similar red nose, with the patches of
+<i>acne rosacea</i> spreading to the adjacent cheeks. He wore spectacles,
+too, through which he took a quick glance at me now and again, returning
+immediately to his document.
+
+After some moments of rather embarrassing silence, I ventured to remark
+that it was a mild evening; to which he assented with a sort of Scotch
+"Hm--hm" and nodded slowly. Then came another interval of silence,
+during which I speculated on the possibility of his being a relative of
+Mr. Weiss and wondered what the deuce he was doing in our chambers.
+
+"Have you an appointment with Dr. Thorndyke?" I asked, at length.
+
+He bowed solemnly, and by way of reply--in the affirmative, as I
+assumed--emitted another "hm--hm."
+
+I looked at him sharply, a little nettled by his lack of manners;
+whereupon he opened out the lease so that it screened his face, and as I
+glanced at the back of the document, I was astonished to observe that it
+was shaking rapidly.
+
+The fellow was actually laughing! What he found in my simple question to
+cause him so much amusement I was totally unable to imagine. But there
+it was. The tremulous movements of the document left me in no possible
+doubt that he was for some reason convulsed with laughter.
+
+It was extremely mysterious. Also, it was rather embarrassing. I took
+out my pocket file and began to look over my notes. Then the document
+was lowered and I was able to get another look at the stranger's face.
+He was really extraordinarily like Weiss. The shaggy eyebrows, throwing
+the eye-sockets into shadow, gave him, in conjunction with the
+spectacles, the same owlish, solemn expression that I had noticed in my
+Kennington acquaintance; and which, by the way, was singularly out of
+character with the frivolous behaviour that I had just witnessed.
+
+From time to time as I looked at him, he caught my eye and instantly
+averted his own, turning rather red. Apparently he was a shy, nervous
+man, which might account for his giggling; for I have noticed that shy
+or nervous people have a habit of smiling inopportunely and even
+giggling when embarrassed by meeting an over-steady eye. And it seemed
+my own eye had this disconcerting quality, for even as I looked at him,
+the document suddenly went up again and began to shake violently.
+
+I stood it for a minute or two, but, finding the situation intolerably
+embarrassing, I rose, and brusquely excusing myself, went up to the
+laboratory to look for Polton and inquire at what time Thorndyke was
+expected home. To my surprise, however, on entering, I discovered
+Thorndyke himself just finishing the mounting of a microscopical
+specimen.
+
+"Did you know that there is some one below waiting to see you?" I asked.
+
+"Is it anyone you know?" he inquired.
+
+"No," I answered. "It is a red-nosed, sniggering fool in spectacles. He
+has got a lease or a deed or some other sort of document which he has
+been using to play a sort of idiotic game of Peep-Bo! I couldn't stand
+him, so I came up here."
+
+Thorndyke laughed heartily at my description of his client.
+
+"What are you laughing at?" I asked sourly; at which he laughed yet more
+heartily and added to the aggravation by wiping his eyes.
+
+"Our friend seems to have put you out," he remarked.
+
+"He put me out literally. If I had stayed much longer I should have
+punched his head."
+
+"In that case," said Thorndyke, "I am glad you didn't stay. But come
+down and let me introduce you."
+
+"No, thank you. I've had enough of him for the present."
+
+"But I have a very special reason for wishing to introduce you. I think
+you will get some information from him that will interest you very much;
+and you needn't quarrel with a man for being of a cheerful disposition."
+
+"Cheerful be hanged!" I exclaimed. "I don't call a man cheerful because
+he behaves like a gibbering idiot."
+
+To this Thorndyke made no reply but a broad and appreciative smile, and
+we descended to the lower floor. As we entered the room, the stranger
+rose, and, glancing in an embarrassed way from one of us to the other,
+suddenly broke out into an undeniable snigger. I looked at him sternly,
+and Thorndyke, quite unmoved by his indecorous behaviour, said in a
+grave voice:
+
+"Let me introduce you, Jervis; though I think you have met this
+gentleman before."
+
+"I think not," I said stiffly.
+
+"Oh yes, you have, sir," interposed the stranger; and, as he spoke, I
+started; for the voice was uncommonly like the familiar voice of Polton.
+
+I looked at the speaker with sudden suspicion. And now I could see that
+the flaxen hair was a wig; that the beard had a decidedly artificial
+look, and that the eyes that beamed through the spectacles were
+remarkably like the eyes of our factotum. But the blotchy face, the
+bulbous nose and the shaggy, overhanging eyebrows were alien features
+that I could not reconcile with the personality of our refined and
+aristocratic-looking little assistant.
+
+"Is this a practical joke?" I asked.
+
+"No," replied Thorndyke; "it is a demonstration. When we were talking
+this morning it appeared to me that you did not realize the extent to
+which it is possible to conceal identity under suitable conditions of
+light. So I arranged, with Polton's rather reluctant assistance, to give
+you ocular evidence. The conditions are not favourable--which makes the
+demonstration more convincing. This is a very well-lighted room and
+Polton is a very poor actor; in spite of which it has been possible for
+you to sit opposite him for several minutes and look at him, I have no
+doubt, very attentively, without discovering his identity. If the room
+had been lighted only with a candle, and Polton had been equal to the
+task of supporting his make-up with an appropriate voice and manner, the
+deception would have been perfect."
+
+"I can see that he has a wig on, quite plainly," said I.
+
+"Yes; but you would not in a dimly lighted room. On the other hand, if
+Polton were to walk down Fleet Street at mid-day in this condition, the
+make-up would be conspicuously evident to any moderately observant
+passer-by. The secret of making up consists in a careful adjustment to
+the conditions of light and distance in which the make-up is to be seen.
+That in use on the stage would look ridiculous in an ordinary room; that
+which would serve in an artificially lighted room would look ridiculous
+out of doors by daylight."
+
+"Is any effective make-up possible out of doors in ordinary daylight?" I
+asked.
+
+"Oh, yes," replied Thorndyke. "But it must be on a totally different
+scale from that of the stage. A wig, and especially a beard or
+moustache, must be joined up at the edges with hair actually stuck on
+the skin with transparent cement and carefully trimmed with scissors.
+The same applies to eyebrows; and alterations in the colour of the skin
+must be carried out much more subtly. Polton's nose has been built up
+with a small covering of toupée-paste, the pimples on the cheeks
+produced with little particles of the same material; and the general
+tinting has been done with grease-paint with a very light scumble of
+powder colour to take off some of the shine. This would be possible in
+outdoor make-up, but it would have to be done with the greatest care and
+delicacy; in fact, with what the art-critics call 'reticence.' A very
+little make-up is sufficient and too much is fatal. You would be
+surprised to see how little paste is required to alter the shape of the
+nose and the entire character of the face."
+
+At this moment there came a loud knock at the door; a single, solid dab
+of the knocker which Polton seemed to recognize, for he ejaculated:
+
+"Good lord, sir! That'll be Wilkins, the cabman! I'd forgotten all
+about him. Whatever's to be done?"
+
+He stared at us in ludicrous horror for a moment or two, and then,
+snatching off his wig, beard and spectacles, poked them into a cupboard.
+But his appearance was now too much even for Thorndyke--who hastily got
+behind him--for he had now resumed his ordinary personality--but with a
+very material difference.
+
+"Oh, it's nothing to laugh at, sir," he exclaimed indignantly as I
+crammed my handkerchief into my mouth. "Somebody's got to let him in, or
+he'll go away."
+
+"Yes; and that won't do," said Thorndyke. "But don't worry, Polton. You
+can step into the office. I'll open the door."
+
+Polton's presence of mind, however, seemed to have entirely forsaken
+him, for he only hovered irresolutely in the wake of his principal. As
+the door opened, a thick and husky voice inquired:
+
+"Gent of the name of Polton live here?"
+
+"Yes, quite right," said Thorndyke. "Come in. Your name is Wilkins, I
+think?"
+
+"That's me, sir," said the voice; and in response to Thorndyke's
+invitation, a typical "growler" cabman of the old school, complete even
+to imbricated cape and dangling badge, stalked into the room, and
+glancing round with a mixture of embarrassment and defiance, suddenly
+fixed on Polton's nose a look of devouring curiosity.
+
+"Here you are, then," Polton remarked nervously.
+
+"Yus," replied the cabman in a slightly hostile tone. "Here I am. What
+am I wanted to do? And where's this here Mr. Polton?"
+
+"I am Mr. Polton," replied our abashed assistant.
+
+"Well, it's the other Mr. Polton what I want," said the cabman, with his
+eyes still riveted on the olfactory prominence.
+
+"There isn't any other Mr. Polton," our subordinate replied irritably.
+"I am the--er--person who spoke to you in the shelter."
+
+"Are you though?" said the manifestly incredulous cabby. "I shouldn't
+have thought it; but you ought to know. What do you want me to do?"
+
+"We want you," said Thorndyke, "to answer one or two questions. And the
+first one is, Are you a teetotaller?"
+
+The question being illustrated by the production of a decanter, the
+cabman's dignity relaxed somewhat.
+
+"I ain't bigoted," said he.
+
+"Then sit down and mix yourself a glass of grog. Soda or plain water?"
+
+"May as well have all the extries," replied the cabman, sitting down and
+grasping the decanter with the air of a man who means business. "Per'aps
+you wouldn't mind squirtin' out the soda, sir, bein' more used to it."
+
+While these preliminaries were being arranged, Polton silently slipped
+out of the room, and when our visitor had fortified himself with a gulp
+of the uncommonly stiff mixture, the examination began.
+
+"Your name, I think, is Wilkins?" said Thorndyke.
+
+"That's me, sir. Samuel Wilkins is my name."
+
+"And your occupation?"
+
+"Is a very tryin' one and not paid for as it deserves. I drives a cab,
+sir; a four-wheeled cab is what I drives; and a very poor job it is."
+
+"Do you happen to remember a very foggy day about a month ago?"
+
+"Do I not, sir! A regler sneezer that was! Wednesday, the fourteenth of
+March. I remember the date because my benefit society came down on me
+for arrears that morning."
+
+"Will you tell us what happened to you between six and seven in the
+evening of that day?"
+
+"I will, sir," replied the cabman, emptying his tumbler by way of
+bracing himself up for the effort. "A little before six I was waiting on
+the arrival side of the Great Northern Station, King's Cross, when I see
+a gentleman and a lady coming out. The gentleman he looks up and down
+and then he sees me and walks up to the cab and opens the door and helps
+the lady in. Then he says to me: 'Do you know New Inn?' he says. That's
+what he says to me what was born and brought up in White Horse Alley,
+Drury Lane.
+
+"'Get inside,' says I.
+
+"'Well,' says he, 'you drive in through the gate in Wych Street,' he
+says, as if he expected me to go in by Houghton Street and down the
+steps, 'and then,' he says, 'you drive nearly to the end and you'll see
+a house with a large brass plate at the corner of the doorway. That's
+where we want to be set down,' he says, and with that he nips in and
+pulls up the windows and off we goes.
+
+"It took us a full half-hour to get to New Inn through the fog, for I
+had to get down and lead the horse part of the way. As I drove in under
+the archway, I saw it was half-past six by the clock in the porter's
+lodge. I drove down nearly to the end of the inn and drew up opposite a
+house where there was a big brass plate by the doorway. It was number
+thirty-one. Then the gent crawls out and hands me five bob--two
+'arf-crowns--and then he helps the lady out, and away they waddles to
+the doorway and I see them start up the stairs very slow--regler
+Pilgrim's Progress. And that was the last I see of 'em."
+
+Thorndyke wrote down the cabman's statement verbatim together with his
+own questions, and then asked:
+
+"Can you give us any description of the gentleman?"
+
+"The gent," said Wilkins, was a very respectable-looking gent, though he
+did look as if he'd had a drop of something short, and small blame to
+him on a day like that. But he was all there, and he knew what was the
+proper fare for a foggy evening, which is more than some of 'em do. He
+was a elderly gent, about sixty, and he wore spectacles, but he didn't
+seem to be able to see much through 'em. He was a funny 'un to look at;
+as round in the back as a turtle and he walked with his head stuck
+forward like a goose."
+
+"What made you think he had been drinking?"
+
+"Well, he wasn't as steady as he might have been on his pins. But he
+wasn't drunk, you know. Only a bit wobbly on the plates."
+
+"And the lady; what was she like?"
+
+"I couldn't see much of her because her head was wrapped up in a sort of
+woollen veil. But I should say she wasn't a chicken. Might have been
+about the same age as the gent, but I couldn't swear to that. She seemed
+a trifle rickety on the pins too; in fact they were a rum-looking
+couple. I watched 'em tottering across the pavement and up the stairs,
+hanging on to each other, him peering through his blinkers and she
+trying to see through her veil, and I thought it was a jolly good job
+they'd got a nice sound cab and a steady driver to bring 'em safe home."
+
+"How was the lady dressed?"
+
+"Can't rightly say, not being a hexpert. Her head was done up in this
+here veil like a pudden in a cloth and she had a small hat on. She had a
+dark brown mantle with a fringe of beads round it and a black dress; and
+I noticed when she got into the cab at the station that one of her
+stockings looked like the bellows of a concertina. That's all I can tell
+you."
+
+Thorndyke wrote down the last answer, and, having read the entire
+statement aloud, handed the pen to our visitor.
+
+"If that is all correct," he said, "I will ask you to sign your name at
+the bottom."
+
+"Do you want me to swear a affidavy that it's all true?" asked Wilkins.
+
+"No, thank you," replied Thorndyke. "We may have to call you to give
+evidence in court, and then you'll be sworn; and you'll also be paid for
+your attendance. For the present I want you to keep your own counsel and
+say nothing to anybody about having been here. We have to make some
+other inquiries and we don't want the affair talked about."
+
+"I see, sir," said Wilkins, as he laboriously traced his signature at
+the foot of the statement; "you don't want the other parties for to ogle
+your lay. All right, sir; you can depend on me. I'm fly, I am."
+
+"Thank you, Wilkins," said Thorndyke. "And now what are we to give you
+for your trouble in coming here?"
+
+"I'll leave the fare to you, sir. You know what the information's worth;
+but I should think 'arf a thick-un wouldn't hurt you."
+
+Thorndyke laid on the table a couple of sovereigns, at the sight of
+which the cabman's eyes glistened.
+
+"We have your address, Wilkins," said he. "If we want you as a witness
+we shall let you know, and if not, there will be another two pounds for
+you at the end of a fortnight, provided you have not let this little
+interview leak out."
+
+Wilkins gathered up the spoils gleefully. "You can trust me, sir," said
+he, "for to keep my mouth shut. I knows which side my bread's buttered.
+Good night, gentlemen all."
+
+With this comprehensive salute he moved towards the door and let
+himself out.
+
+"Well, Jervis; what do you think of it?" Thorndyke asked, as the
+cabman's footsteps faded away in a creaky diminuendo.
+
+"I don't know what to think. This woman is a new factor in the case and
+I don't know how to place her."
+
+"Not entirely new," said Thorndyke. "You have not forgotten those beads
+that we found in Jeffrey's bedroom, have you?"
+
+"No, I had not forgotten them, but I did not see that they told us much
+excepting that some woman had apparently been in his bedroom at some
+time."
+
+"That, I think, is all that they did tell us. But now they tell us that
+a particular woman was in his bedroom at a particular time, which is a
+good deal more significant."
+
+"Yes. It almost looks as if she must have been there when he made away
+with himself."
+
+"It does, very much."
+
+"By the way, you were right about the colours of those beads, and also
+about the way they were used."
+
+"As to their use, that was a mere guess; but it has turned out to be
+correct. It was well that we found the beads, for, small as is the
+amount of information they give, it is still enough to carry us a stage
+further."
+
+"How so?"
+
+"I mean that the cabman's evidence tells us only that this woman entered
+the house. The beads tell us that she was in the bedroom; which, as you
+say, seems to connect her to some extent with Jeffrey's death. Not
+necessarily, of course. It is only a suggestion; but a rather strong
+suggestion under the peculiar circumstances."
+
+"Even so," said I, "this new fact seems to me so far from clearing up
+the mystery, only to add to it a fresh element of still deeper mystery.
+The porter's evidence at the inquest could leave no doubt that Jeffrey
+contemplated suicide, and his preparations pointedly suggest this
+particular night as the time selected by him for doing away with
+himself. Is not that so?"
+
+"Certainly. The porter's evidence was very clear on that point."
+
+"Then I don't see where this woman comes in. It is obvious that her
+presence at the inn, and especially in the bedroom, on this occasion and
+in these strange, secret circumstances, has a rather sinister look; but
+yet I do not see in what way she could have been connected with the
+tragedy. Perhaps, after all, she has nothing to do with it. You remember
+that Jeffrey went to the lodge about eight o'clock, to pay his rent, and
+chatted for some time with the porter. That looks as if the lady had
+already left."
+
+"Yes," said Thorndyke. "But, on the other hand, Jeffrey's remarks to the
+porter with reference to the cab do not quite agree with the account
+that we have just heard from Wilkins. Which suggests--as does Wilkins's
+account generally--some secrecy as to the lady's visit to his chambers."
+
+"Do you know who the woman was?" I asked.
+
+"No, I don't know," he replied. "I have a rather strong suspicion that I
+can identify her, but I am waiting for some further facts."
+
+"Is your suspicion founded on some new matter that you have discovered,
+or is it deducible from facts that are known to me?"
+
+"I think," he replied, "that you know practically all that I know,
+although I have, in one instance, turned a very strong suspicion into a
+certainty by further inquiries. But I think you ought to be able to form
+some idea as to who this lady probably was."
+
+"But no woman has been mentioned in the case at all."
+
+"No; but I think you should be able to give this lady a name,
+notwithstanding."
+
+"Should I? Then I begin to suspect that I am not cut out for
+medico-legal practice, for I don't see the faintest glimmer of a
+suggestion."
+
+Thorndyke smiled benevolently. "Don't be discouraged, Jervis," said he.
+"I expect that when you first began to go round the wards, you doubted
+whether you were cut out for medical practice. I did. For special work
+one needs special knowledge and an acquired faculty for making use of
+it. What does a second year's student make of a small thoracic aneurysm?
+He knows the anatomy of the chest; he begins to know the normal heart
+sounds and areas of dullness; but he cannot yet fit his various items of
+knowledge together. Then comes the experienced physician and perhaps
+makes a complete diagnosis without any examination at all, merely from
+hearing the patient speak or cough. He has the same facts as the
+student, but he has acquired the faculty of instantly connecting an
+abnormality of function with its correleated anatomical change. It is a
+matter of experience. And, with your previous training, you will soon
+acquire the faculty. Try to observe everything. Let nothing escape you.
+And try constantly to find some connection between facts and events that
+seem to be unconnected. That is my advice to you; and with that we will
+put away the Blackmore case for the present and consider our day's work
+at an end."
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XIV
+
+Thorndyke Lays the Mine
+
+
+The information supplied by Mr. Samuel Wilkins, so far from dispelling
+the cloud of mystery that hung over the Blackmore case, only enveloped
+it in deeper obscurity, so far as I was concerned. The new problem that
+Thorndyke offered for solution was a tougher one than any of the others.
+He proposed that I should identify and give a name to this mysterious
+woman. But how could I? No woman, excepting Mrs. Wilson, had been
+mentioned in connection with the case. This new <i>dramatis persona</i> had
+appeared suddenly from nowhere and straightway vanished without leaving
+a trace, excepting the two or three beads that we had picked up in
+Jeffrey's room.
+
+Nor was it in the least clear what part, if any, she had played in the
+tragedy. The facts still pointed as plainly to suicide as before her
+appearance. Jeffrey's repeated hints as to his intentions, and the very
+significant preparations that he had made, were enough to negative any
+idea of foul play. And yet the woman's presence in the chambers at that
+time, the secret manner of her arrival and her precautions against
+recognition, strongly suggested some kind of complicity in the dreadful
+event that followed.
+
+But what complicity is possible in the case of suicide? The woman might
+have furnished him with the syringe and the poison, but it would not
+have been necessary for her to go to his chambers for that purpose.
+Vague ideas of persuasion and hypnotic suggestion floated through my
+brain; but the explanations did not fit the case and the hypnotic
+suggestion of crime is not very convincing to the medical mind. Then I
+thought of blackmail in connection with some disgraceful secret; but
+though this was a more hopeful suggestion, it was not very probable,
+considering Jeffrey's age and character.
+
+And all these speculations failed to throw the faintest light on the
+main question: "Who was this woman?"
+
+A couple of days passed, during which Thorndyke made no further
+reference to the case. He was, most of the time, away from home, though
+how he was engaged I had no idea. What was rather more unusual was that
+Polton seemed to have deserted the laboratory and taken to outdoor
+pursuits. I assumed that he had seized the opportunity of leaving me in
+charge, and I dimly surmised that he was acting as Thorndyke's private
+inquiry agent, as he seemed to have done in the case of Samuel Wilkins.
+
+On the evening of the second day Thorndyke came home in obviously good
+spirits, and his first proceedings aroused my expectant curiosity. He
+went to a cupboard and brought forth a box of Trichinopoly cheroots. Now
+the Trichinopoly cheroot was Thorndyke's one dissipation, to be enjoyed
+only on rare and specially festive occasions; which, in practice, meant
+those occasions on which he had scored some important point or solved
+some unusually tough problem. Wherefore I watched him with lively
+interest.
+
+"It's a pity that the 'Trichy' is such a poisonous beast," he remarked,
+taking up one of the cheroots and sniffing at it delicately. "There is
+no other cigar like it, to a really abandoned smoker." He laid the cigar
+back in the box and continued: "I think I shall treat myself to one
+after dinner to celebrate the occasion."
+
+"What occasion?" I asked.
+
+"The completion of the Blackmore case. I am just going to write to
+Marchmont advising him to enter a caveat."
+
+"Do you mean to say that you have discovered a flaw in the will, after
+all?"
+
+"A flaw!" he exclaimed. "My dear Jervis, that second will is a forgery."
+
+I stared at him in amazement; for his assertion sounded like nothing
+more or less than arrant nonsense.
+
+"But the thing is impossible, Thorndyke," I said. "Not only did the
+witnesses recognize their own signatures and the painter's greasy
+finger-marks, but they had both read the will and remembered its
+contents."
+
+"Yes; that is the interesting feature in the case. It is a very pretty
+problem. I shall give you a last chance to solve it. To-morrow evening
+we shall have to give a full explanation, so you have another
+twenty-four hours in which to think it over. And, meanwhile, I am going
+to take you to my club to dine. I think we shall be pretty safe there
+from Mrs. Schallibaum."
+
+He sat down and wrote a letter, which was apparently quite a short one,
+and having addressed and stamped it, prepared to go out.
+
+"Come," said he, "let us away to 'the gay and festive scenes and halls
+of dazzling light.' We will lay the mine in the Fleet Street pillar box.
+I should like to be in Marchmont's office when it explodes."
+
+"I expect, for that matter," said I, "that the explosion will be felt
+pretty distinctly in these chambers."
+
+"I expect so, too," replied Thorndyke; "and that reminds me that I shall
+be out all day to-morrow, so, if Marchmont calls, you must do all that
+you can to persuade him to come round after dinner and bring Stephen
+Blackmore, if possible. I am anxious to have Stephen here, as he will be
+able to give us some further information and confirm certain matters of
+fact."
+
+I promised to exercise my utmost powers of persuasion on Mr. Marchmont
+which I should certainly have done on my own account, being now on the
+very tiptoe of curiosity to hear Thorndyke's explanation of the
+unthinkable conclusion at which he had arrived--and the subject dropped
+completely; nor could I, during the rest of the evening, induce my
+colleague to reopen it even in the most indirect or allusive manner.
+
+Our explanations in respect of Mr. Marchmont were fully realized; for,
+on the following morning, within an hour of Thorndyke's departure from
+our chambers, the knocker was plied with more than usual emphasis, and,
+on my opening the door, I discovered the solicitor in company with a
+somewhat older gentleman. Mr. Marchmont appeared somewhat out of humour,
+while his companion was obviously in a state of extreme irritation.
+
+"How d'you do, Dr. Jervis?" said Marchmont as he entered at my
+invitation. "Your friend, I suppose, is not in just now?"
+
+"No; and he will not be returning until the evening."
+
+"Hm; I'm sorry. We wished to see him rather particularly. This is my
+partner, Mr. Winwood."
+
+The latter gentleman bowed stiffly and Marchmont continued:
+
+"We have had a letter from Dr. Thorndyke, and it is, I may say, a rather
+curious letter; in fact, a very singular letter indeed."
+
+"It is the letter of a madman!" growled Mr. Winwood.
+
+"No, no, Winwood; nothing of the kind. Control yourself, I beg you. But
+really, the letter is rather incomprehensible. It relates to the will of
+the late Jeffrey Blackmore--you know the main facts of the case; and we
+cannot reconcile it with those facts."
+
+"This is the letter," exclaimed Mr. Winwood, dragging the document from
+his wallet and slapping it down on the table. "If you are acquainted
+with the case, sir, just read that, and let us hear what <i>you</i> think."
+
+I took up the letter and read aloud:
+
+"JEFFREY BLACKMORE, DECD.
+
+"DEAR MR. MARCHMONT,--
+
+"I have gone into this case with great care and have now no doubt that
+the second will is a forgery. Criminal proceedings will, I think, be
+inevitable, but meanwhile it would be wise to enter a caveat.
+
+"If you could look in at my chambers to-morrow evening we could talk the
+case over; and I should be glad if you could bring Mr. Stephen
+Blackmore; whose personal knowledge of the events and the parties
+concerned would be of great assistance in clearing up obscure details.
+
+"I am,
+
+"Yours sincerely,
+
+"JOHN EVELYN THORNDYKE
+
+"C.F. MARCHMONT, ESQ."
+
+"Well!" exclaimed Mr. Winwood, glaring ferociously at me, "what do you
+think of the learned counsel's opinion?"
+
+"I knew that Thorndyke was writing to you to this effect," I replied,
+"but I must frankly confess that I can make nothing of it. Have you
+acted on his advice?"
+
+"Certainly not!" shouted the irascible lawyer. "Do you suppose that we
+wish to make ourselves the laughing-stock of the courts? The thing is
+impossible--ridiculously impossible!"
+
+"It can't be that, you know," I said, a little stiffly, for I was
+somewhat nettled by Mr. Winwood's manner, "or Thorndyke would not have
+written this letter. The conclusion looks as impossible to me as it does
+to you; but I have complete confidence in Thorndyke. If he says that the
+will is a forgery, I have no doubt that it is a forgery."
+
+"But how the deuce can it be?" roared Winwood. "You know the
+circumstances under which the will was executed."
+
+"Yes; but so does Thorndyke. And he is not a man who overlooks important
+facts. It is useless to argue with me. I am in a complete fog about the
+case myself. You had better come in this evening and talk it over with
+him as he suggests."
+
+"It is very inconvenient," grumbled Mr. Winwood. "We shall have to dine
+in town."
+
+"Yes," said Marchmont, "but it is the only thing to be done. As Dr.
+Jervis says, we must take it that Thorndyke has something solid to base
+his opinion on. He doesn't make elementary mistakes. And, of course, if
+what he says is correct, Mr. Stephen's position is totally changed."
+
+"Bah!" exclaimed Winwood, "he has found a mare's nest, I tell you.
+Still, I agree that the explanation should be worth hearing."
+
+"You mustn't mind Winwood," said Marchmont, in an apologetic undertone;
+"he's a peppery old fellow with a rough tongue, but he doesn't mean any
+harm." Which statement Winwood assented to--or dissented from; for it
+was impossible to say which--by a prolonged growl.
+
+"We shall expect you then," I said, "about eight to-night, and you will
+try to bring Mr. Stephen with you?"
+
+"Yes," replied Marchmont; "I think we can promise that he shall come
+with us. I have sent him a telegram asking him to attend."
+
+With this the two lawyers took their departure, leaving me to meditate
+upon my colleague's astonishing statement; which I did, considerably to
+the prejudice of other employment. That Thorndyke would be able to
+justify the opinion that he had given, I had no doubt whatever; but yet
+there was no denying that his proposition was what Mr. Dick Swiveller
+would call "a staggerer."
+
+When Thorndyke returned, I informed him of the visit of our two friends,
+and acquainted him with the sentiments that they had expressed; whereat
+he smiled with quiet amusement.
+
+"I thought," he remarked, "that letter would bring Marchmont to our door
+before long. As to Winwood, I have never met him, but I gather that he
+is one of those people whom you 'mustn't mind.' In a general way, I
+object to people who tacitly claim exemption from the ordinary rules of
+conduct that are held to be binding on their fellows. But, as he
+promises to give us what the variety artists call 'an extra turn,' we
+will make the best of him and give him a run for his money."
+
+Here Thorndyke smiled mischievously--I understood the meaning of that
+smile later in the evening--and asked: "What do you think of the affair
+yourself?"
+
+"I have given it up," I answered. "To my paralysed brain, the Blackmore
+case is like an endless algebraical problem propounded by an insane
+mathematician."
+
+Thorndyke laughed at my comparison, which I flatter myself was a rather
+apt one.
+
+"Come and dine," said he, "and let us crack a bottle, that our hearts
+may not turn to water under the frown of the disdainful Winwood. I think
+the old 'Bell' in Holborn will meet our present requirements better than
+the club. There is something jovial and roystering about an ancient
+tavern; but we must keep a sharp lookout for Mrs. Schallibaum."
+
+Thereupon we set forth; and, after a week's close imprisonment, I once
+more looked upon the friendly London streets, the cheerfully lighted
+shop windows and the multitudes of companionable strangers who moved
+unceasingly along the pavements.
+
+
+
+Chapter XV
+
+Thorndyke Explodes the Mine
+
+
+We had not been back in our chambers more than a few minutes when the
+little brass knocker on the inner door rattled out its summons.
+Thorndyke himself opened the door, and, finding our three expected
+visitors on the threshold, he admitted them and closed the "oak."
+
+"We have accepted your invitation, you see," said Marchmont, whose
+manner was now a little flurried and uneasy. "This is my partner, Mr.
+Winwood; you haven't met before, I think. Well, we thought we should
+like to hear some further particulars from you, as we could not quite
+understand your letter."
+
+"My conclusion, I suppose," said Thorndyke, "was a little unexpected?"
+
+"It was more than that, sir," exclaimed Winwood. "It was absolutely
+irreconcilable either with the facts of the case or with common physical
+possibilities."
+
+"At the first glance," Thorndyke agreed, "it would probably have that
+appearance."
+
+"It has that appearance still to me." said Winwood, growing suddenly red
+and wrathful, "and I may say that I speak as a solicitor who was
+practising in the law when you were an infant in arms. You tell us, sir,
+that this will is a forgery; this will, which was executed in broad
+daylight in the presence of two unimpeachable witnesses who have sworn,
+not only to their signatures and the contents of the document, but to
+their very finger-marks on the paper. Are those finger-marks forgeries,
+too? Have you examined and tested them?"
+
+"I have not," replied Thorndyke. "The fact is they are of no interest to
+me, as I am not disputing the witnesses' signatures."
+
+At this, Mr. Winwood fairly danced with irritation.
+
+"Marchmont!" he exclaimed fiercely, "you know this good gentleman, I
+believe. Tell me, is he addicted to practical jokes?"
+
+"Now, my dear Winwood," groaned Marchmont, "I pray you--I beg you to
+control yourself. No doubt--"
+
+"But confound it!" roared Winwood, "you have, yourself, heard him say
+that the will is a forgery, but that he doesn't dispute the signatures;
+which," concluded Winwood, banging his fist down on the table, "is
+damned nonsense."
+
+"May I suggest," interposed Stephen Blackmore, "that we came here to
+receive Dr. Thorndyke's explanation of his letter. Perhaps it would be
+better to postpone any comments until we have heard it."
+
+"Undoubtedly, undoubtedly," said Marchmont. "Let me entreat you,
+Winwood, to listen patiently and refrain from interruption until we have
+heard our learned friend's exposition of the case."
+
+"Oh, very well," Winwood replied sulkily; "I'll say no more."
+
+He sank into a chair with the manner of a man who shuts himself up and
+turns the key; and so remained--excepting when the internal pressure
+approached bursting-point--throughout the subsequent proceedings,
+silent, stony and impassive, like a seated statue of Obstinacy.
+
+"I take it," said Marchmont, "that you have some new facts that are not
+in our possession?"
+
+"Yes," replied Thorndyke; "we have some new facts, and we have made some
+new use of the old ones. But how shall I lay the case before you? Shall
+I state my theory of the sequence of events and furnish the verification
+afterwards? Or shall I retrace the actual course of my investigations
+and give you the facts in the order in which I obtained them myself,
+with the inferences from them?"
+
+"I almost think," said Mr. Marchmont, "that it would be better if you
+would put us in possession of the new facts. Then, if the conclusions
+that follow from them are not sufficiently obvious, we could hear the
+argument. What do you say, Winwood?"
+
+Mr. Winwood roused himself for an instant, barked out the one word
+"Facts," and shut himself up again with a snap.
+
+"You would like to have the new facts by themselves?" said Thorndyke.
+
+"If you please. The facts only, in the first place, at any rate."
+
+"Very well," said Thorndyke; and here I caught his eye with a
+mischievous twinkle in it that I understood perfectly; for I had most of
+the facts myself and realized how much these two lawyers were likely to
+extract from them. Winwood was going to "have a run for his money," as
+Thorndyke had promised.
+
+My colleague, having placed on the table by his side a small cardboard
+box and the sheets of notes from his file, glanced quickly at Mr.
+Winwood and began:
+
+"The first important new facts came into my possession on the day on
+which you introduced the case to me. In the evening, after you left, I
+availed myself of Mr. Stephen's kind invitation to look over his uncle's
+chambers in New Inn. I wished to do so in order to ascertain, if
+possible, what had been the habits of the deceased during his residence
+there. When I arrived with Dr. Jervis, Mr. Stephen was in the chambers,
+and I learned from him that his uncle was an Oriental scholar of some
+position and that he had a very thorough acquaintance with the cuneiform
+writing. Now, while I was talking with Mr. Stephen I made a very curious
+discovery. On the wall over the fire-place hung a large framed
+photograph of an ancient Persian inscription in the cuneiform character;
+and that photograph was upside down."
+
+"Upside down!" exclaimed Stephen. "But that is really very odd."
+
+"Very odd indeed," agreed Thorndyke, "and very suggestive. The way in
+which it came to be inverted is pretty obvious and also rather
+suggestive. The photograph had evidently been in the frame some years
+but had apparently never been hung up before."
+
+"It had not," said Stephen, "though I don't know how you arrived at the
+fact. It used to stand on the mantelpiece in his old rooms in Jermyn
+Street."
+
+"Well," continued Thorndyke, "the frame-maker had pasted his label on
+the back of the frame, and as this label hung the right way up, it
+appeared as if the person who fixed the photograph on the wall had
+adopted it as a guide."
+
+"It is very extraordinary," said Stephen. "I should have thought the
+person who hung it would have asked Uncle Jeffrey which was the right
+way up; and I can't imagine how on earth it could have hung all those
+months without his noticing it. He must have been practically blind."
+
+Here Marchmont, who had been thinking hard, with knitted brows, suddenly
+brightened up.
+
+"I see your point," said he. "You mean that if Jeffrey was as blind as
+that, it would have been possible for some person to substitute a false
+will, which he might sign without noticing the substitution."
+
+"That wouldn't make the will a forgery," growled Winwood. "If Jeffrey
+signed it, it was Jeffrey's will. You could contest it if you could
+prove the fraud. But he said: 'This is my will,' and the two witnesses
+read it and have identified it."
+
+"Did they read it aloud?" asked Stephen.
+
+"No, they did not," replied Thorndyke.
+
+"Can you prove substitution?" asked Marchmont.
+
+"I haven't asserted it," answered Thorndyke, "My position is that the
+will is a forgery."
+
+"But it is not," said Winwood.
+
+"We won't argue it now," said Thorndyke. "I ask you to note the fact
+that the inscription was upside down. I also observed on the walls of
+the chambers some valuable Japanese colour-prints on which were recent
+damp-spots. I noted that the sitting-room had a gas-stove and that the
+kitchen contained practically no stores or remains of food and hardly
+any traces of even the simplest cooking. In the bedroom I found a large
+box that had contained a considerable stock of hard stearine candles,
+six to the pound, and that was now nearly empty. I examined the clothing
+of the deceased. On the soles of the boots I observed dried mud, which
+was unlike that on my own and Jervis's boots, from the gravelly square
+of the inn. I noted a crease on each leg of the deceased man's trousers
+as if they had been turned up half-way to the knee; and in the waistcoat
+pocket I found the stump of a 'Contango' pencil. On the floor of the
+bedroom, I found a portion of an oval glass somewhat like that of a
+watch or locket, but ground at the edge to a double bevel. Dr. Jervis
+and I also found one or two beads and a bugle, all of dark brown glass."
+
+Here Thorndyke paused, and Marchmont, who had been gazing at him with
+growing amazement, said nervously:
+
+"Er--yes. Very interesting. These observations of yours--er--are--"
+
+"Are all the observations that I made at New Inn."
+
+The two lawyers looked at one another and Stephen Blackmore stared
+fixedly at a spot on the hearth-rug. Then Mr. Winwood's face contorted
+itself into a sour, lopsided smile.
+
+"You might have observed a good many other things, sir," said he, "if
+you had looked. If you had examined the doors, you would have noted that
+they had hinges and were covered with paint; and, if you had looked up
+the chimney you might have noted that it was black inside."
+
+"Now, now, Winwood," protested Marchmont in an agony of uneasiness as to
+what his partner might say next, "I must really beg you--er--to refrain
+from--what Mr. Winwood means, Dr. Thorndyke, is that--er--we do not
+quite perceive the relevancy of these--ah--observations of yours."
+
+"Probably not," said Thorndyke, "but you will perceive their relevancy
+later. For the present, I will ask you to note the facts and bear them
+in mind, so that you may be able to follow the argument when we come to
+that.
+
+"The next set of data I acquired on the same evening, when Dr. Jervis
+gave me a detailed account of a very strange adventure that befell him.
+I need not burden you with all the details, but I will give you the
+substance of his story."
+
+He then proceeded to recount the incidents connected with my visits to
+Mr. Graves, dwelling on the personal peculiarities of the parties
+concerned and especially of the patient, and not even forgetting the
+very singular spectacles worn by Mr. Weiss. He also explained briefly
+the construction of the chart, presenting the latter for the inspection
+of his hearers. To this recital our three visitors listened in utter
+bewilderment, as, indeed did I also; for I could not conceive in what
+way my adventures could possibly be related to the affairs of the late
+Mr. Blackmore. This was manifestly the view taken by Mr. Marchmont, for,
+during a pause in which the chart was handed to him, he remarked
+somewhat stiffly:
+
+"I am assuming, Dr. Thorndyke, that the curious story you are telling us
+has some relevance to the matter in which we are interested."
+
+"You are quite correct in your assumption," replied Thorndyke. "The
+story is very relevant indeed, as you will presently be convinced."
+
+"Thank you," said Marchmont, sinking back once more into his chair with
+a sigh of resignation.
+
+"A few days ago," pursued Thorndyke, "Dr. Jervis and I located, with the
+aid of this chart, the house to which he had been called. We found that
+the late tenant had left somewhat hurriedly and that the house was to
+let; and, as no other kind of investigation was possible, we obtained
+the keys and made an exploration of the premises."
+
+Here he gave a brief account of our visit and the conditions that we
+observed, and was proceeding to furnish a list of the articles that we
+had found under the grate, when Mr. Winwood started from his chair.
+
+"Really, sir!" he exclaimed, "this is too much! Have I come here, at
+great personal inconvenience, to hear you read the inventory of a
+dust-heap?"
+
+Thorndyke smiled benevolently and caught my eye, once more, with a gleam
+of amusement.
+
+"Sit down, Mr. Winwood," he said quietly. "You came here to learn the
+facts of the case, and I am giving them to you. Please don't interrupt
+needlessly and waste time."
+
+Winwood stared at him ferociously for several seconds; then, somewhat
+disconcerted by the unruffled calm of his manner, he uttered a snort of
+defiance, sat down heavily and shut himself up again.
+
+"We will now," Thorndyke continued, with unmoved serenity, "consider
+these relics in more detail, and we will begin with this pair of
+spectacles. They belonged to a person who was near-sighted and
+astigmatic in the left eye and almost certainly blind in the right. Such
+a description agrees entirely with Dr. Jervis's account of the sick
+man."
+
+He paused for the moment, and then, as no one made any comment,
+proceeded:
+
+"We next come to these little pieces of reed, which you, Mr. Stephen,
+will probably recognize as the remains of a Japanese brush, such as is
+used for writing in Chinese ink or for making small drawings."
+
+Again he paused, as though expecting some remark from his listeners; but
+no one spoke, and he continued:
+
+"Then there is this bottle with the theatrical wig-maker's label on it,
+which once contained cement such as is used for fixing on false beards,
+moustaches or eyebrows."
+
+He paused once more and looked round expectantly at his audience, none
+of whom, however, volunteered any remark.
+
+"Do none of these objects that I have described and shown you, seem to
+have any significance for us?" he asked, in a tone of some surprise.
+
+"They convey nothing to me," said Mr. Marchmont, glancing at his
+partner, who shook his head like a restive horse.
+
+"Nor to you, Mr. Stephen?"
+
+"No," replied Stephen. "Under the existing circumstances they convey no
+reasonable suggestion to me."
+
+Thorndyke hesitated as if he were half inclined to say something more;
+then, with a slight shrug, he turned over his notes and resumed:
+
+"The next group of new facts is concerned with the signatures of the
+recent cheques. We have photographed them and placed them together for
+the purpose of comparison and analysis."
+
+"I am not prepared to question the signatures." said Winwood. "We have
+had a highly expert opinion, which would override ours in a court of law
+even if we differed from it; which I think we do not."
+
+"Yes," said Marchmont; "that is so. I think we must accept the
+signatures, especially as that of the will has been proved, beyond any
+question" to be authentic."
+
+"Very well," agreed Thorndyke; "we will pass over the signatures. Then
+we have some further evidence in regard to the spectacles, which serves
+to verify our conclusions respecting them."
+
+"Perhaps," said Marchmont, "we might pass over that, too, as we do not
+seem to have reached any conclusions."
+
+"As you please," said Thorndyke. "It is important, but we can reserve it
+for verification. The next item will interest you more, I think. It is
+the signed and witnessed statement of Samuel Wilkins, the driver of the
+cab in which the deceased came home to the inn on the evening of his
+death."
+
+My colleague was right. An actual document, signed by a tangible
+witness, who could be put in the box and sworn, brought both lawyers to
+a state of attention; and when Thorndyke read out the cabman's evidence,
+their attention soon quickened into undisguised astonishment.
+
+"But this is a most mysterious affair," exclaimed Marchmont. "Who could
+this woman have been, and what could she have been doing in Jeffrey's
+chambers at this time? Can you throw any light on it, Mr. Stephen?"
+
+"No, indeed I can't," replied Stephen. "It is a complete mystery to me.
+My uncle Jeffrey was a confirmed old bachelor, and, although he did not
+dislike women, he was far from partial to their society, wrapped up as
+he was in his favourite studies. To the best of my belief, he had not a
+single female friend. He was not on intimate terms even with his sister,
+Mrs. Wilson."
+
+"Very remarkable," mused Marchmont; "most remarkable. But, perhaps, you
+can tell us, Dr. Thorndyke, who this woman was?"
+
+"I think," replied Thorndyke, "that the next item of evidence will
+enable you to form an opinion for yourselves. I only obtained it
+yesterday, and, as it made my case quite complete, I wrote off to you
+immediately. It is the statement of Joseph Ridley, another cabman, and
+unfortunately, a rather dull, unobservant fellow, unlike Wilkins. He has
+not much to tell us, but what little he has is highly instructive. Here
+is the statement, signed by the deponent and witnessed by me:
+
+"'My name is Joseph Ridley. I am the driver of a four-wheeled cab. On
+the fourteenth of March, the day of the great fog, I was waiting at
+Vauxhall Station, where I had just set down a fare. About five o'clock a
+lady came and told me to drive over to Upper Kennington Lane to take up
+a passenger. She was a middle-sized woman. I could not tell what her age
+was, or what she was like, because her head was wrapped up in a sort of
+knitted, woollen veil to keep out the fog. I did not notice how she was
+dressed. She got into the cab and I led the horse over to Upper
+Kennington Lane and a little way up the lane, until the lady tapped at
+the front window for me to stop.
+
+"'She got out of the cab and told me to wait. Then she went away and
+disappeared in the fog. Presently a lady and gentleman came from the
+direction in which she had gone. The lady looked like the same lady, but
+I won't answer to that. Her head was wrapped up in the same kind of veil
+or shawl, and I noticed that she had on a dark coloured mantle with
+bead fringe on it.
+
+"'The gentleman was clean shaved and wore spectacles, and he stooped a
+good deal. I can't say whether his sight was good or bad. He helped the
+lady into the cab and told me to drive to the Great Northern Station,
+King's Cross. Then he got in himself and I drove off. I got to the
+station about a quarter to six and the lady and gentleman got out. The
+gentleman paid my fare and they both went into the station. I did not
+notice anything unusual about either of them. Directly after they had
+gone, I got a fresh fare and drove away.'
+
+"That," Thorndyke concluded, "is Joseph Ridley's statement; and I think
+it will enable you to give a meaning to the other facts that I have
+offered for your consideration."
+
+"I am not so sure about that," said Marchmont. "It is all exceedingly
+mysterious. Your suggestion is, of course, that the woman who came to
+New Inn in the cab was Mrs. Schallibaum!"
+
+"Not at all," replied Thorndyke. "My suggestion is that the woman was
+Jeffrey Blackmore."
+
+There was deathly silence for a few moments. We were all absolutely
+thunderstruck, and sat gaping at Thorndyke in speechless-astonishment.
+Then--Mr. Winwood fairly bounced out of his chair.
+
+"But--my--good--sir!" he screeched. "Jeffrey Blackmore was with her at
+the time!"
+
+"Naturally," replied Thorndyke, "my suggestion implies that the person
+who was with her was not Jeffrey Blackmore."
+
+"But he was!" bawled Winwood. "The porter saw him!"
+
+"The porter saw a person whom he believed to be Jeffrey Blackmore. I
+suggest that the porter's belief was erroneous."
+
+"Well," snapped Winwood, "perhaps you can prove that it was. I don't see
+how you are going to; but perhaps you can."
+
+He subsided once more into his chair and glared defiantly at Thorndyke.
+
+"You seemed," said Stephen, "to suggest some connection between the sick
+man, Graves, and my uncle. I noted it at the time, but put it aside as
+impossible. Was I right. Did you mean to suggest any connection?"
+
+"I suggest something more than a connection. I suggest identity. My
+position is that the sick man, Graves, was your uncle."
+
+"From Dr. Jervis's description," said Stephen, "this man must have been
+very like my uncle. Both were blind in the right eye and had very poor
+vision with the left; and my uncle certainly used brushes of the kind
+that you have shown us, when writing in the Japanese character, for I
+have watched him and admired his skill; but--"
+
+"But," said Marchmont, "there is the insuperable objection that, at the
+very time when this man was lying sick in Kennington Lane, Mr. Jeffrey
+was living at New Inn."
+
+"What evidence is there of that?" asked Thorndyke.
+
+"Evidence!" Marchmont exclaimed impatiently. "Why, my dear sir--"
+
+He paused suddenly, and, leaning forward, regarded Thorndyke with a new
+and rather startled expression.
+
+"You mean to suggest--" he began.
+
+"I suggest that Jeffrey Blackmore never lived at New Inn at all."
+
+For the moment, Marchmont seemed absolutely paralysed by astonishment.
+
+"This is an amazing proposition!" he exclaimed, at length. "Yet the
+thing is certainly not impossible, for, now that you recall the fact, I
+realize that no one who had known him previously--excepting his brother,
+John--ever saw him at the inn. The question of identity was never
+raised."
+
+"Excepting," said Mr. Winwood, "in regard to the body; which was
+certainly that of Jeffrey Blackmore."
+
+"Yes, yes. Of course," said Marchmont. "I had forgotten that for the
+moment. The body was identified beyond doubt. You don't dispute the
+identity of the body, do you?"
+
+"Certainly not," replied Thorndyke.
+
+Here Mr. Winwood grasped his hair with both hands and stuck his elbows
+on his knees, while Marchmont drew forth a large handkerchief and mopped
+his forehead. Stephen Blackmore looked from one to the other
+expectantly, and finally said:
+
+"If I might make a suggestion, it would be that, as Dr. Thorndyke has
+shown us the pieces now of the puzzle, he should be so kind as to put
+them together for our information."
+
+"Yes," agreed Marchmont, "that will be the best plan. Let us have the
+argument, Doctor, and any additional evidence that you possess."
+
+"The argument," said Thorndyke, "will be a rather long one, as the data
+are so numerous, and there are some points in verification on which I
+shall have to dwell in some detail. We will have some coffee to clear
+our brains, and then I will bespeak your patience for what may seem like
+a rather prolix demonstration."
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XVI
+
+An Exposition and a Tragedy
+
+
+"You may have wondered," Thorndyke commenced, when he had poured out the
+coffee and handed round the cups, "what induced me to undertake the
+minute investigation of so apparently simple and straightforward a case.
+Perhaps I had better explain that first and let you see what was the
+real starting-point of the inquiry.
+
+"When you, Mr. Marchmont and Mr. Stephen, introduced the case to me, I
+made a very brief précis of the facts as you presented them, and of
+these there were one or two which immediately attracted my attention. In
+the first place, there was the will. It was a very strange will. It was
+perfectly unnecessary. It contained no new matter; it expressed no
+changed intentions; it met no new circumstances, as known to the
+testator. In short it was not really a new will at all, but merely a
+repetition of the first one, drafted in different and less suitable
+language. It differed only in introducing a certain ambiguity from which
+the original was free. It created the possibility that, in certain
+circumstances, not known to or anticipated by the testator, John
+Blackmore might become the principal beneficiary, contrary to the
+obvious wishes of the testator.
+
+"The next point that impressed me was the manner of Mrs. Wilson's death.
+She died of cancer. Now people do not die suddenly and unexpectedly of
+cancer. This terrible disease stands almost alone in that it marks out
+its victim months in advance. A person who has an incurable cancer is a
+person whose death may be predicted with certainty and its date fixed
+within comparatively narrow limits.
+
+"And now observe the remarkable series of coincidences that are brought
+into light when we consider this peculiarity of the disease. Mrs. Wilson
+died on the twelfth of March of this present year. Mr. Jeffrey's second
+will was signed on the twelfth of November of last year; at a time, that
+is to say, when the existence of cancer must have been known to Mrs.
+Wilson's doctor, and might have been known to any of her relatives who
+chose to inquire after her.
+
+"Then you will observe that the remarkable change in Mr. Jeffrey's
+habits coincides in the most singular way with the same events. The
+cancer must have been detectable as early as September of last year;
+about the time, in fact, at which Mrs. Wilson made her will. Mr. Jeffrey
+went to the inn at the beginning of October. From that time his habits
+were totally changed, and I can demonstrate to you that a change--not a
+gradual, but an abrupt change--took place in the character of his
+signature.
+
+"In short, the whole of this peculiar set of circumstances--the change
+in Jeffrey's habits, the change in his signature, and the execution of
+his strange will--came into existence about the time when Mrs. Wilson
+was first known to be suffering from cancer.
+
+"This struck me as a very suggestive fact.
+
+"Then there is the extraordinarily opportune date of Mr. Jeffrey's
+death. Mrs. Wilson died on the twelfth of March. Mr. Jeffrey was found
+dead on the fifteenth of March, having apparently died on the
+fourteenth, on which day he was seen alive. If he had died only three
+days sooner, he would have predeceased Mrs. Wilson, and her property
+would never have devolved on him at all; while, if he had lived only a
+day or two longer, he would have learned of her death and would
+certainly have made a new will or codicil in his nephew's favour.
+
+"Circumstances, therefore, conspired in the most singular manner in
+favour of John Blackmore.
+
+"But there is yet another coincidence. Jeffrey's body was found, by the
+merest chance, the day after his death. But it might have remained
+undiscovered for weeks, or even months; and if it had, it would have
+been impossible to fix the date of his death. Then Mrs. Wilson's next
+of kin would certainly have contested John Blackmore's claim--and
+probably with success--on the ground that Jeffrey died before Mrs.
+Wilson. But all this uncertainty is provided for by the circumstance
+that Mr. Jeffrey paid his rent personally--and prematurely--to the
+porter on the fourteenth of March, thus establishing beyond question the
+fact that he was alive on that date; and yet further, in case the
+porter's memory should be untrustworthy or his statement doubted,
+Jeffrey furnished a signed and dated document--the cheque--which could
+be produced in a court to furnish incontestable proof of survival.
+
+"To sum up this part of the evidence. Here was a will which enabled John
+Blackmore to inherit the fortune of a man who, almost certainly, had no
+intention of bequeathing it to him. The wording of that will seemed to
+be adjusted to the peculiarities of Mrs. Wilson's disease; and the death
+of the testator occurred under a peculiar set of circumstances which
+seemed to be exactly adjusted to the wording of the will. Or, to put it
+in another way: the wording of the will and the time, the manner and the
+circumstances of the testator's death, all seemed to be precisely
+adjusted to the fact that the approximate date of Mrs. Wilson's death
+was known some months before it occurred.
+
+"Now you must admit that this compound group of coincidences, all
+conspiring to a single end--the enrichment of John Blackmore--has a very
+singular appearance. Coincidences are common enough in real life; but
+we cannot accept too many at a time. My feeling was that there were too
+many in this case and that I could not accept them without searching
+inquiry."
+
+Thorndyke paused, and Mr. Marchmont, who had listened with close
+attention, nodded, as he glanced at his silent partner.
+
+"You have stated the case with remarkable clearness," he said; "and I am
+free to confess that some of the points that you have raised had escaped
+my notice."
+
+"My first idea," Thorndyke resumed, "was that John Blackmore, taking
+advantage of the mental enfeeblement produced by the opium habit, had
+dictated this will to Jeffrey, It was then that I sought permission to
+inspect Jeffrey's chambers; to learn what I could about him and to see
+for myself whether they presented the dirty and disorderly appearance
+characteristic of the regular opium-smoker's den. But when, during a
+walk into the City, I thought over the case, it seemed to me that this
+explanation hardly met the facts. Then I endeavoured to think of some
+other explanation; and looking over my notes I observed two points that
+seemed worth considering. One was that neither of the witnesses to the
+will was really acquainted with Jeffrey Blackmore; both being strangers
+who had accepted his identity on his own statement. The other was that
+no one who had previously known him, with the single exception of his
+brother John, had ever seen Jeffrey at the inn.
+
+"What was the import of these two facts? Probably they had none. But
+still they suggested the desirability of considering the question: Was
+the person who signed the will really Jeffrey Blackmore? The contrary
+supposition--that some one had personated Jeffrey and forged his
+signature to a false will--seemed wildly improbable, especially in view
+of the identification of the body; but it involved no actual
+impossibility; and it offered a complete explanation of the, otherwise
+inexplicable, coincidences that I have mentioned.
+
+"I did not, however, for a moment, think that this was the true
+explanation, but I resolved to bear it in mind, to test it when the
+opportunity arose, and consider it by the light of any fresh facts that
+I might acquire.
+
+"The new facts came sooner than I had expected. That same evening I went
+with Dr. Jervis to New Inn and found Mr. Stephen in the chambers. By him
+I was informed that Jeffrey was a learned Orientalist, with a quite
+expert knowledge of the cuneiform writing; and even as he was telling me
+this, I looked over his shoulder and saw a cuneiform inscription hanging
+on the wall upside down.
+
+"Now, of this there could be only one reasonable explanation.
+Disregarding the fact that no one would screw the suspension plates on a
+frame without ascertaining which was the right way up, and assuming it
+to be hung up inverted, it was impossible that the misplacement could
+have been overlooked by Jeffrey. He was not blind, though his sight was
+defective. The frame was thirty inches long and the individual
+characters nearly an inch in length--about the size of the D 18 letters
+of Snellen's test-types, which can be read by a person of ordinary sight
+at a distance of fifty-five feet. There was, I repeat, only one
+reasonable explanation; which was that the person who had inhabited
+those chambers was not Jeffrey Blackmore.
+
+"This conclusion received considerable support from a fact which I
+observed later, but mention in this place. On examining the soles of the
+shoes taken from the dead man's feet, I found only the ordinary mud of
+the streets. There was no trace of the peculiar gravelly mud that
+adhered to my own boots and Jervis's, and which came from the square of
+the inn. Yet the porter distinctly stated that the deceased, after
+paying the rent, walked back towards his chambers across the square; the
+mud of which should, therefore, have been conspicuous on his shoes.
+
+"Thus, in a moment, a wildly speculative hypothesis had assumed a high
+degree of probability.
+
+"When Mr. Stephen was gone, Jervis and I looked over the chambers
+thoroughly; and then another curious fact came to light. On the wall
+were a number of fine Japanese colour-prints, all of which showed recent
+damp-spots. Now, apart from the consideration that Jeffrey, who had been
+at the trouble and expense of collecting these valuable prints, would
+hardly have allowed them to rot on his walls, there arose the question:
+How came they to be damp? There was a gas stove in the room, and a gas
+stove has at least the virtue of preserving a dry atmosphere. It was
+winter weather, when the stove would naturally be pretty constantly
+alight. How came the walls to be so damp? The answer seemed to be that
+the stove had not been constantly alight, but had been lighted only
+occasionally. This suggestion was borne out by a further examination of
+the rooms. In the kitchen there were practically no stores and hardly
+any arrangements even for simple bachelor cooking; the bedroom offered
+the same suggestion; the soap in the wash-stand was shrivelled and
+cracked; there was no cast-off linen, and the shirts in the drawers,
+though clean, had the peculiar yellowish, faded appearance that linen
+acquires when long out of use. In short, the rooms had the appearance of
+not having been lived in at all, but only visited at intervals.
+
+"Against this view, however, was the statement of the night porter that
+he had often seen a light in Jeffrey's sitting-room at one o'clock in
+the morning, with the apparent implication that it was then turned out.
+Now a light may be left in an empty room, but its extinction implies the
+presence of some person to extinguish it; unless some automatic device
+be adopted for putting it out at a given time. Such a device--the alarm
+movement of a clock, for instance, with a suitable attachment--is a
+simple enough matter, but my search of the rooms failed to discover
+anything of the kind. However, when looking over the drawers in the
+bedroom, I came upon a large box that had held a considerable quantity
+of hard stearine candles. There were only a few left, but a flat
+candlestick with numerous wick-ends in its socket accounted for the
+remainder.
+
+"These candles seemed to dispose of the difficulty. They were not
+necessary for ordinary lighting, since gas was laid on in all three
+rooms. For what purpose, then, were they used, and in such considerable
+quantities? I subsequently obtained some of the same brand--Price's
+stearine candles, six to the pound--and experimented with them. Each
+candle was seven and a quarter inches in length, not counting the cone
+at the top, and I found that they burned in still air at the rate of a
+fraction over one inch in an hour. We may say that one of these candles
+would burn in still air a little over six hours. It would thus be
+possible for the person who inhabited these rooms to go away at seven
+o'clock in the evening and leave a light which would burn until past one
+in the morning and then extinguish itself. This, of course, was only
+surmise, but it destroyed the significance of the night porter's
+statement.
+
+"But, if the person who inhabited these chambers was not Jeffrey, who
+was he?
+
+"The answer to that question seemed plain enough. There was only one
+person who had a strong motive for perpetrating a fraud of this kind,
+and there was only one person to whom it was possible. If this person
+was not Jeffrey, he must have been very like Jeffrey; sufficiently like
+for the body of the one to be mistaken for the body of the other. For
+the production of Jeffrey's body was an essential part of the plan and
+must have been contemplated from the first. But the only person who
+fulfills the conditions is John Blackmore.
+
+"We have learned from Mr. Stephen that John and Jeffrey, though very
+different in appearance in later years, were much alike as young men.
+But when two brothers who are much alike as young men, become unlike in
+later life, we shall find that the unlikeness is produced by superficial
+differences and that the essential likeness remains. Thus, in the
+present case, Jeffrey was clean shaved, had bad eyesight, wore
+spectacles and stooped as he walked; John wore a beard and moustache,
+had good eyesight, did not wear spectacles and had a brisk gait and
+upright carriage. But supposing John to shave off his beard and
+moustache, to put on spectacles and to stoop in his walk, these
+conspicuous but superficial differences would vanish and the original
+likeness reappear.
+
+"There is another consideration. John had been an actor and was an actor
+of some experience. Now, any person can, with some care and practice,
+make up a disguise; the great difficulty is to support that disguise by
+a suitable manner and voice. But to an experienced actor this difficulty
+does not exist. To him, personation is easy; and, moreover, an actor is
+precisely the person to whom the idea of disguise and impersonation
+would occur.
+
+"There is a small item bearing on this point, so small as to be hardly
+worth calling evidence, but just worth noting. In the pocket of the
+waistcoat taken from the body of Jeffrey I found the stump of a
+'Contango' pencil; a pencil that is sold for the use of stock dealers
+and brokers. Now John was an outside broker and might very probably have
+used such a pencil, whereas Jeffrey had no connection with the stock
+markets and there is no reason why he should have possessed a pencil of
+this kind. But the fact is merely suggestive; it has no evidential
+value.
+
+"A more important inference is to be drawn from the collected
+signatures. I have remarked that the change in the signature occurred
+abruptly, with one or two alterations of manner, last September, and
+that there are two distinct forms with no intermediate varieties. This
+is, in itself, remarkable and suspicious. But a remark made by Mr.
+Britton furnishes a really valuable piece of evidence on the point we
+are now considering. He admitted that the character of the signature had
+undergone a change, but observed that the change did not affect the
+individual or personal character of the writing. This is very important;
+for handwriting is, as it were, an extension of the personality of the
+writer. And just as a man to some extent snares his personality with his
+near blood-relations in the form of family resemblances, so his
+handwriting often shows a subtle likeness to that of his near relatives.
+You must have noticed, as I have, how commonly the handwriting of one
+brother resembles that of another, and in just this peculiar and subtle
+way. The inference, then, from Mr. Britton's statement is, that if the
+signature of the will was forged, it was probably forged by a relative
+of the deceased. But the only relative in question is his brother John.
+
+"All the facts, therefore, pointed to John Blackmore as the person who
+occupied these chambers, and I accordingly adopted that view as a
+working hypothesis."
+
+"But this was all pure speculation," objected Mr. Winwood.
+
+"Not speculation," said Thorndyke. "Hypothesis. It was ordinary
+inductive reasoning such as we employ in scientific research. I started
+with the purely tentative hypothesis that the person who signed the will
+was not Jeffrey Blackmore. I assumed this; and I may say that I did not
+believe it at the time, but merely adopted it as a proposition that was
+worth testing. I accordingly tested it, 'Yes?' or 'No?' with each new
+fact; but as each new fact said 'Yes,' and no fact said definitely 'No,'
+its probability increased rapidly by a sort of geometrical progression.
+The probabilities multiplied into one another. It is a perfectly sound
+method, for one knows that if a hypothesis be true, it will lead one,
+sooner or later, to a crucial fact by which its truth can be
+demonstrated.
+
+"To resume our argument. We have now set up the proposition that John
+Blackmore was the tenant of New Inn and that he was personating Jeffrey.
+Let us reason from this and see what it leads to.
+
+"If the tenant of New Inn was John, then Jeffrey must be elsewhere,
+since his concealment at the inn was clearly impossible. But he could
+not have been far away, for he had to be producible at short notice
+whenever the death of Mrs. Wilson should make the production of his
+body necessary. But if he was producible, his person must have been in
+the possession or control of John. He could not have been at large, for
+that would have involved the danger of his being seen and recognized. He
+could not have been in any institution or place where he would be in
+contact with strangers. Then he must be in some sort of confinement. But
+it is difficult to keep an adult in confinement in an ordinary house.
+Such a proceeding would involve great risk of discovery and the use of
+violence which would leave traces on the body, to be observed and
+commented on at the inquest. What alternative method could be suggested?
+
+"The most obvious method is that of keeping the prisoner in such a state
+of debility as would confine him to his bed. But such debility could be
+produced by only starvation, unsuitable food, or chronic poisoning. Of
+these alternatives, poisoning is much more exact, more calculable in its
+effect and more under control. The probabilities, then, were in favour
+of chronic poisoning.
+
+"Having reached this stage, I recalled a singular case which Jervis had
+mentioned to me and which seemed to illustrate this method. On our
+return home I asked him for further particulars, and he then gave me a
+very detailed description of the patient and the circumstances. The
+upshot was rather startling. I had looked on his case as merely
+illustrative, and wished to study it for the sake of the suggestions
+that it might offer. But when I had heard his account, I began to
+suspect that there was something more than mere parallelism of method.
+It began to look as if his patient, Mr. Graves, might actually be
+Jeffrey Blackmore.
+
+"The coincidences were remarkable. The general appearance of the patient
+tallied completely with Mr. Stephen's description of his uncle Jeffrey.
+The patient had a tremulous iris in his right eye and had clearly
+suffered from dislocation of the crystalline lens. But from Mr.
+Stephen's account of his uncle's sudden loss of sight in the right eye
+after a fall, I judged that Jeffrey had also suffered from dislocation
+of the lens and therefore had a tremulous iris in the right eye. The
+patient, Graves, evidently had defective vision in his left eye, as
+proved by the marks made behind his ears by the hooked side-bars of his
+spectacles; for it is only on spectacles that are intended for constant
+use that we find hooked side-bars. But Jeffrey had defective vision in
+his left eye and wore spectacles constantly. Lastly, the patient Graves
+was suffering from chronic morphine poisoning, and morphine was found in
+the body of Jeffrey.
+
+"Once more, it appeared to me that there were too many coincidences.
+
+"The question as to whether Graves and Jeffrey were identical admitted
+of fairly easy disproof; for if Graves was still alive, he could not be
+Jeffrey. It was an important question and I resolved to test it without
+delay. That night, Jervis and I plotted out the chart, and on the
+following morning we located the house. But it was empty and to let.
+The birds had flown, and we failed to discover whither they had gone.
+
+"However, we entered the house and explored. I have told you about the
+massive bolts and fastenings that we found on the bedroom doors and
+window, showing that the room had been used as a prison. I have told you
+of the objects that we picked out of the dust-heap under the grate. Of
+the obvious suggestion offered by the Japanese brush and the bottle of
+'spirit gum' or cement, I need not speak now; but I must trouble you
+with some details concerning the broken spectacles. For here we had come
+upon the crucial fact to which, as I have said, all sound inductive
+reasoning brings one sooner or later.
+
+"The spectacles were of a rather peculiar pattern. The frames were of
+the type invented by Mr. Stopford of Moorfields and known by his name.
+The right eye-piece was fitted with plain glass, as is usual in the case
+of a blind, or useless, eye. It was very much shattered, but its
+character was obvious. The glass of the left eye was much thicker and
+fortunately less damaged, so that I was able accurately to test its
+refraction.
+
+"When I reached home, I laid the pieces of the spectacles together,
+measured the frames very carefully, tested the left eye-glass, and wrote
+down a full description such as would have been given by the surgeon to
+the spectacle-maker. Here it is, and I will ask you to note it
+carefully.
+
+"'Spectacles for constant use. Steel frame, Stopford's pattern, curl
+sides, broad bridge with gold lining. Distance between centres, 6.2
+centimetres; extreme length of side-bars, 13.3 centimetres.
+
+"'Right eye plain glass.
+
+"'Left eye -5.75 D. spherical
+            -------------------
+           -3.25 D. cylindrical axis 35°.'
+
+"The spectacles, you see, were of a very distinctive character and
+seemed to offer a good chance of identification. Stopford's frames are,
+I believe, made by only one firm of opticians in London, Parry & Cuxton
+of Regent Street. I therefore wrote to Mr. Cuxton, who knows me, asking
+him if he had supplied spectacles to the late Jeffrey Blackmore,
+Esq.--here is a copy of my letter--and if so, whether he would mind
+letting me have a full description of them, together with the name of
+the oculist who prescribed them.
+
+"He replied in this letter, which is pinned to the copy of mine, that,
+about four years ago, he supplied a pair of glasses to Mr. Jeffrey
+Blackmore, and described them thus: 'The spectacles were for constant
+use and had steel frames of Stopford's pattern with curl sides, the
+length of the side-bars including the curled ends being 13.3 cm. The
+bridge was broad with a gold lining-plate, shaped as shown by the
+enclosed tracing from the diagram on the prescription. Distance between
+centres 6.2 cm.
+
+"'Right eye plain glass.
+
+"'Left eye -5.75 D. spherical
+            -------------------
+           -3.25 D. cylindrical, axis 35°.'
+
+"'The spectacles were prescribed by Mr. Hindley of Wimpole Street.'
+
+"You see that Mr. Cuxton's description is identical with mine. However,
+for further confirmation, I wrote to Mr. Hindley, asking certain
+questions, to which he replied thus:
+
+"'You are quite right. Mr. Jeffrey Blackmore had a tremulous iris in his
+right eye (which was practically blind), due to dislocation of the lens.
+The pupils were rather large; certainly not contracted.'
+
+"Here, then, we have three important facts. One is that the spectacles
+found by us at Kennington Lane were undoubtedly Jeffrey's; for it is as
+unlikely that there exists another pair of spectacles exactly identical
+with those as that there exists another face exactly like Jeffrey's
+face. The second fact is that the description of Jeffrey tallies
+completely with that of the sick man, Graves, as given by Dr. Jervis;
+and the third is that when Jeffrey was seen by Mr. Hindley, there was no
+sign of his being addicted to the taking of morphine. The first and
+second facts, you will agree, constitute complete identification."
+
+"Yes," said Marchmont; "I think we must admit the identification as
+being quite conclusive, though the evidence is of a kind that is more
+striking to the medical than to the legal mind."
+
+"You will not have that complaint to make against the next item of
+evidence," said Thorndyke. "It is after the lawyer's own heart, as you
+shall hear. A few days ago I wrote to Mr. Stephen asking him if he
+possessed a recent photograph of his uncle Jeffrey. He had one, and he
+sent it to me by return. This portrait I showed to Dr. Jervis and asked
+him if he had ever seen the person it represented. After examining it
+attentively, without any hint whatever from me, he identified it as the
+portrait of the sick man, Graves."
+
+"Indeed!" exclaimed Marchmont. "This is most important. Are you prepared
+to swear to the identity, Dr. Jervis?"
+
+"I have not the slightest doubt," I replied, "that the portrait is that
+of Mr. Graves."
+
+"Excellent!" said Marchmont, rubbing his hands gleefully; "this will be
+much more convincing to a jury. Pray go on, Dr. Thorndyke."
+
+"That," said Thorndyke, "completes the first part of my investigation.
+We had now reached a definite, demonstrable fact; and that fact, as you
+see, disposed at once of the main question--the genuineness of the will.
+For if the man at Kennington Lane was Jeffrey Blackmore, then the man at
+New Inn was not. But it was the latter who had signed the will.
+Therefore the will was not signed by Jeffrey Blackmore; that is to say,
+it was a forgery. The case was complete for the purposes of the civil
+proceedings; the rest of my investigations had reference to the criminal
+prosecution that was inevitable. Shall I proceed, or is your interest
+confined to the will?"
+
+"Hang the will!" exclaimed Stephen. "I want to hear how you propose to
+lay hands on the villain who murdered poor old uncle Jeffrey--for I
+suppose he did murder him?"
+
+"I think there is no doubt of it," replied Thorndyke.
+
+"Then," said Marchmont, "we will hear the rest of the argument, if you
+please."
+
+"Very well," said Thorndyke. "As the evidence stands, we have proved
+that Jeffrey Blackmore was a prisoner in the house in Kennington Lane
+and that some one was personating him at New Inn. That some one, we have
+seen, was, in all probability, John Blackmore. We now have to consider
+the man Weiss. Who was he? and can we connect him in any way with New
+Inn?
+
+"We may note in passing that Weiss and the coachman were apparently one
+and the same person. They were never seen together. When Weiss was
+present, the coachman was not available even for so urgent a service as
+the obtaining of an antidote to the poison. Weiss always appeared some
+time after Jervis's arrival and disappeared some time before his
+departure, in each case sufficiently long to allow of a change of
+disguise. But we need not labour the point, as it is not of primary
+importance.
+
+"To return to Weiss. He was clearly heavily disguised, as we see by his
+unwillingness to show himself even by the light of a candle. But there
+is an item of positive evidence on this point which is important from
+having other bearings. It is furnished by the spectacles worn by Weiss,
+of which you have heard Jervis's description. These spectacles had very
+peculiar optical properties. When you looked <i>through</i> them they had the
+properties of plain glass; when you looked <i>at</i> them they had the
+appearance of lenses. But only one kind of glass possesses these
+properties; namely, that which, like an ordinary watch-glass, has
+curved, parallel surfaces. But for what purpose could a person wear
+'watch-glass' spectacles? Clearly, not to assist his vision. The only
+alternative is disguise.
+
+"The properties of these spectacles introduce a very curious and
+interesting feature into the case. To the majority of persons, the
+wearing of spectacles for the purpose of disguise or personation, seems
+a perfectly simple and easy proceeding. But, to a person of normal
+eyesight, it is nothing of the kind. For, if he wears spectacles suited
+for long sight he cannot see distinctly through them at all; while, if
+he wears concave, or near sight, glasses, the effort to see through them
+produces such strain and fatigue that his eyes become disabled
+altogether. On the stage the difficulty is met by using spectacles of
+plain window-glass, but in real life this would hardly do; the
+'property' spectacles would be detected at once and give rise to
+suspicion.
+
+"The personator is therefore in this dilemma: if he wears actual
+spectacles, he cannot see through them; if he wears sham spectacles of
+plain glass, his disguise will probably be detected. There is only one
+way out of the difficulty, and that not a very satisfactory one; but Mr.
+Weiss seems to have adopted it in lieu of a better. It is that of using
+watch-glass spectacles such as I have described.
+
+"Now, what do we learn from these very peculiar glasses? In the first
+place they confirm our opinion that Weiss was wearing a disguise. But,
+for use in a room so very dimly lighted, the ordinary stage spectacles
+would have answered quite well. The second inference is, then, that
+these spectacles were prepared to be worn under more trying conditions
+of light--out of doors, for instance. The third inference is that Weiss
+was a man with normal eyesight; for otherwise he could have worn real
+spectacles suited to the state of his vision.
+
+"These are inferences by the way, to which we may return. But these
+glasses furnish a much more important suggestion. On the floor of the
+bedroom at New Inn I found some fragments of glass which had been
+trodden on. By joining one or two of them together, we have been able to
+make out the general character of the object of which they formed parts.
+My assistant--who was formerly a watch-maker--judged that object to be
+the thin crystal glass of a lady's watch, and this, I think, was
+Jervis's opinion. But the small part which remains of the original edge
+furnishes proof in two respects that this was not a watch-glass. In the
+first place, on taking a careful tracing of this piece of the edge, I
+found that its curve was part of an ellipse; but watch-glasses,
+nowadays, are invariably circular. In the second place, watch-glasses
+are ground on the edge to a single bevel to snap into the bezel or
+frame; but the edge of this object was ground to a double bevel, like
+the edge of a spectacle-glass, which fits into a groove in the frame and
+is held by the side-bar screw. The inevitable inference was that this
+was a spectacle-glass. But, if so, it was part of a pair of spectacles
+identical in properties with those worn by Mr. Weiss.
+
+"The importance of this conclusion emerges when we consider the
+exceptional character of Mr. Weiss's spectacles. They were not merely
+peculiar or remarkable; they were probably unique. It is exceedingly
+likely that there is not in the entire world another similar pair of
+spectacles. Whence the finding of these fragments of glass in the
+bedroom establishes a considerable probability that Mr. Weiss was, at
+some time, in the chambers at New Inn.
+
+"And now let us gather up the threads of this part of the argument. We
+are inquiring into the identity of the man Weiss. Who was he?
+
+"In the first place, we find him committing a secret crime from which
+John Blackmore alone will benefit. This suggests the <i>prima-facie</i>
+probability that he was John Blackmore.
+
+"Then we find that he was a man of normal eyesight who was wearing
+spectacles for the purpose of disguise. But the tenant of New Inn, whom
+we have seen to be, almost certainly, John Blackmore--and whom we will,
+for the present, assume to have been John Blackmore--was a man with
+normal eyesight who wore spectacles for disguise.
+
+"John Blackmore did not reside at New Inn, but at some place within
+easy reach of it. But Weiss resided at a place within easy reach of New
+Inn.
+
+"John Blackmore must have had possession and control of the person of
+Jeffrey. But Weiss had possession and control of the person of Jeffrey.
+
+"Weiss wore spectacles of a certain peculiar and probably unique
+character. But portions of such spectacles were found in the chambers at
+New Inn.
+
+"The overwhelming probability, therefore, is that Weiss and the tenant
+of New Inn were one and the same person; and that that person was John
+Blackmore."
+
+"That," said Mr. Winwood, "is a very plausible argument. But, you
+observe, sir, that it contains an undistributed middle term."
+
+Thorndyke smiled genially. I think he forgave Winwood everything for
+that remark.
+
+"You are quite right, sir," he said. "It does. And, for that reason, the
+demonstration is not absolute. But we must not forget, what logicians
+seem occasionally to overlook: that the 'undistributed middle,' while it
+interferes with absolute proof, may be quite consistent with a degree of
+probability that approaches very near to certainty. Both the Bertillon
+system and the English fingerprint system involve a process of reasoning
+in which the middle term is undistributed. But the great probabilities
+are accepted in practice as equivalent to certainties."
+
+Mr. Winwood grunted a grudging assent, and Thorndyke resumed:
+
+"We have now furnished fairly conclusive evidence on three heads: we
+have proved that the sick man, Graves, was Jeffrey Blackmore; that the
+tenant of New Inn was John Blackmore; and that the man Weiss was also
+John Blackmore. We now have to prove that John and Jeffrey were together
+in the chambers at New Inn on the night of Jeffrey's death.
+
+"We know that two persons, and two persons only, came from Kennington
+Lane to New Inn. But one of those persons was the tenant of New
+Inn--that is, John Blackmore. Who was the other? Jeffrey is known by us
+to have been at Kennington Lane. His body was found on the following
+morning in the room at New Inn. No third person is known to have come
+from Kennington Lane; no third person is known to have arrived at New
+Inn. The inference, by exclusion, is that the second person--the
+woman--was Jeffrey.
+
+"Again; Jeffrey had to be brought from Kennington to the inn by John.
+But John was personating Jeffrey and was made up to resemble him very
+closely. If Jeffrey were undisguised the two men would be almost exactly
+alike; which would be very noticeable in any case and suspicious after
+the death of one of them. Therefore Jeffrey would have to be disguised
+in some way; and what disguise could be simpler and more effective than
+the one that I suggest was used?
+
+"Again; it was unavoidable that some one--the cabman--should know that
+Jeffrey was not alone when he came to the inn that night. If the fact
+had leaked out and it had become known that a man had accompanied him to
+his chambers, some suspicion might have arisen, and that suspicion would
+have pointed to John, who was directly interested in his brother's
+death. But if it had transpired that Jeffrey was accompanied by a woman,
+there would have been less suspicion, and that suspicion would not have
+pointed to John Blackmore.
+
+"Thus all the general probabilities are in favour of the hypothesis that
+this woman was Jeffrey Blackmore. There is, however, an item of positive
+evidence that strongly supports this view. When I examined the clothing
+of the deceased, I found on the trousers a horizontal crease on each leg
+as if the trousers had been turned up half-way to the knees. This
+appearance is quite understandable if we suppose that the trousers were
+worn under a skirt and were turned up so that they should not be
+accidentally seen. Otherwise it is quite incomprehensible."
+
+"Is it not rather strange," said Marchmont, "that Jeffrey should have
+allowed himself to be dressed up in this remarkable manner?"
+
+"I think not," replied Thorndyke. "There is no reason to suppose that he
+knew how he was dressed. You have heard Jervis's description of his
+condition; that of a mere automaton. You know that without his
+spectacles he was practically blind, and that he could not have worn
+them since we found them at the house in Kennington Lane. Probably his
+head was wrapped up in the veil, and the skirt and mantle put on
+afterwards; but, in any case, his condition rendered him practically
+devoid of will power. That is all the evidence I have to prove that the
+unknown woman was Jeffrey. It is not conclusive but it is convincing
+enough for our purpose, seeing that the case against John Blackmore does
+not depend upon it."
+
+"Your case against him is on the charge of murder, I presume?" said
+Stephen.
+
+"Undoubtedly. And you will notice that the statements made by the
+supposed Jeffrey to the porter, hinting at suicide, are now important
+evidence. By the light of what we know, the announcement of intended
+suicide becomes the announcement of intended murder. It conclusively
+disproves what it was intended to prove; that Jeffrey died by his own
+hand."
+
+"Yes, I see that," said Stephen, and then after a pause he asked: "Did
+you identify Mrs. Schallibaum? You have told us nothing about her."
+
+"I have considered her as being outside the case as far as I am
+concerned," replied Thorndyke. "She was an accessory; my business was
+with the principal. But, of course, she will be swept up in the net. The
+evidence that convicts John Blackmore will convict her. I have not
+troubled about her identity. If John Blackmore is married, she is
+probably his wife. Do you happen to know if he is married?"
+
+"Yes; but Mrs. John Blackmore is not much like Mrs. Schallibaum,
+excepting that she has a cast in the left eye. She is a dark woman with
+very heavy eyebrows."
+
+"That is to say that she differs from Mrs. Schallibaum in those
+peculiarities that can be artificially changed and resembles her in the
+one feature that is unchangeable. Do you know if her Christian name
+happens to be Pauline?"
+
+"Yes, it is. She was a Miss Pauline Hagenbeck, a member of an American
+theatrical company. What made you ask?"
+
+"The name which Jervis heard poor Jeffrey struggling to pronounce seemed
+to me to resemble Pauline more than any other name."
+
+"There is one little point that strikes me," said Marchmont. "Is it not
+rather remarkable that the porter should have noticed no difference
+between the body of Jeffrey and the living man whom he knew by sight,
+and who must, after all, have been distinctly different in appearance?"
+
+"I am glad you raised that question," Thorndyke replied, "for that very
+difficulty presented itself to me at the beginning of the case. But on
+thinking it over, I decided that it was an imaginary difficulty,
+assuming, as we do, that there was a good deal of resemblance between
+the two men. Put yourself in the porter's place and follow his mental
+processes. He is informed that a dead man is lying on the bed in Mr.
+Blackmore's rooms. Naturally, he assumes that the dead man is Mr.
+Blackmore--who, by the way, had hinted at suicide only the night before.
+With this idea he enters the chambers and sees a man a good deal like
+Mr. Blackmore and wearing Mr. Blackmore's clothes, lying on Mr.
+Blackmore's bed. The idea that the body could be that of some other
+person has never entered his mind. If he notes any difference of
+appearance he will put that down to the effects of death; for every one
+knows that a man dead looks somewhat different from the same man alive.
+I take it as evidence of great acuteness on the part of John Blackmore
+that he should have calculated so cleverly, not only the mental process
+of the porter, but the erroneous reasoning which every one would base on
+the porter's conclusions. For, since the body was actually Jeffrey's,
+and was identified by the porter as that of his tenant, it has been
+assumed by every one that no question was possible as to the identity of
+Jeffrey Blackmore and the tenant of New Inn."
+
+There was a brief silence, and then Marchmont asked:
+
+"May we take it that we have now heard all the evidence?"
+
+"Yes," replied Thorndyke. "That is my case."
+
+"Have you given information to the police?" Stephen asked eagerly.
+
+"Yes. As soon as I had obtained the statement of the cabman, Ridley, and
+felt that I had enough evidence to secure a conviction, I called at
+Scotland Yard and had an interview with the Assistant Commissioner. The
+case is in the hands of Superintendent Miller of the Criminal
+Investigation Department, a most acute and energetic officer. I have
+been expecting to hear that the warrant has been executed, for Mr.
+Miller is usually very punctilious in keeping me informed of the
+progress of the cases to which I introduce him. We shall hear to-morrow,
+no doubt."
+
+"And, for the present," said Marchmont, "the case seems to have passed
+out of our hands."
+
+"I shall enter a caveat, all the same," said Mr. Winwood.
+
+"That doesn't seem very necessary," Marchmont objected. "The evidence
+that we have heard is amply sufficient to ensure a conviction and there
+will be plenty more when the police go into the case. And a conviction
+on the charges of forgery and murder would, of course, invalidate the
+second will."
+
+"I shall enter a caveat, all the same," repeated Mr. Winwood.
+
+As the two partners showed a disposition to become heated over this
+question, Thorndyke suggested that they might discuss it at leisure by
+the light of subsequent events. Acting on this hint--for it was now
+close upon midnight--our visitors prepared to depart; and were, in fact,
+just making their way towards the door when the bell rang. Thorndyke
+flung open the door, and, as he recognized his visitor, greeted him with
+evident satisfaction.
+
+"Ha! Mr. Miller; we were just speaking of you. These gentlemen are Mr.
+Stephen Blackmore and his solicitors, Mr. Marchmont and Mr. Winwood. You
+know Dr. Jervis, I think."
+
+The officer bowed to our friends and remarked:
+
+"I am just in time, it seems. A few minutes more and I should have
+missed these gentlemen. I don't know what you'll think of my news."
+
+"You haven't let that villain escape, I hope," Stephen exclaimed.
+
+"Well," said the Superintendent, "he is out of my hands and yours too;
+and so is the woman. Perhaps I had better tell you what has happened."
+
+"If you would be so kind," said Thorndyke, motioning the officer to a
+chair.
+
+The superintendent seated himself with the manner of a man who has had a
+long and strenuous day, and forthwith began his story.
+
+"As soon as we had your information, we procured a warrant for the
+arrest of both parties, and then I went straight to their flat with
+Inspector Badger and a sergeant. There we learned from the attendant
+that they were away from home and were not expected back until to-day
+about noon. We kept a watch on the premises, and this morning, about the
+time appointed, a man and a woman, answering to the description, arrived
+at the flat. We followed them in and saw them enter the lift, and we
+were going to get into the lift too, when the man pulled the rope, and
+away they went. There was nothing for us to do but run up the stairs,
+which we did as fast as we could race; but they got to their landing
+first, and we were only just in time to see them nip in and shut the
+door. However, it seemed that we had them safe enough, for there was no
+dropping out of the windows at that height; so we sent the sergeant to
+get a locksmith to pick the lock or force the door, while we kept on
+ringing the bell.
+
+"About three minutes after the sergeant left, I happened to look out of
+the landing window and saw a hansom pull up opposite the flats. I put my
+head out of the window, and, hang me if I didn't see our two friends
+getting into the cab. It seems that there was a small lift inside the
+flat communicating with the kitchen, and they had slipped down it one at
+a time.
+
+"Well, of course, we raced down the stairs like acrobats, but by the
+time we got to the bottom the cab was off with a fine start. We ran out
+into Victoria Street, and there we could see it half-way down the street
+and going like a chariot race. We managed to pick up another hansom and
+told the cabby to keep the other one in sight, and away we went like the
+very deuce; along Victoria Street and Broad Sanctuary, across Parliament
+Square, over Westminster Bridge and along York Road; we kept the other
+beggar in sight, but we couldn't gain an inch on him. Then we turned
+into Waterloo Station, and, as we were driving up the slope we met
+another hansom coming down; and when the cabby kissed his hand and
+smiled at us, we guessed that he was the sportsman we had been
+following.
+
+"But there was no time to ask questions. It is an awkward station with a
+lot of different exits, and it looked a good deal as if our quarry had
+got away. However, I took a chance. I remembered that the Southampton
+express was due to start about this time, and I took a short cut across
+the lines and made for the platform that it starts from. Just as Badger
+and I got to the end, about thirty yards from the rear of the train, we
+saw a man and a woman running in front of us. Then the guard blew his
+whistle and the train began to move. The man and the woman managed to
+scramble into one of the rear compartments and Badger and I raced up the
+platform like mad. A porter tried to head us off, but Badger capsized
+him and we both sprinted harder than ever, and just hopped on the
+foot-board of the guard's van as the train began to get up speed. The
+guard couldn't risk putting us off, so he had to let us into his van,
+which suited us exactly, as we could watch the train on both sides from
+the look-out. And we did watch, I can tell you; for our friend in front
+had seen us. His head was out of the window as we climbed on to the
+foot-board.
+
+"However, nothing happened until we stopped at Southampton West. There,
+I need not say, we lost no time in hopping out, for we naturally
+expected our friends to make a rush for the exit. But they didn't.
+Badger watched the platform, and I kept a look-out to see that they
+didn't slip away across the line from the off-side. But still there was
+no sign of them. Then I walked up the train to the compartment which I
+had seen them enter. And there they were, apparently fast asleep in the
+corner by the off-side window, the man leaning back with his mouth open
+and the woman resting against him with her head on his shoulder. She
+gave me quite a turn when I went in to look at them, for she had her
+eyes half-closed and seemed to be looking round at me with a most
+horrible expression; but I found afterwards that the peculiar appearance
+of looking round was due to the cast in her eye."
+
+"They were dead, I suppose?" said Thorndyke.
+
+"Yes, sir. Stone dead; and I found these on the floor of the carriage."
+
+He held up two tiny yellow glass tubes, each labelled "Hypodermic
+tabloids. Aconitine Nitrate gr. 1/640."
+
+"Ha!" exclaimed Thorndyke, "this fellow was well up in alkaloidal
+poisons, it seems; and they appear to have gone about prepared for
+emergencies. These tubes each contained twenty tabloids, a thirty-second
+of a grain altogether, so we may assume that about twelve times the
+medicinal dose was swallowed. Death must have occurred in a few minutes,
+and a merciful death too."
+
+"A more merciful death than they deserved," exclaimed Stephen, "when one
+thinks of the misery and suffering that they inflicted on poor old uncle
+Jeffrey. I would sooner have had them hanged."
+
+"It's better as it is, sir," said Miller. "There is no need, now, to
+raise any questions in detail at the inquest. The publicity of a trial
+for murder would have been very unpleasant for you. I wish Dr. Jervis
+had given the tip to me instead of to that confounded,
+over-cautious--but there, I mustn't run down my brother officers: and
+it's easy to be wise after the event.
+
+"Good night, gentlemen. I suppose this accident disposes of your
+business as far as the will is concerned?"
+
+"I suppose it does," agreed Mr. Winwood. "But I shall enter a caveat,
+all the same."
+
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
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+    content="text/html; charset=us-ascii">
+<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of
+    The Mystery of 31 New inn,
+    by  R. Austin Freeman.
+</title>
+<style type="text/css">
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+<pre>
+
+Project Gutenberg's The Mystery of 31 New Inn, by R. Austin Freeman
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Mystery of 31 New Inn
+
+Author: R. Austin Freeman
+
+Release Date: April 28, 2004 [EBook #12187]
+Last updated: February 3, 2011
+Last updated: November 25, 1012
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MYSTERY OF 31 NEW INN ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Steven desJardins and Distributed Proofreaders
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h1>THE MYSTERY OF 31 NEW INN</h1>
+<h2>BY R. AUSTIN FREEMAN </h2>
+<h4>
+Author of "The Red Thumb Mark,"
+"The Eye of Osiris," etc.
+</h4>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<a name="RULE4_1"><!-- RULE4 1 --></a>
+<h3>
+	TO MY FRIEND
+</h3>
+<h3>
+BERNARD E. BISHOP
+</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="PRF"><!-- PRF --></a>
+<h2>
+	Preface
+</h2>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>
+Commenting upon one of my earlier novels, in respect of which I had
+claimed to have been careful to adhere to common probabilities and to
+have made use only of really practicable methods of investigation, a
+critic remarked that this was of no consequence whatever, so long as the
+story was amusing.
+</p>
+<p>
+Few people, I imagine, will agree with him. To most readers, and
+certainly to the kind of reader for whom an author is willing to take
+trouble, complete realism in respect of incidents and methods is an
+essential factor in maintaining the interest of a detective story. Hence
+it may be worth while to mention that Thorndyke's method of producing
+the track chart, described in Chapters II and III, has been actually
+used in practice. It is a modification of one devised by me many years
+ago when I was crossing Ashanti to the city of Bontuku, the whereabouts
+of which in the far interior was then only vaguely known. My
+instructions were to fix the positions of all towns, villages, rivers
+and mountains as accurately as possible; but finding ordinary methods of
+surveying impracticable in the dense forest which covers the whole
+region, I adopted this simple and apparently rude method, checking the
+distances whenever possible by astronomical observation.
+</p>
+<p>
+The resulting route-map was surprisingly accurate, as shown by the
+agreement of the outward and homeward tracks, It was published by the
+Royal Geographical Society, and incorporated in the map of this region
+compiled by the Intelligence Branch of the War Office, and it formed the
+basis of the map which accompanied my volume of <i>Travels in Ashanti and
+Jaman</i>. So that Thorndyke's plan must be taken as quite a practicable
+one.
+</p>
+<p>
+New Inn, the background of this story, and one of the last surviving
+inns of Chancery, has recently passed away after upwards of four
+centuries of newness. Even now, however, a few of the old, dismantled
+houses (including perhaps, the mysterious 31) may be seen from the
+Strand peeping over the iron roof of the skating rink which has
+displaced the picturesque hall, the pension-room and the garden. The
+postern gate, too, in Houghton Street still remains, though the arch is
+bricked up inside. Passing it lately, I made the rough sketch which
+appears on next page, and which shows all that is left of this pleasant
+old London backwater.
+</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<center>
+R. A. F.
+</center>
+<center>
+GRAVESEND
+</center>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="image-1"><!-- Image 1 --></a>
+<center>
+<img src="newinn.png" width="25%"
+alt="New inn">
+</center>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<hr>
+
+<a name="TOC"><!-- TOC --></a>
+<h2>
+	Contents
+</h2>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER I&mdash;<a href="#CH1">THE MYSTERIOUS PATIENT</a></h3>
+<h3>CHAPTER II&mdash;<a href="#CH2">THORNDYKE DEVISES A SCHEME</a></h3>
+<h3>CHAPTER III&mdash;<a href="#CH3">"A CHIEL'S AMANG YE TAKIN' NOTES"</a></h3>
+<h3>CHAPTER IV&mdash;<a href="#CH4">THE OFFICIAL VIEW</a></h3>
+<h3>CHAPTER V&mdash;<a href="#CH5">JEFFREY BLACKMORE'S WILL</a></h3>
+<h3>CHAPTER VI&mdash;<a href="#CH6">JEFFREY BLACKMORE, DECEASED</a></h3>
+<h3>CHAPTER VII&mdash;<a href="#CH7">THE CUNEIFORM INSCRIPTION</a></h3>
+<h3>CHAPTER VIII&mdash;<a href="#CH8">THE TRACK CHART</a></h3>
+<h3>CHAPTER IX&mdash;<a href="#CH9">THE HOUSE OF MYSTERY</a></h3>
+<h3>CHAPTER X&mdash;<a href="#CH10">THE HUNTER HUNTED</a></h3>
+<h3>CHAPTER XI&mdash;<a href="#CH11">THE BLACKMORE CASE REVIEWED</a></h3>
+<h3>CHAPTER XII&mdash;<a href="#CH12">THE PORTRAIT</a></h3>
+<h3>CHAPTER XIII&mdash;<a href="#CH13">THE STATEMENT OF SAMUEL WILKINS</a></h3>
+<h3>CHAPTER XIV&mdash;<a href="#CH14">THORNDYKE LAYS THE MINE</a></h3>
+<h3>CHAPTER XV&mdash;<a href="#CH15">THORNDYKE EXPLODES THE MINE</a></h3>
+<h3>CHAPTER XVI&mdash;<a href="#CH16">AN EXPOSITION AND A TRAGEDY</a></h3>
+<hr>
+<h2>Illustrations</h2>
+<h3>1. <a href="#image-1">New inn</a></h3>
+<h3>2. <a href="#image-2">The inverted inscription</a></h3>
+<h3>3. <a href="#image-3">The Track Chart, Showing the Route Followed by Weiss's Carriage</a></h3>
+<hr>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="CH1"><!-- CH1 --></a>
+<h2>
+	Chapter I
+</h2>
+
+<h3>
+The Mysterious Patient
+</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>
+As I look back through the years of my association with John Thorndyke,
+I am able to recall a wealth of adventures and strange experiences such
+as falls to the lot of very few men who pass their lives within hearing
+of Big Ben. Many of these experiences I have already placed on record;
+but it now occurs to me that I have hitherto left unrecorded one that
+is, perhaps, the most astonishing and incredible of the whole series; an
+adventure, too, that has for me the added interest that it inaugurated
+my permanent association with my learned and talented friend, and marked
+the close of a rather unhappy and unprosperous period of my life.
+</p>
+<p>
+Memory, retracing the journey through the passing years to the
+starting-point of those strange events, lands me in a shabby little
+ground-floor room in a house near the Walworth end of Lower Kennington
+Lane. A couple of framed diplomas on the wall, a card of Snellen's
+test-types and a stethoscope lying on the writing-table, proclaim it a
+doctor's consulting-room; and my own position in the round-backed chair
+at the said table, proclaims me the practitioner in charge.
+</p>
+<p>
+It was nearly nine o'clock. The noisy little clock on the mantelpiece
+announced the fact, and, by its frantic ticking, seemed as anxious as I
+to get the consultation hours over. I glanced wistfully at my
+mud-splashed boots and wondered if I might yet venture to assume the
+slippers that peeped coyly from under the shabby sofa. I even allowed my
+thoughts to wander to the pipe that reposed in my coat pocket. Another
+minute and I could turn down the surgery gas and shut the outer door.
+The fussy little clock gave a sort of preliminary cough or hiccup, as if
+it should say: "Ahem! ladies and gentlemen, I am about to strike." And
+at that moment, the bottle-boy opened the door and, thrusting in his
+<a name="note-word"><!-- Note Anchor word --></a>head, uttered the one word: "Gentleman."
+</p>
+<p>
+Extreme economy of words is apt to result in ambiguity. But I
+understood. In Kennington Lane, the race of mere men and women appeared
+to be extinct. They were all gentlemen&mdash;unless they were ladies or
+children&mdash;even as the Liberian army was said to consist entirely of
+generals. Sweeps, labourers, milkmen, costermongers&mdash;all were
+impartially invested by the democratic bottle-boy with the rank and
+title of <i>armigeri</i>. The present nobleman appeared to favour the
+aristocratic recreation of driving a cab or job-master's carriage, and,
+as he entered the room, he touched his hat, closed the door somewhat
+carefully, and then, without remark, handed me a note which bore the
+superscription "Dr. Stillbury."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You understand," I said, as I prepared to open the envelope, "that I
+am not Dr. Stillbury. He is away at present and I am looking after his
+patients."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It doesn't signify," the man replied. "You'll do as well."
+</p>
+<p>
+On this, I opened the envelope and read the note, which was quite brief,
+and, at first sight, in no way remarkable.
+</p>
+<p>
+"DEAR SIR," it ran, "Would you kindly come and see a friend of mine who
+is staying with me? The bearer of this will give you further particulars
+and convey you to the house. Yours truly, H. WEISS."
+</p>
+<p>
+There was no address on the paper and no date, and the writer was
+unknown to me.
+</p>
+<p>
+"This note," I said, "refers to some further particulars. What are
+they?"
+</p>
+<p>
+The messenger passed his hand over his hair with a gesture of
+embarrassment. "It's a ridicklus affair," he said, with a contemptuous
+laugh. "If I had been Mr. Weiss, I wouldn't have had nothing to do with
+it. The sick gentleman, Mr. Graves, is one of them people what can't
+abear doctors. He's been ailing now for a week or two, but nothing would
+induce him to see a doctor. Mr. Weiss did everything he could to
+persuade him, but it was no go. He wouldn't. However, it seems Mr. Weiss
+threatened to send for a medical man on his own account, because, you
+see, he was getting a bit nervous; and then Mr. Graves gave way. But
+only on one condition. He said the doctor was to come from a distance
+and was not to be told who he was or where he lived or anything about
+him; and he made Mr. Weiss promise to keep to that condition before he'd
+let him send. So Mr. Weiss promised, and, of course, he's got to keep
+his word."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But," I said, with a smile, "you've just told me his name&mdash;if his name
+really is Graves."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You can form your own opinion on that," said the coachman.
+</p>
+<p>
+"And," I added, "as to not being told where he lives, I can see that for
+myself. I'm not blind, you know."
+</p>
+<p>
+"We'll take the risk of what you see," the man replied. "The question
+is, will you take the job on?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Yes; that was the question, and I considered it for some time before
+replying. We medical men are pretty familiar with the kind of person who
+"can't abear doctors," and we like to have as little to do with him as
+possible. He is a thankless and unsatisfactory patient. Intercourse with
+him is unpleasant, he gives a great deal of trouble and responds badly
+to treatment. If this had been my own practice, I should have declined
+the case off-hand. But it was not my practice. I was only a deputy. I
+could not lightly refuse work which would yield a profit to my
+principal, unpleasant though it might be.
+</p>
+<p>
+As I turned the matter over in my mind, I half unconsciously scrutinized
+my visitor&mdash;somewhat to his embarrassment&mdash;and I liked his appearance
+as little as I liked his mission. He kept his station near the door,
+where the light was dim&mdash;for the illumination was concentrated on the
+table and the patient's chair&mdash;but I could see that he had a somewhat
+sly, unprepossessing face and a greasy, red moustache that seemed out of
+character with his rather perfunctory livery; though this was mere
+prejudice. He wore a wig, too&mdash;not that there was anything discreditable
+in that&mdash;and the thumb-nail of the hand that held his hat bore
+disfiguring traces of some injury&mdash;which, again, though unsightly, in no
+wise reflected on his moral character. Lastly, he watched me keenly with
+a mixture of anxiety and sly complacency that I found distinctly
+unpleasant. In a general way, he impressed me disagreeably. I did not
+like the look of him at all; but nevertheless I decided to undertake the
+case.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I suppose," I answered, at length, "it is no affair of mine who the
+patient is or where he lives. But how do you propose to manage the
+business? Am I to be led to the house blindfolded, like the visitor to
+the bandit's cave?"
+</p>
+<p>
+The man grinned slightly and looked very decidedly relieved.
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, sir," he answered; "we ain't going to blindfold you. I've got a
+carriage outside. I don't think you'll see much out of that."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Very well," I rejoined, opening the door to let him out, "I'll be with
+you in a minute. I suppose you can't give me any idea as to what is the
+matter with the patient?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, sir, I can't," he replied; and he went out to see to the carriage.
+</p>
+<p>
+I slipped into a bag an assortment of emergency drugs and a few
+diagnostic instruments, turned down the gas and passed out through the
+surgery. The carriage was standing at the kerb, guarded by the coachman
+and watched with deep interest by the bottle-boy. I viewed it with
+mingled curiosity and disfavour. It was a kind of large brougham, such
+as is used by some commercial travellers, the usual glass windows being
+replaced by wooden shutters intended to conceal the piles of
+sample-boxes, and the doors capable of being locked from outside with a
+railway key.
+</p>
+<p>
+As I emerged from the house, the coachman unlocked the door and held it
+open.
+</p>
+<p>
+"How long will the journey take?" I asked, pausing with my foot on the
+step.
+</p>
+<p>
+The coachman considered a moment or two and replied:
+</p>
+<p>
+"It took me, I should say, nigh upon half an hour to get here."
+</p>
+<p>
+This was pleasant hearing. A half an hour each way and a half an hour at
+the patient's house. At that rate it would be half-past ten before I was
+home again, and then it was quite probable that I should find some other
+untimely messenger waiting on the doorstep. With a muttered anathema on
+the unknown Mr. Graves and the unrestful life of a locum tenens, I
+stepped into the uninviting vehicle. Instantly the coachman slammed the
+door and turned the key, leaving me in total darkness.
+</p>
+<p>
+One comfort was left to me; my pipe was in my pocket. I made shift to
+load it in the dark, and, having lit it with a wax match, took the
+opportunity to inspect the interior of my prison. It was a shabby
+affair. The moth-eaten state of the blue cloth cushions seemed to
+suggest that it had been long out of regular use; the oil-cloth
+floor-covering was worn into holes; ordinary internal fittings there
+were none. But the appearances suggested that the crazy vehicle had been
+prepared with considerable forethought for its present use. The inside
+handles of the doors had apparently been removed; the wooden shutters
+were permanently fixed in their places; and a paper label, stuck on the
+transom below each window, had a suspicious appearance of having been
+put there to cover the painted name and address of the job-master or
+livery-stable keeper who had originally owned the carriage.
+</p>
+<p>
+These observations gave me abundant food for reflection. This Mr. Weiss
+must be an excessively conscientious man if he had considered that his
+promise to Mr. Graves committed him to such extraordinary precautions.
+Evidently no mere following of the letter of the law was enough to
+satisfy his sensitive conscience. Unless he had reasons for sharing Mr.
+Graves's unreasonable desire for secrecy&mdash;for one could not suppose that
+these measures of concealment had been taken by the patient himself.
+</p>
+<p>
+The further suggestions that evolved themselves from this consideration
+were a little disquieting. Whither was I being carried and for what
+purpose? The idea that I was bound for some den of thieves where I
+might be robbed and possibly murdered, I dismissed with a smile. Thieves
+do not make elaborately concerted plans to rob poor devils like me.
+Poverty has its compensations in that respect. But there were other
+possibilities. Imagination backed by experience had no difficulty in
+conjuring up a number of situations in which a medical man might be
+called upon, with or without coercion, either to witness or actively to
+participate in the commission of some unlawful act.
+</p>
+<p>
+Reflections of this kind occupied me pretty actively if not very
+agreeably during this strange journey. And the monotony was relieved,
+too, by other distractions. I was, for example, greatly interested to
+notice how, when one sense is in abeyance, the other senses rouse into a
+compensating intensity of perception. I sat smoking my pipe in darkness
+which was absolute save for the dim glow from the smouldering tobacco in
+the bowl, and seemed to be cut off from all knowledge of the world
+without. But yet I was not. The vibrations of the carriage, with its
+hard springs and iron-tired wheels, registered accurately and plainly
+the character of the roadway. The harsh rattle of granite setts, the
+soft bumpiness of macadam, the smooth rumble of wood-pavement, the
+jarring and swerving of crossed tram-lines; all were easily recognizable
+and together sketched the general features of the neighbourhood through
+which I was passing. And the sense of hearing filled in the details. Now
+the hoot of a tug's whistle told of proximity to the river. A sudden
+and brief hollow reverberation announced the passage under a railway
+arch (which, by the way, happened several times during the journey);
+and, when I heard the familiar whistle of a railway-guard followed by
+the quick snorts of a skidding locomotive, I had as clear a picture of a
+heavy passenger-train moving out of a station as if I had seen it in
+broad daylight.
+</p>
+<p>
+I had just finished my pipe and knocked out the ashes on the heel of my
+boot, when the carriage slowed down and entered a covered way&mdash;as I
+could tell by the hollow echoes. Then I distinguished the clang of heavy
+wooden gates closed behind me, and a moment or two later the carriage
+door was unlocked and opened. I stepped out blinking into a covered
+passage paved with cobbles and apparently leading down to a mews; but it
+was all in darkness, and I had no time to make any detailed
+observations, as the carriage had drawn up opposite a side door which
+was open and in which stood a woman holding a lighted candle.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Is that the doctor?" she asked, speaking with a rather pronounced
+German accent and shading the candle with her hand as she peered at me.
+</p>
+<p>
+I answered in the affirmative, and she then exclaimed:
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am glad you have come. Mr. Weiss will be so relieved. Come in,
+please."
+</p>
+<p>
+I followed her across a dark passage into a dark room, where she set the
+candle down on a chest of drawers and turned to depart. At the door,
+however, she paused and looked back.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is not a very nice room to ask you into," she said. "We are very
+untidy just now, but you must excuse us. We have had so much anxiety
+about poor Mr. Graves."
+</p>
+<p>
+"He has been ill some time, then?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes. Some little time. At intervals, you know. Sometimes better,
+sometimes not so well."
+</p>
+<p>
+As she spoke, she gradually backed out into the passage but did not go
+away at once. I accordingly pursued my inquiries.
+</p>
+<p>
+"He has not been seen by any doctor, has he?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No," she answered, "he has always refused to see a doctor. That has
+been a great trouble to us. Mr. Weiss has been very anxious about him.
+He will be so glad to hear that you have come. I had better go and tell
+him. Perhaps you will kindly sit down until he is able to come to you,"
+and with this she departed on her mission.
+</p>
+<p>
+It struck me as a little odd that, considering his anxiety and the
+apparent urgency of the case, Mr. Weiss should not have been waiting to
+receive me. And when several minutes elapsed without his appearing, the
+oddness of the circumstance impressed me still more. Having no desire,
+after the journey in the carriage, to sit down, I whiled away the time
+by an inspection of the room. And a very curious room it was; bare,
+dirty, neglected and, apparently, unused. A faded carpet had been flung
+untidily on the floor. A small, shabby table stood in the middle of the
+room; and beyond this, three horsehair-covered chairs and a chest of
+drawers formed the entire set of furniture. No pictures hung on the
+mouldy walls, no curtains covered the shuttered windows, and the dark
+drapery of cobwebs that hung from the ceiling to commemorate a long and
+illustrious dynasty of spiders hinted at months of neglect and disuse.
+</p>
+<p>
+The chest of drawers&mdash;an incongruous article of furniture for what
+seemed to be a dining-room&mdash;as being the nearest and best lighted object
+received most of my attention. It was a fine old chest of nearly black
+mahogany, very battered and in the last stage of decay, but originally a
+piece of some pretensions. Regretful of its fallen estate, I looked it
+over with some interest and had just observed on its lower corner a
+little label bearing the printed inscription "Lot 201" when I heard
+footsteps descending the stairs. A moment later the door opened and a
+shadowy figure appeared standing close by the threshold.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Good evening, doctor," said the stranger, in a deep, quiet voice and
+with a distinct, though not strong, German accent. "I must apologize for
+keeping you waiting."
+</p>
+<p>
+I acknowledged the apology somewhat stiffly and asked: "You are Mr.
+Weiss, I presume?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, I am Mr. Weiss. It is very good of you to come so far and so late
+at night and to make no objection to the absurd conditions that my poor
+friend has imposed."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not at all," I replied. "It is my business to go when and where I am
+wanted, and it is not my business to inquire into the private affairs of
+my patients."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is very true, sir," he agreed cordially, "and I am much obliged
+to you for taking that very proper view of the case. I pointed that out
+to my friend, but he is not a very reasonable man. He is very secretive
+and rather suspicious by nature."
+</p>
+<p>
+"So I inferred. And as to his condition; is he seriously ill?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Ah," said Mr. Weiss, "that is what I want you to tell me. I am very
+much puzzled about him."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But what is the nature of his illness? What does he complain of?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"He makes very few complaints of any kind although he is obviously ill.
+But the fact is that he is hardly ever more than half awake. He lies in
+a kind of dreamy stupor from morning to night."
+</p>
+<p>
+This struck me as excessively strange and by no means in agreement with
+the patient's energetic refusal to see a doctor.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But," I asked, "does he never rouse completely?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, yes," Mr. Weiss answered quickly; "he rouses from time to time and
+is then quite rational, and, as you may have gathered, rather obstinate.
+That is the peculiar and puzzling feature in the case; this alternation
+between a state of stupor and an almost normal and healthy condition.
+But perhaps you had better see him and judge for yourself. He had a
+rather severe attack just now. Follow me, please. The stairs are rather
+dark."
+</p>
+<p>
+The stairs were very dark, and I noticed that they were without any
+covering of carpet, or even oil-cloth, so that our footsteps resounded
+dismally as if we were in an empty house. I stumbled up after my guide,
+feeling my way by the hand-rail, and on the first floor followed him
+into a room similar in size to the one below and very barely furnished,
+though less squalid than the other. A single candle at the farther end
+threw its feeble light on a figure in the bed, leaving the rest of the
+room in a dim twilight.
+</p>
+<p>
+As Mr. Weiss tiptoed into the chamber, a woman&mdash;the one who had spoken
+to me below&mdash;rose from a chair by the bedside and quietly left the room
+by a second door. My conductor halted, and looking fixedly at the figure
+in the bed, called out:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Philip! Philip! Here is the doctor come to see you."
+</p>
+<p>
+He paused for a moment or two, and, receiving no answer, said: "He seems
+to be dozing as usual. Will you go and see what you can make of him?"
+</p>
+<p>
+I stepped forward to the bedside, leaving Mr. Weiss at the end of the
+room near the door by which we had entered, where he remained, slowly
+and noiselessly pacing backwards and forwards in the semi-obscurity. By
+the light of the candle I saw an elderly man with good features and a
+refined, intelligent and even attractive face, but dreadfully emaciated,
+bloodless and sallow. He lay quite motionless except for the scarcely
+perceptible rise and fall of his chest; his eyes were nearly closed, his
+features relaxed, and, though he was not actually asleep, he seemed to
+be in a dreamy, somnolent, lethargic state, as if under the influence of
+some narcotic.
+</p>
+<p>
+I watched him for a minute or so, timing his slow breathing by my
+watch, and then suddenly and sharply addressed him by name; but the only
+response was a slight lifting of the eyelids, which, after a brief,
+drowsy glance at me, slowly subsided to their former position.
+</p>
+<p>
+I now proceeded to make a physical examination. First, I felt his pulse,
+grasping his wrist with intentional brusqueness in the hope of rousing
+him from his stupor. The beats were slow, feeble and slightly irregular,
+giving clear evidence, if any were needed, of his generally lowered
+vitality. I listened carefully to his heart, the sounds of which were
+very distinct through the thin walls of his emaciated chest, but found
+nothing abnormal beyond the feebleness and uncertainty of its action.
+Then I turned my attention to his eyes, which I examined closely with
+the aid of the candle and my ophthalmoscope lens, raising the lids
+somewhat roughly so as to expose the whole of the irises. He submitted
+without resistance to my rather ungentle handling of these sensitive
+structures, and showed no signs of discomfort even when I brought the
+candle-flame to within a couple of inches of his eyes.
+</p>
+<p>
+But this extraordinary tolerance of light was easily explained by closer
+examination; for the pupils were contracted to such an extreme degree
+that only the very minutest point of black was visible at the centre of
+the grey iris. Nor was this the only abnormal peculiarity of the sick
+man's eyes. As he lay on his back, the right iris sagged down slightly
+towards its centre, showing a distinctly concave surface; and, when I
+contrived to produce a slight but quick movement of the eyeball, a
+perceptible undulatory movement could be detected. The patient had, in
+fact, what is known as a tremulous iris, a condition that is seen in
+cases where the crystalline lens has been extracted for the cure of
+cataract, or where it has become accidentally displaced, leaving the
+iris unsupported. In the present case, the complete condition of the
+iris made it clear that the ordinary extraction operation had not been
+performed, nor was I able, on the closest inspection with the aid of my
+lens, to find any trace of the less common "needle operation." The
+inference was that the patient had suffered from the accident known as
+"dislocation of the lens"; and this led to the further inference that he
+was almost or completely blind in the right eye.
+</p>
+<p>
+This conclusion was, indeed, to some extent negatived by a deep
+indentation on the bridge of the nose, evidently produced by spectacles,
+and by marks which I looked for and found behind the ears, corresponding
+to the hooks or "curl sides" of the glasses. For those spectacles which
+are fitted with curl sides to hook over the ears are usually intended to
+be worn habitually, and this agreed with the indentation on the nose;
+which was deeper than would have been accounted for by the merely
+occasional use of spectacles for reading. But if only one eye was
+useful, a single eye-glass would have answered the purpose; not that
+there was any weight in this objection, for a single eye-glass worn
+constantly would be much less convenient than a pair of hook-sided
+spectacles.
+</p>
+<p>
+As to the nature of the patient's illness, only one opinion seemed
+possible. It was a clear and typical case of opium or morphine
+poisoning. To this conclusion all his symptoms seemed to point with
+absolute certainty. The coated tongue, which he protruded slowly and
+tremulously in response to a command bawled in his ear; his yellow skin
+and ghastly expression; his contracted pupils and the stupor from which
+he could hardly be roused by the roughest handling and which yet did not
+amount to actual insensibility; all these formed a distinct and coherent
+group of symptoms, not only pointing plainly to the nature of the drug,
+but also suggesting a very formidable dose.
+</p>
+<p>
+But this conclusion in its turn raised a very awkward and difficult
+question. If a large&mdash;a poisonous&mdash;dose of the drug had been taken, how,
+and by whom had that dose been administered? The closest scrutiny of
+the patient's arms and legs failed to reveal a single mark such as would
+be made by a hypodermic needle. This man was clearly no common
+morphinomaniac; and in the absence of the usual sprinkling of
+needlemarks, there was nothing to show or suggest whether the drug had
+been taken voluntarily by the patient himself or administered by someone
+else.
+</p>
+<p>
+And then there remained the possibility that I might, after all, be
+mistaken in my diagnosis. I felt pretty confident. But the wise man
+always holds a doubt in reserve. And, in the present case, having regard
+to the obviously serious condition of the patient, such a doubt was
+eminently disturbing. Indeed, as I pocketed my stethoscope and took a
+last look at the motionless, silent figure, I realized that my position
+was one of extraordinary difficulty and perplexity. On the one hand my
+suspicions&mdash;aroused, naturally enough, by the very unusual circumstances
+that surrounded my visit&mdash;inclined me to extreme reticence; while, on
+the other, it was evidently my duty to give any information that might
+prove serviceable to the patient.
+</p>
+<p>
+As I turned away from the bed Mr. Weiss stopped his slow pacing to and
+fro and faced me. The feeble light of the candle now fell on him, and I
+saw him distinctly for the first time. He did not impress me favourably.
+He was a thick-set, round-shouldered man, a typical fair German with
+tow-coloured hair, greased and brushed down smoothly, a large, ragged,
+sandy beard and coarse, sketchy features. His nose was large and thick
+with a bulbous end, and inclined to a reddish purple, a tint which
+extended to the adjacent parts of his face as if the colour had run. His
+eyebrows were large and beetling, overhanging deep-set eyes, and he wore
+a pair of spectacles which gave him a somewhat owlish expression. His
+exterior was unprepossessing, and I was in a state of mind that rendered
+me easily receptive of an unfavourable impression.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well," he said, "what do you make of him?" I hesitated, still perplexed
+by the conflicting necessities of caution and frankness, but at length
+replied:
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think rather badly of him, Mr. Weiss. He is in a very low state."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, I can see that. But have you come to any decision as to the nature
+of his illness?"
+</p>
+<p>
+There was a tone of anxiety and suppressed eagerness in the question
+which, while it was natural enough in the circumstances, by no means
+allayed my suspicions, but rather influenced me on the side of caution.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I cannot give a very definite opinion at present," I replied guardedly.
+"The symptoms are rather obscure and might very well indicate several
+different conditions. They might be due to congestion of the brain, and,
+if no other explanation were possible, I should incline to that view.
+The alternative is some narcotic poison, such as opium or morphia."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But that is quite impossible. There is no such drug in the house, and
+as he never leaves his room now, he could not get any from outside."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What about the servants?" I asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"There are no servants excepting my housekeeper, and she is absolutely
+trustworthy."
+</p>
+<p>
+"He might have some store of the drug that you are not aware of. Is he
+left alone much?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Very seldom indeed. I spend as much time with him as I can, and when I
+am not able to be in the room, Mrs Schallibaum, my housekeeper, sits
+with him."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Is he often as drowsy as he is now?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, very often; in fact, I should say that is his usual condition. He
+rouses up now and again, and then he is quite lucid and natural for,
+perhaps, an hour or so; but presently he becomes drowsy again and doses
+off, and remains asleep, or half asleep, for hours on end. Do you know
+of any disease that takes people in that way?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No," I answered. "The symptoms are not exactly like those of any
+disease that is known to me. But they are much very like those of opium
+poisoning."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But, my dear sir," Mr. Weiss retorted impatiently, "since it is clearly
+impossible that it can be opium poisoning, it must be something else.
+Now, what else can it be? You were speaking of congestion of the brain."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes. But the objection to that is the very complete recovery that seems
+to take place in the intervals."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I would not say very complete," said Mr. Weiss. "The recovery is rather
+comparative. He is lucid and fairly natural in his manner, but he is
+still dull and lethargic. He does not, for instance, show any desire to
+go out, or even to leave his room."
+</p>
+<p>
+I pondered uncomfortably on these rather contradictory statements.
+Clearly Mr. Weiss did not mean to entertain the theory of opium
+poisoning; which was natural enough if he had no knowledge of the drug
+having been used. But still&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+"I suppose," said Mr. Weiss, "you have experience of sleeping sickness?"
+</p>
+<p>
+The suggestion startled me. I had not. Very few people had. At that time
+practically nothing was known about the disease. It was a mere
+pathological curiosity, almost unheard of excepting by a few
+practitioners in remote parts of Africa, and hardly referred to in the
+text-books. Its connection with the trypanosome-bearing insects was as
+yet unsuspected, and, to me, its symptoms were absolutely unknown.
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, I have not," I replied. "The disease is nothing more than a name to
+me. But why do you ask? Has Mr. Graves been abroad?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes. He has been travelling for the last three or four years, and I
+know that he spent some time recently in West Africa, where this disease
+occurs. In fact, it was from him that I first heard about it."
+</p>
+<p>
+This was a new fact. It shook my confidence in my diagnosis very
+considerably, and inclined me to reconsider my suspicions. If Mr. Weiss
+was lying to me, he now had me at a decided disadvantage.
+</p>
+<p>
+"What do you think?" he asked. "Is it possible that this can be sleeping
+sickness?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I should not like to say that it is impossible," I replied. "The
+disease is practically unknown to me. I have never practised out of
+England and have had no occasion to study it. Until I have looked the
+subject up, I should not be in a position to give an opinion. Of course,
+if I could see Mr. Graves in one of what we may call his 'lucid
+intervals' I should be able to form a better idea. Do you think that
+could be managed?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"It might. I see the importance of it and will certainly do my best; but
+he is a difficult man; a very difficult man. I sincerely hope it is not
+sleeping sickness."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Because&mdash;as I understood from him&mdash;that disease is invariably fatal,
+sooner or later. There seem to be no cure. Do you think you will be able
+to decide when you see him again?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I hope so," I replied. "I shall look up the authorities and see exactly
+what the symptoms are&mdash;that is, so far as they are known; but my
+impression is that there is very little information available."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And in the meantime?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"We will give him some medicine and attend to his general condition, and
+you had better let me see him again as soon as possible." I was about to
+say that the effect of the medicine itself might throw some light on the
+patient's condition, but, as I proposed to treat him for morphine
+poisoning, I thought it wiser to keep this item of information to
+myself. Accordingly, I confined myself to a few general directions as to
+the care of the patient, to which Mr. Weiss listened attentively. "And,"
+I concluded, "we must not lose sight of the opium question. You had
+better search the room carefully and keep a close watch on the patient,
+especially during his intervals of wakefulness."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Very well, doctor," Mr. Weiss replied, "I will do all that you tell me
+and I will send for you again as soon as possible, if you do not object
+to poor Graves's ridiculous conditions. And now, if you will allow me to
+pay your fee, I will go and order the carriage while you are writing the
+prescription."
+</p>
+<p>
+"There is no need for a prescription," I said. "I will make up some
+medicine and give it to the coachman."
+</p>
+<p>
+Mr. Weiss seemed inclined to demur to this arrangement, but I had my own
+reasons for insisting on it. Modern prescriptions are not difficult to
+read, and I did not wish Mr. Weiss to know what treatment the patient
+was having.
+</p>
+<p>
+As soon as I was left alone, I returned to the bedside and once more
+looked down at the impassive figure. And as I looked, my suspicions
+revived. It was very like morphine poisoning; and, if it was morphine,
+it was no common, medicinal dose that had been given. I opened my bag
+and took out my hypodermic case from which I extracted a little tube of
+atropine tabloids. Shaking out into my hand a couple of the tiny discs,
+I drew down the patient's under-lip and slipped the little tablets under
+his tongue. Then I quickly replaced the tube and dropped the case into
+my bag; and I had hardly done so when the door opened softly and the
+housekeeper entered the room.
+</p>
+<p>
+"How do you find Mr. Graves?" she asked in what I thought a very
+unnecessarily low tone, considering the patient's lethargic state.
+</p>
+<p>
+"He seems to be very ill," I answered.
+</p>
+<p>
+"So!" she rejoined, and added: "I am sorry to hear that. We have been
+anxious about him."
+</p>
+<p>
+She seated herself on the chair by the bedside, and, shading the candle
+from the patient's face&mdash;and her own, too&mdash;produced from a bag that hung
+from her waist a half-finished stocking and began to knit silently and
+with the skill characteristic of the German housewife. I looked at her
+attentively (though she was so much in the shadow that I could see her
+but indistinctly) and somehow her appearance prepossessed me as little
+as did that of the other members of the household. Yet she was not an
+ill-looking woman. She had an excellent figure, and the air of a person
+of good social position; her features were good enough and her
+colouring, although a little unusual, was not unpleasant. Like Mr.
+Weiss, she had very fair hair, greased, parted in the middle and brushed
+down as smoothly as the painted hair of a Dutch doll. She appeared to
+have no eyebrows at all&mdash;owing, no doubt, to the light colour of the
+hair&mdash;and the doll-like character was emphasized by her eyes, which were
+either brown or dark grey, I could not see which. A further peculiarity
+consisted in a "habit spasm," such as one often sees in nervous
+children; a periodical quick jerk of the head, as if a cap-string or
+dangling lock were being shaken off the cheek. Her age I judged to be
+about thirty-five.
+</p>
+<p>
+The carriage, which one might have expected to be waiting, seemed to
+take some time in getting ready. I sat, with growing impatience,
+listening to the sick man's soft breathing and the click of the
+housekeeper's knitting-needles. I wanted to get home, not only for my
+own sake; the patient's condition made it highly desirable that the
+remedies should be given as quickly as possible. But the minutes dragged
+on, and I was on the point of expostulating when a bell rang on the
+landing.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The carriage is ready," said Mrs. Schallibaum. "Let me light you down
+the stairs."
+</p>
+<p>
+She rose, and, taking the candle, preceded me to the head of the stairs,
+where she stood holding the light over the baluster-rail as I descended
+and crossed the passage to the open side door. The carriage was drawn up
+in the covered way as I could see by the faint glimmer of the distant
+candle; which also enabled me dimly to discern the coachman standing
+close by in the shadow. I looked round, rather expecting to see Mr.
+Weiss, but, as he made no appearance, I entered the carriage. The door
+was immediately banged to and locked, and I then heard the heavy bolts
+of the gates withdrawn and the loud creaking of hinges. The carriage
+moved out slowly and stopped; the gates slammed to behind me; I felt the
+lurch as the coachman climbed to his seat and we started forward.
+</p>
+<p>
+My reflections during the return journey were the reverse of agreeable.
+I could not rid myself of the conviction that I was being involved in
+some very suspicious proceedings. It was possible, of course, that this
+feeling was due to the strange secrecy that surrounded my connection
+with this case; that, had I made my visit under ordinary conditions, I
+might have found in the patient's symptoms nothing to excite suspicion
+or alarm. It might be so, but that consideration did not comfort me.
+</p>
+<p>
+Then, my diagnosis might be wrong. It might be that this was, in
+reality, a case of some brain affection accompanied by compression, such
+as slow haemorrhage, abscess, tumour or simple congestion. These cases
+were very difficult at times. But the appearances in this one did not
+consistently agree with the symptoms accompanying any of these
+conditions. As to sleeping sickness, it was, perhaps a more hopeful
+suggestion, but I could not decide for or against it until I had more
+knowledge; and against this view was the weighty fact that the symptoms
+did exactly agree with the theory of morphine poisoning.
+</p>
+<p>
+But even so, there was no conclusive evidence of any criminal act. The
+patient might be a confirmed opium-eater, and the symptoms heightened by
+deliberate deception. The cunning of these unfortunates is proverbial
+and is only equalled by their secretiveness and mendacity. It would be
+quite possible for this man to feign profound stupor so long as he was
+watched, and then, when left alone for a few minutes, to nip out of bed
+and help himself from some secret store of the drug. This would be quite
+in character with his objection to seeing a doctor and his desire for
+secrecy. But still, I did not believe it to be the true explanation. In
+spite of all the various alternative possibilities, my suspicions came
+back to Mr. Weiss and the strange, taciturn woman, and refused to budge.
+</p>
+<p>
+For all the circumstances of the case were suspicious. The elaborate
+preparations implied by the state of the carriage in which I was
+travelling; the make-shift appearance of the house; the absence of
+ordinary domestic servants, although a coachman was kept; the evident
+desire of Mr. Weiss and the woman to avoid thorough inspection of their
+persons; and, above all, the fact that the former had told me a
+deliberate lie. For he had lied, beyond all doubt. His statement as to
+the almost continuous stupor was absolutely irreconcilable with his
+other statement as to the patient's wilfulness and obstinacy and even
+more irreconcilable with the deep and comparatively fresh marks of the
+spectacles on the patient's nose. That man had certainly worn spectacles
+within twenty-four hours, which he would hardly have done if he had been
+in a state bordering on coma.
+</p>
+<p>
+My reflections were interrupted by the stopping of the carriage. The
+door was unlocked and thrown open, and I emerged from my dark and stuffy
+prison opposite my own house.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I will let you have the medicine in a minute or two," I said to the
+coachman; and, as I let myself in with my latch-key, my mind came back
+swiftly from the general circumstances of the case to the very critical
+condition of the patient. Already I was regretting that I had not taken
+more energetic measures to rouse him and restore his flagging vitality;
+for it would be a terrible thing if he should take a turn for the worse
+and die before the coachman returned with the remedies. Spurred on by
+this alarming thought, I made up the medicines quickly and carried the
+hastily wrapped bottles out to the man, whom I found standing by the
+horse's head.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Get back as quickly as you can," I said, "and tell Mr. Weiss to lose no
+time in giving the patient the draught in the small bottle. The
+directions are on the labels."
+</p>
+<p>
+The coachman took the packages from me without reply, climbed to his
+seat, touched the horse with his whip and drove off at a rapid pace
+towards Newington Butts.
+</p>
+<p>
+The little clock in the consulting-room showed that it was close on
+eleven; time for a tired G.P. to be thinking of bed. But I was not
+sleepy. Over my frugal supper I found myself taking up anew the thread
+of my meditations, and afterwards, as I smoked my last pipe by the
+expiring surgery fire, the strange and sinister features of the case
+continued to obtrude themselves on my notice. I looked up Stillbury's
+little reference library for information on the subject of sleeping
+sickness, but learned no more than that it was "a rare and obscure
+disease of which very little was known at present." I read up morphine
+poisoning and was only further confirmed in the belief that my diagnosis
+was correct; which would have been more satisfactory if the
+circumstances had been different.
+</p>
+<p>
+For the interest of the case was not merely academic. I was in a
+position of great difficulty and responsibility and had to decide on a
+course of action. What ought I to do? Should I maintain the professional
+secrecy to which I was tacitly committed, or ought I to convey a hint to
+the police?
+</p>
+<p>
+Suddenly, and with a singular feeling of relief, I bethought myself of
+my old friend and fellow-student, John Thorndyke, now an eminent
+authority on Medical Jurisprudence. I had been associated with him
+temporarily in one case as his assistant, and had then been deeply
+impressed by his versatile learning, his acuteness and his marvellous
+resourcefulness. Thorndyke was a barrister in extensive practice, and so
+would be able to tell me at once what was my duty from a legal point of
+view; and, as he was also a doctor of medicine, he would understand the
+exigencies of medical practice. If I could find time to call at the
+Temple and lay the case before him, all my doubts and difficulties would
+be resolved.
+</p>
+<p>
+Anxiously, I opened my visiting-list to see what kind of day's work was
+in store for me on the morrow. It was not a heavy day, even allowing for
+one or two extra calls in the morning, but yet I was doubtful whether it
+would allow of my going so far from my district, until my eye caught,
+near the foot of the page, the name of Burton. Now Mr. Burton lived in
+one of the old houses on the east side of Bouverie Street, less than
+five minutes' walk from Thorndyke's chambers in King's Bench Walk; and
+he was, moreover, a "chronic" who could safely be left for the last.
+When I had done with Mr. Burton I could look in on my friend with a very
+good chance of catching him on his return from the hospital. I could
+allow myself time for quite a long chat with him, and, by taking a
+hansom, still get back in good time for the evening's work.
+</p>
+<p>
+This was a great comfort. At the prospect of sharing my responsibilities
+with a friend on whose judgment I could so entirely rely, my
+embarrassments seemed to drop from me in a moment. Having entered the
+engagement in my visiting-list, I rose, in greatly improved spirits, and
+knocked out my pipe just as the little clock banged out impatiently the
+hour of midnight.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="CH2"><!-- CH2 --></a>
+<h2>
+	Chapter II
+</h2>
+
+<h3>
+Thorndyke Devises a Scheme
+</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>
+As I entered the Temple by the Tudor Street gate the aspect of the place
+smote my senses with an air of agreeable familiarity. Here had I spent
+many a delightful hour when working with Thorndyke at the remarkable
+Hornby case, which the newspapers had called "The Case of the Red Thumb
+Mark"; and here had I met the romance of my life, the story whereof is
+told elsewhere. The place was thus endeared to me by pleasant
+recollections of a happy past, and its associations suggested hopes of
+happiness yet to come and in the not too far distant future.
+</p>
+<p>
+My brisk tattoo on the little brass knocker brought to the door no less
+a person than Thorndyke himself; and the warmth of his greeting made me
+at once proud and ashamed. For I had not only been an absentee; I had
+been a very poor correspondent.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The prodigal has returned, Polton," he exclaimed, looking into the
+room. "Here is Dr. Jervis."
+</p>
+<p>
+I followed him into the room and found Polton&mdash;his confidential servant,
+laboratory assistant, artificer and general "familiar"&mdash;setting out the
+tea-tray on a small table. The little man shook hands cordially with me,
+and his face crinkled up into the sort of smile that one might expect to
+see on a benevolent walnut.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We've often talked about you, sir," said he. "The doctor was wondering
+only yesterday when you were coming back to us."
+</p>
+<p>
+As I was not "coming back to them" quite in the sense intended I felt a
+little guilty, but reserved my confidences for Thorndyke's ear and
+replied in polite generalities. Then Polton fetched the tea-pot from the
+laboratory, made up the fire and departed, and Thorndyke and I subsided,
+as of old, into our respective arm-chairs.
+</p>
+<p>
+"And whence do you spring from in this unexpected fashion?" my colleague
+asked. "You look as if you had been making professional visits."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I have. The base of operations is in Lower Kennington Lane."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Ah! Then you are 'back once more on the old trail'?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes," I answered, with a laugh, "'the old trail, the long trail, the
+trail that is always new.'"
+</p>
+<p>
+"And leads nowhere," Thorndyke added grimly.
+</p>
+<p>
+I laughed again; not very heartily, for there was an uncomfortable
+element of truth in my friend's remark, to which my own experience bore
+only too complete testimony. The medical practitioner whose lack of
+means forces him to subsist by taking temporary charge of other men's
+practices is apt to find that the passing years bring him little but
+grey hairs and a wealth of disagreeable experience.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You will have to drop it, Jervis; you will, indeed," Thorndyke resumed
+after a pause. "This casual employment is preposterous for a man of your
+class and professional attainments. Besides, are you not engaged to be
+married and to a most charming girl?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, I know. I have been a fool. But I will really amend my ways. If
+necessary, I will pocket my pride and let Juliet advance the money to
+buy a practice."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That," said Thorndyke, "is a very proper resolution. Pride and reserve
+between people who are going to be husband and wife, is an absurdity.
+But why buy a practice? Have you forgotten my proposal?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I should be an ungrateful brute if I had."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Very well. I repeat it now. Come to me as my junior, read for the Bar
+and work with me, and, with your abilities, you will have a chance of
+something like a career. I want you, Jervis," he added, earnestly. "I
+must have a junior, with my increasing practice, and you are the junior
+I want. We are old and tried friends; we have worked together; we like
+and trust one another, and you are the best man for the job that I know.
+Come; I am not going to take a refusal. This is an ultimatum."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And what is the alternative?" I asked with a smile at his eagerness.
+</p>
+<p>
+"There isn't any. You are going to say yes."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I believe I am," I answered, not without emotion; "and I am more
+rejoiced at your offer and more grateful than I can tell you. But we
+must leave the final arrangements for our next meeting&mdash;in a week or so,
+I hope&mdash;for I have to be back in an hour, and I want to consult you on
+a matter of some importance."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Very well," said Thorndyke; "we will leave the formal agreement for
+consideration at our next meeting. What is it that you want my opinion
+on?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"The fact is," I said, "I am in a rather awkward dilemma, and I want you
+to tell me what you think I ought to do."
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke paused in the act of refilling my cup and glanced at me with
+unmistakable anxiety.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Nothing of an unpleasant nature, I hope," said he.
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, no; nothing of that kind," I answered with a smile as I interpreted
+the euphemism; for "something unpleasant," in the case of a young and
+reasonably presentable medical man is ordinarily the equivalent of
+trouble with the female of his species. "It is nothing that concerns me
+personally at all," I continued; "it is a question of professional
+responsibility. But I had better give you an account of the affair in a
+complete narrative, as I know that you like to have your data in a
+regular and consecutive order."
+</p>
+<p>
+Thereupon I proceeded to relate the history of my visit to the
+mysterious Mr. Graves, not omitting any single circumstance or detail
+that I could recollect.
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke listened from the very beginning of my story with the closest
+attention. His face was the most impassive that I have ever seen;
+ordinarily as inscrutable as a bronze mask; but to me, who knew him
+intimately, there was a certain something&mdash;a change of colour, perhaps,
+or an additional sparkle of the eye&mdash;that told me when his curious
+passion for investigation was fully aroused. And now, as I told him of
+that weird journey and the strange, secret house to which it had brought
+me, I could see that it offered a problem after his very heart. During
+the whole of my narration he sat as motionless as a statue, evidently
+committing the whole story to memory, detail by detail; and even when I
+had finished he remained for an appreciable time without moving or
+speaking.
+</p>
+<p>
+At length he looked up at me. "This is a very extraordinary affair,
+Jervis," he said.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Very," I agreed; "and the question that is agitating me is, what is to
+be done?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes," he said, meditatively, "that is the question; and an uncommonly
+difficult question it is. It really involves the settlement of the
+antecedent question: What is it that is happening at that house?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"What do you think is happening at that house?" I asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We must go slow, Jervis," he replied. "We must carefully separate the
+legal tissues from the medical, and avoid confusing what we know with
+what we suspect. Now, with reference to the medical aspects of the case.
+The first question that confronts us is that of sleeping sickness, or
+negro-lethargy as it is sometimes called; and here we are in a
+difficulty. We have not enough knowledge. Neither of us, I take it, has
+ever seen a case, and the extant descriptions are inadequate. From what
+I know of the disease, its symptoms agree with those in your case in
+respect of the alleged moroseness and in the gradually increasing
+periods of lethargy alternating with periods of apparent recovery. On
+the other hand, the disease is said to be confined to negroes; but that
+probably means only that negroes alone have hitherto been exposed to the
+conditions that produce it. A more important fact is that, as far as I
+know, extreme contraction of the pupils is not a symptom of sleeping
+sickness. To sum up, the probabilities are against sleeping sickness,
+but with our insufficient knowledge, we cannot definitely exclude it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You think that it may really be sleeping sickness?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No; personally I do not entertain that theory for a moment. But I am
+considering the evidence apart from our opinions on the subject. We have
+to accept it as a conceivable hypothesis that it may be sleeping
+sickness because we cannot positively prove that it is not. That is all.
+But when we come to the hypothesis of morphine poisoning, the case is
+different. The symptoms agree with those of morphine poisoning in every
+respect. There is no exception or disagreement whatever. The common
+sense of the matter is therefore that we adopt morphine poisoning as our
+working diagnosis; which is what you seem to have done."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes. For purposes of treatment."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Exactly. For medical purposes you adopted the more probable view and
+dismissed the less probable. That was the reasonable thing to do. But
+for legal purposes you must entertain both possibilities; for the
+hypothesis of poisoning involves serious legal issues, whereas the
+hypothesis of disease involves no legal issues at all."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That doesn't sound very helpful," I remarked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It indicates the necessity for caution," he retorted.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, I see that. But what is your own opinion of the case?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well," he said, "let us consider the facts in order. Here is a man who,
+we assume, is under the influence of a poisonous dose of morphine. The
+question is, did he take that dose himself or was it administered to him
+by some other person? If he took it himself, with what object did he
+take it? The history that was given to you seems completely to exclude
+the idea of suicide. But the patient's condition seems equally to
+exclude the idea of morphinomania. Your opium-eater does not reduce
+himself to a state of coma. He usually keeps well within the limits of
+the tolerance that has been established. The conclusion that emerges is,
+I think, that the drug was administered by some other person; and the
+most likely person seems to be Mr. Weiss."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Isn't morphine a very unusual poison?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Very; and most inconvenient except in a single, fatal dose, by reason
+of the rapidity with which tolerance of the drug is established. But we
+must not forget that slow morphine poisoning might be eminently
+suitable in certain cases. The manner in which it enfeebles the will,
+confuses the judgment and debilitates the body might make it very useful
+to a poisoner whose aim was to get some instrument or document executed,
+such as a will, deed or assignment. And death could be produced
+afterwards by other means. You see the important bearing of this?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"You mean in respect of a death certificate?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes. Suppose Mr. Weiss to have given a large dose of morphine. He then
+sends for you and throws out a suggestion of sleeping sickness. If you
+accept the suggestion he is pretty safe. He can repeat the process until
+he kills his victim and then get a certificate from you which will cover
+the murder. It was quite an ingenious scheme&mdash;which, by the way, is
+characteristic of intricate crimes; your subtle criminal often plans his
+crime like a genius, but he generally executes it like a fool&mdash;as this
+man seems to have done, if we are not doing him an injustice."
+</p>
+<p>
+"How has he acted like a fool?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"In several respects. In the first place, he should have chosen his
+doctor. A good, brisk, confident man who 'knows his own mind' is the
+sort of person who would have suited him; a man who would have jumped at
+a diagnosis and stuck to it; or else an ignorant weakling of alcoholic
+tendencies. It was shockingly bad luck to run against a cautious
+scientific practitioner like my learned friend. Then, of course, all
+this secrecy was sheer tomfoolery, exactly calculated to put a careful
+man on his guard; as it has actually done. If Mr. Weiss is really a
+criminal, he has mismanaged his affairs badly."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And you apparently think that he is a criminal?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I suspect him deeply. But I should like to ask you one or two questions
+about him. You say he spoke with a German accent. What command of
+English had he? Was his vocabulary good? Did he use any German idioms?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No. I should say that his English was perfect, and I noticed that his
+phrases were quite well chosen even for an Englishman."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Did he seem to you 'made up' in any way; disguised, I mean?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I couldn't say. The light was so very feeble."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You couldn't see the colour of his eyes, for instance?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No. I think they were grey, but I couldn't be sure."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And as to the coachman. He wore a wig, you said. Could you see the
+colour of his eyes? Or any peculiarity by which you could recognize
+him?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"He had a malformed thumb-nail on his right hand. That is all I can say
+about him."
+</p>
+<p>
+"He didn't strike you as resembling Weiss in any way; in voice or
+features?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not at all; and he spoke, as I told you, with a distinct Scotch
+accent."
+</p>
+<p>
+"The reason I ask is that if Weiss is attempting to poison this man, the
+coachman is almost certain to be a confederate and might be a relative.
+You had better examine him closely if you get another chance."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I will. And that brings me back to the question, What am I to do? Ought
+I to report the case to the police?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am inclined to think not. You have hardly enough facts. Of course, if
+Mr. Weiss has administered poison 'unlawfully and maliciously' he has
+committed a felony, and is liable under the Consolidation Acts of 1861
+to ten years' penal servitude. But I do not see how you could swear an
+information. You don't know that he administered the poison&mdash;if poison
+has really been administered&mdash;and you cannot give any reliable name or
+any address whatever. Then there is the question of sleeping sickness.
+You reject it for medical purposes, but you could not swear, in a court
+of law, that this is not a case of sleeping sickness."
+</p>
+<p>
+"No," I admitted, "I could not."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Then I think the police would decline to move in the matter, and you
+might find that you had raised a scandal in Dr. Stillbury's practice to
+no purpose."
+</p>
+<p>
+"So you think I had better do nothing in the matter?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"For the present. It is, of course, a medical man's duty to assist
+justice in any way that is possible. But a doctor is not a detective; he
+should not go out of his way to assume police functions. He should keep
+his eyes and ears open, and, though, in general, he should keep his own
+counsel, it is his duty to note very carefully anything that seems to
+him likely to bear on any important legal issues. It is not his
+business officiously to initiate criminal inquiries, but it is
+emphatically his business to be ready, if called upon, to assist justice
+with information that his special knowledge and opportunities have
+rendered accessible to him. You see the bearing of this?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"You mean that I should note down what I have seen and heard and say
+nothing about it until I am asked."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes; if nothing further happens. But if you should be sent for again, I
+think it is your duty to make further observations with a view, if
+necessary, to informing the police. It may be, for instance, of vital
+importance to identify the house, and it is your duty to secure the
+means of doing so."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But, my dear Thorndyke," I expostulated, "I have told you how I was
+conveyed to the house. Now, will you kindly explain to me how a man,
+boxed up in a pitch-dark carriage, is going to identify any place to
+which he may be carried?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"The problem doesn't appear to me to present any serious difficulties,"
+he replied.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Doesn't it?" said I. "To me it looks like a pretty solid impossibility.
+But what do you suggest? Should I break out of the house and run away up
+the street? Or should I bore a hole through the shutter of the carriage
+and peep out?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke smiled indulgently. "The methods proposed by my learned friend
+display a certain crudity inappropriate to the character of a man of
+science; to say nothing of the disadvantage of letting the enemy into
+our counsels. No, no, Jervis; we can do something better than that.
+Just excuse me for a minute while I run up to the laboratory."
+</p>
+<p>
+He hurried away to Polton's sanctum on the upper floor, leaving me to
+speculate on the method by which he proposed that a man should be
+enabled, as Sam Weller would express it, "to see through a flight of
+stairs and a deal door"; or, what was equally opaque, the wooden
+shutters of a closed carriage.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Now," he said, when he returned a couple of minutes later with a small,
+paper-covered notebook in his hand, "I have set Polton to work on a
+little appliance that will, I think, solve our difficulty, and I will
+show you how I propose that you should make your observations. First of
+all, we have to rule the pages of this book into columns."
+</p>
+<p>
+He sat down at the table and began methodically to rule the pages each
+into three columns, two quite narrow and one broad. The process occupied
+some time, during which I sat and watched with impatient curiosity the
+unhurried, precise movements of Thorndyke's pencil, all agog to hear the
+promised explanation. He was just finishing the last page when there
+came a gentle tap at the door, and Polton entered with a satisfied smile
+on his dry, shrewd-looking face and a small board in his hand.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Will this do, sir?" he asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+As he spoke he handed the little board to Thorndyke, who looked at it
+and passed it to me.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The very thing, Polton," my friend replied. "Where did you find it?
+It's of no use for you to pretend that you've made it in about two
+minutes and a half."
+</p>
+<p>
+Polton smiled one of his queer crinkly smiles, and remarking that "it
+didn't take much making," departed much gratified by the compliment.
+</p>
+<p>
+"What a wonderful old fellow that is, Jervis," Thorndyke observed as his
+factotum retired. "He took in the idea instantly and seems to have
+produced the finished article by magic, as the conjurers bring forth
+rabbits and bowls of goldfish at a moment's notice. I suppose you see
+what your <i>modus operandi</i> is to be?"
+</p>
+<p>
+I had gathered a clue from the little appliance&mdash;a plate of white
+fret-wood about seven inches by five, to one corner of which a
+pocket-compass had been fixed with shellac&mdash;but was not quite clear as
+to the details of the method.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You can read a compass pretty quickly, I think?" Thorndyke said.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Of course I can. Used we not to sail a yacht together when we were
+students?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"To be sure we did; and we will again before we die. And now as to your
+method of locating this house. Here is a pocket reading-lamp which you
+can hook on the carriage lining. This notebook can be fixed to the board
+with an india-rubber band&mdash;thus. You observe that the thoughtful Polton
+has stuck a piece of thread on the glass of the compass to serve as a
+lubber's line. This is how you will proceed. As soon as you are locked
+in the carriage, light your lamp&mdash;better have a book with you in case
+the light is noticed&mdash;take out your watch and put the board on your
+knee, keeping its long side exactly in a line with the axis of the
+carriage. Then enter in one narrow column of your notebook the time, in
+the other the direction shown by the compass, and in the broad column
+any particulars, including the number of steps the horse makes in a
+minute. Like this."
+</p>
+<p>
+He took a loose sheet of paper and made one or two sample entries on it
+in pencil, thus&mdash;
+</p>
+<blockquote>
+  "9.40.  S.E.    Start from home.<br />
+   9.41   S.W.    Granite setts.<br />
+   9.43.  S.W.    Wood pavement. Hoofs 104.<br />
+   9.47.  W. by S Granite crossing. Macadam&mdash;
+</blockquote>
+<p>
+and so on. Note every change of direction, with the time; and whenever
+you hear or feel anything from outside, note it, with the time and
+direction; and don't forget to note any variations in the horse's pace.
+You follow the process?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Perfectly. But do you think the method is accurate enough to fix the
+position of a house? Remember, this is only a pocket-compass with no
+dial, and it will jump frightfully. And the mode of estimating distance
+is very rough."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is all perfectly true," Thorndyke answered. "But you are
+overlooking certain important facts. The track-chart that you will
+produce can be checked by other data. The house, for instance, has a
+covered way by which you could identify it if you knew approximately
+where to look for it. Then you must remember that your carriage is not
+travelling over a featureless plain. It is passing through streets which
+have a determined position and direction and which are accurately
+represented on the ordnance map. I think, Jervis, that, in spite of the
+apparent roughness of the method, if you make your observations
+carefully, we shall have no trouble in narrowing down the inquiry to a
+quite small area. If we get the chance, that is to say."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, if we do. I am doubtful whether Mr. Weiss will require my services
+again, but I sincerely hope he will. It would be rare sport to locate
+his secret burrow, all unsuspected. But now I must really be off."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Good-bye, then," said Thorndyke, slipping a well-sharpened pencil
+through the rubber band that fixed the notebook to the board. "Let me
+know how the adventure progresses&mdash;if it progresses at all&mdash;and
+remember, I hold your promise to come and see me again quite soon in any
+case."
+</p>
+<p>
+He handed me the board and the lamp, and, when I had slipped them into
+my pocket, we shook hands and I hurried away, a little uneasy at having
+left my charge so long.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="CH3"><!-- CH3 --></a>
+<h2>
+	Chapter III
+</h2>
+
+<h3>
+"A Chiel's Amang Ye Takin' Notes"
+</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>
+The attitude of the suspicious man tends to generate in others the kind
+of conduct that seems to justify his suspicions. In most of us there
+lurks a certain strain of mischief which trustfulness disarms but
+distrust encourages. The inexperienced kitten which approaches us
+confidingly with arched back and upright tail, soliciting caresses,
+generally receives the gentle treatment that it expects; whereas the
+worldly-wise tom-cat, who, in response to friendly advances, scampers
+away and grins at us suspiciously from the fancied security of an
+adjacent wall, impels us to accelerate his retreat with a well-directed
+clod.
+</p>
+<p>
+Now the proceedings of Mr. H. Weiss resembled those of the tom-cat
+aforesaid and invited an analogous reply. To a responsible professional
+man his extraordinary precautions were at once an affront and a
+challenge. Apart from graver considerations, I found myself dwelling
+with unholy pleasure on the prospect of locating the secret hiding-place
+from which he seemed to grin at me with such complacent defiance; and I
+lost no time and spared no trouble in preparing myself for the
+adventure. The very hansom which bore me from the Temple to Kennington
+Lane was utilized for a preliminary test of Thorndyke's little
+apparatus. During the whole of that brief journey I watched the compass
+closely, noted the feel and sound of the road-material and timed the
+trotting of the horse. And the result was quite encouraging. It is true
+that the compass-needle oscillated wildly to the vibration of the cab,
+but still its oscillations took place around a definite point which was
+the average direction, and it was evident to me that the data it
+furnished were very fairly reliable. I felt very little doubt, after the
+preliminary trial, as to my being able to produce a moderately
+intelligible track-chart if only I should get an opportunity to exercise
+my skill.
+</p>
+<p>
+But it looked as if I should not. Mr. Weiss's promise to send for me
+again soon was not fulfilled. Three days passed and still he made no
+sign. I began to fear that I had been too outspoken; that the shuttered
+carriage had gone forth to seek some more confiding and easy-going
+practitioner, and that our elaborate preparations had been made in vain.
+When the fourth day drew towards a close and still no summons had come,
+I was disposed reluctantly to write the case off as a lost opportunity.
+</p>
+<p>
+And at that moment, in the midst of my regrets, the bottle-boy thrust an
+uncomely head in at the door. His voice was coarse, his accent was
+hideous, and his grammatical construction beneath contempt; but I
+forgave him all when I gathered the import of his message.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Mr. Weiss's carriage is waiting, and he says will you come as quickly
+as you can because he's took very bad to-night."
+</p>
+<p>
+I sprang from my chair and hastily collected the necessaries for the
+journey. The little board and the lamp I put in my overcoat pocket; I
+overhauled the emergency bag and added to its usual contents a bottle of
+permanganate of potassium which I thought I might require. Then I tucked
+the evening paper under my arm and went out.
+</p>
+<p>
+The coachman, who was standing at the horse's head as I emerged, touched
+his hat and came forward to open the door.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I have fortified myself for the long drive, you see," I remarked,
+exhibiting the newspaper as I stepped into the carriage.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But you can't read in the dark," said he.
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, but I have provided myself with a lamp," I replied, producing it
+and striking a match.
+</p>
+<p>
+He watched me as I lit the lamp and hooked it on the back cushion, and
+observed:
+</p>
+<p>
+"I suppose you found it rather a dull ride last time. It's a longish
+way. They might have fitted the carriage with an inside lamp. But we
+shall have to make it a quicker passage to-night. Governor says Mr.
+Graves is uncommon bad."
+</p>
+<p>
+With this he slammed the door and locked it. I drew the board from my
+pocket, laid it on my knee, glanced at my watch, and, as the coachman
+climbed to his seat, I made the first entry in the little book.
+</p>
+<p>
+"8.58. W. by S. Start from home. Horse 13 hands."
+</p>
+<p>
+The first move of the carriage on starting was to turn round as if
+heading for Newington Butts, and the second entry accordingly read:
+</p>
+<p>
+"8.58.30. E. by N."
+</p>
+<p>
+But this direction was not maintained long. Very soon we turned south
+and then west and then south again. I sat with my eyes riveted on the
+compass, following with some difficulty its rapid changes. The needle
+swung to and fro incessantly but always within a definite arc, the
+centre of which was the true direction. But this direction varied from
+minute to minute in the most astonishing manner. West, south, east,
+north, the carriage turned, "boxing" the compass until I lost all count
+of direction. It was an amazing performance. Considering that the man
+was driving against time on a mission of life and death urgency, his
+carelessness as to direction was astounding. The tortuousness of the
+route must have made the journey twice as long as it need have been
+with a little more careful selection. At least so it appeared to me,
+though, naturally, I was not in a position to offer an authoritative
+criticism.
+</p>
+<p>
+As far as I could judge, we followed the same route as before. Once I
+heard a tug's whistle and knew that we were near the river, and we
+passed the railway station, apparently at the same time as on the
+previous occasion, for I heard a passenger train start and assumed that
+it was the same train. We crossed quite a number of thoroughfares with
+tram-lines&mdash;I had no idea there were so many&mdash;and it was a revelation to
+me to find how numerous the railway arches were in this part of London
+and how continually the nature of the road-metal varied.
+</p>
+<p>
+It was by no means a dull journey this time. The incessant changes of
+direction and variations in the character of the road kept me most
+uncommonly busy; for I had hardly time to scribble down one entry before
+the compass-needle would swing round sharply, showing that we had once
+more turned a corner; and I was quite taken by surprise when the
+carriage slowed down and turned into the covered way. Very hastily I
+scribbled down the final entry ("9.24. S.E. In covered way"), and having
+closed the book and slipped it and the board into my pocket, had just
+opened out the newspaper when the carriage door was unlocked and opened,
+whereupon I unhooked and blew out the lamp and pocketed that too,
+reflecting that it might be useful later.
+</p>
+<p>
+As on the last occasion, Mrs. Schallibaum stood in the open doorway with
+a lighted candle. But she was a good deal less self-possessed this time.
+In fact she looked rather wild and terrified. Even by the candle-light
+I could see that she was very pale and she seemed unable to keep still.
+As she gave me the few necessary words of explanation, she fidgeted
+incessantly and her hands and feet were in constant movement.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You had better come up with me at once," she said. "Mr. Graves is much
+worse to-night. We will wait not for Mr. Weiss."
+</p>
+<p>
+Without waiting for a reply she quickly ascended the stairs and I
+followed. The room was in much the same condition as before. But the
+patient was not. As soon as I entered the room, a soft, rhythmical
+gurgle from the bed gave me a very clear warning of danger. I stepped
+forward quickly and looked down at the prostrate figure, and the warning
+gathered emphasis. The sick man's ghastly face was yet more ghastly; his
+eyes were more sunken, his skin more livid; "his nose was as sharp as a
+pen," and if he did not "babble of green fields" it was because he
+seemed to be beyond even that. If it had been a case of disease, I
+should have said at once that he was dying. He had all the appearance of
+a man <i>in articulo mortis</i>. Even as it was, feeling convinced that the
+case was one of morphine poisoning, I was far from confident that I
+should be able to draw him back from the extreme edge of vitality on
+which he trembled so insecurely.
+</p>
+<p>
+"He is very ill? He is dying?"
+</p>
+<p>
+It was Mrs. Schallibaum's voice; very low, but eager and intense. I
+turned, with my finger on the patient's wrist, and looked into the face
+of the most thoroughly scared woman I have ever seen. She made no
+attempt now to avoid the light, but looked me squarely in the face, and
+I noticed, half-unconsciously, that her eyes were brown and had a
+curious strained expression.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes," I answered, "he is very ill. He is in great danger."
+</p>
+<p>
+She still stared at me fixedly for some seconds. And then a very odd
+thing occurred. Suddenly she squinted&mdash;squinted horribly; not with the
+familiar convergent squint which burlesque artists imitate, but with
+external or divergent squint of extreme near sight or unequal vision.
+The effect was quite startling. One moment both her eyes were looking
+straight into mine; the next, one of them rolled round until it looked
+out of the uttermost corner, leaving the other gazing steadily forward.
+</p>
+<p>
+She was evidently conscious of the change, for she turned her head away
+quickly and reddened somewhat. But it was no time for thoughts of
+personal appearance.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You can save him, doctor! You will not let him die! He must not be
+allowed to die!"
+</p>
+<p>
+She spoke with as much passion as if he had been the dearest friend that
+she had in the world, which I suspected was far from being the case. But
+her manifest terror had its uses.
+</p>
+<p>
+"If anything is to be done to save him," I said, "it must be done
+quickly. I will give him some medicine at once, and meanwhile you must
+make some strong coffee."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Coffee!" she exclaimed. "But we have none in the house. Will not tea
+do, if I make it very strong?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, it will not. I must have coffee; and I must have it quickly."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Then I suppose I must go and get some. But it is late. The shops will
+be shut. And I don't like leaving Mr. Graves."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Can't you send the coachman?" I asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+She shook her head impatiently. "No, that is no use. I must wait until
+Mr. Weiss comes."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That won't do," I said, sharply. "He will slip through our fingers
+while you are waiting. You must go and get that coffee at once and bring
+it to me as soon as it is ready. And I want a tumbler and some water."
+</p>
+<p>
+She brought me a water-bottle and glass from the wash-stand and then,
+with a groan of despair, hurried from the room.
+</p>
+<p>
+I lost no time in applying the remedies that I had to hand. Shaking out
+into the tumbler a few crystals of potassium permanganate, I filled it
+up with water and approached the patient. His stupor was profound. I
+shook him as roughly as was safe in his depressed condition, but
+elicited no resistance or responsive movement. As it seemed very
+doubtful whether he was capable of swallowing, I dared not take the risk
+of pouring the liquid into his mouth for fear of suffocating him. A
+stomach-tube would have solved the difficulty, but, of course, I had not
+one with me. I had, however, a mouth-speculum which also acted as a gag,
+and, having propped the patient's mouth open with this, I hastily
+slipped off one of the rubber tubes from my stethoscope and inserted
+into one end of it a vulcanite ear-speculum to serve as a funnel. Then,
+introducing the other end of the tube into the gullet as far as its
+length would permit, I cautiously poured a small quantity of the
+permanganate solution into the extemporized funnel. To my great relief a
+movement of the throat showed that the swallowing reflex still existed,
+and, thus encouraged, I poured down the tube as much of the fluid as I
+thought it wise to administer at one time.
+</p>
+<p>
+The dose of permanganate that I had given was enough to neutralize any
+reasonable quantity of the poison that might yet remain in the stomach.
+I had next to deal with that portion of the drug which had already been
+absorbed and was exercising its poisonous effects. Taking my hypodermic
+case from my bag, I prepared in the syringe a full dose of atropine
+sulphate, which I injected forthwith into the unconscious man's arm. And
+that was all that I could do, so far as remedies were concerned, until
+the coffee arrived.
+</p>
+<p>
+I cleaned and put away the syringe, washed the tube, and then, returning
+to the bedside, endeavoured to rouse the patient from his profound
+lethargy. But great care was necessary. A little injudicious roughness
+of handling, and that thready, flickering pulse might stop for ever; and
+yet it was almost certain that if he were not speedily aroused, his
+stupor would gradually deepen until it shaded off imperceptibly into
+death. I went to work very cautiously, moving his limbs about, flicking
+his face and chest with the corner of a wet towel, tickling the soles
+of his feet, and otherwise applying stimuli that were strong without
+being violent.
+</p>
+<p>
+So occupied was I with my efforts to resuscitate my mysterious patient
+that I did not notice the opening of the door, and it was with something
+of a start that, happening to glance round, I perceived at the farther
+end of the room the shadowy figure of a man relieved by two spots of
+light reflected from his spectacles. How long he had been watching me I
+cannot say, but, when he saw that I had observed him, he came
+forward&mdash;though not very far&mdash;and I saw that he was Mr. Weiss.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am afraid," he said, "that you do not find my friend so well
+to-night?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"So well!" I exclaimed. "I don't find him well at all. I am exceedingly
+anxious about him."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You don't&mdash;er&mdash;anticipate anything of a&mdash;er&mdash;anything serious, I hope?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"There is no need to anticipate," said I. "It is already about as
+serious as it can be. I think he might die at any moment."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Good God!" he gasped. "You horrify me!"
+</p>
+<p>
+He was not exaggerating. In his agitation, he stepped forward into the
+lighter part of the room, and I could see that his face was pale to
+ghastliness&mdash;except his nose and the adjacent red patches on his cheeks,
+which stood out in grotesquely hideous contrast. Presently, however, he
+recovered a little and said:
+</p>
+<p>
+"I really think&mdash;at least I hope&mdash;that you take an unnecessarily serious
+view of his condition. He has been like this before, you know."
+</p>
+<p>
+I felt pretty certain that he had not, but there was no use in
+discussing the question. I therefore replied, as I continued my efforts
+to rouse the patient:
+</p>
+<p>
+"That may or may not be. But in any case there comes a last time; and it
+may have come now."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I hope not," he said; "although I understand that these cases always
+end fatally sooner or later."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What cases?" I asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I was referring to sleeping sickness; but perhaps you have formed some
+other opinion as to the nature of this dreadful complaint."
+</p>
+<p>
+I hesitated for a moment, and he continued: "As to your suggestion that
+his symptoms might be due to drugs, I think we may consider that as
+disposed of. He has been watched, practically without cessation since
+you came last, and, moreover, I have myself turned out the room and
+examined the bed and have not found a trace of any drug. Have you gone
+into the question of sleeping sickness?"
+</p>
+<p>
+I looked at the man narrowly before answering, and distrusted him more
+than ever. But this was no time for reticence. My concern was with the
+patient and his present needs. After all, I was, as Thorndyke had said,
+a doctor, not a detective, and the circumstances called for
+straightforward speech and action on my part.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I have considered that question," I said, "and have come to a perfectly
+definite conclusion. His symptoms are not those of sleeping sickness.
+They are in my opinion undoubtedly due to morphine poisoning."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But my dear sir!" he exclaimed, "the thing is impossible! Haven't I
+just told you that he has been watched continuously?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I can only judge by the appearances that I find," I answered; and,
+seeing that he was about to offer fresh objections, I continued: "Don't
+let us waste precious time in discussion, or Mr. Graves may be dead
+before we have reached a conclusion. If you will hurry them up about the
+coffee that I asked for some time ago, I will take the other necessary
+measures, and perhaps we may manage to pull him round."
+</p>
+<p>
+The rather brutal decision of my manner evidently daunted him. It must
+have been plain to him that I was not prepared to accept any explanation
+of the unconscious man's condition other than that of morphine
+poisoning; whence the inference was pretty plain that the alternatives
+were recovery or an inquest. Replying stiffly that I "must do as I
+thought best," he hurried from the room, leaving me to continue my
+efforts without further interruption.
+</p>
+<p>
+For some time these efforts seemed to make no impression. The man lay as
+still and impassive as a corpse excepting for the slow, shallow and
+rather irregular breathing with its ominous accompanying rattle. But
+presently, by imperceptible degrees, signs of returning life began to
+make their appearance. A sharp slap on the cheek with the wet towel
+produced a sensible flicker of the eyelids; a similar slap on the chest
+was followed by a slight gasp. A pencil, drawn over the sole of the
+foot, occasioned a visible shrinking movement, and, on looking once
+more at the eyes, I detected a slight change that told me that the
+atropine was beginning to take effect.
+</p>
+<p>
+This was very encouraging, and, so far, quite satisfactory, though it
+would have been premature to rejoice. I kept the patient carefully
+covered and maintained the process of gentle irritation, moving his
+limbs and shoulders, brushing his hair and generally bombarding his
+deadened senses with small but repeated stimuli. And under this
+treatment, the improvement continued so far that on my bawling a
+question into his ear he actually opened his eyes for an instant, though
+in another moment, the lids had sunk back into their former position.
+</p>
+<p>
+Soon after this, Mr. Weiss re-entered the room, followed by Mrs.
+Schallibaum, who carried a small tray, on which were a jug of coffee, a
+jug of milk, a cup and saucer and a sugar basin.
+</p>
+<p>
+"How do you find him now?" Mr. Weiss asked anxiously.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am glad to say that there is a distinct improvement," I replied. "But
+we must persevere. He is by no means out of the wood yet."
+</p>
+<p>
+I examined the coffee, which looked black and strong and had a very
+reassuring smell, and, pouring out half a cupful, approached the bed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Now, Mr. Graves," I shouted, "we want you to drink some of this."
+</p>
+<p>
+The flaccid eyelids lifted for an instant but there was no other
+response. I gently opened the unresisting mouth and ladled in a couple
+of spoonfuls of coffee, which were immediately swallowed; whereupon I
+repeated the proceeding and continued at short intervals until the cup
+was empty. The effect of the new remedy soon became apparent. He began
+to mumble and mutter obscurely in response to the questions that I
+bellowed at him, and once or twice he opened his eyes and looked
+dreamily into my face. Then I sat him up and made him drink some coffee
+from the cup, and, all the time, kept up a running fire of questions,
+which made up in volume of sound for what they lacked of relevancy.
+</p>
+<p>
+Of these proceedings Mr. Weiss and his housekeeper were highly
+interested spectators, and the former, contrary to his usual practice,
+came quite close up to the bed, to get a better view.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is really a most remarkable thing," he said, "but it almost looks as
+if you were right, after all. He is certainly much better. But tell me,
+would this treatment produce a similar improvement if the symptoms were
+due to disease?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No," I answered, "it certainly would not."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Then that seems to settle it. But it is a most mysterious affair. Can
+you suggest any way in which he can have concealed a store of the drug?"
+</p>
+<p>
+I stood up and looked him straight in the face; it was the first chance
+I had had of inspecting him by any but the feeblest light, and I looked
+at him very attentively. Now, it is a curious fact&mdash;though one that most
+persons must have observed&mdash;that there sometimes occurs a considerable
+interval between the reception of a visual impression and its complete
+transfer to the consciousness. A thing may be seen, as it were,
+unconsciously, and the impression consigned, apparently, to instant
+oblivion; and yet the picture may be subsequently revived by memory with
+such completeness that its details can be studied as though the object
+were still actually visible.
+</p>
+<p>
+Something of this kind must have happened to me now. Preoccupied as I
+was, by the condition of the patient, the professional habit of rapid
+and close observation caused me to direct a searching glance at the man
+before me. It was only a brief glance&mdash;for Mr. Weiss, perhaps
+embarrassed by my keen regard of him, almost immediately withdrew into
+the shadow&mdash;and my attention seemed principally to be occupied by the
+odd contrast between the pallor of his face and the redness of his nose
+and by the peculiar stiff, bristly character of his eyebrows. But there
+was another fact, and a very curious one, that was observed by me
+subconsciously and instantly forgotten, to be revived later when I
+reflected on the events of the night. It was this:
+</p>
+<p>
+As Mr. Weiss stood, with his head slightly turned, I was able to look
+through one glass of his spectacles at the wall beyond. On the wall was
+a framed print; and the edge of the frame, seen through the
+spectacle-glass, appeared quite unaltered and free from distortion,
+magnification or reduction, as if seen through plain window-glass; and
+yet the reflections of the candle-flame in the spectacles showed the
+flame upside down, proving conclusively that the glasses were concave on
+one surface at least. The strange phenomenon was visible only for a
+moment or two, and as it passed out of my sight it passed also out of my
+mind.
+</p>
+<p>
+"No," I said, replying to the last question; "I can think of no way in
+which he could have effectually hidden a store of morphine. Judging by
+the symptoms, he has taken a large dose, and, if he has been in the
+habit of consuming large quantities, his stock would be pretty bulky. I
+can offer no suggestion whatever."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I suppose you consider him quite out of danger now?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, not at all. I think we can pull him round if we persevere, but he
+must not be allowed to sink back into a state of coma. We must keep him
+on the move until the effects of the drug have really passed off. If you
+will put him into his dressing-gown we will walk him up and down the
+room for a while."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But is that safe?" Mr. Weiss asked anxiously.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Quite safe," I answered. "I will watch his pulse carefully. The danger
+is in the possibility, or rather certainty, of a relapse if he is not
+kept moving."
+</p>
+<p>
+With obvious unwillingness and disapproval, Mr. Weiss produced a
+dressing-gown and together we invested the patient in it. Then we
+dragged him, very limp, but not entirely unresisting, out of bed and
+stood him on his feet. He opened his eyes and blinked owlishly first at
+one and then at the other of us, and mumbled a few unintelligible words
+of protest; regardless of which, we thrust his feet into slippers and
+endeavoured to make him walk. At first he seemed unable to stand, and we
+had to support him by his arms as we urged him forward; but presently
+his trailing legs began to make definite walking movements, and, after
+one or two turns up and down the room, he was not only able partly to
+support his weight, but showed evidence of reviving consciousness in
+more energetic protests.
+</p>
+<p>
+At this point Mr. Weiss astonished me by transferring the arm that he
+held to the housekeeper.
+</p>
+<p>
+"If you will excuse me, doctor," said he, "I will go now and attend to
+some rather important business that I have had to leave unfinished. Mrs.
+Schallibaum will be able to give you all the assistance that you
+require, and will order the carriage when you think it safe to leave the
+patient. In case I should not see you again I will say 'good night.' I
+hope you won't think me very unceremonious."
+</p>
+<p>
+He shook hands with me and went out of the room, leaving me, as I have
+said, profoundly astonished that he should consider any business of more
+moment than the condition of his friend, whose life, even now, was but
+hanging by a thread. However, it was really no concern of mine. I could
+do without him, and the resuscitation of this unfortunate half-dead man
+gave me occupation enough to engross my whole attention.
+</p>
+<p>
+The melancholy progress up and down the room re-commenced, and with it
+the mumbled protests from the patient. As we walked, and especially as
+we turned, I caught frequent glimpses of the housekeeper's face. But it
+was nearly always in profile. She appeared to avoid looking me in the
+face, though she did so once or twice; and on each of these occasions
+her eyes were directed at me in a normal manner without any sign of a
+squint. Nevertheless, I had the impression that when her face was turned
+away from me she squinted. The "swivel eye"&mdash;the left&mdash;was towards me as
+she held the patient's right arm, and it was almost continuously turned
+in my direction, whereas I felt convinced that she was really looking
+straight before her, though, of course, her right eye was invisible to
+me. It struck me, even at the time, as an odd affair, but I was too much
+concerned about my charge to give it much consideration.
+</p>
+<p>
+Meanwhile the patient continued to revive apace. And the more he
+revived, the more energetically did he protest against this wearisome
+perambulation. But he was evidently a polite gentleman, for, muddled as
+his faculties were, he managed to clothe his objections in courteous and
+even gracious forms of speech singularly out of agreement with the
+character that Mr. Weiss had given him.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I thangyou," he mumbled thickly. "Ver' good take s'much trouble. Think
+I will lie down now." He looked wistfully at the bed, but I wheeled him
+about and marched him once more down the room. He submitted
+unresistingly, but as we again approached the bed he reopened the
+matter.
+</p>
+<p>
+"S'quite s'fficient, thang you. Gebback to bed now. Much 'bliged frall
+your kindness"&mdash;here I turned him round&mdash;"no, really; m'feeling rather
+tired. Sh'like to lie down now, f'you'd be s'good."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You must walk about a little longer, Mr. Graves," I said. "It would be
+very bad for you to go to sleep again."
+</p>
+<p>
+He looked at me with a curious, dull surprise, and reflected awhile as
+if in some perplexity. Then he looked at me again and said:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Thing, sir, you are mistake&mdash;mistaken me&mdash;mist&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+Here Mrs. Schallibaum interrupted sharply:
+</p>
+<p>
+"The doctor thinks it's good for you to walk about. You've been sleeping
+too much. He doesn't want you to sleep any more just now."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Don't wanter sleep; wanter lie down," said the patient.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But you mustn't lie down for a little while. You must walk about for a
+few minutes more. And you'd better not talk. Just walk up and down."
+</p>
+<p>
+"There's no harm in his talking," said I; "in fact it's good for him. It
+will help to keep him awake."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I should think it would tire him," said Mrs. Schallibaum; "and it
+worries me to hear him asking to lie down when we can't let him."
+</p>
+<p>
+She spoke sharply and in an unnecessarily high tone so that the patient
+could not fail to hear. Apparently he took in the very broad hint
+contained in the concluding sentence, for he trudged wearily and
+unsteadily up and down the room for some time without speaking, though
+he continued to look at me from time to time as if something in my
+appearance puzzled him exceedingly. At length his intolerable longing
+for repose overcame his politeness and he returned to the attack.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Surely v' walked enough now. Feeling very tired. Am really. Would you
+be s'kind 's t'let me lie down few minutes?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Don't you think he might lie down for a little while?" Mrs. Schallibaum
+asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+I felt his pulse, and decided that he was really becoming fatigued, and
+that it would be wiser not to overdo the exercise while he was so weak.
+Accordingly, I consented to his returning to bed, and turned him round
+in that direction; whereupon he tottered gleefully towards his
+resting-place like a tired horse heading for its stable.
+</p>
+<p>
+As soon as he was tucked in, I gave him a full cup of coffee, which he
+drank with some avidity as if thirsty. Then I sat down by the bedside,
+and, with a view to keeping him awake, began once more to ply him with
+questions.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Does your head ache, Mr. Graves?" I asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The doctor says 'does your head ache?'" Mrs. Schallibaum squalled, so
+loudly that the patient started perceptibly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I heard him, m'dear girl," he answered with a faint smile. "Not deaf
+you know. Yes. Head aches a good deal. But I thing this gennleman
+mistakes&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+"He says you are to keep awake. You mustn't go to sleep again, and you
+are not to close your eyes."
+</p>
+<p>
+"All ri' Pol'n. Keep'm open," and he proceeded forthwith to shut them
+with an air of infinite peacefulness. I grasped his hand and shook it
+gently, on which he opened his eyes and looked at me sleepily. The
+housekeeper stroked his head, keeping her face half-turned from me&mdash;as
+she had done almost constantly, to conceal the squinting eye, as I
+assumed&mdash;and said:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Need we keep you any longer, doctor? It is getting very late and you
+have a long way to go."
+</p>
+<p>
+I looked doubtfully at the patient. I was loath to leave him,
+distrusting these people as I did. But I had my work to do on the
+morrow, with, perhaps, a night call or two in the interval, and the
+endurance even of a general practitioner has its limits.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think I heard the carriage some time ago," Mrs. Schallibaum added.
+</p>
+<p>
+I rose hesitatingly and looked at my watch. It had turned half-past
+eleven.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You understand," I said in a low voice, "that the danger is not over?
+If he is left now he will fall asleep, and in all human probability will
+never wake. You clearly understand that?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, quite clearly. I promise you he shall not be allowed to fall
+asleep again."
+</p>
+<p>
+As she spoke, she looked me full in the face for a few moments, and I
+noted that her eyes had a perfectly normal appearance, without any trace
+whatever of a squint.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Very well," I said. "On that understanding I will go now; and I shall
+hope to find our friend quite recovered at my next visit."
+</p>
+<p>
+I turned to the patient, who was already dozing, and shook his hand
+heartily.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Good-bye, Mr. Graves!" I said. "I am sorry to have to disturb your
+repose so much; but you must keep awake, you know. Won't do to go to
+sleep."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Ver' well," he replied drowsily. "Sorry t' give you all this trouble.
+L' keep awake. But I think you're mistak'n&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+"He says it's very important that you shouldn't go to sleep, and that I
+am to see that you don't. Do you understand?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, I un'stan'. But why does this gennlem'n&mdash;?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Now it's of no use for you to ask a lot of questions," Mrs. Schallibaum
+said playfully; "we'll talk to you to-morrow. Good night, doctor. I'll
+light you down the stairs, but I won't come down with you, or the
+patient will be falling asleep again."
+</p>
+<p>
+Taking this definite dismissal, I retired, followed by a dreamily
+surprised glance from the sick man. The housekeeper held the candle over
+the balusters until I reached the bottom of the stairs, when I perceived
+through the open door along the passage a glimmer of light from the
+carriage lamps. The coachman was standing just outside, faintly
+illuminated by the very dim lamplight, and as I stepped into the
+carriage he remarked in his Scotch dialect that I "seemed to have been
+makin' a nicht of it." He did not wait for any reply&mdash;none being in fact
+needed&mdash;but shut the door and locked it.
+</p>
+<p>
+I lit my little pocket-lamp and hung it on the back cushion. I even drew
+the board and notebook from my pocket. But it seemed rather unnecessary
+to take a fresh set of notes, and, to tell the truth, I rather shirked
+the labour, tired as I was after my late exertions; besides, I wanted
+to think over the events of the evening, while they were fresh in my
+memory. Accordingly I put away the notebook, filled and lighted my pipe,
+and settled myself to review the incidents attending my second visit to
+this rather uncanny house.
+</p>
+<p>
+Considered in leisurely retrospect, that visit offered quite a number of
+problems that called for elucidation. There was the patient's condition,
+for instance. Any doubt as to the cause of his symptoms was set at rest
+by the effect of the antidotes. Mr. Graves was certainly under the
+influence of morphine, and the only doubtful question was how he had
+become so. That he had taken the poison himself was incredible. No
+morphinomaniac would take such a knock-down dose. It was practically
+certain that the poison had been administered by someone else, and, on
+Mr. Weiss's own showing, there was no one but himself and the
+housekeeper who could have administered it. And to this conclusion all
+the other very queer circumstances pointed.
+</p>
+<p>
+What were these circumstances? They were, as I have said, numerous,
+though many of them seemed trivial. To begin with, Mr. Weiss's habit of
+appearing some time after my arrival and disappearing some time before
+my departure was decidedly odd. But still more odd was his sudden
+departure this evening on what looked like a mere pretext. That
+departure coincided in time with the sick man's recovery of the power of
+speech. Could it be that Mr. Weiss was afraid that the half-conscious
+man might say something compromising to him in my presence? It looked
+rather like it. And yet he had gone away and left me with the patient
+and the housekeeper.
+</p>
+<p>
+But when I came to think about it I remembered that Mrs. Schallibaum had
+shown some anxiety to prevent the patient from talking. She had
+interrupted him more than once, and had on two occasions broken in when
+he seemed to be about to ask me some question. I was "mistaken" about
+something. What was that something that he wanted to tell me?
+</p>
+<p>
+It had struck me as singular that there should be no coffee in the
+house, but a sufficiency of tea. Germans are not usually tea-drinkers
+and they do take coffee. But perhaps there was nothing in this. Rather
+more remarkable was the invisibility of the coachman. Why could he not
+be sent to fetch the coffee, and why did not he, rather than the
+housekeeper, come to take the place of Mr. Weiss when the latter had to
+go away.
+</p>
+<p>
+There were other points, too. I recalled the word that sounded like
+"Pol'n," which Mr. Graves had used in speaking to the housekeeper.
+Apparently it was a Christian name of some kind; but why did Mr. Graves
+call the woman by her Christian name when Mr. Weiss addressed her
+formally as Mrs. Schallibaum? And, as to the woman herself: what was the
+meaning of that curious disappearing squint? Physically it presented no
+mystery. The woman had an ordinary divergent squint, and, like many
+people, who suffer from this displacement, could, by a strong muscular
+effort, bring the eyes temporarily into their normal parallel position.
+I had detected the displacement when she had tried to maintain the
+effort too long, and the muscular control had given way. But why had she
+done it? Was it only feminine vanity&mdash;mere sensitiveness respecting a
+slight personal disfigurement? It might be so; or there might be some
+further motive. It was impossible to say.
+</p>
+<p>
+Turning this question over, I suddenly remembered the peculiarity of Mr.
+Weiss's spectacles. And here I met with a real poser. I had certainly
+seen through those spectacles as clearly as if they had been plain
+window-glass; and they had certainly given an inverted reflection of the
+candle-flame like that thrown from the surface of a concave lens. Now
+they obviously could not be both flat and concave; but yet they had the
+properties peculiar to both flatness and concavity. And there was a
+further difficulty. If I could see objects unaltered through them, so
+could Mr. Weiss. But the function of spectacles is to alter the
+appearances of objects, by magnification, reduction or compensating
+distortion. If they leave the appearances unchanged they are useless. I
+could make nothing of it. After puzzling over it for quite a long time,
+I had to give it up; which I did the less unwillingly inasmuch as the
+construction of Mr. Weiss's spectacles had no apparent bearing on the
+case.
+</p>
+<p>
+On arriving home, I looked anxiously at the message-book, and was
+relieved to find that there were no further visits to be made. Having
+made up a mixture for Mr. Graves and handed it to the coachman, I raked
+the ashes of the surgery fire together and sat down to smoke a final
+pipe while I reflected once more on the singular and suspicious case in
+which I had become involved. But fatigue soon put an end to my
+meditations; and having come to the conclusion that the circumstances
+demanded a further consultation with Thorndyke, I turned down the gas to
+a microscopic blue spark and betook myself to bed.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="CH4"><!-- CH4 --></a>
+<h2>
+	Chapter IV
+</h2>
+
+<h3>
+The Official View
+</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>
+I rose on the following morning still possessed by the determination to
+make some oportunity during the day to call on Thorndyke and take his
+advice on the now urgent question as to what I was to do. I use the word
+"urgent" advisedly; for the incidents of the preceding evening had left
+me with the firm conviction that poison was being administered for some
+purpose to my mysterious patient, and that no time must be lost if his
+life was to be saved. Last night he had escaped only by the narrowest
+margin&mdash;assuming him to be still alive&mdash;and it was only my unexpectedly
+firm attitude that had compelled Mr. Weiss to agree to restorative
+measures.
+</p>
+<p>
+That I should be sent for again I had not the slightest expectation. If
+what I so strongly suspected was true, Weiss would call in some other
+doctor, in the hope of better luck, and it was imperative that he
+should be stopped before it was too late. This was my view, but I meant
+to have Thorndyke's opinion, and act under his direction, but
+</p>
+<blockquote>
+  "The best laid plans of mice and men<br />
+   Gang aft agley."
+</blockquote>
+<p>
+When I came downstairs and took a preliminary glance at the rough
+memorandum-book, kept by the bottle-boy, or, in his absence, by the
+housemaid, I stood aghast. The morning's entries looked already like a
+sample page of the Post Office directory. The new calls alone were more
+than equal to an ordinary day's work, and the routine visits remained to
+be added. Gloomily wondering whether the Black Death had made a sudden
+reappearance in England, I hurried to the dining-room and made a hasty
+breakfast, interrupted at intervals by the apparition of the bottle-boy
+to announce new messages.
+</p>
+<p>
+The first two or three visits solved the mystery. An epidemic of
+influenza had descended on the neighbourhood, and I was getting not only
+our own normal work but a certain amount of overflow from other
+practices. Further, it appeared that a strike in the building trade had
+been followed immediately by a widespread failure of health among the
+bricklayers who were members of a certain benefit club; which accounted
+for the remarkable suddenness of the outbreak.
+</p>
+<p>
+Of course, my contemplated visit to Thorndyke was out of the question. I
+should have to act on my own responsibility. But in the hurry and rush
+and anxiety of the work&mdash;for some of the cases were severe and even
+critical&mdash;I had no opportunity to consider any course of action, nor
+time to carry it out. Even with the aid of a hansom which I chartered,
+as Stillbury kept no carriage, I had not finished my last visit until
+near on midnight, and was then so spent with fatigue that I fell asleep
+over my postponed supper.
+</p>
+<p>
+As the next day opened with a further increase of work, I sent a
+telegram to Dr. Stillbury at Hastings, whither he had gone, like a wise
+man, to recruit after a slight illness. I asked for authority to engage
+an assistant, but the reply informed me that Stillbury himself was on
+his way to town; and to my relief, when I dropped in at the surgery for
+a cup of tea, I found him rubbing his hands over the open day-book.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It's an ill wind that blows nobody good," he remarked cheerfully as we
+shook hands. "This will pay the expenses of my holiday, including you.
+By the way, you are not anxious to be off, I suppose?"
+</p>
+<p>
+As a matter of fact, I was; for I had decided to accept Thorndyke's
+offer, and was now eager to take up my duties with him. But it would
+have been shabby to leave Stillbury to battle alone with this rush of
+work or to seek the services of a strange assistant.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I should like to get off as soon as you can spare me," I replied, "but
+I'm not going to leave you in the lurch."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That's a good fellow," said Stillbury. "I knew you wouldn't. Let us
+have some tea and divide up the work. Anything of interest going?"
+</p>
+<p>
+There were one or two unusual cases on the list, and, as we marked off
+our respective patients, I gave him the histories in brief synopsis. And
+then I opened the subject of my mysterious experiences at the house of
+Mr. Weiss.
+</p>
+<p>
+"There's another affair that I want to tell you about; rather an
+unpleasant business."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, dear!" exclaimed Stillbury. He put down his cup and regarded me
+with quite painful anxiety.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It looks to me like an undoubted case of criminal poisoning," I
+continued.
+</p>
+<p>
+Stillbury's face cleared instantly. "Oh, I'm glad it's nothing more than
+that," he said with an air of relief. "I was afraid, it was some
+confounded woman. There's always that danger, you know, when a locum is
+young and happens&mdash;if I may say so, Jervis&mdash;to be a good-looking fellow.
+Let us hear about this case."
+</p>
+<p>
+I gave him a condensed narrative of my connection with the mysterious
+patient, omitting any reference to Thorndyke, and passing lightly over
+my efforts to fix the position of the house, and wound up with the
+remark that the facts ought certainly to be communicated to the police.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes," he admitted reluctantly, "I suppose you're right. Deuced
+unpleasant though. Police cases don't do a practice any good. They waste
+a lot of time, too; keep you hanging about to give evidence. Still, you
+are quite right. We can't stand by and see the poor devil poisoned
+without making some effort. But I don't believe the police will do
+anything in the matter."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Don't you really?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, I don't. They like to have things pretty well cut and dried before
+they act. A prosecution is an expensive affair, so they don't care to
+prosecute unless they are fairly sure of a conviction. If they fail they
+get hauled over the coals."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But don't you think they would get a conviction in this case?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not on your evidence, Jervis. They might pick up something fresh, but,
+if they didn't they would fail. You haven't got enough hard-baked facts
+to upset a capable defence. Still, that isn't our affair. You want to
+put the responsibility on the police and I entirely agree with you."
+</p>
+<p>
+"There ought not to be any delay," said I.
+</p>
+<p>
+"There needn't be. I shall look in on Mrs. Wackford and you have to see
+the Rummel children; we shall pass the station on our way. Why shouldn't
+we drop in and see the inspector or superintendent?"
+</p>
+<p>
+The suggestion met my views exactly. As soon as we had finished tea, we
+set forth, and in about ten minutes found ourselves in the bare and
+forbidding office attached to the station.
+</p>
+<p>
+The presiding officer descended from a high stool, and, carefully laying
+down his pen, shook hands cordially.
+</p>
+<p>
+"And what can I do for you gentlemen?" he asked, with an affable smile.
+</p>
+<p>
+Stillbury proceeded to open our business.
+</p>
+<p>
+"My friend here, Dr. Jervis, who has very kindly been looking after my
+work for a week or two, has had a most remarkable experience, and he
+wants to tell you about it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Something in my line of business?" the officer inquired.
+</p>
+<p>
+"That," said I, "is for you to judge. I think it is, but you may think
+otherwise"; and hereupon, without further preamble, I plunged into the
+history of the case, giving him a condensed statement similar to that
+which I had already made to Stillbury.
+</p>
+<p>
+He listened with close attention, jotting down from time to time a brief
+note on a sheet of paper; and, when I had finished, he wrote out in a
+black-covered notebook a short pr&eacute;cis of my statement.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I have written down here," he said, "the substance of what you have
+told me. I will read the deposition over to you, and, if it is correct,
+I will ask you to sign it."
+</p>
+<p>
+He did so, and, when I had signed the document, I asked him what was
+likely to be done in the matter.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am afraid," he replied, "that we can't take any active measures. You
+have put us on our guard and we shall keep our eyes open. But I think
+that is all we can do, unless we hear something further."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But," I exclaimed, "don't you think that it is a very suspicious
+affair?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I do," he replied. "A very fishy business indeed, and you were quite
+right to come and tell us about it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It seems a pity not to take some measures," I said. "While you are
+waiting to hear something further, they may give the poor wretch a fresh
+dose and kill him."
+</p>
+<p>
+"In which case we should hear something further, unless some fool of a
+doctor were to give a death certificate."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But that is very unsatisfactory. The man ought not to be allowed to
+die."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I quite agree with you, sir. But we've no evidence that he is going to
+die. His friends sent for you, and you treated him skilfully and left
+him in a fair way to recovery. That's all that we really know about it.
+Yes, I know," the officer continued as I made signs of disagreement,
+"you think that a crime is possibly going to be committed and that we
+ought to prevent it. But you overrate our powers. We can only act on
+evidence that a crime has actually been committed or is actually being
+attempted. Now we have no such evidence. Look at your statement, and
+tell me what you can swear to."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think I could swear that Mr. Graves had taken a poisonous dose of
+morphine."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And who gave him that poisonous dose?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I very strongly suspect&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+"That's no good, sir," interrupted the officer. "Suspicion isn't
+evidence. We should want you to swear an information and give us enough
+facts to make out a <i>prim&acirc; facie</i> case against some definite person. And
+you couldn't do it. Your information amounts to this: that a certain
+person has taken a poisonous dose of morphine and apparently recovered.
+That's all. You can't swear that the names given to you are real names,
+and you can't give us any address or even any locality."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I took some compass bearings in the carriage," I said. "You could
+locate the house, I think, without much difficulty."
+</p>
+<p>
+The officer smiled faintly and fixed an abstracted gaze on the clock.
+</p>
+<p>
+"<i>You</i> could, sir," he replied. "I have no doubt whatever that <i>you</i>
+could. <i>I</i> couldn't. But, in any case, we haven't enough to go upon. If
+you learn anything fresh, I hope you will let me know; and I am very
+much obliged to you for taking so much trouble in the matter. Good
+evening sir. Good evening, Dr. Stillbury."
+</p>
+<p>
+He shook hands with us both genially, and, accepting perforce this very
+polite but unmistakable dismissal, we took our departure.
+</p>
+<p>
+Outside the station, Stillbury heaved a comfortable sigh. He was
+evidently relieved to find that no upheavals were to take place in his
+domain.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I thought that would be their attitude," he said, "and they are quite
+right, you know. The function of law is to prevent crime, it is true;
+but prophylaxis in the sense in which we understand it is not possible
+in legal practice."
+</p>
+<p>
+I assented without enthusiasm. It was disappointing to find that no
+precautionary measures were to be taken. However, I had done all that I
+could in the matter. No further responsibility lay upon me, and, as it
+was practically certain that I had seen and heard the last of Mr. Graves
+and his mysterious household, I dismissed the case from my mind. At the
+next corner Stillbury and I parted to go our respective ways; and my
+attention was soon transferred from the romance of crime to the
+realities of epidemic influenza.
+</p>
+<p>
+The plethora of work in Dr. Stillbury's practice continued longer than I
+had bargained for. Day after day went by and still found me tramping the
+dingy streets of Kennington or scrambling up and down narrow stairways;
+turning in at night dead tired, or turning out half awake to the hideous
+jangle of the night bell.
+</p>
+<p>
+It was very provoking. For months I had resisted Thorndyke's persuasion
+to give up general practice and join him. Not from lack of inclination,
+but from a deep suspicion that he was thinking of my wants rather than
+his own; that his was a charitable rather than a business proposal. Now
+that I knew this not to be the case, I was impatient to join him; and,
+as I trudged through the dreary thoroughfares of this superannuated
+suburb, with its once rustic villas and its faded gardens, my thoughts
+would turn enviously to the quiet dignity of the Temple and my friend's
+chambers in King's Bench Walk.
+</p>
+<p>
+The closed carriage appeared no more; nor did any whisper either of good
+or evil reach me in connection with the mysterious house from which it
+had come. Mr. Graves had apparently gone out of my life for ever.
+</p>
+<p>
+But if he had gone out of my life, he had not gone out of my memory.
+Often, as I walked my rounds, would the picture of that dimly-lit room
+rise unbidden. Often would I find myself looking once more into that
+ghastly face, so worn, so wasted and haggard, and yet so far from
+repellent. All the incidents of that last night would reconstitute
+themselves with a vividness that showed the intensity of the impression
+that they had made at the time. I would have gladly forgotten the whole
+affair, for every incident of it was fraught with discomfort. But it
+clung to my memory; it haunted me; and ever as it returned it bore with
+it the disquieting questions: Was Mr. Graves still alive? And, if he was
+not, was there really nothing which could have been done to save him?
+</p>
+<p>
+Nearly a month passed before the practice began to show signs of
+returning to its normal condition. Then the daily lists became more and
+more contracted and the day's work proportionately shorter. And thus the
+term of my servitude came to an end. One evening, as we were writing up
+the day-book, Stillbury remarked:
+</p>
+<p>
+"I almost think, Jervis, I could manage by myself now. I know you are
+only staying on for my sake."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am staying on to finish my engagement, but I shan't be sorry to clear
+out if you can do without me."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think I can. When would you like to be off?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"As soon as possible. Say to-morrow morning, after I have made a few
+visits and transferred the patients to you."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Very well," said Stillbury. "Then I will give you your cheque and
+settle up everything to-night, so that you shall be free to go off when
+you like to-morrow morning."
+</p>
+<p>
+Thus ended my connection with Kennington Lane. On the following day at
+about noon, I found myself strolling across Waterloo Bridge with the
+sensations of a newly liberated convict and a cheque for twenty-five
+guineas in my pocket. My luggage was to follow when I sent for it. Now,
+unhampered even by a hand-bag, I joyfully descended the steps at the
+north end of the bridge and headed for King's Bench Walk by way of the
+Embankment and Middle Temple Lane.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="CH5"><!-- CH5 --></a>
+<h2>
+	Chapter V
+</h2>
+
+<h3>
+Jeffrey Blackmore's Will
+</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>
+My arrival at Thorndyke's chambers was not unexpected, having been
+heralded by a premonitory post-card. The "oak" was open and an
+application of the little brass knocker of the inner door immediately
+produced my colleague himself and a very hearty welcome.
+</p>
+<p>
+"At last," said Thorndyke, "you have come forth from the house of
+bondage. I began to think that you had taken up your abode in Kennington
+for good."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I was beginning, myself, to wonder when I should escape. But here I am;
+and I may say at once that I am ready to shake the dust of general
+practice off my feet for ever&mdash;that is, if you are still willing to have
+me as your assistant."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Willing!" exclaimed Thorndyke, "Barkis himself was not more willing
+than I. You will be invaluable to me. Let us settle the terms of our
+comradeship forthwith, and to-morrow we will take measures to enter you
+as a student of the Inner Temple. Shall we have our talk in the open air
+and the spring sunshine?"
+</p>
+<p>
+I agreed readily to this proposal, for it was a bright, sunny day and
+warm for the time of year&mdash;the beginning of April. We descended to the
+Walk and thence slowly made our way to the quiet court behind the
+church, where poor old Oliver Goldsmith lies, as he would surely have
+wished to lie, in the midst of all that had been dear to him in his
+chequered life. I need not record the matter of our conversation. To
+Thorndyke's proposals I had no objections to offer but my own
+unworthiness and his excessive liberality. A few minutes saw our
+covenants fully agreed upon, and when Thorndyke had noted the points on
+a slip of paper, signed and dated it and handed it to me, the business
+was at an end.
+</p>
+<p>
+"There," my colleague said with a smile as he put away his pocket-book,
+"if people would only settle their affairs in that way, a good part of
+the occupation of lawyers would be gone. Brevity is the soul of wit; and
+the fear of simplicity is the beginning of litigation."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And now," I said, "I propose that we go and feed. I will invite you to
+lunch to celebrate our contract."
+</p>
+<p>
+"My learned junior is premature," he replied. "I had already arranged a
+little festivity&mdash;or rather had modified one that was already arranged.
+You remember Mr. Marchmont, the solicitor?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes."
+</p>
+<p>
+"He called this morning to ask me to lunch with him and a new client at
+the 'Cheshire Cheese.' I accepted and notified him that I should bring
+you."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why the 'Cheshire Cheese'?" I asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why not? Marchmont's reasons for the selection were, first, that his
+client has never seen an old-fashioned London tavern, and second, that
+this is Wednesday and he, Marchmont, has a gluttonous affection for a
+really fine beef-steak pudding. You don't object, I hope?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, not at all. In fact, now that you mention it, my own sensations
+incline me to sympathize with Marchmont. I breakfasted rather early."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Then come," said Thorndyke. "The assignation is for one o'clock, and,
+if we walk slowly, we shall just hit it off."
+</p>
+<p>
+We sauntered up Inner Temple Lane, and, crossing Fleet Street, headed
+sedately for the tavern. As we entered the quaint old-world dining-room,
+Thorndyke looked round and a gentleman, who was seated with a companion
+at a table in one of the little boxes or compartments, rose and saluted
+us.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Let me introduce you to my friend Mr. Stephen Blackmore," he said as we
+approached. Then, turning to his companion, he introduced us by our
+respective names.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I engaged this box," he continued, "so that we might be private if we
+wished to have a little preliminary chat; not that beef-steak pudding is
+a great help to conversation. But when people have a certain business
+in view, their talk is sure to drift towards it, sooner or later."
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke and I sat down opposite the lawyer and his client, and we
+mutually inspected one another. Marchmont I already knew; an elderly,
+professional-looking man, a typical solicitor of the old school;
+fresh-faced, precise, rather irascible, and conveying a not unpleasant
+impression of taking a reasonable interest in his diet. The other man
+was quite young, not more than five-and-twenty, and was a fine
+athletic-looking fellow with a healthy, out-of-door complexion and an
+intelligent and highly prepossessing face. I took a liking to him at the
+first glance, and so, I saw, did Thorndyke.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You two gentlemen," said Blackmore, addressing us, "seem to be quite
+old acquaintances. I have heard so much about you from my friend, Reuben
+Hornby."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Ah!" exclaimed Marchmont, "that was a queer case&mdash;'The Case of the Red
+Thumb Mark,' as the papers called it. It was an eye-opener to
+old-fashioned lawyers like myself. We've had scientific witnesses
+before&mdash;and bullied 'em properly, by Jove! when they wouldn't give the
+evidence that we wanted. But the scientific lawyer is something new. His
+appearance in court made us all sit up, I can assure you."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I hope we shall make you sit up again," said Thorndyke.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You won't this time," said Marchmont. "The issues in this case of my
+friend Blackmore's are purely legal; or rather, there are no issues at
+all. There is nothing in dispute. I tried to prevent Blackmore from
+consulting you, but he wouldn't listen to reason. Here! Waiter! How much
+longer are we to be waiters? We shall die of old age before we get our
+victuals!"
+</p>
+<p>
+The waiter smiled apologetically. "Yessir!" said he. "Coming now, sir."
+And at this very moment there was borne into the room a Gargantuan
+pudding in a great bucket of a basin, which being placed on a
+three-legged stool was forthwith attacked ferociously by the
+white-clothed, white-capped carver. We watched the process&mdash;as did every
+one present&mdash;with an interest not entirely gluttonous, for it added a
+pleasant touch to the picturesque old room, with its sanded floor, its
+homely, pew-like boxes, its high-backed settles and the friendly
+portrait of the "great lexicographer" that beamed down on us from the
+wall.
+</p>
+<p>
+"This is a very different affair from your great, glittering modern
+restaurant," Mr. Marchmont remarked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is indeed," said Blackmore, "and if this is the way in which our
+ancestors lived, it would seem that they had a better idea of comfort
+than we have."
+</p>
+<p>
+There was a short pause, during which Mr. Marchmont glared hungrily at
+the pudding; then Thorndyke said:
+</p>
+<p>
+"So you refused to listen to reason, Mr. Blackmore?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes. You see, Mr. Marchmont and his partner had gone into the matter
+and decided that there was nothing to be done. Then I happened to
+mention the affair to Reuben Hornby, and he urged me to ask your advice
+on the case."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Like his impudence," growled Marchmont, "to meddle with my client."
+</p>
+<p>
+"On which," continued Blackmore, "I spoke to Mr. Marchmont and he agreed
+that it was worth while to take your opinion on the case, though he
+warned me to cherish no hopes, as the affair was not really within your
+specialty."
+</p>
+<p>
+"So you understand," said Marchmont, "that we expect nothing. This is
+quite a forlorn hope. We are taking your opinion as a mere formality, to
+be able to say that we have left nothing untried."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is an encouraging start," Thorndyke remarked. "It leaves me
+unembarrassed by the possibility of failure. But meanwhile you are
+arousing in me a devouring curiosity as to the nature of the case. Is it
+highly confidential? Because if not, I would mention that Jervis has now
+joined me as my permanent colleague."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It isn't confidential at all," said Marchmont. "The public are in full
+possession of the facts, and we should be only too happy to put them in
+still fuller possession, through the medium of the Probate Court, if we
+could find a reasonable pretext. But we can't."
+</p>
+<p>
+Here the waiter charged our table with the fussy rapidity of the
+overdue.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Sorry to keep you waiting, sir. Rather early, sir. Wouldn't like it
+underdone, sir."
+</p>
+<p>
+Marchmont inspected his plate critically and remarked:
+</p>
+<p>
+"I sometimes suspect these oysters of being mussels; and I'll swear the
+larks are sparrows."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Let us hope so," said Thorndyke. "The lark is better employed 'at
+Heaven's gate singing' than garnishing a beef-steak pudding. But you
+were telling us about your case."
+</p>
+<p>
+"So I was. Well it's just a matter of&mdash;ale or claret? Oh, claret, I
+know. You despise the good old British John Barleycorn."
+</p>
+<p>
+"He that drinks beer thinks beer," retorted Thorndyke. "But you were
+saying that it is just a matter of&mdash;?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"A matter of a perverse testator and an ill-drawn will. A peculiarly
+irritating case, too, because the defective will replaces a perfectly
+sound one, and the intentions of the testator were&mdash;er&mdash;were&mdash;excellent
+ale, this. A little heady, perhaps, but sound. Better than your sour
+French wine, Thorndyke&mdash;were&mdash;er&mdash;were quite obvious. What he evidently
+desired was&mdash;mustard? Better have some mustard. No? Well, well! Even a
+Frenchman would take mustard. You can have no appreciation of flavour,
+Thorndyke, if you take your victuals in that crude, unseasoned state.
+And, talking of flavour, do you suppose that there is really any
+difference between that of a lark and that of a sparrow?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke smiled grimly. "I should suppose," said he, "that they were
+indistinguishable; but the question could easily be put to the test of
+experiment."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is true," agreed Marchmont, "and it would really be worth trying,
+for, as you say, sparrows are more easily obtainable than larks. But,
+about this will. I was saying&mdash;er&mdash;now, what was I saying?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I understood you to say," replied Thorndyke, "that the intentions of
+the testator were in some way connected with mustard. Isn't that so,
+Jervis?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"That was what I gathered," said I.
+</p>
+<p>
+Marchmont gazed at us for a moment with a surprised expression and then,
+laughing good-humouredly, fortified himself with a draught of ale.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The moral of which is," Thorndyke added, "that testamentary
+dispositions should not be mixed up with beef-steak pudding."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I believe you're right, Thorndyke," said the unabashed solicitor.
+"Business is business and eating is eating. We had better talk over our
+case in my office or your chambers after lunch."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes," said Thorndyke, "come over to the Temple with me and I will give
+you a cup of coffee to clear your brain. Are there any documents?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I have all the papers here in my bag," replied Marchmont; and the
+conversation&mdash;such conversation as is possible "when beards wag all"
+over the festive board&mdash;drifted into other channels.
+</p>
+<p>
+As soon as the meal was finished and the reckoning paid, we trooped out
+of Wine Office Court, and, insinuating ourselves through the line of
+empty hansoms that, in those days, crawled in a continuous procession
+on either side of Fleet Street, betook ourselves by way of Mitre Court
+to King's Bench Walk. There, when the coffee had been requisitioned and
+our chairs drawn up around the fire, Mr. Marchmont unloaded from his bag
+a portentous bundle of papers, and we addressed ourselves to the
+business in hand.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Now," said Marchmont, "let me repeat what I said before. Legally
+speaking, we have no case&mdash;not the ghost of one. But my client wished to
+take your opinion, and I agreed on the bare chance that you might detect
+some point that we had overlooked. I don't think you will, for we have
+gone into the case very thoroughly, but still, there is the
+infinitesimal chance and we may as well take it. Would you like to read
+the two wills, or shall I first explain the circumstances?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think," replied Thorndyke, "a narrative of the events in the order of
+their occurrence would be most helpful. I should like to know as much as
+possible about the testator before I examine the documents."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Very well," said Marchmont. "Then I will begin with a recital of the
+circumstances, which, briefly stated, are these: My client, Stephen
+Blackmore, is the son of Mr. Edward Blackmore, deceased. Edward
+Blackmore had two brothers who survived him, John, the elder, and
+Jeffrey, the younger. Jeffrey is the testator in this case.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Some two years ago, Jeffrey Blackmore executed a will by which he made
+his nephew Stephen his executor and sole legatee; and a few months later
+he added a codicil giving two hundred and fifty pounds to his brother
+John."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What was the value of the estate?" Thorndyke asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"About three thousand five hundred pounds, all invested in Consols. The
+testator had a pension from the Foreign Office, on which he lived,
+leaving his capital untouched. Soon after having made his will, he left
+the rooms in Jermyn Street, where he had lived for some years, stored
+his furniture and went to Florence. From thence he moved on to Rome and
+then to Venice and other places in Italy, and so continued to travel
+about until the end of last September, when it appears that he returned
+to England, for at the beginning of October he took a set of chambers in
+New Inn, which he furnished with some of the things from his old rooms.
+As far as we can make out, he never communicated with any of his
+friends, excepting his brother, and the fact of his being in residence
+at New Inn or of his being in England at all became known to them only
+when he died."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Was this quite in accordance with his ordinary habits?" Thorndyke
+asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I should say not quite," Blackmore answered. "My uncle was a studious,
+solitary man, but he was not formerly a recluse. He was not much of a
+correspondent but he kept up some sort of communication with his
+friends. He used, for instance, to write to me sometimes, and, when I
+came down from Cambridge for the vacations, he had me to stay with him
+at his rooms."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Is there anything known that accounts for the change in his habits?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, there is," replied Marchmont. "We shall come to that presently. To
+proceed with the narrative: On the fifteenth of last March he was found
+dead in his chambers, and a more recent will was then discovered, dated
+the twelfth of November of last year. Now no change had taken place in
+the circumstances of the testator to account for the new will, nor was
+there any appreciable alteration in the disposition of the property. As
+far as we can make out, the new will was drawn with the idea of stating
+the intentions of the testator with greater exactness and for the sake
+of doing away with the codicil. The entire property, with the exception
+of two hundred and fifty pounds, was, as before, bequeathed to Stephen,
+but the separate items were specified, and the testator's brother, John
+Blackmore, was named as the executor and residuary legatee."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I see," said Thorndyke. "So that your client's interest in the will
+would appear to be practically unaffected by the change."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes. There it is," exclaimed the lawyer, slapping the table to add
+emphasis to his words. "That is the pity of it! If people who have no
+knowledge of law would only refrain from tinkering at their wills, what
+a world of trouble would be saved!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, come!" said Thorndyke. "It is not for a lawyer to say that."
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, I suppose not," Marchmont agreed. "Only, you see, we like the
+muddle to be made by the other side. But, in this case, the muddle is on
+our side. The change, as you say, seems to leave our friend Stephen's
+interests unaffected. That is, of course, what poor Jeffrey Blackmore
+thought. But he was mistaken. The effect of the change is absolutely
+disastrous."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Indeed!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes. As I have said, no alteration in the testator's circumstances had
+taken place at the time the new will was executed. <i>But</i> only two days
+before his death, his sister, Mrs. Edmund Wilson, died; and on her will
+being proved it appeared that she had bequeathed to him her entire
+personalty, estimated at about thirty thousand pounds."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Heigho!" exclaimed Thorndyke. "What an unfortunate affair!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"You are right," said Mr. Marchmont; "it was a disaster. By the original
+will this great sum would have accrued to our friend Mr. Stephen,
+whereas now, of course, it goes to the residuary legatee, Mr. John
+Blackmore. And what makes it even more exasperating is the fact that
+this is obviously not in accordance with the wishes and intentions of
+Mr. Jeffrey, who clearly desired his nephew to inherit his property."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes," said Thorndyke; "I think you are justified in assuming that. But
+do you know whether Mr. Jeffrey was aware of his sister's intentions?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"We think not. Her will was executed as recently as the third of
+September last, and it seems that there had been no communication
+between her and Mr. Jeffrey since that date. Besides, if you consider
+Mr. Jeffrey's actions, you will see that they suggest no knowledge or
+expectation of this very important bequest. A man does not make
+elaborate dispositions in regard to three thousand pounds and then leave
+a sum of thirty thousand to be disposed of casually as the residue of
+the estate."
+</p>
+<p>
+"No," Thorndyke agreed. "And, as you have said, the manifest intention
+of the testator was to leave the bulk of his property to Mr. Stephen. So
+we may take it as virtually certain that Mr. Jeffrey had no knowledge of
+the fact that he was a beneficiary under his sister's will."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes," said Mr. Marchmont, "I think we may take that as nearly certain."
+</p>
+<p>
+"With reference to the second will," said Thorndyke, "I suppose there is
+no need to ask whether the document itself has been examined; I mean as
+to its being a genuine document and perfectly regular?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Mr. Marchmont shook his head sadly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"No," he said, "I am sorry to say that there can be no possible doubt as
+to the authenticity and regularity of the document. The circumstances
+under which it was executed establish its genuineness beyond any
+question."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What were those circumstances?" Thorndyke asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"They were these: On the morning of the twelfth of November last, Mr.
+Jeffrey came to the porter's lodge with a document in his hand. 'This,'
+he said, 'is my will. I want you to witness my signature. Would you mind
+doing so, and can you find another respectable person to act as the
+second witness?' Now it happened that a nephew of the porter's, a
+painter by trade, was at work in the Inn. The porter went out and
+fetched him into the lodge and the two men agreed to witness the
+signature. 'You had better read the will,' said Mr. Jeffrey. 'It is not
+actually necessary, but it is an additional safeguard and there is
+nothing of a private nature in the document.' The two men accordingly
+read the document, and, when Mr. Jeffrey had signed it in their
+presence, they affixed their signatures; and I may add that the painter
+left the recognizable impressions of three greasy fingers."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And these witnesses have been examined?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes. They have both sworn to the document and to their own signatures,
+and the painter recognized his finger-marks."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That," said Thorndyke, "seems to dispose pretty effectually of any
+question as to the genuineness of the will; and if, as I gather, Mr.
+Jeffrey came to the lodge alone, the question of undue influence is
+disposed of too."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes," said Mr. Marchmont. "I think we must pass the will as absolutely
+flawless."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It strikes me as rather odd," said Thorndyke, "that Jeffrey should have
+known so little about his sister's intentions. Can you explain it, Mr.
+Blackmore?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't think that it is very remarkable," Stephen replied. "I knew
+very little of my aunt's affairs and I don't think my uncle Jeffrey knew
+much more, for he was under the impression that she had only a life
+interest in her husband's property. And he may have been right. It is
+not clear what money this was that she left to my uncle. She was a very
+taciturn woman and made few confidences to anyone."
+</p>
+<p>
+"So that it is possible," said Thorndyke, "that she, herself, may have
+acquired this money recently by some bequest?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is quite possible," Stephen answered.
+</p>
+<p>
+"She died, I understand," said Thorndyke, glancing at the notes that he
+had jotted down, "two days before Mr. Jeffrey. What date would that be?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Jeffrey died on the fourteenth of March," said Marchmont.
+</p>
+<p>
+"So that Mrs. Wilson died on the twelfth of March?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is so," Marchmont replied; and Thorndyke then asked:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Did she die suddenly?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No," replied Stephen; "she died of cancer. I understand that it was
+cancer of the stomach."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Do you happen to know," Thorndyke asked, "what sort of relations
+existed between Jeffrey and his brother John?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"At one time," said Stephen, "I know they were not very cordial; but the
+breach may have been made up later, though I don't know that it actually
+was."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I ask the question," said Thorndyke, "because, as I dare say you have
+noticed, there is, in the first will, some hint of improved relations.
+As it was originally drawn that will makes Mr. Stephen the sole legatee.
+Then, a little later, a codicil is added in favour of John, showing that
+Jeffrey had felt the necessity of making some recognition of his
+brother. This seems to point to some change in the relations, and the
+question arises: if such a change did actually occur, was it the
+beginning of a new and further improving state of feeling between the
+two brothers? Have you any facts bearing on that question?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Marchmont pursed up his lips with the air of a man considering an
+unwelcome suggestion, and, after a few moments of reflection, answered:
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think we must say 'yes' to that. There is the undeniable fact that,
+of all Jeffrey's friends, John Blackmore was the only one who knew that
+he was living in New Inn."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, John knew that, did he?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, he certainly did; for it came out in the evidence that he had
+called on Jeffrey at his chambers more than once. There is no denying
+that. But, mark you!" Mr. Marchmont added emphatically, "that does not
+cover the inconsistency of the will. There is nothing in the second will
+to suggest that Jeffrey intended materially to increase the bequest to
+his brother."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I quite agree with you, Marchmont. I think that is a perfectly sound
+position. You have, I suppose, fully considered the question as to
+whether it would be possible to set aside the second will on the ground
+that it fails to carry out the evident wishes and intentions of the
+testator?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes. My partner, Winwood, and I went into that question very carefully,
+and we also took counsel's opinion&mdash;Sir Horace Barnaby&mdash;and he was of
+the same opinion as ourselves; that the court would certainly uphold the
+will."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think that would be my own view," said Thorndyke, "especially after
+what you have told me. Do I understand that John Blackmore was the only
+person who knew that Jeffrey was in residence at New Inn?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"The only one of his private friends. His bankers knew and so did the
+officials from whom he drew his pension."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Of course he would have to notify his bankers of his change of
+address."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, of course. And &agrave; propos of the bank, I may mention that the
+manager tells me that, of late, they had noticed a slight change in the
+character of Jeffrey's signature&mdash;I think you will see the reason of the
+change when you hear the rest of his story. It was very trifling; not
+more than commonly occurs when a man begins to grow old, especially if
+there is some failure of eyesight."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Was Mr. Jeffrey's eyesight failing?" asked Thorndyke.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, it was, undoubtedly," said Stephen. "He was practically blind in
+one eye and, in the very last letter that I ever had from him, he
+mentioned that there were signs of commencing cataract in the other."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You spoke of his pension. He continued to draw that regularly?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes; he drew his allowance every month, or rather, his bankers drew it
+for him. They had been accustomed to do so when he was abroad, and the
+authorities seem to have allowed the practice to continue."
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke reflected a while, running his eye over the notes on the slips
+of paper in his hand, and Marchmont surveyed him with a malicious smile.
+Presently the latter remarked:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Methinks the learned counsel is floored."
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke laughed. "It seems to me," he retorted, "that your proceedings
+are rather like those of the amiable individual who offered the bear a
+flint pebble, that he might crack it and extract the kernel. Your
+confounded will seems to offer no soft spot on which one could commence
+an attack. But we won't give up. We seem to have sucked the will dry.
+Let us now have a few facts respecting the parties concerned in it; and,
+as Jeffrey is the central figure, let us begin with him and the tragedy
+at New Inn that formed the starting-point of all this trouble."
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="CH6"><!-- CH6 --></a>
+<h2>
+	Chapter VI
+</h2>
+
+<h3>
+Jeffrey Blackmore, Deceased
+</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>
+Having made the above proposition, Thorndyke placed a fresh slip of
+paper on the blotting pad on his knee and looked inquiringly at Mr.
+Marchmont; who, in his turn, sighed and looked at the bundle of
+documents on the table.
+</p>
+<p>
+"What do you want to know?" he asked a little wearily.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Everything," replied Thorndyke. "You have hinted at circumstances that
+would account for a change in Jeffrey's habits and that would explain an
+alteration in the character of his signature. Let us have those
+circumstances. And, if I might venture on a suggestion, it would be that
+we take the events in the order in which they occurred or in which they
+became known."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That's the worst of you, Thorndyke," Marchmont grumbled. "When a case
+has been squeezed out to the last drop, in a legal sense, you want to
+begin all over again with the family history of every one concerned and
+a list of his effects and household furniture. But I suppose you will
+have to be humoured; and I imagine that the best way in which to give
+you the information you want will be to recite the circumstances
+surrounding the death of Jeffrey Blackmore. Will that suit you?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Perfectly," replied Thorndyke; and thereupon Marchmont began:
+</p>
+<p>
+"The death of Jeffrey Blackmore was discovered at about eleven o'clock
+in the morning of the fifteenth of March. It seems that a builder's man
+was ascending a ladder to examine a gutter on number 31, New Inn, when,
+on passing a second-floor window that was open at the top, he looked in
+and perceived a gentleman lying on a bed. The gentleman was fully
+clothed and had apparently lain down on the bed to rest; at least so the
+builder thought at the time, for he was merely passing the window on
+his way up, and, very properly, did not make a minute examination. But
+when, some ten minutes later, he came down and saw that the gentleman
+was still in the same position, he looked at him more attentively; and
+this is what he noticed&mdash;but perhaps we had better have it in his own
+words as he told the story at the inquest.
+</p>
+<p>
+"'When I came to look at the gentleman a bit more closely, it struck me
+that he looked rather queer. His face looked very white, or rather pale
+yellow, like parchment, and his mouth was open. He did not seem to be
+breathing. On the bed by his side was a brass object of some kind&mdash;I
+could not make out what it was&mdash;and he seemed to be holding some small
+metal object in his hand. I thought it rather a queer affair, so, when I
+came down I went across to the lodge and told the porter about it. The
+porter came out across the square with me and I showed him the window.
+Then he told me to go up the stairs to Mr. Blackmore's chambers on the
+second pair and knock and keep on knocking until I got an answer. I went
+up and knocked and kept on knocking as loud as I could, but, though I
+fetched everybody out of all the other chambers in the house, I couldn't
+get any answer from Mr. Blackmore. So I went downstairs again and then
+Mr. Walker, the porter, sent me for a policeman.
+</p>
+<p>
+"'I went out and met a policeman just by Dane's Inn and told him about
+the affair, and he came back with me. He and the porter consulted
+together, and then they told me to go up the ladder and get in at the
+window and open the door of the chambers from the inside. So I went up;
+and as soon as I got in at the window I saw that the gentleman was dead.
+I went through the other room and opened the outer door and let in the
+porter and the policeman.'
+</p>
+<p>
+"That," said Mr. Marchmont, laying down the paper containing the
+depositions, "is the way in which poor Jeffrey Blackmore's death came to
+be discovered.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The constable reported to his inspector and the inspector sent for the
+divisional surgeon, whom he accompanied to New Inn. I need not go into
+the evidence given by the police officers, as the surgeon saw all that
+they saw and his statement covers everything that is known about
+Jeffrey's death. This is what he says, after describing how he was sent
+for and arrived at the Inn:
+</p>
+<p>
+"'In the bedroom I found the body of a man between fifty and sixty years
+of age, which has since been identified in my presence as that of Mr.
+Jeffrey Blackmore. It was fully dressed and wore boots on which was a
+moderate amount of dry mud. It was lying on its back on the bed, which
+did not appear to have been slept in, and showed no sign of any struggle
+or disturbance. The right hand loosely grasped a hypodermic syringe
+containing a few drops of clear liquid which I have since analysed and
+found to be a concentrated solution of strophanthin.
+</p>
+<p>
+"'On the bed, close to the left side of the body, was a brass opium-pipe
+of a pattern which I believe is made in China. The bowl of the pipe
+contained a small quantity of charcoal, and a fragment of opium
+together with some ash, and there was on the bed a little ash which
+appeared to have dropped from the bowl when the pipe fell or was laid
+down. On the mantelshelf in the bedroom I found a small glass-stoppered
+jar containing about an ounce of solid opium, and another, larger jar
+containing wood charcoal broken up into small fragments. Also a bowl
+containing a quantity of ash with fragments of half-burned charcoal and
+a few minute particles of charred opium. By the side of the bowl were a
+knife, a kind of awl or pricker and a very small pair of tongs, which I
+believe to have been used for carrying a piece of lighted charcoal to
+the pipe.
+</p>
+<p>
+"'On the dressing-table were two glass tubes labelled "Hypodermic
+Tabloids: Strophanthin 1/500 grain," and a minute glass mortar and
+pestle, of which the former contained a few crystals which have since
+been analysed by me and found to be strophanthin.
+</p>
+<p>
+"'On examining the body, I found that it had been dead about twelve
+hours. There were no marks of violence or any abnormal condition
+excepting a single puncture in the right thigh, apparently made by the
+needle of the hypodermic syringe. The puncture was deep and vertical in
+direction as if the needle had been driven in through the clothing.
+</p>
+<p>
+"'I made a post-mortem examination of the body and found that death was
+due to poisoning by strophanthin, which appeared to have been injected
+into the thigh. The two tubes which I found on the dressing-table would
+each have contained, if full, twenty tabloids, each tabloid
+representing one five-hundredth of a grain of strophanthin. Assuming
+that the whole of this quantity was injected the amount taken would be
+forty five-hundredths, or about one twelfth of a grain. The ordinary
+medicinal dose of strophanthin is one five-hundredth of a grain.
+</p>
+<p>
+"'I also found in the body appreciable traces of morphine&mdash;the principal
+alkaloid of opium&mdash;from which I infer that the deceased was a confirmed
+opium-smoker. This inference was supported by the general condition of
+the body, which was ill-nourished and emaciated and presented all the
+appearances usually met with in the bodies of persons addicted to the
+habitual use of opium.'
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is the evidence of the surgeon. He was recalled later, as we shall
+see, but, meanwhile, I think you will agree with me that the facts
+testified to by him fully account, not only for the change in Jeffrey's
+habits&mdash;his solitary and secretive mode of life&mdash;but also for the
+alteration in his handwriting."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes," agreed Thorndyke, "that seems to be so. By the way, what did the
+change in the handwriting amount to?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Very little," replied Marchmont. "It was hardly perceptible. Just a
+slight loss of firmness and distinctness; such a trifling change as you
+would expect to find in the handwriting of a man who had taken to drink
+or drugs, or anything that might impair the steadiness of his hand. I
+should not have noticed it, myself, but, of course, the people at the
+bank are experts, constantly scrutinizing signatures and scrutinizing
+them with a very critical eye."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Is there any other evidence that bears on the case?" Thorndyke asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+Marchmont turned over the bundle of papers and smiled grimly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"My dear Thorndyke," he said, "none of this evidence has the slightest
+bearing on the case. It is all perfectly irrelevant as far as the will
+is concerned. But I know your little peculiarities and I am indulging
+you, as you see, to the top of your bent. The next evidence is that of
+the chief porter, a very worthy and intelligent man named Walker. This
+is what he says, after the usual preliminaries.
+</p>
+<p>
+"'I have viewed the body which forms the subject of this inquiry. It is
+that of Mr. Jeffrey Blackmore, the tenant of a set of chambers on the
+second floor of number thirty-one, New Inn. I have known the deceased
+nearly six months, and during that time have seen and conversed with him
+frequently. He took the chambers on the second of last October and came
+into residence at once. Tenants at New Inn have to furnish two
+references. The references that the deceased gave were his bankers and
+his brother, Mr. John Blackmore. I may say that the deceased was very
+well known to me. He was a quiet, pleasant-mannered gentleman, and it
+was his habit to drop in occasionally at the lodge and have a chat with
+me. I went into his chambers with him once or twice on some small
+matters of business and I noticed that there were always a number of
+books and papers on the table. I understood from him that he spent most
+of his time indoors engaged in study and writing. I know very little
+about his way of living. He had no laundress to look after his rooms, so
+I suppose he did his own house-work and cooking; but he told me that he
+took most of his meals outside, at restaurants or his club.
+</p>
+<p>
+"'Deceased impressed me as a rather melancholy, low-spirited gentleman.
+He was very much troubled about his eyesight and mentioned the matter to
+me on several occasions. He told me that he was practically blind in one
+eye and that the sight of the other was failing rapidly. He said that
+this afflicted him greatly, because his only pleasure in life was in the
+reading of books, and that if he could not read he should not wish to
+live. On another occasion he said that "to a blind man life was not
+worth living."
+</p>
+<p>
+"'On the twelfth of last November he came to the lodge with a paper in
+his hand which he said was his will'&mdash;But I needn't read that," said
+Marchmont, turning over the leaf, "I've told you how the will was signed
+and witnessed. We will pass on to the day of poor Jeffrey's death.
+</p>
+<p>
+"'On the fourteenth of March,' the porter says, 'at about half-past six
+in the evening, the deceased came to the Inn in a four-wheeled cab. That
+was the day of the great fog. I do not know if there was anyone in the
+cab with the deceased, but I think not, because he came to the lodge
+just before eight o'clock and had a little talk with me. He said that
+he had been overtaken by the fog and could not see at all. He was quite
+blind and had been obliged to ask a stranger to call a cab for him as he
+could not find his way through the streets. He then gave me a cheque for
+the rent. I reminded him that the rent was not due until the
+twenty-fifth, but he said he wished to pay it now. He also gave me some
+money to pay one or two small bills that were owing to some of the
+tradespeople&mdash;a milk-man, a baker and a stationer.
+</p>
+<p>
+"'This struck me as very strange, because he had always managed his
+business and paid the tradespeople himself. He told me that the fog had
+irritated his eye so that he could hardly read, and he was afraid he
+should soon be quite blind. He was very depressed; so much so that I
+felt quite uneasy about him. When he left the lodge, he went back across
+the square as if returning to his chambers. There was then no gate open
+excepting the main gate where the lodge is situated. That was the last
+time that I saw the deceased alive.'"
+</p>
+<p>
+Mr. Marchmont laid the paper on the table. "That is the porter's
+evidence. The remaining depositions are those of Noble, the night
+porter, John Blackmore and our friend here, Mr. Stephen. The night
+porter had not much to tell. This is the substance of his evidence:
+</p>
+<p>
+"'I have viewed the body of the deceased and identify it as that of Mr.
+Jeffrey Blackmore. I knew the deceased well by sight and occasionally
+had a few words with him. I know nothing of his habits excepting that he
+used to sit up rather late. It is one of my duties to go round the Inn
+at night and call out the hours until one o'clock in the morning. When
+calling out "one o'clock" I often saw a light in the sitting-room of the
+deceased's chambers. On the night of the fourteenth instant, the light
+was burning until past one o'clock, but it was in the bedroom. The light
+in the sitting-room was out by ten o'clock.'
+</p>
+<p>
+"We now come to John Blackmore's evidence. He says:
+</p>
+<p>
+"'I have viewed the body of the deceased and recognize it as that of my
+brother Jeffrey. I last saw him alive on the twenty-third of February,
+when I called at his chambers. He then seemed in a very despondent state
+of mind and told me that his eyesight was fast failing. I was aware that
+he occasionally smoked opium, but I did not know that it was a confirmed
+habit. I urged him, on several occasions, to abandon the practice. I
+have no reason to believe that his affairs were in any way embarrassed
+or that he had any reason for making away with himself other than his
+failing eyesight; but, having regard to his state of mind when I last
+saw him, I am not surprised at what has happened.'
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is the substance of John Blackmore's evidence, and, as to Mr.
+Stephen, his statement merely sets forth the fact that he had identified
+the body as that of his uncle Jeffrey. And now I think you have all the
+facts. Is there anything more that you want to ask me before I go, for I
+must really run away now?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I should like," said Thorndyke, "to know a little more about the
+parties concerned in this affair. But perhaps Mr. Stephen can give me
+the information."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I expect he can," said Marchmont; "at any rate, he knows more about
+them than I do; so I will be off. If you should happen to think of any
+way," he continued, with a sly smile, "of upsetting that will, just let
+me know, and I will lose no time in entering a caveat. Good-bye! Don't
+trouble to let me out."
+</p>
+<p>
+As soon as he was gone, Thorndyke turned to Stephen Blackmore.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am going," he said, "to ask you a few questions which may appear
+rather trifling, but you must remember that my methods of inquiry
+concern themselves with persons and things rather than with documents.
+For instance, I have not gathered very completely what sort of person
+your uncle Jeffrey was. Could you tell me a little more about him?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"What shall I tell you?" Stephen asked with a slightly embarrassed air.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, begin with his personal appearance."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is rather difficult to describe," said Stephen. "He was a
+medium-sized man and about five feet seven&mdash;fair, slightly grey,
+clean-shaved, rather spare and slight, had grey eyes, wore spectacles
+and stooped a little as he walked. He was quiet and gentle in manner,
+rather yielding and irresolute in character, and his health was not at
+all robust though he had no infirmity or disease excepting his bad
+eyesight. His age was about fifty-five."
+</p>
+<p>
+"How came he to be a civil-service pensioner at fifty-five?" asked
+Thorndyke.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, that was through an accident. He had a nasty fall from a horse,
+and, being a rather nervous man, the shock was very severe. For some
+time after he was a complete wreck. But the failure of his eyesight was
+the actual cause of his retirement. It seems that the fall damaged his
+eyes in some way; in fact he practically lost the sight of one&mdash;the
+right&mdash;from that moment; and, as that had been his good eye, the
+accident left his vision very much impaired. So that he was at first
+given sick leave and then allowed to retire on a pension."
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke noted these particulars and then said:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Your uncle has been more than once referred to as a man of studious
+habits. Does that mean that he pursued any particular branch of
+learning?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes. He was an enthusiastic Oriental scholar. His official duties had
+taken him at one time to Yokohama and Tokio and at another to Bagdad,
+and while at those places he gave a good deal of attention to the
+languages, literature and arts of the countries. He was also greatly
+interested in Babylonian and Assyrian archaeology, and I believe he
+assisted for some time in the excavations at Birs Nimroud."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Indeed!" said Thorndyke. "This is very interesting. I had no idea that
+he was a man of such considerable attainments. The facts mentioned by
+Mr. Marchmont would hardly have led one to think of him as what he seems
+to have been: a scholar of some distinction."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't know that Mr. Marchmont realized the fact himself," said
+Stephen; "or that he would have considered it of any moment if he had.
+Nor, as far as that goes, do I. But, of course, I have no experience of
+legal matters."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You can never tell beforehand," said Thorndyke, "what facts may turn
+out to be of moment, so that it is best to collect all you can get. By
+the way, were you aware that your uncle was an opium-smoker?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, I was not. I knew that he had an opium-pipe which he brought with
+him when he came home from Japan; but I thought it was only a curio. I
+remember him telling me that he once tried a few puffs at an opium-pipe
+and found it rather pleasant, though it gave him a headache. But I had
+no idea he had contracted the habit; in fact, I may say that I was
+utterly astonished when the fact came out at the inquest."
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke made a note of this answer, too, and said:
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think that is all I have to ask you about your uncle Jeffrey. And now
+as to Mr. John Blackmore. What sort of man is he?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am afraid I can't tell you very much about him. Until I saw him at
+the inquest, I had not met him since I was a boy. But he is a very
+different kind of man from Uncle Jeffrey; different in appearance and
+different in character."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You would say that the two brothers were physically quite unlike,
+then?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well," said Stephen, "I don't know that I ought to say that. Perhaps I
+am exaggerating the difference. I am thinking of Uncle Jeffrey as he was
+when I saw him last and of uncle John as he appeared at the inquest.
+They were very different then. Jeffrey was thin, pale, clean shaven,
+wore spectacles and walked with a stoop. John is a shade taller, a shade
+greyer, has good eyesight, a healthy, florid complexion, a brisk,
+upright carriage, is distinctly stout and wears a beard and moustache
+which are black and only very slightly streaked with grey. To me they
+looked as unlike as two men could, though their features were really of
+the same type; indeed, I have heard it said that, as young men, they
+were rather alike, and they both resembled their mother. But there is no
+doubt as to their difference in character. Jeffrey was quiet, serious
+and studious, whereas John rather inclined to what is called a fast
+life; he used to frequent race meetings, and, I think, gambled a good
+deal at times."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What is his profession?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"That would be difficult to tell; he has so many; he is so very
+versatile. I believe he began life as an articled pupil in the
+laboratory of a large brewery, but he soon left that and went on the
+stage. He seems to have remained in 'the profession' for some years,
+touring about this country and making occasional visits to America. The
+life seemed to suit him and I believe he was decidedly successful as an
+actor. But suddenly he left the stage and blossomed out in connection
+with a bucket-shop in London."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And what is he doing now?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"At the inquest he described himself as a stockbroker, so I presume he
+is still connected with the bucket-shop."
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke rose, and taking down from the reference shelves a list of
+members of the Stock Exchange, turned over the leaves.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes," he said, replacing the volume, "he must be an outside broker. His
+name is not in the list of members of 'the House.' From what you tell
+me, it is easy to understand that there should have been no great
+intimacy between the two brothers, without assuming any kind of
+ill-feeling. They simply had very little in common. Do you know of
+anything more?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No. I have never heard of any actual quarrel or disagreement. My
+impression that they did not get on very well may have been, I think,
+due to the terms of the will, especially the first will. And they
+certainly did not seek one another's society."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is not very conclusive," said Thorndyke. "As to the will, a
+thrifty man is not usually much inclined to bequeath his savings to a
+gentleman who may probably employ them in a merry little flutter on the
+turf or the Stock Exchange. And then there was yourself; clearly a more
+suitable subject for a legacy, as your life is all before you. But this
+is mere speculation and the matter is not of much importance, as far as
+we can see. And now, tell me what John Blackmore's relations were with
+Mrs. Wilson. I gather that she left the bulk of her property to Jeffrey,
+her younger brother. Is that so?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes. She left nothing to John. The fact is that they were hardly on
+speaking terms. I believe John had treated her rather badly, or, at any
+rate, she thought he had. Mr. Wilson, her late husband, dropped some
+money over an investment in connection with the bucket-shop that I spoke
+of, and I think she suspected John of having let him in. She may have
+been mistaken, but you know what ladies are when they get an idea into
+their heads."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Did you know your aunt well?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No; very slightly. She lived down in Devonshire and saw very little of
+any of us. She was a taciturn, strong-minded woman; quite unlike her
+brothers. She seems to have resembled her father's family."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You might give me her full name."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Julia Elizabeth Wilson. Her husband's name was Edmund Wilson."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Thank you. There is just one more point. What has happened to your
+uncle's chambers in New Inn since his death?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"They have remained shut up. As all his effects were left to me, I have
+taken over the tenancy for the present to avoid having them disturbed. I
+thought of keeping them for my own use, but I don't think I could live
+in them after what I have seen."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You have inspected them, then?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes; I have just looked through them. I went there on the day of the
+inquest."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Now tell me: as you looked through those rooms, what kind of impression
+did they convey to you as to your uncle's habits and mode of life?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Stephen smiled apologetically. "I am afraid," said he, "that they did
+not convey any particular impression in that respect. I looked into the
+sitting-room and saw all his old familiar household gods, and then I
+went into the bedroom and saw the impression on the bed where his corpse
+had lain; and that gave me such a sensation of horror that I came away
+at once."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But the appearance of the rooms must have conveyed something to your
+mind," Thorndyke urged.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am afraid it did not. You see, I have not your analytical eye. But
+perhaps you would like to look through them yourself? If you would, pray
+do so. They are my chambers now."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think I should like to glance round them," Thorndyke replied.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Very well," said Stephen. "I will give you my card now, and I will look
+in at the lodge presently and tell the porter to hand you the key
+whenever you like to look over the rooms."
+</p>
+<p>
+He took a card from his case, and, having written a few lines on it,
+handed it to Thorndyke.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is very good of you," he said, "to take so much trouble. Like Mr.
+Marchmont, I have no expectation of any result from your efforts, but I
+am very grateful to you, all the same, for going into the case so
+thoroughly. I suppose you don't see any possibility of upsetting that
+will&mdash;if I may ask the question?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"At present," replied Thorndyke, "I do not. But until I have carefully
+weighed every fact connected with the case&mdash;whether it seems to have any
+bearing or not&mdash;I shall refrain from expressing, or even entertaining,
+an opinion either way."
+</p>
+<p>
+Stephen Blackmore now took his leave; and Thorndyke, having collected
+the papers containing his notes, neatly punched a couple of holes in
+their margins and inserted them into a small file, which he slipped into
+his pocket.
+</p>
+<p>
+"That," said he, "is the nucleus of the body of data on which our
+investigations must be based; and I very much fear that it will not
+receive any great additions. What do you think, Jervis?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"The case looks about as hopeless as a case could look," I replied.
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is what I think," said he; "and for that reason I am more than
+ordinarily keen on making something of it. I have not much more hope
+than Marchmont has; but I shall squeeze the case as dry as a bone before
+I let go. What are you going to do? I have to attend a meeting of the
+board of directors of the Griffin Life Office."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Shall I walk down with you?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is very good of you to offer, Jervis, but I think I will go alone. I
+want to run over these notes and get the facts of the case arranged in
+my mind. When I have done that, I shall be ready to pick up new matter.
+Knowledge is of no use unless it is actually in your mind, so that it
+can be produced at a moment's notice. So you had better get a book and
+your pipe and spend a quiet hour by the fire while I assimilate the
+miscellaneous mental feast that we have just enjoyed. And you might do a
+little rumination yourself."
+</p>
+<p>
+With this, Thorndyke took his departure; and I, adopting his advice,
+drew my chair closer to the fire and filled my pipe. But I did not
+discover any inclination to read. The curious history that I had just
+heard, and Thorndyke's evident determination to elucidate it further,
+disposed me to meditation. Moreover, as his subordinate, it was my
+business to occupy myself with his affairs. Wherefore, having stirred
+the fire and got my pipe well alight, I abandoned myself to the renewed
+consideration of the facts relating to Jeffrey Blackmore's will.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="CH7"><!-- CH7 --></a>
+<h2>
+	Chapter VII
+</h2>
+
+<h3>
+The Cuneiform Inscription
+</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>
+The surprise which Thorndyke's proceedings usually occasioned,
+especially to lawyers, was principally due, I think, to my friend's
+habit of viewing occurrences from an unusual standpoint. He did not look
+at things quite as other men looked at them. He had no prejudices and he
+knew no conventions. When other men were cocksure, Thorndyke was
+doubtful. When other men despaired, he entertained hopes; and thus it
+happened that he would often undertake cases that had been rejected
+contemptuously by experienced lawyers, and, what is more, would bring
+them to a successful issue.
+</p>
+<p>
+Thus it had been in the only other case in which I had been personally
+associated with him&mdash;the so-called "Red Thumb Mark" case. There he was
+presented with an apparent impossibility; but he had given it careful
+consideration. Then, from the category of the impossible he had brought
+it to that of the possible; from the merely possible to the actually
+probable; from the probable to the certain; and in the end had won the
+case triumphantly.
+</p>
+<p>
+Was it conceivable that he could make anything of the present case? He
+had not declined it. He had certainly entertained it and was probably
+thinking it over at this moment. Yet could anything be more impossible?
+Here was the case of a man making his own will, probably writing it out
+himself, bringing it voluntarily to a certain place and executing it in
+the presence of competent witnesses. There was no suggestion of any
+compulsion or even influence or persuasion. The testator was admittedly
+sane and responsible; and if the will did not give effect to his
+wishes&mdash;which, however, could not be proved&mdash;that was due to his own
+carelessness in drafting the will and not to any unusual circumstances.
+And the problem&mdash;which Thorndyke seemed to be considering&mdash;was how to
+set aside that will.
+</p>
+<p>
+I reviewed the statements that I had heard, but turn them about as I
+would, I could get nothing out of them but confirmation of Mr.
+Marchmont's estimate of the case. One fact that I had noted with some
+curiosity I again considered; that was Thorndyke's evident desire to
+inspect Jeffrey Blackmore's chambers. He had, it is true, shown no
+eagerness, but I had seen at the time that the questions which he put to
+Stephen were put, not with any expectation of eliciting information but
+for the purpose of getting an opportunity to look over the rooms
+himself.
+</p>
+<p>
+I was still cogitating on the subject when my colleague returned,
+followed by the watchful Polton with the tea-tray, and I attacked him
+forthwith.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, Thorndyke," I said, "I have been thinking about this Blackmore
+case while you have been gadding about."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And may I take it that the problem is solved?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, I'm hanged if you may. I can make nothing of it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Then you are in much the same position as I am."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But, if you can make nothing of it, why did you undertake it?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I only undertook to think about it," said Thorndyke. "I never reject a
+case off-hand unless it is obviously fishy. It is surprising how
+difficulties, and even impossibilities, dwindle if you look at them
+attentively. My experience has taught me that the most unlikely case is,
+at least, worth thinking over."
+</p>
+<p>
+"By the way, why do you want to look over Jeffrey's chambers? What do
+you expect to find there?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I have no expectations at all. I am simply looking for stray facts."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And all those questions that you asked Stephen Blackmore; had you
+nothing in your mind&mdash;no definite purpose?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No purpose beyond getting to know as much about the case as I can."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But," I exclaimed, "do you mean that you are going to examine those
+rooms without any definite object at all?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I wouldn't say that," replied Thorndyke. "This is a legal case. Let me
+put an analogous medical case as being more within your present sphere.
+Supposing that a man should consult you, say, about a progressive loss
+of weight. He can give no explanation. He has no pain, no discomfort, no
+symptoms of any kind; in short, he feels perfectly well in every
+respect; <i>but</i> he is losing weight continuously. What would you do?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I should overhaul him thoroughly," I answered.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why? What would you expect to find?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't know that I should start by expecting to find anything in
+particular. But I should overhaul him organ by organ and function by
+function, and if I could find nothing abnormal I should have to give it
+up."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Exactly," said Thorndyke. "And that is just my position and my line of
+action. Here is a case which is perfectly regular and straightforward
+excepting in one respect. It has a single abnormal feature. And for that
+abnormality there is nothing to account.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Jeffrey Blackmore made a will. It was a well-drawn will and it
+apparently gave full effect to his intentions. Then he revoked that will
+and made another. No change had occurred in his circumstances or in his
+intentions. The provisions of the new will were believed by him to be
+identical with those of the old one. The new will differed from the old
+one only in having a defect in the drafting from which the first will
+was free, and of which he must have been unaware. Now why did he revoke
+the first will and replace it with another which he believed to be
+identical in its provisions? There is no answer to that question. It is
+an abnormal feature in the case. There must be some explanation of that
+abnormality and it is my business to discover it. But the facts in my
+possession yield no such explanation. Therefore it is my purpose to
+search for new facts which may give me a starting-point for an
+investigation."
+</p>
+<p>
+This exposition of Thorndyke's proposed conduct of the case, reasonable
+as it was, did not impress me as very convincing. I found myself coming
+back to Marchmont's position, that there was really nothing in dispute.
+But other matters claimed our attention at the moment, and it was not
+until after dinner that my colleague reverted to the subject.
+</p>
+<p>
+"How should you like to take a turn round to New Inn this evening?" he
+asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I should have thought," said I, "that it would be better to go by
+daylight. Those old chambers are not usually very well illuminated."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is well thought of," said Thorndyke. "We had better take a lamp
+with us. Let us go up to the laboratory and get one from Polton."
+</p>
+<p>
+"There is no need to do that," said I. "The pocket-lamp that you lent me
+is in my overcoat pocket. I put it there to return it to you."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Did you have occasion to use it?" he asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes. I paid another visit to the mysterious house and carried out your
+plan. I must tell you about it later."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Do. I shall be keenly interested to hear all about your adventures. Is
+there plenty of candle left in the lamp?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh yes. I only used it for about an hour."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Then let us be off," said Thorndyke; and we accordingly set forth on
+our quest; and, as we went, I reflected once more on the apparent
+vagueness of our proceedings. Presently I reopened the subject with
+Thorndyke.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I can't imagine," said I, "that you have absolutely nothing in view.
+That you are going to this place with no defined purpose whatever."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I did not say exactly that," replied Thorndyke. "I said that I was not
+going to look for any particular thing or fact. I am going in the hope
+that I may observe something that may start a new train of speculation.
+But that is not all. You know that an investigation follows a certain
+logical course. It begins with the observation of the conspicuous facts.
+We have done that. The facts were supplied by Marchmont. The next stage
+is to propose to oneself one or more provisional explanations or
+hypotheses. We have done that, too&mdash;or, at least I have, and I suppose
+you have."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I haven't," said I. "There is Jeffrey's will, but why he should have
+made the change I cannot form the foggiest idea. But I should like to
+hear your provisional theories on the subject."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You won't hear them at present. They are mere wild conjectures. But to
+resume: what do we do next?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Go to New Inn and rake over the deceased gentleman's apartments."
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke smilingly ignored my answer and continued&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+"We examine each explanation in turn and see what follows from it;
+whether it agrees with all the facts and leads to the discovery of new
+ones, or, on the other hand, disagrees with some facts or leads us to an
+absurdity. Let us take a simple example.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Suppose we find scattered over a field a number of largish masses of
+stone, which are entirely different in character from the rocks found in
+the neighbourhood. The question arises, how did those stones get into
+that field? Three explanations are proposed. One: that they are the
+products of former volcanic action; two: that they were brought from a
+distance by human agency; three: that they were carried thither from
+some distant country by icebergs. Now each of those explanations
+involves certain consequences. If the stones are volcanic, then they
+were once in a state of fusion. But we find that they are unaltered
+limestone and contain fossils. Then they are not volcanic. If they were
+borne by icebergs, then they were once part of a glacier and some of
+them will probably show the flat surfaces with parallel scratches which
+are found on glacier-borne stones. We examine them and find the
+characteristic scratched surfaces. Then they have probably been brought
+to this place by icebergs. But this does not exclude human agency, for
+they might have been brought by men to this place from some other where
+the icebergs had deposited them. A further comparison with other facts
+would be needed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"So we proceed in cases like this present one. Of the facts that are
+known to us we invent certain explanations. From each of those
+explanations we deduce consequences; and if those consequences agree
+with new facts, they confirm the explanation, whereas if they disagree
+they tend to disprove it. But here we are at our destination."
+</p>
+<p>
+We turned out of Wych Street into the arched passage leading into New
+Inn, and, halting at the half-door of the lodge, perceived a stout,
+purple-faced man crouching over the fire, coughing violently. He held up
+his hand to intimate that he was fully occupied for the moment, and we
+accordingly waited for his paroxysm to subside. At length he turned
+towards us, wiping his eyes, and inquired our business.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Mr. Stephen Blackmore," said Thorndyke, "has given me permission to
+look over his chambers. He said that he would mention the matter to
+you."
+</p>
+<p>
+"So he has, sir," said the porter; "but he has just taken the key
+himself to go to the chambers. If you walk across the Inn you'll find
+him there; it's on the farther side; number thirty-one, second floor."
+</p>
+<p>
+We made our way across to the house indicated, the ground floor of which
+was occupied by a solicitor's offices and was distinguished by a
+good-sized brass plate. Although it had now been dark some time there
+was no light on the lower stairs, but we encountered on the first-floor
+landing a man who had just lit the lamp there. Thorndyke halted to
+address him.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Can you tell me who occupies the chambers on the third floor?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"The third floor has been empty about three months," was the reply.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We are going up to look at the chambers on the second floor," said
+Thorndyke. "Are they pretty quiet?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Quiet!" exclaimed the man. "Lord bless you the place is like a cemetery
+for the deaf and dumb. There's the solicitors on the ground floor and
+the architects on the first floor. They both clear out about six, and
+when they're gone the house is as empty as a blown hegg. I don't wonder
+poor Mr. Blackmore made away with his-self. Livin' up there all alone,
+it must have been like Robinson Crusoe without no man Friday and not
+even a blooming goat to talk to. Quiet! It's quiet enough, if that's
+what you want. Wouldn't be no good to <i>me</i>."
+</p>
+<p>
+With a contemptuous shake of the head, he turned and retired down the
+next flight, and, as the echoes of his footsteps died away we resumed
+our ascent.
+</p>
+<p>
+"So it would appear," Thorndyke commented, "that when Jeffrey Blackmore
+came home that last evening, the house was empty."
+</p>
+<p>
+Arrived on the second-floor landing, we were confronted by a
+solid-looking door on the lintel of which the deceased man's name was
+painted in white lettering which still looked new and fresh. Thorndyke
+knocked at the door, which was at once opened by Stephen Blackmore.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I haven't wasted any time before taking advantage of your permission,
+you see," my colleague said as we entered.
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, indeed," said Stephen; "you are very prompt. I have been rather
+wondering what kind of information you expect to gather from an
+inspection of these rooms."
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke smiled genially, amused, no doubt, by the similarity of
+Stephen's remarks to those of mine which he had so recently criticized.
+</p>
+<p>
+"A man of science, Mr. Blackmore," he said, "expects nothing. He
+collects facts and keeps an open mind. As to me, I am a mere legal
+Autolycus, a snapper-up of unconsidered trifles of evidence. When I have
+accumulated a few facts, I arrange them, compare them and think about
+them. Sometimes the comparison yields new matter and sometimes it
+doesn't; but in any case, believe me, it is a capital error to decide
+beforehand what data are to be sought for."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, I suppose that is so," said Stephen; "though, to me, it almost
+looks as if Mr. Marchmont was right; that there is nothing to
+investigate."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You should have thought of that before you consulted me," laughed
+Thorndyke. "As it is, I am engaged to look into the case and I shall do
+so; and, as I have said, I shall keep an open mind until I have all the
+facts in my possession."
+</p>
+<p>
+He glanced round the sitting-room, which we had now entered, and
+continued:
+</p>
+<p>
+"These are fine, dignified old rooms. It seems a sin to have covered up
+all this oak panelling and that carved cornice and mantel with paint.
+Think what it must have been like when the beautiful figured wood was
+exposed."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It would be very dark," Stephen observed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes," Thorndyke agreed, "and I suppose we care more for light and less
+for beauty than our ancestors did. But now, tell me; looking round these
+rooms, do they convey to you a similar impression to that which the old
+rooms did? Have they the same general character?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not quite, I think. Of course the rooms in Jermyn Street were in a
+different kind of house, but beyond that, I seem to feel a certain
+difference; which is rather odd, seeing that the furniture is the same.
+But the old rooms were more cosy, more homelike. I find something rather
+bare and cheerless, I was almost going to say squalid, in the look of
+these chambers."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is rather what I should have expected," said Thorndyke. "The opium
+habit alters a man's character profoundly; and, somehow, apart from the
+mere furnishing, a room reflects in some subtle way, but very
+distinctly, the personality of its occupant, especially when that
+occupant lives a solitary life. Do you see any evidences of the
+activities that used to occupy your uncle?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not very much," replied Stephen. "But the place may not be quite as he
+left it. I found one or two of his books on the table and put them back
+in the shelves, but I found no manuscript or notes such as he used to
+make. I noticed, too, that his ink-slab which he used to keep so
+scrupulously clean is covered with dry smears and that the stick of ink
+is all cracked at the end, as if he had not used it for months. It seems
+to point to a great change in his habits."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What used he to do with Chinese ink?" Thorndyke asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"He corresponded with some of his native friends in Japan, and he used
+to write in the Japanese character even if they understood English. That
+was what he chiefly used the Chinese ink for. But he also used to copy
+the inscriptions from these things." Here Stephen lifted from the
+mantelpiece what looked like a fossil Bath bun, but was actually a clay
+tablet covered with minute indented writing.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Your uncle could read the cuneiform character, then?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes; he was something of an expert. These tablets are, I believe,
+leases and other legal documents from Eridu and other Babylonian cities.
+He used to copy the inscriptions in the cuneiform writing and then
+translate them into English. But I mustn't stay here any longer as I
+have an engagement for this evening. I just dropped in to get these two
+volumes&mdash;<i>Thornton's History of Babylonia</i>, which he once advised me to
+read. Shall I give you the key? You'd better have it and leave it with
+the porter as you go out."
+</p>
+<p>
+He shook hands with us and we walked out with him to the landing and
+stood watching him as he ran down the stairs. Glancing at Thorndyke by
+the light of the gas lamp on the landing, I thought I detected in his
+impassive face that almost imperceptible change of expression to which I
+have already alluded as indicating pleasure or satisfaction.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You are looking quite pleased with yourself," I remarked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am not displeased," he replied calmly. "Autolycus has picked up a few
+crumbs; very small ones, but still crumbs. No doubt his learned junior
+has picked up a few likewise?"
+</p>
+<p>
+I shook my head&mdash;and inwardly suspected it of being rather a thick head.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I did not perceive anything in the least degree significant in what
+Stephen was telling you," said I. "It was all very interesting, but it
+did not seem to have any bearing on his uncle's will."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I was not referring only to what Stephen has told us, although that
+was, as you say, very interesting. While he was talking I was looking
+about the room, and I have seen a very strange thing. Let me show it to
+you."
+</p>
+<p>
+He linked his arm in mine and, walking me back into the room, halted
+opposite the fire-place.
+</p>
+<p>
+"There," said he, "look at that. It is a most remarkable object."
+</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="image-2"><!-- Image 2 --></a>
+<center>
+<img src="inscription.png" width="80%"
+alt="cuneiform inscription">
+</center>
+<center><b>The Inverted Inscription.</b></center>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>
+I followed the direction of his gaze and saw an oblong frame enclosing a
+large photograph of an inscription in the weird and cabalistic
+arrow-head character. I looked at it in silence for some seconds and
+then, somewhat disappointed, remarked:
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't see anything very remarkable in it, under the circumstances. In
+any ordinary room it would be, I admit; but Stephen has just told us
+that his uncle was something of an expert in cuneiform writing."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Exactly," said Thorndyke. "That is my point. That is what makes it so
+remarkable."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't follow you at all," said I. "That a man should hang upon his
+wall an inscription that is legible to him does not seem to me at all
+out of the way. It would be much more singular if he should hang up an
+inscription that he could <i>not</i> read."
+</p>
+<p>
+"No doubt," replied Thorndyke. "But you will agree with me that it would
+be still more singular if a man should hang upon his wall an inscription
+that he <i>could</i> read&mdash;and hang it upside down."
+</p>
+<p>
+I stared at Thorndyke in amazement.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Do you mean to tell me," I exclaimed, "that that photograph is really
+upside down?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I do indeed," he replied.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But how do you know? Have we here yet another Oriental scholar?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke chuckled. "Some fool," he replied, "has said that 'a little
+knowledge is a dangerous thing.' Compared with much knowledge, it may
+be; but it is a vast deal better than no knowledge. Here is a case in
+point. I have read with very keen interest the wonderful history of the
+decipherment of the cuneiform writing, and I happen to recollect one or
+two of the main facts that seemed to me to be worth remembering. This
+particular inscription is in the Persian cuneiform, a much more simple
+and open form of the script than the Babylonian or Assyrian; in fact, I
+suspect that this is the famous inscription from the gateway at
+Persepolis&mdash;the first to be deciphered; which would account for its
+presence here in a frame. Now this script consists, as you see, of two
+kinds of characters; the small, solid, acutely pointed characters which
+are known as wedges, and the larger, more obtuse characters, somewhat
+like our government broad arrows, and called arrow-heads. The names are
+rather unfortunate, as both forms are wedge-like and both resemble
+arrow-heads. The script reads from left to right, like our own writing,
+and unlike that of the Semitic peoples and the primitive Greeks; and the
+rule for the placing of the characters is that all the 'wedges' point to
+the right or downwards and the arrow-head forms are open towards the
+right. But if you look at this photograph you will see that all the
+wedges point upwards to the left and that the arrow-head characters are
+open towards the left. Obviously the photograph is upside down."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But," I exclaimed, "this is really most mysterious. What do you suppose
+can be the explanation?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think," replied Thorndyke, "that we may perhaps get a suggestion from
+the back of the frame. Let us see."
+</p>
+<p>
+He disengaged the frame from the two nails on which it hung, and,
+turning it round, glanced at the back; which he then presented for my
+inspection. A label on the backing paper bore the words, "J. Budge,
+Frame-maker and Gilder, 16, Gt. Anne Street, W.C."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well?" I said, when I had read the label without gathering from it
+anything fresh.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The label, you observe, is the right way up as it hangs on the wall."
+</p>
+<p>
+"So it is," I rejoined hastily, a little annoyed that I had not been
+quicker to observe so obvious a fact. "I see your point. You mean that
+the frame-maker hung the thing upside down and Jeffrey never noticed the
+mistake?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is a perfectly sound explanation," said Thorndyke. "But I think
+there is something more. You will notice that the label is an old one;
+it must have been on some years, to judge by its dingy appearance,
+whereas the two mirror-plates look to me comparatively new. But we can
+soon put that matter to the test, for the label was evidently stuck on
+when the frame was new, and if the plates were screwed on at the same
+time, the wood that they cover will be clean and new-looking."
+</p>
+<p>
+He drew from his pocket a "combination" knife containing, among other
+implements, a screw-driver, with which he carefully extracted the screws
+from one of the little brass plates by which the frame had been
+suspended from the nails.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You see," he said, when he had removed the plate and carried the
+photograph over to the gasjet, "the wood covered by the plate is as
+dirty and time-stained as the rest of the frame. The plates have been
+put on recently."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And what are we to infer from that?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, since there are no other marks of plates or rings upon the
+frame, we may safely infer that the photograph was never hung up until
+it came to these rooms."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, I suppose we may. But what then? What inference does that lead
+to?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke reflected for a few moments and I continued:
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is evident that this photograph suggests more to you than it does to
+me. I should like to hear your exposition of its bearing on the case, if
+it has any."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Whether or no it has any real bearing on the case," Thorndyke answered,
+"it is impossible for me to say at this stage. I told you that I had
+proposed to myself one or two hypotheses to account for and explain
+Jeffrey Blackmore's will, and I may say that the curious misplacement of
+this photograph fits more than one of them. I won't say more than that,
+because I think it would be profitable to you to work at this case
+independently. You have all the facts that I have and you shall have a
+copy of my notes of Marchmont's statement of the case. With this
+material you ought to be able to reach some conclusion. Of course
+neither of us may be able to make anything of the case&mdash;it doesn't look
+very hopeful at present&mdash;but whatever happens, we can compare notes
+after the event and you will be the richer by so much experience of
+actual investigation. But I will start you off with one hint, which is
+this: that neither you nor Marchmont seem to appreciate in the least the
+very extraordinary nature of the facts that he communicated to us."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I thought Marchmont seemed pretty much alive to the fact that it was a
+very queer will."
+</p>
+<p>
+"So he did," agreed Thorndyke. "But that is not quite what I mean. The
+whole set of circumstances, taken together and in relation to one
+another, impressed me as most remarkable; and that is why I am giving so
+much attention to what looks at first sight like such a very unpromising
+case. Copy out my notes, Jervis, and examine the facts critically. I
+think you will see what I mean. And now let us proceed."
+</p>
+<p>
+He replaced the brass plate and having reinserted the screws, hung up
+the frame, and proceeded to browse slowly round the room, stopping now
+and again to inspect the Japanese colour-prints and framed photographs
+of buildings and other objects of archaeological interest that formed
+the only attempts at wall-decoration. To one of the former he drew my
+attention.
+</p>
+<p>
+"These things are of some value," he remarked. "Here is one by
+Utamaro&mdash;that little circle with the mark over it is his signature&mdash;and
+you notice that the paper is becoming spotted in places with mildew. The
+fact is worth noting in more than one connection."
+</p>
+<p>
+I accordingly made a mental note and the perambulation continued.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You observe that Jeffrey used a gas-stove, instead of a coal fire, no
+doubt to economize work, but perhaps for other reasons. Presumably he
+cooked by gas, too; let us see."
+</p>
+<p>
+We wandered into the little cupboard-like kitchen and glanced round. A
+ring-burner on a shelf, a kettle, a frying-pan and a few pieces of
+crockery were its sole appointments. Apparently the porter was correct
+in his statement as to Jeffrey's habits.
+</p>
+<p>
+Returning to the sitting-room, Thorndyke resumed his inspection, pulling
+out the table drawers, peering inquisitively into cupboards and
+bestowing a passing glance on each of the comparatively few objects that
+the comfortless room contained.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I have never seen a more characterless apartment," was his final
+comment. "There is nothing that seems to suggest any kind of habitual
+activity on the part of the occupant. Let us look at the bedroom."
+</p>
+<p>
+We passed through into the chamber of tragic memories, and, when
+Thorndyke had lit the gas, we stood awhile looking about us in silence.
+It was a bare, comfortless room, dirty, neglected and squalid. The bed
+appeared not to have been remade since the catastrophe, for an
+indentation still marked the place where the corpse had lain, and even a
+slight powdering of ash could still be seen on the shabby counterpane.
+It looked to me a typical opium-smoker's bedroom.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well," Thorndyke remarked at length, "there is character enough
+here&mdash;of a kind. Jeffrey Blackmore would seem to have been a man of few
+needs. One could hardly imagine a bedroom in which less attention seemed
+to have been given to the comfort of the occupant."
+</p>
+<p>
+He looked about him keenly and continued: "The syringe and the rest of
+the lethal appliances and material have been taken away, I see.
+Probably the analyst did not return them. But there are the opium-pipe
+and the jar and the ash-bowl, and I presume those are the clothes that
+the undertakers removed from the body. Shall we look them over?"
+</p>
+<p>
+He took up the clothes which lay, roughly folded, on a chair and held
+them up, garment by garment.
+</p>
+<p>
+"These are evidently the trousers," he remarked, spreading them out on
+the bed. "Here is a little white spot on the middle of the thigh which
+looks like a patch of small crystals from a drop of the solution. Just
+light the lamp, Jervis, and let us examine it with a lens."
+</p>
+<p>
+I lit the lamp, and when we had examined the spot minutely and
+identified it as a mass of minute crystals, Thorndyke asked:
+</p>
+<p>
+"What do you make of those creases? You see there is one on each leg."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It looks as if the trousers had been turned up. But if they have been
+they must have been turned up about seven inches. Poor Jeffrey couldn't
+have had much regard for appearances, for they would have been right
+above his socks. But perhaps the creases were made in undressing the
+body."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is possible," said Thorndyke: "though I don't quite see how it
+would have happened. I notice that his pockets seem to have been
+emptied&mdash;no, wait; here is something in the waistcoat pocket."
+</p>
+<p>
+He drew out a shabby, pigskin card-case and a stump of lead pencil, at
+which latter he looked with what seemed to me much more interest than
+was deserved by so commonplace an object.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The cards, you observe," said he, "are printed from type, not from a
+plate. I would note that fact. And tell me what you make of that."
+</p>
+<p>
+He handed me the pencil, which I examined with concentrated attention,
+helping myself even with the lamp and my pocket lens. But even with
+these aids I failed to discover anything unusual in its appearance.
+Thorndyke watched me with a mischievous smile, and, when I had finished,
+inquired:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well; what is it?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Confound you!" I exclaimed. "It's a pencil. Any fool can see that, and
+this particular fool can't see any more. It's a wretched stump of a
+pencil, villainously cut to an abominably bad point. It is coloured dark
+red on the outside and was stamped with some name that began with
+C&mdash;O&mdash;Co-operative Stores, perhaps."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Now, my dear Jervis," Thorndyke protested, "don't begin by confusing
+speculation with fact. The letters which remain are C&mdash;O. Note that fact
+and find out what pencils there are which have inscriptions beginning
+with those letters. I am not going to help you, because you can easily
+do this for yourself. And it will be good discipline even if the fact
+turns out to mean nothing."
+</p>
+<p>
+At this moment he stepped back suddenly, and, looking down at the floor,
+said:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Give me the lamp, Jervis, I've trodden on something that felt like
+glass."
+</p>
+<p>
+I brought the lamp to the place where he had been standing, close by
+the bed, and we both knelt on the floor, throwing the light of the lamp
+on the bare and dusty boards. Under the bed, just within reach of the
+foot of a person standing close by, was a little patch of fragments of
+glass. Thorndyke produced a piece of paper from his pocket and
+delicately swept the little fragments on to it, remarking:
+</p>
+<p>
+"By the look of things, I am not the first person who has trodden on
+that object, whatever it is. Do you mind holding the lamp while I
+inspect the remains?"
+</p>
+<p>
+I took the lamp and held it over the paper while he examined the little
+heap of glass through his lens.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well," I asked. "What have you found?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is what I am asking myself," he replied. "As far as I can judge by
+the appearance of these fragments, they appear to be portions of a small
+watch-glass. I wish there were some larger pieces."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Perhaps there are," said I. "Let us look about the floor under the
+bed."
+</p>
+<p>
+We resumed our groping about the dirty floor, throwing the light of the
+lamp on one spot after another. Presently, as we moved the lamp about,
+its light fell on a small glass bead, which I instantly picked up and
+exhibited to Thorndyke.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Is this of any interest to you?" I asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke took the bead and examined it curiously.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is certainly," he said, "a very odd thing to find in the bedroom of
+an old bachelor like Jeffrey, especially as we know that he employed no
+woman to look after his rooms. Of course, it may be a relic of the last
+tenant. Let us see if there are any more."
+</p>
+<p>
+We renewed our search, crawling under the bed and throwing the light of
+the lamp in all directions over the floor. The result was the discovery
+of three more beads, one entire bugle and the crushed remains of
+another, which had apparently been trodden on. All of these, including
+the fragments of the bugle that had been crushed, Thorndyke placed
+carefully on the paper, which he laid on the dressing-table the more
+conveniently to examine our find.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am sorry," said he, "that there are no more fragments of the
+watch-glass, or whatever it was. The broken pieces were evidently picked
+up, with the exception of the one that I trod on, which was an isolated
+fragment that had been overlooked. As to the beads, judging by their
+number and the position in which we found some of them&mdash;that crushed
+bugle, for instance&mdash;they must have been dropped during Jeffrey's
+tenancy and probably quite recently."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What sort of garment do you suppose they came from?" I asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"They may have been part of a beaded veil or the trimming of a dress,
+but the grouping rather suggests to me a tag of bead fringe. The colour
+is rather unusual."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I thought they looked like black beads."
+</p>
+<p>
+"So they do by this light, but I think that by daylight we shall find
+them to be a dark, reddish-brown. You can see the colour now if you look
+at the smaller fragments of the one that is crushed."
+</p>
+<p>
+He handed me his lens, and, when I had verified his statement, he
+produced from his pocket a small tin box with a closely-fitting lid in
+which he deposited the paper, having first folded it up into a small
+parcel.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We will put the pencil in too," said he; and, as he returned the box to
+his pocket he added: "you had better get one of these little boxes from
+Polton. It is often useful to have a safe receptacle for small and
+fragile articles."
+</p>
+<p>
+He folded up and replaced the dead man's clothes as we had found them.
+Then, observing a pair of shoes standing by the wall, he picked them up
+and looked them over thoughtfully, paying special attention to the backs
+of the soles and the fronts of the heels.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I suppose we may take it," said he, "that these are the shoes that poor
+Jeffrey wore on the night of his death. At any rate there seem to be no
+others. He seems to have been a fairly clean walker. The streets were
+shockingly dirty that day, as I remember most distinctly. Do you see any
+slippers? I haven't noticed any."
+</p>
+<p>
+He opened and peeped into a cupboard in which an overcoat surmounted by
+a felt hat hung from a peg like an attenuated suicide; he looked in all
+the corners and into the sitting-room, but no slippers were to be seen.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Our friend seems to have had surprisingly little regard for comfort,"
+Thorndyke remarked. "Think of spending the winter evenings in damp boots
+by a gas fire!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Perhaps the opium-pipe compensated," said I; "or he may have gone to
+bed early."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But he did not. The night porter used to see the light in his rooms at
+one o'clock in the morning. In the sitting-room, too, you remember. But
+he seems to have been in the habit of reading in bed&mdash;or perhaps
+smoking&mdash;for here is a candlestick with the remains of a whole dynasty
+of candles in it. As there is gas in the room, he couldn't have wanted
+the candle to undress by. He used stearine candles, too; not the common
+paraffin variety. I wonder why he went to that expense."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Perhaps the smell of the paraffin candle spoiled the aroma of the
+opium," I suggested; to which Thorndyke made no reply but continued his
+inspection of the room, pulling out the drawer of the washstand&mdash;which
+contained a single, worn-out nail-brush&mdash;and even picking up and
+examining the dry and cracked cake of soap in the dish.
+</p>
+<p>
+"He seems to have had a fair amount of clothing," said Thorndyke, who
+was now going through the chest of drawers, "though, by the look of it,
+he didn't change very often, and the shirts have a rather yellow and
+faded appearance. I wonder how he managed about his washing. Why, here
+are a couple of pairs of boots in the drawer with his clothes! And here
+is his stock of candles. Quite a large box&mdash;though nearly empty now&mdash;of
+stearine candles, six to the pound."
+</p>
+<p>
+He closed the drawer and cast another inquiring look round the room.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think we have seen all now, Jervis," he said, "unless there is
+anything more that you would like to look into?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No," I replied. "I have seen all that I wanted to see and more than I
+am able to attach any meaning to. So we may as well go."
+</p>
+<p>
+I blew out the lamp and put it in my overcoat pocket, and, when we had
+turned out the gas in both rooms, we took our departure.
+</p>
+<p>
+As we approached the lodge, we found our stout friend in the act of
+retiring in favour of the night porter. Thorndyke handed him the key of
+the chambers, and, after a few sympathetic inquiries, about his
+health&mdash;which was obviously very indifferent&mdash;said:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Let me see; you were one of the witnesses to Mr. Blackmore's will, I
+think?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I was, sir," replied the porter.
+</p>
+<p>
+"And I believe you read the document through before you witnessed the
+signature?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I did, sir."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Did you read it aloud?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Aloud, sir! Lor' bless you, no, sir! Why should I? The other witness
+read it, and, of course, Mr. Blackmore knew what was in it, seeing that
+it was in his own handwriting. What should I want to read it aloud for?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, of course you wouldn't want to. By the way, I have been wondering
+how Mr. Blackmore managed about his washing."
+</p>
+<p>
+The porter evidently regarded this question with some disfavour, for he
+replied only with an interrogative grunt. It was, in fact, rather an odd
+question.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Did you get it done for him," Thorndyke pursued.
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, certainly not, sir. He got it done for himself. The laundry people
+used to deliver the basket here at the lodge, and Mr. Blackmore used to
+take it in with him when he happened to be passing."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It was not delivered at his chambers, then?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, sir. Mr. Blackmore was a very studious gentleman and he didn't like
+to be disturbed. A studious gentleman would naturally not like to be
+disturbed."
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke cordially agreed with these very proper sentiments and finally
+wished the porter "good night." We passed out through the gateway into
+Wych Street, and, turning our faces eastward towards the Temple, set
+forth in silence, each thinking his own thoughts. What Thorndyke's were
+I cannot tell, though I have no doubt that he was busily engaged in
+piecing together all that he had seen and heard and considering its
+possible application to the case in hand.
+</p>
+<p>
+As to me, my mind was in a whirl of confusion. All this searching and
+examining seemed to be the mere flogging of a dead horse. The will was
+obviously a perfectly valid and regular will and there was an end of the
+matter. At least, so it seemed to me. But clearly that was not
+Thorndyke's view. His investigations were certainly not purposeless;
+and, as I walked by his side trying to conceive some purpose in his
+actions, I only became more and more mystified as I recalled them one
+by one, and perhaps most of all by the cryptic questions that I had just
+heard him address to the equally mystified porter.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="CH8"><!-- CH8 --></a>
+<h2>
+	Chapter VIII
+</h2>
+
+<h3>
+The Track Chart
+</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>
+As Thorndyke and I arrived at the main gateway of the Temple and he
+swung round into the narrow lane, it was suddenly borne in on me that I
+had made no arrangements for the night. Events had followed one another
+so continuously and each had been so engrossing that I had lost sight of
+what I may call my domestic affairs.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We seem to be heading for your chambers, Thorndyke," I ventured to
+remark. "It is a little late to think of it, but I have not yet settled
+where I am to put up to-night."
+</p>
+<p>
+"My dear fellow," he replied, "you are going to put up in your own
+bedroom which has been waiting in readiness for you ever since you left
+it. Polton went up and inspected it as soon as you arrived. I take it
+that you will consider my chambers yours until such time as you may join
+the benedictine majority and set up a home for yourself."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is very handsome of you," said I. "You didn't mention that the
+billet you offered was a resident appointment."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Rooms and commons included," said Thorndyke; and when I protested that
+I should at least contribute to the costs of living he impatiently
+waved the suggestion away. We were still arguing the question when we
+reached our chambers&mdash;as I will now call them&mdash;and a diversion was
+occasioned by my taking the lamp from my pocket and placing it on the
+table.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Ah," my colleague remarked, "that is a little reminder. We will put it
+on the mantelpiece for Polton to collect and you shall give me a full
+account of your further adventures in the wilds of Kennington. That was
+a very odd affair. I have often wondered how it ended."
+</p>
+<p>
+He drew our two arm-chairs up to the fire, put on some more coal, placed
+the tobacco jar on the table exactly equidistant from the two chairs,
+and settled himself with the air of a man who is anticipating an
+agreeable entertainment.
+</p>
+<p>
+I filled my pipe, and, taking up the thread of the story where I had
+broken off on the last occasion, began to outline my later experiences.
+But he brought me up short.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Don't be sketchy, Jervis. To be sketchy is to be vague. Detail, my
+child, detail is the soul of induction. Let us have all the facts. We
+can sort them out afterwards."
+</p>
+<p>
+I began afresh in a vein of the extremest circumstantiality. With
+deliberate malice I loaded a prolix narrative with every triviality that
+a fairly retentive memory could rake out of the half-forgotten past. I
+cudgelled my brains for irrelevant incidents. I described with the
+minutest accuracy things that had not the faintest significance. I drew
+a vivid picture of the carriage inside and out; I painted a lifelike
+portrait of the horse, even going into particulars of the harness&mdash;which
+I was surprised to find that I had noticed. I described the furniture of
+the dining-room and the cobwebs that had hung from the ceiling; the
+auction-ticket on the chest of drawers, the rickety table and the
+melancholy chairs. I gave the number per minute of the patient's
+respirations and the exact quantity of coffee consumed on each occasion,
+with an exhaustive description of the cup from which it was taken; and I
+left no personal details unconsidered, from the patient's finger-nails
+to the roseate pimples on Mr. Weiss's nose.
+</p>
+<p>
+But my tactics of studied prolixity were a complete failure. The attempt
+to fatigue Thorndyke's brain with superabundant detail was like trying
+to surfeit a pelican with whitebait. He consumed it all with calm
+enjoyment and asked for more; and when, at last, I did really begin to
+think that I had bored him a little, he staggered me by reading over his
+notes and starting a brisk cross-examination to elicit fresh facts! And
+the most surprising thing of all was that when I had finished I seemed
+to know a great deal more about the case than I had ever known before.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It was a very remarkable affair," he observed, when the
+cross-examination was over&mdash;leaving me somewhat in the condition of a
+cider-apple that has just been removed from a hydraulic press&mdash;"a very
+suspicious affair with a highly unsatisfactory end. I am not sure that I
+entirely agree with your police officer. Nor do I fancy that some of my
+acquaintances at Scotland Yard would have agreed with him."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Do you think I ought to have taken any further measures?" I asked
+uneasily.
+</p>
+<p>
+"No; I don't see how you could. You did all that was possible under the
+circumstances. You gave information, which is all that a private
+individual can do, especially if he is an overworked general
+practitioner. But still, an actual crime is the affair of every good
+citizen. I think we ought to take some action."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You think there really was a crime, then?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"What else can one think? What do you think about it yourself?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't like to think about it at all. The recollection of that
+corpse-like figure in that gloomy bedroom has haunted me ever since I
+left the house. What do you suppose has happened?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke did not answer for a few seconds. At length he said gravely:
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am afraid, Jervis, that the answer to that question can be given in
+one word."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Murder?" I asked with a slight shudder.
+</p>
+<p>
+He nodded, and we were both silent for a while.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The probability," he resumed after a pause, "that Mr. Graves is alive
+at this moment seems to me infinitesimal. There was evidently a
+conspiracy to murder him, and the deliberate, persistent manner in which
+that object was being pursued points to a very strong and definite
+motive. Then the tactics adopted point to considerable forethought and
+judgment. They are not the tactics of a fool or an ignoramus. We may
+criticize the closed carriage as a tactical mistake, calculated to
+arouse suspicion, but we have to weigh it against its alternative."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What is that?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, consider the circumstances. Suppose Weiss had called you in in
+the ordinary way. You would still have detected the use of poison. But
+now you could have located your man and made inquiries about him in the
+neighbourhood. You would probably have given the police a hint and they
+would almost certainly have taken action, as they would have had the
+means of identifying the parties. The result would have been fatal to
+Weiss. The closed carriage invited suspicion, but it was a great
+safeguard. Weiss's method's were not so unsound after all. He is a
+cautious man, but cunning and very persistent. And he could be bold on
+occasion. The use of the blinded carriage was a decidedly audacious
+proceeding. I should put him down as a gambler of a very discreet,
+courageous and resourceful type."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Which all leads to the probability that he has pursued his scheme and
+brought it to a successful issue."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am afraid it does. But&mdash;have you got your notes of the
+compass-bearings?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"The book is in my overcoat pocket with the board. I will fetch them."
+</p>
+<p>
+I went into the office, where our coats hung, and brought back the
+notebook with the little board to which it was still attached by the
+rubber band. Thorndyke took them from me, and, opening the book, ran
+his eye quickly down one page after another. Suddenly he glanced at the
+clock.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is a little late to begin," said he, "but these notes look rather
+alluring. I am inclined to plot them out at once. I fancy, from their
+appearance, that they will enable us to locate the house without much
+difficulty. But don't let me keep you up if you are tired. I can work
+them out by myself."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You won't do anything of the kind," I exclaimed. "I am as keen on
+plotting them as you are, and, besides, I want to see how it is done. It
+seems to be a rather useful accomplishment."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is," said Thorndyke. "In our work, the ability to make a rough but
+reliable sketch survey is often of great value. Have you ever looked
+over these notes?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No. I put the book away when I came in and have never looked at it
+since."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is a quaint document. You seem to be rich in railway bridges in
+those parts, and the route was certainly none of the most direct, as you
+noticed at the time. However, we will plot it out and then we shall see
+exactly what it looks like and whither it leads us."
+</p>
+<p>
+He retired to the laboratory and presently returned with a T-square, a
+military protractor, a pair of dividers and a large drawing-board on
+which was pinned a sheet of cartridge paper.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Now," said he, seating himself at the table with the board before him,
+"as to the method. You started from a known position and you arrived at
+a place the position of which is at present unknown. We shall fix the
+position of that spot by applying two factors, the distance that you
+travelled and the direction in which you were moving. The direction is
+given by the compass; and, as the horse seems to have kept up a
+remarkably even pace, we can take time as representing distance. You
+seem to have been travelling at about eight miles an hour, that is,
+roughly, a seventh of a mile in one minute. So if, on our chart, we take
+one inch as representing one minute, we shall be working with a scale of
+about seven inches to the mile."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That doesn't sound very exact as to distance," I objected.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It isn't. But that doesn't matter much. We have certain landmarks, such
+as these railway arches that you have noted, by which the actual
+distance can be settled after the route is plotted. You had better read
+out the entries, and, opposite each, write a number for reference, so
+that we need not confuse the chart by writing details on it. I shall
+start near the middle of the board, as neither you nor I seem to have
+the slightest notion what your general direction was."
+</p>
+<p>
+I laid the open notebook before me and read out the first entry:
+</p>
+<p>
+"'Eight fifty-eight. West by South. Start from home. Horse thirteen
+hands.'"
+</p>
+<p>
+"You turned round at once, I understand," said Thorndyke, "so we draw no
+line in that direction. The next is&mdash;?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"'Eight fifty-eight minutes, thirty seconds, East by North'; and the
+next is 'Eight fifty-nine, North-east.'"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Then you travelled east by north about a fifteenth of a mile and we
+shall put down half an inch on the chart. Then you turned north-east.
+How long did you go on?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Exactly a minute. The next entry is 'Nine. West north-west.'"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Then you travelled about the seventh of a mile in a north-easterly
+direction and we draw a line an inch long at an angle of forty-five
+degrees to the right of the north and south line. From the end of that
+we carry a line at an angle of fifty-six and a quarter degrees to the
+left of the north and south line, and so on. The method is perfectly
+simple, you see."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Perfectly; I quite understand it now."
+</p>
+<p>
+I went back to my chair and continued to read out the entries from the
+notebook while Thorndyke laid off the lines of direction with the
+protractor, taking out the distances with the dividers from a scale of
+equal parts on the back of the instrument. As the work proceeded, I
+noticed, from time to time, a smile of quiet amusement spread over my
+colleague's keen, attentive face, and at each new reference to a railway
+bridge he chuckled softly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"What, again!" he laughed, as I recorded the passage of the fifth or
+sixth bridge. "It's like a game of croquet. Go on. What is the next?"
+</p>
+<p>
+I went on reading out the notes until I came to the final one:
+</p>
+<p>
+"'Nine twenty-four. South-east. In covered way. Stop. Wooden gates
+closed.'"
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke ruled off the last line, remarking: "Then your covered way is
+on the south side of a street which bears north-east. So we complete our
+chart. Just look at your route, Jervis."
+</p>
+<p>
+He held up the board with a quizzical smile and I stared in astonishment
+at the chart. The single line, which represented the route of the
+carriage, zigzagged in the most amazing manner, turning, re-turning and
+crossing itself repeatedly, evidently passing more than once down the
+same thoroughfares and terminating at a comparatively short distance
+from its commencement.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why!" I exclaimed, the "rascal must have lived quite near to
+Stillbury's house!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke measured with the dividers the distance between the starting
+and arriving points of the route and took it off from the scale.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Five-eighths of a mile, roughly," he said. "You could have walked it in
+less than ten minutes. And now let us get out the ordnance map and see
+if we can give to each of those marvellously erratic lines 'a local
+habitation and a name.'"
+</p>
+<p>
+He spread the map out on the table and placed our chart by its side.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think," said he, "you started from Lower Kennington Lane?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, from this point," I replied, indicating the spot with a pencil.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Then," said Thorndyke, "if we swing the chart round twenty degrees to
+correct the deviation of the compass, we can compare it with the
+ordnance map."
+</p>
+<p>
+He set off with the protractor an angle of twenty degrees from the
+north and south line and turned the chart round to that extent. After
+closely scrutinizing the map and the chart and comparing the one with
+the other, he said:
+</p>
+<p>
+"By mere inspection it seems fairly easy to identify the thoroughfares
+that correspond to the lines of the chart. Take the part that is near
+your destination. At nine twenty-one you passed under a bridge, going
+westward. That would seem to be Glasshouse Street. Then you turned
+south, apparently along the Albert Embankment, where you heard the tug's
+whistle. Then you heard a passenger train start on your left; that would
+be Vauxhall Station. Next you turned round due east and passed under a
+large railway bridge, which suggests the bridge that carries the Station
+over Upper Kennington Lane. If that is so, your house should be on the
+south side of Upper Kennington Lane, some three hundred yards from the
+bridge. But we may as well test our inferences by one or two
+measurements."
+</p>
+<p>
+"How can you do that if you don't know the exact scale of the chart?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I will show you," said Thorndyke. "We shall establish the true scale
+and that will form part of the proof."
+</p>
+<p>
+He rapidly constructed on the upper blank part of the paper, a
+proportional diagram consisting of two intersecting lines with a single
+cross-line.
+</p>
+<p>
+"This long line," he explained, "is the distance from Stillbury's house
+to the Vauxhall railway bridge as it appears on the chart; the shorter
+cross-line is the same distance taken from the ordnance map. If our
+inference is correct and the chart is reasonably accurate, all the other
+distances will show a similar proportion. Let us try some of them. Take
+the distance from Vauxhall bridge to the Glasshouse Street bridge."
+</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="image-3"><!-- Image 3 --></a>
+<center>
+<img src="track.png" width="50%"
+alt="The Track Chart, Showing the Route Followed by Weiss's Carriage.">
+</center>
+<center>The Track Chart, Showing the Route Followed by Weiss's Carriage.</center>
+<center>A.&mdash;Starting-point in Lower Kennington Lane.</center>
+<center>B.&mdash;Position of Mr. Weiss's house. The dotted lines connecting the
+bridges indicate probable railway lines.</center>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>
+He made the two measurements carefully, and, as the point of the
+dividers came down almost precisely in the correct place on the diagram,
+he looked up at me.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Considering the roughness of the method by which the chart was made, I
+think that is pretty conclusive, though, if you look at the various
+arches that you passed under and see how nearly they appear to follow
+the position of the South-Western Railway line, you hardly need further
+proof. But I will take a few more proportional measurements for the
+satisfaction of proving the case by scientific methods before we proceed
+to verify our conclusions by a visit to the spot."
+</p>
+<p>
+He took off one or two more distances, and on comparing them with the
+proportional distances on the ordnance map, found them in every case as
+nearly correct as could be expected.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes," said Thorndyke, laying down the dividers, "I think we have
+narrowed down the locality of Mr. Weiss's house to a few yards in a
+known street. We shall get further help from your note of nine
+twenty-three thirty, when which records a patch of newly laid macadam
+extending up to the house."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That new macadam will be pretty well smoothed down by now," I objected.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not so very completely," answered Thorndyke. "It is only a little over
+a month ago, and there has been very little wet weather since. It may be
+smooth, but it will be easily distinguishable from the old."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And do I understand that you propose to go and explore the
+neighbourhood?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Undoubtedly I do. That is to say, I intend to convert the locality of
+this house into a definite address; which, I think, will now be
+perfectly easy, unless we should have the bad luck to find more than one
+covered way. Even then, the difficulty would be trifling."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And when you have ascertained where Mr. Weiss lives? What then?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"That will depend on circumstances. I think we shall probably call at
+Scotland Yard and have a little talk with our friend Mr. Superintendent
+Miller; unless, for any reason, it seems better to look into the case
+ourselves."
+</p>
+<p>
+"When is this voyage of exploration to take place?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke considered this question, and, taking out his pocket-book,
+glanced through his engagements.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It seems to me," he said, "that to-morrow is a fairly free day. We
+could take the morning without neglecting other business. I suggest that
+we start immediately after breakfast. How will that suit my learned
+friend?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"My time is yours," I replied; "and if you choose to waste it on matters
+that don't concern you, that's your affair."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Then we will consider the arrangement to stand for to-morrow morning,
+or rather, for this morning, as I see that it is past twelve."
+</p>
+<p>
+With this Thorndyke gathered up the chart and instruments and we
+separated for the night.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="CH9"><!-- CH9 --></a>
+<h2>
+	Chapter IX
+</h2>
+
+<h3>
+The House of Mystery
+</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>
+Half-past nine on the following morning found us spinning along the
+Albert Embankment in a hansom to the pleasant tinkle of the horse's
+bell. Thorndyke appeared to be in high spirits, though the full
+enjoyment of the matutinal pipe precluded fluent conversation. As a
+precaution, he had put my notebook in his pocket before starting, and
+once or twice he took it out and looked over its pages; but he made no
+reference to the object of our quest, and the few remarks that he
+uttered would have indicated that his thoughts were occupied with other
+matters.
+</p>
+<p>
+Arrived at Vauxhall Station, we alighted and forthwith made our way to
+the bridge that spans Upper Kennington Lane near its junction with
+Harleyford Road.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Here is our starting point," said Thorndyke. "From this place to the
+house is about three hundred yards&mdash;say four hundred and twenty
+paces&mdash;and at about two hundred paces we ought to reach our patch of new
+road-metal. Now, are you ready? If we keep step we shall average our
+stride."
+</p>
+<p>
+We started together at a good pace, stepping out with military
+regularity and counting aloud as we went. As we told out the hundred and
+ninety-fourth pace I observed Thorndyke nod towards the roadway a little
+ahead, and, looking at it attentively as we approached, it was easy to
+see by the regularity of surface and lighter colour, that it had
+recently been re-metalled.
+</p>
+<p>
+Having counted out the four hundred and twenty paces, we halted, and
+Thorndyke turned to me with a smile of triumph.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not a bad estimate, Jervis," said he. "That will be your house if I am
+not much mistaken. There is no other mews or private roadway in sight."
+</p>
+<p>
+He pointed to a narrow turning some dozen yards ahead, apparently the
+entrance to a mews or yard and closed by a pair of massive wooden gates.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes," I answered, "there can be no doubt that this is the place; but,
+by Jove!" I added, as we drew nearer, "the nest is empty! Do you see?"
+</p>
+<p>
+I pointed to a bill that was stuck on the gate, bearing, as I could see
+at this distance, the inscription "To Let."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Here is a new and startling, if not altogether unexpected,
+development," said Thorndyke, as we stood gazing at the bill; which set
+forth that "these premises, including stabling and workshops," were "to
+be let on lease or otherwise," and referred inquiries to Messrs. Ryebody
+Brothers, house-agents and valuers, Upper Kennington Lane. "The question
+is, should we make a few inquiries of the agent, or should we get the
+keys and have a look at the inside of the house? I am inclined to do
+both, and the latter first, if Messrs. Ryebody Brothers will trust us
+with the keys."
+</p>
+<p>
+We proceeded up the lane to the address given, and, entering the
+office, Thorndyke made his request&mdash;somewhat to the surprise of the
+clerk; for Thorndyke was not quite the kind of person whom one naturally
+associates with stabling and workshops. However, there was no
+difficulty, but as the clerk sorted out the keys from a bunch hanging
+from a hook, he remarked:
+</p>
+<p>
+"I expect you will find the place in a rather dirty and neglected
+condition. The house has not been cleaned yet; it is just as it was left
+when the brokers took away the furniture."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Was the last tenant sold up, then?" Thorndyke asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, no. He had to leave rather unexpectedly to take up some business in
+Germany."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I hope he paid his rent," said Thorndyke.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, yes. Trust us for that. But I should say that Mr. Weiss&mdash;that was
+his name&mdash;was a man of some means. He seemed to have plenty of money,
+though he always paid in notes. I don't fancy he had a banking account
+in this country. He hadn't been here more than about six or seven months
+and I imagine he didn't know many people in England, as he paid us a
+cash deposit in lieu of references when he first came."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think you said his name was Weiss. It wouldn't be H. Weiss by any
+chance?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I believe it was. But I can soon tell you." He opened a drawer and
+consulted what looked like a book of receipt forms. "Yes; H Weiss. Do
+you know him, sir?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I knew a Mr. H. Weiss some years ago. He came from Bremen, I
+remember."
+</p>
+<p>
+"This Mr. Weiss has gone back to Hamburg," the clerk observed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Ah," said Thorndyke, "then it would seem not to be the same. My
+acquaintance was a fair man with a beard and a decidedly red nose and he
+wore spectacles."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That's the man. You've described him exactly," said the clerk, who was
+apparently rather easily satisfied in the matter of description.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Dear me," said Thorndyke; "what a small world it is. Do you happen to
+have a note of his address in Hamburg?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I haven't," the clerk replied. "You see we've done with him, having got
+the rent, though the house is not actually surrendered yet. Mr Weiss's
+housekeeper still has the front-door key. She doesn't start for Hamburg
+for a week or so, and meanwhile she keeps the key so that she can call
+every day and see if there are any letters."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Indeed," said Thorndyke. "I wonder if he still has the same
+housekeeper."
+</p>
+<p>
+"This lady is a German," replied the clerk, "with a regular jaw-twisting
+name. Sounded like Shallybang."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Schallibaum. That is the lady. A fair woman with hardly any eyebrows
+and a pronounced cast in the left eye."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Now that's very curious, sir," said the clerk. "It's the same name, and
+this is a fair woman with remarkably thin eyebrows, I remember, now that
+you mention it. But it can't be the same person. I have only seen her a
+few times and then only just for a minute or so; but I'm quite certain
+she had no cast in her eye. So, you see, sir, she can't be the same
+person. You can dye your hair or you can wear a wig or you can paint
+your face; but a squint is a squint. There's no faking a swivel eye."
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke laughed softly. "I suppose not; unless, perhaps, some one
+might invent an adjustable glass eye. Are these the keys?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, sir. The large one belongs to the wicket in the front gate. The
+other is the latch-key belonging to the side door. Mrs. Shallybang has
+the key of the front door."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Thank you," said Thorndyke. He took the keys, to which a wooden label
+was attached, and we made our way back towards the house of mystery,
+discussing the clerk's statements as we went.
+</p>
+<p>
+"A very communicable young gentleman, that," Thorndyke remarked. "He
+seemed quite pleased to relieve the monotony of office work with a
+little conversation. And I am sure I was very delighted to indulge him."
+</p>
+<p>
+"He hadn't much to tell, all the same," said I.
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke looked at me in surprise. "I don't know what you would have,
+Jervis, unless you expect casual strangers to present you with a
+ready-made body of evidence, fully classified, with all the inferences
+and implications stated. It seemed to me that he was a highly
+instructive young man."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What did you learn from him?" I asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, come, Jervis," he protested; "is that a fair question, under our
+present arrangement? However, I will mention a few points. We learn that
+about six or seven months ago, Mr. H. Weiss dropped from the clouds into
+Kennington Lane and that he has now ascended from Kennington Lane into
+the clouds. That is a useful piece of information. Then we learn that
+Mrs. Schallibaum has remained in England; which might be of little
+importance if it were not for a very interesting corollary that it
+suggests."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What is that?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I must leave you to consider the facts at your leisure; but you will
+have noticed the ostensible reason for her remaining behind. She is
+engaged in puttying up the one gaping joint in their armour. One of them
+has been indiscreet enough to give this address to some
+correspondent&mdash;probably a foreign correspondent. Now, as they obviously
+wish to leave no tracks, they cannot give their new address to the Post
+Office to have their letters forwarded, and, on the other hand, a letter
+left in the box might establish such a connection as would enable them
+to be traced. Moreover, the letter might be of a kind that they would
+not wish to fall into the wrong hands. They would not have given this
+address excepting under some peculiar circumstances."
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, I should think not, if they took this house for the express purpose
+of committing a crime in it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Exactly. And then there is one other fact that you may have gathered
+from our young friend's remarks."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What is that?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"That a controllable squint is a very valuable asset to a person who
+wishes to avoid identification."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, I did note that. The fellow seemed to think that it was absolutely
+conclusive."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And so would most people; especially in the case of a squint of that
+kind. We can all squint towards our noses, but no normal person can turn
+his eyes away from one another. My impression is that the presence or
+absence, as the case might be, of a divergent squint would be accepted
+as absolute disproof of identity. But here we are."
+</p>
+<p>
+He inserted the key into the wicket of the large gate, and, when we had
+stepped through into the covered way, he locked it from the inside.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why have you locked us in?" I asked, seeing that the wicket had a
+latch.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Because," he replied, "if we now hear any one on the premises we shall
+know who it is. Only one person besides ourselves has a key."
+</p>
+<p>
+His reply startled me somewhat. I stopped and looked at him.
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is a quaint situation, Thorndyke. I hadn't thought of it. Why she
+may actually come to the house while we are here; in fact, she may be in
+the house at this moment."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I hope not," said he. "We don't particularly want Mr. Weiss to be put
+on his guard, for I take it, he is a pretty wide-awake gentleman under
+any circumstances. If she does come, we had better keep out of sight. I
+think we will look over the house first. That is of the most interest to
+us. If the lady does happen to come while we are here, she may stay to
+show us over the place and keep an eye on us. So we will leave the
+stables to the last."
+</p>
+<p>
+We walked down the entry to the side door at which I had been admitted
+by Mrs. Schallibaum on the occasion of my previous visits. Thorndyke
+inserted the latch-key, and, as soon as we were inside, shut the door
+and walked quickly through into the hall, whither I followed him. He
+made straight for the front door, where, having slipped up the catch of
+the lock, he began very attentively to examine the letter-box. It was a
+somewhat massive wooden box, fitted with a lock of good quality and
+furnished with a wire grille through which one could inspect the
+interior.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We are in luck, Jervis," Thorndyke remarked. "Our visit has been most
+happily timed. There is a letter in the box."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well," I said, "we can't get it out; and if we could, it would be
+hardly justifiable."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't know," he replied, "that I am prepared to assent off-hand to
+either of those propositions; but I would rather not tamper with another
+person's letter, even if that person should happen to be a murderer.
+Perhaps we can get the information we want from the outside of the
+envelope."
+</p>
+<p>
+He produced from his pocket a little electric lamp fitted with a
+bull's-eye, and, pressing the button, threw a beam of light in through
+the grille. The letter was lying on the bottom of the box face upwards,
+so that the address could easily be read.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Herrn Dr. H. Weiss," Thorndyke read aloud. "German stamp, postmark
+apparently Darmstadt. You notice that the 'Herrn Dr.' is printed and the
+rest written. What do you make of that?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't quite know. Do you think he is really a medical man?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Perhaps we had better finish our investigation, in case we are
+disturbed, and discuss the bearings of the facts afterwards. The name of
+the sender may be on the flap of the envelope. If it is not, I shall
+pick the lock and take out the letter. Have you got a probe about you?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes; by force of habit I am still carrying my pocket case."
+</p>
+<p>
+I took the little case from my pocket and extracting from it a jointed
+probe of thickish silver wire, screwed the two halves together and
+handed the completed instrument to Thorndyke; who passed the slender rod
+through the grille and adroitly turned the letter over.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Ha!" he exclaimed with deep satisfaction, as the light fell on the
+reverse of the envelope, "we are saved from the necessity of theft&mdash;or
+rather, unauthorized borrowing&mdash;'Johann Schnitzler, Darmstadt.' That is
+all that we actually want. The German police can do the rest if
+necessary."
+</p>
+<p>
+He handed me back my probe, pocketed his lamp, released the catch of the
+lock on the door, and turned away along the dark, musty-smelling hall.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Do you happen to know the name of Johann Schnitzler?" he asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+I replied that I had no recollection of ever having heard the name
+before.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Neither have I," said he; "but I think we may form a pretty shrewd
+guess as to his avocation. As you saw, the words 'Herrn Dr.' were
+printed on the envelope, leaving the rest of the address to be written
+by hand. The plain inference is that he is a person who habitually
+addresses letters to medical men, and as the style of the envelope and
+the lettering&mdash;which is printed, not embossed&mdash;is commercial, we may
+assume that he is engaged in some sort of trade. Now, what is a likely
+trade?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"He might be an instrument maker or a drug manufacturer; more probably
+the latter, as there is an extensive drug and chemical industry in
+Germany, and as Mr. Weiss seemed to have more use for drugs than
+instruments."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, I think you are right; but we will look him up when we get home.
+And now we had better take a glance at the bedroom; that is, if you can
+remember which room it was."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It was on the first floor," said I, "and the door by which I entered
+was just at the head of the stairs."
+</p>
+<p>
+We ascended the two flights, and, as we reached the landing, I halted.
+</p>
+<p>
+"This was the door," I said, and was about to turn the handle when
+Thorndyke caught me by the arm.
+</p>
+<p>
+"One moment, Jervis," said he. "What do you make of this?"
+</p>
+<p>
+He pointed to a spot near the bottom of the door where, on close
+inspection, four good-sized screw-holes were distinguishable. They had
+been neatly stopped with putty and covered with knotting, and were so
+nearly the colour of the grained and varnished woodwork as to be hardly
+visible.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Evidently," I answered, "there has been a bolt there, though it seems a
+queer place to fix one."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not at all," replied Thorndyke. "If you look up you will see that there
+was another at the top of the door, and, as the lock is in the middle,
+they must have been highly effective. But there are one or two other
+points that strike one. First, you will notice that the bolts have been
+fixed on quite recently, for the paint that they covered is of the same
+grimy tint as that on the rest of the door. Next, they have been taken
+off, which, seeing that they could hardly have been worth the trouble of
+removal, seems to suggest that the person who fixed them considered that
+their presence might appear remarkable, while the screw-holes, which
+have been so skilfully and carefully stopped, would be less conspicuous.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Then, they are on the outside of the door&mdash;an unusual situation for
+bedroom bolts&mdash;and were of considerable size. They were long and thick."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I can see, by the position of the screw-holes, that they were long; but
+how do you arrive at their thickness?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"By the size of the counter-holes in the jamb of the door. These holes
+have been very carefully filled with wooden plugs covered with knotting;
+but you can make out their diameter, which is that of the bolts, and
+which is decidedly out of proportion for an ordinary bedroom door. Let
+me show you a light."
+</p>
+<p>
+He flashed his lamp into the dark corner, and I was able to see
+distinctly the portentously large holes into which the bolts had fitted,
+and also to note the remarkable neatness with which they had been
+plugged.
+</p>
+<p>
+"There was a second door, I remember," said I. "Let us see if that was
+guarded in a similar manner."
+</p>
+<p>
+We strode through the empty room, awakening dismal echoes as we trod the
+bare boards, and flung open the other door. At top and bottom, similar
+groups of screw-holes showed that this also had been made secure, and
+that these bolts had been of the same very substantial character as the
+others.
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke turned away from the door with a slight frown.
+</p>
+<p>
+"If we had any doubts," said he, "as to what has been going on in this
+house, these traces of massive fastenings would be almost enough to
+settle them."
+</p>
+<p>
+"They might have been there before Weiss came," I suggested. "He only
+came about seven months ago and there is no date on the screw-holes."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is quite true. But when, with their recent fixture, you couple the
+facts that they have been removed, that very careful measures have been
+taken to obliterate the traces of their presence, and that they would
+have been indispensable for the commission of the crime that we are
+almost certain was being committed here, it looks like an excess of
+caution to seek other explanations."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But," I objected, "if the man, Graves, was really imprisoned, could not
+he have smashed the window and called for help?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"The window looks out on the yard, as you see; but I expect it was
+secured too."
+</p>
+<p>
+He drew the massive, old-fashioned shutters out of their recess and
+closed them.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, here we are." He pointed to four groups of screw-holes at the
+corners of the shutters, and, once more producing his lamp, narrowly
+examined the insides of the recesses into which the shutters folded.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The nature of the fastening is quite evident," said he. "An iron bar
+passed right across at the top and bottom and was secured by a staple
+and padlock. You can see the mark the bar made in the recess when the
+shutters were folded. When these bars were fixed and padlocked and the
+bolts were shot, this room was as secure, for a prisoner unprovided with
+tools, as a cell in Newgate."
+</p>
+<p>
+We looked at one another for awhile without speaking; and I fancy that
+if Mr. H. Weiss could have seen our faces he might have thought it
+desirable to seek some retreat even more remote than Hamburg.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It was a diabolical affair, Jervis," Thorndyke said at length, in an
+ominously quiet and even gentle tone. "A sordid, callous, cold-blooded
+crime of a type that is to me utterly unforgivable and incapable of
+extenuation. Of course, it may have failed. Mr. Graves may even now be
+alive. I shall make it my very especial business to ascertain whether he
+is or not. And if he is not, I shall take it to myself as a sacred duty
+to lay my hand on the man who has compassed his death."
+</p>
+<p>
+I looked at Thorndyke with something akin to awe. In the quiet
+unemotional tone of his voice, in his unruffled manner and the stony
+calm of his face, there was something much more impressive, more
+fateful, than there could have been in the fiercest threats or the most
+passionate denunciations. I felt that in those softly spoken words he
+had pronounced the doom of the fugitive villain.
+</p>
+<p>
+He turned away from the window and glanced round the empty room. It
+seemed that our discovery of the fastenings had exhausted the
+information that it had to offer.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is a thousand pities," I remarked, "that we were unable to look
+round before they moved out the furniture. We might have found some clue
+to the scoundrel's identity."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes," replied Thorndyke; "there isn't much information to be gathered
+here, I am afraid. I see they have swept up the small litter from the
+floor and poked it under the grate. We will turn that over, as there
+seems to be nothing else, and then look at the other rooms."
+</p>
+<p>
+He raked out the little heap of rubbish with his stick and spread it out
+on the hearth. It certainly looked unpromising enough, being just such a
+rubbish heap as may be swept up in any untidy room during a move. But
+Thorndyke went through it systematically, examining each item
+attentively, even to the local tradesmen's bills and empty paper bags,
+before laying them aside. Another rake of his stick scattered the bulky
+masses of crumpled paper and brought into view an object which he picked
+up with some eagerness. It was a portion of a pair of spectacles, which
+had apparently been trodden on, for the side-bar was twisted and bent
+and the glass was shattered into fragments.
+</p>
+<p>
+"This ought to give us a hint," said he. "It will probably have belonged
+either to Weiss or Graves, as Mrs. Schallibaum apparently did not wear
+glasses. Let us see if we can find the remainder."
+</p>
+<p>
+We both groped carefully with our sticks amongst the rubbish, spreading
+it out on the hearth and removing the numerous pieces of crumpled paper.
+Our search was rewarded by the discovery of the second eye-piece of the
+spectacles, of which the glass was badly cracked but less shattered than
+the other. I also picked up two tiny sticks at which Thorndyke looked
+with deep interest before laying them on the mantelshelf.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We will consider them presently," said he. "Let us finish with the
+spectacles first. You see that the left eye-glass is a concave
+cylindrical lens of some sort. We can make out that much from the
+fragments that remain, and we can measure the curvature when we get them
+home, although that will be easier if we can collect some more fragments
+and stick them together. The right eye is plain glass; that is quite
+evident. Then these will have belonged to your patient, Jervis. You said
+that the tremulous iris was in the right eye, I think?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes," I replied. "These will be his spectacles, without doubt."
+</p>
+<p>
+"They are peculiar frames," he continued. "If they were made in this
+country, we might be able to discover the maker. But we must collect as
+many fragments of glass as we can."
+</p>
+<p>
+Once more we searched amongst the rubbish and succeeded, eventually, in
+recovering some seven or eight small fragments of the broken
+spectacle-glasses, which Thorndyke laid on the mantelshelf beside the
+little sticks.
+</p>
+<p>
+"By the way, Thorndyke," I said, taking up the latter to examine them
+afresh, "what are these things? Can you make anything of them?"
+</p>
+<p>
+He looked at them thoughtfully for a few moments and then replied:
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't think I will tell you what they are. You should find that out
+for yourself, and it will be well worth your while to do so. They are
+rather suggestive objects under the circumstances. But notice their
+peculiarities carefully. Both are portions of some smooth, stout reed.
+There is a long, thin stick&mdash;about six inches long&mdash;and a thicker piece
+only three inches in length. The longer piece has a little scrap of red
+paper stuck on at the end; apparently a portion of a label of some kind
+with an ornamental border. The other end of the stick has been broken
+off. The shorter, stouter stick has had its central cavity artificially
+enlarged so that it fits over the other to form a cap or sheath. Make a
+careful note of those facts and try to think what they probably mean;
+what would be the most likely use for an object of this kind. When you
+have ascertained that, you will have learned something new about this
+case. And now, to resume our investigations. Here is a very suggestive
+thing." He picked up a small, wide-mouthed bottle and, holding it up for
+my inspection, continued: "Observe the fly sticking to the inside, and
+the name on the label, 'Fox, Russell Street, Covent Garden.'"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't know Mr. Fox."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Then I will inform you that he is a dealer in the materials for
+'make-up,' theatrical or otherwise, and will leave you to consider the
+bearing of this bottle on our present investigation. There doesn't seem
+to be anything else of interest in this El Dorado excepting that screw,
+which you notice is about the size of those with which the bolts were
+fastened on the doors. I don't think it is worth while to unstop any of
+the holes to try it; we should learn nothing fresh."
+</p>
+<p>
+He rose, and, having kicked the discarded rubbish back under the grate,
+gathered up his gleanings from the mantelpiece, carefully bestowing the
+spectacles and the fragments of glass in the tin box that he appeared
+always to carry in his pocket, and wrapping the larger objects in his
+handkerchief.
+</p>
+<p>
+"A poor collection," was his comment, as he returned the box and
+handkerchief to his pocket, "and yet not so poor as I had feared.
+Perhaps, if we question them closely enough, these unconsidered trifles
+may be made to tell us something worth learning after all. Shall we go
+into the other room?"
+</p>
+<p>
+We passed out on to the landing and into the front room, where, guided
+by experience, we made straight for the fire-place. But the little heap
+of rubbish there contained nothing that even Thorndyke's inquisitive eye
+could view with interest. We wandered disconsolately round the room,
+peering into the empty cupboards and scanning the floor and the corners
+by the skirting, without discovering a single object or relic of the
+late occupants. In the course of my perambulations I halted by the
+window and was looking down into the street when Thorndyke called to me
+sharply:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Come away from the window, Jervis! Have you forgotten that Mrs.
+Schallibaum may be in the neighbourhood at this moment?"
+</p>
+<p>
+As a matter of fact I had entirely forgotten the matter, nor did it now
+strike me as anything but the remotest of possibilities. I replied to
+that effect.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't agree with you," Thorndyke rejoined. "We have heard that she
+comes here to look for letters. Probably she comes every day, or even
+oftener. There is a good deal at stake, remember, and they cannot feel
+quite as secure as they would wish. Weiss must have seen what view you
+took of the case and must have had some uneasy moments thinking of what
+you might do. In fact, we may take it that the fear of you drove them
+out of the neighbourhood, and that they are mighty anxious to get that
+letter and cut the last link that binds them to this house."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I suppose that is so," I agreed; "and if the lady should happen to pass
+this way and should see me at the window and recognize me, she would
+certainly smell a rat."
+</p>
+<p>
+"A rat!" exclaimed Thorndyke. "She would smell a whole pack of foxes,
+and Mr. H. Weiss would be more on his guard than ever. Let us have a
+look at the other rooms; there is nothing here."
+</p>
+<p>
+We went up to the next floor and found traces of recent occupation in
+one room only. The garrets had evidently been unused, and the kitchen
+and ground-floor rooms offered nothing that appeared to Thorndyke worth
+noting. Then we went out by the side door and down the covered way into
+the yard at the back. The workshops were fastened with rusty padlocks
+that looked as if they had not been disturbed for months. The stables
+were empty and had been tentatively cleaned out, the coach-house was
+vacant, and presented no traces of recent use excepting a half-bald
+spoke-brush. We returned up the covered way and I was about to close the
+side door, which Thorndyke had left ajar, when he stopped me.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We'll have another look at the hall before we go," said he; and,
+walking softly before me, he made his way to the front door, where,
+producing his lamp, he threw a beam of light into the letter-box.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Any more letters?" I asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Any more!" he repeated. "Look for yourself."
+</p>
+<p>
+I stooped and peered through the grille into the lighted interior; and
+then I uttered an exclamation.
+</p>
+<p>
+The box was empty.
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke regarded me with a grim smile. "We have been caught on the
+hop, Jervis, I suspect," said he.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is queer," I replied. "I didn't hear any sound of the opening or
+closing of the door; did you?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No; I didn't hear any sound; which makes me suspect that she did. She
+would have heard our voices and she is probably keeping a sharp look-out
+at this very moment. I wonder if she saw you at the window. But whether
+she did or not, we must go very warily. Neither of us must return to the
+Temple direct, and we had better separate when we have returned the keys
+and I will watch you out of sight and see if anyone is following you.
+What are you going to do?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"If you don't want me, I shall run over to Kensington and drop in to
+lunch at the Hornbys'. I said I would call as soon as I had an hour or
+so free."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Very well. Do so; and keep a look-out in case you are followed. I have
+to go down to Guildford this afternoon. Under the circumstances, I shall
+not go back home, but send Polton a telegram and take a train at
+Vauxhall and change at some small station where I can watch the
+platform. Be as careful as you can. Remember that what you have to
+avoid is being followed to any place where you are known, and, above
+all, revealing your connection with number Five A, King's Bench Walk."
+</p>
+<p>
+Having thus considered our immediate movements, we emerged together from
+the wicket, and locking it behind us, walked quickly to the
+house-agents', where an opportune office-boy received the keys without
+remark. As we came out of the office, I halted irresolutely and we both
+looked up and down the lane.
+</p>
+<p>
+"There is no suspicious looking person in sight at present," Thorndyke
+said, and then asked: "Which way do you think of going?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"It seems to me," I replied, "that my best plan would be to take a cab
+or an omnibus so as to get out of the neighbourhood as quickly as
+possible. If I go through Ravensden Street into Kennington Park Road, I
+can pick up an omnibus that will take me to the Mansion House, where I
+can change for Kensington. I shall go on the top so that I can keep a
+look-out for any other omnibus or cab that may be following."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes," said Thorndyke, "that seems a good plan. I will walk with you and
+see that you get a fair start."
+</p>
+<p>
+We walked briskly along the lane and through Ravensden Street to the
+Kennington Park Road. An omnibus was approaching from the south at a
+steady jog-trot and we halted at the corner to wait for it. Several
+people passed us in different directions, but none seemed to take any
+particular notice of us, though we observed them rather narrowly,
+especially the women. Then the omnibus crawled up. I sprang on the
+foot-board and ascended to the roof, where I seated myself and surveyed
+the prospect to the rear. No one else got on the omnibus&mdash;which had not
+stopped&mdash;and no cab or other passenger vehicle was in sight. I continued
+to watch Thorndyke as he stood sentinel at the corner, and noted that no
+one appeared to be making any effort to overtake the omnibus. Presently
+my colleague waved his hand to me and turned back towards Vauxhall, and
+I, having satisfied myself once more that no pursuing cab or hurrying
+foot-passenger was in sight, decided that our precautions had been
+unnecessary and settled myself in a rather more comfortable position.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="CH10"><!-- CH10 --></a>
+<h2>
+	Chapter X
+</h2>
+
+<h3>
+The Hunter Hunted
+</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>
+The omnibus of those days was a leisurely vehicle. Its ordinary pace was
+a rather sluggish trot, and in a thickly populated thoroughfare its
+speed was further reduced by frequent stoppages. Bearing these facts in
+mind, I gave an occasional backward glance as we jogged northward,
+though my attention soon began to wander from the rather remote
+possibility of pursuit to the incidents of our late exploration.
+</p>
+<p>
+It had not been difficult to see that Thorndyke was very well pleased
+with the results of our search, but excepting the letter&mdash;which
+undoubtedly opened up a channel for further inquiry and possible
+identification&mdash;I could not perceive that any of the traces that we had
+found justified his satisfaction. There were the spectacles, for
+instance. They were almost certainly the pair worn by Mr. Graves. But
+what then? It was exceedingly improbable that we should be able to
+discover the maker of them, and if we were, it was still more improbable
+that he would be able to give us any information that would help us.
+Spectacle-makers are not usually on confidential terms with their
+customers.
+</p>
+<p>
+As to the other objects, I could make nothing of them. The little sticks
+of reed evidently had some use that was known to Thorndyke and
+furnished, by inference, some kind of information about Weiss, Graves,
+or Mrs. Schallibaum. But I had never seen anything like them before and
+they conveyed nothing whatever to me. Then the bottle that had seemed so
+significant to Thorndyke was to me quite uninforming. It did, indeed,
+suggest that some member of the household might be connected with the
+stage, but it gave no hint as to which one. Certainly that person was
+not Mr. Weiss, whose appearance was as remote from that of an actor as
+could well be imagined. At any rate, the bottle and its label gave me no
+more useful hint than it might be worth while to call on Mr. Fox and
+make inquiries; and something told me very emphatically that this was
+not what it had conveyed to Thorndyke.
+</p>
+<p>
+These reflections occupied me until the omnibus, having rumbled over
+London Bridge and up King William Street, joined the converging streams
+of traffic at the Mansion House. Here I got down and changed to an
+omnibus bound for Kensington; on which I travelled westward pleasantly
+enough, looking down into the teeming streets and whiling away the time
+by meditating upon the very agreeable afternoon that I promised myself,
+and considering how far my new arrangement with Thorndyke would justify
+me in entering into certain domestic engagements of a highly interesting
+kind.
+</p>
+<p>
+What might have happened under other circumstances it is impossible to
+tell and useless to speculate; the fact is that my journey ended in a
+disappointment. I arrived, all agog, at the familiar house in Endsley
+Gardens only to be told by a sympathetic housemaid that the family was
+out; that Mrs. Hornby had gone into the country and would not be home
+until night, and&mdash;which mattered a good deal more to me&mdash;that her niece,
+Miss Juliet Gibson, had accompanied her.
+</p>
+<p>
+Now a man who drops into lunch without announcing his intention or
+previously ascertaining those of his friends has no right to quarrel
+with fate if he finds an empty house. Thus philosophically I reflected
+as I turned away from the house in profound discontent, demanding of the
+universe in general why Mrs. Hornby need have perversely chosen my first
+free day to go gadding into the country, and above all, why she must
+needs spirit away the fair Juliet. This was the crowning misfortune (for
+I could have endured the absence of the elder lady with commendable
+fortitude), and since I could not immediately return to the Temple it
+left me a mere waif and stray for the time being.
+</p>
+<p>
+Instinct&mdash;of the kind that manifests itself especially about one
+o'clock in the afternoon&mdash;impelled me in the direction of Brompton Road,
+and finally landed me at a table in a large restaurant apparently
+adjusted to the needs of ladies who had come from a distance to engage
+in the feminine sport of shopping. Here, while waiting for my lunch, I
+sat idly scanning the morning paper and wondering what I should do with
+the rest of the day; and presently it chanced that my eye caught the
+announcement of a matin&eacute;e at the theatre in Sloane Square. It was quite
+a long time since I had been at a theatre, and, as the play&mdash;light
+comedy&mdash;seemed likely to satisfy my not very critical taste, I decided
+to devote the afternoon to reviving my acquaintance with the drama.
+Accordingly as soon as my lunch was finished, I walked down the Brompton
+Road, stepped on to an omnibus, and was duly deposited at the door of
+the theatre. A couple of minutes later I found myself occupying an
+excellent seat in the second row of the pit, oblivious alike of my
+recent disappointment and of Thorndyke's words of warning.
+</p>
+<p>
+I am not an enthusiastic play-goer. To dramatic performances I am
+disposed to assign nothing further than the modest function of
+furnishing entertainment. I do not go to a theatre to be instructed or
+to have my moral outlook elevated. But, by way of compensation, I am not
+difficult to please. To a simple play, adjusted to my primitive taste, I
+can bring a certain bucolic appreciation that enables me to extract from
+the performance the maximum of enjoyment; and when, on this occasion,
+the final curtain fell and the audience rose, I rescued my hat from its
+insecure resting-place and turned to go with the feeling that I had
+spent a highly agreeable afternoon.
+</p>
+<p>
+Emerging from the theatre, borne on the outgoing stream, I presently
+found myself opposite the door of a tea-shop. Instinct&mdash;the five o'clock
+instinct this time&mdash;guided me in; for we are creatures of habit,
+especially of the tea habit. The unoccupied table to which I drifted was
+in a shady corner not very far from the pay-desk; and here I had been
+seated less than a minute when a lady passed me on her way to the
+farther table. The glimpse that I caught of her as she approached&mdash;it
+was but a glimpse, since she passed behind me&mdash;showed that she was
+dressed in black, that she wore a beaded veil and hat, and in addition
+to the glass of milk and the bun that she carried, she was encumbered by
+an umbrella and a small basket, apparently containing some kind of
+needlework. I must confess that I gave her very little attention at the
+time, being occupied in anxious speculation as to how long it would be
+before the fact of my presence would impinge on the consciousness of the
+waitress.
+</p>
+<p>
+The exact time by the clock on the wall was three minutes and a quarter,
+at the expiration of which an anaemic young woman sauntered up to the
+table and bestowed on me a glance of sullen interrogation, as if mutely
+demanding what the devil I wanted. I humbly requested that I might be
+provided with a pot of tea; whereupon she turned on her heel (which was
+a good deal worn down on the offside) and reported my conduct to a lady
+behind a marble-topped counter.
+</p>
+<p>
+It seemed that the counter lady took a lenient view of the case, for in
+less than four minutes the waitress returned and gloomily deposited on
+the table before me a tea-pot, a milk-jug, a cup and saucer, a jug of
+hot water, and a small pool of milk. Then she once more departed in
+dudgeon.
+</p>
+<p>
+I had just given the tea in the pot a preliminary stir and was about to
+pour out the first cup when I felt some one bump lightly against my
+chair and heard something rattle on the floor. I turned quickly and
+perceived the lady, whom I had seen enter, stooping just behind my
+chair. It seemed that having finished her frugal meal she was on her way
+out when she had dropped the little basket that I had noticed hanging
+from her wrist; which basket had promptly disgorged its entire contents
+on the floor.
+</p>
+<p>
+Now every one must have noticed the demon of agility that seems to enter
+into an inanimate object when it is dropped, and the apparently
+intelligent malice with which it discovers, and rolls into, the most
+inaccessible places. Here was a case in point. This particular basket
+had contained materials for Oriental bead-work; and no sooner had it
+reached the floor than each item of its contents appeared to become
+possessed of a separate and particular devil impelling it to travel at
+headlong speed to some remote and unapproachable corner as distant as
+possible from its fellows.
+</p>
+<p>
+As the only man&mdash;and almost the only person&mdash;near, the duty of
+salvage-agent manifestly devolved upon me; and down I went, accordingly,
+on my hands and knees, regardless of a nearly new pair of trousers, to
+grope under tables, chairs and settles in reach of the scattered
+treasure. A ball of the thick thread or twine I recovered from a dark
+and dirty corner after a brief interview with the sharp corner of a
+settle, and a multitude of the large beads with which this infernal
+industry is carried on I gathered from all parts of the compass, coming
+forth at length (quadrupedally) with a double handful of the
+treasure-trove and a very lively appreciation of the resistant qualities
+of a cast-iron table-stand when applied to the human cranium.
+</p>
+<p>
+The owner of the lost and found property was greatly distressed by the
+accident and the trouble it had caused me; in fact she was quite
+needlessly agitated about it. The hand which held the basket into which
+I poured the rescued trash trembled visibly, and the brief glance that I
+bestowed on her as she murmured her thanks and apologies&mdash;with a very
+slight foreign accent&mdash;showed me that she was excessively pale. That
+much I could see plainly in spite of the rather dim light in this part
+of the shop and the beaded veil that covered her face; and I could also
+see that she was a rather remarkable looking woman, with a great mass of
+harsh, black hair and very broad black eyebrows that nearly met above
+her nose and contrasted strikingly with the dead white of her skin. But,
+of course, I did not look at her intently. Having returned her property
+and received her acknowledgments, I resumed my seat and left her to go
+on her way.
+</p>
+<p>
+I had once more grasped the handle of the tea-pot when I made a rather
+curious discovery. At the bottom of the tea-cup lay a single lump of
+sugar. To the majority of persons it would have meant nothing. They
+would have assumed that they had dropped it in and forgotten it and
+would have proceeded to pour out the tea. But it happened that, at this
+time, I did not take sugar in my tea; whence it followed that the lump
+had not been put in by me. Assuming, therefore, that it had been
+carelessly dropped in by the waitress, I turned it out on the table,
+filled the cup, added the milk, and took a tentative draught to test the
+temperature.
+</p>
+<p>
+The cup was yet at my lips when I chanced to look into the mirror that
+faced my table. Of course it reflected the part of the shop that was
+behind me, including the cashier's desk; at which the owner of the
+basket now stood paying for her refreshment. Between her and me was a
+gas chandelier which cast its light on my back but full on her face; and
+her veil notwithstanding, I could see that she was looking at me
+steadily; was, in fact, watching me intently and with a very curious
+expression&mdash;an expression of expectancy mingled with alarm. But this was
+not all. As I returned her intent look&mdash;which I could do unobserved,
+since my face, reflected in the mirror, was in deep shadow&mdash;I suddenly
+perceived that that steady gaze engaged her right eye only; the other
+eye was looking sharply towards her left shoulder. In short, she had a
+divergent squint of the left eye.
+</p>
+<p>
+I put down my cup with a thrill of amazement and a sudden surging up of
+suspicion and alarm. An instant's reflection reminded me that when she
+had spoken to me a few moments before, both her eyes had looked into
+mine without the slightest trace of a squint. My thoughts flew back to
+the lump of sugar, to the unguarded milk-jug and the draught of tea that
+I had already swallowed; and, hardly knowing what I intended, I started
+to my feet and turned to confront her. But as I rose, she snatched up
+her change and darted from the shop. Through the glass door, I saw her
+spring on to the foot-board of a passing hansom and give the driver some
+direction. I saw the man whip up his horse, and, by the time I reached
+the door, the cab was moving off swiftly towards Sloane Street.
+</p>
+<p>
+I stood irresolute. I had not paid and could not run out of the shop
+without making a fuss, and my hat and stick were still on the rail
+opposite my seat. The woman ought to be followed, but I had no fancy for
+the task. If the tea that I had swallowed was innocuous, no harm was
+done and I was rid of my pursuer. So far as I was concerned, the
+incident was closed. I went back to my seat, and picking up the lump of
+sugar which still lay on the table where I had dropped it, put it
+carefully in my pocket. But my appetite for tea was satisfied for the
+present. Moreover it was hardly advisable to stay in the shop lest some
+fresh spy should come to see how I fared. Accordingly I obtained my
+check, handed it in at the cashier's desk and took my departure.
+</p>
+<p>
+All this time, it will be observed, I had been taking it for granted
+that the lady in black had followed me from Kensington to this shop;
+that, in fact, she was none other than Mrs. Schallibaum. And, indeed,
+the circumstances had rendered the conclusion inevitable. In the very
+instant when I had perceived the displacement of the left eye, complete
+recognition had come upon me. When I had stood facing the woman, the
+brief glance at her face had conveyed to me something dimly reminiscent
+of which I had been but half conscious and had instantly forgotten. But
+the sight of that characteristic squint had at once revived and
+explained it. That the woman was Mrs. Schallibaum I now felt no doubt
+whatever.
+</p>
+<p>
+Nevertheless, the whole affair was profoundly mysterious. As to the
+change in the woman's appearance, there was little in that. The coarse,
+black hair might be her own, dyed, or it might be a wig. The eyebrows
+were made-up; it was a simple enough proceeding and made still more
+simple by the beaded veil. But how did she come to be there at all? How
+did she happen to be made-up in this fashion at this particular time?
+And, above all, how came she to be provided with a lump of what I had
+little doubt was poisoned sugar?
+</p>
+<p>
+I turned over the events of the day, and the more I considered them the
+less comprehensible they appeared. No one had followed the omnibus
+either on foot or in a vehicle, as far as I could see; and I had kept a
+careful look-out, not only at starting but for some considerable time
+after. Yet, all the time, Mrs. Schallibaum must have been following.
+But how? If she had known that I was intending to travel by the omnibus
+she might have gone to meet it and entered before I did. But she could
+not have known: and moreover she did not meet the omnibus, for we
+watched its approach from some considerable distance. I considered
+whether she might not have been concealed in the house and overheard me
+mention my destination to Thorndyke. But this failed to explain the
+mystery, since I had mentioned no address beyond "Kensington." I had,
+indeed, mentioned the name of Mrs. Hornby, but the supposition that my
+friends might be known by name to Mrs. Schallibaum, or even that she
+might have looked the name up in the directory, presented a probability
+too remote to be worth entertaining.
+</p>
+<p>
+But, if I reached no satisfactory conclusion, my cogitations had one
+useful effect; they occupied my mind to the exclusion of that
+unfortunate draught of tea. Not that I had been seriously uneasy after
+the first shock. The quantity that I had swallowed was not large&mdash;the
+tea being hotter than I cared for&mdash;and I remembered that, when I had
+thrown out the lump of sugar, I had turned the cup upside down on the
+table; so there could have been nothing solid left in it. And the lump
+of sugar was in itself reassuring, for it certainly would not have been
+used in conjunction with any less conspicuous but more incriminating
+form of poison. That lump of sugar was now in my pocket, reserved for
+careful examination at my leisure; and I reflected with a faint grin
+that it would be a little disconcerting if it should turn out to
+contain nothing but sugar after all.
+</p>
+<p>
+On leaving the tea-shop, I walked up Sloane Street with the intention of
+doing what I ought to have done earlier in the day. I was going to make
+perfectly sure that no spy was dogging my footsteps. But for my
+ridiculous confidence I could have done so quite easily before going to
+Endsley Gardens; and now, made wiser by a startling experience, I
+proceeded with systematic care. It was still broad daylight&mdash;for the
+lamps in the tea-shop had been rendered necessary only by the faulty
+construction of the premises and the dullness of the afternoon&mdash;and in
+an open space I could see far enough for complete safety. Arriving at
+the top of Sloane Street, I crossed Knightsbridge, and, entering Hyde
+Park, struck out towards the Serpentine. Passing along the eastern
+shore, I entered one of the long paths that lead towards the Marble Arch
+and strode along it at such a pace as would make it necessary for any
+pursuer to hurry in order to keep me in sight. Half-way across the great
+stretch of turf, I halted for a few moments and noted the few people who
+were coming in my direction. Then I turned sharply to the left and
+headed straight for the Victoria Gate, but again, half-way, I turned off
+among a clump of trees, and, standing behind the trunk of one of them,
+took a fresh survey of the people who were moving along the paths. All
+were at a considerable distance and none appeared to be coming my way.
+</p>
+<p>
+I now moved cautiously from one tree to another and passed through the
+wooded region to the south, crossed the Serpentine bridge at a rapid
+walk and hurrying along the south shore left the Park by Apsley House.
+From hence I walked at the same rapid pace along Piccadilly, insinuating
+myself among the crowd with the skill born of long acquaintance with the
+London streets, crossed amidst the seething traffic at the Circus,
+darted up Windmill Street and began to zigzag amongst the narrow streets
+and courts of Soho. Crossing the Seven Dials and Drury Lane I passed
+through the multitudinous back-streets and alleys that then filled the
+area south of Lincoln's Inn, came out by Newcastle Street, Holywell
+Street and Half-Moon Alley into the Strand, which I crossed immediately,
+ultimately entering the Temple by Devereux Court.
+</p>
+<p>
+Even then I did not relax my precautions. From one court to another I
+passed quickly, loitering in those dark entries and unexpected passages
+that are known to so few but the regular Templars, and coming out into
+the open only at the last where the wide passage of King's Bench Walk
+admits of no evasion. Half-way up the stairs, I stood for some time in
+the shadow, watching the approaches from the staircase window; and when,
+at length, I felt satisfied that I had taken every precaution that was
+possible, I inserted my key and let myself into our chambers.
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke had already arrived, and, as I entered, he rose to greet me
+with an expression of evident relief.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am glad to see you, Jervis," he said. "I have been rather anxious
+about you."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why?" I asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"For several reasons. One is that you are the sole danger that threatens
+these people&mdash;as far as they know. Another is that we made a most
+ridiculous mistake. We overlooked a fact that ought to have struck us
+instantly. But how have you fared?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Better than I deserved. That good lady stuck to me like a burr&mdash;at
+least I believe she did."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I have no doubt she did. We have been caught napping finely, Jervis."
+</p>
+<p>
+"How?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"We'll go into that presently. Let us hear about your adventures first."
+</p>
+<p>
+I gave him a full account of my movements from the time when we parted
+to that of my arrival home, omitting no incident that I was able to
+remember and, as far as I could, reconstituting my exceedingly devious
+homeward route.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Your retreat was masterly," he remarked with a broad smile. "I should
+think that it would have utterly defeated any pursuer; and the only pity
+is that it was probably wasted on the desert air. Your pursuer had by
+that time become a fugitive. But you were wise to take these
+precautions, for, of course, Weiss might have followed you."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But I thought he was in Hamburg?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Did you? You are a very confiding young gentleman, for a budding
+medical jurist. Of course we don't know that he is not; but the fact
+that he has given Hamburg as his present whereabouts establishes a
+strong presumption that he is somewhere else. I only hope that he has
+not located you, and, from what you tell me of your later methods, I
+fancy that you would have shaken him off even if he had started to
+follow you from the tea-shop."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I hope so too. But how did that woman manage to stick to me in that
+way? What was the mistake we made?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke laughed grimly. "It was a perfectly asinine mistake, Jervis.
+You started up Kennington Park Road on a leisurely, jog-trotting
+omnibus, and neither you nor I remembered what there is underneath
+Kennington Park Road."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Underneath!" I exclaimed, completely puzzled for the moment. Then,
+suddenly realizing what he meant, "Of course!" I exclaimed. "Idiot that
+I am! You mean the electric railway?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes. That explains everything. Mrs. Schallibaum must have watched us
+from some shop and quietly followed us up the lane. There were a good
+many women about and several were walking in our direction. There was
+nothing to distinguish her from the others unless you had recognized
+her, which you would hardly have been able to do if she had worn a veil
+and kept at a fair distance. At least I think not."
+</p>
+<p>
+"No," I agreed, "I certainly should not. I had only seen her in a
+half-dark room. In outdoor clothes and with a veil, I should never have
+been able to identify her without very close inspection. Besides there
+was the disguise or make-up."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not at that time. She would hardly come disguised to her own house,
+for it might have led to her being challenged and asked who she was. I
+think we may take it that there was no actual disguise, although she
+would probably wear a shady hat and a veil; which would have prevented
+either of us from picking her out from the other women in the street."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And what do you think happened next?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think that she simply walked past us&mdash;probably on the other side of
+the road&mdash;as we stood waiting for the omnibus, and turned up Kennington
+Park Road. She probably guessed that we were waiting for the omnibus and
+walked up the road in the direction in which it was going. Presently the
+omnibus would pass her, and there were you in full view on top keeping a
+vigilant look-out in the wrong direction. Then she would quicken her
+pace a little and in a minute or two would arrive at the Kennington
+Station of the South London Railway. In a minute or two more she would
+be in one of the electric trains whirling along under the street on
+which your omnibus was crawling. She would get out at the Borough
+Station, or she might take a more risky chance and go on to the
+Monument; but in any case she would wait for your omnibus, hail it and
+get inside. I suppose you took up some passengers on the way?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh dear, yes. We were stopping every two or three minutes to take up or
+set down passengers; and most of them were women."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Very well; then we may take it that when you arrived at the Mansion
+House, Mrs. Schallibaum was one of your inside passengers. It was a
+rather quaint situation, I think."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, confound her! What a couple of noodles she must have thought us!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No doubt. And that is the one consoling feature in the case. She will
+have taken us for a pair of absolute greenhorns. But to continue. Of
+course she travelled in your omnibus to Kensington&mdash;you ought to have
+gone inside on both occasions, so that you could see every one who
+entered and examine the inside passengers; she will have followed you to
+Endsley Gardens and probably noted the house you went to. Thence she
+will have followed you to the restaurant and may even have lunched
+there."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is quite possible," said I. "There were two rooms and they were
+filled principally with women."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Then she will have followed you to Sloane Street, and, as you persisted
+in riding outside, she could easily take an inside place in your
+omnibus. As to the theatre, she must have taken it as a veritable gift
+of the gods; an arrangement made by you for her special convenience."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"My dear fellow! consider. She had only to follow you in and see you
+safely into your seat and there you were, left till called for. She
+could then go home, make up for her part; draw out a plan of action,
+with the help, perhaps, of Mr. Weiss, provide herself with the necessary
+means and appliances and, at the appointed time, call and collect you."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is assuming a good deal," I objected. "It is assuming, for
+instance, that she lives within a moderate distance of Sloane Square.
+Otherwise it would have been impossible."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Exactly. That is why I assume it. You don't suppose that she goes about
+habitually with lumps of prepared sugar in her pocket. And if not, then
+she must have got that lump from somewhere. Then the beads suggest a
+carefully prepared plan, and, as I said just now, she can hardly have
+been made-up when she met us in Kennington Lane. From all of which it
+seems likely that her present abode is not very far from Sloane Square."
+</p>
+<p>
+"At any rate," said I, "it was taking a considerable risk. I might have
+left the theatre before she came back."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes," Thorndyke agreed. "But it is like a woman to take chances. A man
+would probably have stuck to you when once he had got you off your
+guard. But she was ready to take chances. She chanced the railway, and
+it came off; she chanced your remaining in the theatre, and that came
+off too. She calculated on the probability of your getting tea when you
+came out, and she hit it off again. And then she took one chance too
+many; she assumed that you probably took sugar in your tea, and she was
+wrong."
+</p>
+<p>
+"We are taking it for granted that the sugar was prepared," I remarked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes. Our explanation is entirely hypothetical and may be entirely
+wrong. But it all hangs together, and if we find any poisonous matter in
+the sugar, it will be reasonable to assume that we are right. The sugar
+is the Experimentum Crucis. If you will hand it over to me, we will go
+up to the laboratory and make a preliminary test or two."
+</p>
+<p>
+I took the lump of sugar from my pocket and gave it to him, and he
+carried it to the gas-burner, by the light of which he examined it with
+a lens.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't see any foreign crystals on the surface," said he; "but we had
+better make a solution and go to work systematically. If it contains any
+poison we may assume that it will be some alkaloid, though I will test
+for arsenic too. But a man of Weiss's type would almost certainly use an
+alkaloid, on account of its smaller bulk and more ready solubility. You
+ought not to have carried this loose in your pocket. For legal purposes
+that would seriously interfere with its value as evidence. Bodies that
+are suspected of containing poison should be carefully isolated and
+preserved from contact with anything that might lead to doubt in the
+analysis. It doesn't matter much to us, as this analysis is only for our
+own information and we can satisfy ourselves as to the state of your
+pocket. But bear the rule in mind another time."
+</p>
+<p>
+We now ascended to the laboratory, where Thorndyke proceeded at once to
+dissolve the lump of sugar in a measured quantity of distilled water by
+the aid of gentle heat.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Before we add any acid," said he, "or introduce any fresh matter, we
+will adopt the simple preliminary measure of tasting the solution. The
+sugar is a disturbing factor, but some of the alkaloids and most
+mineral poisons excepting arsenic have a very characteristic taste."
+</p>
+<p>
+He dipped a glass rod in the warm solution and applied it gingerly to
+his tongue.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Ha!" he exclaimed, as he carefully wiped his mouth with his
+handkerchief, "simple methods are often very valuable. There isn't much
+doubt as to what is in that sugar. Let me recommend my learned brother
+to try the flavour. But be careful. A little of this will go a long
+way."
+</p>
+<p>
+He took a fresh rod from the rack, and, dipping it in the solution,
+handed it to me. I cautiously applied it to the tip of my tongue and was
+immediately aware of a peculiar tingling sensation accompanied by a
+feeling of numbness.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well," said Thorndyke; "what is it?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Aconite," I replied without hesitation.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes," he agreed; "aconite it is, or more probably aconitine. And that,
+I think, gives us all the information we want. We need not trouble now
+to make a complete analysis, though I shall have a quantitative
+examination made later. You note the intensity of the taste and you see
+what the strength of the solution is. Evidently that lump of sugar
+contained a very large dose of the poison. If the sugar had been
+dissolved in your tea, the quantity that you drank would have contained
+enough aconitine to lay you out within a few minutes; which would
+account for Mrs. Schallibaum's anxiety to get clear of the premises. She
+saw you drink from the cup, but I imagine she had not seen you turn the
+sugar out."
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, I should say not, to judge by her expression. She looked
+terrified. She is not as hardened as her rascally companion."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Which is fortunate for you, Jervis. If she had not been in such a
+fluster, she would have waited until you had poured out your tea, which
+was what she probably meant to do, or have dropped the sugar into the
+milk-jug. In either case you would have got a poisonous dose before you
+noticed anything amiss."
+</p>
+<p>
+"They are a pretty pair, Thorndyke," I exclaimed. "A human life seems to
+be no more to them than the life of a fly or a beetle."
+</p>
+<p>
+"No; that is so. They are typical poisoners of the worst kind; of the
+intelligent, cautious, resourceful kind. They are a standing menace to
+society. As long as they are at large, human lives are in danger, and it
+is our business to see that they do not remain at large a moment longer
+than is unavoidable. And that brings us to another point. You had better
+keep indoors for the next few days."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, nonsense," I protested. "I can take care of myself."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I won't dispute that," said Thorndyke, "although I might. But the
+matter is of vital importance and we can't be too careful. Yours is the
+only evidence that could convict these people. They know that and will
+stick at nothing to get rid of you&mdash;for by this time they will almost
+certainly have ascertained that the tea-shop plan has failed. Now your
+life is of some value to you and to another person whom I could mention;
+but apart from that, you are the indispensable instrument for ridding
+society of these dangerous vermin. Moreover, if you were seen abroad and
+connected with these chambers, they would get the information that their
+case was really being investigated in a businesslike manner. If Weiss
+has not already left the country he would do so immediately, and if he
+has, Mrs. Schallibaum would join him at once, and we might never be able
+to lay hands on them. You must stay indoors, out of sight, and you had
+better write to Miss Gibson and ask her to warn the servants to give no
+information about you to anyone."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And how long," I asked, "am I to be held on parole?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not long, I think. We have a very promising start. If I have any luck,
+I shall be able to collect all the evidence I want in about a week. But
+there is an element of chance in some of it which prevents me from
+giving a date. And it is just possible that I may have started on a
+false track. But that I shall be able to tell you better in a day or
+two."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And I suppose," I said gloomily, "I shall be out of the hunt
+altogether?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not at all," he replied. "You have got the Blackmore case to attend to.
+I shall hand you over all the documents and get you to make an orderly
+digest of the evidence. You will then have all the facts and can work
+out the case for yourself. Also I shall ask you to help Polton in some
+little operations which are designed to throw light into dark places and
+which you will find both entertaining and instructive."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Supposing Mrs. Hornby should propose to call and take tea with us in
+the gardens?" I suggested.
+</p>
+<p>
+"And bring Miss Gibson with her?" Thorndyke added dryly. "No, Jervis, it
+would never do. You must make that quite clear to her. It is more
+probable than not that Mrs. Schallibaum made a careful note of the house
+in Endsley Gardens, and as that would be the one place actually known to
+her, she and Weiss&mdash;if he is in England&mdash;would almost certainly keep a
+watch on it. If they should succeed in connecting that house with these
+chambers, a few inquiries would show them the exact state of the case.
+No; we must keep them in the dark if we possibly can. We have shown too
+much of our hand already. It is hard on you, but it cannot be helped."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, don't think I am complaining," I exclaimed. "If it is a matter of
+business, I am as keen as you are. I thought at first that you were
+merely considering the safety of my vile body. When shall I start on my
+job?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"To-morrow morning. I shall give you my notes on the Blackmore case and
+the copies of the will and the depositions, from which you had better
+draw up a digest of the evidence with remarks as to the conclusions that
+it suggests. Then there are our gleanings from New Inn to be looked over
+and considered; and with regard to this case, we have the fragments of a
+pair of spectacles which had better be put together into a rather more
+intelligible form in case we have to produce them in evidence. That will
+keep you occupied for a day or two, together with some work
+appertaining to other cases. And now let us dismiss professional topics.
+You have not dined and neither have I, but I dare say Polton has made
+arrangements for some sort of meal. We will go down and see."
+</p>
+<p>
+We descended to the lower floor, where Thorndyke's anticipations were
+justified by a neatly laid table to which Polton was giving the
+finishing touches.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="CH11"><!-- CH11 --></a>
+<h2>
+	Chapter XI
+</h2>
+
+<h3>
+The Blackmore Case Reviewed
+</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>
+One of the conditions of medical practice is the capability of
+transferring one's attention at a moment's notice from one set of
+circumstances to another equally important but entirely unrelated. At
+each visit on his round, the practitioner finds himself concerned with a
+particular, self-contained group of phenomena which he must consider at
+the moment with the utmost concentration, but which he must instantly
+dismiss from his mind as he moves on to the next case. It is a difficult
+habit to acquire; for an important, distressing or obscure case is apt
+to take possession of the consciousness and hinder the exercise of
+attention that succeeding cases demand; but experience shows the faculty
+to be indispensable, and the practitioner learns in time to forget
+everything but the patient with whose condition he is occupied at the
+moment.
+</p>
+<p>
+My first morning's work on the Blackmore case showed me that the same
+faculty is demanded in legal practice; and it also showed me that I had
+yet to acquire it. For, as I looked over the depositions and the copy of
+the will, memories of the mysterious house in Kennington Lane
+continually intruded into my reflections, and the figure of Mrs.
+Schallibaum, white-faced, terrified, expectant, haunted me continually.
+</p>
+<p>
+In truth, my interest in the Blackmore case was little more than
+academic, whereas in the Kennington case I was one of the parties and
+was personally concerned. To me, John Blackmore was but a name, Jeffrey
+but a shadowy figure to which I could assign no definite personality,
+and Stephen himself but a casual stranger. Mr. Graves, on the other
+hand, was a real person. I had seen him amidst the tragic circumstances
+that had probably heralded his death, and had brought away with me, not
+only a lively recollection of him, but a feeling of profound pity and
+concern as to his fate. The villain Weiss, too, and the terrible woman
+who aided, abetted and, perhaps, even directed him, lived in my memory
+as vivid and dreadful realities. Although I had uttered no hint to
+Thorndyke, I lamented inwardly that I had not been given some work&mdash;if
+there was any to do&mdash;connected with this case, in which I was so deeply
+interested, rather than with the dry, purely legal and utterly
+bewildering case of Jeffrey Blackmore's will.
+</p>
+<p>
+Nevertheless, I stuck loyally to my task. I read through the depositions
+and the will&mdash;without getting a single glimmer of fresh light on the
+case&mdash;and I made a careful digest of all the facts. I compared my
+digest with Thorndyke's notes&mdash;of which I also made a copy&mdash;and found
+that, brief as they were, they contained several matters that I had
+overlooked. I also drew up a brief account of our visit to New Inn, with
+a list of the objects that we had observed or collected. And then I
+addressed myself to the second part of my task, the statement of my
+conclusions from the facts set forth.
+</p>
+<p>
+It was only when I came to make the attempt that I realized how
+completely I was at sea. In spite of Thorndyke's recommendation to study
+Marchmont's statement as it was summarized in those notes which I had
+copied, and of his hint that I should find in that statement something
+highly significant, I was borne irresistibly to one conclusion, and one
+only&mdash;and the wrong one at that, as I suspected: that Jeffrey
+Blackmore's will was a perfectly regular, sound and valid document.
+</p>
+<p>
+I tried to attack the validity of the will from various directions, and
+failed every time. As to its genuineness, that was obviously not in
+question. There seemed to me only two conceivable respects in which any
+objection could be raised, viz. the competency of Jeffrey to execute a
+will and the possibility of undue influence having been brought to bear
+on him.
+</p>
+<p>
+With reference to the first, there was the undoubted fact that Jeffrey
+was addicted to the opium habit, and this might, under some
+circumstances, interfere with a testator's competency to make a will.
+But had any such circumstances existed in this case? Had the drug habit
+produced such mental changes in the deceased as would destroy or weaken
+his judgment? There was not a particle of evidence in favour of any such
+belief. Up to the very end he had managed his own affairs, and, if his
+habits of life had undergone a change, they were still the habits of a
+perfectly sane and responsible man.
+</p>
+<p>
+The question of undue influence was more difficult. If it applied to any
+person in particular, that person could be none other than John
+Blackmore. Now it was an undoubted fact that, of all Jeffrey's
+acquaintance, his brother John was the only one who knew that he was in
+residence at New Inn. Moreover John had visited him there more than
+once. It was therefore possible that influence might have been brought
+to bear on the deceased. But there was no evidence that it had. The fact
+that the deceased man's only brother should be the one person who knew
+where he was living was not a remarkable one, and it had been
+satisfactorily explained by the necessity of Jeffrey's finding a
+reference on applying for the chambers. And against the theory of undue
+influence was the fact that the testator had voluntarily brought his
+will to the lodge and executed it in the presence of entirely
+disinterested witnesses.
+</p>
+<p>
+In the end I had to give up the problem in despair, and, abandoning the
+documents, turned my attention to the facts elicited by our visit to New
+Inn.
+</p>
+<p>
+What had we learned from our exploration? It was clear that Thorndyke
+had picked up some facts that had appeared to him important. But
+important in what respect? The only possible issue that could be raised
+was the validity or otherwise of Jeffrey Blackmore's will; and since the
+validity of that will was supported by positive evidence of the most
+incontestable kind, it seemed that nothing that we had observed could
+have any real bearing on the case at all.
+</p>
+<p>
+But this, of course, could not be. Thorndyke was no dreamer nor was he
+addicted to wild speculation. If the facts observed by us seemed to him
+to be relevant to the case, I was prepared to assume that they were
+relevant, although I could not see their connection with it. And, on
+this assumption, I proceeded to examine them afresh.
+</p>
+<p>
+Now, whatever Thorndyke might have observed on his own account, I had
+brought away from the dead man's chambers only a single fact; and a very
+extraordinary fact it was. The cuneiform inscription was upside down.
+That was the sum of the evidence that I had collected; and the question
+was, What did it prove? To Thorndyke it conveyed some deep significance.
+What could that significance be?
+</p>
+<p>
+The inverted position was not a mere temporary accident, as it might
+have been if the frame had been stood on a shelf or support. It was hung
+on the wall, and the plates screwed on the frame showed that its
+position was permanent and that it had never hung in any other. That it
+could have been hung up by Jeffrey himself was clearly inconceivable.
+But allowing that it had been fixed in its present position by some
+workman when the new tenant moved in, the fact remained that there it
+had hung, presumably for months, and that Jeffrey Blackmore, with his
+expert knowledge of the cuneiform character, had never noticed that it
+was upside down; or, if he had noticed it, that he had never taken the
+trouble to have it altered.
+</p>
+<p>
+What could this mean? If he had noticed the error but had not troubled
+to correct it, that would point to a very singular state of mind, an
+inertness and indifference remarkable even in an opium-smoker. But
+assuming such a state of mind, I could not see that it had any bearing
+on the will, excepting that it was rather inconsistent with the tendency
+to make fussy and needless alterations which the testator had actually
+shown. On the other hand, if he had not noticed the inverted position of
+the photograph he must have been nearly blind or quite idiotic; for the
+photograph was over two feet long and the characters large enough to be
+read easily by a person of ordinary eyesight at a distance of forty or
+fifty feet. Now he obviously was not in a state of dementia, whereas his
+eyesight was admittedly bad; and it seemed to me that the only
+conclusion deducible from the photograph was that it furnished a measure
+of the badness of the deceased man's vision&mdash;that it proved him to have
+been verging on total blindness.
+</p>
+<p>
+But there was nothing startling new in this. He had, himself, declared
+that he was fast losing his sight. And again, what was the bearing of
+his partial blindness on the will? A totally blind man cannot draw up
+his will at all. But if he has eyesight sufficient to enable him to
+write out and sign a will, mere defective vision will not lead him to
+muddle the provisions. Yet something of this kind seemed to be in
+Thorndyke's mind, for now I recalled the question that he had put to the
+porter: "When you read the will over in Mr. Blackmore's presence, did
+you read it aloud?" That question could have but one significance. It
+implied a doubt as to whether the testator was fully aware of the exact
+nature of the document that he was signing. Yet, if he was able to write
+and sign it, surely he was able also to read it through, to say nothing
+of the fact that, unless he was demented, he must have remembered what
+he had written.
+</p>
+<p>
+Thus, once more, my reasoning only led me into a blind alley at the end
+of which was the will, regular and valid and fulfilling all the
+requirements that the law imposed. Once again I had to confess myself
+beaten and in full agreement with Mr. Marchmont that "there was no
+case"; that "there was nothing in dispute." Nevertheless, I carefully
+fixed in the pocket file that Thorndyke had given me the copy that I had
+made of his notes, together with the notes on our visit to New Inn, and
+the few and unsatisfactory conclusions at which I had arrived; and this
+brought me to the end of my first morning in my new capacity.
+</p>
+<p>
+"And how," Thorndyke asked as we sat at lunch, "has my learned friend
+progressed? Does he propose that we advise Mr. Marchmont to enter a
+caveat?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I've read all the documents and boiled all the evidence down to a stiff
+jelly; and I am in a worse fog than ever."
+</p>
+<p>
+"There seems to be a slight mixture of metaphors in my learned friend's
+remarks. But never mind the fog, Jervis. There is a certain virtue in
+fog. It serves, like a picture frame, to surround the essential with a
+neutral zone that separates it from the irrelevant."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is a very profound observation, Thorndyke," I remarked ironically.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I was just thinking so myself," he rejoined.
+</p>
+<p>
+"And if you could contrive to explain what it means&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, but that is unreasonable. When one throws off a subtly philosophic
+obiter dictum one looks to the discerning critic to supply the meaning.
+By the way, I am going to introduce you to the gentle art of photography
+this afternoon. I am getting the loan of all the cheques that were drawn
+by Jeffrey Blackmore during his residence at New Inn&mdash;there are only
+twenty-three of them, all told&mdash;and I am going to photograph them."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I shouldn't have thought the bank people would have let them go out of
+their possession."
+</p>
+<p>
+"They are not going to. One of the partners, a Mr. Britton, is bringing
+them here himself and will be present while the photographs are being
+taken; so they will not go out of his custody. But, all the same, it is
+a great concession, and I should not have obtained it but for the fact
+that I have done a good deal of work for the bank and that Mr. Britton
+is more or less a personal friend."
+</p>
+<p>
+"By the way, how comes it that the cheques are at the bank? Why were
+they not returned to Jeffrey with the pass-book in the usual way?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I understand from Britton," replied Thorndyke, "that all Jeffrey's
+cheques were retained by the bank at his request. When he was travelling
+he used to leave his investment securities and other valuable documents
+in his bankers' custody, and, as he has never applied to have them
+returned, the bankers still have them and are retaining them until the
+will is proved, when they will, of course, hand over everything to the
+executors."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What is the object of photographing these cheques?" I asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"There are several objects. First, since a good photograph is
+practically as good as the original, when we have the photographs we
+practically have the cheques for reference. Then, since a photograph can
+be duplicated indefinitely, it is possible to perform experiments on it
+which involve its destruction; which would, of course, be impossible in
+the case of original cheques."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But the ultimate object, I mean. What are you going to prove?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"You are incorrigible, Jervis," he exclaimed. "How should I know what I
+am going to prove? This is an investigation. If I knew the result
+beforehand, I shouldn't want to perform the experiment."
+</p>
+<p>
+He looked at his watch, and, as we rose from the table, he said:
+</p>
+<p>
+"If we have finished, we had better go up to the laboratory and see that
+the apparatus is ready. Mr. Britton is a busy man, and, as he is doing
+us a great service, we mustn't keep him waiting when he comes."
+</p>
+<p>
+We ascended to the laboratory, where Polton was already busy inspecting
+the massively built copying camera which&mdash;with the long, steel guides on
+which the easel or copy-holder travelled&mdash;took up the whole length of
+the room on the side opposite to that occupied by the chemical bench. As
+I was to be inducted into the photographic art, I looked at it with more
+attention than I had ever done before.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We've made some improvements since you were here last, sir," said
+Polton, who was delicately lubricating the steel guides. "We've fitted
+these steel runners instead of the blackleaded wooden ones that we used
+to have. And we've made two scales instead of one. Hallo! That's the
+downstairs bell. Shall I go sir?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Perhaps you'd better," said Thorndyke. "It may not be Mr. Britton, and
+I don't want to be caught and delayed just now."
+</p>
+<p>
+However, it was Mr. Britton; a breezy alert-looking middle-aged man, who
+came in escorted by Polton and shook our hands cordially, having been
+previously warned of my presence. He carried a small but solid hand-bag,
+to which he clung tenaciously up to the very moment when its contents
+were required for use.
+</p>
+<p>
+"So that is the camera," said he, running an inquisitive eye over the
+instrument. "Very fine one, too; I am a bit of a photographer myself.
+What is that graduation on the side-bar?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Those are the scales," replied Thorndyke, "that shows the degree of
+magnification or reduction. The pointer is fixed to the easel and
+travels with it, of course, showing the exact size of the photograph.
+When the pointer is opposite 0 the photograph will be identical in size
+with the object photographed; when it points to, say, &times; 6, the
+photograph will be six times as long as the object, or magnified
+thirty-six times superficially, whereas if the pointer is at &divide; 6, the
+photograph will be a sixth of the length of the object, or one
+thirty-sixth superficial."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why are there two scales?" Mr. Britton asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"There is a separate scale for each of the two lenses that we
+principally use. For great magnification or reduction a lens of
+comparatively short focus must be used, but, as a long-focus lens gives
+a more perfect image, we use one of very long focus&mdash;thirty-six
+inches&mdash;for copying the same size or for slight magnification or
+reduction."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Are you going to magnify these cheques?" Mr. Britton asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not in the first place," replied Thorndyke. "For convenience and speed
+I am going to photograph them half-size, so that six cheques will go on
+one whole plate. Afterwards we can enlarge from the negatives as much as
+we like. But we should probably enlarge only the signatures in any
+case."
+</p>
+<p>
+The precious bag was now opened and the twenty-three cheques brought out
+and laid on the bench in a consecutive series in the order of their
+dates. They were then fixed by tapes&mdash;to avoid making pin-holes in
+them&mdash;in batches of six to small drawing boards, each batch being so
+arranged that the signatures were towards the middle. The first board
+was clamped to the easel, the latter was slid along its guides until
+the pointer stood at &divide; 2 on the long-focus scale and Thorndyke proceeded
+to focus the camera with the aid of a little microscope that Polton had
+made for the purpose. When Mr. Britton and I had inspected the
+exquisitely sharp image on the focusing-screen through the microscope,
+Polton introduced the plate and made the first exposure, carrying the
+dark-slide off to develop the plate while the next batch of cheques was
+being fixed in position.
+</p>
+<p>
+In his photographic technique, as in everything else, Polton followed as
+closely as he could the methods of his principal and instructor; methods
+characterized by that unhurried precision that leads to perfect
+accomplishment. When the first negative was brought forth, dripping,
+from the dark-room, it was without spot or stain, scratch or pin-hole;
+uniform in colour and of exactly the required density. The six cheques
+shown on it&mdash;ridiculously small in appearance, though only reduced to
+half-length&mdash;looked as clear and sharp as fine etchings; though, to be
+sure, my opportunity for examining them was rather limited, for Polton
+was uncommonly careful to keep the wet plate out of reach and so safe
+from injury.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well," said Mr. Britton, when, at the end of the s&eacute;ance, he returned
+his treasures to the bag, "you have now got twenty-three of our cheques,
+to all intents and purposes. I hope you are not going to make any
+unlawful use of them&mdash;must tell our cashiers to keep a bright look-out;
+and"&mdash;here he lowered his voice impressively and addressed himself to
+me and Polton&mdash;"you understand that this is a private matter between Dr.
+Thorndyke and me. Of course, as Mr. Blackmore is dead, there is no
+reason why his cheques should not be photographed for legal purposes;
+but we don't want it talked about; nor, I think, does Dr. Thorndyke."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Certainly not," Thorndyke agreed emphatically; "but you need not be
+uneasy, Mr. Britton. We are very uncommunicative people in this
+establishment."
+</p>
+<p>
+As my colleague and I escorted our visitor down the stairs, he returned
+to the subject of the cheques.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't understand what you want them for," he remarked. "There is no
+question turning on signatures in the case of Blackmore deceased, is
+there?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I should say not," Thorndyke replied rather evasively.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I should say very decidedly not," said Mr. Britton, "if I understood
+Marchmont aright. And, even if there were, let me tell you, these
+signatures that you have got wouldn't help you. I have looked them over
+very closely&mdash;and I have seen a few signatures in my time, you know.
+Marchmont asked me to glance over them as a matter of form, but I don't
+believe in matters of form; I examined them very carefully. There is an
+appreciable amount of variation; a very appreciable amount. <i>But</i> under
+the variation one can trace the personal character (which is what
+matters); the subtle, indescribable quality that makes it recognizable
+to the expert eye as Jeffrey Blackmore's writing. You understand me.
+There is such a quality, which remains when the coarser characteristics
+vary; just as a man may grow old, or fat, or bald, or may take to drink,
+and become quite changed; and yet, through it all, he preserves a
+certain something which makes him recognizable as a member of a
+particular family. Well, I find that quality in all those signatures,
+and so will you, if you have had enough experience of handwriting. I
+thought it best to mention it in case you might be giving yourself
+unnecessary trouble."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is very good of you," said Thorndyke, "and I need not say that the
+information is of great value, coming from such a highly expert source.
+As a matter of fact, your hint will be of great value to me."
+</p>
+<p>
+He shook hands with Mr. Britton, and, as the latter disappeared down the
+stairs, he turned into the sitting-room and remarked:
+</p>
+<p>
+"There is a very weighty and significant observation, Jervis. I advise
+you to consider it attentively in all its bearings."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You mean the fact that these signatures are undoubtedly genuine?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I meant, rather, the very interesting general truth that is contained
+in Britton's statement; that physiognomy is not a mere matter of facial
+character. A man carries his personal trademark, not in his face only,
+but in his nervous system and muscles&mdash;giving rise to characteristic
+movements and gait; in his larynx&mdash;producing an individual voice; and
+even in his mouth, as shown by individual peculiarities of speech and
+accent. And the individual nervous system, by means of these
+characteristic movements, transfers its peculiarities to inanimate
+objects that are the products of such movements; as we see in pictures,
+in carving, in musical execution and in handwriting. No one has ever
+painted quite like Reynolds or Romney; no one has ever played exactly
+like Liszt or Paganini; the pictures or the sounds produced by them,
+were, so to speak, an extension of the physiognomy of the artist. And so
+with handwriting. A particular specimen is the product of a particular
+set of motor centres in an individual brain."
+</p>
+<p>
+"These are very interesting considerations, Thorndyke," I remarked; "but
+I don't quite see their present application. Do you mean them to bear in
+any special way on the Blackmore case?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think they do bear on it very directly. I thought so while Mr.
+Britton was making his very illuminating remarks."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't see how. In fact I cannot see why you are going into the
+question of the signatures at all. The signature on the will is
+admittedly genuine, and that seems to me to dispose of the whole
+affair."
+</p>
+<p>
+"My dear Jervis," said he, "you and Marchmont are allowing yourselves to
+be obsessed by a particular fact&mdash;a very striking and weighty fact, I
+will admit, but still, only an isolated fact. Jeffrey Blackmore executed
+his will in a regular manner, complying with all the necessary
+formalities and conditions. In the face of that single circumstance you
+and Marchmont would 'chuck up the sponge,' as the old pugilists
+expressed it. Now that is a great mistake. You should never allow
+yourself to be bullied and browbeaten by a single fact."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But, my dear Thorndyke!" I protested, "this fact seems to be final. It
+covers all possibilities&mdash;-unless you can suggest any other that would
+cancel it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I could suggest a dozen," he replied. "Let us take an instance.
+Supposing Jeffrey executed this will for a wager; that he immediately
+revoked it and made a fresh will, that he placed the latter in the
+custody of some person and that that person has suppressed it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Surely you do not make this suggestion seriously!" I exclaimed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Certainly I do not," he replied with a smile. "I merely give it as an
+instance to show that your final and absolute fact is really only
+conditional on there being no other fact that cancels it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Do you think he might have made a third will?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is obviously possible. A man who makes two wills may make three or
+more; but I may say that I see no present reason for assuming the
+existence of another will. What I want to impress on you is the
+necessity of considering all the facts instead of bumping heavily
+against the most conspicuous one and forgetting all the rest. By the
+way, here is a little problem for you. What was the object of which
+these are the parts?"
+</p>
+<p>
+He pushed across the table a little cardboard box, having first removed
+the lid. In it were a number of very small pieces of broken glass, some
+of which had been cemented together by their edges.
+</p>
+<p>
+"These, I suppose," said I, looking with considerable curiosity at the
+little collection, "are the pieces of glass that we picked up in poor
+Blackmore's bedroom?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes. You see that Polton has been endeavouring to reconstitute the
+object, whatever it was; but he has not been very successful, for the
+fragments were too small and irregular and the collection too
+incomplete. However, here is a specimen, built up of six small pieces,
+which exhibits the general character of the object fairly well."
+</p>
+<p>
+He picked out the little irregularly shaped object and handed it to me;
+and I could not but admire the neatness with which Polton had joined the
+tiny fragments together.
+</p>
+<p>
+I took the little "restoration," and, holding it up before my eyes,
+moved it to and fro as I looked through it at the window.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It was not a lens," I pronounced eventually.
+</p>
+<p>
+"No," Thorndyke agreed, "it was not a lens."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And so cannot have been a spectacle-glass. But the surface was
+curved&mdash;one side convex and the other concave&mdash;and the little piece that
+remains of the original edge seems to have been ground to fit a bezel or
+frame. I should say that these are portions of a watch-glass."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is Polton's opinion," said Thorndyke, "and I think you are both
+wrong."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What do you say to the glass of a miniature or locket?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is rather more probable, but it is not my view."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What do you think it is?" I asked. But Thorndyke was not to be drawn.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am submitting the problem for solution by my learned friend," he
+replied with an exasperating smile, and then added: "I don't say that
+you and Polton are wrong; only that I don't agree with you. Perhaps you
+had better make a note of the properties of this object, and consider it
+at your leisure when you are ruminating on the other data referring to
+the Blackmore case."
+</p>
+<p>
+"My ruminations," I said, "always lead me back to the same point."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But you mustn't let them," he replied. "Shuffle your data about. Invent
+hypotheses. Never mind if they seem rather wild. Don't put them aside on
+that account. Take the first hypothesis that you can invent and test it
+thoroughly with your facts. You will probably have to reject it, but you
+will be certain to have learned something new. Then try again with a
+fresh one. You remember what I told you of my methods when I began this
+branch of practice and had plenty of time on my hands?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am not sure that I do."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, I used to occupy my leisure in constructing imaginary cases,
+mostly criminal, for the purpose of study and for the acquirement of
+experience. For instance, I would devise an ingenious fraud and would
+plan it in detail, taking every precaution that I could think of against
+failure or detection, considering, and elaborately providing for, every
+imaginable contingency. For the time being, my entire attention was
+concentrated on it, making it as perfect and secure and undetectable as
+I could with the knowledge and ingenuity at my command. I behaved
+exactly as if I were proposing actually to carry it out, and my life or
+liberty depended on its success&mdash;excepting that I made full notes of
+every detail of the scheme. Then when my plans were as complete as I
+could make them, and I could think of no way in which to improve them, I
+changed sides and considered the case from the standpoint of detection.
+I analysed the case, I picked out its inherent and unavoidable
+weaknesses, and, especially, I noted the respects in which a fraudulent
+proceeding of a particular kind differed from the <i>bona fide</i> proceeding
+that it simulated. The exercise was invaluable to me. I acquired as much
+experience from those imaginary cases as I should from real ones, and in
+addition, I learned a method which is the one that I practise to this
+day."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Do you mean that you still invent imaginary cases as mental exercises?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No; I mean that, when I have a problem of any intricacy, I invent a
+case which fits the facts and the assumed motives of one of the parties.
+Then I work at that case until I find whether it leads to elucidation or
+to some fundamental disagreement. In the latter case I reject it and
+begin the process over again."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Doesn't that method sometimes involve a good deal of wasted time and
+energy?" I asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"No; because each time that you fail to establish a given case, you
+exclude a particular explanation of the facts and narrow down the field
+of inquiry. By repeating the process, you are bound, in the end, to
+arrive at an imaginary case which fits all the facts. Then your
+imaginary case is the real case and the problem is solved. Let me
+recommend you to give the method a trial."
+</p>
+<p>
+I promised to do so, though with no very lively expectations as to the
+result, and with this, the subject was allowed, for the present, to
+drop.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="CH12"><!-- CH12 --></a>
+<h2>
+	Chapter XII
+</h2>
+
+<h3>
+The Portrait
+</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>
+The state of mind which Thorndyke had advised me to cultivate was one
+that did not come easily. However much I endeavoured to shuffle the
+facts of the Blackmore case, there was one which inevitably turned up on
+the top of the pack. The circumstances surrounding the execution of
+Jeffrey Blackmore's will intruded into all my cogitations on the subject
+with hopeless persistency. That scene in the porter's lodge was to me
+what King Charles's head was to poor Mr. Dick. In the midst of my
+praiseworthy efforts to construct some intelligible scheme of the case,
+it would make its appearance and reduce my mind to instant chaos.
+</p>
+<p>
+For the next few days, Thorndyke was very much occupied with one or two
+civil cases, which kept him in court during the whole of the sitting;
+and when he came home, he seemed indisposed to talk on professional
+topics. Meanwhile, Polton worked steadily at the photographs of the
+signatures, and, with a view to gaining experience, I assisted him and
+watched his methods.
+</p>
+<p>
+In the present case, the signatures were enlarged from their original
+dimensions&mdash;rather less than an inch and a half in length&mdash;to a length
+of four and a half inches; which rendered all the little peculiarities
+of the handwriting surprisingly distinct and conspicuous. Each signature
+was eventually mounted on a slip of card bearing a number and the date
+of the cheque from which it was taken, so that it was possible to place
+any two signatures together for comparison. I looked over the whole
+series and very carefully compared those which showed any differences,
+but without discovering anything more than might have been expected in
+view of Mr. Britton's statement. There were some trifling variations,
+but they were all very much alike, and no one could doubt, on looking at
+them, that they were all written by the same hand.
+</p>
+<p>
+As this, however, was apparently not in dispute, it furnished no new
+information. Thorndyke's object&mdash;for I felt certain that he had
+something definite in his mind&mdash;must be to test something apart from the
+genuineness of the signatures. But what could that something be? I dared
+not ask him, for questions of that kind were anathema, so there was
+nothing for it but to lie low and see what he would do with the
+photographs.
+</p>
+<p>
+The whole series was finished on the fourth morning after my adventure
+at Sloane Square, and the pack of cards was duly delivered by Polton
+when he brought in the breakfast tray. Thorndyke took up the pack
+somewhat with the air of a whist player, and, as he ran through them, I
+noticed that the number had increased from twenty-three to twenty-four.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The additional one," Thorndyke explained, "is the signature to the
+first will, which was in Marchmont's possession. I have added it to the
+collection as it carries us back to an earlier date. The signature of
+the second will presumably resembles those of the cheques drawn about
+the same date. But that is not material, or, if it should become so, we
+could claim to examine the second will."
+</p>
+<p>
+He laid the cards out on the table in the order of their dates and
+slowly ran his eye down the series. I watched him closely and ventured
+presently to ask:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Do you agree with Mr. Britton as to the general identity of character
+in the whole set of signatures?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes," he replied. "I should certainly have put them down as being all
+the signatures of one person. The variations are very slight. The later
+signatures are a little stiffer, a little more shaky and indistinct, and
+the B's and k's are both appreciably different from those in the earlier
+ones. But there is another fact which emerges when the whole series is
+seen together, and it is so striking and significant a fact, that I am
+astonished at its not having been remarked on by Mr. Britton."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Indeed!" said I, stooping to examine the photographs with fresh
+interest; "what is that?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is a very simple fact and very obvious, but yet, as I have said,
+very significant. Look carefully at number one, which is the signature
+of the first will, dated three years ago, and compare it with number
+three, dated the eighteenth of September last year."
+</p>
+<p>
+"They look to me identical," said I, after a careful comparison.
+</p>
+<p>
+"So they do to me," said Thorndyke. "Neither of them shows the change
+that occurred later. But if you look at number two, dated the sixteenth
+of September, you will see that it is in the later style. So is number
+four, dated the twenty-third of September; but numbers five and six,
+both at the beginning of October, are in the earlier style, like the
+signature of the will. Thereafter all the signatures are in the new
+style; but, if you compare number two, dated the sixteenth of September
+with number twenty-four, dated the fourteenth of March of this year&mdash;the
+day of Jeffrey's death&mdash;you see that they exhibit no difference. Both
+are in the 'later style,' but the last shows no greater change than the
+first. Don't you consider these facts very striking and significant?"
+</p>
+<p>
+I reflected a few moments, trying to make out the deep significance to
+which Thorndyke was directing my attention&mdash;and not succeeding very
+triumphantly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You mean," I said, "that the occasional reversions to the earlier form
+convey some material suggestion?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes; but more than that. What we learn from an inspection of this
+series is this: that there was a change in the character of the
+signature; a very slight change, but quite recognizable. Now that change
+was not gradual or insidious nor was it progressive. It occurred at a
+certain definite time. At first there were one or two reversions to the
+earlier form, but after number six the new style continued to the end;
+and you notice that it continued without any increase in the change and
+without any variation. There are no intermediate forms. Some of the
+signatures are in the 'old style' and some in the 'new,' but there are
+none that are half and half. So that, to repeat: We have here two types
+of signature, very much alike, but distinguishable. They alternate, but
+do not merge into one another to produce intermediate forms. The change
+occurs abruptly, but shows no tendency to increase as time goes on; it
+is not a progressive change. What do you make of that, Jervis?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is very remarkable," I said, poring over the cards to verify
+Thorndyke's statements. "I don't quite know what to make of it. If the
+circumstances admitted of the idea of forgery, one would suspect the
+genuineness of some of the signatures. But they don't&mdash;at any rate, in
+the case of the later will, to say nothing of Mr. Britton's opinion on
+the signatures."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Still," said Thorndyke, "there must be some explanation of the change
+in the character of the signatures, and that explanation cannot be the
+failing eyesight of the writer; for that is a gradually progressive and
+continuous condition, whereas the change in the writing is abrupt and
+intermittent."
+</p>
+<p>
+I considered Thorndyke's remark for a few moments; and then a
+light&mdash;though not a very brilliant one&mdash;seemed to break on me.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think I see what you are driving at," said I. "You mean that the
+change in the writing must be associated with some new condition
+affecting the writer, and that that condition existed intermittently?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke nodded approvingly, and I continued:
+</p>
+<p>
+"The only intermittent condition that we know of is the effect of opium.
+So that we might consider the clearer signatures to have been made when
+Jeffrey was in his normal state, and the less distinct ones after a bout
+of opium-smoking."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is perfectly sound reasoning," said Thorndyke. "What further
+conclusion does it lead to?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"It suggests that the opium habit had been only recently acquired, since
+the change was noticed only about the time he went to live at New Inn;
+and, since the change in the writing is at first intermittent and then
+continuous, we may infer that the opium-smoking was at first occasional
+and later became a a confirmed habit."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Quite a reasonable conclusion and very clearly stated," said Thorndyke.
+"I don't say that I entirely agree with you, or that you have exhausted
+the information that these signatures offer. But you have started in the
+right direction."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I may be on the right road," I said gloomily; "but I am stuck fast in
+one place and I see no chance of getting any farther."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But you have a quantity of data," said Thorndyke. "You have all the
+facts that I had to start with, from which I constructed the hypothesis
+that I am now busily engaged in verifying. I have a few more data now,
+for 'as money makes money' so knowledge begets knowledge, and I put my
+original capital out to interest. Shall we tabulate the facts that are
+in our joint possession and see what they suggest?"
+</p>
+<p>
+I grasped eagerly at the offer, though I had conned over my notes again
+and again.
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke produced a slip of paper from a drawer, and, uncapping his
+fountain-pen, proceeded to write down the leading facts, reading each
+aloud as soon as it was written.
+</p>
+<p>
+"1. The second will was unnecessary since it contained no new matter,
+expressed no new intentions and met no new conditions, and the first
+will was quite clear and efficient.
+</p>
+<p>
+"2. The evident intention of the testator was to leave the bulk of his
+property to Stephen Blackmore.
+</p>
+<p>
+"3. The second will did not, under existing circumstances, give effect
+to this intention, whereas the first will did.
+</p>
+<p>
+"4. The signature of the second will differs slightly from that of the
+first, and also from what had hitherto been the testator's ordinary
+signature.
+</p>
+<p>
+"And now we come to a very curious group of dates, which I will advise
+you to consider with great attention.
+</p>
+<p>
+"5. Mrs. Wilson made her will at the beginning of September last year,
+without acquainting Jeffrey Blackmore, who seems to have been unaware of
+the existence of this will.
+</p>
+<p>
+"6. His own second will was dated the twelfth of November of last year.
+</p>
+<p>
+"7. Mrs. Wilson died of cancer on the twelfth of March this present
+year.
+</p>
+<p>
+"8. Jeffrey Blackmore was last seen alive on the fourteenth of March.
+</p>
+<p>
+"9. His body was discovered on the fifteenth of March.
+</p>
+<p>
+"10. The change in the character of his signature began about September
+last year and became permanent after the middle of October.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You will find that collection of facts repay careful study, Jervis,
+especially when considered in relation to the further data:
+</p>
+<p>
+"11. That we found in Blackmore's chambers a framed inscription of large
+size, hung upside down, together with what appeared to be the remains of
+a watch-glass and a box of stearine candles and some other objects."
+</p>
+<p>
+He passed the paper to me and I pored over it intently, focusing my
+attention on the various items with all the power of my will. But,
+struggle as I would, no general conclusion could be made to emerge from
+the mass of apparently disconnected facts.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well?" Thorndyke said presently, after watching with grave interest my
+unavailing efforts; "what do you make of it?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Nothing!" I exclaimed desperately, slapping the paper down on the
+table. "Of course, I can see that there are some queer coincidences. But
+how do they bear on the case? I understand that you want to upset this
+will; which we know to have been signed without compulsion or even
+suggestion in the presence of two respectable men, who have sworn to the
+identity of the document. That is your object, I believe?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Certainly it is."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Then I am hanged if I see how you are going to do it. Not, I should
+say, by offering a group of vague coincidences that would muddle any
+brain but your own."
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke chuckled softly but pursued the subject no farther.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Put that paper in your file with your other notes," he said, "and think
+it over at your leisure. And now I want a little help from you. Have you
+a good memory for faces?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Fairly good, I think. Why?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Because I have a photograph of a man whom I think you may have met.
+Just look at it and tell me if you remember the face."
+</p>
+<p>
+He drew a cabinet size photograph from an envelope that had come by the
+morning's post and handed it to me.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I have certainly seen this face somewhere," said I, taking the portrait
+over to the window to examine it more thoroughly, "but I can't, at the
+moment, remember where."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Try," said Thorndyke. "If you have seen the face before, you should be
+able to recall the person."
+</p>
+<p>
+I looked intently at the photograph, and the more I looked, the more
+familiar did the face appear. Suddenly the identity of the man flashed
+into my mind and I exclaimed in astonishment:
+</p>
+<p>
+"It can't be that poor creature at Kennington, Mr. Graves?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think it can," replied Thorndyke, "and I think it is. But could you
+swear to the identity in a court of law?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is my firm conviction that the photograph is that of Mr. Graves. I
+would swear to that."
+</p>
+<p>
+"No man ought to swear to more," said Thorndyke. "Identification is
+always a matter of opinion or belief. The man who will swear
+unconditionally to identity from memory only is a man whose evidence
+should be discredited. I think your sworn testimony would be
+sufficient."
+</p>
+<p>
+It is needless to say that the production of this photograph filled me
+with amazement and curiosity as to how Thorndyke had obtained it. But,
+as he replaced it impassively in its envelope without volunteering any
+explanation, I felt that I could not question him directly.
+Nevertheless, I ventured to approach the subject in an indirect manner.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Did you get any information from those Darmstadt people?" I asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Schnitzler? Yes. I learned, through the medium of an official
+acquaintance, that Dr. H. Weiss was a stranger to them; that they knew
+nothing about him excepting that he had ordered from them, and been
+supplied with, a hundred grammes of pure hydrochlorate of morphine."
+</p>
+<p>
+"All at once?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No. In separate parcels of twenty-five grammes each."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Is that all you know about Weiss?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is all that I actually know; but it is not all that I suspect&mdash;on
+very substantial grounds. By the way, what did you think of the
+coachman?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't know that I thought very much about him. Why?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"You never suspected that he and Weiss were one and the same person?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No. How could they be? They weren't in the least alike. And one was a
+Scotchman and the other a German. But perhaps you know that they were
+the same?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I only know what you have told me. But considering that you never saw
+them together, that the coachman was never available for messages or
+assistance when Weiss was with you; that Weiss always made his
+appearance some time after you arrived, and disappeared some time before
+you left; it has seemed to me that they might have been the same
+person."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I should say it was impossible. They were so very different in
+appearance. But supposing that they were the same; would the fact be of
+any importance?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"It would mean that we could save ourselves the trouble of looking for
+the coachman. And it would suggest some inferences, which will occur to
+you if you think the matter over. But being only a speculative opinion,
+at present, it would not be safe to infer very much from it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You have rather taken me by surprise," I remarked. "It seems that you
+have been working at this Kennington case, and working pretty actively I
+imagine, whereas I supposed that your entire attention was taken up by
+the Blackmore affair."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It doesn't do," he replied, "to allow one's entire attention to be
+taken up by any one case. I have half a dozen others&mdash;minor cases,
+mostly&mdash;to which I am attending at this moment. Did you think I was
+proposing to keep you under lock and key indefinitely?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, no. But I thought the Kennington case would have to wait its
+turn. And I had no idea that you were in possession of enough facts to
+enable you to get any farther with it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But you knew all the very striking facts of the case, and you saw the
+further evidence that we extracted from the empty house."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Do you mean those things that we picked out from the rubbish under the
+grate?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes. You saw those curious little pieces of reed and the pair of
+spectacles. They are lying in the top drawer of that cabinet at this
+moment, and I should recommend you to have another look at them. To me
+they are most instructive. The pieces of reed offered an extremely
+valuable suggestion, and the spectacles enabled me to test that
+suggestion and turn it into actual information."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Unfortunately," said I, "the pieces of reed convey nothing to me. I
+don't know what they are or of what they have formed a part."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think," he replied, "that if you examine them with due consideration,
+you will find their use pretty obvious. Have a good look at them and the
+spectacles too. Think over all that you know of that mysterious group of
+people who lived in that house, and see if you cannot form some coherent
+theory of their actions. Think, also, if we have not some information in
+our possession by which we might be able to identify some of them, and
+infer the identity of the others. You will have a quiet day, as I shall
+not be home until the evening; set yourself this task. I assure you that
+you have the material for identifying&mdash;or rather for testing the
+identity of&mdash;at least one of those persons. Go over your material
+systematically, and let me know in the evening what further
+investigations you would propose."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Very well," said I. "It shall be done according to your word. I will
+addle my brain afresh with the affair of Mr. Weiss and his patient, and
+let the Blackmore case rip."
+</p>
+<p>
+"There is no need to do that. You have a whole day before you. An hour's
+really close consideration of the Kennington case ought to show you what
+your next move should be, and then you could devote yourself to the
+consideration of Jeffrey Blackmore's will."
+</p>
+<p>
+With this final piece of advice, Thorndyke collected the papers for his
+day's work, and, having deposited them in his brief bag, took his
+departure, leaving me to my meditations.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="CH13"><!-- CH13 --></a>
+<h2>
+	Chapter XIII
+</h2>
+
+<h3>
+The Statement of Samuel Wilkins
+</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>
+As soon as I was alone, I commenced my investigations with a rather
+desperate hope of eliciting some startling and unsuspected facts. I
+opened the drawer and taking from it the two pieces of reed and the
+shattered remains of the spectacles, laid them on the table. The repairs
+that Thorndyke had contemplated in the case of the spectacles, had not
+been made. Apparently they had not been necessary. The battered wreck
+that lay before me, just as we had found it, had evidently furnished the
+necessary information; for, since Thorndyke was in possession of a
+portrait of Mr. Graves, it was clear that he had succeeded in
+identifying him so far as to get into communication with some one who
+had known him intimately.
+</p>
+<p>
+The circumstance should have been encouraging. But somehow it was not.
+What was possible to Thorndyke was, theoretically, possible to me&mdash;or to
+anyone else. But the possibility did not realize itself in practice.
+There was the personal equation. Thorndyke's brain was not an ordinary
+brain. Facts of which his mind instantly perceived the relation remained
+to other people unconnected and without meaning. His powers of
+observation and rapid inference were almost incredible, as I had noticed
+again and again, and always with undiminished wonder. He seemed to take
+in everything at a single glance and in an instant to appreciate the
+meaning of everything that he had seen.
+</p>
+<p>
+Here was a case in point. I had myself seen all that he had seen, and,
+indeed, much more; for I had looked on the very people and witnessed
+their actions, whereas he had never set eyes on any of them. I had
+examined the little handful of rubbish that he had gathered up so
+carefully, and would have flung it back under the grate without a qualm.
+Not a glimmer of light had I perceived in the cloud of mystery, nor even
+a hint of the direction in which to seek enlightenment. And yet
+Thorndyke had, in some incomprehensible manner, contrived to piece
+together facts that I had probably not even observed, and that so
+completely that he had already, in these few days, narrowed down the
+field of inquiry to quite a small area.
+</p>
+<p>
+From these reflections I returned to the objects on the table. The
+spectacles, as things of which I had some expert knowledge, were not so
+profound a mystery to me. A pair of spectacles might easily afford good
+evidence for identification; that I perceived clearly enough. Not a
+ready-made pair, picked up casually at a shop, but a pair constructed by
+a skilled optician to remedy a particular defect of vision and to fit a
+particular face. And such were the spectacles before me. The build of
+the frames was peculiar; the existence of a cylindrical lens&mdash;which I
+could easily make out from the remaining fragments&mdash;showed that one
+glass had been cut to a prescribed shape and almost certainly ground to
+a particular formula, and also that the distance between centres must
+have been carefully secured. Hence these spectacles had an individual
+character. But it was manifestly impossible to inquire of all the
+spectacle-makers in Europe&mdash;for the glasses were not necessarily made in
+England. As confirmation the spectacles might be valuable; as a
+starting-point they were of no use at all.
+</p>
+<p>
+From the spectacles I turned to the pieces of reed. These were what had
+given Thorndyke his start. Would they give me a leading hint too? I
+looked at them and wondered what it was that they had told Thorndyke.
+The little fragment of the red paper label had a dark-brown or thin
+black border ornamented with a fret-pattern, and on it I detected a
+couple of tiny points of gold like the dust from leaf-gilding. But I
+learned nothing from that. Then the shorter piece of reed was
+artificially hollowed to fit on the longer piece. Apparently it formed a
+protective sheath or cap. But what did it protect? Presumably a point or
+edge of some kind. Could this be a pocket-knife of any sort, such as a
+small stencil-knife? No; the material was too fragile for a
+knife-handle. It could not be an etching-needle for the same reason; and
+it was not a surgical appliance&mdash;at least it was not like any surgical
+instrument that was known to me.
+</p>
+<p>
+I turned it over and over and cudgelled my brains; and then I had a
+brilliant idea. Was it a reed pen of which the point had been broken
+off? I knew that reed pens were still in use by draughtsmen of
+decorative leanings with an affection for the "fat line." Could any of
+our friends be draughtsmen? This seemed the most probable solution of
+the difficulty, and the more I thought about it the more likely it
+seemed. Draughtsmen usually sign their work intelligibly, and even when
+they use a device instead of a signature their identity is easily
+traceable. Could it be that Mr. Graves, for instance, was an
+illustrator, and that Thorndyke had established his identity by looking
+through the works of all the well-known thick-line draughtsmen?
+</p>
+<p>
+This problem occupied me for the rest of the day. My explanation did not
+seem quite to fit Thorndyke's description of his methods; but I could
+think of no other. I turned it over during my solitary lunch; I
+meditated on it with the aid of several pipes in the afternoon; and
+having refreshed my brain with a cup of tea, I went forth to walk in the
+Temple gardens&mdash;which I was permitted to do without breaking my
+parole&mdash;to think it out afresh.
+</p>
+<p>
+The result was disappointing. I was basing my reasoning on the
+assumption that the pieces of reed were parts of a particular appliance,
+appertaining to a particular craft; whereas they might be the remains of
+something quite different, appertaining to a totally different craft or
+to no craft at all. And in no case did they point to any known
+individual or indicate any but the vaguest kind of search. After pacing
+the pleasant walks for upwards of two hours, I at length turned back
+towards our chambers, where I arrived as the lamp-lighter was just
+finishing his round.
+</p>
+<p>
+My fruitless speculations had left me somewhat irritable. The lighted
+windows that I had noticed as I approached had given me the impression
+that Thorndyke had returned. I had intended to press him for a little
+further information. When, therefore, I let myself into our chambers and
+found, instead of my colleague, a total stranger&mdash;and only a back view
+at that&mdash;I was disappointed and annoyed.
+</p>
+<p>
+The stranger was seated by the table, reading a large document that
+looked like a lease. He made no movement when I entered, but when I
+crossed the room and wished him "Good evening," he half rose and bowed
+silently. It was then that I first saw his face, and a mighty start he
+gave me. For one moment I actually thought he was Mr. Weiss, so close
+was the resemblance, but immediately I perceived that he was a much
+smaller man.
+</p>
+<p>
+I sat down nearly opposite and stole an occasional furtive glance at
+him. The resemblance to Weiss was really remarkable. The same flaxen
+hair, the same ragged beard and a similar red nose, with the patches of
+<i>acne rosacea</i> spreading to the adjacent cheeks. He wore spectacles,
+too, through which he took a quick glance at me now and again, returning
+immediately to his document.
+</p>
+<p>
+After some moments of rather embarrassing silence, I ventured to remark
+that it was a mild evening; to which he assented with a sort of Scotch
+"Hm&mdash;hm" and nodded slowly. Then came another interval of silence,
+during which I speculated on the possibility of his being a relative of
+Mr. Weiss and wondered what the deuce he was doing in our chambers.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Have you an appointment with Dr. Thorndyke?" I asked, at length.
+</p>
+<p>
+He bowed solemnly, and by way of reply&mdash;in the affirmative, as I
+assumed&mdash;emitted another "hm&mdash;hm."
+</p>
+<p>
+I looked at him sharply, a little nettled by his lack of manners;
+whereupon he opened out the lease so that it screened his face, and as I
+glanced at the back of the document, I was astonished to observe that it
+was shaking rapidly.
+</p>
+<p>
+The fellow was actually laughing! What he found in my simple question to
+cause him so much amusement I was totally unable to imagine. But there
+it was. The tremulous movements of the document left me in no possible
+doubt that he was for some reason convulsed with laughter.
+</p>
+<p>
+It was extremely mysterious. Also, it was rather embarrassing. I took
+out my pocket file and began to look over my notes. Then the document
+was lowered and I was able to get another look at the stranger's face.
+He was really extraordinarily like Weiss. The shaggy eyebrows, throwing
+the eye-sockets into shadow, gave him, in conjunction with the
+spectacles, the same owlish, solemn expression that I had noticed in my
+Kennington acquaintance; and which, by the way, was singularly out of
+character with the frivolous behaviour that I had just witnessed.
+</p>
+<p>
+From time to time as I looked at him, he caught my eye and instantly
+averted his own, turning rather red. Apparently he was a shy, nervous
+man, which might account for his giggling; for I have noticed that shy
+or nervous people have a habit of smiling inopportunely and even
+giggling when embarrassed by meeting an over-steady eye. And it seemed
+my own eye had this disconcerting quality, for even as I looked at him,
+the document suddenly went up again and began to shake violently.
+</p>
+<p>
+I stood it for a minute or two, but, finding the situation intolerably
+embarrassing, I rose, and brusquely excusing myself, went up to the
+laboratory to look for Polton and inquire at what time Thorndyke was
+expected home. To my surprise, however, on entering, I discovered
+Thorndyke himself just finishing the mounting of a microscopical
+specimen.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Did you know that there is some one below waiting to see you?" I asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Is it anyone you know?" he inquired.
+</p>
+<p>
+"No," I answered. "It is a red-nosed, sniggering fool in spectacles. He
+has got a lease or a deed or some other sort of document which he has
+been using to play a sort of idiotic game of Peep-Bo! I couldn't stand
+him, so I came up here."
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke laughed heartily at my description of his client.
+</p>
+<p>
+"What are you laughing at?" I asked sourly; at which he laughed yet more
+heartily and added to the aggravation by wiping his eyes.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Our friend seems to have put you out," he remarked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"He put me out literally. If I had stayed much longer I should have
+punched his head."
+</p>
+<p>
+"In that case," said Thorndyke, "I am glad you didn't stay. But come
+down and let me introduce you."
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, thank you. I've had enough of him for the present."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But I have a very special reason for wishing to introduce you. I think
+you will get some information from him that will interest you very much;
+and you needn't quarrel with a man for being of a cheerful disposition."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Cheerful be hanged!" I exclaimed. "I don't call a man cheerful because
+he behaves like a gibbering idiot."
+</p>
+<p>
+To this Thorndyke made no reply but a broad and appreciative smile, and
+we descended to the lower floor. As we entered the room, the stranger
+rose, and, glancing in an embarrassed way from one of us to the other,
+suddenly broke out into an undeniable snigger. I looked at him sternly,
+and Thorndyke, quite unmoved by his indecorous behaviour, said in a
+grave voice:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Let me introduce you, Jervis; though I think you have met this
+gentleman before."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think not," I said stiffly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh yes, you have, sir," interposed the stranger; and, as he spoke, I
+started; for the voice was uncommonly like the familiar voice of Polton.
+</p>
+<p>
+I looked at the speaker with sudden suspicion. And now I could see that
+the flaxen hair was a wig; that the beard had a decidedly artificial
+look, and that the eyes that beamed through the spectacles were
+remarkably like the eyes of our factotum. But the blotchy face, the
+bulbous nose and the shaggy, overhanging eyebrows were alien features
+that I could not reconcile with the personality of our refined and
+aristocratic-looking little assistant.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Is this a practical joke?" I asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"No," replied Thorndyke; "it is a demonstration. When we were talking
+this morning it appeared to me that you did not realize the extent to
+which it is possible to conceal identity under suitable conditions of
+light. So I arranged, with Polton's rather reluctant assistance, to give
+you ocular evidence. The conditions are not favourable&mdash;which makes the
+demonstration more convincing. This is a very well-lighted room and
+Polton is a very poor actor; in spite of which it has been possible for
+you to sit opposite him for several minutes and look at him, I have no
+doubt, very attentively, without discovering his identity. If the room
+had been lighted only with a candle, and Polton had been equal to the
+task of supporting his make-up with an appropriate voice and manner, the
+deception would have been perfect."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I can see that he has a wig on, quite plainly," said I.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes; but you would not in a dimly lighted room. On the other hand, if
+Polton were to walk down Fleet Street at mid-day in this condition, the
+make-up would be conspicuously evident to any moderately observant
+passer-by. The secret of making up consists in a careful adjustment to
+the conditions of light and distance in which the make-up is to be seen.
+That in use on the stage would look ridiculous in an ordinary room; that
+which would serve in an artificially lighted room would look ridiculous
+out of doors by daylight."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Is any effective make-up possible out of doors in ordinary daylight?" I
+asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, yes," replied Thorndyke. "But it must be on a totally different
+scale from that of the stage. A wig, and especially a beard or
+moustache, must be joined up at the edges with hair actually stuck on
+the skin with transparent cement and carefully trimmed with scissors.
+The same applies to eyebrows; and alterations in the colour of the skin
+must be carried out much more subtly. Polton's nose has been built up
+with a small covering of toup&eacute;e-paste, the pimples on the cheeks
+produced with little particles of the same material; and the general
+tinting has been done with grease-paint with a very light scumble of
+powder colour to take off some of the shine. This would be possible in
+outdoor make-up, but it would have to be done with the greatest care and
+delicacy; in fact, with what the art-critics call 'reticence.' A very
+little make-up is sufficient and too much is fatal. You would be
+surprised to see how little paste is required to alter the shape of the
+nose and the entire character of the face."
+</p>
+<p>
+At this moment there came a loud knock at the door; a single, solid dab
+of the knocker which Polton seemed to recognize, for he ejaculated:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Good lord, sir! That'll be Wilkins, the cabman! I'd forgotten all
+about him. Whatever's to be done?"
+</p>
+<p>
+He stared at us in ludicrous horror for a moment or two, and then,
+snatching off his wig, beard and spectacles, poked them into a cupboard.
+But his appearance was now too much even for Thorndyke&mdash;who hastily got
+behind him&mdash;for he had now resumed his ordinary personality&mdash;but with a
+very material difference.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, it's nothing to laugh at, sir," he exclaimed indignantly as I
+crammed my handkerchief into my mouth. "Somebody's got to let him in, or
+he'll go away."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes; and that won't do," said Thorndyke. "But don't worry, Polton. You
+can step into the office. I'll open the door."
+</p>
+<p>
+Polton's presence of mind, however, seemed to have entirely forsaken
+him, for he only hovered irresolutely in the wake of his principal. As
+the door opened, a thick and husky voice inquired:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Gent of the name of Polton live here?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, quite right," said Thorndyke. "Come in. Your name is Wilkins, I
+think?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"That's me, sir," said the voice; and in response to Thorndyke's
+invitation, a typical "growler" cabman of the old school, complete even
+to imbricated cape and dangling badge, stalked into the room, and
+glancing round with a mixture of embarrassment and defiance, suddenly
+fixed on Polton's nose a look of devouring curiosity.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Here you are, then," Polton remarked nervously.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yus," replied the cabman in a slightly hostile tone. "Here I am. What
+am I wanted to do? And where's this here Mr. Polton?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am Mr. Polton," replied our abashed assistant.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, it's the other Mr. Polton what I want," said the cabman, with his
+eyes still riveted on the olfactory prominence.
+</p>
+<p>
+"There isn't any other Mr. Polton," our subordinate replied irritably.
+"I am the&mdash;er&mdash;person who spoke to you in the shelter."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Are you though?" said the manifestly incredulous cabby. "I shouldn't
+have thought it; but you ought to know. What do you want me to do?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"We want you," said Thorndyke, "to answer one or two questions. And the
+first one is, Are you a teetotaller?"
+</p>
+<p>
+The question being illustrated by the production of a decanter, the
+cabman's dignity relaxed somewhat.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I ain't bigoted," said he.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Then sit down and mix yourself a glass of grog. Soda or plain water?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"May as well have all the extries," replied the cabman, sitting down and
+grasping the decanter with the air of a man who means business. "Per'aps
+you wouldn't mind squirtin' out the soda, sir, bein' more used to it."
+</p>
+<p>
+While these preliminaries were being arranged, Polton silently slipped
+out of the room, and when our visitor had fortified himself with a gulp
+of the uncommonly stiff mixture, the examination began.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Your name, I think, is Wilkins?" said Thorndyke.
+</p>
+<p>
+"That's me, sir. Samuel Wilkins is my name."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And your occupation?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Is a very tryin' one and not paid for as it deserves. I drives a cab,
+sir; a four-wheeled cab is what I drives; and a very poor job it is."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Do you happen to remember a very foggy day about a month ago?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Do I not, sir! A regler sneezer that was! Wednesday, the fourteenth of
+March. I remember the date because my benefit society came down on me
+for arrears that morning."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Will you tell us what happened to you between six and seven in the
+evening of that day?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I will, sir," replied the cabman, emptying his tumbler by way of
+bracing himself up for the effort. "A little before six I was waiting on
+the arrival side of the Great Northern Station, King's Cross, when I see
+a gentleman and a lady coming out. The gentleman he looks up and down
+and then he sees me and walks up to the cab and opens the door and helps
+the lady in. Then he says to me: 'Do you know New Inn?' he says. That's
+what he says to me what was born and brought up in White Horse Alley,
+Drury Lane.
+</p>
+<p>
+"'Get inside,' says I.
+</p>
+<p>
+"'Well,' says he, 'you drive in through the gate in Wych Street,' he
+says, as if he expected me to go in by Houghton Street and down the
+steps, 'and then,' he says, 'you drive nearly to the end and you'll see
+a house with a large brass plate at the corner of the doorway. That's
+where we want to be set down,' he says, and with that he nips in and
+pulls up the windows and off we goes.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It took us a full half-hour to get to New Inn through the fog, for I
+had to get down and lead the horse part of the way. As I drove in under
+the archway, I saw it was half-past six by the clock in the porter's
+lodge. I drove down nearly to the end of the inn and drew up opposite a
+house where there was a big brass plate by the doorway. It was number
+thirty-one. Then the gent crawls out and hands me five bob&mdash;two
+'arf-crowns&mdash;and then he helps the lady out, and away they waddles to
+the doorway and I see them start up the stairs very slow&mdash;regler
+Pilgrim's Progress. And that was the last I see of 'em."
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke wrote down the cabman's statement verbatim together with his
+own questions, and then asked:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Can you give us any description of the gentleman?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"The gent," said Wilkins, was a very respectable-looking gent, though he
+did look as if he'd had a drop of something short, and small blame to
+him on a day like that. But he was all there, and he knew what was the
+proper fare for a foggy evening, which is more than some of 'em do. He
+was a elderly gent, about sixty, and he wore spectacles, but he didn't
+seem to be able to see much through 'em. He was a funny 'un to look at;
+as round in the back as a turtle and he walked with his head stuck
+forward like a goose."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What made you think he had been drinking?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, he wasn't as steady as he might have been on his pins. But he
+wasn't drunk, you know. Only a bit wobbly on the plates."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And the lady; what was she like?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I couldn't see much of her because her head was wrapped up in a sort of
+woollen veil. But I should say she wasn't a chicken. Might have been
+about the same age as the gent, but I couldn't swear to that. She seemed
+a trifle rickety on the pins too; in fact they were a rum-looking
+couple. I watched 'em tottering across the pavement and up the stairs,
+hanging on to each other, him peering through his blinkers and she
+trying to see through her veil, and I thought it was a jolly good job
+they'd got a nice sound cab and a steady driver to bring 'em safe home."
+</p>
+<p>
+"How was the lady dressed?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Can't rightly say, not being a hexpert. Her head was done up in this
+here veil like a pudden in a cloth and she had a small hat on. She had a
+dark brown mantle with a fringe of beads round it and a black dress; and
+I noticed when she got into the cab at the station that one of her
+stockings looked like the bellows of a concertina. That's all I can tell
+you."
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke wrote down the last answer, and, having read the entire
+statement aloud, handed the pen to our visitor.
+</p>
+<p>
+"If that is all correct," he said, "I will ask you to sign your name at
+the bottom."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Do you want me to swear a affidavy that it's all true?" asked Wilkins.
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, thank you," replied Thorndyke. "We may have to call you to give
+evidence in court, and then you'll be sworn; and you'll also be paid for
+your attendance. For the present I want you to keep your own counsel and
+say nothing to anybody about having been here. We have to make some
+other inquiries and we don't want the affair talked about."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I see, sir," said Wilkins, as he laboriously traced his signature at
+the foot of the statement; "you don't want the other parties for to ogle
+your lay. All right, sir; you can depend on me. I'm fly, I am."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Thank you, Wilkins," said Thorndyke. "And now what are we to give you
+for your trouble in coming here?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'll leave the fare to you, sir. You know what the information's worth;
+but I should think 'arf a thick-un wouldn't hurt you."
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke laid on the table a couple of sovereigns, at the sight of
+which the cabman's eyes glistened.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We have your address, Wilkins," said he. "If we want you as a witness
+we shall let you know, and if not, there will be another two pounds for
+you at the end of a fortnight, provided you have not let this little
+interview leak out."
+</p>
+<p>
+Wilkins gathered up the spoils gleefully. "You can trust me, sir," said
+he, "for to keep my mouth shut. I knows which side my bread's buttered.
+Good night, gentlemen all."
+</p>
+<p>
+With this comprehensive salute he moved towards the door and let
+himself out.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, Jervis; what do you think of it?" Thorndyke asked, as the
+cabman's footsteps faded away in a creaky diminuendo.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't know what to think. This woman is a new factor in the case and
+I don't know how to place her."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not entirely new," said Thorndyke. "You have not forgotten those beads
+that we found in Jeffrey's bedroom, have you?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, I had not forgotten them, but I did not see that they told us much
+excepting that some woman had apparently been in his bedroom at some
+time."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That, I think, is all that they did tell us. But now they tell us that
+a particular woman was in his bedroom at a particular time, which is a
+good deal more significant."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes. It almost looks as if she must have been there when he made away
+with himself."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It does, very much."
+</p>
+<p>
+"By the way, you were right about the colours of those beads, and also
+about the way they were used."
+</p>
+<p>
+"As to their use, that was a mere guess; but it has turned out to be
+correct. It was well that we found the beads, for, small as is the
+amount of information they give, it is still enough to carry us a stage
+further."
+</p>
+<p>
+"How so?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I mean that the cabman's evidence tells us only that this woman entered
+the house. The beads tell us that she was in the bedroom; which, as you
+say, seems to connect her to some extent with Jeffrey's death. Not
+necessarily, of course. It is only a suggestion; but a rather strong
+suggestion under the peculiar circumstances."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Even so," said I, "this new fact seems to me so far from clearing up
+the mystery, only to add to it a fresh element of still deeper mystery.
+The porter's evidence at the inquest could leave no doubt that Jeffrey
+contemplated suicide, and his preparations pointedly suggest this
+particular night as the time selected by him for doing away with
+himself. Is not that so?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Certainly. The porter's evidence was very clear on that point."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Then I don't see where this woman comes in. It is obvious that her
+presence at the inn, and especially in the bedroom, on this occasion and
+in these strange, secret circumstances, has a rather sinister look; but
+yet I do not see in what way she could have been connected with the
+tragedy. Perhaps, after all, she has nothing to do with it. You remember
+that Jeffrey went to the lodge about eight o'clock, to pay his rent, and
+chatted for some time with the porter. That looks as if the lady had
+already left."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes," said Thorndyke. "But, on the other hand, Jeffrey's remarks to the
+porter with reference to the cab do not quite agree with the account
+that we have just heard from Wilkins. Which suggests&mdash;as does Wilkins's
+account generally&mdash;some secrecy as to the lady's visit to his chambers."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Do you know who the woman was?" I asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, I don't know," he replied. "I have a rather strong suspicion that I
+can identify her, but I am waiting for some further facts."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Is your suspicion founded on some new matter that you have discovered,
+or is it deducible from facts that are known to me?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think," he replied, "that you know practically all that I know,
+although I have, in one instance, turned a very strong suspicion into a
+certainty by further inquiries. But I think you ought to be able to form
+some idea as to who this lady probably was."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But no woman has been mentioned in the case at all."
+</p>
+<p>
+"No; but I think you should be able to give this lady a name,
+notwithstanding."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Should I? Then I begin to suspect that I am not cut out for
+medico-legal practice, for I don't see the faintest glimmer of a
+suggestion."
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke smiled benevolently. "Don't be discouraged, Jervis," said he.
+"I expect that when you first began to go round the wards, you doubted
+whether you were cut out for medical practice. I did. For special work
+one needs special knowledge and an acquired faculty for making use of
+it. What does a second year's student make of a small thoracic aneurysm?
+He knows the anatomy of the chest; he begins to know the normal heart
+sounds and areas of dullness; but he cannot yet fit his various items of
+knowledge together. Then comes the experienced physician and perhaps
+makes a complete diagnosis without any examination at all, merely from
+hearing the patient speak or cough. He has the same facts as the
+student, but he has acquired the faculty of instantly connecting an
+abnormality of function with its correleated anatomical change. It is a
+matter of experience. And, with your previous training, you will soon
+acquire the faculty. Try to observe everything. Let nothing escape you.
+And try constantly to find some connection between facts and events that
+seem to be unconnected. That is my advice to you; and with that we will
+put away the Blackmore case for the present and consider our day's work
+at an end."
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="CH14"><!-- CH14 --></a>
+<h2>
+	Chapter XIV
+</h2>
+
+<h3>
+Thorndyke Lays the Mine
+</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>
+The information supplied by Mr. Samuel Wilkins, so far from dispelling
+the cloud of mystery that hung over the Blackmore case, only enveloped
+it in deeper obscurity, so far as I was concerned. The new problem that
+Thorndyke offered for solution was a tougher one than any of the others.
+He proposed that I should identify and give a name to this mysterious
+woman. But how could I? No woman, excepting Mrs. Wilson, had been
+mentioned in connection with the case. This new <i>dramatis persona</i> had
+appeared suddenly from nowhere and straightway vanished without leaving
+a trace, excepting the two or three beads that we had picked up in
+Jeffrey's room.
+</p>
+<p>
+Nor was it in the least clear what part, if any, she had played in the
+tragedy. The facts still pointed as plainly to suicide as before her
+appearance. Jeffrey's repeated hints as to his intentions, and the very
+significant preparations that he had made, were enough to negative any
+idea of foul play. And yet the woman's presence in the chambers at that
+time, the secret manner of her arrival and her precautions against
+recognition, strongly suggested some kind of complicity in the dreadful
+event that followed.
+</p>
+<p>
+But what complicity is possible in the case of suicide? The woman might
+have furnished him with the syringe and the poison, but it would not
+have been necessary for her to go to his chambers for that purpose.
+Vague ideas of persuasion and hypnotic suggestion floated through my
+brain; but the explanations did not fit the case and the hypnotic
+suggestion of crime is not very convincing to the medical mind. Then I
+thought of blackmail in connection with some disgraceful secret; but
+though this was a more hopeful suggestion, it was not very probable,
+considering Jeffrey's age and character.
+</p>
+<p>
+And all these speculations failed to throw the faintest light on the
+main question: "Who was this woman?"
+</p>
+<p>
+A couple of days passed, during which Thorndyke made no further
+reference to the case. He was, most of the time, away from home, though
+how he was engaged I had no idea. What was rather more unusual was that
+Polton seemed to have deserted the laboratory and taken to outdoor
+pursuits. I assumed that he had seized the opportunity of leaving me in
+charge, and I dimly surmised that he was acting as Thorndyke's private
+inquiry agent, as he seemed to have done in the case of Samuel Wilkins.
+</p>
+<p>
+On the evening of the second day Thorndyke came home in obviously good
+spirits, and his first proceedings aroused my expectant curiosity. He
+went to a cupboard and brought forth a box of Trichinopoly cheroots. Now
+the Trichinopoly cheroot was Thorndyke's one dissipation, to be enjoyed
+only on rare and specially festive occasions; which, in practice, meant
+those occasions on which he had scored some important point or solved
+some unusually tough problem. Wherefore I watched him with lively
+interest.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It's a pity that the 'Trichy' is such a poisonous beast," he remarked,
+taking up one of the cheroots and sniffing at it delicately. "There is
+no other cigar like it, to a really abandoned smoker." He laid the cigar
+back in the box and continued: "I think I shall treat myself to one
+after dinner to celebrate the occasion."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What occasion?" I asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The completion of the Blackmore case. I am just going to write to
+Marchmont advising him to enter a caveat."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Do you mean to say that you have discovered a flaw in the will, after
+all?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"A flaw!" he exclaimed. "My dear Jervis, that second will is a forgery."
+</p>
+<p>
+I stared at him in amazement; for his assertion sounded like nothing
+more or less than arrant nonsense.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But the thing is impossible, Thorndyke," I said. "Not only did the
+witnesses recognize their own signatures and the painter's greasy
+finger-marks, but they had both read the will and remembered its
+contents."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes; that is the interesting feature in the case. It is a very pretty
+problem. I shall give you a last chance to solve it. To-morrow evening
+we shall have to give a full explanation, so you have another
+twenty-four hours in which to think it over. And, meanwhile, I am going
+to take you to my club to dine. I think we shall be pretty safe there
+from Mrs. Schallibaum."
+</p>
+<p>
+He sat down and wrote a letter, which was apparently quite a short one,
+and having addressed and stamped it, prepared to go out.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Come," said he, "let us away to 'the gay and festive scenes and halls
+of dazzling light.' We will lay the mine in the Fleet Street pillar box.
+I should like to be in Marchmont's office when it explodes."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I expect, for that matter," said I, "that the explosion will be felt
+pretty distinctly in these chambers."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I expect so, too," replied Thorndyke; "and that reminds me that I shall
+be out all day to-morrow, so, if Marchmont calls, you must do all that
+you can to persuade him to come round after dinner and bring Stephen
+Blackmore, if possible. I am anxious to have Stephen here, as he will be
+able to give us some further information and confirm certain matters of
+fact."
+</p>
+<p>
+I promised to exercise my utmost powers of persuasion on Mr. Marchmont
+which I should certainly have done on my own account, being now on the
+very tiptoe of curiosity to hear Thorndyke's explanation of the
+unthinkable conclusion at which he had arrived&mdash;and the subject dropped
+completely; nor could I, during the rest of the evening, induce my
+colleague to reopen it even in the most indirect or allusive manner.
+</p>
+<p>
+Our explanations in respect of Mr. Marchmont were fully realized; for,
+on the following morning, within an hour of Thorndyke's departure from
+our chambers, the knocker was plied with more than usual emphasis, and,
+on my opening the door, I discovered the solicitor in company with a
+somewhat older gentleman. Mr. Marchmont appeared somewhat out of humour,
+while his companion was obviously in a state of extreme irritation.
+</p>
+<p>
+"How d'you do, Dr. Jervis?" said Marchmont as he entered at my
+invitation. "Your friend, I suppose, is not in just now?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No; and he will not be returning until the evening."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Hm; I'm sorry. We wished to see him rather particularly. This is my
+partner, Mr. Winwood."
+</p>
+<p>
+The latter gentleman bowed stiffly and Marchmont continued:
+</p>
+<p>
+"We have had a letter from Dr. Thorndyke, and it is, I may say, a rather
+curious letter; in fact, a very singular letter indeed."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is the letter of a madman!" growled Mr. Winwood.
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, no, Winwood; nothing of the kind. Control yourself, I beg you. But
+really, the letter is rather incomprehensible. It relates to the will of
+the late Jeffrey Blackmore&mdash;you know the main facts of the case; and we
+cannot reconcile it with those facts."
+</p>
+<p>
+"This is the letter," exclaimed Mr. Winwood, dragging the document from
+his wallet and slapping it down on the table. "If you are acquainted
+with the case, sir, just read that, and let us hear what <i>you</i> think."
+</p>
+<p>
+I took up the letter and read aloud:
+</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p>
+"JEFFREY BLACKMORE, DECD.
+</p>
+<p>
+"DEAR MR. MARCHMONT,&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+"I have gone into this case with great care and have now no doubt that
+the second will is a forgery. Criminal proceedings will, I think, be
+inevitable, but meanwhile it would be wise to enter a caveat.
+</p>
+<p>
+"If you could look in at my chambers to-morrow evening we could talk the
+case over; and I should be glad if you could bring Mr. Stephen
+Blackmore; whose personal knowledge of the events and the parties
+concerned would be of great assistance in clearing up obscure details.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am,
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yours sincerely,
+</p>
+<p>
+"JOHN EVELYN THORNDYKE
+</p>
+<p>
+"C.F. MARCHMONT, ESQ."
+</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>
+"Well!" exclaimed Mr. Winwood, glaring ferociously at me, "what do you
+think of the learned counsel's opinion?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I knew that Thorndyke was writing to you to this effect," I replied,
+"but I must frankly confess that I can make nothing of it. Have you
+acted on his advice?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Certainly not!" shouted the irascible lawyer. "Do you suppose that we
+wish to make ourselves the laughing-stock of the courts? The thing is
+impossible&mdash;ridiculously impossible!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"It can't be that, you know," I said, a little stiffly, for I was
+somewhat nettled by Mr. Winwood's manner, "or Thorndyke would not have
+written this letter. The conclusion looks as impossible to me as it does
+to you; but I have complete confidence in Thorndyke. If he says that the
+will is a forgery, I have no doubt that it is a forgery."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But how the deuce can it be?" roared Winwood. "You know the
+circumstances under which the will was executed."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes; but so does Thorndyke. And he is not a man who overlooks important
+facts. It is useless to argue with me. I am in a complete fog about the
+case myself. You had better come in this evening and talk it over with
+him as he suggests."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is very inconvenient," grumbled Mr. Winwood. "We shall have to dine
+in town."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes," said Marchmont, "but it is the only thing to be done. As Dr.
+Jervis says, we must take it that Thorndyke has something solid to base
+his opinion on. He doesn't make elementary mistakes. And, of course, if
+what he says is correct, Mr. Stephen's position is totally changed."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Bah!" exclaimed Winwood, "he has found a mare's nest, I tell you.
+Still, I agree that the explanation should be worth hearing."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You mustn't mind Winwood," said Marchmont, in an apologetic undertone;
+"he's a peppery old fellow with a rough tongue, but he doesn't mean any
+harm." Which statement Winwood assented to&mdash;or dissented from; for it
+was impossible to say which&mdash;by a prolonged growl.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We shall expect you then," I said, "about eight to-night, and you will
+try to bring Mr. Stephen with you?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes," replied Marchmont; "I think we can promise that he shall come
+with us. I have sent him a telegram asking him to attend."
+</p>
+<p>
+With this the two lawyers took their departure, leaving me to meditate
+upon my colleague's astonishing statement; which I did, considerably to
+the prejudice of other employment. That Thorndyke would be able to
+justify the opinion that he had given, I had no doubt whatever; but yet
+there was no denying that his proposition was what Mr. Dick Swiveller
+would call "a staggerer."
+</p>
+<p>
+When Thorndyke returned, I informed him of the visit of our two friends,
+and acquainted him with the sentiments that they had expressed; whereat
+he smiled with quiet amusement.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I thought," he remarked, "that letter would bring Marchmont to our door
+before long. As to Winwood, I have never met him, but I gather that he
+is one of those people whom you 'mustn't mind.' In a general way, I
+object to people who tacitly claim exemption from the ordinary rules of
+conduct that are held to be binding on their fellows. But, as he
+promises to give us what the variety artists call 'an extra turn,' we
+will make the best of him and give him a run for his money."
+</p>
+<p>
+Here Thorndyke smiled mischievously&mdash;I understood the meaning of that
+smile later in the evening&mdash;and asked: "What do you think of the affair
+yourself?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I have given it up," I answered. "To my paralysed brain, the Blackmore
+case is like an endless algebraical problem propounded by an insane
+mathematician."
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke laughed at my comparison, which I flatter myself was a rather
+apt one.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Come and dine," said he, "and let us crack a bottle, that our hearts
+may not turn to water under the frown of the disdainful Winwood. I think
+the old 'Bell' in Holborn will meet our present requirements better than
+the club. There is something jovial and roystering about an ancient
+tavern; but we must keep a sharp lookout for Mrs. Schallibaum."
+</p>
+<p>
+Thereupon we set forth; and, after a week's close imprisonment, I once
+more looked upon the friendly London streets, the cheerfully lighted
+shop windows and the multitudes of companionable strangers who moved
+unceasingly along the pavements.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="CH15"><!-- CH15 --></a>
+<h2>
+	Chapter XV
+</h2>
+
+<h3>
+Thorndyke Explodes the Mine
+</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>
+We had not been back in our chambers more than a few minutes when the
+little brass knocker on the inner door rattled out its summons.
+Thorndyke himself opened the door, and, finding our three expected
+visitors on the threshold, he admitted them and closed the "oak."
+</p>
+<p>
+"We have accepted your invitation, you see," said Marchmont, whose
+manner was now a little flurried and uneasy. "This is my partner, Mr.
+Winwood; you haven't met before, I think. Well, we thought we should
+like to hear some further particulars from you, as we could not quite
+understand your letter."
+</p>
+<p>
+"My conclusion, I suppose," said Thorndyke, "was a little unexpected?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"It was more than that, sir," exclaimed Winwood. "It was absolutely
+irreconcilable either with the facts of the case or with common physical
+possibilities."
+</p>
+<p>
+"At the first glance," Thorndyke agreed, "it would probably have that
+appearance."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It has that appearance still to me." said Winwood, growing suddenly red
+and wrathful, "and I may say that I speak as a solicitor who was
+practising in the law when you were an infant in arms. You tell us, sir,
+that this will is a forgery; this will, which was executed in broad
+daylight in the presence of two unimpeachable witnesses who have sworn,
+not only to their signatures and the contents of the document, but to
+their very finger-marks on the paper. Are those finger-marks forgeries,
+too? Have you examined and tested them?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I have not," replied Thorndyke. "The fact is they are of no interest to
+me, as I am not disputing the witnesses' signatures."
+</p>
+<p>
+At this, Mr. Winwood fairly danced with irritation.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Marchmont!" he exclaimed fiercely, "you know this good gentleman, I
+believe. Tell me, is he addicted to practical jokes?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Now, my dear Winwood," groaned Marchmont, "I pray you&mdash;I beg you to
+control yourself. No doubt&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+"But confound it!" roared Winwood, "you have, yourself, heard him say
+that the will is a forgery, but that he doesn't dispute the signatures;
+which," concluded Winwood, banging his fist down on the table, "is
+damned nonsense."
+</p>
+<p>
+"May I suggest," interposed Stephen Blackmore, "that we came here to
+receive Dr. Thorndyke's explanation of his letter. Perhaps it would be
+better to postpone any comments until we have heard it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Undoubtedly, undoubtedly," said Marchmont. "Let me entreat you,
+Winwood, to listen patiently and refrain from interruption until we have
+heard our learned friend's exposition of the case."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, very well," Winwood replied sulkily; "I'll say no more."
+</p>
+<p>
+He sank into a chair with the manner of a man who shuts himself up and
+turns the key; and so remained&mdash;excepting when the internal pressure
+approached bursting-point&mdash;throughout the subsequent proceedings,
+silent, stony and impassive, like a seated statue of Obstinacy.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I take it," said Marchmont, "that you have some new facts that are not
+in our possession?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes," replied Thorndyke; "we have some new facts, and we have made some
+new use of the old ones. But how shall I lay the case before you? Shall
+I state my theory of the sequence of events and furnish the verification
+afterwards? Or shall I retrace the actual course of my investigations
+and give you the facts in the order in which I obtained them myself,
+with the inferences from them?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I almost think," said Mr. Marchmont, "that it would be better if you
+would put us in possession of the new facts. Then, if the conclusions
+that follow from them are not sufficiently obvious, we could hear the
+argument. What do you say, Winwood?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Mr. Winwood roused himself for an instant, barked out the one word
+"Facts," and shut himself up again with a snap.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You would like to have the new facts by themselves?" said Thorndyke.
+</p>
+<p>
+"If you please. The facts only, in the first place, at any rate."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Very well," said Thorndyke; and here I caught his eye with a
+mischievous twinkle in it that I understood perfectly; for I had most of
+the facts myself and realized how much these two lawyers were likely to
+extract from them. Winwood was going to "have a run for his money," as
+Thorndyke had promised.
+</p>
+<p>
+My colleague, having placed on the table by his side a small cardboard
+box and the sheets of notes from his file, glanced quickly at Mr.
+Winwood and began:
+</p>
+<p>
+"The first important new facts came into my possession on the day on
+which you introduced the case to me. In the evening, after you left, I
+availed myself of Mr. Stephen's kind invitation to look over his uncle's
+chambers in New Inn. I wished to do so in order to ascertain, if
+possible, what had been the habits of the deceased during his residence
+there. When I arrived with Dr. Jervis, Mr. Stephen was in the chambers,
+and I learned from him that his uncle was an Oriental scholar of some
+position and that he had a very thorough acquaintance with the cuneiform
+writing. Now, while I was talking with Mr. Stephen I made a very curious
+discovery. On the wall over the fire-place hung a large framed
+photograph of an ancient Persian inscription in the cuneiform character;
+and that photograph was upside down."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Upside down!" exclaimed Stephen. "But that is really very odd."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Very odd indeed," agreed Thorndyke, "and very suggestive. The way in
+which it came to be inverted is pretty obvious and also rather
+suggestive. The photograph had evidently been in the frame some years
+but had apparently never been hung up before."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It had not," said Stephen, "though I don't know how you arrived at the
+fact. It used to stand on the mantelpiece in his old rooms in Jermyn
+Street."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well," continued Thorndyke, "the frame-maker had pasted his label on
+the back of the frame, and as this label hung the right way up, it
+appeared as if the person who fixed the photograph on the wall had
+adopted it as a guide."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is very extraordinary," said Stephen. "I should have thought the
+person who hung it would have asked Uncle Jeffrey which was the right
+way up; and I can't imagine how on earth it could have hung all those
+months without his noticing it. He must have been practically blind."
+</p>
+<p>
+Here Marchmont, who had been thinking hard, with knitted brows, suddenly
+brightened up.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I see your point," said he. "You mean that if Jeffrey was as blind as
+that, it would have been possible for some person to substitute a false
+will, which he might sign without noticing the substitution."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That wouldn't make the will a forgery," growled Winwood. "If Jeffrey
+signed it, it was Jeffrey's will. You could contest it if you could
+prove the fraud. But he said: 'This is my will,' and the two witnesses
+read it and have identified it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Did they read it aloud?" asked Stephen.
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, they did not," replied Thorndyke.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Can you prove substitution?" asked Marchmont.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I haven't asserted it," answered Thorndyke, "My position is that the
+will is a forgery."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But it is not," said Winwood.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We won't argue it now," said Thorndyke. "I ask you to note the fact
+that the inscription was upside down. I also observed on the walls of
+the chambers some valuable Japanese colour-prints on which were recent
+damp-spots. I noted that the sitting-room had a gas-stove and that the
+kitchen contained practically no stores or remains of food and hardly
+any traces of even the simplest cooking. In the bedroom I found a large
+box that had contained a considerable stock of hard stearine candles,
+six to the pound, and that was now nearly empty. I examined the clothing
+of the deceased. On the soles of the boots I observed dried mud, which
+was unlike that on my own and Jervis's boots, from the gravelly square
+of the inn. I noted a crease on each leg of the deceased man's trousers
+as if they had been turned up half-way to the knee; and in the waistcoat
+pocket I found the stump of a 'Contango' pencil. On the floor of the
+bedroom, I found a portion of an oval glass somewhat like that of a
+watch or locket, but ground at the edge to a double bevel. Dr. Jervis
+and I also found one or two beads and a bugle, all of dark brown glass."
+</p>
+<p>
+Here Thorndyke paused, and Marchmont, who had been gazing at him with
+growing amazement, said nervously:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Er&mdash;yes. Very interesting. These observations of yours&mdash;er&mdash;are&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Are all the observations that I made at New Inn."
+</p>
+<p>
+The two lawyers looked at one another and Stephen Blackmore stared
+fixedly at a spot on the hearth-rug. Then Mr. Winwood's face contorted
+itself into a sour, lopsided smile.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You might have observed a good many other things, sir," said he, "if
+you had looked. If you had examined the doors, you would have noted that
+they had hinges and were covered with paint; and, if you had looked up
+the chimney you might have noted that it was black inside."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Now, now, Winwood," protested Marchmont in an agony of uneasiness as to
+what his partner might say next, "I must really beg you&mdash;er&mdash;to refrain
+from&mdash;what Mr. Winwood means, Dr. Thorndyke, is that&mdash;er&mdash;we do not
+quite perceive the relevancy of these&mdash;ah&mdash;observations of yours."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Probably not," said Thorndyke, "but you will perceive their relevancy
+later. For the present, I will ask you to note the facts and bear them
+in mind, so that you may be able to follow the argument when we come to
+that.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The next set of data I acquired on the same evening, when Dr. Jervis
+gave me a detailed account of a very strange adventure that befell him.
+I need not burden you with all the details, but I will give you the
+substance of his story."
+</p>
+<p>
+He then proceeded to recount the incidents connected with my visits to
+Mr. Graves, dwelling on the personal peculiarities of the parties
+concerned and especially of the patient, and not even forgetting the
+very singular spectacles worn by Mr. Weiss. He also explained briefly
+the construction of the chart, presenting the latter for the inspection
+of his hearers. To this recital our three visitors listened in utter
+bewilderment, as, indeed did I also; for I could not conceive in what
+way my adventures could possibly be related to the affairs of the late
+Mr. Blackmore. This was manifestly the view taken by Mr. Marchmont, for,
+during a pause in which the chart was handed to him, he remarked
+somewhat stiffly:
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am assuming, Dr. Thorndyke, that the curious story you are telling us
+has some relevance to the matter in which we are interested."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You are quite correct in your assumption," replied Thorndyke. "The
+story is very relevant indeed, as you will presently be convinced."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Thank you," said Marchmont, sinking back once more into his chair with
+a sigh of resignation.
+</p>
+<p>
+"A few days ago," pursued Thorndyke, "Dr. Jervis and I located, with the
+aid of this chart, the house to which he had been called. We found that
+the late tenant had left somewhat hurriedly and that the house was to
+let; and, as no other kind of investigation was possible, we obtained
+the keys and made an exploration of the premises."
+</p>
+<p>
+Here he gave a brief account of our visit and the conditions that we
+observed, and was proceeding to furnish a list of the articles that we
+had found under the grate, when Mr. Winwood started from his chair.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Really, sir!" he exclaimed, "this is too much! Have I come here, at
+great personal inconvenience, to hear you read the inventory of a
+dust-heap?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke smiled benevolently and caught my eye, once more, with a gleam
+of amusement.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Sit down, Mr. Winwood," he said quietly. "You came here to learn the
+facts of the case, and I am giving them to you. Please don't interrupt
+needlessly and waste time."
+</p>
+<p>
+Winwood stared at him ferociously for several seconds; then, somewhat
+disconcerted by the unruffled calm of his manner, he uttered a snort of
+defiance, sat down heavily and shut himself up again.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We will now," Thorndyke continued, with unmoved serenity, "consider
+these relics in more detail, and we will begin with this pair of
+spectacles. They belonged to a person who was near-sighted and
+astigmatic in the left eye and almost certainly blind in the right. Such
+a description agrees entirely with Dr. Jervis's account of the sick
+man."
+</p>
+<p>
+He paused for the moment, and then, as no one made any comment,
+proceeded:
+</p>
+<p>
+"We next come to these little pieces of reed, which you, Mr. Stephen,
+will probably recognize as the remains of a Japanese brush, such as is
+used for writing in Chinese ink or for making small drawings."
+</p>
+<p>
+Again he paused, as though expecting some remark from his listeners; but
+no one spoke, and he continued:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Then there is this bottle with the theatrical wig-maker's label on it,
+which once contained cement such as is used for fixing on false beards,
+moustaches or eyebrows."
+</p>
+<p>
+He paused once more and looked round expectantly at his audience, none
+of whom, however, volunteered any remark.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Do none of these objects that I have described and shown you, seem to
+have any significance for us?" he asked, in a tone of some surprise.
+</p>
+<p>
+"They convey nothing to me," said Mr. Marchmont, glancing at his
+partner, who shook his head like a restive horse.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Nor to you, Mr. Stephen?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No," replied Stephen. "Under the existing circumstances they convey no
+reasonable suggestion to me."
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke hesitated as if he were half inclined to say something more;
+then, with a slight shrug, he turned over his notes and resumed:
+</p>
+<p>
+"The next group of new facts is concerned with the signatures of the
+recent cheques. We have photographed them and placed them together for
+the purpose of comparison and analysis."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am not prepared to question the signatures." said Winwood. "We have
+had a highly expert opinion, which would override ours in a court of law
+even if we differed from it; which I think we do not."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes," said Marchmont; "that is so. I think we must accept the
+signatures, especially as that of the will has been proved, beyond any
+question" to be authentic."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Very well," agreed Thorndyke; "we will pass over the signatures. Then
+we have some further evidence in regard to the spectacles, which serves
+to verify our conclusions respecting them."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Perhaps," said Marchmont, "we might pass over that, too, as we do not
+seem to have reached any conclusions."
+</p>
+<p>
+"As you please," said Thorndyke. "It is important, but we can reserve it
+for verification. The next item will interest you more, I think. It is
+the signed and witnessed statement of Samuel Wilkins, the driver of the
+cab in which the deceased came home to the inn on the evening of his
+death."
+</p>
+<p>
+My colleague was right. An actual document, signed by a tangible
+witness, who could be put in the box and sworn, brought both lawyers to
+a state of attention; and when Thorndyke read out the cabman's evidence,
+their attention soon quickened into undisguised astonishment.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But this is a most mysterious affair," exclaimed Marchmont. "Who could
+this woman have been, and what could she have been doing in Jeffrey's
+chambers at this time? Can you throw any light on it, Mr. Stephen?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, indeed I can't," replied Stephen. "It is a complete mystery to me.
+My uncle Jeffrey was a confirmed old bachelor, and, although he did not
+dislike women, he was far from partial to their society, wrapped up as
+he was in his favourite studies. To the best of my belief, he had not a
+single female friend. He was not on intimate terms even with his sister,
+Mrs. Wilson."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Very remarkable," mused Marchmont; "most remarkable. But, perhaps, you
+can tell us, Dr. Thorndyke, who this woman was?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think," replied Thorndyke, "that the next item of evidence will
+enable you to form an opinion for yourselves. I only obtained it
+yesterday, and, as it made my case quite complete, I wrote off to you
+immediately. It is the statement of Joseph Ridley, another cabman, and
+unfortunately, a rather dull, unobservant fellow, unlike Wilkins. He has
+not much to tell us, but what little he has is highly instructive. Here
+is the statement, signed by the deponent and witnessed by me:
+</p>
+<p>
+"'My name is Joseph Ridley. I am the driver of a four-wheeled cab. On
+the fourteenth of March, the day of the great fog, I was waiting at
+Vauxhall Station, where I had just set down a fare. About five o'clock a
+lady came and told me to drive over to Upper Kennington Lane to take up
+a passenger. She was a middle-sized woman. I could not tell what her age
+was, or what she was like, because her head was wrapped up in a sort of
+knitted, woollen veil to keep out the fog. I did not notice how she was
+dressed. She got into the cab and I led the horse over to Upper
+Kennington Lane and a little way up the lane, until the lady tapped at
+the front window for me to stop.
+</p>
+<p>
+"'She got out of the cab and told me to wait. Then she went away and
+disappeared in the fog. Presently a lady and gentleman came from the
+direction in which she had gone. The lady looked like the same lady, but
+I won't answer to that. Her head was wrapped up in the same kind of veil
+or shawl, and I noticed that she had on a dark coloured mantle with
+bead fringe on it.
+</p>
+<p>
+"'The gentleman was clean shaved and wore spectacles, and he stooped a
+good deal. I can't say whether his sight was good or bad. He helped the
+lady into the cab and told me to drive to the Great Northern Station,
+King's Cross. Then he got in himself and I drove off. I got to the
+station about a quarter to six and the lady and gentleman got out. The
+gentleman paid my fare and they both went into the station. I did not
+notice anything unusual about either of them. Directly after they had
+gone, I got a fresh fare and drove away.'
+</p>
+<p>
+"That," Thorndyke concluded, "is Joseph Ridley's statement; and I think
+it will enable you to give a meaning to the other facts that I have
+offered for your consideration."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am not so sure about that," said Marchmont. "It is all exceedingly
+mysterious. Your suggestion is, of course, that the woman who came to
+New Inn in the cab was Mrs. Schallibaum!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not at all," replied Thorndyke. "My suggestion is that the woman was
+Jeffrey Blackmore."
+</p>
+<p>
+There was deathly silence for a few moments. We were all absolutely
+thunderstruck, and sat gaping at Thorndyke in speechless-astonishment.
+Then&mdash;Mr. Winwood fairly bounced out of his chair.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But&mdash;my&mdash;good&mdash;sir!" he screeched. "Jeffrey Blackmore was with her at
+the time!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Naturally," replied Thorndyke, "my suggestion implies that the person
+who was with her was not Jeffrey Blackmore."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But he was!" bawled Winwood. "The porter saw him!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"The porter saw a person whom he believed to be Jeffrey Blackmore. I
+suggest that the porter's belief was erroneous."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well," snapped Winwood, "perhaps you can prove that it was. I don't see
+how you are going to; but perhaps you can."
+</p>
+<p>
+He subsided once more into his chair and glared defiantly at Thorndyke.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You seemed," said Stephen, "to suggest some connection between the sick
+man, Graves, and my uncle. I noted it at the time, but put it aside as
+impossible. Was I right. Did you mean to suggest any connection?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I suggest something more than a connection. I suggest identity. My
+position is that the sick man, Graves, was your uncle."
+</p>
+<p>
+"From Dr. Jervis's description," said Stephen, "this man must have been
+very like my uncle. Both were blind in the right eye and had very poor
+vision with the left; and my uncle certainly used brushes of the kind
+that you have shown us, when writing in the Japanese character, for I
+have watched him and admired his skill; but&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+"But," said Marchmont, "there is the insuperable objection that, at the
+very time when this man was lying sick in Kennington Lane, Mr. Jeffrey
+was living at New Inn."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What evidence is there of that?" asked Thorndyke.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Evidence!" Marchmont exclaimed impatiently. "Why, my dear sir&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+He paused suddenly, and, leaning forward, regarded Thorndyke with a new
+and rather startled expression.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You mean to suggest&mdash;" he began.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I suggest that Jeffrey Blackmore never lived at New Inn at all."
+</p>
+<p>
+For the moment, Marchmont seemed absolutely paralysed by astonishment.
+</p>
+<p>
+"This is an amazing proposition!" he exclaimed, at length. "Yet the
+thing is certainly not impossible, for, now that you recall the fact, I
+realize that no one who had known him previously&mdash;excepting his brother,
+John&mdash;ever saw him at the inn. The question of identity was never
+raised."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Excepting," said Mr. Winwood, "in regard to the body; which was
+certainly that of Jeffrey Blackmore."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, yes. Of course," said Marchmont. "I had forgotten that for the
+moment. The body was identified beyond doubt. You don't dispute the
+identity of the body, do you?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Certainly not," replied Thorndyke.
+</p>
+<p>
+Here Mr. Winwood grasped his hair with both hands and stuck his elbows
+on his knees, while Marchmont drew forth a large handkerchief and mopped
+his forehead. Stephen Blackmore looked from one to the other
+expectantly, and finally said:
+</p>
+<p>
+"If I might make a suggestion, it would be that, as Dr. Thorndyke has
+shown us the pieces now of the puzzle, he should be so kind as to put
+them together for our information."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes," agreed Marchmont, "that will be the best plan. Let us have the
+argument, Doctor, and any additional evidence that you possess."
+</p>
+<p>
+"The argument," said Thorndyke, "will be a rather long one, as the data
+are so numerous, and there are some points in verification on which I
+shall have to dwell in some detail. We will have some coffee to clear
+our brains, and then I will bespeak your patience for what may seem like
+a rather prolix demonstration."
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="CH16"><!-- CH16 --></a>
+<h2>
+	Chapter XVI
+</h2>
+
+<h3>
+An Exposition and a Tragedy
+</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>
+"You may have wondered," Thorndyke commenced, when he had poured out the
+coffee and handed round the cups, "what induced me to undertake the
+minute investigation of so apparently simple and straightforward a case.
+Perhaps I had better explain that first and let you see what was the
+real starting-point of the inquiry.
+</p>
+<p>
+"When you, Mr. Marchmont and Mr. Stephen, introduced the case to me, I
+made a very brief pr&eacute;cis of the facts as you presented them, and of
+these there were one or two which immediately attracted my attention. In
+the first place, there was the will. It was a very strange will. It was
+perfectly unnecessary. It contained no new matter; it expressed no
+changed intentions; it met no new circumstances, as known to the
+testator. In short it was not really a new will at all, but merely a
+repetition of the first one, drafted in different and less suitable
+language. It differed only in introducing a certain ambiguity from which
+the original was free. It created the possibility that, in certain
+circumstances, not known to or anticipated by the testator, John
+Blackmore might become the principal beneficiary, contrary to the
+obvious wishes of the testator.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The next point that impressed me was the manner of Mrs. Wilson's death.
+She died of cancer. Now people do not die suddenly and unexpectedly of
+cancer. This terrible disease stands almost alone in that it marks out
+its victim months in advance. A person who has an incurable cancer is a
+person whose death may be predicted with certainty and its date fixed
+within comparatively narrow limits.
+</p>
+<p>
+"And now observe the remarkable series of coincidences that are brought
+into light when we consider this peculiarity of the disease. Mrs. Wilson
+died on the twelfth of March of this present year. Mr. Jeffrey's second
+will was signed on the twelfth of November of last year; at a time, that
+is to say, when the existence of cancer must have been known to Mrs.
+Wilson's doctor, and might have been known to any of her relatives who
+chose to inquire after her.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Then you will observe that the remarkable change in Mr. Jeffrey's
+habits coincides in the most singular way with the same events. The
+cancer must have been detectable as early as September of last year;
+about the time, in fact, at which Mrs. Wilson made her will. Mr. Jeffrey
+went to the inn at the beginning of October. From that time his habits
+were totally changed, and I can demonstrate to you that a change&mdash;not a
+gradual, but an abrupt change&mdash;took place in the character of his
+signature.
+</p>
+<p>
+"In short, the whole of this peculiar set of circumstances&mdash;the change
+in Jeffrey's habits, the change in his signature, and the execution of
+his strange will&mdash;came into existence about the time when Mrs. Wilson
+was first known to be suffering from cancer.
+</p>
+<p>
+"This struck me as a very suggestive fact.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Then there is the extraordinarily opportune date of Mr. Jeffrey's
+death. Mrs. Wilson died on the twelfth of March. Mr. Jeffrey was found
+dead on the fifteenth of March, having apparently died on the
+fourteenth, on which day he was seen alive. If he had died only three
+days sooner, he would have predeceased Mrs. Wilson, and her property
+would never have devolved on him at all; while, if he had lived only a
+day or two longer, he would have learned of her death and would
+certainly have made a new will or codicil in his nephew's favour.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Circumstances, therefore, conspired in the most singular manner in
+favour of John Blackmore.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But there is yet another coincidence. Jeffrey's body was found, by the
+merest chance, the day after his death. But it might have remained
+undiscovered for weeks, or even months; and if it had, it would have
+been impossible to fix the date of his death. Then Mrs. Wilson's next
+of kin would certainly have contested John Blackmore's claim&mdash;and
+probably with success&mdash;on the ground that Jeffrey died before Mrs.
+Wilson. But all this uncertainty is provided for by the circumstance
+that Mr. Jeffrey paid his rent personally&mdash;and prematurely&mdash;to the
+porter on the fourteenth of March, thus establishing beyond question the
+fact that he was alive on that date; and yet further, in case the
+porter's memory should be untrustworthy or his statement doubted,
+Jeffrey furnished a signed and dated document&mdash;the cheque&mdash;which could
+be produced in a court to furnish incontestable proof of survival.
+</p>
+<p>
+"To sum up this part of the evidence. Here was a will which enabled John
+Blackmore to inherit the fortune of a man who, almost certainly, had no
+intention of bequeathing it to him. The wording of that will seemed to
+be adjusted to the peculiarities of Mrs. Wilson's disease; and the death
+of the testator occurred under a peculiar set of circumstances which
+seemed to be exactly adjusted to the wording of the will. Or, to put it
+in another way: the wording of the will and the time, the manner and the
+circumstances of the testator's death, all seemed to be precisely
+adjusted to the fact that the approximate date of Mrs. Wilson's death
+was known some months before it occurred.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Now you must admit that this compound group of coincidences, all
+conspiring to a single end&mdash;the enrichment of John Blackmore&mdash;has a very
+singular appearance. Coincidences are common enough in real life; but
+we cannot accept too many at a time. My feeling was that there were too
+many in this case and that I could not accept them without searching
+inquiry."
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke paused, and Mr. Marchmont, who had listened with close
+attention, nodded, as he glanced at his silent partner.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You have stated the case with remarkable clearness," he said; "and I am
+free to confess that some of the points that you have raised had escaped
+my notice."
+</p>
+<p>
+"My first idea," Thorndyke resumed, "was that John Blackmore, taking
+advantage of the mental enfeeblement produced by the opium habit, had
+dictated this will to Jeffrey, It was then that I sought permission to
+inspect Jeffrey's chambers; to learn what I could about him and to see
+for myself whether they presented the dirty and disorderly appearance
+characteristic of the regular opium-smoker's den. But when, during a
+walk into the City, I thought over the case, it seemed to me that this
+explanation hardly met the facts. Then I endeavoured to think of some
+other explanation; and looking over my notes I observed two points that
+seemed worth considering. One was that neither of the witnesses to the
+will was really acquainted with Jeffrey Blackmore; both being strangers
+who had accepted his identity on his own statement. The other was that
+no one who had previously known him, with the single exception of his
+brother John, had ever seen Jeffrey at the inn.
+</p>
+<p>
+"What was the import of these two facts? Probably they had none. But
+still they suggested the desirability of considering the question: Was
+the person who signed the will really Jeffrey Blackmore? The contrary
+supposition&mdash;that some one had personated Jeffrey and forged his
+signature to a false will&mdash;seemed wildly improbable, especially in view
+of the identification of the body; but it involved no actual
+impossibility; and it offered a complete explanation of the, otherwise
+inexplicable, coincidences that I have mentioned.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I did not, however, for a moment, think that this was the true
+explanation, but I resolved to bear it in mind, to test it when the
+opportunity arose, and consider it by the light of any fresh facts that
+I might acquire.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The new facts came sooner than I had expected. That same evening I went
+with Dr. Jervis to New Inn and found Mr. Stephen in the chambers. By him
+I was informed that Jeffrey was a learned Orientalist, with a quite
+expert knowledge of the cuneiform writing; and even as he was telling me
+this, I looked over his shoulder and saw a cuneiform inscription hanging
+on the wall upside down.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Now, of this there could be only one reasonable explanation.
+Disregarding the fact that no one would screw the suspension plates on a
+frame without ascertaining which was the right way up, and assuming it
+to be hung up inverted, it was impossible that the misplacement could
+have been overlooked by Jeffrey. He was not blind, though his sight was
+defective. The frame was thirty inches long and the individual
+characters nearly an inch in length&mdash;about the size of the D 18 letters
+of Snellen's test-types, which can be read by a person of ordinary sight
+at a distance of fifty-five feet. There was, I repeat, only one
+reasonable explanation; which was that the person who had inhabited
+those chambers was not Jeffrey Blackmore.
+</p>
+<p>
+"This conclusion received considerable support from a fact which I
+observed later, but mention in this place. On examining the soles of the
+shoes taken from the dead man's feet, I found only the ordinary mud of
+the streets. There was no trace of the peculiar gravelly mud that
+adhered to my own boots and Jervis's, and which came from the square of
+the inn. Yet the porter distinctly stated that the deceased, after
+paying the rent, walked back towards his chambers across the square; the
+mud of which should, therefore, have been conspicuous on his shoes.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Thus, in a moment, a wildly speculative hypothesis had assumed a high
+degree of probability.
+</p>
+<p>
+"When Mr. Stephen was gone, Jervis and I looked over the chambers
+thoroughly; and then another curious fact came to light. On the wall
+were a number of fine Japanese colour-prints, all of which showed recent
+damp-spots. Now, apart from the consideration that Jeffrey, who had been
+at the trouble and expense of collecting these valuable prints, would
+hardly have allowed them to rot on his walls, there arose the question:
+How came they to be damp? There was a gas stove in the room, and a gas
+stove has at least the virtue of preserving a dry atmosphere. It was
+winter weather, when the stove would naturally be pretty constantly
+alight. How came the walls to be so damp? The answer seemed to be that
+the stove had not been constantly alight, but had been lighted only
+occasionally. This suggestion was borne out by a further examination of
+the rooms. In the kitchen there were practically no stores and hardly
+any arrangements even for simple bachelor cooking; the bedroom offered
+the same suggestion; the soap in the wash-stand was shrivelled and
+cracked; there was no cast-off linen, and the shirts in the drawers,
+though clean, had the peculiar yellowish, faded appearance that linen
+acquires when long out of use. In short, the rooms had the appearance of
+not having been lived in at all, but only visited at intervals.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Against this view, however, was the statement of the night porter that
+he had often seen a light in Jeffrey's sitting-room at one o'clock in
+the morning, with the apparent implication that it was then turned out.
+Now a light may be left in an empty room, but its extinction implies the
+presence of some person to extinguish it; unless some automatic device
+be adopted for putting it out at a given time. Such a device&mdash;the alarm
+movement of a clock, for instance, with a suitable attachment&mdash;is a
+simple enough matter, but my search of the rooms failed to discover
+anything of the kind. However, when looking over the drawers in the
+bedroom, I came upon a large box that had held a considerable quantity
+of hard stearine candles. There were only a few left, but a flat
+candlestick with numerous wick-ends in its socket accounted for the
+remainder.
+</p>
+<p>
+"These candles seemed to dispose of the difficulty. They were not
+necessary for ordinary lighting, since gas was laid on in all three
+rooms. For what purpose, then, were they used, and in such considerable
+quantities? I subsequently obtained some of the same brand&mdash;Price's
+stearine candles, six to the pound&mdash;and experimented with them. Each
+candle was seven and a quarter inches in length, not counting the cone
+at the top, and I found that they burned in still air at the rate of a
+fraction over one inch in an hour. We may say that one of these candles
+would burn in still air a little over six hours. It would thus be
+possible for the person who inhabited these rooms to go away at seven
+o'clock in the evening and leave a light which would burn until past one
+in the morning and then extinguish itself. This, of course, was only
+surmise, but it destroyed the significance of the night porter's
+statement.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But, if the person who inhabited these chambers was not Jeffrey, who
+was he?
+</p>
+<p>
+"The answer to that question seemed plain enough. There was only one
+person who had a strong motive for perpetrating a fraud of this kind,
+and there was only one person to whom it was possible. If this person
+was not Jeffrey, he must have been very like Jeffrey; sufficiently like
+for the body of the one to be mistaken for the body of the other. For
+the production of Jeffrey's body was an essential part of the plan and
+must have been contemplated from the first. But the only person who
+fulfills the conditions is John Blackmore.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We have learned from Mr. Stephen that John and Jeffrey, though very
+different in appearance in later years, were much alike as young men.
+But when two brothers who are much alike as young men, become unlike in
+later life, we shall find that the unlikeness is produced by superficial
+differences and that the essential likeness remains. Thus, in the
+present case, Jeffrey was clean shaved, had bad eyesight, wore
+spectacles and stooped as he walked; John wore a beard and moustache,
+had good eyesight, did not wear spectacles and had a brisk gait and
+upright carriage. But supposing John to shave off his beard and
+moustache, to put on spectacles and to stoop in his walk, these
+conspicuous but superficial differences would vanish and the original
+likeness reappear.
+</p>
+<p>
+"There is another consideration. John had been an actor and was an actor
+of some experience. Now, any person can, with some care and practice,
+make up a disguise; the great difficulty is to support that disguise by
+a suitable manner and voice. But to an experienced actor this difficulty
+does not exist. To him, personation is easy; and, moreover, an actor is
+precisely the person to whom the idea of disguise and impersonation
+would occur.
+</p>
+<p>
+"There is a small item bearing on this point, so small as to be hardly
+worth calling evidence, but just worth noting. In the pocket of the
+waistcoat taken from the body of Jeffrey I found the stump of a
+'Contango' pencil; a pencil that is sold for the use of stock dealers
+and brokers. Now John was an outside broker and might very probably have
+used such a pencil, whereas Jeffrey had no connection with the stock
+markets and there is no reason why he should have possessed a pencil of
+this kind. But the fact is merely suggestive; it has no evidential
+value.
+</p>
+<p>
+"A more important inference is to be drawn from the collected
+signatures. I have remarked that the change in the signature occurred
+abruptly, with one or two alterations of manner, last September, and
+that there are two distinct forms with no intermediate varieties. This
+is, in itself, remarkable and suspicious. But a remark made by Mr.
+Britton furnishes a really valuable piece of evidence on the point we
+are now considering. He admitted that the character of the signature had
+undergone a change, but observed that the change did not affect the
+individual or personal character of the writing. This is very important;
+for handwriting is, as it were, an extension of the personality of the
+writer. And just as a man to some extent snares his personality with his
+near blood-relations in the form of family resemblances, so his
+handwriting often shows a subtle likeness to that of his near relatives.
+You must have noticed, as I have, how commonly the handwriting of one
+brother resembles that of another, and in just this peculiar and subtle
+way. The inference, then, from Mr. Britton's statement is, that if the
+signature of the will was forged, it was probably forged by a relative
+of the deceased. But the only relative in question is his brother John.
+</p>
+<p>
+"All the facts, therefore, pointed to John Blackmore as the person who
+occupied these chambers, and I accordingly adopted that view as a
+working hypothesis."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But this was all pure speculation," objected Mr. Winwood.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not speculation," said Thorndyke. "Hypothesis. It was ordinary
+inductive reasoning such as we employ in scientific research. I started
+with the purely tentative hypothesis that the person who signed the will
+was not Jeffrey Blackmore. I assumed this; and I may say that I did not
+believe it at the time, but merely adopted it as a proposition that was
+worth testing. I accordingly tested it, 'Yes?' or 'No?' with each new
+fact; but as each new fact said 'Yes,' and no fact said definitely 'No,'
+its probability increased rapidly by a sort of geometrical progression.
+The probabilities multiplied into one another. It is a perfectly sound
+method, for one knows that if a hypothesis be true, it will lead one,
+sooner or later, to a crucial fact by which its truth can be
+demonstrated.
+</p>
+<p>
+"To resume our argument. We have now set up the proposition that John
+Blackmore was the tenant of New Inn and that he was personating Jeffrey.
+Let us reason from this and see what it leads to.
+</p>
+<p>
+"If the tenant of New Inn was John, then Jeffrey must be elsewhere,
+since his concealment at the inn was clearly impossible. But he could
+not have been far away, for he had to be producible at short notice
+whenever the death of Mrs. Wilson should make the production of his
+body necessary. But if he was producible, his person must have been in
+the possession or control of John. He could not have been at large, for
+that would have involved the danger of his being seen and recognized. He
+could not have been in any institution or place where he would be in
+contact with strangers. Then he must be in some sort of confinement. But
+it is difficult to keep an adult in confinement in an ordinary house.
+Such a proceeding would involve great risk of discovery and the use of
+violence which would leave traces on the body, to be observed and
+commented on at the inquest. What alternative method could be suggested?
+</p>
+<p>
+"The most obvious method is that of keeping the prisoner in such a state
+of debility as would confine him to his bed. But such debility could be
+produced by only starvation, unsuitable food, or chronic poisoning. Of
+these alternatives, poisoning is much more exact, more calculable in its
+effect and more under control. The probabilities, then, were in favour
+of chronic poisoning.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Having reached this stage, I recalled a singular case which Jervis had
+mentioned to me and which seemed to illustrate this method. On our
+return home I asked him for further particulars, and he then gave me a
+very detailed description of the patient and the circumstances. The
+upshot was rather startling. I had looked on his case as merely
+illustrative, and wished to study it for the sake of the suggestions
+that it might offer. But when I had heard his account, I began to
+suspect that there was something more than mere parallelism of method.
+It began to look as if his patient, Mr. Graves, might actually be
+Jeffrey Blackmore.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The coincidences were remarkable. The general appearance of the patient
+tallied completely with Mr. Stephen's description of his uncle Jeffrey.
+The patient had a tremulous iris in his right eye and had clearly
+suffered from dislocation of the crystalline lens. But from Mr.
+Stephen's account of his uncle's sudden loss of sight in the right eye
+after a fall, I judged that Jeffrey had also suffered from dislocation
+of the lens and therefore had a tremulous iris in the right eye. The
+patient, Graves, evidently had defective vision in his left eye, as
+proved by the marks made behind his ears by the hooked side-bars of his
+spectacles; for it is only on spectacles that are intended for constant
+use that we find hooked side-bars. But Jeffrey had defective vision in
+his left eye and wore spectacles constantly. Lastly, the patient Graves
+was suffering from chronic morphine poisoning, and morphine was found in
+the body of Jeffrey.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Once more, it appeared to me that there were too many coincidences.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The question as to whether Graves and Jeffrey were identical admitted
+of fairly easy disproof; for if Graves was still alive, he could not be
+Jeffrey. It was an important question and I resolved to test it without
+delay. That night, Jervis and I plotted out the chart, and on the
+following morning we located the house. But it was empty and to let.
+The birds had flown, and we failed to discover whither they had gone.
+</p>
+<p>
+"However, we entered the house and explored. I have told you about the
+massive bolts and fastenings that we found on the bedroom doors and
+window, showing that the room had been used as a prison. I have told you
+of the objects that we picked out of the dust-heap under the grate. Of
+the obvious suggestion offered by the Japanese brush and the bottle of
+'spirit gum' or cement, I need not speak now; but I must trouble you
+with some details concerning the broken spectacles. For here we had come
+upon the crucial fact to which, as I have said, all sound inductive
+reasoning brings one sooner or later.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The spectacles were of a rather peculiar pattern. The frames were of
+the type invented by Mr. Stopford of Moorfields and known by his name.
+The right eye-piece was fitted with plain glass, as is usual in the case
+of a blind, or useless, eye. It was very much shattered, but its
+character was obvious. The glass of the left eye was much thicker and
+fortunately less damaged, so that I was able accurately to test its
+refraction.
+</p>
+<p>
+"When I reached home, I laid the pieces of the spectacles together,
+measured the frames very carefully, tested the left eye-glass, and wrote
+down a full description such as would have been given by the surgeon to
+the spectacle-maker. Here it is, and I will ask you to note it
+carefully.
+</p>
+<p>
+"'Spectacles for constant use. Steel frame, Stopford's pattern, curl
+sides, broad bridge with gold lining. Distance between centres, 6.2
+centimetres; extreme length of side-bars, 13.3 centimetres.
+</p>
+<p>
+"'Right eye plain glass.
+</p>
+<table summary="eyeglass prescription">
+<tr>
+<td>"'Left eye&nbsp;</td>
+<td>-<u>5.75 D. spherical&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</u></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td> </td>
+<td>-3.25 D. cylindrical, axis 35&deg;.'</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+<p>
+"The spectacles, you see, were of a very distinctive character and
+seemed to offer a good chance of identification. Stopford's frames are,
+I believe, made by only one firm of opticians in London, Parry &amp; Cuxton
+of Regent Street. I therefore wrote to Mr. Cuxton, who knows me, asking
+him if he had supplied spectacles to the late Jeffrey Blackmore,
+Esq.&mdash;here is a copy of my letter&mdash;and if so, whether he would mind
+letting me have a full description of them, together with the name of
+the oculist who prescribed them.
+</p>
+<p>
+"He replied in this letter, which is pinned to the copy of mine, that,
+about four years ago, he supplied a pair of glasses to Mr. Jeffrey
+Blackmore, and described them thus: 'The spectacles were for constant
+use and had steel frames of Stopford's pattern with curl sides, the
+length of the side-bars including the curled ends being 13.3 cm. The
+bridge was broad with a gold lining-plate, shaped as shown by the
+enclosed tracing from the diagram on the prescription. Distance between
+centres 6.2 cm.
+</p>
+<p>
+"'Right eye plain glass.
+</p>
+<table summary="eyeglass prescription">
+<tr>
+<td>"'Left eye&nbsp;</td>
+<td>-<u>5.75 D. spherical&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</u></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td> </td>
+<td>-3.25 D. cylindrical, axis 35&deg;.'</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+<p>
+"'The spectacles were prescribed by Mr. Hindley of Wimpole Street.'
+</p>
+<p>
+"You see that Mr. Cuxton's description is identical with mine. However,
+for further confirmation, I wrote to Mr. Hindley, asking certain
+questions, to which he replied thus:
+</p>
+<p>
+"'You are quite right. Mr. Jeffrey Blackmore had a tremulous iris in his
+right eye (which was practically blind), due to dislocation of the lens.
+The pupils were rather large; certainly not contracted.'
+</p>
+<p>
+"Here, then, we have three important facts. One is that the spectacles
+found by us at Kennington Lane were undoubtedly Jeffrey's; for it is as
+unlikely that there exists another pair of spectacles exactly identical
+with those as that there exists another face exactly like Jeffrey's
+face. The second fact is that the description of Jeffrey tallies
+completely with that of the sick man, Graves, as given by Dr. Jervis;
+and the third is that when Jeffrey was seen by Mr. Hindley, there was no
+sign of his being addicted to the taking of morphine. The first and
+second facts, you will agree, constitute complete identification."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes," said Marchmont; "I think we must admit the identification as
+being quite conclusive, though the evidence is of a kind that is more
+striking to the medical than to the legal mind."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You will not have that complaint to make against the next item of
+evidence," said Thorndyke. "It is after the lawyer's own heart, as you
+shall hear. A few days ago I wrote to Mr. Stephen asking him if he
+possessed a recent photograph of his uncle Jeffrey. He had one, and he
+sent it to me by return. This portrait I showed to Dr. Jervis and asked
+him if he had ever seen the person it represented. After examining it
+attentively, without any hint whatever from me, he identified it as the
+portrait of the sick man, Graves."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Indeed!" exclaimed Marchmont. "This is most important. Are you prepared
+to swear to the identity, Dr. Jervis?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I have not the slightest doubt," I replied, "that the portrait is that
+of Mr. Graves."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Excellent!" said Marchmont, rubbing his hands gleefully; "this will be
+much more convincing to a jury. Pray go on, Dr. Thorndyke."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That," said Thorndyke, "completes the first part of my investigation.
+We had now reached a definite, demonstrable fact; and that fact, as you
+see, disposed at once of the main question&mdash;the genuineness of the will.
+For if the man at Kennington Lane was Jeffrey Blackmore, then the man at
+New Inn was not. But it was the latter who had signed the will.
+Therefore the will was not signed by Jeffrey Blackmore; that is to say,
+it was a forgery. The case was complete for the purposes of the civil
+proceedings; the rest of my investigations had reference to the criminal
+prosecution that was inevitable. Shall I proceed, or is your interest
+confined to the will?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Hang the will!" exclaimed Stephen. "I want to hear how you propose to
+lay hands on the villain who murdered poor old uncle Jeffrey&mdash;for I
+suppose he did murder him?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think there is no doubt of it," replied Thorndyke.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Then," said Marchmont, "we will hear the rest of the argument, if you
+please."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Very well," said Thorndyke. "As the evidence stands, we have proved
+that Jeffrey Blackmore was a prisoner in the house in Kennington Lane
+and that some one was personating him at New Inn. That some one, we have
+seen, was, in all probability, John Blackmore. We now have to consider
+the man Weiss. Who was he? and can we connect him in any way with New
+Inn?
+</p>
+<p>
+"We may note in passing that Weiss and the coachman were apparently one
+and the same person. They were never seen together. When Weiss was
+present, the coachman was not available even for so urgent a service as
+the obtaining of an antidote to the poison. Weiss always appeared some
+time after Jervis's arrival and disappeared some time before his
+departure, in each case sufficiently long to allow of a change of
+disguise. But we need not labour the point, as it is not of primary
+importance.
+</p>
+<p>
+"To return to Weiss. He was clearly heavily disguised, as we see by his
+unwillingness to show himself even by the light of a candle. But there
+is an item of positive evidence on this point which is important from
+having other bearings. It is furnished by the spectacles worn by Weiss,
+of which you have heard Jervis's description. These spectacles had very
+peculiar optical properties. When you looked <i>through</i> them they had the
+properties of plain glass; when you looked <i>at</i> them they had the
+appearance of lenses. But only one kind of glass possesses these
+properties; namely, that which, like an ordinary watch-glass, has
+curved, parallel surfaces. But for what purpose could a person wear
+'watch-glass' spectacles? Clearly, not to assist his vision. The only
+alternative is disguise.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The properties of these spectacles introduce a very curious and
+interesting feature into the case. To the majority of persons, the
+wearing of spectacles for the purpose of disguise or personation, seems
+a perfectly simple and easy proceeding. But, to a person of normal
+eyesight, it is nothing of the kind. For, if he wears spectacles suited
+for long sight he cannot see distinctly through them at all; while, if
+he wears concave, or near sight, glasses, the effort to see through them
+produces such strain and fatigue that his eyes become disabled
+altogether. On the stage the difficulty is met by using spectacles of
+plain window-glass, but in real life this would hardly do; the
+'property' spectacles would be detected at once and give rise to
+suspicion.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The personator is therefore in this dilemma: if he wears actual
+spectacles, he cannot see through them; if he wears sham spectacles of
+plain glass, his disguise will probably be detected. There is only one
+way out of the difficulty, and that not a very satisfactory one; but Mr.
+Weiss seems to have adopted it in lieu of a better. It is that of using
+watch-glass spectacles such as I have described.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Now, what do we learn from these very peculiar glasses? In the first
+place they confirm our opinion that Weiss was wearing a disguise. But,
+for use in a room so very dimly lighted, the ordinary stage spectacles
+would have answered quite well. The second inference is, then, that
+these spectacles were prepared to be worn under more trying conditions
+of light&mdash;out of doors, for instance. The third inference is that Weiss
+was a man with normal eyesight; for otherwise he could have worn real
+spectacles suited to the state of his vision.
+</p>
+<p>
+"These are inferences by the way, to which we may return. But these
+glasses furnish a much more important suggestion. On the floor of the
+bedroom at New Inn I found some fragments of glass which had been
+trodden on. By joining one or two of them together, we have been able to
+make out the general character of the object of which they formed parts.
+My assistant&mdash;who was formerly a watch-maker&mdash;judged that object to be
+the thin crystal glass of a lady's watch, and this, I think, was
+Jervis's opinion. But the small part which remains of the original edge
+furnishes proof in two respects that this was not a watch-glass. In the
+first place, on taking a careful tracing of this piece of the edge, I
+found that its curve was part of an ellipse; but watch-glasses,
+nowadays, are invariably circular. In the second place, watch-glasses
+are ground on the edge to a single bevel to snap into the bezel or
+frame; but the edge of this object was ground to a double bevel, like
+the edge of a spectacle-glass, which fits into a groove in the frame and
+is held by the side-bar screw. The inevitable inference was that this
+was a spectacle-glass. But, if so, it was part of a pair of spectacles
+identical in properties with those worn by Mr. Weiss.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The importance of this conclusion emerges when we consider the
+exceptional character of Mr. Weiss's spectacles. They were not merely
+peculiar or remarkable; they were probably unique. It is exceedingly
+likely that there is not in the entire world another similar pair of
+spectacles. Whence the finding of these fragments of glass in the
+bedroom establishes a considerable probability that Mr. Weiss was, at
+some time, in the chambers at New Inn.
+</p>
+<p>
+"And now let us gather up the threads of this part of the argument. We
+are inquiring into the identity of the man Weiss. Who was he?
+</p>
+<p>
+"In the first place, we find him committing a secret crime from which
+John Blackmore alone will benefit. This suggests the <i>prima-facie</i>
+probability that he was John Blackmore.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Then we find that he was a man of normal eyesight who was wearing
+spectacles for the purpose of disguise. But the tenant of New Inn, whom
+we have seen to be, almost certainly, John Blackmore&mdash;and whom we will,
+for the present, assume to have been John Blackmore&mdash;was a man with
+normal eyesight who wore spectacles for disguise.
+</p>
+<p>
+"John Blackmore did not reside at New Inn, but at some place within
+easy reach of it. But Weiss resided at a place within easy reach of New
+Inn.
+</p>
+<p>
+"John Blackmore must have had possession and control of the person of
+Jeffrey. But Weiss had possession and control of the person of Jeffrey.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Weiss wore spectacles of a certain peculiar and probably unique
+character. But portions of such spectacles were found in the chambers at
+New Inn.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The overwhelming probability, therefore, is that Weiss and the tenant
+of New Inn were one and the same person; and that that person was John
+Blackmore."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That," said Mr. Winwood, "is a very plausible argument. But, you
+observe, sir, that it contains an undistributed middle term."
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke smiled genially. I think he forgave Winwood everything for
+that remark.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You are quite right, sir," he said. "It does. And, for that reason, the
+demonstration is not absolute. But we must not forget, what logicians
+seem occasionally to overlook: that the 'undistributed middle,' while it
+interferes with absolute proof, may be quite consistent with a degree of
+probability that approaches very near to certainty. Both the Bertillon
+system and the English fingerprint system involve a process of reasoning
+in which the middle term is undistributed. But the great probabilities
+are accepted in practice as equivalent to certainties."
+</p>
+<p>
+Mr. Winwood grunted a grudging assent, and Thorndyke resumed:
+</p>
+<p>
+"We have now furnished fairly conclusive evidence on three heads: we
+have proved that the sick man, Graves, was Jeffrey Blackmore; that the
+tenant of New Inn was John Blackmore; and that the man Weiss was also
+John Blackmore. We now have to prove that John and Jeffrey were together
+in the chambers at New Inn on the night of Jeffrey's death.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We know that two persons, and two persons only, came from Kennington
+Lane to New Inn. But one of those persons was the tenant of New
+Inn&mdash;that is, John Blackmore. Who was the other? Jeffrey is known by us
+to have been at Kennington Lane. His body was found on the following
+morning in the room at New Inn. No third person is known to have come
+from Kennington Lane; no third person is known to have arrived at New
+Inn. The inference, by exclusion, is that the second person&mdash;the
+woman&mdash;was Jeffrey.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Again; Jeffrey had to be brought from Kennington to the inn by John.
+But John was personating Jeffrey and was made up to resemble him very
+closely. If Jeffrey were undisguised the two men would be almost exactly
+alike; which would be very noticeable in any case and suspicious after
+the death of one of them. Therefore Jeffrey would have to be disguised
+in some way; and what disguise could be simpler and more effective than
+the one that I suggest was used?
+</p>
+<p>
+"Again; it was unavoidable that some one&mdash;the cabman&mdash;should know that
+Jeffrey was not alone when he came to the inn that night. If the fact
+had leaked out and it had become known that a man had accompanied him to
+his chambers, some suspicion might have arisen, and that suspicion would
+have pointed to John, who was directly interested in his brother's
+death. But if it had transpired that Jeffrey was accompanied by a woman,
+there would have been less suspicion, and that suspicion would not have
+pointed to John Blackmore.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Thus all the general probabilities are in favour of the hypothesis that
+this woman was Jeffrey Blackmore. There is, however, an item of positive
+evidence that strongly supports this view. When I examined the clothing
+of the deceased, I found on the trousers a horizontal crease on each leg
+as if the trousers had been turned up half-way to the knees. This
+appearance is quite understandable if we suppose that the trousers were
+worn under a skirt and were turned up so that they should not be
+accidentally seen. Otherwise it is quite incomprehensible."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Is it not rather strange," said Marchmont, "that Jeffrey should have
+allowed himself to be dressed up in this remarkable manner?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think not," replied Thorndyke. "There is no reason to suppose that he
+knew how he was dressed. You have heard Jervis's description of his
+condition; that of a mere automaton. You know that without his
+spectacles he was practically blind, and that he could not have worn
+them since we found them at the house in Kennington Lane. Probably his
+head was wrapped up in the veil, and the skirt and mantle put on
+afterwards; but, in any case, his condition rendered him practically
+devoid of will power. That is all the evidence I have to prove that the
+unknown woman was Jeffrey. It is not conclusive but it is convincing
+enough for our purpose, seeing that the case against John Blackmore does
+not depend upon it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Your case against him is on the charge of murder, I presume?" said
+Stephen.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Undoubtedly. And you will notice that the statements made by the
+supposed Jeffrey to the porter, hinting at suicide, are now important
+evidence. By the light of what we know, the announcement of intended
+suicide becomes the announcement of intended murder. It conclusively
+disproves what it was intended to prove; that Jeffrey died by his own
+hand."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, I see that," said Stephen, and then after a pause he asked: "Did
+you identify Mrs. Schallibaum? You have told us nothing about her."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I have considered her as being outside the case as far as I am
+concerned," replied Thorndyke. "She was an accessory; my business was
+with the principal. But, of course, she will be swept up in the net. The
+evidence that convicts John Blackmore will convict her. I have not
+troubled about her identity. If John Blackmore is married, she is
+probably his wife. Do you happen to know if he is married?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes; but Mrs. John Blackmore is not much like Mrs. Schallibaum,
+excepting that she has a cast in the left eye. She is a dark woman with
+very heavy eyebrows."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is to say that she differs from Mrs. Schallibaum in those
+peculiarities that can be artificially changed and resembles her in the
+one feature that is unchangeable. Do you know if her Christian name
+happens to be Pauline?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, it is. She was a Miss Pauline Hagenbeck, a member of an American
+theatrical company. What made you ask?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"The name which Jervis heard poor Jeffrey struggling to pronounce seemed
+to me to resemble Pauline more than any other name."
+</p>
+<p>
+"There is one little point that strikes me," said Marchmont. "Is it not
+rather remarkable that the porter should have noticed no difference
+between the body of Jeffrey and the living man whom he knew by sight,
+and who must, after all, have been distinctly different in appearance?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am glad you raised that question," Thorndyke replied, "for that very
+difficulty presented itself to me at the beginning of the case. But on
+thinking it over, I decided that it was an imaginary difficulty,
+assuming, as we do, that there was a good deal of resemblance between
+the two men. Put yourself in the porter's place and follow his mental
+processes. He is informed that a dead man is lying on the bed in Mr.
+Blackmore's rooms. Naturally, he assumes that the dead man is Mr.
+Blackmore&mdash;who, by the way, had hinted at suicide only the night before.
+With this idea he enters the chambers and sees a man a good deal like
+Mr. Blackmore and wearing Mr. Blackmore's clothes, lying on Mr.
+Blackmore's bed. The idea that the body could be that of some other
+person has never entered his mind. If he notes any difference of
+appearance he will put that down to the effects of death; for every one
+knows that a man dead looks somewhat different from the same man alive.
+I take it as evidence of great acuteness on the part of John Blackmore
+that he should have calculated so cleverly, not only the mental process
+of the porter, but the erroneous reasoning which every one would base on
+the porter's conclusions. For, since the body was actually Jeffrey's,
+and was identified by the porter as that of his tenant, it has been
+assumed by every one that no question was possible as to the identity of
+Jeffrey Blackmore and the tenant of New Inn."
+</p>
+<p>
+There was a brief silence, and then Marchmont asked:
+</p>
+<p>
+"May we take it that we have now heard all the evidence?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes," replied Thorndyke. "That is my case."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Have you given information to the police?" Stephen asked eagerly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes. As soon as I had obtained the statement of the cabman, Ridley, and
+felt that I had enough evidence to secure a conviction, I called at
+Scotland Yard and had an interview with the Assistant Commissioner. The
+case is in the hands of Superintendent Miller of the Criminal
+Investigation Department, a most acute and energetic officer. I have
+been expecting to hear that the warrant has been executed, for Mr.
+Miller is usually very punctilious in keeping me informed of the
+progress of the cases to which I introduce him. We shall hear to-morrow,
+no doubt."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And, for the present," said Marchmont, "the case seems to have passed
+out of our hands."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I shall enter a caveat, all the same," said Mr. Winwood.
+</p>
+<p>
+"That doesn't seem very necessary," Marchmont objected. "The evidence
+that we have heard is amply sufficient to ensure a conviction and there
+will be plenty more when the police go into the case. And a conviction
+on the charges of forgery and murder would, of course, invalidate the
+second will."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I shall enter a caveat, all the same," repeated Mr. Winwood.
+</p>
+<p>
+As the two partners showed a disposition to become heated over this
+question, Thorndyke suggested that they might discuss it at leisure by
+the light of subsequent events. Acting on this hint&mdash;for it was now
+close upon midnight&mdash;our visitors prepared to depart; and were, in fact,
+just making their way towards the door when the bell rang. Thorndyke
+flung open the door, and, as he recognized his visitor, greeted him with
+evident satisfaction.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Ha! Mr. Miller; we were just speaking of you. These gentlemen are Mr.
+Stephen Blackmore and his solicitors, Mr. Marchmont and Mr. Winwood. You
+know Dr. Jervis, I think."
+</p>
+<p>
+The officer bowed to our friends and remarked:
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am just in time, it seems. A few minutes more and I should have
+missed these gentlemen. I don't know what you'll think of my news."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You haven't let that villain escape, I hope," Stephen exclaimed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well," said the Superintendent, "he is out of my hands and yours too;
+and so is the woman. Perhaps I had better tell you what has happened."
+</p>
+<p>
+"If you would be so kind," said Thorndyke, motioning the officer to a
+chair.
+</p>
+<p>
+The superintendent seated himself with the manner of a man who has had a
+long and strenuous day, and forthwith began his story.
+</p>
+<p>
+"As soon as we had your information, we procured a warrant for the
+arrest of both parties, and then I went straight to their flat with
+Inspector Badger and a sergeant. There we learned from the attendant
+that they were away from home and were not expected back until to-day
+about noon. We kept a watch on the premises, and this morning, about the
+time appointed, a man and a woman, answering to the description, arrived
+at the flat. We followed them in and saw them enter the lift, and we
+were going to get into the lift too, when the man pulled the rope, and
+away they went. There was nothing for us to do but run up the stairs,
+which we did as fast as we could race; but they got to their landing
+first, and we were only just in time to see them nip in and shut the
+door. However, it seemed that we had them safe enough, for there was no
+dropping out of the windows at that height; so we sent the sergeant to
+get a locksmith to pick the lock or force the door, while we kept on
+ringing the bell.
+</p>
+<p>
+"About three minutes after the sergeant left, I happened to look out of
+the landing window and saw a hansom pull up opposite the flats. I put my
+head out of the window, and, hang me if I didn't see our two friends
+getting into the cab. It seems that there was a small lift inside the
+flat communicating with the kitchen, and they had slipped down it one at
+a time.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, of course, we raced down the stairs like acrobats, but by the
+time we got to the bottom the cab was off with a fine start. We ran out
+into Victoria Street, and there we could see it half-way down the street
+and going like a chariot race. We managed to pick up another hansom and
+told the cabby to keep the other one in sight, and away we went like the
+very deuce; along Victoria Street and Broad Sanctuary, across Parliament
+Square, over Westminster Bridge and along York Road; we kept the other
+beggar in sight, but we couldn't gain an inch on him. Then we turned
+into Waterloo Station, and, as we were driving up the slope we met
+another hansom coming down; and when the cabby kissed his hand and
+smiled at us, we guessed that he was the sportsman we had been
+following.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But there was no time to ask questions. It is an awkward station with a
+lot of different exits, and it looked a good deal as if our quarry had
+got away. However, I took a chance. I remembered that the Southampton
+express was due to start about this time, and I took a short cut across
+the lines and made for the platform that it starts from. Just as Badger
+and I got to the end, about thirty yards from the rear of the train, we
+saw a man and a woman running in front of us. Then the guard blew his
+whistle and the train began to move. The man and the woman managed to
+scramble into one of the rear compartments and Badger and I raced up the
+platform like mad. A porter tried to head us off, but Badger capsized
+him and we both sprinted harder than ever, and just hopped on the
+foot-board of the guard's van as the train began to get up speed. The
+guard couldn't risk putting us off, so he had to let us into his van,
+which suited us exactly, as we could watch the train on both sides from
+the look-out. And we did watch, I can tell you; for our friend in front
+had seen us. His head was out of the window as we climbed on to the
+foot-board.
+</p>
+<p>
+"However, nothing happened until we stopped at Southampton West. There,
+I need not say, we lost no time in hopping out, for we naturally
+expected our friends to make a rush for the exit. But they didn't.
+Badger watched the platform, and I kept a look-out to see that they
+didn't slip away across the line from the off-side. But still there was
+no sign of them. Then I walked up the train to the compartment which I
+had seen them enter. And there they were, apparently fast asleep in the
+corner by the off-side window, the man leaning back with his mouth open
+and the woman resting against him with her head on his shoulder. She
+gave me quite a turn when I went in to look at them, for she had her
+eyes half-closed and seemed to be looking round at me with a most
+horrible expression; but I found afterwards that the peculiar appearance
+of looking round was due to the cast in her eye."
+</p>
+<p>
+"They were dead, I suppose?" said Thorndyke.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, sir. Stone dead; and I found these on the floor of the carriage."
+</p>
+<p>
+He held up two tiny yellow glass tubes, each labelled "Hypodermic
+tabloids. Aconitine Nitrate gr. 1/640."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Ha!" exclaimed Thorndyke, "this fellow was well up in alkaloidal
+poisons, it seems; and they appear to have gone about prepared for
+emergencies. These tubes each contained twenty tabloids, a thirty-second
+of a grain altogether, so we may assume that about twelve times the
+medicinal dose was swallowed. Death must have occurred in a few minutes,
+and a merciful death too."
+</p>
+<p>
+"A more merciful death than they deserved," exclaimed Stephen, "when one
+thinks of the misery and suffering that they inflicted on poor old uncle
+Jeffrey. I would sooner have had them hanged."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It's better as it is, sir," said Miller. "There is no need, now, to
+raise any questions in detail at the inquest. The publicity of a trial
+for murder would have been very unpleasant for you. I wish Dr. Jervis
+had given the tip to me instead of to that confounded,
+over-cautious&mdash;but there, I mustn't run down my brother officers: and
+it's easy to be wise after the event.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Good night, gentlemen. I suppose this accident disposes of your
+business as far as the will is concerned?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I suppose it does," agreed Mr. Winwood. "But I shall enter a caveat,
+all the same."
+</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<center>
+THE END
+</center>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Mystery of 31 New Inn, by R. Austin Freeman
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+Project Gutenberg's The Mystery of 31 New Inn, by R. Austin Freeman
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Mystery of 31 New Inn
+
+Author: R. Austin Freeman
+
+Release Date: April 28, 2004 [EBook #12187]
+Last updated: February 3, 2011
+Last updated: November 25, 1012
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MYSTERY OF 31 NEW INN ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Steven desJardins and Distributed Proofreaders
+
+
+
+
+
+THE MYSTERY OF 31 NEW INN
+
+BY R. AUSTIN FREEMAN
+
+Author of "The Red Thumb Mark,"
+"The Eye of Osiris," etc.
+
+
+
+
+TO MY FRIEND
+
+BERNARD E. BISHOP
+
+
+
+
+Preface
+
+
+Commenting upon one of my earlier novels, in respect of which I had
+claimed to have been careful to adhere to common probabilities and to
+have made use only of really practicable methods of investigation, a
+critic remarked that this was of no consequence whatever, so long as the
+story was amusing.
+
+Few people, I imagine, will agree with him. To most readers, and
+certainly to the kind of reader for whom an author is willing to take
+trouble, complete realism in respect of incidents and methods is an
+essential factor in maintaining the interest of a detective story. Hence
+it may be worth while to mention that Thorndyke's method of producing
+the track chart, described in Chapters II and III, has been actually
+used in practice. It is a modification of one devised by me many years
+ago when I was crossing Ashanti to the city of Bontuku, the whereabouts
+of which in the far interior was then only vaguely known. My
+instructions were to fix the positions of all towns, villages, rivers
+and mountains as accurately as possible; but finding ordinary methods of
+surveying impracticable in the dense forest which covers the whole
+region, I adopted this simple and apparently rude method, checking the
+distances whenever possible by astronomical observation.
+
+The resulting route-map was surprisingly accurate, as shown by the
+agreement of the outward and homeward tracks, It was published by the
+Royal Geographical Society, and incorporated in the map of this region
+compiled by the Intelligence Branch of the War Office, and it formed the
+basis of the map which accompanied my volume of <i>Travels in Ashanti and
+Jaman</i>. So that Thorndyke's plan must be taken as quite a practicable
+one.
+
+New Inn, the background of this story, and one of the last surviving
+inns of Chancery, has recently passed away after upwards of four
+centuries of newness. Even now, however, a few of the old, dismantled
+houses (including perhaps, the mysterious 31) may be seen from the
+Strand peeping over the iron roof of the skating rink which has
+displaced the picturesque hall, the pension-room and the garden. The
+postern gate, too, in Houghton Street still remains, though the arch is
+bricked up inside. Passing it lately, I made the rough sketch which
+appears on next page, and which shows all that is left of this pleasant
+old London backwater.
+
+R. A. F.
+
+GRAVESEND
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: New Inn]
+
+
+
+
+Contents
+
+
+CHAPTER.
+
+   I  THE MYSTERIOUS PATIENT
+  II  THORNDYKE DEVISES A SCHEME
+ III  "A CHIEL'S AMANG YE TAKIN' NOTES"
+  IV  THE OFFICIAL VIEW
+   V  JEFFREY BLACKMORE'S WILL
+  VI  JEFFREY BLACKMORE, DECEASED
+ VII  THE CUNEIFORM INSCRIPTION
+VIII THE TRACK CHART
+  IX  THE HOUSE OF MYSTERY
+   X  THE HUNTER HUNTED
+  XI  THE BLACKMORE CASE REVIEWED
+ XII  THE PORTRAIT
+XIII  THE STATEMENT OF SAMUEL WILKINS
+ XIV  THORNDYKE LAYS THE MINE
+  XV  THORNDYKE EXPLODES THE MINE
+ XVI  AN EXPOSITION AND A TRAGEDY
+
+
+
+
+Chapter I
+
+The Mysterious Patient
+
+
+As I look back through the years of my association with John Thorndyke,
+I am able to recall a wealth of adventures and strange experiences such
+as falls to the lot of very few men who pass their lives within hearing
+of Big Ben. Many of these experiences I have already placed on record;
+but it now occurs to me that I have hitherto left unrecorded one that
+is, perhaps, the most astonishing and incredible of the whole series; an
+adventure, too, that has for me the added interest that it inaugurated
+my permanent association with my learned and talented friend, and marked
+the close of a rather unhappy and unprosperous period of my life.
+
+Memory, retracing the journey through the passing years to the
+starting-point of those strange events, lands me in a shabby little
+ground-floor room in a house near the Walworth end of Lower Kennington
+Lane. A couple of framed diplomas on the wall, a card of Snellen's
+test-types and a stethoscope lying on the writing-table, proclaim it a
+doctor's consulting-room; and my own position in the round-backed chair
+at the said table, proclaims me the practitioner in charge.
+
+It was nearly nine o'clock. The noisy little clock on the mantelpiece
+announced the fact, and, by its frantic ticking, seemed as anxious as I
+to get the consultation hours over. I glanced wistfully at my
+mud-splashed boots and wondered if I might yet venture to assume the
+slippers that peeped coyly from under the shabby sofa. I even allowed my
+thoughts to wander to the pipe that reposed in my coat pocket. Another
+minute and I could turn down the surgery gas and shut the outer door.
+The fussy little clock gave a sort of preliminary cough or hiccup, as if
+it should say: "Ahem! ladies and gentlemen, I am about to strike." And
+at that moment, the bottle-boy opened the door and, thrusting in his
+head, uttered the one word: "Gentleman."
+
+Extreme economy of words is apt to result in ambiguity. But I
+understood. In Kennington Lane, the race of mere men and women appeared
+to be extinct. They were all gentlemen--unless they were ladies or
+children--even as the Liberian army was said to consist entirely of
+generals. Sweeps, labourers, milkmen, costermongers--all were
+impartially invested by the democratic bottle-boy with the rank and
+title of <i>armigeri</i>. The present nobleman appeared to favour the
+aristocratic recreation of driving a cab or job-master's carriage, and,
+as he entered the room, he touched his hat, closed the door somewhat
+carefully, and then, without remark, handed me a note which bore the
+superscription "Dr. Stillbury."
+
+"You understand," I said, as I prepared to open the envelope, "that I
+am not Dr. Stillbury. He is away at present and I am looking after his
+patients."
+
+"It doesn't signify," the man replied. "You'll do as well."
+
+On this, I opened the envelope and read the note, which was quite brief,
+and, at first sight, in no way remarkable.
+
+"DEAR SIR," it ran, "Would you kindly come and see a friend of mine who
+is staying with me? The bearer of this will give you further particulars
+and convey you to the house. Yours truly, H. WEISS."
+
+There was no address on the paper and no date, and the writer was
+unknown to me.
+
+"This note," I said, "refers to some further particulars. What are
+they?"
+
+The messenger passed his hand over his hair with a gesture of
+embarrassment. "It's a ridicklus affair," he said, with a contemptuous
+laugh. "If I had been Mr. Weiss, I wouldn't have had nothing to do with
+it. The sick gentleman, Mr. Graves, is one of them people what can't
+abear doctors. He's been ailing now for a week or two, but nothing would
+induce him to see a doctor. Mr. Weiss did everything he could to
+persuade him, but it was no go. He wouldn't. However, it seems Mr. Weiss
+threatened to send for a medical man on his own account, because, you
+see, he was getting a bit nervous; and then Mr. Graves gave way. But
+only on one condition. He said the doctor was to come from a distance
+and was not to be told who he was or where he lived or anything about
+him; and he made Mr. Weiss promise to keep to that condition before he'd
+let him send. So Mr. Weiss promised, and, of course, he's got to keep
+his word."
+
+"But," I said, with a smile, "you've just told me his name--if his name
+really is Graves."
+
+"You can form your own opinion on that," said the coachman.
+
+"And," I added, "as to not being told where he lives, I can see that for
+myself. I'm not blind, you know."
+
+"We'll take the risk of what you see," the man replied. "The question
+is, will you take the job on?"
+
+Yes; that was the question, and I considered it for some time before
+replying. We medical men are pretty familiar with the kind of person who
+"can't abear doctors," and we like to have as little to do with him as
+possible. He is a thankless and unsatisfactory patient. Intercourse with
+him is unpleasant, he gives a great deal of trouble and responds badly
+to treatment. If this had been my own practice, I should have declined
+the case off-hand. But it was not my practice. I was only a deputy. I
+could not lightly refuse work which would yield a profit to my
+principal, unpleasant though it might be.
+
+As I turned the matter over in my mind, I half unconsciously scrutinized
+my visitor--somewhat to his embarrassment--and I liked his appearance
+as little as I liked his mission. He kept his station near the door,
+where the light was dim--for the illumination was concentrated on the
+table and the patient's chair--but I could see that he had a somewhat
+sly, unprepossessing face and a greasy, red moustache that seemed out of
+character with his rather perfunctory livery; though this was mere
+prejudice. He wore a wig, too--not that there was anything discreditable
+in that--and the thumb-nail of the hand that held his hat bore
+disfiguring traces of some injury--which, again, though unsightly, in no
+wise reflected on his moral character. Lastly, he watched me keenly with
+a mixture of anxiety and sly complacency that I found distinctly
+unpleasant. In a general way, he impressed me disagreeably. I did not
+like the look of him at all; but nevertheless I decided to undertake the
+case.
+
+"I suppose," I answered, at length, "it is no affair of mine who the
+patient is or where he lives. But how do you propose to manage the
+business? Am I to be led to the house blindfolded, like the visitor to
+the bandit's cave?"
+
+The man grinned slightly and looked very decidedly relieved.
+
+"No, sir," he answered; "we ain't going to blindfold you. I've got a
+carriage outside. I don't think you'll see much out of that."
+
+"Very well," I rejoined, opening the door to let him out, "I'll be with
+you in a minute. I suppose you can't give me any idea as to what is the
+matter with the patient?"
+
+"No, sir, I can't," he replied; and he went out to see to the carriage.
+
+I slipped into a bag an assortment of emergency drugs and a few
+diagnostic instruments, turned down the gas and passed out through the
+surgery. The carriage was standing at the kerb, guarded by the coachman
+and watched with deep interest by the bottle-boy. I viewed it with
+mingled curiosity and disfavour. It was a kind of large brougham, such
+as is used by some commercial travellers, the usual glass windows being
+replaced by wooden shutters intended to conceal the piles of
+sample-boxes, and the doors capable of being locked from outside with a
+railway key.
+
+As I emerged from the house, the coachman unlocked the door and held it
+open.
+
+"How long will the journey take?" I asked, pausing with my foot on the
+step.
+
+The coachman considered a moment or two and replied:
+
+"It took me, I should say, nigh upon half an hour to get here."
+
+This was pleasant hearing. A half an hour each way and a half an hour at
+the patient's house. At that rate it would be half-past ten before I was
+home again, and then it was quite probable that I should find some other
+untimely messenger waiting on the doorstep. With a muttered anathema on
+the unknown Mr. Graves and the unrestful life of a locum tenens, I
+stepped into the uninviting vehicle. Instantly the coachman slammed the
+door and turned the key, leaving me in total darkness.
+
+One comfort was left to me; my pipe was in my pocket. I made shift to
+load it in the dark, and, having lit it with a wax match, took the
+opportunity to inspect the interior of my prison. It was a shabby
+affair. The moth-eaten state of the blue cloth cushions seemed to
+suggest that it had been long out of regular use; the oil-cloth
+floor-covering was worn into holes; ordinary internal fittings there
+were none. But the appearances suggested that the crazy vehicle had been
+prepared with considerable forethought for its present use. The inside
+handles of the doors had apparently been removed; the wooden shutters
+were permanently fixed in their places; and a paper label, stuck on the
+transom below each window, had a suspicious appearance of having been
+put there to cover the painted name and address of the job-master or
+livery-stable keeper who had originally owned the carriage.
+
+These observations gave me abundant food for reflection. This Mr. Weiss
+must be an excessively conscientious man if he had considered that his
+promise to Mr. Graves committed him to such extraordinary precautions.
+Evidently no mere following of the letter of the law was enough to
+satisfy his sensitive conscience. Unless he had reasons for sharing Mr.
+Graves's unreasonable desire for secrecy--for one could not suppose that
+these measures of concealment had been taken by the patient himself.
+
+The further suggestions that evolved themselves from this consideration
+were a little disquieting. Whither was I being carried and for what
+purpose? The idea that I was bound for some den of thieves where I
+might be robbed and possibly murdered, I dismissed with a smile. Thieves
+do not make elaborately concerted plans to rob poor devils like me.
+Poverty has its compensations in that respect. But there were other
+possibilities. Imagination backed by experience had no difficulty in
+conjuring up a number of situations in which a medical man might be
+called upon, with or without coercion, either to witness or actively to
+participate in the commission of some unlawful act.
+
+Reflections of this kind occupied me pretty actively if not very
+agreeably during this strange journey. And the monotony was relieved,
+too, by other distractions. I was, for example, greatly interested to
+notice how, when one sense is in abeyance, the other senses rouse into a
+compensating intensity of perception. I sat smoking my pipe in darkness
+which was absolute save for the dim glow from the smouldering tobacco in
+the bowl, and seemed to be cut off from all knowledge of the world
+without. But yet I was not. The vibrations of the carriage, with its
+hard springs and iron-tired wheels, registered accurately and plainly
+the character of the roadway. The harsh rattle of granite setts, the
+soft bumpiness of macadam, the smooth rumble of wood-pavement, the
+jarring and swerving of crossed tram-lines; all were easily recognizable
+and together sketched the general features of the neighbourhood through
+which I was passing. And the sense of hearing filled in the details. Now
+the hoot of a tug's whistle told of proximity to the river. A sudden
+and brief hollow reverberation announced the passage under a railway
+arch (which, by the way, happened several times during the journey);
+and, when I heard the familiar whistle of a railway-guard followed by
+the quick snorts of a skidding locomotive, I had as clear a picture of a
+heavy passenger-train moving out of a station as if I had seen it in
+broad daylight.
+
+I had just finished my pipe and knocked out the ashes on the heel of my
+boot, when the carriage slowed down and entered a covered way--as I
+could tell by the hollow echoes. Then I distinguished the clang of heavy
+wooden gates closed behind me, and a moment or two later the carriage
+door was unlocked and opened. I stepped out blinking into a covered
+passage paved with cobbles and apparently leading down to a mews; but it
+was all in darkness, and I had no time to make any detailed
+observations, as the carriage had drawn up opposite a side door which
+was open and in which stood a woman holding a lighted candle.
+
+"Is that the doctor?" she asked, speaking with a rather pronounced
+German accent and shading the candle with her hand as she peered at me.
+
+I answered in the affirmative, and she then exclaimed:
+
+"I am glad you have come. Mr. Weiss will be so relieved. Come in,
+please."
+
+I followed her across a dark passage into a dark room, where she set the
+candle down on a chest of drawers and turned to depart. At the door,
+however, she paused and looked back.
+
+"It is not a very nice room to ask you into," she said. "We are very
+untidy just now, but you must excuse us. We have had so much anxiety
+about poor Mr. Graves."
+
+"He has been ill some time, then?"
+
+"Yes. Some little time. At intervals, you know. Sometimes better,
+sometimes not so well."
+
+As she spoke, she gradually backed out into the passage but did not go
+away at once. I accordingly pursued my inquiries.
+
+"He has not been seen by any doctor, has he?"
+
+"No," she answered, "he has always refused to see a doctor. That has
+been a great trouble to us. Mr. Weiss has been very anxious about him.
+He will be so glad to hear that you have come. I had better go and tell
+him. Perhaps you will kindly sit down until he is able to come to you,"
+and with this she departed on her mission.
+
+It struck me as a little odd that, considering his anxiety and the
+apparent urgency of the case, Mr. Weiss should not have been waiting to
+receive me. And when several minutes elapsed without his appearing, the
+oddness of the circumstance impressed me still more. Having no desire,
+after the journey in the carriage, to sit down, I whiled away the time
+by an inspection of the room. And a very curious room it was; bare,
+dirty, neglected and, apparently, unused. A faded carpet had been flung
+untidily on the floor. A small, shabby table stood in the middle of the
+room; and beyond this, three horsehair-covered chairs and a chest of
+drawers formed the entire set of furniture. No pictures hung on the
+mouldy walls, no curtains covered the shuttered windows, and the dark
+drapery of cobwebs that hung from the ceiling to commemorate a long and
+illustrious dynasty of spiders hinted at months of neglect and disuse.
+
+The chest of drawers--an incongruous article of furniture for what
+seemed to be a dining-room--as being the nearest and best lighted object
+received most of my attention. It was a fine old chest of nearly black
+mahogany, very battered and in the last stage of decay, but originally a
+piece of some pretensions. Regretful of its fallen estate, I looked it
+over with some interest and had just observed on its lower corner a
+little label bearing the printed inscription "Lot 201" when I heard
+footsteps descending the stairs. A moment later the door opened and a
+shadowy figure appeared standing close by the threshold.
+
+"Good evening, doctor," said the stranger, in a deep, quiet voice and
+with a distinct, though not strong, German accent. "I must apologize for
+keeping you waiting."
+
+I acknowledged the apology somewhat stiffly and asked: "You are Mr.
+Weiss, I presume?"
+
+"Yes, I am Mr. Weiss. It is very good of you to come so far and so late
+at night and to make no objection to the absurd conditions that my poor
+friend has imposed."
+
+"Not at all," I replied. "It is my business to go when and where I am
+wanted, and it is not my business to inquire into the private affairs of
+my patients."
+
+"That is very true, sir," he agreed cordially, "and I am much obliged
+to you for taking that very proper view of the case. I pointed that out
+to my friend, but he is not a very reasonable man. He is very secretive
+and rather suspicious by nature."
+
+"So I inferred. And as to his condition; is he seriously ill?"
+
+"Ah," said Mr. Weiss, "that is what I want you to tell me. I am very
+much puzzled about him."
+
+"But what is the nature of his illness? What does he complain of?"
+
+"He makes very few complaints of any kind although he is obviously ill.
+But the fact is that he is hardly ever more than half awake. He lies in
+a kind of dreamy stupor from morning to night."
+
+This struck me as excessively strange and by no means in agreement with
+the patient's energetic refusal to see a doctor.
+
+"But," I asked, "does he never rouse completely?"
+
+"Oh, yes," Mr. Weiss answered quickly; "he rouses from time to time and
+is then quite rational, and, as you may have gathered, rather obstinate.
+That is the peculiar and puzzling feature in the case; this alternation
+between a state of stupor and an almost normal and healthy condition.
+But perhaps you had better see him and judge for yourself. He had a
+rather severe attack just now. Follow me, please. The stairs are rather
+dark."
+
+The stairs were very dark, and I noticed that they were without any
+covering of carpet, or even oil-cloth, so that our footsteps resounded
+dismally as if we were in an empty house. I stumbled up after my guide,
+feeling my way by the hand-rail, and on the first floor followed him
+into a room similar in size to the one below and very barely furnished,
+though less squalid than the other. A single candle at the farther end
+threw its feeble light on a figure in the bed, leaving the rest of the
+room in a dim twilight.
+
+As Mr. Weiss tiptoed into the chamber, a woman--the one who had spoken
+to me below--rose from a chair by the bedside and quietly left the room
+by a second door. My conductor halted, and looking fixedly at the figure
+in the bed, called out:
+
+"Philip! Philip! Here is the doctor come to see you."
+
+He paused for a moment or two, and, receiving no answer, said: "He seems
+to be dozing as usual. Will you go and see what you can make of him?"
+
+I stepped forward to the bedside, leaving Mr. Weiss at the end of the
+room near the door by which we had entered, where he remained, slowly
+and noiselessly pacing backwards and forwards in the semi-obscurity. By
+the light of the candle I saw an elderly man with good features and a
+refined, intelligent and even attractive face, but dreadfully emaciated,
+bloodless and sallow. He lay quite motionless except for the scarcely
+perceptible rise and fall of his chest; his eyes were nearly closed, his
+features relaxed, and, though he was not actually asleep, he seemed to
+be in a dreamy, somnolent, lethargic state, as if under the influence of
+some narcotic.
+
+I watched him for a minute or so, timing his slow breathing by my
+watch, and then suddenly and sharply addressed him by name; but the only
+response was a slight lifting of the eyelids, which, after a brief,
+drowsy glance at me, slowly subsided to their former position.
+
+I now proceeded to make a physical examination. First, I felt his pulse,
+grasping his wrist with intentional brusqueness in the hope of rousing
+him from his stupor. The beats were slow, feeble and slightly irregular,
+giving clear evidence, if any were needed, of his generally lowered
+vitality. I listened carefully to his heart, the sounds of which were
+very distinct through the thin walls of his emaciated chest, but found
+nothing abnormal beyond the feebleness and uncertainty of its action.
+Then I turned my attention to his eyes, which I examined closely with
+the aid of the candle and my ophthalmoscope lens, raising the lids
+somewhat roughly so as to expose the whole of the irises. He submitted
+without resistance to my rather ungentle handling of these sensitive
+structures, and showed no signs of discomfort even when I brought the
+candle-flame to within a couple of inches of his eyes.
+
+But this extraordinary tolerance of light was easily explained by closer
+examination; for the pupils were contracted to such an extreme degree
+that only the very minutest point of black was visible at the centre of
+the grey iris. Nor was this the only abnormal peculiarity of the sick
+man's eyes. As he lay on his back, the right iris sagged down slightly
+towards its centre, showing a distinctly concave surface; and, when I
+contrived to produce a slight but quick movement of the eyeball, a
+perceptible undulatory movement could be detected. The patient had, in
+fact, what is known as a tremulous iris, a condition that is seen in
+cases where the crystalline lens has been extracted for the cure of
+cataract, or where it has become accidentally displaced, leaving the
+iris unsupported. In the present case, the complete condition of the
+iris made it clear that the ordinary extraction operation had not been
+performed, nor was I able, on the closest inspection with the aid of my
+lens, to find any trace of the less common "needle operation." The
+inference was that the patient had suffered from the accident known as
+"dislocation of the lens"; and this led to the further inference that he
+was almost or completely blind in the right eye.
+
+This conclusion was, indeed, to some extent negatived by a deep
+indentation on the bridge of the nose, evidently produced by spectacles,
+and by marks which I looked for and found behind the ears, corresponding
+to the hooks or "curl sides" of the glasses. For those spectacles which
+are fitted with curl sides to hook over the ears are usually intended to
+be worn habitually, and this agreed with the indentation on the nose;
+which was deeper than would have been accounted for by the merely
+occasional use of spectacles for reading. But if only one eye was
+useful, a single eye-glass would have answered the purpose; not that
+there was any weight in this objection, for a single eye-glass worn
+constantly would be much less convenient than a pair of hook-sided
+spectacles.
+
+As to the nature of the patient's illness, only one opinion seemed
+possible. It was a clear and typical case of opium or morphine
+poisoning. To this conclusion all his symptoms seemed to point with
+absolute certainty. The coated tongue, which he protruded slowly and
+tremulously in response to a command bawled in his ear; his yellow skin
+and ghastly expression; his contracted pupils and the stupor from which
+he could hardly be roused by the roughest handling and which yet did not
+amount to actual insensibility; all these formed a distinct and coherent
+group of symptoms, not only pointing plainly to the nature of the drug,
+but also suggesting a very formidable dose.
+
+But this conclusion in its turn raised a very awkward and difficult
+question. If a large--a poisonous--dose of the drug had been taken, how,
+and by whom had that dose been administered? The closest scrutiny of
+the patient's arms and legs failed to reveal a single mark such as would
+be made by a hypodermic needle. This man was clearly no common
+morphinomaniac; and in the absence of the usual sprinkling of
+needlemarks, there was nothing to show or suggest whether the drug had
+been taken voluntarily by the patient himself or administered by someone
+else.
+
+And then there remained the possibility that I might, after all, be
+mistaken in my diagnosis. I felt pretty confident. But the wise man
+always holds a doubt in reserve. And, in the present case, having regard
+to the obviously serious condition of the patient, such a doubt was
+eminently disturbing. Indeed, as I pocketed my stethoscope and took a
+last look at the motionless, silent figure, I realized that my position
+was one of extraordinary difficulty and perplexity. On the one hand my
+suspicions--aroused, naturally enough, by the very unusual circumstances
+that surrounded my visit--inclined me to extreme reticence; while, on
+the other, it was evidently my duty to give any information that might
+prove serviceable to the patient.
+
+As I turned away from the bed Mr. Weiss stopped his slow pacing to and
+fro and faced me. The feeble light of the candle now fell on him, and I
+saw him distinctly for the first time. He did not impress me favourably.
+He was a thick-set, round-shouldered man, a typical fair German with
+tow-coloured hair, greased and brushed down smoothly, a large, ragged,
+sandy beard and coarse, sketchy features. His nose was large and thick
+with a bulbous end, and inclined to a reddish purple, a tint which
+extended to the adjacent parts of his face as if the colour had run. His
+eyebrows were large and beetling, overhanging deep-set eyes, and he wore
+a pair of spectacles which gave him a somewhat owlish expression. His
+exterior was unprepossessing, and I was in a state of mind that rendered
+me easily receptive of an unfavourable impression.
+
+"Well," he said, "what do you make of him?" I hesitated, still perplexed
+by the conflicting necessities of caution and frankness, but at length
+replied:
+
+"I think rather badly of him, Mr. Weiss. He is in a very low state."
+
+"Yes, I can see that. But have you come to any decision as to the nature
+of his illness?"
+
+There was a tone of anxiety and suppressed eagerness in the question
+which, while it was natural enough in the circumstances, by no means
+allayed my suspicions, but rather influenced me on the side of caution.
+
+"I cannot give a very definite opinion at present," I replied guardedly.
+"The symptoms are rather obscure and might very well indicate several
+different conditions. They might be due to congestion of the brain, and,
+if no other explanation were possible, I should incline to that view.
+The alternative is some narcotic poison, such as opium or morphia."
+
+"But that is quite impossible. There is no such drug in the house, and
+as he never leaves his room now, he could not get any from outside."
+
+"What about the servants?" I asked.
+
+"There are no servants excepting my housekeeper, and she is absolutely
+trustworthy."
+
+"He might have some store of the drug that you are not aware of. Is he
+left alone much?"
+
+"Very seldom indeed. I spend as much time with him as I can, and when I
+am not able to be in the room, Mrs Schallibaum, my housekeeper, sits
+with him."
+
+"Is he often as drowsy as he is now?"
+
+"Oh, very often; in fact, I should say that is his usual condition. He
+rouses up now and again, and then he is quite lucid and natural for,
+perhaps, an hour or so; but presently he becomes drowsy again and doses
+off, and remains asleep, or half asleep, for hours on end. Do you know
+of any disease that takes people in that way?"
+
+"No," I answered. "The symptoms are not exactly like those of any
+disease that is known to me. But they are much very like those of opium
+poisoning."
+
+"But, my dear sir," Mr. Weiss retorted impatiently, "since it is clearly
+impossible that it can be opium poisoning, it must be something else.
+Now, what else can it be? You were speaking of congestion of the brain."
+
+"Yes. But the objection to that is the very complete recovery that seems
+to take place in the intervals."
+
+"I would not say very complete," said Mr. Weiss. "The recovery is rather
+comparative. He is lucid and fairly natural in his manner, but he is
+still dull and lethargic. He does not, for instance, show any desire to
+go out, or even to leave his room."
+
+I pondered uncomfortably on these rather contradictory statements.
+Clearly Mr. Weiss did not mean to entertain the theory of opium
+poisoning; which was natural enough if he had no knowledge of the drug
+having been used. But still--
+
+"I suppose," said Mr. Weiss, "you have experience of sleeping sickness?"
+
+The suggestion startled me. I had not. Very few people had. At that time
+practically nothing was known about the disease. It was a mere
+pathological curiosity, almost unheard of excepting by a few
+practitioners in remote parts of Africa, and hardly referred to in the
+text-books. Its connection with the trypanosome-bearing insects was as
+yet unsuspected, and, to me, its symptoms were absolutely unknown.
+
+"No, I have not," I replied. "The disease is nothing more than a name to
+me. But why do you ask? Has Mr. Graves been abroad?"
+
+"Yes. He has been travelling for the last three or four years, and I
+know that he spent some time recently in West Africa, where this disease
+occurs. In fact, it was from him that I first heard about it."
+
+This was a new fact. It shook my confidence in my diagnosis very
+considerably, and inclined me to reconsider my suspicions. If Mr. Weiss
+was lying to me, he now had me at a decided disadvantage.
+
+"What do you think?" he asked. "Is it possible that this can be sleeping
+sickness?"
+
+"I should not like to say that it is impossible," I replied. "The
+disease is practically unknown to me. I have never practised out of
+England and have had no occasion to study it. Until I have looked the
+subject up, I should not be in a position to give an opinion. Of course,
+if I could see Mr. Graves in one of what we may call his 'lucid
+intervals' I should be able to form a better idea. Do you think that
+could be managed?"
+
+"It might. I see the importance of it and will certainly do my best; but
+he is a difficult man; a very difficult man. I sincerely hope it is not
+sleeping sickness."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because--as I understood from him--that disease is invariably fatal,
+sooner or later. There seem to be no cure. Do you think you will be able
+to decide when you see him again?"
+
+"I hope so," I replied. "I shall look up the authorities and see exactly
+what the symptoms are--that is, so far as they are known; but my
+impression is that there is very little information available."
+
+"And in the meantime?"
+
+"We will give him some medicine and attend to his general condition, and
+you had better let me see him again as soon as possible." I was about to
+say that the effect of the medicine itself might throw some light on the
+patient's condition, but, as I proposed to treat him for morphine
+poisoning, I thought it wiser to keep this item of information to
+myself. Accordingly, I confined myself to a few general directions as to
+the care of the patient, to which Mr. Weiss listened attentively. "And,"
+I concluded, "we must not lose sight of the opium question. You had
+better search the room carefully and keep a close watch on the patient,
+especially during his intervals of wakefulness."
+
+"Very well, doctor," Mr. Weiss replied, "I will do all that you tell me
+and I will send for you again as soon as possible, if you do not object
+to poor Graves's ridiculous conditions. And now, if you will allow me to
+pay your fee, I will go and order the carriage while you are writing the
+prescription."
+
+"There is no need for a prescription," I said. "I will make up some
+medicine and give it to the coachman."
+
+Mr. Weiss seemed inclined to demur to this arrangement, but I had my own
+reasons for insisting on it. Modern prescriptions are not difficult to
+read, and I did not wish Mr. Weiss to know what treatment the patient
+was having.
+
+As soon as I was left alone, I returned to the bedside and once more
+looked down at the impassive figure. And as I looked, my suspicions
+revived. It was very like morphine poisoning; and, if it was morphine,
+it was no common, medicinal dose that had been given. I opened my bag
+and took out my hypodermic case from which I extracted a little tube of
+atropine tabloids. Shaking out into my hand a couple of the tiny discs,
+I drew down the patient's under-lip and slipped the little tablets under
+his tongue. Then I quickly replaced the tube and dropped the case into
+my bag; and I had hardly done so when the door opened softly and the
+housekeeper entered the room.
+
+"How do you find Mr. Graves?" she asked in what I thought a very
+unnecessarily low tone, considering the patient's lethargic state.
+
+"He seems to be very ill," I answered.
+
+"So!" she rejoined, and added: "I am sorry to hear that. We have been
+anxious about him."
+
+She seated herself on the chair by the bedside, and, shading the candle
+from the patient's face--and her own, too--produced from a bag that hung
+from her waist a half-finished stocking and began to knit silently and
+with the skill characteristic of the German housewife. I looked at her
+attentively (though she was so much in the shadow that I could see her
+but indistinctly) and somehow her appearance prepossessed me as little
+as did that of the other members of the household. Yet she was not an
+ill-looking woman. She had an excellent figure, and the air of a person
+of good social position; her features were good enough and her
+colouring, although a little unusual, was not unpleasant. Like Mr.
+Weiss, she had very fair hair, greased, parted in the middle and brushed
+down as smoothly as the painted hair of a Dutch doll. She appeared to
+have no eyebrows at all--owing, no doubt, to the light colour of the
+hair--and the doll-like character was emphasized by her eyes, which were
+either brown or dark grey, I could not see which. A further peculiarity
+consisted in a "habit spasm," such as one often sees in nervous
+children; a periodical quick jerk of the head, as if a cap-string or
+dangling lock were being shaken off the cheek. Her age I judged to be
+about thirty-five.
+
+The carriage, which one might have expected to be waiting, seemed to
+take some time in getting ready. I sat, with growing impatience,
+listening to the sick man's soft breathing and the click of the
+housekeeper's knitting-needles. I wanted to get home, not only for my
+own sake; the patient's condition made it highly desirable that the
+remedies should be given as quickly as possible. But the minutes dragged
+on, and I was on the point of expostulating when a bell rang on the
+landing.
+
+"The carriage is ready," said Mrs. Schallibaum. "Let me light you down
+the stairs."
+
+She rose, and, taking the candle, preceded me to the head of the stairs,
+where she stood holding the light over the baluster-rail as I descended
+and crossed the passage to the open side door. The carriage was drawn up
+in the covered way as I could see by the faint glimmer of the distant
+candle; which also enabled me dimly to discern the coachman standing
+close by in the shadow. I looked round, rather expecting to see Mr.
+Weiss, but, as he made no appearance, I entered the carriage. The door
+was immediately banged to and locked, and I then heard the heavy bolts
+of the gates withdrawn and the loud creaking of hinges. The carriage
+moved out slowly and stopped; the gates slammed to behind me; I felt the
+lurch as the coachman climbed to his seat and we started forward.
+
+My reflections during the return journey were the reverse of agreeable.
+I could not rid myself of the conviction that I was being involved in
+some very suspicious proceedings. It was possible, of course, that this
+feeling was due to the strange secrecy that surrounded my connection
+with this case; that, had I made my visit under ordinary conditions, I
+might have found in the patient's symptoms nothing to excite suspicion
+or alarm. It might be so, but that consideration did not comfort me.
+
+Then, my diagnosis might be wrong. It might be that this was, in
+reality, a case of some brain affection accompanied by compression, such
+as slow haemorrhage, abscess, tumour or simple congestion. These cases
+were very difficult at times. But the appearances in this one did not
+consistently agree with the symptoms accompanying any of these
+conditions. As to sleeping sickness, it was, perhaps a more hopeful
+suggestion, but I could not decide for or against it until I had more
+knowledge; and against this view was the weighty fact that the symptoms
+did exactly agree with the theory of morphine poisoning.
+
+But even so, there was no conclusive evidence of any criminal act. The
+patient might be a confirmed opium-eater, and the symptoms heightened by
+deliberate deception. The cunning of these unfortunates is proverbial
+and is only equalled by their secretiveness and mendacity. It would be
+quite possible for this man to feign profound stupor so long as he was
+watched, and then, when left alone for a few minutes, to nip out of bed
+and help himself from some secret store of the drug. This would be quite
+in character with his objection to seeing a doctor and his desire for
+secrecy. But still, I did not believe it to be the true explanation. In
+spite of all the various alternative possibilities, my suspicions came
+back to Mr. Weiss and the strange, taciturn woman, and refused to budge.
+
+For all the circumstances of the case were suspicious. The elaborate
+preparations implied by the state of the carriage in which I was
+travelling; the make-shift appearance of the house; the absence of
+ordinary domestic servants, although a coachman was kept; the evident
+desire of Mr. Weiss and the woman to avoid thorough inspection of their
+persons; and, above all, the fact that the former had told me a
+deliberate lie. For he had lied, beyond all doubt. His statement as to
+the almost continuous stupor was absolutely irreconcilable with his
+other statement as to the patient's wilfulness and obstinacy and even
+more irreconcilable with the deep and comparatively fresh marks of the
+spectacles on the patient's nose. That man had certainly worn spectacles
+within twenty-four hours, which he would hardly have done if he had been
+in a state bordering on coma.
+
+My reflections were interrupted by the stopping of the carriage. The
+door was unlocked and thrown open, and I emerged from my dark and stuffy
+prison opposite my own house.
+
+"I will let you have the medicine in a minute or two," I said to the
+coachman; and, as I let myself in with my latch-key, my mind came back
+swiftly from the general circumstances of the case to the very critical
+condition of the patient. Already I was regretting that I had not taken
+more energetic measures to rouse him and restore his flagging vitality;
+for it would be a terrible thing if he should take a turn for the worse
+and die before the coachman returned with the remedies. Spurred on by
+this alarming thought, I made up the medicines quickly and carried the
+hastily wrapped bottles out to the man, whom I found standing by the
+horse's head.
+
+"Get back as quickly as you can," I said, "and tell Mr. Weiss to lose no
+time in giving the patient the draught in the small bottle. The
+directions are on the labels."
+
+The coachman took the packages from me without reply, climbed to his
+seat, touched the horse with his whip and drove off at a rapid pace
+towards Newington Butts.
+
+The little clock in the consulting-room showed that it was close on
+eleven; time for a tired G.P. to be thinking of bed. But I was not
+sleepy. Over my frugal supper I found myself taking up anew the thread
+of my meditations, and afterwards, as I smoked my last pipe by the
+expiring surgery fire, the strange and sinister features of the case
+continued to obtrude themselves on my notice. I looked up Stillbury's
+little reference library for information on the subject of sleeping
+sickness, but learned no more than that it was "a rare and obscure
+disease of which very little was known at present." I read up morphine
+poisoning and was only further confirmed in the belief that my diagnosis
+was correct; which would have been more satisfactory if the
+circumstances had been different.
+
+For the interest of the case was not merely academic. I was in a
+position of great difficulty and responsibility and had to decide on a
+course of action. What ought I to do? Should I maintain the professional
+secrecy to which I was tacitly committed, or ought I to convey a hint to
+the police?
+
+Suddenly, and with a singular feeling of relief, I bethought myself of
+my old friend and fellow-student, John Thorndyke, now an eminent
+authority on Medical Jurisprudence. I had been associated with him
+temporarily in one case as his assistant, and had then been deeply
+impressed by his versatile learning, his acuteness and his marvellous
+resourcefulness. Thorndyke was a barrister in extensive practice, and so
+would be able to tell me at once what was my duty from a legal point of
+view; and, as he was also a doctor of medicine, he would understand the
+exigencies of medical practice. If I could find time to call at the
+Temple and lay the case before him, all my doubts and difficulties would
+be resolved.
+
+Anxiously, I opened my visiting-list to see what kind of day's work was
+in store for me on the morrow. It was not a heavy day, even allowing for
+one or two extra calls in the morning, but yet I was doubtful whether it
+would allow of my going so far from my district, until my eye caught,
+near the foot of the page, the name of Burton. Now Mr. Burton lived in
+one of the old houses on the east side of Bouverie Street, less than
+five minutes' walk from Thorndyke's chambers in King's Bench Walk; and
+he was, moreover, a "chronic" who could safely be left for the last.
+When I had done with Mr. Burton I could look in on my friend with a very
+good chance of catching him on his return from the hospital. I could
+allow myself time for quite a long chat with him, and, by taking a
+hansom, still get back in good time for the evening's work.
+
+This was a great comfort. At the prospect of sharing my responsibilities
+with a friend on whose judgment I could so entirely rely, my
+embarrassments seemed to drop from me in a moment. Having entered the
+engagement in my visiting-list, I rose, in greatly improved spirits, and
+knocked out my pipe just as the little clock banged out impatiently the
+hour of midnight.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter II
+
+Thorndyke Devises a Scheme
+
+
+As I entered the Temple by the Tudor Street gate the aspect of the place
+smote my senses with an air of agreeable familiarity. Here had I spent
+many a delightful hour when working with Thorndyke at the remarkable
+Hornby case, which the newspapers had called "The Case of the Red Thumb
+Mark"; and here had I met the romance of my life, the story whereof is
+told elsewhere. The place was thus endeared to me by pleasant
+recollections of a happy past, and its associations suggested hopes of
+happiness yet to come and in the not too far distant future.
+
+My brisk tattoo on the little brass knocker brought to the door no less
+a person than Thorndyke himself; and the warmth of his greeting made me
+at once proud and ashamed. For I had not only been an absentee; I had
+been a very poor correspondent.
+
+"The prodigal has returned, Polton," he exclaimed, looking into the
+room. "Here is Dr. Jervis."
+
+I followed him into the room and found Polton--his confidential servant,
+laboratory assistant, artificer and general "familiar"--setting out the
+tea-tray on a small table. The little man shook hands cordially with me,
+and his face crinkled up into the sort of smile that one might expect to
+see on a benevolent walnut.
+
+"We've often talked about you, sir," said he. "The doctor was wondering
+only yesterday when you were coming back to us."
+
+As I was not "coming back to them" quite in the sense intended I felt a
+little guilty, but reserved my confidences for Thorndyke's ear and
+replied in polite generalities. Then Polton fetched the tea-pot from the
+laboratory, made up the fire and departed, and Thorndyke and I subsided,
+as of old, into our respective arm-chairs.
+
+"And whence do you spring from in this unexpected fashion?" my colleague
+asked. "You look as if you had been making professional visits."
+
+"I have. The base of operations is in Lower Kennington Lane."
+
+"Ah! Then you are 'back once more on the old trail'?"
+
+"Yes," I answered, with a laugh, "'the old trail, the long trail, the
+trail that is always new.'"
+
+"And leads nowhere," Thorndyke added grimly.
+
+I laughed again; not very heartily, for there was an uncomfortable
+element of truth in my friend's remark, to which my own experience bore
+only too complete testimony. The medical practitioner whose lack of
+means forces him to subsist by taking temporary charge of other men's
+practices is apt to find that the passing years bring him little but
+grey hairs and a wealth of disagreeable experience.
+
+"You will have to drop it, Jervis; you will, indeed," Thorndyke resumed
+after a pause. "This casual employment is preposterous for a man of your
+class and professional attainments. Besides, are you not engaged to be
+married and to a most charming girl?"
+
+"Yes, I know. I have been a fool. But I will really amend my ways. If
+necessary, I will pocket my pride and let Juliet advance the money to
+buy a practice."
+
+"That," said Thorndyke, "is a very proper resolution. Pride and reserve
+between people who are going to be husband and wife, is an absurdity.
+But why buy a practice? Have you forgotten my proposal?"
+
+"I should be an ungrateful brute if I had."
+
+"Very well. I repeat it now. Come to me as my junior, read for the Bar
+and work with me, and, with your abilities, you will have a chance of
+something like a career. I want you, Jervis," he added, earnestly. "I
+must have a junior, with my increasing practice, and you are the junior
+I want. We are old and tried friends; we have worked together; we like
+and trust one another, and you are the best man for the job that I know.
+Come; I am not going to take a refusal. This is an ultimatum."
+
+"And what is the alternative?" I asked with a smile at his eagerness.
+
+"There isn't any. You are going to say yes."
+
+"I believe I am," I answered, not without emotion; "and I am more
+rejoiced at your offer and more grateful than I can tell you. But we
+must leave the final arrangements for our next meeting--in a week or so,
+I hope--for I have to be back in an hour, and I want to consult you on
+a matter of some importance."
+
+"Very well," said Thorndyke; "we will leave the formal agreement for
+consideration at our next meeting. What is it that you want my opinion
+on?"
+
+"The fact is," I said, "I am in a rather awkward dilemma, and I want you
+to tell me what you think I ought to do."
+
+Thorndyke paused in the act of refilling my cup and glanced at me with
+unmistakable anxiety.
+
+"Nothing of an unpleasant nature, I hope," said he.
+
+"No, no; nothing of that kind," I answered with a smile as I interpreted
+the euphemism; for "something unpleasant," in the case of a young and
+reasonably presentable medical man is ordinarily the equivalent of
+trouble with the female of his species. "It is nothing that concerns me
+personally at all," I continued; "it is a question of professional
+responsibility. But I had better give you an account of the affair in a
+complete narrative, as I know that you like to have your data in a
+regular and consecutive order."
+
+Thereupon I proceeded to relate the history of my visit to the
+mysterious Mr. Graves, not omitting any single circumstance or detail
+that I could recollect.
+
+Thorndyke listened from the very beginning of my story with the closest
+attention. His face was the most impassive that I have ever seen;
+ordinarily as inscrutable as a bronze mask; but to me, who knew him
+intimately, there was a certain something--a change of colour, perhaps,
+or an additional sparkle of the eye--that told me when his curious
+passion for investigation was fully aroused. And now, as I told him of
+that weird journey and the strange, secret house to which it had brought
+me, I could see that it offered a problem after his very heart. During
+the whole of my narration he sat as motionless as a statue, evidently
+committing the whole story to memory, detail by detail; and even when I
+had finished he remained for an appreciable time without moving or
+speaking.
+
+At length he looked up at me. "This is a very extraordinary affair,
+Jervis," he said.
+
+"Very," I agreed; "and the question that is agitating me is, what is to
+be done?"
+
+"Yes," he said, meditatively, "that is the question; and an uncommonly
+difficult question it is. It really involves the settlement of the
+antecedent question: What is it that is happening at that house?"
+
+"What do you think is happening at that house?" I asked.
+
+"We must go slow, Jervis," he replied. "We must carefully separate the
+legal tissues from the medical, and avoid confusing what we know with
+what we suspect. Now, with reference to the medical aspects of the case.
+The first question that confronts us is that of sleeping sickness, or
+negro-lethargy as it is sometimes called; and here we are in a
+difficulty. We have not enough knowledge. Neither of us, I take it, has
+ever seen a case, and the extant descriptions are inadequate. From what
+I know of the disease, its symptoms agree with those in your case in
+respect of the alleged moroseness and in the gradually increasing
+periods of lethargy alternating with periods of apparent recovery. On
+the other hand, the disease is said to be confined to negroes; but that
+probably means only that negroes alone have hitherto been exposed to the
+conditions that produce it. A more important fact is that, as far as I
+know, extreme contraction of the pupils is not a symptom of sleeping
+sickness. To sum up, the probabilities are against sleeping sickness,
+but with our insufficient knowledge, we cannot definitely exclude it."
+
+"You think that it may really be sleeping sickness?"
+
+"No; personally I do not entertain that theory for a moment. But I am
+considering the evidence apart from our opinions on the subject. We have
+to accept it as a conceivable hypothesis that it may be sleeping
+sickness because we cannot positively prove that it is not. That is all.
+But when we come to the hypothesis of morphine poisoning, the case is
+different. The symptoms agree with those of morphine poisoning in every
+respect. There is no exception or disagreement whatever. The common
+sense of the matter is therefore that we adopt morphine poisoning as our
+working diagnosis; which is what you seem to have done."
+
+"Yes. For purposes of treatment."
+
+"Exactly. For medical purposes you adopted the more probable view and
+dismissed the less probable. That was the reasonable thing to do. But
+for legal purposes you must entertain both possibilities; for the
+hypothesis of poisoning involves serious legal issues, whereas the
+hypothesis of disease involves no legal issues at all."
+
+"That doesn't sound very helpful," I remarked.
+
+"It indicates the necessity for caution," he retorted.
+
+"Yes, I see that. But what is your own opinion of the case?"
+
+"Well," he said, "let us consider the facts in order. Here is a man who,
+we assume, is under the influence of a poisonous dose of morphine. The
+question is, did he take that dose himself or was it administered to him
+by some other person? If he took it himself, with what object did he
+take it? The history that was given to you seems completely to exclude
+the idea of suicide. But the patient's condition seems equally to
+exclude the idea of morphinomania. Your opium-eater does not reduce
+himself to a state of coma. He usually keeps well within the limits of
+the tolerance that has been established. The conclusion that emerges is,
+I think, that the drug was administered by some other person; and the
+most likely person seems to be Mr. Weiss."
+
+"Isn't morphine a very unusual poison?"
+
+"Very; and most inconvenient except in a single, fatal dose, by reason
+of the rapidity with which tolerance of the drug is established. But we
+must not forget that slow morphine poisoning might be eminently
+suitable in certain cases. The manner in which it enfeebles the will,
+confuses the judgment and debilitates the body might make it very useful
+to a poisoner whose aim was to get some instrument or document executed,
+such as a will, deed or assignment. And death could be produced
+afterwards by other means. You see the important bearing of this?"
+
+"You mean in respect of a death certificate?"
+
+"Yes. Suppose Mr. Weiss to have given a large dose of morphine. He then
+sends for you and throws out a suggestion of sleeping sickness. If you
+accept the suggestion he is pretty safe. He can repeat the process until
+he kills his victim and then get a certificate from you which will cover
+the murder. It was quite an ingenious scheme--which, by the way, is
+characteristic of intricate crimes; your subtle criminal often plans his
+crime like a genius, but he generally executes it like a fool--as this
+man seems to have done, if we are not doing him an injustice."
+
+"How has he acted like a fool?"
+
+"In several respects. In the first place, he should have chosen his
+doctor. A good, brisk, confident man who 'knows his own mind' is the
+sort of person who would have suited him; a man who would have jumped at
+a diagnosis and stuck to it; or else an ignorant weakling of alcoholic
+tendencies. It was shockingly bad luck to run against a cautious
+scientific practitioner like my learned friend. Then, of course, all
+this secrecy was sheer tomfoolery, exactly calculated to put a careful
+man on his guard; as it has actually done. If Mr. Weiss is really a
+criminal, he has mismanaged his affairs badly."
+
+"And you apparently think that he is a criminal?"
+
+"I suspect him deeply. But I should like to ask you one or two questions
+about him. You say he spoke with a German accent. What command of
+English had he? Was his vocabulary good? Did he use any German idioms?"
+
+"No. I should say that his English was perfect, and I noticed that his
+phrases were quite well chosen even for an Englishman."
+
+"Did he seem to you 'made up' in any way; disguised, I mean?"
+
+"I couldn't say. The light was so very feeble."
+
+"You couldn't see the colour of his eyes, for instance?"
+
+"No. I think they were grey, but I couldn't be sure."
+
+"And as to the coachman. He wore a wig, you said. Could you see the
+colour of his eyes? Or any peculiarity by which you could recognize
+him?"
+
+"He had a malformed thumb-nail on his right hand. That is all I can say
+about him."
+
+"He didn't strike you as resembling Weiss in any way; in voice or
+features?"
+
+"Not at all; and he spoke, as I told you, with a distinct Scotch
+accent."
+
+"The reason I ask is that if Weiss is attempting to poison this man, the
+coachman is almost certain to be a confederate and might be a relative.
+You had better examine him closely if you get another chance."
+
+"I will. And that brings me back to the question, What am I to do? Ought
+I to report the case to the police?"
+
+"I am inclined to think not. You have hardly enough facts. Of course, if
+Mr. Weiss has administered poison 'unlawfully and maliciously' he has
+committed a felony, and is liable under the Consolidation Acts of 1861
+to ten years' penal servitude. But I do not see how you could swear an
+information. You don't know that he administered the poison--if poison
+has really been administered--and you cannot give any reliable name or
+any address whatever. Then there is the question of sleeping sickness.
+You reject it for medical purposes, but you could not swear, in a court
+of law, that this is not a case of sleeping sickness."
+
+"No," I admitted, "I could not."
+
+"Then I think the police would decline to move in the matter, and you
+might find that you had raised a scandal in Dr. Stillbury's practice to
+no purpose."
+
+"So you think I had better do nothing in the matter?"
+
+"For the present. It is, of course, a medical man's duty to assist
+justice in any way that is possible. But a doctor is not a detective; he
+should not go out of his way to assume police functions. He should keep
+his eyes and ears open, and, though, in general, he should keep his own
+counsel, it is his duty to note very carefully anything that seems to
+him likely to bear on any important legal issues. It is not his
+business officiously to initiate criminal inquiries, but it is
+emphatically his business to be ready, if called upon, to assist justice
+with information that his special knowledge and opportunities have
+rendered accessible to him. You see the bearing of this?"
+
+"You mean that I should note down what I have seen and heard and say
+nothing about it until I am asked."
+
+"Yes; if nothing further happens. But if you should be sent for again, I
+think it is your duty to make further observations with a view, if
+necessary, to informing the police. It may be, for instance, of vital
+importance to identify the house, and it is your duty to secure the
+means of doing so."
+
+"But, my dear Thorndyke," I expostulated, "I have told you how I was
+conveyed to the house. Now, will you kindly explain to me how a man,
+boxed up in a pitch-dark carriage, is going to identify any place to
+which he may be carried?"
+
+"The problem doesn't appear to me to present any serious difficulties,"
+he replied.
+
+"Doesn't it?" said I. "To me it looks like a pretty solid impossibility.
+But what do you suggest? Should I break out of the house and run away up
+the street? Or should I bore a hole through the shutter of the carriage
+and peep out?"
+
+Thorndyke smiled indulgently. "The methods proposed by my learned friend
+display a certain crudity inappropriate to the character of a man of
+science; to say nothing of the disadvantage of letting the enemy into
+our counsels. No, no, Jervis; we can do something better than that.
+Just excuse me for a minute while I run up to the laboratory."
+
+He hurried away to Polton's sanctum on the upper floor, leaving me to
+speculate on the method by which he proposed that a man should be
+enabled, as Sam Weller would express it, "to see through a flight of
+stairs and a deal door"; or, what was equally opaque, the wooden
+shutters of a closed carriage.
+
+"Now," he said, when he returned a couple of minutes later with a small,
+paper-covered notebook in his hand, "I have set Polton to work on a
+little appliance that will, I think, solve our difficulty, and I will
+show you how I propose that you should make your observations. First of
+all, we have to rule the pages of this book into columns."
+
+He sat down at the table and began methodically to rule the pages each
+into three columns, two quite narrow and one broad. The process occupied
+some time, during which I sat and watched with impatient curiosity the
+unhurried, precise movements of Thorndyke's pencil, all agog to hear the
+promised explanation. He was just finishing the last page when there
+came a gentle tap at the door, and Polton entered with a satisfied smile
+on his dry, shrewd-looking face and a small board in his hand.
+
+"Will this do, sir?" he asked.
+
+As he spoke he handed the little board to Thorndyke, who looked at it
+and passed it to me.
+
+"The very thing, Polton," my friend replied. "Where did you find it?
+It's of no use for you to pretend that you've made it in about two
+minutes and a half."
+
+Polton smiled one of his queer crinkly smiles, and remarking that "it
+didn't take much making," departed much gratified by the compliment.
+
+"What a wonderful old fellow that is, Jervis," Thorndyke observed as his
+factotum retired. "He took in the idea instantly and seems to have
+produced the finished article by magic, as the conjurers bring forth
+rabbits and bowls of goldfish at a moment's notice. I suppose you see
+what your <i>modus operandi</i> is to be?"
+
+I had gathered a clue from the little appliance--a plate of white
+fret-wood about seven inches by five, to one corner of which a
+pocket-compass had been fixed with shellac--but was not quite clear as
+to the details of the method.
+
+"You can read a compass pretty quickly, I think?" Thorndyke said.
+
+"Of course I can. Used we not to sail a yacht together when we were
+students?"
+
+"To be sure we did; and we will again before we die. And now as to your
+method of locating this house. Here is a pocket reading-lamp which you
+can hook on the carriage lining. This notebook can be fixed to the board
+with an india-rubber band--thus. You observe that the thoughtful Polton
+has stuck a piece of thread on the glass of the compass to serve as a
+lubber's line. This is how you will proceed. As soon as you are locked
+in the carriage, light your lamp--better have a book with you in case
+the light is noticed--take out your watch and put the board on your
+knee, keeping its long side exactly in a line with the axis of the
+carriage. Then enter in one narrow column of your notebook the time, in
+the other the direction shown by the compass, and in the broad column
+any particulars, including the number of steps the horse makes in a
+minute. Like this."
+
+He took a loose sheet of paper and made one or two sample entries on it
+in pencil, thus--
+
+  "9.40.  S.E.    Start from home.
+   9.41   S.W.    Granite setts.
+   9.43.  S.W.    Wood pavement. Hoofs 104.
+   9.47.  W. by S Granite crossing. Macadam--
+
+and so on. Note every change of direction, with the time; and whenever
+you hear or feel anything from outside, note it, with the time and
+direction; and don't forget to note any variations in the horse's pace.
+You follow the process?"
+
+"Perfectly. But do you think the method is accurate enough to fix the
+position of a house? Remember, this is only a pocket-compass with no
+dial, and it will jump frightfully. And the mode of estimating distance
+is very rough."
+
+"That is all perfectly true," Thorndyke answered. "But you are
+overlooking certain important facts. The track-chart that you will
+produce can be checked by other data. The house, for instance, has a
+covered way by which you could identify it if you knew approximately
+where to look for it. Then you must remember that your carriage is not
+travelling over a featureless plain. It is passing through streets which
+have a determined position and direction and which are accurately
+represented on the ordnance map. I think, Jervis, that, in spite of the
+apparent roughness of the method, if you make your observations
+carefully, we shall have no trouble in narrowing down the inquiry to a
+quite small area. If we get the chance, that is to say."
+
+"Yes, if we do. I am doubtful whether Mr. Weiss will require my services
+again, but I sincerely hope he will. It would be rare sport to locate
+his secret burrow, all unsuspected. But now I must really be off."
+
+"Good-bye, then," said Thorndyke, slipping a well-sharpened pencil
+through the rubber band that fixed the notebook to the board. "Let me
+know how the adventure progresses--if it progresses at all--and
+remember, I hold your promise to come and see me again quite soon in any
+case."
+
+He handed me the board and the lamp, and, when I had slipped them into
+my pocket, we shook hands and I hurried away, a little uneasy at having
+left my charge so long.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter III
+
+"A Chiel's Amang Ye Takin' Notes"
+
+
+The attitude of the suspicious man tends to generate in others the kind
+of conduct that seems to justify his suspicions. In most of us there
+lurks a certain strain of mischief which trustfulness disarms but
+distrust encourages. The inexperienced kitten which approaches us
+confidingly with arched back and upright tail, soliciting caresses,
+generally receives the gentle treatment that it expects; whereas the
+worldly-wise tom-cat, who, in response to friendly advances, scampers
+away and grins at us suspiciously from the fancied security of an
+adjacent wall, impels us to accelerate his retreat with a well-directed
+clod.
+
+Now the proceedings of Mr. H. Weiss resembled those of the tom-cat
+aforesaid and invited an analogous reply. To a responsible professional
+man his extraordinary precautions were at once an affront and a
+challenge. Apart from graver considerations, I found myself dwelling
+with unholy pleasure on the prospect of locating the secret hiding-place
+from which he seemed to grin at me with such complacent defiance; and I
+lost no time and spared no trouble in preparing myself for the
+adventure. The very hansom which bore me from the Temple to Kennington
+Lane was utilized for a preliminary test of Thorndyke's little
+apparatus. During the whole of that brief journey I watched the compass
+closely, noted the feel and sound of the road-material and timed the
+trotting of the horse. And the result was quite encouraging. It is true
+that the compass-needle oscillated wildly to the vibration of the cab,
+but still its oscillations took place around a definite point which was
+the average direction, and it was evident to me that the data it
+furnished were very fairly reliable. I felt very little doubt, after the
+preliminary trial, as to my being able to produce a moderately
+intelligible track-chart if only I should get an opportunity to exercise
+my skill.
+
+But it looked as if I should not. Mr. Weiss's promise to send for me
+again soon was not fulfilled. Three days passed and still he made no
+sign. I began to fear that I had been too outspoken; that the shuttered
+carriage had gone forth to seek some more confiding and easy-going
+practitioner, and that our elaborate preparations had been made in vain.
+When the fourth day drew towards a close and still no summons had come,
+I was disposed reluctantly to write the case off as a lost opportunity.
+
+And at that moment, in the midst of my regrets, the bottle-boy thrust an
+uncomely head in at the door. His voice was coarse, his accent was
+hideous, and his grammatical construction beneath contempt; but I
+forgave him all when I gathered the import of his message.
+
+"Mr. Weiss's carriage is waiting, and he says will you come as quickly
+as you can because he's took very bad to-night."
+
+I sprang from my chair and hastily collected the necessaries for the
+journey. The little board and the lamp I put in my overcoat pocket; I
+overhauled the emergency bag and added to its usual contents a bottle of
+permanganate of potassium which I thought I might require. Then I tucked
+the evening paper under my arm and went out.
+
+The coachman, who was standing at the horse's head as I emerged, touched
+his hat and came forward to open the door.
+
+"I have fortified myself for the long drive, you see," I remarked,
+exhibiting the newspaper as I stepped into the carriage.
+
+"But you can't read in the dark," said he.
+
+"No, but I have provided myself with a lamp," I replied, producing it
+and striking a match.
+
+He watched me as I lit the lamp and hooked it on the back cushion, and
+observed:
+
+"I suppose you found it rather a dull ride last time. It's a longish
+way. They might have fitted the carriage with an inside lamp. But we
+shall have to make it a quicker passage to-night. Governor says Mr.
+Graves is uncommon bad."
+
+With this he slammed the door and locked it. I drew the board from my
+pocket, laid it on my knee, glanced at my watch, and, as the coachman
+climbed to his seat, I made the first entry in the little book.
+
+"8.58. W. by S. Start from home. Horse 13 hands."
+
+The first move of the carriage on starting was to turn round as if
+heading for Newington Butts, and the second entry accordingly read:
+
+"8.58.30. E. by N."
+
+But this direction was not maintained long. Very soon we turned south
+and then west and then south again. I sat with my eyes riveted on the
+compass, following with some difficulty its rapid changes. The needle
+swung to and fro incessantly but always within a definite arc, the
+centre of which was the true direction. But this direction varied from
+minute to minute in the most astonishing manner. West, south, east,
+north, the carriage turned, "boxing" the compass until I lost all count
+of direction. It was an amazing performance. Considering that the man
+was driving against time on a mission of life and death urgency, his
+carelessness as to direction was astounding. The tortuousness of the
+route must have made the journey twice as long as it need have been
+with a little more careful selection. At least so it appeared to me,
+though, naturally, I was not in a position to offer an authoritative
+criticism.
+
+As far as I could judge, we followed the same route as before. Once I
+heard a tug's whistle and knew that we were near the river, and we
+passed the railway station, apparently at the same time as on the
+previous occasion, for I heard a passenger train start and assumed that
+it was the same train. We crossed quite a number of thoroughfares with
+tram-lines--I had no idea there were so many--and it was a revelation to
+me to find how numerous the railway arches were in this part of London
+and how continually the nature of the road-metal varied.
+
+It was by no means a dull journey this time. The incessant changes of
+direction and variations in the character of the road kept me most
+uncommonly busy; for I had hardly time to scribble down one entry before
+the compass-needle would swing round sharply, showing that we had once
+more turned a corner; and I was quite taken by surprise when the
+carriage slowed down and turned into the covered way. Very hastily I
+scribbled down the final entry ("9.24. S.E. In covered way"), and having
+closed the book and slipped it and the board into my pocket, had just
+opened out the newspaper when the carriage door was unlocked and opened,
+whereupon I unhooked and blew out the lamp and pocketed that too,
+reflecting that it might be useful later.
+
+As on the last occasion, Mrs. Schallibaum stood in the open doorway with
+a lighted candle. But she was a good deal less self-possessed this time.
+In fact she looked rather wild and terrified. Even by the candle-light
+I could see that she was very pale and she seemed unable to keep still.
+As she gave me the few necessary words of explanation, she fidgeted
+incessantly and her hands and feet were in constant movement.
+
+"You had better come up with me at once," she said. "Mr. Graves is much
+worse to-night. We will wait not for Mr. Weiss."
+
+Without waiting for a reply she quickly ascended the stairs and I
+followed. The room was in much the same condition as before. But the
+patient was not. As soon as I entered the room, a soft, rhythmical
+gurgle from the bed gave me a very clear warning of danger. I stepped
+forward quickly and looked down at the prostrate figure, and the warning
+gathered emphasis. The sick man's ghastly face was yet more ghastly; his
+eyes were more sunken, his skin more livid; "his nose was as sharp as a
+pen," and if he did not "babble of green fields" it was because he
+seemed to be beyond even that. If it had been a case of disease, I
+should have said at once that he was dying. He had all the appearance of
+a man <i>in articulo mortis</i>. Even as it was, feeling convinced that the
+case was one of morphine poisoning, I was far from confident that I
+should be able to draw him back from the extreme edge of vitality on
+which he trembled so insecurely.
+
+"He is very ill? He is dying?"
+
+It was Mrs. Schallibaum's voice; very low, but eager and intense. I
+turned, with my finger on the patient's wrist, and looked into the face
+of the most thoroughly scared woman I have ever seen. She made no
+attempt now to avoid the light, but looked me squarely in the face, and
+I noticed, half-unconsciously, that her eyes were brown and had a
+curious strained expression.
+
+"Yes," I answered, "he is very ill. He is in great danger."
+
+She still stared at me fixedly for some seconds. And then a very odd
+thing occurred. Suddenly she squinted--squinted horribly; not with the
+familiar convergent squint which burlesque artists imitate, but with
+external or divergent squint of extreme near sight or unequal vision.
+The effect was quite startling. One moment both her eyes were looking
+straight into mine; the next, one of them rolled round until it looked
+out of the uttermost corner, leaving the other gazing steadily forward.
+
+She was evidently conscious of the change, for she turned her head away
+quickly and reddened somewhat. But it was no time for thoughts of
+personal appearance.
+
+"You can save him, doctor! You will not let him die! He must not be
+allowed to die!"
+
+She spoke with as much passion as if he had been the dearest friend that
+she had in the world, which I suspected was far from being the case. But
+her manifest terror had its uses.
+
+"If anything is to be done to save him," I said, "it must be done
+quickly. I will give him some medicine at once, and meanwhile you must
+make some strong coffee."
+
+"Coffee!" she exclaimed. "But we have none in the house. Will not tea
+do, if I make it very strong?"
+
+"No, it will not. I must have coffee; and I must have it quickly."
+
+"Then I suppose I must go and get some. But it is late. The shops will
+be shut. And I don't like leaving Mr. Graves."
+
+"Can't you send the coachman?" I asked.
+
+She shook her head impatiently. "No, that is no use. I must wait until
+Mr. Weiss comes."
+
+"That won't do," I said, sharply. "He will slip through our fingers
+while you are waiting. You must go and get that coffee at once and bring
+it to me as soon as it is ready. And I want a tumbler and some water."
+
+She brought me a water-bottle and glass from the wash-stand and then,
+with a groan of despair, hurried from the room.
+
+I lost no time in applying the remedies that I had to hand. Shaking out
+into the tumbler a few crystals of potassium permanganate, I filled it
+up with water and approached the patient. His stupor was profound. I
+shook him as roughly as was safe in his depressed condition, but
+elicited no resistance or responsive movement. As it seemed very
+doubtful whether he was capable of swallowing, I dared not take the risk
+of pouring the liquid into his mouth for fear of suffocating him. A
+stomach-tube would have solved the difficulty, but, of course, I had not
+one with me. I had, however, a mouth-speculum which also acted as a gag,
+and, having propped the patient's mouth open with this, I hastily
+slipped off one of the rubber tubes from my stethoscope and inserted
+into one end of it a vulcanite ear-speculum to serve as a funnel. Then,
+introducing the other end of the tube into the gullet as far as its
+length would permit, I cautiously poured a small quantity of the
+permanganate solution into the extemporized funnel. To my great relief a
+movement of the throat showed that the swallowing reflex still existed,
+and, thus encouraged, I poured down the tube as much of the fluid as I
+thought it wise to administer at one time.
+
+The dose of permanganate that I had given was enough to neutralize any
+reasonable quantity of the poison that might yet remain in the stomach.
+I had next to deal with that portion of the drug which had already been
+absorbed and was exercising its poisonous effects. Taking my hypodermic
+case from my bag, I prepared in the syringe a full dose of atropine
+sulphate, which I injected forthwith into the unconscious man's arm. And
+that was all that I could do, so far as remedies were concerned, until
+the coffee arrived.
+
+I cleaned and put away the syringe, washed the tube, and then, returning
+to the bedside, endeavoured to rouse the patient from his profound
+lethargy. But great care was necessary. A little injudicious roughness
+of handling, and that thready, flickering pulse might stop for ever; and
+yet it was almost certain that if he were not speedily aroused, his
+stupor would gradually deepen until it shaded off imperceptibly into
+death. I went to work very cautiously, moving his limbs about, flicking
+his face and chest with the corner of a wet towel, tickling the soles
+of his feet, and otherwise applying stimuli that were strong without
+being violent.
+
+So occupied was I with my efforts to resuscitate my mysterious patient
+that I did not notice the opening of the door, and it was with something
+of a start that, happening to glance round, I perceived at the farther
+end of the room the shadowy figure of a man relieved by two spots of
+light reflected from his spectacles. How long he had been watching me I
+cannot say, but, when he saw that I had observed him, he came
+forward--though not very far--and I saw that he was Mr. Weiss.
+
+"I am afraid," he said, "that you do not find my friend so well
+to-night?"
+
+"So well!" I exclaimed. "I don't find him well at all. I am exceedingly
+anxious about him."
+
+"You don't--er--anticipate anything of a--er--anything serious, I hope?"
+
+"There is no need to anticipate," said I. "It is already about as
+serious as it can be. I think he might die at any moment."
+
+"Good God!" he gasped. "You horrify me!"
+
+He was not exaggerating. In his agitation, he stepped forward into the
+lighter part of the room, and I could see that his face was pale to
+ghastliness--except his nose and the adjacent red patches on his cheeks,
+which stood out in grotesquely hideous contrast. Presently, however, he
+recovered a little and said:
+
+"I really think--at least I hope--that you take an unnecessarily serious
+view of his condition. He has been like this before, you know."
+
+I felt pretty certain that he had not, but there was no use in
+discussing the question. I therefore replied, as I continued my efforts
+to rouse the patient:
+
+"That may or may not be. But in any case there comes a last time; and it
+may have come now."
+
+"I hope not," he said; "although I understand that these cases always
+end fatally sooner or later."
+
+"What cases?" I asked.
+
+"I was referring to sleeping sickness; but perhaps you have formed some
+other opinion as to the nature of this dreadful complaint."
+
+I hesitated for a moment, and he continued: "As to your suggestion that
+his symptoms might be due to drugs, I think we may consider that as
+disposed of. He has been watched, practically without cessation since
+you came last, and, moreover, I have myself turned out the room and
+examined the bed and have not found a trace of any drug. Have you gone
+into the question of sleeping sickness?"
+
+I looked at the man narrowly before answering, and distrusted him more
+than ever. But this was no time for reticence. My concern was with the
+patient and his present needs. After all, I was, as Thorndyke had said,
+a doctor, not a detective, and the circumstances called for
+straightforward speech and action on my part.
+
+"I have considered that question," I said, "and have come to a perfectly
+definite conclusion. His symptoms are not those of sleeping sickness.
+They are in my opinion undoubtedly due to morphine poisoning."
+
+"But my dear sir!" he exclaimed, "the thing is impossible! Haven't I
+just told you that he has been watched continuously?"
+
+"I can only judge by the appearances that I find," I answered; and,
+seeing that he was about to offer fresh objections, I continued: "Don't
+let us waste precious time in discussion, or Mr. Graves may be dead
+before we have reached a conclusion. If you will hurry them up about the
+coffee that I asked for some time ago, I will take the other necessary
+measures, and perhaps we may manage to pull him round."
+
+The rather brutal decision of my manner evidently daunted him. It must
+have been plain to him that I was not prepared to accept any explanation
+of the unconscious man's condition other than that of morphine
+poisoning; whence the inference was pretty plain that the alternatives
+were recovery or an inquest. Replying stiffly that I "must do as I
+thought best," he hurried from the room, leaving me to continue my
+efforts without further interruption.
+
+For some time these efforts seemed to make no impression. The man lay as
+still and impassive as a corpse excepting for the slow, shallow and
+rather irregular breathing with its ominous accompanying rattle. But
+presently, by imperceptible degrees, signs of returning life began to
+make their appearance. A sharp slap on the cheek with the wet towel
+produced a sensible flicker of the eyelids; a similar slap on the chest
+was followed by a slight gasp. A pencil, drawn over the sole of the
+foot, occasioned a visible shrinking movement, and, on looking once
+more at the eyes, I detected a slight change that told me that the
+atropine was beginning to take effect.
+
+This was very encouraging, and, so far, quite satisfactory, though it
+would have been premature to rejoice. I kept the patient carefully
+covered and maintained the process of gentle irritation, moving his
+limbs and shoulders, brushing his hair and generally bombarding his
+deadened senses with small but repeated stimuli. And under this
+treatment, the improvement continued so far that on my bawling a
+question into his ear he actually opened his eyes for an instant, though
+in another moment, the lids had sunk back into their former position.
+
+Soon after this, Mr. Weiss re-entered the room, followed by Mrs.
+Schallibaum, who carried a small tray, on which were a jug of coffee, a
+jug of milk, a cup and saucer and a sugar basin.
+
+"How do you find him now?" Mr. Weiss asked anxiously.
+
+"I am glad to say that there is a distinct improvement," I replied. "But
+we must persevere. He is by no means out of the wood yet."
+
+I examined the coffee, which looked black and strong and had a very
+reassuring smell, and, pouring out half a cupful, approached the bed.
+
+"Now, Mr. Graves," I shouted, "we want you to drink some of this."
+
+The flaccid eyelids lifted for an instant but there was no other
+response. I gently opened the unresisting mouth and ladled in a couple
+of spoonfuls of coffee, which were immediately swallowed; whereupon I
+repeated the proceeding and continued at short intervals until the cup
+was empty. The effect of the new remedy soon became apparent. He began
+to mumble and mutter obscurely in response to the questions that I
+bellowed at him, and once or twice he opened his eyes and looked
+dreamily into my face. Then I sat him up and made him drink some coffee
+from the cup, and, all the time, kept up a running fire of questions,
+which made up in volume of sound for what they lacked of relevancy.
+
+Of these proceedings Mr. Weiss and his housekeeper were highly
+interested spectators, and the former, contrary to his usual practice,
+came quite close up to the bed, to get a better view.
+
+"It is really a most remarkable thing," he said, "but it almost looks as
+if you were right, after all. He is certainly much better. But tell me,
+would this treatment produce a similar improvement if the symptoms were
+due to disease?"
+
+"No," I answered, "it certainly would not."
+
+"Then that seems to settle it. But it is a most mysterious affair. Can
+you suggest any way in which he can have concealed a store of the drug?"
+
+I stood up and looked him straight in the face; it was the first chance
+I had had of inspecting him by any but the feeblest light, and I looked
+at him very attentively. Now, it is a curious fact--though one that most
+persons must have observed--that there sometimes occurs a considerable
+interval between the reception of a visual impression and its complete
+transfer to the consciousness. A thing may be seen, as it were,
+unconsciously, and the impression consigned, apparently, to instant
+oblivion; and yet the picture may be subsequently revived by memory with
+such completeness that its details can be studied as though the object
+were still actually visible.
+
+Something of this kind must have happened to me now. Preoccupied as I
+was, by the condition of the patient, the professional habit of rapid
+and close observation caused me to direct a searching glance at the man
+before me. It was only a brief glance--for Mr. Weiss, perhaps
+embarrassed by my keen regard of him, almost immediately withdrew into
+the shadow--and my attention seemed principally to be occupied by the
+odd contrast between the pallor of his face and the redness of his nose
+and by the peculiar stiff, bristly character of his eyebrows. But there
+was another fact, and a very curious one, that was observed by me
+subconsciously and instantly forgotten, to be revived later when I
+reflected on the events of the night. It was this:
+
+As Mr. Weiss stood, with his head slightly turned, I was able to look
+through one glass of his spectacles at the wall beyond. On the wall was
+a framed print; and the edge of the frame, seen through the
+spectacle-glass, appeared quite unaltered and free from distortion,
+magnification or reduction, as if seen through plain window-glass; and
+yet the reflections of the candle-flame in the spectacles showed the
+flame upside down, proving conclusively that the glasses were concave on
+one surface at least. The strange phenomenon was visible only for a
+moment or two, and as it passed out of my sight it passed also out of my
+mind.
+
+"No," I said, replying to the last question; "I can think of no way in
+which he could have effectually hidden a store of morphine. Judging by
+the symptoms, he has taken a large dose, and, if he has been in the
+habit of consuming large quantities, his stock would be pretty bulky. I
+can offer no suggestion whatever."
+
+"I suppose you consider him quite out of danger now?"
+
+"Oh, not at all. I think we can pull him round if we persevere, but he
+must not be allowed to sink back into a state of coma. We must keep him
+on the move until the effects of the drug have really passed off. If you
+will put him into his dressing-gown we will walk him up and down the
+room for a while."
+
+"But is that safe?" Mr. Weiss asked anxiously.
+
+"Quite safe," I answered. "I will watch his pulse carefully. The danger
+is in the possibility, or rather certainty, of a relapse if he is not
+kept moving."
+
+With obvious unwillingness and disapproval, Mr. Weiss produced a
+dressing-gown and together we invested the patient in it. Then we
+dragged him, very limp, but not entirely unresisting, out of bed and
+stood him on his feet. He opened his eyes and blinked owlishly first at
+one and then at the other of us, and mumbled a few unintelligible words
+of protest; regardless of which, we thrust his feet into slippers and
+endeavoured to make him walk. At first he seemed unable to stand, and we
+had to support him by his arms as we urged him forward; but presently
+his trailing legs began to make definite walking movements, and, after
+one or two turns up and down the room, he was not only able partly to
+support his weight, but showed evidence of reviving consciousness in
+more energetic protests.
+
+At this point Mr. Weiss astonished me by transferring the arm that he
+held to the housekeeper.
+
+"If you will excuse me, doctor," said he, "I will go now and attend to
+some rather important business that I have had to leave unfinished. Mrs.
+Schallibaum will be able to give you all the assistance that you
+require, and will order the carriage when you think it safe to leave the
+patient. In case I should not see you again I will say 'good night.' I
+hope you won't think me very unceremonious."
+
+He shook hands with me and went out of the room, leaving me, as I have
+said, profoundly astonished that he should consider any business of more
+moment than the condition of his friend, whose life, even now, was but
+hanging by a thread. However, it was really no concern of mine. I could
+do without him, and the resuscitation of this unfortunate half-dead man
+gave me occupation enough to engross my whole attention.
+
+The melancholy progress up and down the room re-commenced, and with it
+the mumbled protests from the patient. As we walked, and especially as
+we turned, I caught frequent glimpses of the housekeeper's face. But it
+was nearly always in profile. She appeared to avoid looking me in the
+face, though she did so once or twice; and on each of these occasions
+her eyes were directed at me in a normal manner without any sign of a
+squint. Nevertheless, I had the impression that when her face was turned
+away from me she squinted. The "swivel eye"--the left--was towards me as
+she held the patient's right arm, and it was almost continuously turned
+in my direction, whereas I felt convinced that she was really looking
+straight before her, though, of course, her right eye was invisible to
+me. It struck me, even at the time, as an odd affair, but I was too much
+concerned about my charge to give it much consideration.
+
+Meanwhile the patient continued to revive apace. And the more he
+revived, the more energetically did he protest against this wearisome
+perambulation. But he was evidently a polite gentleman, for, muddled as
+his faculties were, he managed to clothe his objections in courteous and
+even gracious forms of speech singularly out of agreement with the
+character that Mr. Weiss had given him.
+
+"I thangyou," he mumbled thickly. "Ver' good take s'much trouble. Think
+I will lie down now." He looked wistfully at the bed, but I wheeled him
+about and marched him once more down the room. He submitted
+unresistingly, but as we again approached the bed he reopened the
+matter.
+
+"S'quite s'fficient, thang you. Gebback to bed now. Much 'bliged frall
+your kindness"--here I turned him round--"no, really; m'feeling rather
+tired. Sh'like to lie down now, f'you'd be s'good."
+
+"You must walk about a little longer, Mr. Graves," I said. "It would be
+very bad for you to go to sleep again."
+
+He looked at me with a curious, dull surprise, and reflected awhile as
+if in some perplexity. Then he looked at me again and said:
+
+"Thing, sir, you are mistake--mistaken me--mist--"
+
+Here Mrs. Schallibaum interrupted sharply:
+
+"The doctor thinks it's good for you to walk about. You've been sleeping
+too much. He doesn't want you to sleep any more just now."
+
+"Don't wanter sleep; wanter lie down," said the patient.
+
+"But you mustn't lie down for a little while. You must walk about for a
+few minutes more. And you'd better not talk. Just walk up and down."
+
+"There's no harm in his talking," said I; "in fact it's good for him. It
+will help to keep him awake."
+
+"I should think it would tire him," said Mrs. Schallibaum; "and it
+worries me to hear him asking to lie down when we can't let him."
+
+She spoke sharply and in an unnecessarily high tone so that the patient
+could not fail to hear. Apparently he took in the very broad hint
+contained in the concluding sentence, for he trudged wearily and
+unsteadily up and down the room for some time without speaking, though
+he continued to look at me from time to time as if something in my
+appearance puzzled him exceedingly. At length his intolerable longing
+for repose overcame his politeness and he returned to the attack.
+
+"Surely v' walked enough now. Feeling very tired. Am really. Would you
+be s'kind 's t'let me lie down few minutes?"
+
+"Don't you think he might lie down for a little while?" Mrs. Schallibaum
+asked.
+
+I felt his pulse, and decided that he was really becoming fatigued, and
+that it would be wiser not to overdo the exercise while he was so weak.
+Accordingly, I consented to his returning to bed, and turned him round
+in that direction; whereupon he tottered gleefully towards his
+resting-place like a tired horse heading for its stable.
+
+As soon as he was tucked in, I gave him a full cup of coffee, which he
+drank with some avidity as if thirsty. Then I sat down by the bedside,
+and, with a view to keeping him awake, began once more to ply him with
+questions.
+
+"Does your head ache, Mr. Graves?" I asked.
+
+"The doctor says 'does your head ache?'" Mrs. Schallibaum squalled, so
+loudly that the patient started perceptibly.
+
+"I heard him, m'dear girl," he answered with a faint smile. "Not deaf
+you know. Yes. Head aches a good deal. But I thing this gennleman
+mistakes--"
+
+"He says you are to keep awake. You mustn't go to sleep again, and you
+are not to close your eyes."
+
+"All ri' Pol'n. Keep'm open," and he proceeded forthwith to shut them
+with an air of infinite peacefulness. I grasped his hand and shook it
+gently, on which he opened his eyes and looked at me sleepily. The
+housekeeper stroked his head, keeping her face half-turned from me--as
+she had done almost constantly, to conceal the squinting eye, as I
+assumed--and said:
+
+"Need we keep you any longer, doctor? It is getting very late and you
+have a long way to go."
+
+I looked doubtfully at the patient. I was loath to leave him,
+distrusting these people as I did. But I had my work to do on the
+morrow, with, perhaps, a night call or two in the interval, and the
+endurance even of a general practitioner has its limits.
+
+"I think I heard the carriage some time ago," Mrs. Schallibaum added.
+
+I rose hesitatingly and looked at my watch. It had turned half-past
+eleven.
+
+"You understand," I said in a low voice, "that the danger is not over?
+If he is left now he will fall asleep, and in all human probability will
+never wake. You clearly understand that?"
+
+"Yes, quite clearly. I promise you he shall not be allowed to fall
+asleep again."
+
+As she spoke, she looked me full in the face for a few moments, and I
+noted that her eyes had a perfectly normal appearance, without any trace
+whatever of a squint.
+
+"Very well," I said. "On that understanding I will go now; and I shall
+hope to find our friend quite recovered at my next visit."
+
+I turned to the patient, who was already dozing, and shook his hand
+heartily.
+
+"Good-bye, Mr. Graves!" I said. "I am sorry to have to disturb your
+repose so much; but you must keep awake, you know. Won't do to go to
+sleep."
+
+"Ver' well," he replied drowsily. "Sorry t' give you all this trouble.
+L' keep awake. But I think you're mistak'n--"
+
+"He says it's very important that you shouldn't go to sleep, and that I
+am to see that you don't. Do you understand?"
+
+"Yes, I un'stan'. But why does this gennlem'n--?"
+
+"Now it's of no use for you to ask a lot of questions," Mrs. Schallibaum
+said playfully; "we'll talk to you to-morrow. Good night, doctor. I'll
+light you down the stairs, but I won't come down with you, or the
+patient will be falling asleep again."
+
+Taking this definite dismissal, I retired, followed by a dreamily
+surprised glance from the sick man. The housekeeper held the candle over
+the balusters until I reached the bottom of the stairs, when I perceived
+through the open door along the passage a glimmer of light from the
+carriage lamps. The coachman was standing just outside, faintly
+illuminated by the very dim lamplight, and as I stepped into the
+carriage he remarked in his Scotch dialect that I "seemed to have been
+makin' a nicht of it." He did not wait for any reply--none being in fact
+needed--but shut the door and locked it.
+
+I lit my little pocket-lamp and hung it on the back cushion. I even drew
+the board and notebook from my pocket. But it seemed rather unnecessary
+to take a fresh set of notes, and, to tell the truth, I rather shirked
+the labour, tired as I was after my late exertions; besides, I wanted
+to think over the events of the evening, while they were fresh in my
+memory. Accordingly I put away the notebook, filled and lighted my pipe,
+and settled myself to review the incidents attending my second visit to
+this rather uncanny house.
+
+Considered in leisurely retrospect, that visit offered quite a number of
+problems that called for elucidation. There was the patient's condition,
+for instance. Any doubt as to the cause of his symptoms was set at rest
+by the effect of the antidotes. Mr. Graves was certainly under the
+influence of morphine, and the only doubtful question was how he had
+become so. That he had taken the poison himself was incredible. No
+morphinomaniac would take such a knock-down dose. It was practically
+certain that the poison had been administered by someone else, and, on
+Mr. Weiss's own showing, there was no one but himself and the
+housekeeper who could have administered it. And to this conclusion all
+the other very queer circumstances pointed.
+
+What were these circumstances? They were, as I have said, numerous,
+though many of them seemed trivial. To begin with, Mr. Weiss's habit of
+appearing some time after my arrival and disappearing some time before
+my departure was decidedly odd. But still more odd was his sudden
+departure this evening on what looked like a mere pretext. That
+departure coincided in time with the sick man's recovery of the power of
+speech. Could it be that Mr. Weiss was afraid that the half-conscious
+man might say something compromising to him in my presence? It looked
+rather like it. And yet he had gone away and left me with the patient
+and the housekeeper.
+
+But when I came to think about it I remembered that Mrs. Schallibaum had
+shown some anxiety to prevent the patient from talking. She had
+interrupted him more than once, and had on two occasions broken in when
+he seemed to be about to ask me some question. I was "mistaken" about
+something. What was that something that he wanted to tell me?
+
+It had struck me as singular that there should be no coffee in the
+house, but a sufficiency of tea. Germans are not usually tea-drinkers
+and they do take coffee. But perhaps there was nothing in this. Rather
+more remarkable was the invisibility of the coachman. Why could he not
+be sent to fetch the coffee, and why did not he, rather than the
+housekeeper, come to take the place of Mr. Weiss when the latter had to
+go away.
+
+There were other points, too. I recalled the word that sounded like
+"Pol'n," which Mr. Graves had used in speaking to the housekeeper.
+Apparently it was a Christian name of some kind; but why did Mr. Graves
+call the woman by her Christian name when Mr. Weiss addressed her
+formally as Mrs. Schallibaum? And, as to the woman herself: what was the
+meaning of that curious disappearing squint? Physically it presented no
+mystery. The woman had an ordinary divergent squint, and, like many
+people, who suffer from this displacement, could, by a strong muscular
+effort, bring the eyes temporarily into their normal parallel position.
+I had detected the displacement when she had tried to maintain the
+effort too long, and the muscular control had given way. But why had she
+done it? Was it only feminine vanity--mere sensitiveness respecting a
+slight personal disfigurement? It might be so; or there might be some
+further motive. It was impossible to say.
+
+Turning this question over, I suddenly remembered the peculiarity of Mr.
+Weiss's spectacles. And here I met with a real poser. I had certainly
+seen through those spectacles as clearly as if they had been plain
+window-glass; and they had certainly given an inverted reflection of the
+candle-flame like that thrown from the surface of a concave lens. Now
+they obviously could not be both flat and concave; but yet they had the
+properties peculiar to both flatness and concavity. And there was a
+further difficulty. If I could see objects unaltered through them, so
+could Mr. Weiss. But the function of spectacles is to alter the
+appearances of objects, by magnification, reduction or compensating
+distortion. If they leave the appearances unchanged they are useless. I
+could make nothing of it. After puzzling over it for quite a long time,
+I had to give it up; which I did the less unwillingly inasmuch as the
+construction of Mr. Weiss's spectacles had no apparent bearing on the
+case.
+
+On arriving home, I looked anxiously at the message-book, and was
+relieved to find that there were no further visits to be made. Having
+made up a mixture for Mr. Graves and handed it to the coachman, I raked
+the ashes of the surgery fire together and sat down to smoke a final
+pipe while I reflected once more on the singular and suspicious case in
+which I had become involved. But fatigue soon put an end to my
+meditations; and having come to the conclusion that the circumstances
+demanded a further consultation with Thorndyke, I turned down the gas to
+a microscopic blue spark and betook myself to bed.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter IV
+
+The Official View
+
+
+I rose on the following morning still possessed by the determination to
+make some oportunity during the day to call on Thorndyke and take his
+advice on the now urgent question as to what I was to do. I use the word
+"urgent" advisedly; for the incidents of the preceding evening had left
+me with the firm conviction that poison was being administered for some
+purpose to my mysterious patient, and that no time must be lost if his
+life was to be saved. Last night he had escaped only by the narrowest
+margin--assuming him to be still alive--and it was only my unexpectedly
+firm attitude that had compelled Mr. Weiss to agree to restorative
+measures.
+
+That I should be sent for again I had not the slightest expectation. If
+what I so strongly suspected was true, Weiss would call in some other
+doctor, in the hope of better luck, and it was imperative that he
+should be stopped before it was too late. This was my view, but I meant
+to have Thorndyke's opinion, and act under his direction, but
+
+
+  "The best laid plans of mice and men
+   Gang aft agley."
+
+When I came downstairs and took a preliminary glance at the rough
+memorandum-book, kept by the bottle-boy, or, in his absence, by the
+housemaid, I stood aghast. The morning's entries looked already like a
+sample page of the Post Office directory. The new calls alone were more
+than equal to an ordinary day's work, and the routine visits remained to
+be added. Gloomily wondering whether the Black Death had made a sudden
+reappearance in England, I hurried to the dining-room and made a hasty
+breakfast, interrupted at intervals by the apparition of the bottle-boy
+to announce new messages.
+
+The first two or three visits solved the mystery. An epidemic of
+influenza had descended on the neighbourhood, and I was getting not only
+our own normal work but a certain amount of overflow from other
+practices. Further, it appeared that a strike in the building trade had
+been followed immediately by a widespread failure of health among the
+bricklayers who were members of a certain benefit club; which accounted
+for the remarkable suddenness of the outbreak.
+
+Of course, my contemplated visit to Thorndyke was out of the question. I
+should have to act on my own responsibility. But in the hurry and rush
+and anxiety of the work--for some of the cases were severe and even
+critical--I had no opportunity to consider any course of action, nor
+time to carry it out. Even with the aid of a hansom which I chartered,
+as Stillbury kept no carriage, I had not finished my last visit until
+near on midnight, and was then so spent with fatigue that I fell asleep
+over my postponed supper.
+
+As the next day opened with a further increase of work, I sent a
+telegram to Dr. Stillbury at Hastings, whither he had gone, like a wise
+man, to recruit after a slight illness. I asked for authority to engage
+an assistant, but the reply informed me that Stillbury himself was on
+his way to town; and to my relief, when I dropped in at the surgery for
+a cup of tea, I found him rubbing his hands over the open day-book.
+
+"It's an ill wind that blows nobody good," he remarked cheerfully as we
+shook hands. "This will pay the expenses of my holiday, including you.
+By the way, you are not anxious to be off, I suppose?"
+
+As a matter of fact, I was; for I had decided to accept Thorndyke's
+offer, and was now eager to take up my duties with him. But it would
+have been shabby to leave Stillbury to battle alone with this rush of
+work or to seek the services of a strange assistant.
+
+"I should like to get off as soon as you can spare me," I replied, "but
+I'm not going to leave you in the lurch."
+
+"That's a good fellow," said Stillbury. "I knew you wouldn't. Let us
+have some tea and divide up the work. Anything of interest going?"
+
+There were one or two unusual cases on the list, and, as we marked off
+our respective patients, I gave him the histories in brief synopsis. And
+then I opened the subject of my mysterious experiences at the house of
+Mr. Weiss.
+
+"There's another affair that I want to tell you about; rather an
+unpleasant business."
+
+"Oh, dear!" exclaimed Stillbury. He put down his cup and regarded me
+with quite painful anxiety.
+
+"It looks to me like an undoubted case of criminal poisoning," I
+continued.
+
+Stillbury's face cleared instantly. "Oh, I'm glad it's nothing more than
+that," he said with an air of relief. "I was afraid, it was some
+confounded woman. There's always that danger, you know, when a locum is
+young and happens--if I may say so, Jervis--to be a good-looking fellow.
+Let us hear about this case."
+
+I gave him a condensed narrative of my connection with the mysterious
+patient, omitting any reference to Thorndyke, and passing lightly over
+my efforts to fix the position of the house, and wound up with the
+remark that the facts ought certainly to be communicated to the police.
+
+"Yes," he admitted reluctantly, "I suppose you're right. Deuced
+unpleasant though. Police cases don't do a practice any good. They waste
+a lot of time, too; keep you hanging about to give evidence. Still, you
+are quite right. We can't stand by and see the poor devil poisoned
+without making some effort. But I don't believe the police will do
+anything in the matter."
+
+"Don't you really?"
+
+"No, I don't. They like to have things pretty well cut and dried before
+they act. A prosecution is an expensive affair, so they don't care to
+prosecute unless they are fairly sure of a conviction. If they fail they
+get hauled over the coals."
+
+"But don't you think they would get a conviction in this case?"
+
+"Not on your evidence, Jervis. They might pick up something fresh, but,
+if they didn't they would fail. You haven't got enough hard-baked facts
+to upset a capable defence. Still, that isn't our affair. You want to
+put the responsibility on the police and I entirely agree with you."
+
+"There ought not to be any delay," said I.
+
+"There needn't be. I shall look in on Mrs. Wackford and you have to see
+the Rummel children; we shall pass the station on our way. Why shouldn't
+we drop in and see the inspector or superintendent?"
+
+The suggestion met my views exactly. As soon as we had finished tea, we
+set forth, and in about ten minutes found ourselves in the bare and
+forbidding office attached to the station.
+
+The presiding officer descended from a high stool, and, carefully laying
+down his pen, shook hands cordially.
+
+"And what can I do for you gentlemen?" he asked, with an affable smile.
+
+Stillbury proceeded to open our business.
+
+"My friend here, Dr. Jervis, who has very kindly been looking after my
+work for a week or two, has had a most remarkable experience, and he
+wants to tell you about it."
+
+"Something in my line of business?" the officer inquired.
+
+"That," said I, "is for you to judge. I think it is, but you may think
+otherwise"; and hereupon, without further preamble, I plunged into the
+history of the case, giving him a condensed statement similar to that
+which I had already made to Stillbury.
+
+He listened with close attention, jotting down from time to time a brief
+note on a sheet of paper; and, when I had finished, he wrote out in a
+black-covered notebook a short precis of my statement.
+
+"I have written down here," he said, "the substance of what you have
+told me. I will read the deposition over to you, and, if it is correct,
+I will ask you to sign it."
+
+He did so, and, when I had signed the document, I asked him what was
+likely to be done in the matter.
+
+"I am afraid," he replied, "that we can't take any active measures. You
+have put us on our guard and we shall keep our eyes open. But I think
+that is all we can do, unless we hear something further."
+
+"But," I exclaimed, "don't you think that it is a very suspicious
+affair?"
+
+"I do," he replied. "A very fishy business indeed, and you were quite
+right to come and tell us about it."
+
+"It seems a pity not to take some measures," I said. "While you are
+waiting to hear something further, they may give the poor wretch a fresh
+dose and kill him."
+
+"In which case we should hear something further, unless some fool of a
+doctor were to give a death certificate."
+
+"But that is very unsatisfactory. The man ought not to be allowed to
+die."
+
+"I quite agree with you, sir. But we've no evidence that he is going to
+die. His friends sent for you, and you treated him skilfully and left
+him in a fair way to recovery. That's all that we really know about it.
+Yes, I know," the officer continued as I made signs of disagreement,
+"you think that a crime is possibly going to be committed and that we
+ought to prevent it. But you overrate our powers. We can only act on
+evidence that a crime has actually been committed or is actually being
+attempted. Now we have no such evidence. Look at your statement, and
+tell me what you can swear to."
+
+"I think I could swear that Mr. Graves had taken a poisonous dose of
+morphine."
+
+"And who gave him that poisonous dose?"
+
+"I very strongly suspect--"
+
+"That's no good, sir," interrupted the officer. "Suspicion isn't
+evidence. We should want you to swear an information and give us enough
+facts to make out a <i>prima facie</i> case against some definite person. And
+you couldn't do it. Your information amounts to this: that a certain
+person has taken a poisonous dose of morphine and apparently recovered.
+That's all. You can't swear that the names given to you are real names,
+and you can't give us any address or even any locality."
+
+"I took some compass bearings in the carriage," I said. "You could
+locate the house, I think, without much difficulty."
+
+The officer smiled faintly and fixed an abstracted gaze on the clock.
+
+"<i>You</i> could, sir," he replied. "I have no doubt whatever that <i>you</i>
+could. <i>I</i> couldn't. But, in any case, we haven't enough to go upon. If
+you learn anything fresh, I hope you will let me know; and I am very
+much obliged to you for taking so much trouble in the matter. Good
+evening sir. Good evening, Dr. Stillbury."
+
+He shook hands with us both genially, and, accepting perforce this very
+polite but unmistakable dismissal, we took our departure.
+
+Outside the station, Stillbury heaved a comfortable sigh. He was
+evidently relieved to find that no upheavals were to take place in his
+domain.
+
+"I thought that would be their attitude," he said, "and they are quite
+right, you know. The function of law is to prevent crime, it is true;
+but prophylaxis in the sense in which we understand it is not possible
+in legal practice."
+
+I assented without enthusiasm. It was disappointing to find that no
+precautionary measures were to be taken. However, I had done all that I
+could in the matter. No further responsibility lay upon me, and, as it
+was practically certain that I had seen and heard the last of Mr. Graves
+and his mysterious household, I dismissed the case from my mind. At the
+next corner Stillbury and I parted to go our respective ways; and my
+attention was soon transferred from the romance of crime to the
+realities of epidemic influenza.
+
+The plethora of work in Dr. Stillbury's practice continued longer than I
+had bargained for. Day after day went by and still found me tramping the
+dingy streets of Kennington or scrambling up and down narrow stairways;
+turning in at night dead tired, or turning out half awake to the hideous
+jangle of the night bell.
+
+It was very provoking. For months I had resisted Thorndyke's persuasion
+to give up general practice and join him. Not from lack of inclination,
+but from a deep suspicion that he was thinking of my wants rather than
+his own; that his was a charitable rather than a business proposal. Now
+that I knew this not to be the case, I was impatient to join him; and,
+as I trudged through the dreary thoroughfares of this superannuated
+suburb, with its once rustic villas and its faded gardens, my thoughts
+would turn enviously to the quiet dignity of the Temple and my friend's
+chambers in King's Bench Walk.
+
+The closed carriage appeared no more; nor did any whisper either of good
+or evil reach me in connection with the mysterious house from which it
+had come. Mr. Graves had apparently gone out of my life for ever.
+
+But if he had gone out of my life, he had not gone out of my memory.
+Often, as I walked my rounds, would the picture of that dimly-lit room
+rise unbidden. Often would I find myself looking once more into that
+ghastly face, so worn, so wasted and haggard, and yet so far from
+repellent. All the incidents of that last night would reconstitute
+themselves with a vividness that showed the intensity of the impression
+that they had made at the time. I would have gladly forgotten the whole
+affair, for every incident of it was fraught with discomfort. But it
+clung to my memory; it haunted me; and ever as it returned it bore with
+it the disquieting questions: Was Mr. Graves still alive? And, if he was
+not, was there really nothing which could have been done to save him?
+
+Nearly a month passed before the practice began to show signs of
+returning to its normal condition. Then the daily lists became more and
+more contracted and the day's work proportionately shorter. And thus the
+term of my servitude came to an end. One evening, as we were writing up
+the day-book, Stillbury remarked:
+
+"I almost think, Jervis, I could manage by myself now. I know you are
+only staying on for my sake."
+
+"I am staying on to finish my engagement, but I shan't be sorry to clear
+out if you can do without me."
+
+"I think I can. When would you like to be off?"
+
+"As soon as possible. Say to-morrow morning, after I have made a few
+visits and transferred the patients to you."
+
+"Very well," said Stillbury. "Then I will give you your cheque and
+settle up everything to-night, so that you shall be free to go off when
+you like to-morrow morning."
+
+Thus ended my connection with Kennington Lane. On the following day at
+about noon, I found myself strolling across Waterloo Bridge with the
+sensations of a newly liberated convict and a cheque for twenty-five
+guineas in my pocket. My luggage was to follow when I sent for it. Now,
+unhampered even by a hand-bag, I joyfully descended the steps at the
+north end of the bridge and headed for King's Bench Walk by way of the
+Embankment and Middle Temple Lane.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter V
+
+Jeffrey Blackmore's Will
+
+
+My arrival at Thorndyke's chambers was not unexpected, having been
+heralded by a premonitory post-card. The "oak" was open and an
+application of the little brass knocker of the inner door immediately
+produced my colleague himself and a very hearty welcome.
+
+"At last," said Thorndyke, "you have come forth from the house of
+bondage. I began to think that you had taken up your abode in Kennington
+for good."
+
+"I was beginning, myself, to wonder when I should escape. But here I am;
+and I may say at once that I am ready to shake the dust of general
+practice off my feet for ever--that is, if you are still willing to have
+me as your assistant."
+
+"Willing!" exclaimed Thorndyke, "Barkis himself was not more willing
+than I. You will be invaluable to me. Let us settle the terms of our
+comradeship forthwith, and to-morrow we will take measures to enter you
+as a student of the Inner Temple. Shall we have our talk in the open air
+and the spring sunshine?"
+
+I agreed readily to this proposal, for it was a bright, sunny day and
+warm for the time of year--the beginning of April. We descended to the
+Walk and thence slowly made our way to the quiet court behind the
+church, where poor old Oliver Goldsmith lies, as he would surely have
+wished to lie, in the midst of all that had been dear to him in his
+chequered life. I need not record the matter of our conversation. To
+Thorndyke's proposals I had no objections to offer but my own
+unworthiness and his excessive liberality. A few minutes saw our
+covenants fully agreed upon, and when Thorndyke had noted the points on
+a slip of paper, signed and dated it and handed it to me, the business
+was at an end.
+
+"There," my colleague said with a smile as he put away his pocket-book,
+"if people would only settle their affairs in that way, a good part of
+the occupation of lawyers would be gone. Brevity is the soul of wit; and
+the fear of simplicity is the beginning of litigation."
+
+"And now," I said, "I propose that we go and feed. I will invite you to
+lunch to celebrate our contract."
+
+"My learned junior is premature," he replied. "I had already arranged a
+little festivity--or rather had modified one that was already arranged.
+You remember Mr. Marchmont, the solicitor?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"He called this morning to ask me to lunch with him and a new client at
+the 'Cheshire Cheese.' I accepted and notified him that I should bring
+you."
+
+"Why the 'Cheshire Cheese'?" I asked.
+
+"Why not? Marchmont's reasons for the selection were, first, that his
+client has never seen an old-fashioned London tavern, and second, that
+this is Wednesday and he, Marchmont, has a gluttonous affection for a
+really fine beef-steak pudding. You don't object, I hope?"
+
+"Oh, not at all. In fact, now that you mention it, my own sensations
+incline me to sympathize with Marchmont. I breakfasted rather early."
+
+"Then come," said Thorndyke. "The assignation is for one o'clock, and,
+if we walk slowly, we shall just hit it off."
+
+We sauntered up Inner Temple Lane, and, crossing Fleet Street, headed
+sedately for the tavern. As we entered the quaint old-world dining-room,
+Thorndyke looked round and a gentleman, who was seated with a companion
+at a table in one of the little boxes or compartments, rose and saluted
+us.
+
+"Let me introduce you to my friend Mr. Stephen Blackmore," he said as we
+approached. Then, turning to his companion, he introduced us by our
+respective names.
+
+"I engaged this box," he continued, "so that we might be private if we
+wished to have a little preliminary chat; not that beef-steak pudding is
+a great help to conversation. But when people have a certain business
+in view, their talk is sure to drift towards it, sooner or later."
+
+Thorndyke and I sat down opposite the lawyer and his client, and we
+mutually inspected one another. Marchmont I already knew; an elderly,
+professional-looking man, a typical solicitor of the old school;
+fresh-faced, precise, rather irascible, and conveying a not unpleasant
+impression of taking a reasonable interest in his diet. The other man
+was quite young, not more than five-and-twenty, and was a fine
+athletic-looking fellow with a healthy, out-of-door complexion and an
+intelligent and highly prepossessing face. I took a liking to him at the
+first glance, and so, I saw, did Thorndyke.
+
+"You two gentlemen," said Blackmore, addressing us, "seem to be quite
+old acquaintances. I have heard so much about you from my friend, Reuben
+Hornby."
+
+"Ah!" exclaimed Marchmont, "that was a queer case--'The Case of the Red
+Thumb Mark,' as the papers called it. It was an eye-opener to
+old-fashioned lawyers like myself. We've had scientific witnesses
+before--and bullied 'em properly, by Jove! when they wouldn't give the
+evidence that we wanted. But the scientific lawyer is something new. His
+appearance in court made us all sit up, I can assure you."
+
+"I hope we shall make you sit up again," said Thorndyke.
+
+"You won't this time," said Marchmont. "The issues in this case of my
+friend Blackmore's are purely legal; or rather, there are no issues at
+all. There is nothing in dispute. I tried to prevent Blackmore from
+consulting you, but he wouldn't listen to reason. Here! Waiter! How much
+longer are we to be waiters? We shall die of old age before we get our
+victuals!"
+
+The waiter smiled apologetically. "Yessir!" said he. "Coming now, sir."
+And at this very moment there was borne into the room a Gargantuan
+pudding in a great bucket of a basin, which being placed on a
+three-legged stool was forthwith attacked ferociously by the
+white-clothed, white-capped carver. We watched the process--as did every
+one present--with an interest not entirely gluttonous, for it added a
+pleasant touch to the picturesque old room, with its sanded floor, its
+homely, pew-like boxes, its high-backed settles and the friendly
+portrait of the "great lexicographer" that beamed down on us from the
+wall.
+
+"This is a very different affair from your great, glittering modern
+restaurant," Mr. Marchmont remarked.
+
+"It is indeed," said Blackmore, "and if this is the way in which our
+ancestors lived, it would seem that they had a better idea of comfort
+than we have."
+
+There was a short pause, during which Mr. Marchmont glared hungrily at
+the pudding; then Thorndyke said:
+
+"So you refused to listen to reason, Mr. Blackmore?"
+
+"Yes. You see, Mr. Marchmont and his partner had gone into the matter
+and decided that there was nothing to be done. Then I happened to
+mention the affair to Reuben Hornby, and he urged me to ask your advice
+on the case."
+
+"Like his impudence," growled Marchmont, "to meddle with my client."
+
+"On which," continued Blackmore, "I spoke to Mr. Marchmont and he agreed
+that it was worth while to take your opinion on the case, though he
+warned me to cherish no hopes, as the affair was not really within your
+specialty."
+
+"So you understand," said Marchmont, "that we expect nothing. This is
+quite a forlorn hope. We are taking your opinion as a mere formality, to
+be able to say that we have left nothing untried."
+
+"That is an encouraging start," Thorndyke remarked. "It leaves me
+unembarrassed by the possibility of failure. But meanwhile you are
+arousing in me a devouring curiosity as to the nature of the case. Is it
+highly confidential? Because if not, I would mention that Jervis has now
+joined me as my permanent colleague."
+
+"It isn't confidential at all," said Marchmont. "The public are in full
+possession of the facts, and we should be only too happy to put them in
+still fuller possession, through the medium of the Probate Court, if we
+could find a reasonable pretext. But we can't."
+
+Here the waiter charged our table with the fussy rapidity of the
+overdue.
+
+"Sorry to keep you waiting, sir. Rather early, sir. Wouldn't like it
+underdone, sir."
+
+Marchmont inspected his plate critically and remarked:
+
+"I sometimes suspect these oysters of being mussels; and I'll swear the
+larks are sparrows."
+
+"Let us hope so," said Thorndyke. "The lark is better employed 'at
+Heaven's gate singing' than garnishing a beef-steak pudding. But you
+were telling us about your case."
+
+"So I was. Well it's just a matter of--ale or claret? Oh, claret, I
+know. You despise the good old British John Barleycorn."
+
+"He that drinks beer thinks beer," retorted Thorndyke. "But you were
+saying that it is just a matter of--?"
+
+"A matter of a perverse testator and an ill-drawn will. A peculiarly
+irritating case, too, because the defective will replaces a perfectly
+sound one, and the intentions of the testator were--er--were--excellent
+ale, this. A little heady, perhaps, but sound. Better than your sour
+French wine, Thorndyke--were--er--were quite obvious. What he evidently
+desired was--mustard? Better have some mustard. No? Well, well! Even a
+Frenchman would take mustard. You can have no appreciation of flavour,
+Thorndyke, if you take your victuals in that crude, unseasoned state.
+And, talking of flavour, do you suppose that there is really any
+difference between that of a lark and that of a sparrow?"
+
+Thorndyke smiled grimly. "I should suppose," said he, "that they were
+indistinguishable; but the question could easily be put to the test of
+experiment."
+
+"That is true," agreed Marchmont, "and it would really be worth trying,
+for, as you say, sparrows are more easily obtainable than larks. But,
+about this will. I was saying--er--now, what was I saying?"
+
+"I understood you to say," replied Thorndyke, "that the intentions of
+the testator were in some way connected with mustard. Isn't that so,
+Jervis?"
+
+"That was what I gathered," said I.
+
+Marchmont gazed at us for a moment with a surprised expression and then,
+laughing good-humouredly, fortified himself with a draught of ale.
+
+"The moral of which is," Thorndyke added, "that testamentary
+dispositions should not be mixed up with beef-steak pudding."
+
+"I believe you're right, Thorndyke," said the unabashed solicitor.
+"Business is business and eating is eating. We had better talk over our
+case in my office or your chambers after lunch."
+
+"Yes," said Thorndyke, "come over to the Temple with me and I will give
+you a cup of coffee to clear your brain. Are there any documents?"
+
+"I have all the papers here in my bag," replied Marchmont; and the
+conversation--such conversation as is possible "when beards wag all"
+over the festive board--drifted into other channels.
+
+As soon as the meal was finished and the reckoning paid, we trooped out
+of Wine Office Court, and, insinuating ourselves through the line of
+empty hansoms that, in those days, crawled in a continuous procession
+on either side of Fleet Street, betook ourselves by way of Mitre Court
+to King's Bench Walk. There, when the coffee had been requisitioned and
+our chairs drawn up around the fire, Mr. Marchmont unloaded from his bag
+a portentous bundle of papers, and we addressed ourselves to the
+business in hand.
+
+"Now," said Marchmont, "let me repeat what I said before. Legally
+speaking, we have no case--not the ghost of one. But my client wished to
+take your opinion, and I agreed on the bare chance that you might detect
+some point that we had overlooked. I don't think you will, for we have
+gone into the case very thoroughly, but still, there is the
+infinitesimal chance and we may as well take it. Would you like to read
+the two wills, or shall I first explain the circumstances?"
+
+"I think," replied Thorndyke, "a narrative of the events in the order of
+their occurrence would be most helpful. I should like to know as much as
+possible about the testator before I examine the documents."
+
+"Very well," said Marchmont. "Then I will begin with a recital of the
+circumstances, which, briefly stated, are these: My client, Stephen
+Blackmore, is the son of Mr. Edward Blackmore, deceased. Edward
+Blackmore had two brothers who survived him, John, the elder, and
+Jeffrey, the younger. Jeffrey is the testator in this case.
+
+"Some two years ago, Jeffrey Blackmore executed a will by which he made
+his nephew Stephen his executor and sole legatee; and a few months later
+he added a codicil giving two hundred and fifty pounds to his brother
+John."
+
+"What was the value of the estate?" Thorndyke asked.
+
+"About three thousand five hundred pounds, all invested in Consols. The
+testator had a pension from the Foreign Office, on which he lived,
+leaving his capital untouched. Soon after having made his will, he left
+the rooms in Jermyn Street, where he had lived for some years, stored
+his furniture and went to Florence. From thence he moved on to Rome and
+then to Venice and other places in Italy, and so continued to travel
+about until the end of last September, when it appears that he returned
+to England, for at the beginning of October he took a set of chambers in
+New Inn, which he furnished with some of the things from his old rooms.
+As far as we can make out, he never communicated with any of his
+friends, excepting his brother, and the fact of his being in residence
+at New Inn or of his being in England at all became known to them only
+when he died."
+
+"Was this quite in accordance with his ordinary habits?" Thorndyke
+asked.
+
+"I should say not quite," Blackmore answered. "My uncle was a studious,
+solitary man, but he was not formerly a recluse. He was not much of a
+correspondent but he kept up some sort of communication with his
+friends. He used, for instance, to write to me sometimes, and, when I
+came down from Cambridge for the vacations, he had me to stay with him
+at his rooms."
+
+"Is there anything known that accounts for the change in his habits?"
+
+"Yes, there is," replied Marchmont. "We shall come to that presently. To
+proceed with the narrative: On the fifteenth of last March he was found
+dead in his chambers, and a more recent will was then discovered, dated
+the twelfth of November of last year. Now no change had taken place in
+the circumstances of the testator to account for the new will, nor was
+there any appreciable alteration in the disposition of the property. As
+far as we can make out, the new will was drawn with the idea of stating
+the intentions of the testator with greater exactness and for the sake
+of doing away with the codicil. The entire property, with the exception
+of two hundred and fifty pounds, was, as before, bequeathed to Stephen,
+but the separate items were specified, and the testator's brother, John
+Blackmore, was named as the executor and residuary legatee."
+
+"I see," said Thorndyke. "So that your client's interest in the will
+would appear to be practically unaffected by the change."
+
+"Yes. There it is," exclaimed the lawyer, slapping the table to add
+emphasis to his words. "That is the pity of it! If people who have no
+knowledge of law would only refrain from tinkering at their wills, what
+a world of trouble would be saved!"
+
+"Oh, come!" said Thorndyke. "It is not for a lawyer to say that."
+
+"No, I suppose not," Marchmont agreed. "Only, you see, we like the
+muddle to be made by the other side. But, in this case, the muddle is on
+our side. The change, as you say, seems to leave our friend Stephen's
+interests unaffected. That is, of course, what poor Jeffrey Blackmore
+thought. But he was mistaken. The effect of the change is absolutely
+disastrous."
+
+"Indeed!"
+
+"Yes. As I have said, no alteration in the testator's circumstances had
+taken place at the time the new will was executed. <i>But</i> only two days
+before his death, his sister, Mrs. Edmund Wilson, died; and on her will
+being proved it appeared that she had bequeathed to him her entire
+personalty, estimated at about thirty thousand pounds."
+
+"Heigho!" exclaimed Thorndyke. "What an unfortunate affair!"
+
+"You are right," said Mr. Marchmont; "it was a disaster. By the original
+will this great sum would have accrued to our friend Mr. Stephen,
+whereas now, of course, it goes to the residuary legatee, Mr. John
+Blackmore. And what makes it even more exasperating is the fact that
+this is obviously not in accordance with the wishes and intentions of
+Mr. Jeffrey, who clearly desired his nephew to inherit his property."
+
+"Yes," said Thorndyke; "I think you are justified in assuming that. But
+do you know whether Mr. Jeffrey was aware of his sister's intentions?"
+
+"We think not. Her will was executed as recently as the third of
+September last, and it seems that there had been no communication
+between her and Mr. Jeffrey since that date. Besides, if you consider
+Mr. Jeffrey's actions, you will see that they suggest no knowledge or
+expectation of this very important bequest. A man does not make
+elaborate dispositions in regard to three thousand pounds and then leave
+a sum of thirty thousand to be disposed of casually as the residue of
+the estate."
+
+"No," Thorndyke agreed. "And, as you have said, the manifest intention
+of the testator was to leave the bulk of his property to Mr. Stephen. So
+we may take it as virtually certain that Mr. Jeffrey had no knowledge of
+the fact that he was a beneficiary under his sister's will."
+
+"Yes," said Mr. Marchmont, "I think we may take that as nearly certain."
+
+"With reference to the second will," said Thorndyke, "I suppose there is
+no need to ask whether the document itself has been examined; I mean as
+to its being a genuine document and perfectly regular?"
+
+Mr. Marchmont shook his head sadly.
+
+"No," he said, "I am sorry to say that there can be no possible doubt as
+to the authenticity and regularity of the document. The circumstances
+under which it was executed establish its genuineness beyond any
+question."
+
+"What were those circumstances?" Thorndyke asked.
+
+"They were these: On the morning of the twelfth of November last, Mr.
+Jeffrey came to the porter's lodge with a document in his hand. 'This,'
+he said, 'is my will. I want you to witness my signature. Would you mind
+doing so, and can you find another respectable person to act as the
+second witness?' Now it happened that a nephew of the porter's, a
+painter by trade, was at work in the Inn. The porter went out and
+fetched him into the lodge and the two men agreed to witness the
+signature. 'You had better read the will,' said Mr. Jeffrey. 'It is not
+actually necessary, but it is an additional safeguard and there is
+nothing of a private nature in the document.' The two men accordingly
+read the document, and, when Mr. Jeffrey had signed it in their
+presence, they affixed their signatures; and I may add that the painter
+left the recognizable impressions of three greasy fingers."
+
+"And these witnesses have been examined?"
+
+"Yes. They have both sworn to the document and to their own signatures,
+and the painter recognized his finger-marks."
+
+"That," said Thorndyke, "seems to dispose pretty effectually of any
+question as to the genuineness of the will; and if, as I gather, Mr.
+Jeffrey came to the lodge alone, the question of undue influence is
+disposed of too."
+
+"Yes," said Mr. Marchmont. "I think we must pass the will as absolutely
+flawless."
+
+"It strikes me as rather odd," said Thorndyke, "that Jeffrey should have
+known so little about his sister's intentions. Can you explain it, Mr.
+Blackmore?"
+
+"I don't think that it is very remarkable," Stephen replied. "I knew
+very little of my aunt's affairs and I don't think my uncle Jeffrey knew
+much more, for he was under the impression that she had only a life
+interest in her husband's property. And he may have been right. It is
+not clear what money this was that she left to my uncle. She was a very
+taciturn woman and made few confidences to anyone."
+
+"So that it is possible," said Thorndyke, "that she, herself, may have
+acquired this money recently by some bequest?"
+
+"It is quite possible," Stephen answered.
+
+"She died, I understand," said Thorndyke, glancing at the notes that he
+had jotted down, "two days before Mr. Jeffrey. What date would that be?"
+
+"Jeffrey died on the fourteenth of March," said Marchmont.
+
+"So that Mrs. Wilson died on the twelfth of March?"
+
+"That is so," Marchmont replied; and Thorndyke then asked:
+
+"Did she die suddenly?"
+
+"No," replied Stephen; "she died of cancer. I understand that it was
+cancer of the stomach."
+
+"Do you happen to know," Thorndyke asked, "what sort of relations
+existed between Jeffrey and his brother John?"
+
+"At one time," said Stephen, "I know they were not very cordial; but the
+breach may have been made up later, though I don't know that it actually
+was."
+
+"I ask the question," said Thorndyke, "because, as I dare say you have
+noticed, there is, in the first will, some hint of improved relations.
+As it was originally drawn that will makes Mr. Stephen the sole legatee.
+Then, a little later, a codicil is added in favour of John, showing that
+Jeffrey had felt the necessity of making some recognition of his
+brother. This seems to point to some change in the relations, and the
+question arises: if such a change did actually occur, was it the
+beginning of a new and further improving state of feeling between the
+two brothers? Have you any facts bearing on that question?"
+
+Marchmont pursed up his lips with the air of a man considering an
+unwelcome suggestion, and, after a few moments of reflection, answered:
+
+"I think we must say 'yes' to that. There is the undeniable fact that,
+of all Jeffrey's friends, John Blackmore was the only one who knew that
+he was living in New Inn."
+
+"Oh, John knew that, did he?"
+
+"Yes, he certainly did; for it came out in the evidence that he had
+called on Jeffrey at his chambers more than once. There is no denying
+that. But, mark you!" Mr. Marchmont added emphatically, "that does not
+cover the inconsistency of the will. There is nothing in the second will
+to suggest that Jeffrey intended materially to increase the bequest to
+his brother."
+
+"I quite agree with you, Marchmont. I think that is a perfectly sound
+position. You have, I suppose, fully considered the question as to
+whether it would be possible to set aside the second will on the ground
+that it fails to carry out the evident wishes and intentions of the
+testator?"
+
+"Yes. My partner, Winwood, and I went into that question very carefully,
+and we also took counsel's opinion--Sir Horace Barnaby--and he was of
+the same opinion as ourselves; that the court would certainly uphold the
+will."
+
+"I think that would be my own view," said Thorndyke, "especially after
+what you have told me. Do I understand that John Blackmore was the only
+person who knew that Jeffrey was in residence at New Inn?"
+
+"The only one of his private friends. His bankers knew and so did the
+officials from whom he drew his pension."
+
+"Of course he would have to notify his bankers of his change of
+address."
+
+"Yes, of course. And a propos of the bank, I may mention that the
+manager tells me that, of late, they had noticed a slight change in the
+character of Jeffrey's signature--I think you will see the reason of the
+change when you hear the rest of his story. It was very trifling; not
+more than commonly occurs when a man begins to grow old, especially if
+there is some failure of eyesight."
+
+"Was Mr. Jeffrey's eyesight failing?" asked Thorndyke.
+
+"Yes, it was, undoubtedly," said Stephen. "He was practically blind in
+one eye and, in the very last letter that I ever had from him, he
+mentioned that there were signs of commencing cataract in the other."
+
+"You spoke of his pension. He continued to draw that regularly?"
+
+"Yes; he drew his allowance every month, or rather, his bankers drew it
+for him. They had been accustomed to do so when he was abroad, and the
+authorities seem to have allowed the practice to continue."
+
+Thorndyke reflected a while, running his eye over the notes on the slips
+of paper in his hand, and Marchmont surveyed him with a malicious smile.
+Presently the latter remarked:
+
+"Methinks the learned counsel is floored."
+
+Thorndyke laughed. "It seems to me," he retorted, "that your proceedings
+are rather like those of the amiable individual who offered the bear a
+flint pebble, that he might crack it and extract the kernel. Your
+confounded will seems to offer no soft spot on which one could commence
+an attack. But we won't give up. We seem to have sucked the will dry.
+Let us now have a few facts respecting the parties concerned in it; and,
+as Jeffrey is the central figure, let us begin with him and the tragedy
+at New Inn that formed the starting-point of all this trouble."
+
+
+
+
+Chapter VI
+
+Jeffrey Blackmore, Deceased
+
+
+Having made the above proposition, Thorndyke placed a fresh slip of
+paper on the blotting pad on his knee and looked inquiringly at Mr.
+Marchmont; who, in his turn, sighed and looked at the bundle of
+documents on the table.
+
+"What do you want to know?" he asked a little wearily.
+
+"Everything," replied Thorndyke. "You have hinted at circumstances that
+would account for a change in Jeffrey's habits and that would explain an
+alteration in the character of his signature. Let us have those
+circumstances. And, if I might venture on a suggestion, it would be that
+we take the events in the order in which they occurred or in which they
+became known."
+
+"That's the worst of you, Thorndyke," Marchmont grumbled. "When a case
+has been squeezed out to the last drop, in a legal sense, you want to
+begin all over again with the family history of every one concerned and
+a list of his effects and household furniture. But I suppose you will
+have to be humoured; and I imagine that the best way in which to give
+you the information you want will be to recite the circumstances
+surrounding the death of Jeffrey Blackmore. Will that suit you?"
+
+"Perfectly," replied Thorndyke; and thereupon Marchmont began:
+
+"The death of Jeffrey Blackmore was discovered at about eleven o'clock
+in the morning of the fifteenth of March. It seems that a builder's man
+was ascending a ladder to examine a gutter on number 31, New Inn, when,
+on passing a second-floor window that was open at the top, he looked in
+and perceived a gentleman lying on a bed. The gentleman was fully
+clothed and had apparently lain down on the bed to rest; at least so the
+builder thought at the time, for he was merely passing the window on
+his way up, and, very properly, did not make a minute examination. But
+when, some ten minutes later, he came down and saw that the gentleman
+was still in the same position, he looked at him more attentively; and
+this is what he noticed--but perhaps we had better have it in his own
+words as he told the story at the inquest.
+
+"'When I came to look at the gentleman a bit more closely, it struck me
+that he looked rather queer. His face looked very white, or rather pale
+yellow, like parchment, and his mouth was open. He did not seem to be
+breathing. On the bed by his side was a brass object of some kind--I
+could not make out what it was--and he seemed to be holding some small
+metal object in his hand. I thought it rather a queer affair, so, when I
+came down I went across to the lodge and told the porter about it. The
+porter came out across the square with me and I showed him the window.
+Then he told me to go up the stairs to Mr. Blackmore's chambers on the
+second pair and knock and keep on knocking until I got an answer. I went
+up and knocked and kept on knocking as loud as I could, but, though I
+fetched everybody out of all the other chambers in the house, I couldn't
+get any answer from Mr. Blackmore. So I went downstairs again and then
+Mr. Walker, the porter, sent me for a policeman.
+
+"'I went out and met a policeman just by Dane's Inn and told him about
+the affair, and he came back with me. He and the porter consulted
+together, and then they told me to go up the ladder and get in at the
+window and open the door of the chambers from the inside. So I went up;
+and as soon as I got in at the window I saw that the gentleman was dead.
+I went through the other room and opened the outer door and let in the
+porter and the policeman.'
+
+"That," said Mr. Marchmont, laying down the paper containing the
+depositions, "is the way in which poor Jeffrey Blackmore's death came to
+be discovered.
+
+"The constable reported to his inspector and the inspector sent for the
+divisional surgeon, whom he accompanied to New Inn. I need not go into
+the evidence given by the police officers, as the surgeon saw all that
+they saw and his statement covers everything that is known about
+Jeffrey's death. This is what he says, after describing how he was sent
+for and arrived at the Inn:
+
+"'In the bedroom I found the body of a man between fifty and sixty years
+of age, which has since been identified in my presence as that of Mr.
+Jeffrey Blackmore. It was fully dressed and wore boots on which was a
+moderate amount of dry mud. It was lying on its back on the bed, which
+did not appear to have been slept in, and showed no sign of any struggle
+or disturbance. The right hand loosely grasped a hypodermic syringe
+containing a few drops of clear liquid which I have since analysed and
+found to be a concentrated solution of strophanthin.
+
+"'On the bed, close to the left side of the body, was a brass opium-pipe
+of a pattern which I believe is made in China. The bowl of the pipe
+contained a small quantity of charcoal, and a fragment of opium
+together with some ash, and there was on the bed a little ash which
+appeared to have dropped from the bowl when the pipe fell or was laid
+down. On the mantelshelf in the bedroom I found a small glass-stoppered
+jar containing about an ounce of solid opium, and another, larger jar
+containing wood charcoal broken up into small fragments. Also a bowl
+containing a quantity of ash with fragments of half-burned charcoal and
+a few minute particles of charred opium. By the side of the bowl were a
+knife, a kind of awl or pricker and a very small pair of tongs, which I
+believe to have been used for carrying a piece of lighted charcoal to
+the pipe.
+
+"'On the dressing-table were two glass tubes labelled "Hypodermic
+Tabloids: Strophanthin 1/500 grain," and a minute glass mortar and
+pestle, of which the former contained a few crystals which have since
+been analysed by me and found to be strophanthin.
+
+"'On examining the body, I found that it had been dead about twelve
+hours. There were no marks of violence or any abnormal condition
+excepting a single puncture in the right thigh, apparently made by the
+needle of the hypodermic syringe. The puncture was deep and vertical in
+direction as if the needle had been driven in through the clothing.
+
+"'I made a post-mortem examination of the body and found that death was
+due to poisoning by strophanthin, which appeared to have been injected
+into the thigh. The two tubes which I found on the dressing-table would
+each have contained, if full, twenty tabloids, each tabloid
+representing one five-hundredth of a grain of strophanthin. Assuming
+that the whole of this quantity was injected the amount taken would be
+forty five-hundredths, or about one twelfth of a grain. The ordinary
+medicinal dose of strophanthin is one five-hundredth of a grain.
+
+"'I also found in the body appreciable traces of morphine--the principal
+alkaloid of opium--from which I infer that the deceased was a confirmed
+opium-smoker. This inference was supported by the general condition of
+the body, which was ill-nourished and emaciated and presented all the
+appearances usually met with in the bodies of persons addicted to the
+habitual use of opium.'
+
+"That is the evidence of the surgeon. He was recalled later, as we shall
+see, but, meanwhile, I think you will agree with me that the facts
+testified to by him fully account, not only for the change in Jeffrey's
+habits--his solitary and secretive mode of life--but also for the
+alteration in his handwriting."
+
+"Yes," agreed Thorndyke, "that seems to be so. By the way, what did the
+change in the handwriting amount to?"
+
+"Very little," replied Marchmont. "It was hardly perceptible. Just a
+slight loss of firmness and distinctness; such a trifling change as you
+would expect to find in the handwriting of a man who had taken to drink
+or drugs, or anything that might impair the steadiness of his hand. I
+should not have noticed it, myself, but, of course, the people at the
+bank are experts, constantly scrutinizing signatures and scrutinizing
+them with a very critical eye."
+
+"Is there any other evidence that bears on the case?" Thorndyke asked.
+
+Marchmont turned over the bundle of papers and smiled grimly.
+
+"My dear Thorndyke," he said, "none of this evidence has the slightest
+bearing on the case. It is all perfectly irrelevant as far as the will
+is concerned. But I know your little peculiarities and I am indulging
+you, as you see, to the top of your bent. The next evidence is that of
+the chief porter, a very worthy and intelligent man named Walker. This
+is what he says, after the usual preliminaries.
+
+"'I have viewed the body which forms the subject of this inquiry. It is
+that of Mr. Jeffrey Blackmore, the tenant of a set of chambers on the
+second floor of number thirty-one, New Inn. I have known the deceased
+nearly six months, and during that time have seen and conversed with him
+frequently. He took the chambers on the second of last October and came
+into residence at once. Tenants at New Inn have to furnish two
+references. The references that the deceased gave were his bankers and
+his brother, Mr. John Blackmore. I may say that the deceased was very
+well known to me. He was a quiet, pleasant-mannered gentleman, and it
+was his habit to drop in occasionally at the lodge and have a chat with
+me. I went into his chambers with him once or twice on some small
+matters of business and I noticed that there were always a number of
+books and papers on the table. I understood from him that he spent most
+of his time indoors engaged in study and writing. I know very little
+about his way of living. He had no laundress to look after his rooms, so
+I suppose he did his own house-work and cooking; but he told me that he
+took most of his meals outside, at restaurants or his club.
+
+"'Deceased impressed me as a rather melancholy, low-spirited gentleman.
+He was very much troubled about his eyesight and mentioned the matter to
+me on several occasions. He told me that he was practically blind in one
+eye and that the sight of the other was failing rapidly. He said that
+this afflicted him greatly, because his only pleasure in life was in the
+reading of books, and that if he could not read he should not wish to
+live. On another occasion he said that "to a blind man life was not
+worth living."
+
+"'On the twelfth of last November he came to the lodge with a paper in
+his hand which he said was his will'--But I needn't read that," said
+Marchmont, turning over the leaf, "I've told you how the will was signed
+and witnessed. We will pass on to the day of poor Jeffrey's death.
+
+"'On the fourteenth of March,' the porter says, 'at about half-past six
+in the evening, the deceased came to the Inn in a four-wheeled cab. That
+was the day of the great fog. I do not know if there was anyone in the
+cab with the deceased, but I think not, because he came to the lodge
+just before eight o'clock and had a little talk with me. He said that
+he had been overtaken by the fog and could not see at all. He was quite
+blind and had been obliged to ask a stranger to call a cab for him as he
+could not find his way through the streets. He then gave me a cheque for
+the rent. I reminded him that the rent was not due until the
+twenty-fifth, but he said he wished to pay it now. He also gave me some
+money to pay one or two small bills that were owing to some of the
+tradespeople--a milk-man, a baker and a stationer.
+
+"'This struck me as very strange, because he had always managed his
+business and paid the tradespeople himself. He told me that the fog had
+irritated his eye so that he could hardly read, and he was afraid he
+should soon be quite blind. He was very depressed; so much so that I
+felt quite uneasy about him. When he left the lodge, he went back across
+the square as if returning to his chambers. There was then no gate open
+excepting the main gate where the lodge is situated. That was the last
+time that I saw the deceased alive.'"
+
+Mr. Marchmont laid the paper on the table. "That is the porter's
+evidence. The remaining depositions are those of Noble, the night
+porter, John Blackmore and our friend here, Mr. Stephen. The night
+porter had not much to tell. This is the substance of his evidence:
+
+"'I have viewed the body of the deceased and identify it as that of Mr.
+Jeffrey Blackmore. I knew the deceased well by sight and occasionally
+had a few words with him. I know nothing of his habits excepting that he
+used to sit up rather late. It is one of my duties to go round the Inn
+at night and call out the hours until one o'clock in the morning. When
+calling out "one o'clock" I often saw a light in the sitting-room of the
+deceased's chambers. On the night of the fourteenth instant, the light
+was burning until past one o'clock, but it was in the bedroom. The light
+in the sitting-room was out by ten o'clock.'
+
+"We now come to John Blackmore's evidence. He says:
+
+"'I have viewed the body of the deceased and recognize it as that of my
+brother Jeffrey. I last saw him alive on the twenty-third of February,
+when I called at his chambers. He then seemed in a very despondent state
+of mind and told me that his eyesight was fast failing. I was aware that
+he occasionally smoked opium, but I did not know that it was a confirmed
+habit. I urged him, on several occasions, to abandon the practice. I
+have no reason to believe that his affairs were in any way embarrassed
+or that he had any reason for making away with himself other than his
+failing eyesight; but, having regard to his state of mind when I last
+saw him, I am not surprised at what has happened.'
+
+"That is the substance of John Blackmore's evidence, and, as to Mr.
+Stephen, his statement merely sets forth the fact that he had identified
+the body as that of his uncle Jeffrey. And now I think you have all the
+facts. Is there anything more that you want to ask me before I go, for I
+must really run away now?"
+
+"I should like," said Thorndyke, "to know a little more about the
+parties concerned in this affair. But perhaps Mr. Stephen can give me
+the information."
+
+"I expect he can," said Marchmont; "at any rate, he knows more about
+them than I do; so I will be off. If you should happen to think of any
+way," he continued, with a sly smile, "of upsetting that will, just let
+me know, and I will lose no time in entering a caveat. Good-bye! Don't
+trouble to let me out."
+
+As soon as he was gone, Thorndyke turned to Stephen Blackmore.
+
+"I am going," he said, "to ask you a few questions which may appear
+rather trifling, but you must remember that my methods of inquiry
+concern themselves with persons and things rather than with documents.
+For instance, I have not gathered very completely what sort of person
+your uncle Jeffrey was. Could you tell me a little more about him?"
+
+"What shall I tell you?" Stephen asked with a slightly embarrassed air.
+
+"Well, begin with his personal appearance."
+
+"That is rather difficult to describe," said Stephen. "He was a
+medium-sized man and about five feet seven--fair, slightly grey,
+clean-shaved, rather spare and slight, had grey eyes, wore spectacles
+and stooped a little as he walked. He was quiet and gentle in manner,
+rather yielding and irresolute in character, and his health was not at
+all robust though he had no infirmity or disease excepting his bad
+eyesight. His age was about fifty-five."
+
+"How came he to be a civil-service pensioner at fifty-five?" asked
+Thorndyke.
+
+"Oh, that was through an accident. He had a nasty fall from a horse,
+and, being a rather nervous man, the shock was very severe. For some
+time after he was a complete wreck. But the failure of his eyesight was
+the actual cause of his retirement. It seems that the fall damaged his
+eyes in some way; in fact he practically lost the sight of one--the
+right--from that moment; and, as that had been his good eye, the
+accident left his vision very much impaired. So that he was at first
+given sick leave and then allowed to retire on a pension."
+
+Thorndyke noted these particulars and then said:
+
+"Your uncle has been more than once referred to as a man of studious
+habits. Does that mean that he pursued any particular branch of
+learning?"
+
+"Yes. He was an enthusiastic Oriental scholar. His official duties had
+taken him at one time to Yokohama and Tokio and at another to Bagdad,
+and while at those places he gave a good deal of attention to the
+languages, literature and arts of the countries. He was also greatly
+interested in Babylonian and Assyrian archaeology, and I believe he
+assisted for some time in the excavations at Birs Nimroud."
+
+"Indeed!" said Thorndyke. "This is very interesting. I had no idea that
+he was a man of such considerable attainments. The facts mentioned by
+Mr. Marchmont would hardly have led one to think of him as what he seems
+to have been: a scholar of some distinction."
+
+"I don't know that Mr. Marchmont realized the fact himself," said
+Stephen; "or that he would have considered it of any moment if he had.
+Nor, as far as that goes, do I. But, of course, I have no experience of
+legal matters."
+
+"You can never tell beforehand," said Thorndyke, "what facts may turn
+out to be of moment, so that it is best to collect all you can get. By
+the way, were you aware that your uncle was an opium-smoker?"
+
+"No, I was not. I knew that he had an opium-pipe which he brought with
+him when he came home from Japan; but I thought it was only a curio. I
+remember him telling me that he once tried a few puffs at an opium-pipe
+and found it rather pleasant, though it gave him a headache. But I had
+no idea he had contracted the habit; in fact, I may say that I was
+utterly astonished when the fact came out at the inquest."
+
+Thorndyke made a note of this answer, too, and said:
+
+"I think that is all I have to ask you about your uncle Jeffrey. And now
+as to Mr. John Blackmore. What sort of man is he?"
+
+"I am afraid I can't tell you very much about him. Until I saw him at
+the inquest, I had not met him since I was a boy. But he is a very
+different kind of man from Uncle Jeffrey; different in appearance and
+different in character."
+
+"You would say that the two brothers were physically quite unlike,
+then?"
+
+"Well," said Stephen, "I don't know that I ought to say that. Perhaps I
+am exaggerating the difference. I am thinking of Uncle Jeffrey as he was
+when I saw him last and of uncle John as he appeared at the inquest.
+They were very different then. Jeffrey was thin, pale, clean shaven,
+wore spectacles and walked with a stoop. John is a shade taller, a shade
+greyer, has good eyesight, a healthy, florid complexion, a brisk,
+upright carriage, is distinctly stout and wears a beard and moustache
+which are black and only very slightly streaked with grey. To me they
+looked as unlike as two men could, though their features were really of
+the same type; indeed, I have heard it said that, as young men, they
+were rather alike, and they both resembled their mother. But there is no
+doubt as to their difference in character. Jeffrey was quiet, serious
+and studious, whereas John rather inclined to what is called a fast
+life; he used to frequent race meetings, and, I think, gambled a good
+deal at times."
+
+"What is his profession?"
+
+"That would be difficult to tell; he has so many; he is so very
+versatile. I believe he began life as an articled pupil in the
+laboratory of a large brewery, but he soon left that and went on the
+stage. He seems to have remained in 'the profession' for some years,
+touring about this country and making occasional visits to America. The
+life seemed to suit him and I believe he was decidedly successful as an
+actor. But suddenly he left the stage and blossomed out in connection
+with a bucket-shop in London."
+
+"And what is he doing now?"
+
+"At the inquest he described himself as a stockbroker, so I presume he
+is still connected with the bucket-shop."
+
+Thorndyke rose, and taking down from the reference shelves a list of
+members of the Stock Exchange, turned over the leaves.
+
+"Yes," he said, replacing the volume, "he must be an outside broker. His
+name is not in the list of members of 'the House.' From what you tell
+me, it is easy to understand that there should have been no great
+intimacy between the two brothers, without assuming any kind of
+ill-feeling. They simply had very little in common. Do you know of
+anything more?"
+
+"No. I have never heard of any actual quarrel or disagreement. My
+impression that they did not get on very well may have been, I think,
+due to the terms of the will, especially the first will. And they
+certainly did not seek one another's society."
+
+"That is not very conclusive," said Thorndyke. "As to the will, a
+thrifty man is not usually much inclined to bequeath his savings to a
+gentleman who may probably employ them in a merry little flutter on the
+turf or the Stock Exchange. And then there was yourself; clearly a more
+suitable subject for a legacy, as your life is all before you. But this
+is mere speculation and the matter is not of much importance, as far as
+we can see. And now, tell me what John Blackmore's relations were with
+Mrs. Wilson. I gather that she left the bulk of her property to Jeffrey,
+her younger brother. Is that so?"
+
+"Yes. She left nothing to John. The fact is that they were hardly on
+speaking terms. I believe John had treated her rather badly, or, at any
+rate, she thought he had. Mr. Wilson, her late husband, dropped some
+money over an investment in connection with the bucket-shop that I spoke
+of, and I think she suspected John of having let him in. She may have
+been mistaken, but you know what ladies are when they get an idea into
+their heads."
+
+"Did you know your aunt well?"
+
+"No; very slightly. She lived down in Devonshire and saw very little of
+any of us. She was a taciturn, strong-minded woman; quite unlike her
+brothers. She seems to have resembled her father's family."
+
+"You might give me her full name."
+
+"Julia Elizabeth Wilson. Her husband's name was Edmund Wilson."
+
+"Thank you. There is just one more point. What has happened to your
+uncle's chambers in New Inn since his death?"
+
+"They have remained shut up. As all his effects were left to me, I have
+taken over the tenancy for the present to avoid having them disturbed. I
+thought of keeping them for my own use, but I don't think I could live
+in them after what I have seen."
+
+"You have inspected them, then?"
+
+"Yes; I have just looked through them. I went there on the day of the
+inquest."
+
+"Now tell me: as you looked through those rooms, what kind of impression
+did they convey to you as to your uncle's habits and mode of life?"
+
+Stephen smiled apologetically. "I am afraid," said he, "that they did
+not convey any particular impression in that respect. I looked into the
+sitting-room and saw all his old familiar household gods, and then I
+went into the bedroom and saw the impression on the bed where his corpse
+had lain; and that gave me such a sensation of horror that I came away
+at once."
+
+"But the appearance of the rooms must have conveyed something to your
+mind," Thorndyke urged.
+
+"I am afraid it did not. You see, I have not your analytical eye. But
+perhaps you would like to look through them yourself? If you would, pray
+do so. They are my chambers now."
+
+"I think I should like to glance round them," Thorndyke replied.
+
+"Very well," said Stephen. "I will give you my card now, and I will look
+in at the lodge presently and tell the porter to hand you the key
+whenever you like to look over the rooms."
+
+He took a card from his case, and, having written a few lines on it,
+handed it to Thorndyke.
+
+"It is very good of you," he said, "to take so much trouble. Like Mr.
+Marchmont, I have no expectation of any result from your efforts, but I
+am very grateful to you, all the same, for going into the case so
+thoroughly. I suppose you don't see any possibility of upsetting that
+will--if I may ask the question?"
+
+"At present," replied Thorndyke, "I do not. But until I have carefully
+weighed every fact connected with the case--whether it seems to have any
+bearing or not--I shall refrain from expressing, or even entertaining,
+an opinion either way."
+
+Stephen Blackmore now took his leave; and Thorndyke, having collected
+the papers containing his notes, neatly punched a couple of holes in
+their margins and inserted them into a small file, which he slipped into
+his pocket.
+
+"That," said he, "is the nucleus of the body of data on which our
+investigations must be based; and I very much fear that it will not
+receive any great additions. What do you think, Jervis?"
+
+"The case looks about as hopeless as a case could look," I replied.
+
+"That is what I think," said he; "and for that reason I am more than
+ordinarily keen on making something of it. I have not much more hope
+than Marchmont has; but I shall squeeze the case as dry as a bone before
+I let go. What are you going to do? I have to attend a meeting of the
+board of directors of the Griffin Life Office."
+
+"Shall I walk down with you?"
+
+"It is very good of you to offer, Jervis, but I think I will go alone. I
+want to run over these notes and get the facts of the case arranged in
+my mind. When I have done that, I shall be ready to pick up new matter.
+Knowledge is of no use unless it is actually in your mind, so that it
+can be produced at a moment's notice. So you had better get a book and
+your pipe and spend a quiet hour by the fire while I assimilate the
+miscellaneous mental feast that we have just enjoyed. And you might do a
+little rumination yourself."
+
+With this, Thorndyke took his departure; and I, adopting his advice,
+drew my chair closer to the fire and filled my pipe. But I did not
+discover any inclination to read. The curious history that I had just
+heard, and Thorndyke's evident determination to elucidate it further,
+disposed me to meditation. Moreover, as his subordinate, it was my
+business to occupy myself with his affairs. Wherefore, having stirred
+the fire and got my pipe well alight, I abandoned myself to the renewed
+consideration of the facts relating to Jeffrey Blackmore's will.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter VII
+
+The Cuneiform Inscription
+
+
+The surprise which Thorndyke's proceedings usually occasioned,
+especially to lawyers, was principally due, I think, to my friend's
+habit of viewing occurrences from an unusual standpoint. He did not look
+at things quite as other men looked at them. He had no prejudices and he
+knew no conventions. When other men were cocksure, Thorndyke was
+doubtful. When other men despaired, he entertained hopes; and thus it
+happened that he would often undertake cases that had been rejected
+contemptuously by experienced lawyers, and, what is more, would bring
+them to a successful issue.
+
+Thus it had been in the only other case in which I had been personally
+associated with him--the so-called "Red Thumb Mark" case. There he was
+presented with an apparent impossibility; but he had given it careful
+consideration. Then, from the category of the impossible he had brought
+it to that of the possible; from the merely possible to the actually
+probable; from the probable to the certain; and in the end had won the
+case triumphantly.
+
+Was it conceivable that he could make anything of the present case? He
+had not declined it. He had certainly entertained it and was probably
+thinking it over at this moment. Yet could anything be more impossible?
+Here was the case of a man making his own will, probably writing it out
+himself, bringing it voluntarily to a certain place and executing it in
+the presence of competent witnesses. There was no suggestion of any
+compulsion or even influence or persuasion. The testator was admittedly
+sane and responsible; and if the will did not give effect to his
+wishes--which, however, could not be proved--that was due to his own
+carelessness in drafting the will and not to any unusual circumstances.
+And the problem--which Thorndyke seemed to be considering--was how to
+set aside that will.
+
+I reviewed the statements that I had heard, but turn them about as I
+would, I could get nothing out of them but confirmation of Mr.
+Marchmont's estimate of the case. One fact that I had noted with some
+curiosity I again considered; that was Thorndyke's evident desire to
+inspect Jeffrey Blackmore's chambers. He had, it is true, shown no
+eagerness, but I had seen at the time that the questions which he put to
+Stephen were put, not with any expectation of eliciting information but
+for the purpose of getting an opportunity to look over the rooms
+himself.
+
+I was still cogitating on the subject when my colleague returned,
+followed by the watchful Polton with the tea-tray, and I attacked him
+forthwith.
+
+"Well, Thorndyke," I said, "I have been thinking about this Blackmore
+case while you have been gadding about."
+
+"And may I take it that the problem is solved?"
+
+"No, I'm hanged if you may. I can make nothing of it."
+
+"Then you are in much the same position as I am."
+
+"But, if you can make nothing of it, why did you undertake it?"
+
+"I only undertook to think about it," said Thorndyke. "I never reject a
+case off-hand unless it is obviously fishy. It is surprising how
+difficulties, and even impossibilities, dwindle if you look at them
+attentively. My experience has taught me that the most unlikely case is,
+at least, worth thinking over."
+
+"By the way, why do you want to look over Jeffrey's chambers? What do
+you expect to find there?"
+
+"I have no expectations at all. I am simply looking for stray facts."
+
+"And all those questions that you asked Stephen Blackmore; had you
+nothing in your mind--no definite purpose?"
+
+"No purpose beyond getting to know as much about the case as I can."
+
+"But," I exclaimed, "do you mean that you are going to examine those
+rooms without any definite object at all?"
+
+"I wouldn't say that," replied Thorndyke. "This is a legal case. Let me
+put an analogous medical case as being more within your present sphere.
+Supposing that a man should consult you, say, about a progressive loss
+of weight. He can give no explanation. He has no pain, no discomfort, no
+symptoms of any kind; in short, he feels perfectly well in every
+respect; <i>but</i> he is losing weight continuously. What would you do?"
+
+"I should overhaul him thoroughly," I answered.
+
+"Why? What would you expect to find?"
+
+"I don't know that I should start by expecting to find anything in
+particular. But I should overhaul him organ by organ and function by
+function, and if I could find nothing abnormal I should have to give it
+up."
+
+"Exactly," said Thorndyke. "And that is just my position and my line of
+action. Here is a case which is perfectly regular and straightforward
+excepting in one respect. It has a single abnormal feature. And for that
+abnormality there is nothing to account.
+
+"Jeffrey Blackmore made a will. It was a well-drawn will and it
+apparently gave full effect to his intentions. Then he revoked that will
+and made another. No change had occurred in his circumstances or in his
+intentions. The provisions of the new will were believed by him to be
+identical with those of the old one. The new will differed from the old
+one only in having a defect in the drafting from which the first will
+was free, and of which he must have been unaware. Now why did he revoke
+the first will and replace it with another which he believed to be
+identical in its provisions? There is no answer to that question. It is
+an abnormal feature in the case. There must be some explanation of that
+abnormality and it is my business to discover it. But the facts in my
+possession yield no such explanation. Therefore it is my purpose to
+search for new facts which may give me a starting-point for an
+investigation."
+
+This exposition of Thorndyke's proposed conduct of the case, reasonable
+as it was, did not impress me as very convincing. I found myself coming
+back to Marchmont's position, that there was really nothing in dispute.
+But other matters claimed our attention at the moment, and it was not
+until after dinner that my colleague reverted to the subject.
+
+"How should you like to take a turn round to New Inn this evening?" he
+asked.
+
+"I should have thought," said I, "that it would be better to go by
+daylight. Those old chambers are not usually very well illuminated."
+
+"That is well thought of," said Thorndyke. "We had better take a lamp
+with us. Let us go up to the laboratory and get one from Polton."
+
+"There is no need to do that," said I. "The pocket-lamp that you lent me
+is in my overcoat pocket. I put it there to return it to you."
+
+"Did you have occasion to use it?" he asked.
+
+"Yes. I paid another visit to the mysterious house and carried out your
+plan. I must tell you about it later."
+
+"Do. I shall be keenly interested to hear all about your adventures. Is
+there plenty of candle left in the lamp?"
+
+"Oh yes. I only used it for about an hour."
+
+"Then let us be off," said Thorndyke; and we accordingly set forth on
+our quest; and, as we went, I reflected once more on the apparent
+vagueness of our proceedings. Presently I reopened the subject with
+Thorndyke.
+
+"I can't imagine," said I, "that you have absolutely nothing in view.
+That you are going to this place with no defined purpose whatever."
+
+"I did not say exactly that," replied Thorndyke. "I said that I was not
+going to look for any particular thing or fact. I am going in the hope
+that I may observe something that may start a new train of speculation.
+But that is not all. You know that an investigation follows a certain
+logical course. It begins with the observation of the conspicuous facts.
+We have done that. The facts were supplied by Marchmont. The next stage
+is to propose to oneself one or more provisional explanations or
+hypotheses. We have done that, too--or, at least I have, and I suppose
+you have."
+
+"I haven't," said I. "There is Jeffrey's will, but why he should have
+made the change I cannot form the foggiest idea. But I should like to
+hear your provisional theories on the subject."
+
+"You won't hear them at present. They are mere wild conjectures. But to
+resume: what do we do next?"
+
+"Go to New Inn and rake over the deceased gentleman's apartments."
+
+Thorndyke smilingly ignored my answer and continued--
+
+"We examine each explanation in turn and see what follows from it;
+whether it agrees with all the facts and leads to the discovery of new
+ones, or, on the other hand, disagrees with some facts or leads us to an
+absurdity. Let us take a simple example.
+
+"Suppose we find scattered over a field a number of largish masses of
+stone, which are entirely different in character from the rocks found in
+the neighbourhood. The question arises, how did those stones get into
+that field? Three explanations are proposed. One: that they are the
+products of former volcanic action; two: that they were brought from a
+distance by human agency; three: that they were carried thither from
+some distant country by icebergs. Now each of those explanations
+involves certain consequences. If the stones are volcanic, then they
+were once in a state of fusion. But we find that they are unaltered
+limestone and contain fossils. Then they are not volcanic. If they were
+borne by icebergs, then they were once part of a glacier and some of
+them will probably show the flat surfaces with parallel scratches which
+are found on glacier-borne stones. We examine them and find the
+characteristic scratched surfaces. Then they have probably been brought
+to this place by icebergs. But this does not exclude human agency, for
+they might have been brought by men to this place from some other where
+the icebergs had deposited them. A further comparison with other facts
+would be needed.
+
+"So we proceed in cases like this present one. Of the facts that are
+known to us we invent certain explanations. From each of those
+explanations we deduce consequences; and if those consequences agree
+with new facts, they confirm the explanation, whereas if they disagree
+they tend to disprove it. But here we are at our destination."
+
+We turned out of Wych Street into the arched passage leading into New
+Inn, and, halting at the half-door of the lodge, perceived a stout,
+purple-faced man crouching over the fire, coughing violently. He held up
+his hand to intimate that he was fully occupied for the moment, and we
+accordingly waited for his paroxysm to subside. At length he turned
+towards us, wiping his eyes, and inquired our business.
+
+"Mr. Stephen Blackmore," said Thorndyke, "has given me permission to
+look over his chambers. He said that he would mention the matter to
+you."
+
+"So he has, sir," said the porter; "but he has just taken the key
+himself to go to the chambers. If you walk across the Inn you'll find
+him there; it's on the farther side; number thirty-one, second floor."
+
+We made our way across to the house indicated, the ground floor of which
+was occupied by a solicitor's offices and was distinguished by a
+good-sized brass plate. Although it had now been dark some time there
+was no light on the lower stairs, but we encountered on the first-floor
+landing a man who had just lit the lamp there. Thorndyke halted to
+address him.
+
+"Can you tell me who occupies the chambers on the third floor?"
+
+"The third floor has been empty about three months," was the reply.
+
+"We are going up to look at the chambers on the second floor," said
+Thorndyke. "Are they pretty quiet?"
+
+"Quiet!" exclaimed the man. "Lord bless you the place is like a cemetery
+for the deaf and dumb. There's the solicitors on the ground floor and
+the architects on the first floor. They both clear out about six, and
+when they're gone the house is as empty as a blown hegg. I don't wonder
+poor Mr. Blackmore made away with his-self. Livin' up there all alone,
+it must have been like Robinson Crusoe without no man Friday and not
+even a blooming goat to talk to. Quiet! It's quiet enough, if that's
+what you want. Wouldn't be no good to <i>me</i>."
+
+With a contemptuous shake of the head, he turned and retired down the
+next flight, and, as the echoes of his footsteps died away we resumed
+our ascent.
+
+"So it would appear," Thorndyke commented, "that when Jeffrey Blackmore
+came home that last evening, the house was empty."
+
+Arrived on the second-floor landing, we were confronted by a
+solid-looking door on the lintel of which the deceased man's name was
+painted in white lettering which still looked new and fresh. Thorndyke
+knocked at the door, which was at once opened by Stephen Blackmore.
+
+"I haven't wasted any time before taking advantage of your permission,
+you see," my colleague said as we entered.
+
+"No, indeed," said Stephen; "you are very prompt. I have been rather
+wondering what kind of information you expect to gather from an
+inspection of these rooms."
+
+Thorndyke smiled genially, amused, no doubt, by the similarity of
+Stephen's remarks to those of mine which he had so recently criticized.
+
+"A man of science, Mr. Blackmore," he said, "expects nothing. He
+collects facts and keeps an open mind. As to me, I am a mere legal
+Autolycus, a snapper-up of unconsidered trifles of evidence. When I have
+accumulated a few facts, I arrange them, compare them and think about
+them. Sometimes the comparison yields new matter and sometimes it
+doesn't; but in any case, believe me, it is a capital error to decide
+beforehand what data are to be sought for."
+
+"Yes, I suppose that is so," said Stephen; "though, to me, it almost
+looks as if Mr. Marchmont was right; that there is nothing to
+investigate."
+
+"You should have thought of that before you consulted me," laughed
+Thorndyke. "As it is, I am engaged to look into the case and I shall do
+so; and, as I have said, I shall keep an open mind until I have all the
+facts in my possession."
+
+He glanced round the sitting-room, which we had now entered, and
+continued:
+
+"These are fine, dignified old rooms. It seems a sin to have covered up
+all this oak panelling and that carved cornice and mantel with paint.
+Think what it must have been like when the beautiful figured wood was
+exposed."
+
+"It would be very dark," Stephen observed.
+
+"Yes," Thorndyke agreed, "and I suppose we care more for light and less
+for beauty than our ancestors did. But now, tell me; looking round these
+rooms, do they convey to you a similar impression to that which the old
+rooms did? Have they the same general character?"
+
+"Not quite, I think. Of course the rooms in Jermyn Street were in a
+different kind of house, but beyond that, I seem to feel a certain
+difference; which is rather odd, seeing that the furniture is the same.
+But the old rooms were more cosy, more homelike. I find something rather
+bare and cheerless, I was almost going to say squalid, in the look of
+these chambers."
+
+"That is rather what I should have expected," said Thorndyke. "The opium
+habit alters a man's character profoundly; and, somehow, apart from the
+mere furnishing, a room reflects in some subtle way, but very
+distinctly, the personality of its occupant, especially when that
+occupant lives a solitary life. Do you see any evidences of the
+activities that used to occupy your uncle?"
+
+"Not very much," replied Stephen. "But the place may not be quite as he
+left it. I found one or two of his books on the table and put them back
+in the shelves, but I found no manuscript or notes such as he used to
+make. I noticed, too, that his ink-slab which he used to keep so
+scrupulously clean is covered with dry smears and that the stick of ink
+is all cracked at the end, as if he had not used it for months. It seems
+to point to a great change in his habits."
+
+"What used he to do with Chinese ink?" Thorndyke asked.
+
+"He corresponded with some of his native friends in Japan, and he used
+to write in the Japanese character even if they understood English. That
+was what he chiefly used the Chinese ink for. But he also used to copy
+the inscriptions from these things." Here Stephen lifted from the
+mantelpiece what looked like a fossil Bath bun, but was actually a clay
+tablet covered with minute indented writing.
+
+"Your uncle could read the cuneiform character, then?"
+
+"Yes; he was something of an expert. These tablets are, I believe,
+leases and other legal documents from Eridu and other Babylonian cities.
+He used to copy the inscriptions in the cuneiform writing and then
+translate them into English. But I mustn't stay here any longer as I
+have an engagement for this evening. I just dropped in to get these two
+volumes--<i>Thornton's History of Babylonia</i>, which he once advised me to
+read. Shall I give you the key? You'd better have it and leave it with
+the porter as you go out."
+
+He shook hands with us and we walked out with him to the landing and
+stood watching him as he ran down the stairs. Glancing at Thorndyke by
+the light of the gas lamp on the landing, I thought I detected in his
+impassive face that almost imperceptible change of expression to which I
+have already alluded as indicating pleasure or satisfaction.
+
+"You are looking quite pleased with yourself," I remarked.
+
+"I am not displeased," he replied calmly. "Autolycus has picked up a few
+crumbs; very small ones, but still crumbs. No doubt his learned junior
+has picked up a few likewise?"
+
+I shook my head--and inwardly suspected it of being rather a thick head.
+
+"I did not perceive anything in the least degree significant in what
+Stephen was telling you," said I. "It was all very interesting, but it
+did not seem to have any bearing on his uncle's will."
+
+"I was not referring only to what Stephen has told us, although that
+was, as you say, very interesting. While he was talking I was looking
+about the room, and I have seen a very strange thing. Let me show it to
+you."
+
+He linked his arm in mine and, walking me back into the room, halted
+opposite the fire-place.
+
+"There," said he, "look at that. It is a most remarkable object."
+
+[Illustration: THE INVERTED INSCRIPTION.]
+
+I followed the direction of his gaze and saw an oblong frame enclosing a
+large photograph of an inscription in the weird and cabalistic
+arrow-head character. I looked at it in silence for some seconds and
+then, somewhat disappointed, remarked:
+
+"I don't see anything very remarkable in it, under the circumstances. In
+any ordinary room it would be, I admit; but Stephen has just told us
+that his uncle was something of an expert in cuneiform writing."
+
+"Exactly," said Thorndyke. "That is my point. That is what makes it so
+remarkable."
+
+"I don't follow you at all," said I. "That a man should hang upon his
+wall an inscription that is legible to him does not seem to me at all
+out of the way. It would be much more singular if he should hang up an
+inscription that he could <i>not</i> read."
+
+"No doubt," replied Thorndyke. "But you will agree with me that it would
+be still more singular if a man should hang upon his wall an inscription
+that he <i>could</i> read--and hang it upside down."
+
+I stared at Thorndyke in amazement.
+
+"Do you mean to tell me," I exclaimed, "that that photograph is really
+upside down?"
+
+"I do indeed," he replied.
+
+"But how do you know? Have we here yet another Oriental scholar?"
+
+Thorndyke chuckled. "Some fool," he replied, "has said that 'a little
+knowledge is a dangerous thing.' Compared with much knowledge, it may
+be; but it is a vast deal better than no knowledge. Here is a case in
+point. I have read with very keen interest the wonderful history of the
+decipherment of the cuneiform writing, and I happen to recollect one or
+two of the main facts that seemed to me to be worth remembering. This
+particular inscription is in the Persian cuneiform, a much more simple
+and open form of the script than the Babylonian or Assyrian; in fact, I
+suspect that this is the famous inscription from the gateway at
+Persepolis--the first to be deciphered; which would account for its
+presence here in a frame. Now this script consists, as you see, of two
+kinds of characters; the small, solid, acutely pointed characters which
+are known as wedges, and the larger, more obtuse characters, somewhat
+like our government broad arrows, and called arrow-heads. The names are
+rather unfortunate, as both forms are wedge-like and both resemble
+arrow-heads. The script reads from left to right, like our own writing,
+and unlike that of the Semitic peoples and the primitive Greeks; and the
+rule for the placing of the characters is that all the 'wedges' point to
+the right or downwards and the arrow-head forms are open towards the
+right. But if you look at this photograph you will see that all the
+wedges point upwards to the left and that the arrow-head characters are
+open towards the left. Obviously the photograph is upside down."
+
+"But," I exclaimed, "this is really most mysterious. What do you suppose
+can be the explanation?"
+
+"I think," replied Thorndyke, "that we may perhaps get a suggestion from
+the back of the frame. Let us see."
+
+He disengaged the frame from the two nails on which it hung, and,
+turning it round, glanced at the back; which he then presented for my
+inspection. A label on the backing paper bore the words, "J. Budge,
+Frame-maker and Gilder, 16, Gt. Anne Street, W.C."
+
+"Well?" I said, when I had read the label without gathering from it
+anything fresh.
+
+"The label, you observe, is the right way up as it hangs on the wall."
+
+"So it is," I rejoined hastily, a little annoyed that I had not been
+quicker to observe so obvious a fact. "I see your point. You mean that
+the frame-maker hung the thing upside down and Jeffrey never noticed the
+mistake?"
+
+"That is a perfectly sound explanation," said Thorndyke. "But I think
+there is something more. You will notice that the label is an old one;
+it must have been on some years, to judge by its dingy appearance,
+whereas the two mirror-plates look to me comparatively new. But we can
+soon put that matter to the test, for the label was evidently stuck on
+when the frame was new, and if the plates were screwed on at the same
+time, the wood that they cover will be clean and new-looking."
+
+He drew from his pocket a "combination" knife containing, among other
+implements, a screw-driver, with which he carefully extracted the screws
+from one of the little brass plates by which the frame had been
+suspended from the nails.
+
+"You see," he said, when he had removed the plate and carried the
+photograph over to the gasjet, "the wood covered by the plate is as
+dirty and time-stained as the rest of the frame. The plates have been
+put on recently."
+
+"And what are we to infer from that?"
+
+"Well, since there are no other marks of plates or rings upon the
+frame, we may safely infer that the photograph was never hung up until
+it came to these rooms."
+
+"Yes, I suppose we may. But what then? What inference does that lead
+to?"
+
+Thorndyke reflected for a few moments and I continued:
+
+"It is evident that this photograph suggests more to you than it does to
+me. I should like to hear your exposition of its bearing on the case, if
+it has any."
+
+"Whether or no it has any real bearing on the case," Thorndyke answered,
+"it is impossible for me to say at this stage. I told you that I had
+proposed to myself one or two hypotheses to account for and explain
+Jeffrey Blackmore's will, and I may say that the curious misplacement of
+this photograph fits more than one of them. I won't say more than that,
+because I think it would be profitable to you to work at this case
+independently. You have all the facts that I have and you shall have a
+copy of my notes of Marchmont's statement of the case. With this
+material you ought to be able to reach some conclusion. Of course
+neither of us may be able to make anything of the case--it doesn't look
+very hopeful at present--but whatever happens, we can compare notes
+after the event and you will be the richer by so much experience of
+actual investigation. But I will start you off with one hint, which is
+this: that neither you nor Marchmont seem to appreciate in the least the
+very extraordinary nature of the facts that he communicated to us."
+
+"I thought Marchmont seemed pretty much alive to the fact that it was a
+very queer will."
+
+"So he did," agreed Thorndyke. "But that is not quite what I mean. The
+whole set of circumstances, taken together and in relation to one
+another, impressed me as most remarkable; and that is why I am giving so
+much attention to what looks at first sight like such a very unpromising
+case. Copy out my notes, Jervis, and examine the facts critically. I
+think you will see what I mean. And now let us proceed."
+
+He replaced the brass plate and having reinserted the screws, hung up
+the frame, and proceeded to browse slowly round the room, stopping now
+and again to inspect the Japanese colour-prints and framed photographs
+of buildings and other objects of archaeological interest that formed
+the only attempts at wall-decoration. To one of the former he drew my
+attention.
+
+"These things are of some value," he remarked. "Here is one by
+Utamaro--that little circle with the mark over it is his signature--and
+you notice that the paper is becoming spotted in places with mildew. The
+fact is worth noting in more than one connection."
+
+I accordingly made a mental note and the perambulation continued.
+
+"You observe that Jeffrey used a gas-stove, instead of a coal fire, no
+doubt to economize work, but perhaps for other reasons. Presumably he
+cooked by gas, too; let us see."
+
+We wandered into the little cupboard-like kitchen and glanced round. A
+ring-burner on a shelf, a kettle, a frying-pan and a few pieces of
+crockery were its sole appointments. Apparently the porter was correct
+in his statement as to Jeffrey's habits.
+
+Returning to the sitting-room, Thorndyke resumed his inspection, pulling
+out the table drawers, peering inquisitively into cupboards and
+bestowing a passing glance on each of the comparatively few objects that
+the comfortless room contained.
+
+"I have never seen a more characterless apartment," was his final
+comment. "There is nothing that seems to suggest any kind of habitual
+activity on the part of the occupant. Let us look at the bedroom."
+
+We passed through into the chamber of tragic memories, and, when
+Thorndyke had lit the gas, we stood awhile looking about us in silence.
+It was a bare, comfortless room, dirty, neglected and squalid. The bed
+appeared not to have been remade since the catastrophe, for an
+indentation still marked the place where the corpse had lain, and even a
+slight powdering of ash could still be seen on the shabby counterpane.
+It looked to me a typical opium-smoker's bedroom.
+
+"Well," Thorndyke remarked at length, "there is character enough
+here--of a kind. Jeffrey Blackmore would seem to have been a man of few
+needs. One could hardly imagine a bedroom in which less attention seemed
+to have been given to the comfort of the occupant."
+
+He looked about him keenly and continued: "The syringe and the rest of
+the lethal appliances and material have been taken away, I see.
+Probably the analyst did not return them. But there are the opium-pipe
+and the jar and the ash-bowl, and I presume those are the clothes that
+the undertakers removed from the body. Shall we look them over?"
+
+He took up the clothes which lay, roughly folded, on a chair and held
+them up, garment by garment.
+
+"These are evidently the trousers," he remarked, spreading them out on
+the bed. "Here is a little white spot on the middle of the thigh which
+looks like a patch of small crystals from a drop of the solution. Just
+light the lamp, Jervis, and let us examine it with a lens."
+
+I lit the lamp, and when we had examined the spot minutely and
+identified it as a mass of minute crystals, Thorndyke asked:
+
+"What do you make of those creases? You see there is one on each leg."
+
+"It looks as if the trousers had been turned up. But if they have been
+they must have been turned up about seven inches. Poor Jeffrey couldn't
+have had much regard for appearances, for they would have been right
+above his socks. But perhaps the creases were made in undressing the
+body."
+
+"That is possible," said Thorndyke: "though I don't quite see how it
+would have happened. I notice that his pockets seem to have been
+emptied--no, wait; here is something in the waistcoat pocket."
+
+He drew out a shabby, pigskin card-case and a stump of lead pencil, at
+which latter he looked with what seemed to me much more interest than
+was deserved by so commonplace an object.
+
+"The cards, you observe," said he, "are printed from type, not from a
+plate. I would note that fact. And tell me what you make of that."
+
+He handed me the pencil, which I examined with concentrated attention,
+helping myself even with the lamp and my pocket lens. But even with
+these aids I failed to discover anything unusual in its appearance.
+Thorndyke watched me with a mischievous smile, and, when I had finished,
+inquired:
+
+"Well; what is it?"
+
+"Confound you!" I exclaimed. "It's a pencil. Any fool can see that, and
+this particular fool can't see any more. It's a wretched stump of a
+pencil, villainously cut to an abominably bad point. It is coloured dark
+red on the outside and was stamped with some name that began with
+C--O--Co-operative Stores, perhaps."
+
+"Now, my dear Jervis," Thorndyke protested, "don't begin by confusing
+speculation with fact. The letters which remain are C--O. Note that fact
+and find out what pencils there are which have inscriptions beginning
+with those letters. I am not going to help you, because you can easily
+do this for yourself. And it will be good discipline even if the fact
+turns out to mean nothing."
+
+At this moment he stepped back suddenly, and, looking down at the floor,
+said:
+
+"Give me the lamp, Jervis, I've trodden on something that felt like
+glass."
+
+I brought the lamp to the place where he had been standing, close by
+the bed, and we both knelt on the floor, throwing the light of the lamp
+on the bare and dusty boards. Under the bed, just within reach of the
+foot of a person standing close by, was a little patch of fragments of
+glass. Thorndyke produced a piece of paper from his pocket and
+delicately swept the little fragments on to it, remarking:
+
+"By the look of things, I am not the first person who has trodden on
+that object, whatever it is. Do you mind holding the lamp while I
+inspect the remains?"
+
+I took the lamp and held it over the paper while he examined the little
+heap of glass through his lens.
+
+"Well," I asked. "What have you found?"
+
+"That is what I am asking myself," he replied. "As far as I can judge by
+the appearance of these fragments, they appear to be portions of a small
+watch-glass. I wish there were some larger pieces."
+
+"Perhaps there are," said I. "Let us look about the floor under the
+bed."
+
+We resumed our groping about the dirty floor, throwing the light of the
+lamp on one spot after another. Presently, as we moved the lamp about,
+its light fell on a small glass bead, which I instantly picked up and
+exhibited to Thorndyke.
+
+"Is this of any interest to you?" I asked.
+
+Thorndyke took the bead and examined it curiously.
+
+"It is certainly," he said, "a very odd thing to find in the bedroom of
+an old bachelor like Jeffrey, especially as we know that he employed no
+woman to look after his rooms. Of course, it may be a relic of the last
+tenant. Let us see if there are any more."
+
+We renewed our search, crawling under the bed and throwing the light of
+the lamp in all directions over the floor. The result was the discovery
+of three more beads, one entire bugle and the crushed remains of
+another, which had apparently been trodden on. All of these, including
+the fragments of the bugle that had been crushed, Thorndyke placed
+carefully on the paper, which he laid on the dressing-table the more
+conveniently to examine our find.
+
+"I am sorry," said he, "that there are no more fragments of the
+watch-glass, or whatever it was. The broken pieces were evidently picked
+up, with the exception of the one that I trod on, which was an isolated
+fragment that had been overlooked. As to the beads, judging by their
+number and the position in which we found some of them--that crushed
+bugle, for instance--they must have been dropped during Jeffrey's
+tenancy and probably quite recently."
+
+"What sort of garment do you suppose they came from?" I asked.
+
+"They may have been part of a beaded veil or the trimming of a dress,
+but the grouping rather suggests to me a tag of bead fringe. The colour
+is rather unusual."
+
+"I thought they looked like black beads."
+
+"So they do by this light, but I think that by daylight we shall find
+them to be a dark, reddish-brown. You can see the colour now if you look
+at the smaller fragments of the one that is crushed."
+
+He handed me his lens, and, when I had verified his statement, he
+produced from his pocket a small tin box with a closely-fitting lid in
+which he deposited the paper, having first folded it up into a small
+parcel.
+
+"We will put the pencil in too," said he; and, as he returned the box to
+his pocket he added: "you had better get one of these little boxes from
+Polton. It is often useful to have a safe receptacle for small and
+fragile articles."
+
+He folded up and replaced the dead man's clothes as we had found them.
+Then, observing a pair of shoes standing by the wall, he picked them up
+and looked them over thoughtfully, paying special attention to the backs
+of the soles and the fronts of the heels.
+
+"I suppose we may take it," said he, "that these are the shoes that poor
+Jeffrey wore on the night of his death. At any rate there seem to be no
+others. He seems to have been a fairly clean walker. The streets were
+shockingly dirty that day, as I remember most distinctly. Do you see any
+slippers? I haven't noticed any."
+
+He opened and peeped into a cupboard in which an overcoat surmounted by
+a felt hat hung from a peg like an attenuated suicide; he looked in all
+the corners and into the sitting-room, but no slippers were to be seen.
+
+"Our friend seems to have had surprisingly little regard for comfort,"
+Thorndyke remarked. "Think of spending the winter evenings in damp boots
+by a gas fire!"
+
+"Perhaps the opium-pipe compensated," said I; "or he may have gone to
+bed early."
+
+"But he did not. The night porter used to see the light in his rooms at
+one o'clock in the morning. In the sitting-room, too, you remember. But
+he seems to have been in the habit of reading in bed--or perhaps
+smoking--for here is a candlestick with the remains of a whole dynasty
+of candles in it. As there is gas in the room, he couldn't have wanted
+the candle to undress by. He used stearine candles, too; not the common
+paraffin variety. I wonder why he went to that expense."
+
+"Perhaps the smell of the paraffin candle spoiled the aroma of the
+opium," I suggested; to which Thorndyke made no reply but continued his
+inspection of the room, pulling out the drawer of the washstand--which
+contained a single, worn-out nail-brush--and even picking up and
+examining the dry and cracked cake of soap in the dish.
+
+"He seems to have had a fair amount of clothing," said Thorndyke, who
+was now going through the chest of drawers, "though, by the look of it,
+he didn't change very often, and the shirts have a rather yellow and
+faded appearance. I wonder how he managed about his washing. Why, here
+are a couple of pairs of boots in the drawer with his clothes! And here
+is his stock of candles. Quite a large box--though nearly empty now--of
+stearine candles, six to the pound."
+
+He closed the drawer and cast another inquiring look round the room.
+
+"I think we have seen all now, Jervis," he said, "unless there is
+anything more that you would like to look into?"
+
+"No," I replied. "I have seen all that I wanted to see and more than I
+am able to attach any meaning to. So we may as well go."
+
+I blew out the lamp and put it in my overcoat pocket, and, when we had
+turned out the gas in both rooms, we took our departure.
+
+As we approached the lodge, we found our stout friend in the act of
+retiring in favour of the night porter. Thorndyke handed him the key of
+the chambers, and, after a few sympathetic inquiries, about his
+health--which was obviously very indifferent--said:
+
+"Let me see; you were one of the witnesses to Mr. Blackmore's will, I
+think?"
+
+"I was, sir," replied the porter.
+
+"And I believe you read the document through before you witnessed the
+signature?"
+
+"I did, sir."
+
+"Did you read it aloud?"
+
+"Aloud, sir! Lor' bless you, no, sir! Why should I? The other witness
+read it, and, of course, Mr. Blackmore knew what was in it, seeing that
+it was in his own handwriting. What should I want to read it aloud for?"
+
+"No, of course you wouldn't want to. By the way, I have been wondering
+how Mr. Blackmore managed about his washing."
+
+The porter evidently regarded this question with some disfavour, for he
+replied only with an interrogative grunt. It was, in fact, rather an odd
+question.
+
+"Did you get it done for him," Thorndyke pursued.
+
+"No, certainly not, sir. He got it done for himself. The laundry people
+used to deliver the basket here at the lodge, and Mr. Blackmore used to
+take it in with him when he happened to be passing."
+
+"It was not delivered at his chambers, then?"
+
+"No, sir. Mr. Blackmore was a very studious gentleman and he didn't like
+to be disturbed. A studious gentleman would naturally not like to be
+disturbed."
+
+Thorndyke cordially agreed with these very proper sentiments and finally
+wished the porter "good night." We passed out through the gateway into
+Wych Street, and, turning our faces eastward towards the Temple, set
+forth in silence, each thinking his own thoughts. What Thorndyke's were
+I cannot tell, though I have no doubt that he was busily engaged in
+piecing together all that he had seen and heard and considering its
+possible application to the case in hand.
+
+As to me, my mind was in a whirl of confusion. All this searching and
+examining seemed to be the mere flogging of a dead horse. The will was
+obviously a perfectly valid and regular will and there was an end of the
+matter. At least, so it seemed to me. But clearly that was not
+Thorndyke's view. His investigations were certainly not purposeless;
+and, as I walked by his side trying to conceive some purpose in his
+actions, I only became more and more mystified as I recalled them one
+by one, and perhaps most of all by the cryptic questions that I had just
+heard him address to the equally mystified porter.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter VIII
+
+The Track Chart
+
+
+As Thorndyke and I arrived at the main gateway of the Temple and he
+swung round into the narrow lane, it was suddenly borne in on me that I
+had made no arrangements for the night. Events had followed one another
+so continuously and each had been so engrossing that I had lost sight of
+what I may call my domestic affairs.
+
+"We seem to be heading for your chambers, Thorndyke," I ventured to
+remark. "It is a little late to think of it, but I have not yet settled
+where I am to put up to-night."
+
+"My dear fellow," he replied, "you are going to put up in your own
+bedroom which has been waiting in readiness for you ever since you left
+it. Polton went up and inspected it as soon as you arrived. I take it
+that you will consider my chambers yours until such time as you may join
+the benedictine majority and set up a home for yourself."
+
+"That is very handsome of you," said I. "You didn't mention that the
+billet you offered was a resident appointment."
+
+"Rooms and commons included," said Thorndyke; and when I protested that
+I should at least contribute to the costs of living he impatiently
+waved the suggestion away. We were still arguing the question when we
+reached our chambers--as I will now call them--and a diversion was
+occasioned by my taking the lamp from my pocket and placing it on the
+table.
+
+"Ah," my colleague remarked, "that is a little reminder. We will put it
+on the mantelpiece for Polton to collect and you shall give me a full
+account of your further adventures in the wilds of Kennington. That was
+a very odd affair. I have often wondered how it ended."
+
+He drew our two arm-chairs up to the fire, put on some more coal, placed
+the tobacco jar on the table exactly equidistant from the two chairs,
+and settled himself with the air of a man who is anticipating an
+agreeable entertainment.
+
+I filled my pipe, and, taking up the thread of the story where I had
+broken off on the last occasion, began to outline my later experiences.
+But he brought me up short.
+
+"Don't be sketchy, Jervis. To be sketchy is to be vague. Detail, my
+child, detail is the soul of induction. Let us have all the facts. We
+can sort them out afterwards."
+
+I began afresh in a vein of the extremest circumstantiality. With
+deliberate malice I loaded a prolix narrative with every triviality that
+a fairly retentive memory could rake out of the half-forgotten past. I
+cudgelled my brains for irrelevant incidents. I described with the
+minutest accuracy things that had not the faintest significance. I drew
+a vivid picture of the carriage inside and out; I painted a lifelike
+portrait of the horse, even going into particulars of the harness--which
+I was surprised to find that I had noticed. I described the furniture of
+the dining-room and the cobwebs that had hung from the ceiling; the
+auction-ticket on the chest of drawers, the rickety table and the
+melancholy chairs. I gave the number per minute of the patient's
+respirations and the exact quantity of coffee consumed on each occasion,
+with an exhaustive description of the cup from which it was taken; and I
+left no personal details unconsidered, from the patient's finger-nails
+to the roseate pimples on Mr. Weiss's nose.
+
+But my tactics of studied prolixity were a complete failure. The attempt
+to fatigue Thorndyke's brain with superabundant detail was like trying
+to surfeit a pelican with whitebait. He consumed it all with calm
+enjoyment and asked for more; and when, at last, I did really begin to
+think that I had bored him a little, he staggered me by reading over his
+notes and starting a brisk cross-examination to elicit fresh facts! And
+the most surprising thing of all was that when I had finished I seemed
+to know a great deal more about the case than I had ever known before.
+
+"It was a very remarkable affair," he observed, when the
+cross-examination was over--leaving me somewhat in the condition of a
+cider-apple that has just been removed from a hydraulic press--"a very
+suspicious affair with a highly unsatisfactory end. I am not sure that I
+entirely agree with your police officer. Nor do I fancy that some of my
+acquaintances at Scotland Yard would have agreed with him."
+
+"Do you think I ought to have taken any further measures?" I asked
+uneasily.
+
+"No; I don't see how you could. You did all that was possible under the
+circumstances. You gave information, which is all that a private
+individual can do, especially if he is an overworked general
+practitioner. But still, an actual crime is the affair of every good
+citizen. I think we ought to take some action."
+
+"You think there really was a crime, then?"
+
+"What else can one think? What do you think about it yourself?"
+
+"I don't like to think about it at all. The recollection of that
+corpse-like figure in that gloomy bedroom has haunted me ever since I
+left the house. What do you suppose has happened?"
+
+Thorndyke did not answer for a few seconds. At length he said gravely:
+
+"I am afraid, Jervis, that the answer to that question can be given in
+one word."
+
+"Murder?" I asked with a slight shudder.
+
+He nodded, and we were both silent for a while.
+
+"The probability," he resumed after a pause, "that Mr. Graves is alive
+at this moment seems to me infinitesimal. There was evidently a
+conspiracy to murder him, and the deliberate, persistent manner in which
+that object was being pursued points to a very strong and definite
+motive. Then the tactics adopted point to considerable forethought and
+judgment. They are not the tactics of a fool or an ignoramus. We may
+criticize the closed carriage as a tactical mistake, calculated to
+arouse suspicion, but we have to weigh it against its alternative."
+
+"What is that?"
+
+"Well, consider the circumstances. Suppose Weiss had called you in in
+the ordinary way. You would still have detected the use of poison. But
+now you could have located your man and made inquiries about him in the
+neighbourhood. You would probably have given the police a hint and they
+would almost certainly have taken action, as they would have had the
+means of identifying the parties. The result would have been fatal to
+Weiss. The closed carriage invited suspicion, but it was a great
+safeguard. Weiss's method's were not so unsound after all. He is a
+cautious man, but cunning and very persistent. And he could be bold on
+occasion. The use of the blinded carriage was a decidedly audacious
+proceeding. I should put him down as a gambler of a very discreet,
+courageous and resourceful type."
+
+"Which all leads to the probability that he has pursued his scheme and
+brought it to a successful issue."
+
+"I am afraid it does. But--have you got your notes of the
+compass-bearings?"
+
+"The book is in my overcoat pocket with the board. I will fetch them."
+
+I went into the office, where our coats hung, and brought back the
+notebook with the little board to which it was still attached by the
+rubber band. Thorndyke took them from me, and, opening the book, ran
+his eye quickly down one page after another. Suddenly he glanced at the
+clock.
+
+"It is a little late to begin," said he, "but these notes look rather
+alluring. I am inclined to plot them out at once. I fancy, from their
+appearance, that they will enable us to locate the house without much
+difficulty. But don't let me keep you up if you are tired. I can work
+them out by myself."
+
+"You won't do anything of the kind," I exclaimed. "I am as keen on
+plotting them as you are, and, besides, I want to see how it is done. It
+seems to be a rather useful accomplishment."
+
+"It is," said Thorndyke. "In our work, the ability to make a rough but
+reliable sketch survey is often of great value. Have you ever looked
+over these notes?"
+
+"No. I put the book away when I came in and have never looked at it
+since."
+
+"It is a quaint document. You seem to be rich in railway bridges in
+those parts, and the route was certainly none of the most direct, as you
+noticed at the time. However, we will plot it out and then we shall see
+exactly what it looks like and whither it leads us."
+
+He retired to the laboratory and presently returned with a T-square, a
+military protractor, a pair of dividers and a large drawing-board on
+which was pinned a sheet of cartridge paper.
+
+"Now," said he, seating himself at the table with the board before him,
+"as to the method. You started from a known position and you arrived at
+a place the position of which is at present unknown. We shall fix the
+position of that spot by applying two factors, the distance that you
+travelled and the direction in which you were moving. The direction is
+given by the compass; and, as the horse seems to have kept up a
+remarkably even pace, we can take time as representing distance. You
+seem to have been travelling at about eight miles an hour, that is,
+roughly, a seventh of a mile in one minute. So if, on our chart, we take
+one inch as representing one minute, we shall be working with a scale of
+about seven inches to the mile."
+
+"That doesn't sound very exact as to distance," I objected.
+
+"It isn't. But that doesn't matter much. We have certain landmarks, such
+as these railway arches that you have noted, by which the actual
+distance can be settled after the route is plotted. You had better read
+out the entries, and, opposite each, write a number for reference, so
+that we need not confuse the chart by writing details on it. I shall
+start near the middle of the board, as neither you nor I seem to have
+the slightest notion what your general direction was."
+
+I laid the open notebook before me and read out the first entry:
+
+"'Eight fifty-eight. West by South. Start from home. Horse thirteen
+hands.'"
+
+"You turned round at once, I understand," said Thorndyke, "so we draw no
+line in that direction. The next is--?"
+
+"'Eight fifty-eight minutes, thirty seconds, East by North'; and the
+next is 'Eight fifty-nine, North-east.'"
+
+"Then you travelled east by north about a fifteenth of a mile and we
+shall put down half an inch on the chart. Then you turned north-east.
+How long did you go on?"
+
+"Exactly a minute. The next entry is 'Nine. West north-west.'"
+
+"Then you travelled about the seventh of a mile in a north-easterly
+direction and we draw a line an inch long at an angle of forty-five
+degrees to the right of the north and south line. From the end of that
+we carry a line at an angle of fifty-six and a quarter degrees to the
+left of the north and south line, and so on. The method is perfectly
+simple, you see."
+
+"Perfectly; I quite understand it now."
+
+I went back to my chair and continued to read out the entries from the
+notebook while Thorndyke laid off the lines of direction with the
+protractor, taking out the distances with the dividers from a scale of
+equal parts on the back of the instrument. As the work proceeded, I
+noticed, from time to time, a smile of quiet amusement spread over my
+colleague's keen, attentive face, and at each new reference to a railway
+bridge he chuckled softly.
+
+"What, again!" he laughed, as I recorded the passage of the fifth or
+sixth bridge. "It's like a game of croquet. Go on. What is the next?"
+
+I went on reading out the notes until I came to the final one:
+
+"'Nine twenty-four. South-east. In covered way. Stop. Wooden gates
+closed.'"
+
+Thorndyke ruled off the last line, remarking: "Then your covered way is
+on the south side of a street which bears north-east. So we complete our
+chart. Just look at your route, Jervis."
+
+He held up the board with a quizzical smile and I stared in astonishment
+at the chart. The single line, which represented the route of the
+carriage, zigzagged in the most amazing manner, turning, re-turning and
+crossing itself repeatedly, evidently passing more than once down the
+same thoroughfares and terminating at a comparatively short distance
+from its commencement.
+
+"Why!" I exclaimed, the "rascal must have lived quite near to
+Stillbury's house!"
+
+Thorndyke measured with the dividers the distance between the starting
+and arriving points of the route and took it off from the scale.
+
+"Five-eighths of a mile, roughly," he said. "You could have walked it in
+less than ten minutes. And now let us get out the ordnance map and see
+if we can give to each of those marvellously erratic lines 'a local
+habitation and a name.'"
+
+He spread the map out on the table and placed our chart by its side.
+
+"I think," said he, "you started from Lower Kennington Lane?"
+
+"Yes, from this point," I replied, indicating the spot with a pencil.
+
+"Then," said Thorndyke, "if we swing the chart round twenty degrees to
+correct the deviation of the compass, we can compare it with the
+ordnance map."
+
+He set off with the protractor an angle of twenty degrees from the
+north and south line and turned the chart round to that extent. After
+closely scrutinizing the map and the chart and comparing the one with
+the other, he said:
+
+"By mere inspection it seems fairly easy to identify the thoroughfares
+that correspond to the lines of the chart. Take the part that is near
+your destination. At nine twenty-one you passed under a bridge, going
+westward. That would seem to be Glasshouse Street. Then you turned
+south, apparently along the Albert Embankment, where you heard the tug's
+whistle. Then you heard a passenger train start on your left; that would
+be Vauxhall Station. Next you turned round due east and passed under a
+large railway bridge, which suggests the bridge that carries the Station
+over Upper Kennington Lane. If that is so, your house should be on the
+south side of Upper Kennington Lane, some three hundred yards from the
+bridge. But we may as well test our inferences by one or two
+measurements."
+
+"How can you do that if you don't know the exact scale of the chart?"
+
+"I will show you," said Thorndyke. "We shall establish the true scale
+and that will form part of the proof."
+
+He rapidly constructed on the upper blank part of the paper, a
+proportional diagram consisting of two intersecting lines with a single
+cross-line.
+
+"This long line," he explained, "is the distance from Stillbury's house
+to the Vauxhall railway bridge as it appears on the chart; the shorter
+cross-line is the same distance taken from the ordnance map. If our
+inference is correct and the chart is reasonably accurate, all the other
+distances will show a similar proportion. Let us try some of them. Take
+the distance from Vauxhall bridge to the Glasshouse Street bridge."
+
+[Illustration: The Track Chart, showing the route followed by Weiss's
+carriage.
+
+A.--Starting-point in Lower Kennington Lane.
+
+B.--Position of Mr. Weiss's house. The dotted lines connecting the
+bridges indicate probable railway lines.]
+
+He made the two measurements carefully, and, as the point of the
+dividers came down almost precisely in the correct place on the diagram,
+he looked up at me.
+
+"Considering the roughness of the method by which the chart was made, I
+think that is pretty conclusive, though, if you look at the various
+arches that you passed under and see how nearly they appear to follow
+the position of the South-Western Railway line, you hardly need further
+proof. But I will take a few more proportional measurements for the
+satisfaction of proving the case by scientific methods before we proceed
+to verify our conclusions by a visit to the spot."
+
+He took off one or two more distances, and on comparing them with the
+proportional distances on the ordnance map, found them in every case as
+nearly correct as could be expected.
+
+"Yes," said Thorndyke, laying down the dividers, "I think we have
+narrowed down the locality of Mr. Weiss's house to a few yards in a
+known street. We shall get further help from your note of nine
+twenty-three thirty, which records a patch of newly laid macadam
+extending up to the house."
+
+"That new macadam will be pretty well smoothed down by now," I objected.
+
+"Not so very completely," answered Thorndyke. "It is only a little over
+a month ago, and there has been very little wet weather since. It may be
+smooth, but it will be easily distinguishable from the old."
+
+"And do I understand that you propose to go and explore the
+neighbourhood?"
+
+"Undoubtedly I do. That is to say, I intend to convert the locality of
+this house into a definite address; which, I think, will now be
+perfectly easy, unless we should have the bad luck to find more than one
+covered way. Even then, the difficulty would be trifling."
+
+"And when you have ascertained where Mr. Weiss lives? What then?"
+
+"That will depend on circumstances. I think we shall probably call at
+Scotland Yard and have a little talk with our friend Mr. Superintendent
+Miller; unless, for any reason, it seems better to look into the case
+ourselves."
+
+"When is this voyage of exploration to take place?"
+
+Thorndyke considered this question, and, taking out his pocket-book,
+glanced through his engagements.
+
+"It seems to me," he said, "that to-morrow is a fairly free day. We
+could take the morning without neglecting other business. I suggest that
+we start immediately after breakfast. How will that suit my learned
+friend?"
+
+"My time is yours," I replied; "and if you choose to waste it on matters
+that don't concern you, that's your affair."
+
+"Then we will consider the arrangement to stand for to-morrow morning,
+or rather, for this morning, as I see that it is past twelve."
+
+With this Thorndyke gathered up the chart and instruments and we
+separated for the night.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter IX
+
+The House of Mystery
+
+
+Half-past nine on the following morning found us spinning along the
+Albert Embankment in a hansom to the pleasant tinkle of the horse's
+bell. Thorndyke appeared to be in high spirits, though the full
+enjoyment of the matutinal pipe precluded fluent conversation. As a
+precaution, he had put my notebook in his pocket before starting, and
+once or twice he took it out and looked over its pages; but he made no
+reference to the object of our quest, and the few remarks that he
+uttered would have indicated that his thoughts were occupied with other
+matters.
+
+Arrived at Vauxhall Station, we alighted and forthwith made our way to
+the bridge that spans Upper Kennington Lane near its junction with
+Harleyford Road.
+
+"Here is our starting point," said Thorndyke. "From this place to the
+house is about three hundred yards--say four hundred and twenty
+paces--and at about two hundred paces we ought to reach our patch of new
+road-metal. Now, are you ready? If we keep step we shall average our
+stride."
+
+We started together at a good pace, stepping out with military
+regularity and counting aloud as we went. As we told out the hundred and
+ninety-fourth pace I observed Thorndyke nod towards the roadway a little
+ahead, and, looking at it attentively as we approached, it was easy to
+see by the regularity of surface and lighter colour, that it had
+recently been re-metalled.
+
+Having counted out the four hundred and twenty paces, we halted, and
+Thorndyke turned to me with a smile of triumph.
+
+"Not a bad estimate, Jervis," said he. "That will be your house if I am
+not much mistaken. There is no other mews or private roadway in sight."
+
+He pointed to a narrow turning some dozen yards ahead, apparently the
+entrance to a mews or yard and closed by a pair of massive wooden gates.
+
+"Yes," I answered, "there can be no doubt that this is the place; but,
+by Jove!" I added, as we drew nearer, "the nest is empty! Do you see?"
+
+I pointed to a bill that was stuck on the gate, bearing, as I could see
+at this distance, the inscription "To Let."
+
+"Here is a new and startling, if not altogether unexpected,
+development," said Thorndyke, as we stood gazing at the bill; which set
+forth that "these premises, including stabling and workshops," were "to
+be let on lease or otherwise," and referred inquiries to Messrs. Ryebody
+Brothers, house-agents and valuers, Upper Kennington Lane. "The question
+is, should we make a few inquiries of the agent, or should we get the
+keys and have a look at the inside of the house? I am inclined to do
+both, and the latter first, if Messrs. Ryebody Brothers will trust us
+with the keys."
+
+We proceeded up the lane to the address given, and, entering the
+office, Thorndyke made his request--somewhat to the surprise of the
+clerk; for Thorndyke was not quite the kind of person whom one naturally
+associates with stabling and workshops. However, there was no
+difficulty, but as the clerk sorted out the keys from a bunch hanging
+from a hook, he remarked:
+
+"I expect you will find the place in a rather dirty and neglected
+condition. The house has not been cleaned yet; it is just as it was left
+when the brokers took away the furniture."
+
+"Was the last tenant sold up, then?" Thorndyke asked.
+
+"Oh, no. He had to leave rather unexpectedly to take up some business in
+Germany."
+
+"I hope he paid his rent," said Thorndyke.
+
+"Oh, yes. Trust us for that. But I should say that Mr. Weiss--that was
+his name--was a man of some means. He seemed to have plenty of money,
+though he always paid in notes. I don't fancy he had a banking account
+in this country. He hadn't been here more than about six or seven months
+and I imagine he didn't know many people in England, as he paid us a
+cash deposit in lieu of references when he first came."
+
+"I think you said his name was Weiss. It wouldn't be H. Weiss by any
+chance?"
+
+"I believe it was. But I can soon tell you." He opened a drawer and
+consulted what looked like a book of receipt forms. "Yes; H Weiss. Do
+you know him, sir?"
+
+"I knew a Mr. H. Weiss some years ago. He came from Bremen, I
+remember."
+
+"This Mr. Weiss has gone back to Hamburg," the clerk observed.
+
+"Ah," said Thorndyke, "then it would seem not to be the same. My
+acquaintance was a fair man with a beard and a decidedly red nose and he
+wore spectacles."
+
+"That's the man. You've described him exactly," said the clerk, who was
+apparently rather easily satisfied in the matter of description.
+
+"Dear me," said Thorndyke; "what a small world it is. Do you happen to
+have a note of his address in Hamburg?"
+
+"I haven't," the clerk replied. "You see we've done with him, having got
+the rent, though the house is not actually surrendered yet. Mr Weiss's
+housekeeper still has the front-door key. She doesn't start for Hamburg
+for a week or so, and meanwhile she keeps the key so that she can call
+every day and see if there are any letters."
+
+"Indeed," said Thorndyke. "I wonder if he still has the same
+housekeeper."
+
+"This lady is a German," replied the clerk, "with a regular jaw-twisting
+name. Sounded like Shallybang."
+
+"Schallibaum. That is the lady. A fair woman with hardly any eyebrows
+and a pronounced cast in the left eye."
+
+"Now that's very curious, sir," said the clerk. "It's the same name, and
+this is a fair woman with remarkably thin eyebrows, I remember, now that
+you mention it. But it can't be the same person. I have only seen her a
+few times and then only just for a minute or so; but I'm quite certain
+she had no cast in her eye. So, you see, sir, she can't be the same
+person. You can dye your hair or you can wear a wig or you can paint
+your face; but a squint is a squint. There's no faking a swivel eye."
+
+Thorndyke laughed softly. "I suppose not; unless, perhaps, some one
+might invent an adjustable glass eye. Are these the keys?"
+
+"Yes, sir. The large one belongs to the wicket in the front gate. The
+other is the latch-key belonging to the side door. Mrs. Shallybang has
+the key of the front door."
+
+"Thank you," said Thorndyke. He took the keys, to which a wooden label
+was attached, and we made our way back towards the house of mystery,
+discussing the clerk's statements as we went.
+
+"A very communicable young gentleman, that," Thorndyke remarked. "He
+seemed quite pleased to relieve the monotony of office work with a
+little conversation. And I am sure I was very delighted to indulge him."
+
+"He hadn't much to tell, all the same," said I.
+
+Thorndyke looked at me in surprise. "I don't know what you would have,
+Jervis, unless you expect casual strangers to present you with a
+ready-made body of evidence, fully classified, with all the inferences
+and implications stated. It seemed to me that he was a highly
+instructive young man."
+
+"What did you learn from him?" I asked.
+
+"Oh, come, Jervis," he protested; "is that a fair question, under our
+present arrangement? However, I will mention a few points. We learn that
+about six or seven months ago, Mr. H. Weiss dropped from the clouds into
+Kennington Lane and that he has now ascended from Kennington Lane into
+the clouds. That is a useful piece of information. Then we learn that
+Mrs. Schallibaum has remained in England; which might be of little
+importance if it were not for a very interesting corollary that it
+suggests."
+
+"What is that?"
+
+"I must leave you to consider the facts at your leisure; but you will
+have noticed the ostensible reason for her remaining behind. She is
+engaged in puttying up the one gaping joint in their armour. One of them
+has been indiscreet enough to give this address to some
+correspondent--probably a foreign correspondent. Now, as they obviously
+wish to leave no tracks, they cannot give their new address to the Post
+Office to have their letters forwarded, and, on the other hand, a letter
+left in the box might establish such a connection as would enable them
+to be traced. Moreover, the letter might be of a kind that they would
+not wish to fall into the wrong hands. They would not have given this
+address excepting under some peculiar circumstances."
+
+"No, I should think not, if they took this house for the express purpose
+of committing a crime in it."
+
+"Exactly. And then there is one other fact that you may have gathered
+from our young friend's remarks."
+
+"What is that?"
+
+"That a controllable squint is a very valuable asset to a person who
+wishes to avoid identification."
+
+"Yes, I did note that. The fellow seemed to think that it was absolutely
+conclusive."
+
+"And so would most people; especially in the case of a squint of that
+kind. We can all squint towards our noses, but no normal person can turn
+his eyes away from one another. My impression is that the presence or
+absence, as the case might be, of a divergent squint would be accepted
+as absolute disproof of identity. But here we are."
+
+He inserted the key into the wicket of the large gate, and, when we had
+stepped through into the covered way, he locked it from the inside.
+
+"Why have you locked us in?" I asked, seeing that the wicket had a
+latch.
+
+"Because," he replied, "if we now hear any one on the premises we shall
+know who it is. Only one person besides ourselves has a key."
+
+His reply startled me somewhat. I stopped and looked at him.
+
+"That is a quaint situation, Thorndyke. I hadn't thought of it. Why she
+may actually come to the house while we are here; in fact, she may be in
+the house at this moment."
+
+"I hope not," said he. "We don't particularly want Mr. Weiss to be put
+on his guard, for I take it, he is a pretty wide-awake gentleman under
+any circumstances. If she does come, we had better keep out of sight. I
+think we will look over the house first. That is of the most interest to
+us. If the lady does happen to come while we are here, she may stay to
+show us over the place and keep an eye on us. So we will leave the
+stables to the last."
+
+We walked down the entry to the side door at which I had been admitted
+by Mrs. Schallibaum on the occasion of my previous visits. Thorndyke
+inserted the latch-key, and, as soon as we were inside, shut the door
+and walked quickly through into the hall, whither I followed him. He
+made straight for the front door, where, having slipped up the catch of
+the lock, he began very attentively to examine the letter-box. It was a
+somewhat massive wooden box, fitted with a lock of good quality and
+furnished with a wire grille through which one could inspect the
+interior.
+
+"We are in luck, Jervis," Thorndyke remarked. "Our visit has been most
+happily timed. There is a letter in the box."
+
+"Well," I said, "we can't get it out; and if we could, it would be
+hardly justifiable."
+
+"I don't know," he replied, "that I am prepared to assent off-hand to
+either of those propositions; but I would rather not tamper with another
+person's letter, even if that person should happen to be a murderer.
+Perhaps we can get the information we want from the outside of the
+envelope."
+
+He produced from his pocket a little electric lamp fitted with a
+bull's-eye, and, pressing the button, threw a beam of light in through
+the grille. The letter was lying on the bottom of the box face upwards,
+so that the address could easily be read.
+
+"Herrn Dr. H. Weiss," Thorndyke read aloud. "German stamp, postmark
+apparently Darmstadt. You notice that the 'Herrn Dr.' is printed and the
+rest written. What do you make of that?"
+
+"I don't quite know. Do you think he is really a medical man?"
+
+"Perhaps we had better finish our investigation, in case we are
+disturbed, and discuss the bearings of the facts afterwards. The name of
+the sender may be on the flap of the envelope. If it is not, I shall
+pick the lock and take out the letter. Have you got a probe about you?"
+
+"Yes; by force of habit I am still carrying my pocket case."
+
+I took the little case from my pocket and extracting from it a jointed
+probe of thickish silver wire, screwed the two halves together and
+handed the completed instrument to Thorndyke; who passed the slender rod
+through the grille and adroitly turned the letter over.
+
+"Ha!" he exclaimed with deep satisfaction, as the light fell on the
+reverse of the envelope, "we are saved from the necessity of theft--or
+rather, unauthorized borrowing--'Johann Schnitzler, Darmstadt.' That is
+all that we actually want. The German police can do the rest if
+necessary."
+
+He handed me back my probe, pocketed his lamp, released the catch of the
+lock on the door, and turned away along the dark, musty-smelling hall.
+
+"Do you happen to know the name of Johann Schnitzler?" he asked.
+
+I replied that I had no recollection of ever having heard the name
+before.
+
+"Neither have I," said he; "but I think we may form a pretty shrewd
+guess as to his avocation. As you saw, the words 'Herrn Dr.' were
+printed on the envelope, leaving the rest of the address to be written
+by hand. The plain inference is that he is a person who habitually
+addresses letters to medical men, and as the style of the envelope and
+the lettering--which is printed, not embossed--is commercial, we may
+assume that he is engaged in some sort of trade. Now, what is a likely
+trade?"
+
+"He might be an instrument maker or a drug manufacturer; more probably
+the latter, as there is an extensive drug and chemical industry in
+Germany, and as Mr. Weiss seemed to have more use for drugs than
+instruments."
+
+"Yes, I think you are right; but we will look him up when we get home.
+And now we had better take a glance at the bedroom; that is, if you can
+remember which room it was."
+
+"It was on the first floor," said I, "and the door by which I entered
+was just at the head of the stairs."
+
+We ascended the two flights, and, as we reached the landing, I halted.
+
+"This was the door," I said, and was about to turn the handle when
+Thorndyke caught me by the arm.
+
+"One moment, Jervis," said he. "What do you make of this?"
+
+He pointed to a spot near the bottom of the door where, on close
+inspection, four good-sized screw-holes were distinguishable. They had
+been neatly stopped with putty and covered with knotting, and were so
+nearly the colour of the grained and varnished woodwork as to be hardly
+visible.
+
+"Evidently," I answered, "there has been a bolt there, though it seems a
+queer place to fix one."
+
+"Not at all," replied Thorndyke. "If you look up you will see that there
+was another at the top of the door, and, as the lock is in the middle,
+they must have been highly effective. But there are one or two other
+points that strike one. First, you will notice that the bolts have been
+fixed on quite recently, for the paint that they covered is of the same
+grimy tint as that on the rest of the door. Next, they have been taken
+off, which, seeing that they could hardly have been worth the trouble of
+removal, seems to suggest that the person who fixed them considered that
+their presence might appear remarkable, while the screw-holes, which
+have been so skilfully and carefully stopped, would be less conspicuous.
+
+"Then, they are on the outside of the door--an unusual situation for
+bedroom bolts--and were of considerable size. They were long and thick."
+
+"I can see, by the position of the screw-holes, that they were long; but
+how do you arrive at their thickness?"
+
+"By the size of the counter-holes in the jamb of the door. These holes
+have been very carefully filled with wooden plugs covered with knotting;
+but you can make out their diameter, which is that of the bolts, and
+which is decidedly out of proportion for an ordinary bedroom door. Let
+me show you a light."
+
+He flashed his lamp into the dark corner, and I was able to see
+distinctly the portentously large holes into which the bolts had fitted,
+and also to note the remarkable neatness with which they had been
+plugged.
+
+"There was a second door, I remember," said I. "Let us see if that was
+guarded in a similar manner."
+
+We strode through the empty room, awakening dismal echoes as we trod the
+bare boards, and flung open the other door. At top and bottom, similar
+groups of screw-holes showed that this also had been made secure, and
+that these bolts had been of the same very substantial character as the
+others.
+
+Thorndyke turned away from the door with a slight frown.
+
+"If we had any doubts," said he, "as to what has been going on in this
+house, these traces of massive fastenings would be almost enough to
+settle them."
+
+"They might have been there before Weiss came," I suggested. "He only
+came about seven months ago and there is no date on the screw-holes."
+
+"That is quite true. But when, with their recent fixture, you couple the
+facts that they have been removed, that very careful measures have been
+taken to obliterate the traces of their presence, and that they would
+have been indispensable for the commission of the crime that we are
+almost certain was being committed here, it looks like an excess of
+caution to seek other explanations."
+
+"But," I objected, "if the man, Graves, was really imprisoned, could not
+he have smashed the window and called for help?"
+
+"The window looks out on the yard, as you see; but I expect it was
+secured too."
+
+He drew the massive, old-fashioned shutters out of their recess and
+closed them.
+
+"Yes, here we are." He pointed to four groups of screw-holes at the
+corners of the shutters, and, once more producing his lamp, narrowly
+examined the insides of the recesses into which the shutters folded.
+
+"The nature of the fastening is quite evident," said he. "An iron bar
+passed right across at the top and bottom and was secured by a staple
+and padlock. You can see the mark the bar made in the recess when the
+shutters were folded. When these bars were fixed and padlocked and the
+bolts were shot, this room was as secure, for a prisoner unprovided with
+tools, as a cell in Newgate."
+
+We looked at one another for awhile without speaking; and I fancy that
+if Mr. H. Weiss could have seen our faces he might have thought it
+desirable to seek some retreat even more remote than Hamburg.
+
+"It was a diabolical affair, Jervis," Thorndyke said at length, in an
+ominously quiet and even gentle tone. "A sordid, callous, cold-blooded
+crime of a type that is to me utterly unforgivable and incapable of
+extenuation. Of course, it may have failed. Mr. Graves may even now be
+alive. I shall make it my very especial business to ascertain whether he
+is or not. And if he is not, I shall take it to myself as a sacred duty
+to lay my hand on the man who has compassed his death."
+
+I looked at Thorndyke with something akin to awe. In the quiet
+unemotional tone of his voice, in his unruffled manner and the stony
+calm of his face, there was something much more impressive, more
+fateful, than there could have been in the fiercest threats or the most
+passionate denunciations. I felt that in those softly spoken words he
+had pronounced the doom of the fugitive villain.
+
+He turned away from the window and glanced round the empty room. It
+seemed that our discovery of the fastenings had exhausted the
+information that it had to offer.
+
+"It is a thousand pities," I remarked, "that we were unable to look
+round before they moved out the furniture. We might have found some clue
+to the scoundrel's identity."
+
+"Yes," replied Thorndyke; "there isn't much information to be gathered
+here, I am afraid. I see they have swept up the small litter from the
+floor and poked it under the grate. We will turn that over, as there
+seems to be nothing else, and then look at the other rooms."
+
+He raked out the little heap of rubbish with his stick and spread it out
+on the hearth. It certainly looked unpromising enough, being just such a
+rubbish heap as may be swept up in any untidy room during a move. But
+Thorndyke went through it systematically, examining each item
+attentively, even to the local tradesmen's bills and empty paper bags,
+before laying them aside. Another rake of his stick scattered the bulky
+masses of crumpled paper and brought into view an object which he picked
+up with some eagerness. It was a portion of a pair of spectacles, which
+had apparently been trodden on, for the side-bar was twisted and bent
+and the glass was shattered into fragments.
+
+"This ought to give us a hint," said he. "It will probably have belonged
+either to Weiss or Graves, as Mrs. Schallibaum apparently did not wear
+glasses. Let us see if we can find the remainder."
+
+We both groped carefully with our sticks amongst the rubbish, spreading
+it out on the hearth and removing the numerous pieces of crumpled paper.
+Our search was rewarded by the discovery of the second eye-piece of the
+spectacles, of which the glass was badly cracked but less shattered than
+the other. I also picked up two tiny sticks at which Thorndyke looked
+with deep interest before laying them on the mantelshelf.
+
+"We will consider them presently," said he. "Let us finish with the
+spectacles first. You see that the left eye-glass is a concave
+cylindrical lens of some sort. We can make out that much from the
+fragments that remain, and we can measure the curvature when we get them
+home, although that will be easier if we can collect some more fragments
+and stick them together. The right eye is plain glass; that is quite
+evident. Then these will have belonged to your patient, Jervis. You said
+that the tremulous iris was in the right eye, I think?"
+
+"Yes," I replied. "These will be his spectacles, without doubt."
+
+"They are peculiar frames," he continued. "If they were made in this
+country, we might be able to discover the maker. But we must collect as
+many fragments of glass as we can."
+
+Once more we searched amongst the rubbish and succeeded, eventually, in
+recovering some seven or eight small fragments of the broken
+spectacle-glasses, which Thorndyke laid on the mantelshelf beside the
+little sticks.
+
+"By the way, Thorndyke," I said, taking up the latter to examine them
+afresh, "what are these things? Can you make anything of them?"
+
+He looked at them thoughtfully for a few moments and then replied:
+
+"I don't think I will tell you what they are. You should find that out
+for yourself, and it will be well worth your while to do so. They are
+rather suggestive objects under the circumstances. But notice their
+peculiarities carefully. Both are portions of some smooth, stout reed.
+There is a long, thin stick--about six inches long--and a thicker piece
+only three inches in length. The longer piece has a little scrap of red
+paper stuck on at the end; apparently a portion of a label of some kind
+with an ornamental border. The other end of the stick has been broken
+off. The shorter, stouter stick has had its central cavity artificially
+enlarged so that it fits over the other to form a cap or sheath. Make a
+careful note of those facts and try to think what they probably mean;
+what would be the most likely use for an object of this kind. When you
+have ascertained that, you will have learned something new about this
+case. And now, to resume our investigations. Here is a very suggestive
+thing." He picked up a small, wide-mouthed bottle and, holding it up for
+my inspection, continued: "Observe the fly sticking to the inside, and
+the name on the label, 'Fox, Russell Street, Covent Garden.'"
+
+"I don't know Mr. Fox."
+
+"Then I will inform you that he is a dealer in the materials for
+'make-up,' theatrical or otherwise, and will leave you to consider the
+bearing of this bottle on our present investigation. There doesn't seem
+to be anything else of interest in this El Dorado excepting that screw,
+which you notice is about the size of those with which the bolts were
+fastened on the doors. I don't think it is worth while to unstop any of
+the holes to try it; we should learn nothing fresh."
+
+He rose, and, having kicked the discarded rubbish back under the grate,
+gathered up his gleanings from the mantelpiece, carefully bestowing the
+spectacles and the fragments of glass in the tin box that he appeared
+always to carry in his pocket, and wrapping the larger objects in his
+handkerchief.
+
+"A poor collection," was his comment, as he returned the box and
+handkerchief to his pocket, "and yet not so poor as I had feared.
+Perhaps, if we question them closely enough, these unconsidered trifles
+may be made to tell us something worth learning after all. Shall we go
+into the other room?"
+
+We passed out on to the landing and into the front room, where, guided
+by experience, we made straight for the fire-place. But the little heap
+of rubbish there contained nothing that even Thorndyke's inquisitive eye
+could view with interest. We wandered disconsolately round the room,
+peering into the empty cupboards and scanning the floor and the corners
+by the skirting, without discovering a single object or relic of the
+late occupants. In the course of my perambulations I halted by the
+window and was looking down into the street when Thorndyke called to me
+sharply:
+
+"Come away from the window, Jervis! Have you forgotten that Mrs.
+Schallibaum may be in the neighbourhood at this moment?"
+
+As a matter of fact I had entirely forgotten the matter, nor did it now
+strike me as anything but the remotest of possibilities. I replied to
+that effect.
+
+"I don't agree with you," Thorndyke rejoined. "We have heard that she
+comes here to look for letters. Probably she comes every day, or even
+oftener. There is a good deal at stake, remember, and they cannot feel
+quite as secure as they would wish. Weiss must have seen what view you
+took of the case and must have had some uneasy moments thinking of what
+you might do. In fact, we may take it that the fear of you drove them
+out of the neighbourhood, and that they are mighty anxious to get that
+letter and cut the last link that binds them to this house."
+
+"I suppose that is so," I agreed; "and if the lady should happen to pass
+this way and should see me at the window and recognize me, she would
+certainly smell a rat."
+
+"A rat!" exclaimed Thorndyke. "She would smell a whole pack of foxes,
+and Mr. H. Weiss would be more on his guard than ever. Let us have a
+look at the other rooms; there is nothing here."
+
+We went up to the next floor and found traces of recent occupation in
+one room only. The garrets had evidently been unused, and the kitchen
+and ground-floor rooms offered nothing that appeared to Thorndyke worth
+noting. Then we went out by the side door and down the covered way into
+the yard at the back. The workshops were fastened with rusty padlocks
+that looked as if they had not been disturbed for months. The stables
+were empty and had been tentatively cleaned out, the coach-house was
+vacant, and presented no traces of recent use excepting a half-bald
+spoke-brush. We returned up the covered way and I was about to close the
+side door, which Thorndyke had left ajar, when he stopped me.
+
+"We'll have another look at the hall before we go," said he; and,
+walking softly before me, he made his way to the front door, where,
+producing his lamp, he threw a beam of light into the letter-box.
+
+"Any more letters?" I asked.
+
+"Any more!" he repeated. "Look for yourself."
+
+I stooped and peered through the grille into the lighted interior; and
+then I uttered an exclamation.
+
+The box was empty.
+
+Thorndyke regarded me with a grim smile. "We have been caught on the
+hop, Jervis, I suspect," said he.
+
+"It is queer," I replied. "I didn't hear any sound of the opening or
+closing of the door; did you?"
+
+"No; I didn't hear any sound; which makes me suspect that she did. She
+would have heard our voices and she is probably keeping a sharp look-out
+at this very moment. I wonder if she saw you at the window. But whether
+she did or not, we must go very warily. Neither of us must return to the
+Temple direct, and we had better separate when we have returned the keys
+and I will watch you out of sight and see if anyone is following you.
+What are you going to do?"
+
+"If you don't want me, I shall run over to Kensington and drop in to
+lunch at the Hornbys'. I said I would call as soon as I had an hour or
+so free."
+
+"Very well. Do so; and keep a look-out in case you are followed. I have
+to go down to Guildford this afternoon. Under the circumstances, I shall
+not go back home, but send Polton a telegram and take a train at
+Vauxhall and change at some small station where I can watch the
+platform. Be as careful as you can. Remember that what you have to
+avoid is being followed to any place where you are known, and, above
+all, revealing your connection with number Five A, King's Bench Walk."
+
+Having thus considered our immediate movements, we emerged together from
+the wicket, and locking it behind us, walked quickly to the
+house-agents', where an opportune office-boy received the keys without
+remark. As we came out of the office, I halted irresolutely and we both
+looked up and down the lane.
+
+"There is no suspicious looking person in sight at present," Thorndyke
+said, and then asked: "Which way do you think of going?"
+
+"It seems to me," I replied, "that my best plan would be to take a cab
+or an omnibus so as to get out of the neighbourhood as quickly as
+possible. If I go through Ravensden Street into Kennington Park Road, I
+can pick up an omnibus that will take me to the Mansion House, where I
+can change for Kensington. I shall go on the top so that I can keep a
+look-out for any other omnibus or cab that may be following."
+
+"Yes," said Thorndyke, "that seems a good plan. I will walk with you and
+see that you get a fair start."
+
+We walked briskly along the lane and through Ravensden Street to the
+Kennington Park Road. An omnibus was approaching from the south at a
+steady jog-trot and we halted at the corner to wait for it. Several
+people passed us in different directions, but none seemed to take any
+particular notice of us, though we observed them rather narrowly,
+especially the women. Then the omnibus crawled up. I sprang on the
+foot-board and ascended to the roof, where I seated myself and surveyed
+the prospect to the rear. No one else got on the omnibus--which had not
+stopped--and no cab or other passenger vehicle was in sight. I continued
+to watch Thorndyke as he stood sentinel at the corner, and noted that no
+one appeared to be making any effort to overtake the omnibus. Presently
+my colleague waved his hand to me and turned back towards Vauxhall, and
+I, having satisfied myself once more that no pursuing cab or hurrying
+foot-passenger was in sight, decided that our precautions had been
+unnecessary and settled myself in a rather more comfortable position.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter X
+
+The Hunter Hunted
+
+
+The omnibus of those days was a leisurely vehicle. Its ordinary pace was
+a rather sluggish trot, and in a thickly populated thoroughfare its
+speed was further reduced by frequent stoppages. Bearing these facts in
+mind, I gave an occasional backward glance as we jogged northward,
+though my attention soon began to wander from the rather remote
+possibility of pursuit to the incidents of our late exploration.
+
+It had not been difficult to see that Thorndyke was very well pleased
+with the results of our search, but excepting the letter--which
+undoubtedly opened up a channel for further inquiry and possible
+identification--I could not perceive that any of the traces that we had
+found justified his satisfaction. There were the spectacles, for
+instance. They were almost certainly the pair worn by Mr. Graves. But
+what then? It was exceedingly improbable that we should be able to
+discover the maker of them, and if we were, it was still more improbable
+that he would be able to give us any information that would help us.
+Spectacle-makers are not usually on confidential terms with their
+customers.
+
+As to the other objects, I could make nothing of them. The little sticks
+of reed evidently had some use that was known to Thorndyke and
+furnished, by inference, some kind of information about Weiss, Graves,
+or Mrs. Schallibaum. But I had never seen anything like them before and
+they conveyed nothing whatever to me. Then the bottle that had seemed so
+significant to Thorndyke was to me quite uninforming. It did, indeed,
+suggest that some member of the household might be connected with the
+stage, but it gave no hint as to which one. Certainly that person was
+not Mr. Weiss, whose appearance was as remote from that of an actor as
+could well be imagined. At any rate, the bottle and its label gave me no
+more useful hint than it might be worth while to call on Mr. Fox and
+make inquiries; and something told me very emphatically that this was
+not what it had conveyed to Thorndyke.
+
+These reflections occupied me until the omnibus, having rumbled over
+London Bridge and up King William Street, joined the converging streams
+of traffic at the Mansion House. Here I got down and changed to an
+omnibus bound for Kensington; on which I travelled westward pleasantly
+enough, looking down into the teeming streets and whiling away the time
+by meditating upon the very agreeable afternoon that I promised myself,
+and considering how far my new arrangement with Thorndyke would justify
+me in entering into certain domestic engagements of a highly interesting
+kind.
+
+What might have happened under other circumstances it is impossible to
+tell and useless to speculate; the fact is that my journey ended in a
+disappointment. I arrived, all agog, at the familiar house in Endsley
+Gardens only to be told by a sympathetic housemaid that the family was
+out; that Mrs. Hornby had gone into the country and would not be home
+until night, and--which mattered a good deal more to me--that her niece,
+Miss Juliet Gibson, had accompanied her.
+
+Now a man who drops into lunch without announcing his intention or
+previously ascertaining those of his friends has no right to quarrel
+with fate if he finds an empty house. Thus philosophically I reflected
+as I turned away from the house in profound discontent, demanding of the
+universe in general why Mrs. Hornby need have perversely chosen my first
+free day to go gadding into the country, and above all, why she must
+needs spirit away the fair Juliet. This was the crowning misfortune (for
+I could have endured the absence of the elder lady with commendable
+fortitude), and since I could not immediately return to the Temple it
+left me a mere waif and stray for the time being.
+
+Instinct--of the kind that manifests itself especially about one
+o'clock in the afternoon--impelled me in the direction of Brompton Road,
+and finally landed me at a table in a large restaurant apparently
+adjusted to the needs of ladies who had come from a distance to engage
+in the feminine sport of shopping. Here, while waiting for my lunch, I
+sat idly scanning the morning paper and wondering what I should do with
+the rest of the day; and presently it chanced that my eye caught the
+announcement of a matinee at the theatre in Sloane Square. It was quite
+a long time since I had been at a theatre, and, as the play--light
+comedy--seemed likely to satisfy my not very critical taste, I decided
+to devote the afternoon to reviving my acquaintance with the drama.
+Accordingly as soon as my lunch was finished, I walked down the Brompton
+Road, stepped on to an omnibus, and was duly deposited at the door of
+the theatre. A couple of minutes later I found myself occupying an
+excellent seat in the second row of the pit, oblivious alike of my
+recent disappointment and of Thorndyke's words of warning.
+
+I am not an enthusiastic play-goer. To dramatic performances I am
+disposed to assign nothing further than the modest function of
+furnishing entertainment. I do not go to a theatre to be instructed or
+to have my moral outlook elevated. But, by way of compensation, I am not
+difficult to please. To a simple play, adjusted to my primitive taste, I
+can bring a certain bucolic appreciation that enables me to extract from
+the performance the maximum of enjoyment; and when, on this occasion,
+the final curtain fell and the audience rose, I rescued my hat from its
+insecure resting-place and turned to go with the feeling that I had
+spent a highly agreeable afternoon.
+
+Emerging from the theatre, borne on the outgoing stream, I presently
+found myself opposite the door of a tea-shop. Instinct--the five o'clock
+instinct this time--guided me in; for we are creatures of habit,
+especially of the tea habit. The unoccupied table to which I drifted was
+in a shady corner not very far from the pay-desk; and here I had been
+seated less than a minute when a lady passed me on her way to the
+farther table. The glimpse that I caught of her as she approached--it
+was but a glimpse, since she passed behind me--showed that she was
+dressed in black, that she wore a beaded veil and hat, and in addition
+to the glass of milk and the bun that she carried, she was encumbered by
+an umbrella and a small basket, apparently containing some kind of
+needlework. I must confess that I gave her very little attention at the
+time, being occupied in anxious speculation as to how long it would be
+before the fact of my presence would impinge on the consciousness of the
+waitress.
+
+The exact time by the clock on the wall was three minutes and a quarter,
+at the expiration of which an anaemic young woman sauntered up to the
+table and bestowed on me a glance of sullen interrogation, as if mutely
+demanding what the devil I wanted. I humbly requested that I might be
+provided with a pot of tea; whereupon she turned on her heel (which was
+a good deal worn down on the offside) and reported my conduct to a lady
+behind a marble-topped counter.
+
+It seemed that the counter lady took a lenient view of the case, for in
+less than four minutes the waitress returned and gloomily deposited on
+the table before me a tea-pot, a milk-jug, a cup and saucer, a jug of
+hot water, and a small pool of milk. Then she once more departed in
+dudgeon.
+
+I had just given the tea in the pot a preliminary stir and was about to
+pour out the first cup when I felt some one bump lightly against my
+chair and heard something rattle on the floor. I turned quickly and
+perceived the lady, whom I had seen enter, stooping just behind my
+chair. It seemed that having finished her frugal meal she was on her way
+out when she had dropped the little basket that I had noticed hanging
+from her wrist; which basket had promptly disgorged its entire contents
+on the floor.
+
+Now every one must have noticed the demon of agility that seems to enter
+into an inanimate object when it is dropped, and the apparently
+intelligent malice with which it discovers, and rolls into, the most
+inaccessible places. Here was a case in point. This particular basket
+had contained materials for Oriental bead-work; and no sooner had it
+reached the floor than each item of its contents appeared to become
+possessed of a separate and particular devil impelling it to travel at
+headlong speed to some remote and unapproachable corner as distant as
+possible from its fellows.
+
+As the only man--and almost the only person--near, the duty of
+salvage-agent manifestly devolved upon me; and down I went, accordingly,
+on my hands and knees, regardless of a nearly new pair of trousers, to
+grope under tables, chairs and settles in reach of the scattered
+treasure. A ball of the thick thread or twine I recovered from a dark
+and dirty corner after a brief interview with the sharp corner of a
+settle, and a multitude of the large beads with which this infernal
+industry is carried on I gathered from all parts of the compass, coming
+forth at length (quadrupedally) with a double handful of the
+treasure-trove and a very lively appreciation of the resistant qualities
+of a cast-iron table-stand when applied to the human cranium.
+
+The owner of the lost and found property was greatly distressed by the
+accident and the trouble it had caused me; in fact she was quite
+needlessly agitated about it. The hand which held the basket into which
+I poured the rescued trash trembled visibly, and the brief glance that I
+bestowed on her as she murmured her thanks and apologies--with a very
+slight foreign accent--showed me that she was excessively pale. That
+much I could see plainly in spite of the rather dim light in this part
+of the shop and the beaded veil that covered her face; and I could also
+see that she was a rather remarkable looking woman, with a great mass of
+harsh, black hair and very broad black eyebrows that nearly met above
+her nose and contrasted strikingly with the dead white of her skin. But,
+of course, I did not look at her intently. Having returned her property
+and received her acknowledgments, I resumed my seat and left her to go
+on her way.
+
+I had once more grasped the handle of the tea-pot when I made a rather
+curious discovery. At the bottom of the tea-cup lay a single lump of
+sugar. To the majority of persons it would have meant nothing. They
+would have assumed that they had dropped it in and forgotten it and
+would have proceeded to pour out the tea. But it happened that, at this
+time, I did not take sugar in my tea; whence it followed that the lump
+had not been put in by me. Assuming, therefore, that it had been
+carelessly dropped in by the waitress, I turned it out on the table,
+filled the cup, added the milk, and took a tentative draught to test the
+temperature.
+
+The cup was yet at my lips when I chanced to look into the mirror that
+faced my table. Of course it reflected the part of the shop that was
+behind me, including the cashier's desk; at which the owner of the
+basket now stood paying for her refreshment. Between her and me was a
+gas chandelier which cast its light on my back but full on her face; and
+her veil notwithstanding, I could see that she was looking at me
+steadily; was, in fact, watching me intently and with a very curious
+expression--an expression of expectancy mingled with alarm. But this was
+not all. As I returned her intent look--which I could do unobserved,
+since my face, reflected in the mirror, was in deep shadow--I suddenly
+perceived that that steady gaze engaged her right eye only; the other
+eye was looking sharply towards her left shoulder. In short, she had a
+divergent squint of the left eye.
+
+I put down my cup with a thrill of amazement and a sudden surging up of
+suspicion and alarm. An instant's reflection reminded me that when she
+had spoken to me a few moments before, both her eyes had looked into
+mine without the slightest trace of a squint. My thoughts flew back to
+the lump of sugar, to the unguarded milk-jug and the draught of tea that
+I had already swallowed; and, hardly knowing what I intended, I started
+to my feet and turned to confront her. But as I rose, she snatched up
+her change and darted from the shop. Through the glass door, I saw her
+spring on to the foot-board of a passing hansom and give the driver some
+direction. I saw the man whip up his horse, and, by the time I reached
+the door, the cab was moving off swiftly towards Sloane Street.
+
+I stood irresolute. I had not paid and could not run out of the shop
+without making a fuss, and my hat and stick were still on the rail
+opposite my seat. The woman ought to be followed, but I had no fancy for
+the task. If the tea that I had swallowed was innocuous, no harm was
+done and I was rid of my pursuer. So far as I was concerned, the
+incident was closed. I went back to my seat, and picking up the lump of
+sugar which still lay on the table where I had dropped it, put it
+carefully in my pocket. But my appetite for tea was satisfied for the
+present. Moreover it was hardly advisable to stay in the shop lest some
+fresh spy should come to see how I fared. Accordingly I obtained my
+check, handed it in at the cashier's desk and took my departure.
+
+All this time, it will be observed, I had been taking it for granted
+that the lady in black had followed me from Kensington to this shop;
+that, in fact, she was none other than Mrs. Schallibaum. And, indeed,
+the circumstances had rendered the conclusion inevitable. In the very
+instant when I had perceived the displacement of the left eye, complete
+recognition had come upon me. When I had stood facing the woman, the
+brief glance at her face had conveyed to me something dimly reminiscent
+of which I had been but half conscious and had instantly forgotten. But
+the sight of that characteristic squint had at once revived and
+explained it. That the woman was Mrs. Schallibaum I now felt no doubt
+whatever.
+
+Nevertheless, the whole affair was profoundly mysterious. As to the
+change in the woman's appearance, there was little in that. The coarse,
+black hair might be her own, dyed, or it might be a wig. The eyebrows
+were made-up; it was a simple enough proceeding and made still more
+simple by the beaded veil. But how did she come to be there at all? How
+did she happen to be made-up in this fashion at this particular time?
+And, above all, how came she to be provided with a lump of what I had
+little doubt was poisoned sugar?
+
+I turned over the events of the day, and the more I considered them the
+less comprehensible they appeared. No one had followed the omnibus
+either on foot or in a vehicle, as far as I could see; and I had kept a
+careful look-out, not only at starting but for some considerable time
+after. Yet, all the time, Mrs. Schallibaum must have been following.
+But how? If she had known that I was intending to travel by the omnibus
+she might have gone to meet it and entered before I did. But she could
+not have known: and moreover she did not meet the omnibus, for we
+watched its approach from some considerable distance. I considered
+whether she might not have been concealed in the house and overheard me
+mention my destination to Thorndyke. But this failed to explain the
+mystery, since I had mentioned no address beyond "Kensington." I had,
+indeed, mentioned the name of Mrs. Hornby, but the supposition that my
+friends might be known by name to Mrs. Schallibaum, or even that she
+might have looked the name up in the directory, presented a probability
+too remote to be worth entertaining.
+
+But, if I reached no satisfactory conclusion, my cogitations had one
+useful effect; they occupied my mind to the exclusion of that
+unfortunate draught of tea. Not that I had been seriously uneasy after
+the first shock. The quantity that I had swallowed was not large--the
+tea being hotter than I cared for--and I remembered that, when I had
+thrown out the lump of sugar, I had turned the cup upside down on the
+table; so there could have been nothing solid left in it. And the lump
+of sugar was in itself reassuring, for it certainly would not have been
+used in conjunction with any less conspicuous but more incriminating
+form of poison. That lump of sugar was now in my pocket, reserved for
+careful examination at my leisure; and I reflected with a faint grin
+that it would be a little disconcerting if it should turn out to
+contain nothing but sugar after all.
+
+On leaving the tea-shop, I walked up Sloane Street with the intention of
+doing what I ought to have done earlier in the day. I was going to make
+perfectly sure that no spy was dogging my footsteps. But for my
+ridiculous confidence I could have done so quite easily before going to
+Endsley Gardens; and now, made wiser by a startling experience, I
+proceeded with systematic care. It was still broad daylight--for the
+lamps in the tea-shop had been rendered necessary only by the faulty
+construction of the premises and the dullness of the afternoon--and in
+an open space I could see far enough for complete safety. Arriving at
+the top of Sloane Street, I crossed Knightsbridge, and, entering Hyde
+Park, struck out towards the Serpentine. Passing along the eastern
+shore, I entered one of the long paths that lead towards the Marble Arch
+and strode along it at such a pace as would make it necessary for any
+pursuer to hurry in order to keep me in sight. Half-way across the great
+stretch of turf, I halted for a few moments and noted the few people who
+were coming in my direction. Then I turned sharply to the left and
+headed straight for the Victoria Gate, but again, half-way, I turned off
+among a clump of trees, and, standing behind the trunk of one of them,
+took a fresh survey of the people who were moving along the paths. All
+were at a considerable distance and none appeared to be coming my way.
+
+I now moved cautiously from one tree to another and passed through the
+wooded region to the south, crossed the Serpentine bridge at a rapid
+walk and hurrying along the south shore left the Park by Apsley House.
+From hence I walked at the same rapid pace along Piccadilly, insinuating
+myself among the crowd with the skill born of long acquaintance with the
+London streets, crossed amidst the seething traffic at the Circus,
+darted up Windmill Street and began to zigzag amongst the narrow streets
+and courts of Soho. Crossing the Seven Dials and Drury Lane I passed
+through the multitudinous back-streets and alleys that then filled the
+area south of Lincoln's Inn, came out by Newcastle Street, Holywell
+Street and Half-Moon Alley into the Strand, which I crossed immediately,
+ultimately entering the Temple by Devereux Court.
+
+Even then I did not relax my precautions. From one court to another I
+passed quickly, loitering in those dark entries and unexpected passages
+that are known to so few but the regular Templars, and coming out into
+the open only at the last where the wide passage of King's Bench Walk
+admits of no evasion. Half-way up the stairs, I stood for some time in
+the shadow, watching the approaches from the staircase window; and when,
+at length, I felt satisfied that I had taken every precaution that was
+possible, I inserted my key and let myself into our chambers.
+
+Thorndyke had already arrived, and, as I entered, he rose to greet me
+with an expression of evident relief.
+
+"I am glad to see you, Jervis," he said. "I have been rather anxious
+about you."
+
+"Why?" I asked.
+
+"For several reasons. One is that you are the sole danger that threatens
+these people--as far as they know. Another is that we made a most
+ridiculous mistake. We overlooked a fact that ought to have struck us
+instantly. But how have you fared?"
+
+"Better than I deserved. That good lady stuck to me like a burr--at
+least I believe she did."
+
+"I have no doubt she did. We have been caught napping finely, Jervis."
+
+"How?"
+
+"We'll go into that presently. Let us hear about your adventures first."
+
+I gave him a full account of my movements from the time when we parted
+to that of my arrival home, omitting no incident that I was able to
+remember and, as far as I could, reconstituting my exceedingly devious
+homeward route.
+
+"Your retreat was masterly," he remarked with a broad smile. "I should
+think that it would have utterly defeated any pursuer; and the only pity
+is that it was probably wasted on the desert air. Your pursuer had by
+that time become a fugitive. But you were wise to take these
+precautions, for, of course, Weiss might have followed you."
+
+"But I thought he was in Hamburg?"
+
+"Did you? You are a very confiding young gentleman, for a budding
+medical jurist. Of course we don't know that he is not; but the fact
+that he has given Hamburg as his present whereabouts establishes a
+strong presumption that he is somewhere else. I only hope that he has
+not located you, and, from what you tell me of your later methods, I
+fancy that you would have shaken him off even if he had started to
+follow you from the tea-shop."
+
+"I hope so too. But how did that woman manage to stick to me in that
+way? What was the mistake we made?"
+
+Thorndyke laughed grimly. "It was a perfectly asinine mistake, Jervis.
+You started up Kennington Park Road on a leisurely, jog-trotting
+omnibus, and neither you nor I remembered what there is underneath
+Kennington Park Road."
+
+"Underneath!" I exclaimed, completely puzzled for the moment. Then,
+suddenly realizing what he meant, "Of course!" I exclaimed. "Idiot that
+I am! You mean the electric railway?"
+
+"Yes. That explains everything. Mrs. Schallibaum must have watched us
+from some shop and quietly followed us up the lane. There were a good
+many women about and several were walking in our direction. There was
+nothing to distinguish her from the others unless you had recognized
+her, which you would hardly have been able to do if she had worn a veil
+and kept at a fair distance. At least I think not."
+
+"No," I agreed, "I certainly should not. I had only seen her in a
+half-dark room. In outdoor clothes and with a veil, I should never have
+been able to identify her without very close inspection. Besides there
+was the disguise or make-up."
+
+"Not at that time. She would hardly come disguised to her own house,
+for it might have led to her being challenged and asked who she was. I
+think we may take it that there was no actual disguise, although she
+would probably wear a shady hat and a veil; which would have prevented
+either of us from picking her out from the other women in the street."
+
+"And what do you think happened next?"
+
+"I think that she simply walked past us--probably on the other side of
+the road--as we stood waiting for the omnibus, and turned up Kennington
+Park Road. She probably guessed that we were waiting for the omnibus and
+walked up the road in the direction in which it was going. Presently the
+omnibus would pass her, and there were you in full view on top keeping a
+vigilant look-out in the wrong direction. Then she would quicken her
+pace a little and in a minute or two would arrive at the Kennington
+Station of the South London Railway. In a minute or two more she would
+be in one of the electric trains whirling along under the street on
+which your omnibus was crawling. She would get out at the Borough
+Station, or she might take a more risky chance and go on to the
+Monument; but in any case she would wait for your omnibus, hail it and
+get inside. I suppose you took up some passengers on the way?"
+
+"Oh dear, yes. We were stopping every two or three minutes to take up or
+set down passengers; and most of them were women."
+
+"Very well; then we may take it that when you arrived at the Mansion
+House, Mrs. Schallibaum was one of your inside passengers. It was a
+rather quaint situation, I think."
+
+"Yes, confound her! What a couple of noodles she must have thought us!"
+
+"No doubt. And that is the one consoling feature in the case. She will
+have taken us for a pair of absolute greenhorns. But to continue. Of
+course she travelled in your omnibus to Kensington--you ought to have
+gone inside on both occasions, so that you could see every one who
+entered and examine the inside passengers; she will have followed you to
+Endsley Gardens and probably noted the house you went to. Thence she
+will have followed you to the restaurant and may even have lunched
+there."
+
+"It is quite possible," said I. "There were two rooms and they were
+filled principally with women."
+
+"Then she will have followed you to Sloane Street, and, as you persisted
+in riding outside, she could easily take an inside place in your
+omnibus. As to the theatre, she must have taken it as a veritable gift
+of the gods; an arrangement made by you for her special convenience."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"My dear fellow! consider. She had only to follow you in and see you
+safely into your seat and there you were, left till called for. She
+could then go home, make up for her part; draw out a plan of action,
+with the help, perhaps, of Mr. Weiss, provide herself with the necessary
+means and appliances and, at the appointed time, call and collect you."
+
+"That is assuming a good deal," I objected. "It is assuming, for
+instance, that she lives within a moderate distance of Sloane Square.
+Otherwise it would have been impossible."
+
+"Exactly. That is why I assume it. You don't suppose that she goes about
+habitually with lumps of prepared sugar in her pocket. And if not, then
+she must have got that lump from somewhere. Then the beads suggest a
+carefully prepared plan, and, as I said just now, she can hardly have
+been made-up when she met us in Kennington Lane. From all of which it
+seems likely that her present abode is not very far from Sloane Square."
+
+"At any rate," said I, "it was taking a considerable risk. I might have
+left the theatre before she came back."
+
+"Yes," Thorndyke agreed. "But it is like a woman to take chances. A man
+would probably have stuck to you when once he had got you off your
+guard. But she was ready to take chances. She chanced the railway, and
+it came off; she chanced your remaining in the theatre, and that came
+off too. She calculated on the probability of your getting tea when you
+came out, and she hit it off again. And then she took one chance too
+many; she assumed that you probably took sugar in your tea, and she was
+wrong."
+
+"We are taking it for granted that the sugar was prepared," I remarked.
+
+"Yes. Our explanation is entirely hypothetical and may be entirely
+wrong. But it all hangs together, and if we find any poisonous matter in
+the sugar, it will be reasonable to assume that we are right. The sugar
+is the Experimentum Crucis. If you will hand it over to me, we will go
+up to the laboratory and make a preliminary test or two."
+
+I took the lump of sugar from my pocket and gave it to him, and he
+carried it to the gas-burner, by the light of which he examined it with
+a lens.
+
+"I don't see any foreign crystals on the surface," said he; "but we had
+better make a solution and go to work systematically. If it contains any
+poison we may assume that it will be some alkaloid, though I will test
+for arsenic too. But a man of Weiss's type would almost certainly use an
+alkaloid, on account of its smaller bulk and more ready solubility. You
+ought not to have carried this loose in your pocket. For legal purposes
+that would seriously interfere with its value as evidence. Bodies that
+are suspected of containing poison should be carefully isolated and
+preserved from contact with anything that might lead to doubt in the
+analysis. It doesn't matter much to us, as this analysis is only for our
+own information and we can satisfy ourselves as to the state of your
+pocket. But bear the rule in mind another time."
+
+We now ascended to the laboratory, where Thorndyke proceeded at once to
+dissolve the lump of sugar in a measured quantity of distilled water by
+the aid of gentle heat.
+
+"Before we add any acid," said he, "or introduce any fresh matter, we
+will adopt the simple preliminary measure of tasting the solution. The
+sugar is a disturbing factor, but some of the alkaloids and most
+mineral poisons excepting arsenic have a very characteristic taste."
+
+He dipped a glass rod in the warm solution and applied it gingerly to
+his tongue.
+
+"Ha!" he exclaimed, as he carefully wiped his mouth with his
+handkerchief, "simple methods are often very valuable. There isn't much
+doubt as to what is in that sugar. Let me recommend my learned brother
+to try the flavour. But be careful. A little of this will go a long
+way."
+
+He took a fresh rod from the rack, and, dipping it in the solution,
+handed it to me. I cautiously applied it to the tip of my tongue and was
+immediately aware of a peculiar tingling sensation accompanied by a
+feeling of numbness.
+
+"Well," said Thorndyke; "what is it?"
+
+"Aconite," I replied without hesitation.
+
+"Yes," he agreed; "aconite it is, or more probably aconitine. And that,
+I think, gives us all the information we want. We need not trouble now
+to make a complete analysis, though I shall have a quantitative
+examination made later. You note the intensity of the taste and you see
+what the strength of the solution is. Evidently that lump of sugar
+contained a very large dose of the poison. If the sugar had been
+dissolved in your tea, the quantity that you drank would have contained
+enough aconitine to lay you out within a few minutes; which would
+account for Mrs. Schallibaum's anxiety to get clear of the premises. She
+saw you drink from the cup, but I imagine she had not seen you turn the
+sugar out."
+
+"No, I should say not, to judge by her expression. She looked
+terrified. She is not as hardened as her rascally companion."
+
+"Which is fortunate for you, Jervis. If she had not been in such a
+fluster, she would have waited until you had poured out your tea, which
+was what she probably meant to do, or have dropped the sugar into the
+milk-jug. In either case you would have got a poisonous dose before you
+noticed anything amiss."
+
+"They are a pretty pair, Thorndyke," I exclaimed. "A human life seems to
+be no more to them than the life of a fly or a beetle."
+
+"No; that is so. They are typical poisoners of the worst kind; of the
+intelligent, cautious, resourceful kind. They are a standing menace to
+society. As long as they are at large, human lives are in danger, and it
+is our business to see that they do not remain at large a moment longer
+than is unavoidable. And that brings us to another point. You had better
+keep indoors for the next few days."
+
+"Oh, nonsense," I protested. "I can take care of myself."
+
+"I won't dispute that," said Thorndyke, "although I might. But the
+matter is of vital importance and we can't be too careful. Yours is the
+only evidence that could convict these people. They know that and will
+stick at nothing to get rid of you--for by this time they will almost
+certainly have ascertained that the tea-shop plan has failed. Now your
+life is of some value to you and to another person whom I could mention;
+but apart from that, you are the indispensable instrument for ridding
+society of these dangerous vermin. Moreover, if you were seen abroad and
+connected with these chambers, they would get the information that their
+case was really being investigated in a businesslike manner. If Weiss
+has not already left the country he would do so immediately, and if he
+has, Mrs. Schallibaum would join him at once, and we might never be able
+to lay hands on them. You must stay indoors, out of sight, and you had
+better write to Miss Gibson and ask her to warn the servants to give no
+information about you to anyone."
+
+"And how long," I asked, "am I to be held on parole?"
+
+"Not long, I think. We have a very promising start. If I have any luck,
+I shall be able to collect all the evidence I want in about a week. But
+there is an element of chance in some of it which prevents me from
+giving a date. And it is just possible that I may have started on a
+false track. But that I shall be able to tell you better in a day or
+two."
+
+"And I suppose," I said gloomily, "I shall be out of the hunt
+altogether?"
+
+"Not at all," he replied. "You have got the Blackmore case to attend to.
+I shall hand you over all the documents and get you to make an orderly
+digest of the evidence. You will then have all the facts and can work
+out the case for yourself. Also I shall ask you to help Polton in some
+little operations which are designed to throw light into dark places and
+which you will find both entertaining and instructive."
+
+"Supposing Mrs. Hornby should propose to call and take tea with us in
+the gardens?" I suggested.
+
+"And bring Miss Gibson with her?" Thorndyke added dryly. "No, Jervis, it
+would never do. You must make that quite clear to her. It is more
+probable than not that Mrs. Schallibaum made a careful note of the house
+in Endsley Gardens, and as that would be the one place actually known to
+her, she and Weiss--if he is in England--would almost certainly keep a
+watch on it. If they should succeed in connecting that house with these
+chambers, a few inquiries would show them the exact state of the case.
+No; we must keep them in the dark if we possibly can. We have shown too
+much of our hand already. It is hard on you, but it cannot be helped."
+
+"Oh, don't think I am complaining," I exclaimed. "If it is a matter of
+business, I am as keen as you are. I thought at first that you were
+merely considering the safety of my vile body. When shall I start on my
+job?"
+
+"To-morrow morning. I shall give you my notes on the Blackmore case and
+the copies of the will and the depositions, from which you had better
+draw up a digest of the evidence with remarks as to the conclusions that
+it suggests. Then there are our gleanings from New Inn to be looked over
+and considered; and with regard to this case, we have the fragments of a
+pair of spectacles which had better be put together into a rather more
+intelligible form in case we have to produce them in evidence. That will
+keep you occupied for a day or two, together with some work
+appertaining to other cases. And now let us dismiss professional topics.
+You have not dined and neither have I, but I dare say Polton has made
+arrangements for some sort of meal. We will go down and see."
+
+We descended to the lower floor, where Thorndyke's anticipations were
+justified by a neatly laid table to which Polton was giving the
+finishing touches.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XI
+
+The Blackmore Case Reviewed
+
+
+One of the conditions of medical practice is the capability of
+transferring one's attention at a moment's notice from one set of
+circumstances to another equally important but entirely unrelated. At
+each visit on his round, the practitioner finds himself concerned with a
+particular, self-contained group of phenomena which he must consider at
+the moment with the utmost concentration, but which he must instantly
+dismiss from his mind as he moves on to the next case. It is a difficult
+habit to acquire; for an important, distressing or obscure case is apt
+to take possession of the consciousness and hinder the exercise of
+attention that succeeding cases demand; but experience shows the faculty
+to be indispensable, and the practitioner learns in time to forget
+everything but the patient with whose condition he is occupied at the
+moment.
+
+My first morning's work on the Blackmore case showed me that the same
+faculty is demanded in legal practice; and it also showed me that I had
+yet to acquire it. For, as I looked over the depositions and the copy of
+the will, memories of the mysterious house in Kennington Lane
+continually intruded into my reflections, and the figure of Mrs.
+Schallibaum, white-faced, terrified, expectant, haunted me continually.
+
+In truth, my interest in the Blackmore case was little more than
+academic, whereas in the Kennington case I was one of the parties and
+was personally concerned. To me, John Blackmore was but a name, Jeffrey
+but a shadowy figure to which I could assign no definite personality,
+and Stephen himself but a casual stranger. Mr. Graves, on the other
+hand, was a real person. I had seen him amidst the tragic circumstances
+that had probably heralded his death, and had brought away with me, not
+only a lively recollection of him, but a feeling of profound pity and
+concern as to his fate. The villain Weiss, too, and the terrible woman
+who aided, abetted and, perhaps, even directed him, lived in my memory
+as vivid and dreadful realities. Although I had uttered no hint to
+Thorndyke, I lamented inwardly that I had not been given some work--if
+there was any to do--connected with this case, in which I was so deeply
+interested, rather than with the dry, purely legal and utterly
+bewildering case of Jeffrey Blackmore's will.
+
+Nevertheless, I stuck loyally to my task. I read through the depositions
+and the will--without getting a single glimmer of fresh light on the
+case--and I made a careful digest of all the facts. I compared my
+digest with Thorndyke's notes--of which I also made a copy--and found
+that, brief as they were, they contained several matters that I had
+overlooked. I also drew up a brief account of our visit to New Inn, with
+a list of the objects that we had observed or collected. And then I
+addressed myself to the second part of my task, the statement of my
+conclusions from the facts set forth.
+
+It was only when I came to make the attempt that I realized how
+completely I was at sea. In spite of Thorndyke's recommendation to study
+Marchmont's statement as it was summarized in those notes which I had
+copied, and of his hint that I should find in that statement something
+highly significant, I was borne irresistibly to one conclusion, and one
+only--and the wrong one at that, as I suspected: that Jeffrey
+Blackmore's will was a perfectly regular, sound and valid document.
+
+I tried to attack the validity of the will from various directions, and
+failed every time. As to its genuineness, that was obviously not in
+question. There seemed to me only two conceivable respects in which any
+objection could be raised, viz. the competency of Jeffrey to execute a
+will and the possibility of undue influence having been brought to bear
+on him.
+
+With reference to the first, there was the undoubted fact that Jeffrey
+was addicted to the opium habit, and this might, under some
+circumstances, interfere with a testator's competency to make a will.
+But had any such circumstances existed in this case? Had the drug habit
+produced such mental changes in the deceased as would destroy or weaken
+his judgment? There was not a particle of evidence in favour of any such
+belief. Up to the very end he had managed his own affairs, and, if his
+habits of life had undergone a change, they were still the habits of a
+perfectly sane and responsible man.
+
+The question of undue influence was more difficult. If it applied to any
+person in particular, that person could be none other than John
+Blackmore. Now it was an undoubted fact that, of all Jeffrey's
+acquaintance, his brother John was the only one who knew that he was in
+residence at New Inn. Moreover John had visited him there more than
+once. It was therefore possible that influence might have been brought
+to bear on the deceased. But there was no evidence that it had. The fact
+that the deceased man's only brother should be the one person who knew
+where he was living was not a remarkable one, and it had been
+satisfactorily explained by the necessity of Jeffrey's finding a
+reference on applying for the chambers. And against the theory of undue
+influence was the fact that the testator had voluntarily brought his
+will to the lodge and executed it in the presence of entirely
+disinterested witnesses.
+
+In the end I had to give up the problem in despair, and, abandoning the
+documents, turned my attention to the facts elicited by our visit to New
+Inn.
+
+What had we learned from our exploration? It was clear that Thorndyke
+had picked up some facts that had appeared to him important. But
+important in what respect? The only possible issue that could be raised
+was the validity or otherwise of Jeffrey Blackmore's will; and since the
+validity of that will was supported by positive evidence of the most
+incontestable kind, it seemed that nothing that we had observed could
+have any real bearing on the case at all.
+
+But this, of course, could not be. Thorndyke was no dreamer nor was he
+addicted to wild speculation. If the facts observed by us seemed to him
+to be relevant to the case, I was prepared to assume that they were
+relevant, although I could not see their connection with it. And, on
+this assumption, I proceeded to examine them afresh.
+
+Now, whatever Thorndyke might have observed on his own account, I had
+brought away from the dead man's chambers only a single fact; and a very
+extraordinary fact it was. The cuneiform inscription was upside down.
+That was the sum of the evidence that I had collected; and the question
+was, What did it prove? To Thorndyke it conveyed some deep significance.
+What could that significance be?
+
+The inverted position was not a mere temporary accident, as it might
+have been if the frame had been stood on a shelf or support. It was hung
+on the wall, and the plates screwed on the frame showed that its
+position was permanent and that it had never hung in any other. That it
+could have been hung up by Jeffrey himself was clearly inconceivable.
+But allowing that it had been fixed in its present position by some
+workman when the new tenant moved in, the fact remained that there it
+had hung, presumably for months, and that Jeffrey Blackmore, with his
+expert knowledge of the cuneiform character, had never noticed that it
+was upside down; or, if he had noticed it, that he had never taken the
+trouble to have it altered.
+
+What could this mean? If he had noticed the error but had not troubled
+to correct it, that would point to a very singular state of mind, an
+inertness and indifference remarkable even in an opium-smoker. But
+assuming such a state of mind, I could not see that it had any bearing
+on the will, excepting that it was rather inconsistent with the tendency
+to make fussy and needless alterations which the testator had actually
+shown. On the other hand, if he had not noticed the inverted position of
+the photograph he must have been nearly blind or quite idiotic; for the
+photograph was over two feet long and the characters large enough to be
+read easily by a person of ordinary eyesight at a distance of forty or
+fifty feet. Now he obviously was not in a state of dementia, whereas his
+eyesight was admittedly bad; and it seemed to me that the only
+conclusion deducible from the photograph was that it furnished a measure
+of the badness of the deceased man's vision--that it proved him to have
+been verging on total blindness.
+
+But there was nothing startling new in this. He had, himself, declared
+that he was fast losing his sight. And again, what was the bearing of
+his partial blindness on the will? A totally blind man cannot draw up
+his will at all. But if he has eyesight sufficient to enable him to
+write out and sign a will, mere defective vision will not lead him to
+muddle the provisions. Yet something of this kind seemed to be in
+Thorndyke's mind, for now I recalled the question that he had put to the
+porter: "When you read the will over in Mr. Blackmore's presence, did
+you read it aloud?" That question could have but one significance. It
+implied a doubt as to whether the testator was fully aware of the exact
+nature of the document that he was signing. Yet, if he was able to write
+and sign it, surely he was able also to read it through, to say nothing
+of the fact that, unless he was demented, he must have remembered what
+he had written.
+
+Thus, once more, my reasoning only led me into a blind alley at the end
+of which was the will, regular and valid and fulfilling all the
+requirements that the law imposed. Once again I had to confess myself
+beaten and in full agreement with Mr. Marchmont that "there was no
+case"; that "there was nothing in dispute." Nevertheless, I carefully
+fixed in the pocket file that Thorndyke had given me the copy that I had
+made of his notes, together with the notes on our visit to New Inn, and
+the few and unsatisfactory conclusions at which I had arrived; and this
+brought me to the end of my first morning in my new capacity.
+
+"And how," Thorndyke asked as we sat at lunch, "has my learned friend
+progressed? Does he propose that we advise Mr. Marchmont to enter a
+caveat?"
+
+"I've read all the documents and boiled all the evidence down to a stiff
+jelly; and I am in a worse fog than ever."
+
+"There seems to be a slight mixture of metaphors in my learned friend's
+remarks. But never mind the fog, Jervis. There is a certain virtue in
+fog. It serves, like a picture frame, to surround the essential with a
+neutral zone that separates it from the irrelevant."
+
+"That is a very profound observation, Thorndyke," I remarked ironically.
+
+"I was just thinking so myself," he rejoined.
+
+"And if you could contrive to explain what it means--"
+
+"Oh, but that is unreasonable. When one throws off a subtly philosophic
+obiter dictum one looks to the discerning critic to supply the meaning.
+By the way, I am going to introduce you to the gentle art of photography
+this afternoon. I am getting the loan of all the cheques that were drawn
+by Jeffrey Blackmore during his residence at New Inn--there are only
+twenty-three of them, all told--and I am going to photograph them."
+
+"I shouldn't have thought the bank people would have let them go out of
+their possession."
+
+"They are not going to. One of the partners, a Mr. Britton, is bringing
+them here himself and will be present while the photographs are being
+taken; so they will not go out of his custody. But, all the same, it is
+a great concession, and I should not have obtained it but for the fact
+that I have done a good deal of work for the bank and that Mr. Britton
+is more or less a personal friend."
+
+"By the way, how comes it that the cheques are at the bank? Why were
+they not returned to Jeffrey with the pass-book in the usual way?"
+
+"I understand from Britton," replied Thorndyke, "that all Jeffrey's
+cheques were retained by the bank at his request. When he was travelling
+he used to leave his investment securities and other valuable documents
+in his bankers' custody, and, as he has never applied to have them
+returned, the bankers still have them and are retaining them until the
+will is proved, when they will, of course, hand over everything to the
+executors."
+
+"What is the object of photographing these cheques?" I asked.
+
+"There are several objects. First, since a good photograph is
+practically as good as the original, when we have the photographs we
+practically have the cheques for reference. Then, since a photograph can
+be duplicated indefinitely, it is possible to perform experiments on it
+which involve its destruction; which would, of course, be impossible in
+the case of original cheques."
+
+"But the ultimate object, I mean. What are you going to prove?"
+
+"You are incorrigible, Jervis," he exclaimed. "How should I know what I
+am going to prove? This is an investigation. If I knew the result
+beforehand, I shouldn't want to perform the experiment."
+
+He looked at his watch, and, as we rose from the table, he said:
+
+"If we have finished, we had better go up to the laboratory and see that
+the apparatus is ready. Mr. Britton is a busy man, and, as he is doing
+us a great service, we mustn't keep him waiting when he comes."
+
+We ascended to the laboratory, where Polton was already busy inspecting
+the massively built copying camera which--with the long, steel guides on
+which the easel or copy-holder travelled--took up the whole length of
+the room on the side opposite to that occupied by the chemical bench. As
+I was to be inducted into the photographic art, I looked at it with more
+attention than I had ever done before.
+
+"We've made some improvements since you were here last, sir," said
+Polton, who was delicately lubricating the steel guides. "We've fitted
+these steel runners instead of the blackleaded wooden ones that we used
+to have. And we've made two scales instead of one. Hallo! That's the
+downstairs bell. Shall I go sir?"
+
+"Perhaps you'd better," said Thorndyke. "It may not be Mr. Britton, and
+I don't want to be caught and delayed just now."
+
+However, it was Mr. Britton; a breezy alert-looking middle-aged man, who
+came in escorted by Polton and shook our hands cordially, having been
+previously warned of my presence. He carried a small but solid hand-bag,
+to which he clung tenaciously up to the very moment when its contents
+were required for use.
+
+"So that is the camera," said he, running an inquisitive eye over the
+instrument. "Very fine one, too; I am a bit of a photographer myself.
+What is that graduation on the side-bar?"
+
+"Those are the scales," replied Thorndyke, "that shows the degree of
+magnification or reduction. The pointer is fixed to the easel and
+travels with it, of course, showing the exact size of the photograph.
+When the pointer is opposite 0 the photograph will be identical in size
+with the object photographed; when it points to, say, x 6, the
+photograph will be six times as long as the object, or magnified
+thirty-six times superficially, whereas if the pointer is at / 6, the
+photograph will be a sixth of the length of the object, or one
+thirty-sixth superficial."
+
+"Why are there two scales?" Mr. Britton asked.
+
+"There is a separate scale for each of the two lenses that we
+principally use. For great magnification or reduction a lens of
+comparatively short focus must be used, but, as a long-focus lens gives
+a more perfect image, we use one of very long focus--thirty-six
+inches--for copying the same size or for slight magnification or
+reduction."
+
+"Are you going to magnify these cheques?" Mr. Britton asked.
+
+"Not in the first place," replied Thorndyke. "For convenience and speed
+I am going to photograph them half-size, so that six cheques will go on
+one whole plate. Afterwards we can enlarge from the negatives as much as
+we like. But we should probably enlarge only the signatures in any
+case."
+
+The precious bag was now opened and the twenty-three cheques brought out
+and laid on the bench in a consecutive series in the order of their
+dates. They were then fixed by tapes--to avoid making pin-holes in
+them--in batches of six to small drawing boards, each batch being so
+arranged that the signatures were towards the middle. The first board
+was clamped to the easel, the latter was slid along its guides until
+the pointer stood at / 2 on the long-focus scale and Thorndyke proceeded
+to focus the camera with the aid of a little microscope that Polton had
+made for the purpose. When Mr. Britton and I had inspected the
+exquisitely sharp image on the focusing-screen through the microscope,
+Polton introduced the plate and made the first exposure, carrying the
+dark-slide off to develop the plate while the next batch of cheques was
+being fixed in position.
+
+In his photographic technique, as in everything else, Polton followed as
+closely as he could the methods of his principal and instructor; methods
+characterized by that unhurried precision that leads to perfect
+accomplishment. When the first negative was brought forth, dripping,
+from the dark-room, it was without spot or stain, scratch or pin-hole;
+uniform in colour and of exactly the required density. The six cheques
+shown on it--ridiculously small in appearance, though only reduced to
+half-length--looked as clear and sharp as fine etchings; though, to be
+sure, my opportunity for examining them was rather limited, for Polton
+was uncommonly careful to keep the wet plate out of reach and so safe
+from injury.
+
+"Well," said Mr. Britton, when, at the end of the seance, he returned
+his treasures to the bag, "you have now got twenty-three of our cheques,
+to all intents and purposes. I hope you are not going to make any
+unlawful use of them--must tell our cashiers to keep a bright look-out;
+and"--here he lowered his voice impressively and addressed himself to
+me and Polton--"you understand that this is a private matter between Dr.
+Thorndyke and me. Of course, as Mr. Blackmore is dead, there is no
+reason why his cheques should not be photographed for legal purposes;
+but we don't want it talked about; nor, I think, does Dr. Thorndyke."
+
+"Certainly not," Thorndyke agreed emphatically; "but you need not be
+uneasy, Mr. Britton. We are very uncommunicative people in this
+establishment."
+
+As my colleague and I escorted our visitor down the stairs, he returned
+to the subject of the cheques.
+
+"I don't understand what you want them for," he remarked. "There is no
+question turning on signatures in the case of Blackmore deceased, is
+there?"
+
+"I should say not," Thorndyke replied rather evasively.
+
+"I should say very decidedly not," said Mr. Britton, "if I understood
+Marchmont aright. And, even if there were, let me tell you, these
+signatures that you have got wouldn't help you. I have looked them over
+very closely--and I have seen a few signatures in my time, you know.
+Marchmont asked me to glance over them as a matter of form, but I don't
+believe in matters of form; I examined them very carefully. There is an
+appreciable amount of variation; a very appreciable amount. <i>But</i> under
+the variation one can trace the personal character (which is what
+matters); the subtle, indescribable quality that makes it recognizable
+to the expert eye as Jeffrey Blackmore's writing. You understand me.
+There is such a quality, which remains when the coarser characteristics
+vary; just as a man may grow old, or fat, or bald, or may take to drink,
+and become quite changed; and yet, through it all, he preserves a
+certain something which makes him recognizable as a member of a
+particular family. Well, I find that quality in all those signatures,
+and so will you, if you have had enough experience of handwriting. I
+thought it best to mention it in case you might be giving yourself
+unnecessary trouble."
+
+"It is very good of you," said Thorndyke, "and I need not say that the
+information is of great value, coming from such a highly expert source.
+As a matter of fact, your hint will be of great value to me."
+
+He shook hands with Mr. Britton, and, as the latter disappeared down the
+stairs, he turned into the sitting-room and remarked:
+
+"There is a very weighty and significant observation, Jervis. I advise
+you to consider it attentively in all its bearings."
+
+"You mean the fact that these signatures are undoubtedly genuine?"
+
+"I meant, rather, the very interesting general truth that is contained
+in Britton's statement; that physiognomy is not a mere matter of facial
+character. A man carries his personal trademark, not in his face only,
+but in his nervous system and muscles--giving rise to characteristic
+movements and gait; in his larynx--producing an individual voice; and
+even in his mouth, as shown by individual peculiarities of speech and
+accent. And the individual nervous system, by means of these
+characteristic movements, transfers its peculiarities to inanimate
+objects that are the products of such movements; as we see in pictures,
+in carving, in musical execution and in handwriting. No one has ever
+painted quite like Reynolds or Romney; no one has ever played exactly
+like Liszt or Paganini; the pictures or the sounds produced by them,
+were, so to speak, an extension of the physiognomy of the artist. And so
+with handwriting. A particular specimen is the product of a particular
+set of motor centres in an individual brain."
+
+"These are very interesting considerations, Thorndyke," I remarked; "but
+I don't quite see their present application. Do you mean them to bear in
+any special way on the Blackmore case?"
+
+"I think they do bear on it very directly. I thought so while Mr.
+Britton was making his very illuminating remarks."
+
+"I don't see how. In fact I cannot see why you are going into the
+question of the signatures at all. The signature on the will is
+admittedly genuine, and that seems to me to dispose of the whole
+affair."
+
+"My dear Jervis," said he, "you and Marchmont are allowing yourselves to
+be obsessed by a particular fact--a very striking and weighty fact, I
+will admit, but still, only an isolated fact. Jeffrey Blackmore executed
+his will in a regular manner, complying with all the necessary
+formalities and conditions. In the face of that single circumstance you
+and Marchmont would 'chuck up the sponge,' as the old pugilists
+expressed it. Now that is a great mistake. You should never allow
+yourself to be bullied and browbeaten by a single fact."
+
+"But, my dear Thorndyke!" I protested, "this fact seems to be final. It
+covers all possibilities---unless you can suggest any other that would
+cancel it."
+
+"I could suggest a dozen," he replied. "Let us take an instance.
+Supposing Jeffrey executed this will for a wager; that he immediately
+revoked it and made a fresh will, that he placed the latter in the
+custody of some person and that that person has suppressed it."
+
+"Surely you do not make this suggestion seriously!" I exclaimed.
+
+"Certainly I do not," he replied with a smile. "I merely give it as an
+instance to show that your final and absolute fact is really only
+conditional on there being no other fact that cancels it."
+
+"Do you think he might have made a third will?"
+
+"It is obviously possible. A man who makes two wills may make three or
+more; but I may say that I see no present reason for assuming the
+existence of another will. What I want to impress on you is the
+necessity of considering all the facts instead of bumping heavily
+against the most conspicuous one and forgetting all the rest. By the
+way, here is a little problem for you. What was the object of which
+these are the parts?"
+
+He pushed across the table a little cardboard box, having first removed
+the lid. In it were a number of very small pieces of broken glass, some
+of which had been cemented together by their edges.
+
+"These, I suppose," said I, looking with considerable curiosity at the
+little collection, "are the pieces of glass that we picked up in poor
+Blackmore's bedroom?"
+
+"Yes. You see that Polton has been endeavouring to reconstitute the
+object, whatever it was; but he has not been very successful, for the
+fragments were too small and irregular and the collection too
+incomplete. However, here is a specimen, built up of six small pieces,
+which exhibits the general character of the object fairly well."
+
+He picked out the little irregularly shaped object and handed it to me;
+and I could not but admire the neatness with which Polton had joined the
+tiny fragments together.
+
+I took the little "restoration," and, holding it up before my eyes,
+moved it to and fro as I looked through it at the window.
+
+"It was not a lens," I pronounced eventually.
+
+"No," Thorndyke agreed, "it was not a lens."
+
+"And so cannot have been a spectacle-glass. But the surface was
+curved--one side convex and the other concave--and the little piece that
+remains of the original edge seems to have been ground to fit a bezel or
+frame. I should say that these are portions of a watch-glass."
+
+"That is Polton's opinion," said Thorndyke, "and I think you are both
+wrong."
+
+"What do you say to the glass of a miniature or locket?"
+
+"That is rather more probable, but it is not my view."
+
+"What do you think it is?" I asked. But Thorndyke was not to be drawn.
+
+"I am submitting the problem for solution by my learned friend," he
+replied with an exasperating smile, and then added: "I don't say that
+you and Polton are wrong; only that I don't agree with you. Perhaps you
+had better make a note of the properties of this object, and consider it
+at your leisure when you are ruminating on the other data referring to
+the Blackmore case."
+
+"My ruminations," I said, "always lead me back to the same point."
+
+"But you mustn't let them," he replied. "Shuffle your data about. Invent
+hypotheses. Never mind if they seem rather wild. Don't put them aside on
+that account. Take the first hypothesis that you can invent and test it
+thoroughly with your facts. You will probably have to reject it, but you
+will be certain to have learned something new. Then try again with a
+fresh one. You remember what I told you of my methods when I began this
+branch of practice and had plenty of time on my hands?"
+
+"I am not sure that I do."
+
+"Well, I used to occupy my leisure in constructing imaginary cases,
+mostly criminal, for the purpose of study and for the acquirement of
+experience. For instance, I would devise an ingenious fraud and would
+plan it in detail, taking every precaution that I could think of against
+failure or detection, considering, and elaborately providing for, every
+imaginable contingency. For the time being, my entire attention was
+concentrated on it, making it as perfect and secure and undetectable as
+I could with the knowledge and ingenuity at my command. I behaved
+exactly as if I were proposing actually to carry it out, and my life or
+liberty depended on its success--excepting that I made full notes of
+every detail of the scheme. Then when my plans were as complete as I
+could make them, and I could think of no way in which to improve them, I
+changed sides and considered the case from the standpoint of detection.
+I analysed the case, I picked out its inherent and unavoidable
+weaknesses, and, especially, I noted the respects in which a fraudulent
+proceeding of a particular kind differed from the <i>bona fide</i> proceeding
+that it simulated. The exercise was invaluable to me. I acquired as much
+experience from those imaginary cases as I should from real ones, and in
+addition, I learned a method which is the one that I practise to this
+day."
+
+"Do you mean that you still invent imaginary cases as mental exercises?"
+
+"No; I mean that, when I have a problem of any intricacy, I invent a
+case which fits the facts and the assumed motives of one of the parties.
+Then I work at that case until I find whether it leads to elucidation or
+to some fundamental disagreement. In the latter case I reject it and
+begin the process over again."
+
+"Doesn't that method sometimes involve a good deal of wasted time and
+energy?" I asked.
+
+"No; because each time that you fail to establish a given case, you
+exclude a particular explanation of the facts and narrow down the field
+of inquiry. By repeating the process, you are bound, in the end, to
+arrive at an imaginary case which fits all the facts. Then your
+imaginary case is the real case and the problem is solved. Let me
+recommend you to give the method a trial."
+
+I promised to do so, though with no very lively expectations as to the
+result, and with this, the subject was allowed, for the present, to
+drop.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XII
+
+The Portrait
+
+
+The state of mind which Thorndyke had advised me to cultivate was one
+that did not come easily. However much I endeavoured to shuffle the
+facts of the Blackmore case, there was one which inevitably turned up on
+the top of the pack. The circumstances surrounding the execution of
+Jeffrey Blackmore's will intruded into all my cogitations on the subject
+with hopeless persistency. That scene in the porter's lodge was to me
+what King Charles's head was to poor Mr. Dick. In the midst of my
+praiseworthy efforts to construct some intelligible scheme of the case,
+it would make its appearance and reduce my mind to instant chaos.
+
+For the next few days, Thorndyke was very much occupied with one or two
+civil cases, which kept him in court during the whole of the sitting;
+and when he came home, he seemed indisposed to talk on professional
+topics. Meanwhile, Polton worked steadily at the photographs of the
+signatures, and, with a view to gaining experience, I assisted him and
+watched his methods.
+
+In the present case, the signatures were enlarged from their original
+dimensions--rather less than an inch and a half in length--to a length
+of four and a half inches; which rendered all the little peculiarities
+of the handwriting surprisingly distinct and conspicuous. Each signature
+was eventually mounted on a slip of card bearing a number and the date
+of the cheque from which it was taken, so that it was possible to place
+any two signatures together for comparison. I looked over the whole
+series and very carefully compared those which showed any differences,
+but without discovering anything more than might have been expected in
+view of Mr. Britton's statement. There were some trifling variations,
+but they were all very much alike, and no one could doubt, on looking at
+them, that they were all written by the same hand.
+
+As this, however, was apparently not in dispute, it furnished no new
+information. Thorndyke's object--for I felt certain that he had
+something definite in his mind--must be to test something apart from the
+genuineness of the signatures. But what could that something be? I dared
+not ask him, for questions of that kind were anathema, so there was
+nothing for it but to lie low and see what he would do with the
+photographs.
+
+The whole series was finished on the fourth morning after my adventure
+at Sloane Square, and the pack of cards was duly delivered by Polton
+when he brought in the breakfast tray. Thorndyke took up the pack
+somewhat with the air of a whist player, and, as he ran through them, I
+noticed that the number had increased from twenty-three to twenty-four.
+
+"The additional one," Thorndyke explained, "is the signature to the
+first will, which was in Marchmont's possession. I have added it to the
+collection as it carries us back to an earlier date. The signature of
+the second will presumably resembles those of the cheques drawn about
+the same date. But that is not material, or, if it should become so, we
+could claim to examine the second will."
+
+He laid the cards out on the table in the order of their dates and
+slowly ran his eye down the series. I watched him closely and ventured
+presently to ask:
+
+"Do you agree with Mr. Britton as to the general identity of character
+in the whole set of signatures?"
+
+"Yes," he replied. "I should certainly have put them down as being all
+the signatures of one person. The variations are very slight. The later
+signatures are a little stiffer, a little more shaky and indistinct, and
+the B's and k's are both appreciably different from those in the earlier
+ones. But there is another fact which emerges when the whole series is
+seen together, and it is so striking and significant a fact, that I am
+astonished at its not having been remarked on by Mr. Britton."
+
+"Indeed!" said I, stooping to examine the photographs with fresh
+interest; "what is that?"
+
+"It is a very simple fact and very obvious, but yet, as I have said,
+very significant. Look carefully at number one, which is the signature
+of the first will, dated three years ago, and compare it with number
+three, dated the eighteenth of September last year."
+
+"They look to me identical," said I, after a careful comparison.
+
+"So they do to me," said Thorndyke. "Neither of them shows the change
+that occurred later. But if you look at number two, dated the sixteenth
+of September, you will see that it is in the later style. So is number
+four, dated the twenty-third of September; but numbers five and six,
+both at the beginning of October, are in the earlier style, like the
+signature of the will. Thereafter all the signatures are in the new
+style; but, if you compare number two, dated the sixteenth of September
+with number twenty-four, dated the fourteenth of March of this year--the
+day of Jeffrey's death--you see that they exhibit no difference. Both
+are in the 'later style,' but the last shows no greater change than the
+first. Don't you consider these facts very striking and significant?"
+
+I reflected a few moments, trying to make out the deep significance to
+which Thorndyke was directing my attention--and not succeeding very
+triumphantly.
+
+"You mean," I said, "that the occasional reversions to the earlier form
+convey some material suggestion?"
+
+"Yes; but more than that. What we learn from an inspection of this
+series is this: that there was a change in the character of the
+signature; a very slight change, but quite recognizable. Now that change
+was not gradual or insidious nor was it progressive. It occurred at a
+certain definite time. At first there were one or two reversions to the
+earlier form, but after number six the new style continued to the end;
+and you notice that it continued without any increase in the change and
+without any variation. There are no intermediate forms. Some of the
+signatures are in the 'old style' and some in the 'new,' but there are
+none that are half and half. So that, to repeat: We have here two types
+of signature, very much alike, but distinguishable. They alternate, but
+do not merge into one another to produce intermediate forms. The change
+occurs abruptly, but shows no tendency to increase as time goes on; it
+is not a progressive change. What do you make of that, Jervis?"
+
+"It is very remarkable," I said, poring over the cards to verify
+Thorndyke's statements. "I don't quite know what to make of it. If the
+circumstances admitted of the idea of forgery, one would suspect the
+genuineness of some of the signatures. But they don't--at any rate, in
+the case of the later will, to say nothing of Mr. Britton's opinion on
+the signatures."
+
+"Still," said Thorndyke, "there must be some explanation of the change
+in the character of the signatures, and that explanation cannot be the
+failing eyesight of the writer; for that is a gradually progressive and
+continuous condition, whereas the change in the writing is abrupt and
+intermittent."
+
+I considered Thorndyke's remark for a few moments; and then a
+light--though not a very brilliant one--seemed to break on me.
+
+"I think I see what you are driving at," said I. "You mean that the
+change in the writing must be associated with some new condition
+affecting the writer, and that that condition existed intermittently?"
+
+Thorndyke nodded approvingly, and I continued:
+
+"The only intermittent condition that we know of is the effect of opium.
+So that we might consider the clearer signatures to have been made when
+Jeffrey was in his normal state, and the less distinct ones after a bout
+of opium-smoking."
+
+"That is perfectly sound reasoning," said Thorndyke. "What further
+conclusion does it lead to?"
+
+"It suggests that the opium habit had been only recently acquired, since
+the change was noticed only about the time he went to live at New Inn;
+and, since the change in the writing is at first intermittent and then
+continuous, we may infer that the opium-smoking was at first occasional
+and later became a a confirmed habit."
+
+"Quite a reasonable conclusion and very clearly stated," said Thorndyke.
+"I don't say that I entirely agree with you, or that you have exhausted
+the information that these signatures offer. But you have started in the
+right direction."
+
+"I may be on the right road," I said gloomily; "but I am stuck fast in
+one place and I see no chance of getting any farther."
+
+"But you have a quantity of data," said Thorndyke. "You have all the
+facts that I had to start with, from which I constructed the hypothesis
+that I am now busily engaged in verifying. I have a few more data now,
+for 'as money makes money' so knowledge begets knowledge, and I put my
+original capital out to interest. Shall we tabulate the facts that are
+in our joint possession and see what they suggest?"
+
+I grasped eagerly at the offer, though I had conned over my notes again
+and again.
+
+Thorndyke produced a slip of paper from a drawer, and, uncapping his
+fountain-pen, proceeded to write down the leading facts, reading each
+aloud as soon as it was written.
+
+"1. The second will was unnecessary since it contained no new matter,
+expressed no new intentions and met no new conditions, and the first
+will was quite clear and efficient.
+
+"2. The evident intention of the testator was to leave the bulk of his
+property to Stephen Blackmore.
+
+"3. The second will did not, under existing circumstances, give effect
+to this intention, whereas the first will did.
+
+"4. The signature of the second will differs slightly from that of the
+first, and also from what had hitherto been the testator's ordinary
+signature.
+
+"And now we come to a very curious group of dates, which I will advise
+you to consider with great attention.
+
+"5. Mrs. Wilson made her will at the beginning of September last year,
+without acquainting Jeffrey Blackmore, who seems to have been unaware of
+the existence of this will.
+
+"6. His own second will was dated the twelfth of November of last year.
+
+"7. Mrs. Wilson died of cancer on the twelfth of March this present
+year.
+
+"8. Jeffrey Blackmore was last seen alive on the fourteenth of March.
+
+"9. His body was discovered on the fifteenth of March.
+
+"10. The change in the character of his signature began about September
+last year and became permanent after the middle of October.
+
+"You will find that collection of facts repay careful study, Jervis,
+especially when considered in relation to the further data:
+
+"11. That we found in Blackmore's chambers a framed inscription of large
+size, hung upside down, together with what appeared to be the remains of
+a watch-glass and a box of stearine candles and some other objects."
+
+He passed the paper to me and I pored over it intently, focusing my
+attention on the various items with all the power of my will. But,
+struggle as I would, no general conclusion could be made to emerge from
+the mass of apparently disconnected facts.
+
+"Well?" Thorndyke said presently, after watching with grave interest my
+unavailing efforts; "what do you make of it?"
+
+"Nothing!" I exclaimed desperately, slapping the paper down on the
+table. "Of course, I can see that there are some queer coincidences. But
+how do they bear on the case? I understand that you want to upset this
+will; which we know to have been signed without compulsion or even
+suggestion in the presence of two respectable men, who have sworn to the
+identity of the document. That is your object, I believe?"
+
+"Certainly it is."
+
+"Then I am hanged if I see how you are going to do it. Not, I should
+say, by offering a group of vague coincidences that would muddle any
+brain but your own."
+
+Thorndyke chuckled softly but pursued the subject no farther.
+
+"Put that paper in your file with your other notes," he said, "and think
+it over at your leisure. And now I want a little help from you. Have you
+a good memory for faces?"
+
+"Fairly good, I think. Why?"
+
+"Because I have a photograph of a man whom I think you may have met.
+Just look at it and tell me if you remember the face."
+
+He drew a cabinet size photograph from an envelope that had come by the
+morning's post and handed it to me.
+
+"I have certainly seen this face somewhere," said I, taking the portrait
+over to the window to examine it more thoroughly, "but I can't, at the
+moment, remember where."
+
+"Try," said Thorndyke. "If you have seen the face before, you should be
+able to recall the person."
+
+I looked intently at the photograph, and the more I looked, the more
+familiar did the face appear. Suddenly the identity of the man flashed
+into my mind and I exclaimed in astonishment:
+
+"It can't be that poor creature at Kennington, Mr. Graves?"
+
+"I think it can," replied Thorndyke, "and I think it is. But could you
+swear to the identity in a court of law?"
+
+"It is my firm conviction that the photograph is that of Mr. Graves. I
+would swear to that."
+
+"No man ought to swear to more," said Thorndyke. "Identification is
+always a matter of opinion or belief. The man who will swear
+unconditionally to identity from memory only is a man whose evidence
+should be discredited. I think your sworn testimony would be
+sufficient."
+
+It is needless to say that the production of this photograph filled me
+with amazement and curiosity as to how Thorndyke had obtained it. But,
+as he replaced it impassively in its envelope without volunteering any
+explanation, I felt that I could not question him directly.
+Nevertheless, I ventured to approach the subject in an indirect manner.
+
+"Did you get any information from those Darmstadt people?" I asked.
+
+"Schnitzler? Yes. I learned, through the medium of an official
+acquaintance, that Dr. H. Weiss was a stranger to them; that they knew
+nothing about him excepting that he had ordered from them, and been
+supplied with, a hundred grammes of pure hydrochlorate of morphine."
+
+"All at once?"
+
+"No. In separate parcels of twenty-five grammes each."
+
+"Is that all you know about Weiss?"
+
+"It is all that I actually know; but it is not all that I suspect--on
+very substantial grounds. By the way, what did you think of the
+coachman?"
+
+"I don't know that I thought very much about him. Why?"
+
+"You never suspected that he and Weiss were one and the same person?"
+
+"No. How could they be? They weren't in the least alike. And one was a
+Scotchman and the other a German. But perhaps you know that they were
+the same?"
+
+"I only know what you have told me. But considering that you never saw
+them together, that the coachman was never available for messages or
+assistance when Weiss was with you; that Weiss always made his
+appearance some time after you arrived, and disappeared some time before
+you left; it has seemed to me that they might have been the same
+person."
+
+"I should say it was impossible. They were so very different in
+appearance. But supposing that they were the same; would the fact be of
+any importance?"
+
+"It would mean that we could save ourselves the trouble of looking for
+the coachman. And it would suggest some inferences, which will occur to
+you if you think the matter over. But being only a speculative opinion,
+at present, it would not be safe to infer very much from it."
+
+"You have rather taken me by surprise," I remarked. "It seems that you
+have been working at this Kennington case, and working pretty actively I
+imagine, whereas I supposed that your entire attention was taken up by
+the Blackmore affair."
+
+"It doesn't do," he replied, "to allow one's entire attention to be
+taken up by any one case. I have half a dozen others--minor cases,
+mostly--to which I am attending at this moment. Did you think I was
+proposing to keep you under lock and key indefinitely?"
+
+"Well, no. But I thought the Kennington case would have to wait its
+turn. And I had no idea that you were in possession of enough facts to
+enable you to get any farther with it."
+
+"But you knew all the very striking facts of the case, and you saw the
+further evidence that we extracted from the empty house."
+
+"Do you mean those things that we picked out from the rubbish under the
+grate?"
+
+"Yes. You saw those curious little pieces of reed and the pair of
+spectacles. They are lying in the top drawer of that cabinet at this
+moment, and I should recommend you to have another look at them. To me
+they are most instructive. The pieces of reed offered an extremely
+valuable suggestion, and the spectacles enabled me to test that
+suggestion and turn it into actual information."
+
+"Unfortunately," said I, "the pieces of reed convey nothing to me. I
+don't know what they are or of what they have formed a part."
+
+"I think," he replied, "that if you examine them with due consideration,
+you will find their use pretty obvious. Have a good look at them and the
+spectacles too. Think over all that you know of that mysterious group of
+people who lived in that house, and see if you cannot form some coherent
+theory of their actions. Think, also, if we have not some information in
+our possession by which we might be able to identify some of them, and
+infer the identity of the others. You will have a quiet day, as I shall
+not be home until the evening; set yourself this task. I assure you that
+you have the material for identifying--or rather for testing the
+identity of--at least one of those persons. Go over your material
+systematically, and let me know in the evening what further
+investigations you would propose."
+
+"Very well," said I. "It shall be done according to your word. I will
+addle my brain afresh with the affair of Mr. Weiss and his patient, and
+let the Blackmore case rip."
+
+"There is no need to do that. You have a whole day before you. An hour's
+really close consideration of the Kennington case ought to show you what
+your next move should be, and then you could devote yourself to the
+consideration of Jeffrey Blackmore's will."
+
+With this final piece of advice, Thorndyke collected the papers for his
+day's work, and, having deposited them in his brief bag, took his
+departure, leaving me to my meditations.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XIII
+
+The Statement of Samuel Wilkins
+
+
+As soon as I was alone, I commenced my investigations with a rather
+desperate hope of eliciting some startling and unsuspected facts. I
+opened the drawer and taking from it the two pieces of reed and the
+shattered remains of the spectacles, laid them on the table. The repairs
+that Thorndyke had contemplated in the case of the spectacles, had not
+been made. Apparently they had not been necessary. The battered wreck
+that lay before me, just as we had found it, had evidently furnished the
+necessary information; for, since Thorndyke was in possession of a
+portrait of Mr. Graves, it was clear that he had succeeded in
+identifying him so far as to get into communication with some one who
+had known him intimately.
+
+The circumstance should have been encouraging. But somehow it was not.
+What was possible to Thorndyke was, theoretically, possible to me--or to
+anyone else. But the possibility did not realize itself in practice.
+There was the personal equation. Thorndyke's brain was not an ordinary
+brain. Facts of which his mind instantly perceived the relation remained
+to other people unconnected and without meaning. His powers of
+observation and rapid inference were almost incredible, as I had noticed
+again and again, and always with undiminished wonder. He seemed to take
+in everything at a single glance and in an instant to appreciate the
+meaning of everything that he had seen.
+
+Here was a case in point. I had myself seen all that he had seen, and,
+indeed, much more; for I had looked on the very people and witnessed
+their actions, whereas he had never set eyes on any of them. I had
+examined the little handful of rubbish that he had gathered up so
+carefully, and would have flung it back under the grate without a qualm.
+Not a glimmer of light had I perceived in the cloud of mystery, nor even
+a hint of the direction in which to seek enlightenment. And yet
+Thorndyke had, in some incomprehensible manner, contrived to piece
+together facts that I had probably not even observed, and that so
+completely that he had already, in these few days, narrowed down the
+field of inquiry to quite a small area.
+
+From these reflections I returned to the objects on the table. The
+spectacles, as things of which I had some expert knowledge, were not so
+profound a mystery to me. A pair of spectacles might easily afford good
+evidence for identification; that I perceived clearly enough. Not a
+ready-made pair, picked up casually at a shop, but a pair constructed by
+a skilled optician to remedy a particular defect of vision and to fit a
+particular face. And such were the spectacles before me. The build of
+the frames was peculiar; the existence of a cylindrical lens--which I
+could easily make out from the remaining fragments--showed that one
+glass had been cut to a prescribed shape and almost certainly ground to
+a particular formula, and also that the distance between centres must
+have been carefully secured. Hence these spectacles had an individual
+character. But it was manifestly impossible to inquire of all the
+spectacle-makers in Europe--for the glasses were not necessarily made in
+England. As confirmation the spectacles might be valuable; as a
+starting-point they were of no use at all.
+
+From the spectacles I turned to the pieces of reed. These were what had
+given Thorndyke his start. Would they give me a leading hint too? I
+looked at them and wondered what it was that they had told Thorndyke.
+The little fragment of the red paper label had a dark-brown or thin
+black border ornamented with a fret-pattern, and on it I detected a
+couple of tiny points of gold like the dust from leaf-gilding. But I
+learned nothing from that. Then the shorter piece of reed was
+artificially hollowed to fit on the longer piece. Apparently it formed a
+protective sheath or cap. But what did it protect? Presumably a point or
+edge of some kind. Could this be a pocket-knife of any sort, such as a
+small stencil-knife? No; the material was too fragile for a
+knife-handle. It could not be an etching-needle for the same reason; and
+it was not a surgical appliance--at least it was not like any surgical
+instrument that was known to me.
+
+I turned it over and over and cudgelled my brains; and then I had a
+brilliant idea. Was it a reed pen of which the point had been broken
+off? I knew that reed pens were still in use by draughtsmen of
+decorative leanings with an affection for the "fat line." Could any of
+our friends be draughtsmen? This seemed the most probable solution of
+the difficulty, and the more I thought about it the more likely it
+seemed. Draughtsmen usually sign their work intelligibly, and even when
+they use a device instead of a signature their identity is easily
+traceable. Could it be that Mr. Graves, for instance, was an
+illustrator, and that Thorndyke had established his identity by looking
+through the works of all the well-known thick-line draughtsmen?
+
+This problem occupied me for the rest of the day. My explanation did not
+seem quite to fit Thorndyke's description of his methods; but I could
+think of no other. I turned it over during my solitary lunch; I
+meditated on it with the aid of several pipes in the afternoon; and
+having refreshed my brain with a cup of tea, I went forth to walk in the
+Temple gardens--which I was permitted to do without breaking my
+parole--to think it out afresh.
+
+The result was disappointing. I was basing my reasoning on the
+assumption that the pieces of reed were parts of a particular appliance,
+appertaining to a particular craft; whereas they might be the remains of
+something quite different, appertaining to a totally different craft or
+to no craft at all. And in no case did they point to any known
+individual or indicate any but the vaguest kind of search. After pacing
+the pleasant walks for upwards of two hours, I at length turned back
+towards our chambers, where I arrived as the lamp-lighter was just
+finishing his round.
+
+My fruitless speculations had left me somewhat irritable. The lighted
+windows that I had noticed as I approached had given me the impression
+that Thorndyke had returned. I had intended to press him for a little
+further information. When, therefore, I let myself into our chambers and
+found, instead of my colleague, a total stranger--and only a back view
+at that--I was disappointed and annoyed.
+
+The stranger was seated by the table, reading a large document that
+looked like a lease. He made no movement when I entered, but when I
+crossed the room and wished him "Good evening," he half rose and bowed
+silently. It was then that I first saw his face, and a mighty start he
+gave me. For one moment I actually thought he was Mr. Weiss, so close
+was the resemblance, but immediately I perceived that he was a much
+smaller man.
+
+I sat down nearly opposite and stole an occasional furtive glance at
+him. The resemblance to Weiss was really remarkable. The same flaxen
+hair, the same ragged beard and a similar red nose, with the patches of
+<i>acne rosacea</i> spreading to the adjacent cheeks. He wore spectacles,
+too, through which he took a quick glance at me now and again, returning
+immediately to his document.
+
+After some moments of rather embarrassing silence, I ventured to remark
+that it was a mild evening; to which he assented with a sort of Scotch
+"Hm--hm" and nodded slowly. Then came another interval of silence,
+during which I speculated on the possibility of his being a relative of
+Mr. Weiss and wondered what the deuce he was doing in our chambers.
+
+"Have you an appointment with Dr. Thorndyke?" I asked, at length.
+
+He bowed solemnly, and by way of reply--in the affirmative, as I
+assumed--emitted another "hm--hm."
+
+I looked at him sharply, a little nettled by his lack of manners;
+whereupon he opened out the lease so that it screened his face, and as I
+glanced at the back of the document, I was astonished to observe that it
+was shaking rapidly.
+
+The fellow was actually laughing! What he found in my simple question to
+cause him so much amusement I was totally unable to imagine. But there
+it was. The tremulous movements of the document left me in no possible
+doubt that he was for some reason convulsed with laughter.
+
+It was extremely mysterious. Also, it was rather embarrassing. I took
+out my pocket file and began to look over my notes. Then the document
+was lowered and I was able to get another look at the stranger's face.
+He was really extraordinarily like Weiss. The shaggy eyebrows, throwing
+the eye-sockets into shadow, gave him, in conjunction with the
+spectacles, the same owlish, solemn expression that I had noticed in my
+Kennington acquaintance; and which, by the way, was singularly out of
+character with the frivolous behaviour that I had just witnessed.
+
+From time to time as I looked at him, he caught my eye and instantly
+averted his own, turning rather red. Apparently he was a shy, nervous
+man, which might account for his giggling; for I have noticed that shy
+or nervous people have a habit of smiling inopportunely and even
+giggling when embarrassed by meeting an over-steady eye. And it seemed
+my own eye had this disconcerting quality, for even as I looked at him,
+the document suddenly went up again and began to shake violently.
+
+I stood it for a minute or two, but, finding the situation intolerably
+embarrassing, I rose, and brusquely excusing myself, went up to the
+laboratory to look for Polton and inquire at what time Thorndyke was
+expected home. To my surprise, however, on entering, I discovered
+Thorndyke himself just finishing the mounting of a microscopical
+specimen.
+
+"Did you know that there is some one below waiting to see you?" I asked.
+
+"Is it anyone you know?" he inquired.
+
+"No," I answered. "It is a red-nosed, sniggering fool in spectacles. He
+has got a lease or a deed or some other sort of document which he has
+been using to play a sort of idiotic game of Peep-Bo! I couldn't stand
+him, so I came up here."
+
+Thorndyke laughed heartily at my description of his client.
+
+"What are you laughing at?" I asked sourly; at which he laughed yet more
+heartily and added to the aggravation by wiping his eyes.
+
+"Our friend seems to have put you out," he remarked.
+
+"He put me out literally. If I had stayed much longer I should have
+punched his head."
+
+"In that case," said Thorndyke, "I am glad you didn't stay. But come
+down and let me introduce you."
+
+"No, thank you. I've had enough of him for the present."
+
+"But I have a very special reason for wishing to introduce you. I think
+you will get some information from him that will interest you very much;
+and you needn't quarrel with a man for being of a cheerful disposition."
+
+"Cheerful be hanged!" I exclaimed. "I don't call a man cheerful because
+he behaves like a gibbering idiot."
+
+To this Thorndyke made no reply but a broad and appreciative smile, and
+we descended to the lower floor. As we entered the room, the stranger
+rose, and, glancing in an embarrassed way from one of us to the other,
+suddenly broke out into an undeniable snigger. I looked at him sternly,
+and Thorndyke, quite unmoved by his indecorous behaviour, said in a
+grave voice:
+
+"Let me introduce you, Jervis; though I think you have met this
+gentleman before."
+
+"I think not," I said stiffly.
+
+"Oh yes, you have, sir," interposed the stranger; and, as he spoke, I
+started; for the voice was uncommonly like the familiar voice of Polton.
+
+I looked at the speaker with sudden suspicion. And now I could see that
+the flaxen hair was a wig; that the beard had a decidedly artificial
+look, and that the eyes that beamed through the spectacles were
+remarkably like the eyes of our factotum. But the blotchy face, the
+bulbous nose and the shaggy, overhanging eyebrows were alien features
+that I could not reconcile with the personality of our refined and
+aristocratic-looking little assistant.
+
+"Is this a practical joke?" I asked.
+
+"No," replied Thorndyke; "it is a demonstration. When we were talking
+this morning it appeared to me that you did not realize the extent to
+which it is possible to conceal identity under suitable conditions of
+light. So I arranged, with Polton's rather reluctant assistance, to give
+you ocular evidence. The conditions are not favourable--which makes the
+demonstration more convincing. This is a very well-lighted room and
+Polton is a very poor actor; in spite of which it has been possible for
+you to sit opposite him for several minutes and look at him, I have no
+doubt, very attentively, without discovering his identity. If the room
+had been lighted only with a candle, and Polton had been equal to the
+task of supporting his make-up with an appropriate voice and manner, the
+deception would have been perfect."
+
+"I can see that he has a wig on, quite plainly," said I.
+
+"Yes; but you would not in a dimly lighted room. On the other hand, if
+Polton were to walk down Fleet Street at mid-day in this condition, the
+make-up would be conspicuously evident to any moderately observant
+passer-by. The secret of making up consists in a careful adjustment to
+the conditions of light and distance in which the make-up is to be seen.
+That in use on the stage would look ridiculous in an ordinary room; that
+which would serve in an artificially lighted room would look ridiculous
+out of doors by daylight."
+
+"Is any effective make-up possible out of doors in ordinary daylight?" I
+asked.
+
+"Oh, yes," replied Thorndyke. "But it must be on a totally different
+scale from that of the stage. A wig, and especially a beard or
+moustache, must be joined up at the edges with hair actually stuck on
+the skin with transparent cement and carefully trimmed with scissors.
+The same applies to eyebrows; and alterations in the colour of the skin
+must be carried out much more subtly. Polton's nose has been built up
+with a small covering of toupee-paste, the pimples on the cheeks
+produced with little particles of the same material; and the general
+tinting has been done with grease-paint with a very light scumble of
+powder colour to take off some of the shine. This would be possible in
+outdoor make-up, but it would have to be done with the greatest care and
+delicacy; in fact, with what the art-critics call 'reticence.' A very
+little make-up is sufficient and too much is fatal. You would be
+surprised to see how little paste is required to alter the shape of the
+nose and the entire character of the face."
+
+At this moment there came a loud knock at the door; a single, solid dab
+of the knocker which Polton seemed to recognize, for he ejaculated:
+
+"Good lord, sir! That'll be Wilkins, the cabman! I'd forgotten all
+about him. Whatever's to be done?"
+
+He stared at us in ludicrous horror for a moment or two, and then,
+snatching off his wig, beard and spectacles, poked them into a cupboard.
+But his appearance was now too much even for Thorndyke--who hastily got
+behind him--for he had now resumed his ordinary personality--but with a
+very material difference.
+
+"Oh, it's nothing to laugh at, sir," he exclaimed indignantly as I
+crammed my handkerchief into my mouth. "Somebody's got to let him in, or
+he'll go away."
+
+"Yes; and that won't do," said Thorndyke. "But don't worry, Polton. You
+can step into the office. I'll open the door."
+
+Polton's presence of mind, however, seemed to have entirely forsaken
+him, for he only hovered irresolutely in the wake of his principal. As
+the door opened, a thick and husky voice inquired:
+
+"Gent of the name of Polton live here?"
+
+"Yes, quite right," said Thorndyke. "Come in. Your name is Wilkins, I
+think?"
+
+"That's me, sir," said the voice; and in response to Thorndyke's
+invitation, a typical "growler" cabman of the old school, complete even
+to imbricated cape and dangling badge, stalked into the room, and
+glancing round with a mixture of embarrassment and defiance, suddenly
+fixed on Polton's nose a look of devouring curiosity.
+
+"Here you are, then," Polton remarked nervously.
+
+"Yus," replied the cabman in a slightly hostile tone. "Here I am. What
+am I wanted to do? And where's this here Mr. Polton?"
+
+"I am Mr. Polton," replied our abashed assistant.
+
+"Well, it's the other Mr. Polton what I want," said the cabman, with his
+eyes still riveted on the olfactory prominence.
+
+"There isn't any other Mr. Polton," our subordinate replied irritably.
+"I am the--er--person who spoke to you in the shelter."
+
+"Are you though?" said the manifestly incredulous cabby. "I shouldn't
+have thought it; but you ought to know. What do you want me to do?"
+
+"We want you," said Thorndyke, "to answer one or two questions. And the
+first one is, Are you a teetotaller?"
+
+The question being illustrated by the production of a decanter, the
+cabman's dignity relaxed somewhat.
+
+"I ain't bigoted," said he.
+
+"Then sit down and mix yourself a glass of grog. Soda or plain water?"
+
+"May as well have all the extries," replied the cabman, sitting down and
+grasping the decanter with the air of a man who means business. "Per'aps
+you wouldn't mind squirtin' out the soda, sir, bein' more used to it."
+
+While these preliminaries were being arranged, Polton silently slipped
+out of the room, and when our visitor had fortified himself with a gulp
+of the uncommonly stiff mixture, the examination began.
+
+"Your name, I think, is Wilkins?" said Thorndyke.
+
+"That's me, sir. Samuel Wilkins is my name."
+
+"And your occupation?"
+
+"Is a very tryin' one and not paid for as it deserves. I drives a cab,
+sir; a four-wheeled cab is what I drives; and a very poor job it is."
+
+"Do you happen to remember a very foggy day about a month ago?"
+
+"Do I not, sir! A regler sneezer that was! Wednesday, the fourteenth of
+March. I remember the date because my benefit society came down on me
+for arrears that morning."
+
+"Will you tell us what happened to you between six and seven in the
+evening of that day?"
+
+"I will, sir," replied the cabman, emptying his tumbler by way of
+bracing himself up for the effort. "A little before six I was waiting on
+the arrival side of the Great Northern Station, King's Cross, when I see
+a gentleman and a lady coming out. The gentleman he looks up and down
+and then he sees me and walks up to the cab and opens the door and helps
+the lady in. Then he says to me: 'Do you know New Inn?' he says. That's
+what he says to me what was born and brought up in White Horse Alley,
+Drury Lane.
+
+"'Get inside,' says I.
+
+"'Well,' says he, 'you drive in through the gate in Wych Street,' he
+says, as if he expected me to go in by Houghton Street and down the
+steps, 'and then,' he says, 'you drive nearly to the end and you'll see
+a house with a large brass plate at the corner of the doorway. That's
+where we want to be set down,' he says, and with that he nips in and
+pulls up the windows and off we goes.
+
+"It took us a full half-hour to get to New Inn through the fog, for I
+had to get down and lead the horse part of the way. As I drove in under
+the archway, I saw it was half-past six by the clock in the porter's
+lodge. I drove down nearly to the end of the inn and drew up opposite a
+house where there was a big brass plate by the doorway. It was number
+thirty-one. Then the gent crawls out and hands me five bob--two
+'arf-crowns--and then he helps the lady out, and away they waddles to
+the doorway and I see them start up the stairs very slow--regler
+Pilgrim's Progress. And that was the last I see of 'em."
+
+Thorndyke wrote down the cabman's statement verbatim together with his
+own questions, and then asked:
+
+"Can you give us any description of the gentleman?"
+
+"The gent," said Wilkins, was a very respectable-looking gent, though he
+did look as if he'd had a drop of something short, and small blame to
+him on a day like that. But he was all there, and he knew what was the
+proper fare for a foggy evening, which is more than some of 'em do. He
+was a elderly gent, about sixty, and he wore spectacles, but he didn't
+seem to be able to see much through 'em. He was a funny 'un to look at;
+as round in the back as a turtle and he walked with his head stuck
+forward like a goose."
+
+"What made you think he had been drinking?"
+
+"Well, he wasn't as steady as he might have been on his pins. But he
+wasn't drunk, you know. Only a bit wobbly on the plates."
+
+"And the lady; what was she like?"
+
+"I couldn't see much of her because her head was wrapped up in a sort of
+woollen veil. But I should say she wasn't a chicken. Might have been
+about the same age as the gent, but I couldn't swear to that. She seemed
+a trifle rickety on the pins too; in fact they were a rum-looking
+couple. I watched 'em tottering across the pavement and up the stairs,
+hanging on to each other, him peering through his blinkers and she
+trying to see through her veil, and I thought it was a jolly good job
+they'd got a nice sound cab and a steady driver to bring 'em safe home."
+
+"How was the lady dressed?"
+
+"Can't rightly say, not being a hexpert. Her head was done up in this
+here veil like a pudden in a cloth and she had a small hat on. She had a
+dark brown mantle with a fringe of beads round it and a black dress; and
+I noticed when she got into the cab at the station that one of her
+stockings looked like the bellows of a concertina. That's all I can tell
+you."
+
+Thorndyke wrote down the last answer, and, having read the entire
+statement aloud, handed the pen to our visitor.
+
+"If that is all correct," he said, "I will ask you to sign your name at
+the bottom."
+
+"Do you want me to swear a affidavy that it's all true?" asked Wilkins.
+
+"No, thank you," replied Thorndyke. "We may have to call you to give
+evidence in court, and then you'll be sworn; and you'll also be paid for
+your attendance. For the present I want you to keep your own counsel and
+say nothing to anybody about having been here. We have to make some
+other inquiries and we don't want the affair talked about."
+
+"I see, sir," said Wilkins, as he laboriously traced his signature at
+the foot of the statement; "you don't want the other parties for to ogle
+your lay. All right, sir; you can depend on me. I'm fly, I am."
+
+"Thank you, Wilkins," said Thorndyke. "And now what are we to give you
+for your trouble in coming here?"
+
+"I'll leave the fare to you, sir. You know what the information's worth;
+but I should think 'arf a thick-un wouldn't hurt you."
+
+Thorndyke laid on the table a couple of sovereigns, at the sight of
+which the cabman's eyes glistened.
+
+"We have your address, Wilkins," said he. "If we want you as a witness
+we shall let you know, and if not, there will be another two pounds for
+you at the end of a fortnight, provided you have not let this little
+interview leak out."
+
+Wilkins gathered up the spoils gleefully. "You can trust me, sir," said
+he, "for to keep my mouth shut. I knows which side my bread's buttered.
+Good night, gentlemen all."
+
+With this comprehensive salute he moved towards the door and let
+himself out.
+
+"Well, Jervis; what do you think of it?" Thorndyke asked, as the
+cabman's footsteps faded away in a creaky diminuendo.
+
+"I don't know what to think. This woman is a new factor in the case and
+I don't know how to place her."
+
+"Not entirely new," said Thorndyke. "You have not forgotten those beads
+that we found in Jeffrey's bedroom, have you?"
+
+"No, I had not forgotten them, but I did not see that they told us much
+excepting that some woman had apparently been in his bedroom at some
+time."
+
+"That, I think, is all that they did tell us. But now they tell us that
+a particular woman was in his bedroom at a particular time, which is a
+good deal more significant."
+
+"Yes. It almost looks as if she must have been there when he made away
+with himself."
+
+"It does, very much."
+
+"By the way, you were right about the colours of those beads, and also
+about the way they were used."
+
+"As to their use, that was a mere guess; but it has turned out to be
+correct. It was well that we found the beads, for, small as is the
+amount of information they give, it is still enough to carry us a stage
+further."
+
+"How so?"
+
+"I mean that the cabman's evidence tells us only that this woman entered
+the house. The beads tell us that she was in the bedroom; which, as you
+say, seems to connect her to some extent with Jeffrey's death. Not
+necessarily, of course. It is only a suggestion; but a rather strong
+suggestion under the peculiar circumstances."
+
+"Even so," said I, "this new fact seems to me so far from clearing up
+the mystery, only to add to it a fresh element of still deeper mystery.
+The porter's evidence at the inquest could leave no doubt that Jeffrey
+contemplated suicide, and his preparations pointedly suggest this
+particular night as the time selected by him for doing away with
+himself. Is not that so?"
+
+"Certainly. The porter's evidence was very clear on that point."
+
+"Then I don't see where this woman comes in. It is obvious that her
+presence at the inn, and especially in the bedroom, on this occasion and
+in these strange, secret circumstances, has a rather sinister look; but
+yet I do not see in what way she could have been connected with the
+tragedy. Perhaps, after all, she has nothing to do with it. You remember
+that Jeffrey went to the lodge about eight o'clock, to pay his rent, and
+chatted for some time with the porter. That looks as if the lady had
+already left."
+
+"Yes," said Thorndyke. "But, on the other hand, Jeffrey's remarks to the
+porter with reference to the cab do not quite agree with the account
+that we have just heard from Wilkins. Which suggests--as does Wilkins's
+account generally--some secrecy as to the lady's visit to his chambers."
+
+"Do you know who the woman was?" I asked.
+
+"No, I don't know," he replied. "I have a rather strong suspicion that I
+can identify her, but I am waiting for some further facts."
+
+"Is your suspicion founded on some new matter that you have discovered,
+or is it deducible from facts that are known to me?"
+
+"I think," he replied, "that you know practically all that I know,
+although I have, in one instance, turned a very strong suspicion into a
+certainty by further inquiries. But I think you ought to be able to form
+some idea as to who this lady probably was."
+
+"But no woman has been mentioned in the case at all."
+
+"No; but I think you should be able to give this lady a name,
+notwithstanding."
+
+"Should I? Then I begin to suspect that I am not cut out for
+medico-legal practice, for I don't see the faintest glimmer of a
+suggestion."
+
+Thorndyke smiled benevolently. "Don't be discouraged, Jervis," said he.
+"I expect that when you first began to go round the wards, you doubted
+whether you were cut out for medical practice. I did. For special work
+one needs special knowledge and an acquired faculty for making use of
+it. What does a second year's student make of a small thoracic aneurysm?
+He knows the anatomy of the chest; he begins to know the normal heart
+sounds and areas of dullness; but he cannot yet fit his various items of
+knowledge together. Then comes the experienced physician and perhaps
+makes a complete diagnosis without any examination at all, merely from
+hearing the patient speak or cough. He has the same facts as the
+student, but he has acquired the faculty of instantly connecting an
+abnormality of function with its correleated anatomical change. It is a
+matter of experience. And, with your previous training, you will soon
+acquire the faculty. Try to observe everything. Let nothing escape you.
+And try constantly to find some connection between facts and events that
+seem to be unconnected. That is my advice to you; and with that we will
+put away the Blackmore case for the present and consider our day's work
+at an end."
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XIV
+
+Thorndyke Lays the Mine
+
+
+The information supplied by Mr. Samuel Wilkins, so far from dispelling
+the cloud of mystery that hung over the Blackmore case, only enveloped
+it in deeper obscurity, so far as I was concerned. The new problem that
+Thorndyke offered for solution was a tougher one than any of the others.
+He proposed that I should identify and give a name to this mysterious
+woman. But how could I? No woman, excepting Mrs. Wilson, had been
+mentioned in connection with the case. This new <i>dramatis persona</i> had
+appeared suddenly from nowhere and straightway vanished without leaving
+a trace, excepting the two or three beads that we had picked up in
+Jeffrey's room.
+
+Nor was it in the least clear what part, if any, she had played in the
+tragedy. The facts still pointed as plainly to suicide as before her
+appearance. Jeffrey's repeated hints as to his intentions, and the very
+significant preparations that he had made, were enough to negative any
+idea of foul play. And yet the woman's presence in the chambers at that
+time, the secret manner of her arrival and her precautions against
+recognition, strongly suggested some kind of complicity in the dreadful
+event that followed.
+
+But what complicity is possible in the case of suicide? The woman might
+have furnished him with the syringe and the poison, but it would not
+have been necessary for her to go to his chambers for that purpose.
+Vague ideas of persuasion and hypnotic suggestion floated through my
+brain; but the explanations did not fit the case and the hypnotic
+suggestion of crime is not very convincing to the medical mind. Then I
+thought of blackmail in connection with some disgraceful secret; but
+though this was a more hopeful suggestion, it was not very probable,
+considering Jeffrey's age and character.
+
+And all these speculations failed to throw the faintest light on the
+main question: "Who was this woman?"
+
+A couple of days passed, during which Thorndyke made no further
+reference to the case. He was, most of the time, away from home, though
+how he was engaged I had no idea. What was rather more unusual was that
+Polton seemed to have deserted the laboratory and taken to outdoor
+pursuits. I assumed that he had seized the opportunity of leaving me in
+charge, and I dimly surmised that he was acting as Thorndyke's private
+inquiry agent, as he seemed to have done in the case of Samuel Wilkins.
+
+On the evening of the second day Thorndyke came home in obviously good
+spirits, and his first proceedings aroused my expectant curiosity. He
+went to a cupboard and brought forth a box of Trichinopoly cheroots. Now
+the Trichinopoly cheroot was Thorndyke's one dissipation, to be enjoyed
+only on rare and specially festive occasions; which, in practice, meant
+those occasions on which he had scored some important point or solved
+some unusually tough problem. Wherefore I watched him with lively
+interest.
+
+"It's a pity that the 'Trichy' is such a poisonous beast," he remarked,
+taking up one of the cheroots and sniffing at it delicately. "There is
+no other cigar like it, to a really abandoned smoker." He laid the cigar
+back in the box and continued: "I think I shall treat myself to one
+after dinner to celebrate the occasion."
+
+"What occasion?" I asked.
+
+"The completion of the Blackmore case. I am just going to write to
+Marchmont advising him to enter a caveat."
+
+"Do you mean to say that you have discovered a flaw in the will, after
+all?"
+
+"A flaw!" he exclaimed. "My dear Jervis, that second will is a forgery."
+
+I stared at him in amazement; for his assertion sounded like nothing
+more or less than arrant nonsense.
+
+"But the thing is impossible, Thorndyke," I said. "Not only did the
+witnesses recognize their own signatures and the painter's greasy
+finger-marks, but they had both read the will and remembered its
+contents."
+
+"Yes; that is the interesting feature in the case. It is a very pretty
+problem. I shall give you a last chance to solve it. To-morrow evening
+we shall have to give a full explanation, so you have another
+twenty-four hours in which to think it over. And, meanwhile, I am going
+to take you to my club to dine. I think we shall be pretty safe there
+from Mrs. Schallibaum."
+
+He sat down and wrote a letter, which was apparently quite a short one,
+and having addressed and stamped it, prepared to go out.
+
+"Come," said he, "let us away to 'the gay and festive scenes and halls
+of dazzling light.' We will lay the mine in the Fleet Street pillar box.
+I should like to be in Marchmont's office when it explodes."
+
+"I expect, for that matter," said I, "that the explosion will be felt
+pretty distinctly in these chambers."
+
+"I expect so, too," replied Thorndyke; "and that reminds me that I shall
+be out all day to-morrow, so, if Marchmont calls, you must do all that
+you can to persuade him to come round after dinner and bring Stephen
+Blackmore, if possible. I am anxious to have Stephen here, as he will be
+able to give us some further information and confirm certain matters of
+fact."
+
+I promised to exercise my utmost powers of persuasion on Mr. Marchmont
+which I should certainly have done on my own account, being now on the
+very tiptoe of curiosity to hear Thorndyke's explanation of the
+unthinkable conclusion at which he had arrived--and the subject dropped
+completely; nor could I, during the rest of the evening, induce my
+colleague to reopen it even in the most indirect or allusive manner.
+
+Our explanations in respect of Mr. Marchmont were fully realized; for,
+on the following morning, within an hour of Thorndyke's departure from
+our chambers, the knocker was plied with more than usual emphasis, and,
+on my opening the door, I discovered the solicitor in company with a
+somewhat older gentleman. Mr. Marchmont appeared somewhat out of humour,
+while his companion was obviously in a state of extreme irritation.
+
+"How d'you do, Dr. Jervis?" said Marchmont as he entered at my
+invitation. "Your friend, I suppose, is not in just now?"
+
+"No; and he will not be returning until the evening."
+
+"Hm; I'm sorry. We wished to see him rather particularly. This is my
+partner, Mr. Winwood."
+
+The latter gentleman bowed stiffly and Marchmont continued:
+
+"We have had a letter from Dr. Thorndyke, and it is, I may say, a rather
+curious letter; in fact, a very singular letter indeed."
+
+"It is the letter of a madman!" growled Mr. Winwood.
+
+"No, no, Winwood; nothing of the kind. Control yourself, I beg you. But
+really, the letter is rather incomprehensible. It relates to the will of
+the late Jeffrey Blackmore--you know the main facts of the case; and we
+cannot reconcile it with those facts."
+
+"This is the letter," exclaimed Mr. Winwood, dragging the document from
+his wallet and slapping it down on the table. "If you are acquainted
+with the case, sir, just read that, and let us hear what <i>you</i> think."
+
+I took up the letter and read aloud:
+
+"JEFFREY BLACKMORE, DECD.
+
+"DEAR MR. MARCHMONT,--
+
+"I have gone into this case with great care and have now no doubt that
+the second will is a forgery. Criminal proceedings will, I think, be
+inevitable, but meanwhile it would be wise to enter a caveat.
+
+"If you could look in at my chambers to-morrow evening we could talk the
+case over; and I should be glad if you could bring Mr. Stephen
+Blackmore; whose personal knowledge of the events and the parties
+concerned would be of great assistance in clearing up obscure details.
+
+"I am,
+
+"Yours sincerely,
+
+"JOHN EVELYN THORNDYKE
+
+"C.F. MARCHMONT, ESQ."
+
+"Well!" exclaimed Mr. Winwood, glaring ferociously at me, "what do you
+think of the learned counsel's opinion?"
+
+"I knew that Thorndyke was writing to you to this effect," I replied,
+"but I must frankly confess that I can make nothing of it. Have you
+acted on his advice?"
+
+"Certainly not!" shouted the irascible lawyer. "Do you suppose that we
+wish to make ourselves the laughing-stock of the courts? The thing is
+impossible--ridiculously impossible!"
+
+"It can't be that, you know," I said, a little stiffly, for I was
+somewhat nettled by Mr. Winwood's manner, "or Thorndyke would not have
+written this letter. The conclusion looks as impossible to me as it does
+to you; but I have complete confidence in Thorndyke. If he says that the
+will is a forgery, I have no doubt that it is a forgery."
+
+"But how the deuce can it be?" roared Winwood. "You know the
+circumstances under which the will was executed."
+
+"Yes; but so does Thorndyke. And he is not a man who overlooks important
+facts. It is useless to argue with me. I am in a complete fog about the
+case myself. You had better come in this evening and talk it over with
+him as he suggests."
+
+"It is very inconvenient," grumbled Mr. Winwood. "We shall have to dine
+in town."
+
+"Yes," said Marchmont, "but it is the only thing to be done. As Dr.
+Jervis says, we must take it that Thorndyke has something solid to base
+his opinion on. He doesn't make elementary mistakes. And, of course, if
+what he says is correct, Mr. Stephen's position is totally changed."
+
+"Bah!" exclaimed Winwood, "he has found a mare's nest, I tell you.
+Still, I agree that the explanation should be worth hearing."
+
+"You mustn't mind Winwood," said Marchmont, in an apologetic undertone;
+"he's a peppery old fellow with a rough tongue, but he doesn't mean any
+harm." Which statement Winwood assented to--or dissented from; for it
+was impossible to say which--by a prolonged growl.
+
+"We shall expect you then," I said, "about eight to-night, and you will
+try to bring Mr. Stephen with you?"
+
+"Yes," replied Marchmont; "I think we can promise that he shall come
+with us. I have sent him a telegram asking him to attend."
+
+With this the two lawyers took their departure, leaving me to meditate
+upon my colleague's astonishing statement; which I did, considerably to
+the prejudice of other employment. That Thorndyke would be able to
+justify the opinion that he had given, I had no doubt whatever; but yet
+there was no denying that his proposition was what Mr. Dick Swiveller
+would call "a staggerer."
+
+When Thorndyke returned, I informed him of the visit of our two friends,
+and acquainted him with the sentiments that they had expressed; whereat
+he smiled with quiet amusement.
+
+"I thought," he remarked, "that letter would bring Marchmont to our door
+before long. As to Winwood, I have never met him, but I gather that he
+is one of those people whom you 'mustn't mind.' In a general way, I
+object to people who tacitly claim exemption from the ordinary rules of
+conduct that are held to be binding on their fellows. But, as he
+promises to give us what the variety artists call 'an extra turn,' we
+will make the best of him and give him a run for his money."
+
+Here Thorndyke smiled mischievously--I understood the meaning of that
+smile later in the evening--and asked: "What do you think of the affair
+yourself?"
+
+"I have given it up," I answered. "To my paralysed brain, the Blackmore
+case is like an endless algebraical problem propounded by an insane
+mathematician."
+
+Thorndyke laughed at my comparison, which I flatter myself was a rather
+apt one.
+
+"Come and dine," said he, "and let us crack a bottle, that our hearts
+may not turn to water under the frown of the disdainful Winwood. I think
+the old 'Bell' in Holborn will meet our present requirements better than
+the club. There is something jovial and roystering about an ancient
+tavern; but we must keep a sharp lookout for Mrs. Schallibaum."
+
+Thereupon we set forth; and, after a week's close imprisonment, I once
+more looked upon the friendly London streets, the cheerfully lighted
+shop windows and the multitudes of companionable strangers who moved
+unceasingly along the pavements.
+
+
+
+Chapter XV
+
+Thorndyke Explodes the Mine
+
+
+We had not been back in our chambers more than a few minutes when the
+little brass knocker on the inner door rattled out its summons.
+Thorndyke himself opened the door, and, finding our three expected
+visitors on the threshold, he admitted them and closed the "oak."
+
+"We have accepted your invitation, you see," said Marchmont, whose
+manner was now a little flurried and uneasy. "This is my partner, Mr.
+Winwood; you haven't met before, I think. Well, we thought we should
+like to hear some further particulars from you, as we could not quite
+understand your letter."
+
+"My conclusion, I suppose," said Thorndyke, "was a little unexpected?"
+
+"It was more than that, sir," exclaimed Winwood. "It was absolutely
+irreconcilable either with the facts of the case or with common physical
+possibilities."
+
+"At the first glance," Thorndyke agreed, "it would probably have that
+appearance."
+
+"It has that appearance still to me." said Winwood, growing suddenly red
+and wrathful, "and I may say that I speak as a solicitor who was
+practising in the law when you were an infant in arms. You tell us, sir,
+that this will is a forgery; this will, which was executed in broad
+daylight in the presence of two unimpeachable witnesses who have sworn,
+not only to their signatures and the contents of the document, but to
+their very finger-marks on the paper. Are those finger-marks forgeries,
+too? Have you examined and tested them?"
+
+"I have not," replied Thorndyke. "The fact is they are of no interest to
+me, as I am not disputing the witnesses' signatures."
+
+At this, Mr. Winwood fairly danced with irritation.
+
+"Marchmont!" he exclaimed fiercely, "you know this good gentleman, I
+believe. Tell me, is he addicted to practical jokes?"
+
+"Now, my dear Winwood," groaned Marchmont, "I pray you--I beg you to
+control yourself. No doubt--"
+
+"But confound it!" roared Winwood, "you have, yourself, heard him say
+that the will is a forgery, but that he doesn't dispute the signatures;
+which," concluded Winwood, banging his fist down on the table, "is
+damned nonsense."
+
+"May I suggest," interposed Stephen Blackmore, "that we came here to
+receive Dr. Thorndyke's explanation of his letter. Perhaps it would be
+better to postpone any comments until we have heard it."
+
+"Undoubtedly, undoubtedly," said Marchmont. "Let me entreat you,
+Winwood, to listen patiently and refrain from interruption until we have
+heard our learned friend's exposition of the case."
+
+"Oh, very well," Winwood replied sulkily; "I'll say no more."
+
+He sank into a chair with the manner of a man who shuts himself up and
+turns the key; and so remained--excepting when the internal pressure
+approached bursting-point--throughout the subsequent proceedings,
+silent, stony and impassive, like a seated statue of Obstinacy.
+
+"I take it," said Marchmont, "that you have some new facts that are not
+in our possession?"
+
+"Yes," replied Thorndyke; "we have some new facts, and we have made some
+new use of the old ones. But how shall I lay the case before you? Shall
+I state my theory of the sequence of events and furnish the verification
+afterwards? Or shall I retrace the actual course of my investigations
+and give you the facts in the order in which I obtained them myself,
+with the inferences from them?"
+
+"I almost think," said Mr. Marchmont, "that it would be better if you
+would put us in possession of the new facts. Then, if the conclusions
+that follow from them are not sufficiently obvious, we could hear the
+argument. What do you say, Winwood?"
+
+Mr. Winwood roused himself for an instant, barked out the one word
+"Facts," and shut himself up again with a snap.
+
+"You would like to have the new facts by themselves?" said Thorndyke.
+
+"If you please. The facts only, in the first place, at any rate."
+
+"Very well," said Thorndyke; and here I caught his eye with a
+mischievous twinkle in it that I understood perfectly; for I had most of
+the facts myself and realized how much these two lawyers were likely to
+extract from them. Winwood was going to "have a run for his money," as
+Thorndyke had promised.
+
+My colleague, having placed on the table by his side a small cardboard
+box and the sheets of notes from his file, glanced quickly at Mr.
+Winwood and began:
+
+"The first important new facts came into my possession on the day on
+which you introduced the case to me. In the evening, after you left, I
+availed myself of Mr. Stephen's kind invitation to look over his uncle's
+chambers in New Inn. I wished to do so in order to ascertain, if
+possible, what had been the habits of the deceased during his residence
+there. When I arrived with Dr. Jervis, Mr. Stephen was in the chambers,
+and I learned from him that his uncle was an Oriental scholar of some
+position and that he had a very thorough acquaintance with the cuneiform
+writing. Now, while I was talking with Mr. Stephen I made a very curious
+discovery. On the wall over the fire-place hung a large framed
+photograph of an ancient Persian inscription in the cuneiform character;
+and that photograph was upside down."
+
+"Upside down!" exclaimed Stephen. "But that is really very odd."
+
+"Very odd indeed," agreed Thorndyke, "and very suggestive. The way in
+which it came to be inverted is pretty obvious and also rather
+suggestive. The photograph had evidently been in the frame some years
+but had apparently never been hung up before."
+
+"It had not," said Stephen, "though I don't know how you arrived at the
+fact. It used to stand on the mantelpiece in his old rooms in Jermyn
+Street."
+
+"Well," continued Thorndyke, "the frame-maker had pasted his label on
+the back of the frame, and as this label hung the right way up, it
+appeared as if the person who fixed the photograph on the wall had
+adopted it as a guide."
+
+"It is very extraordinary," said Stephen. "I should have thought the
+person who hung it would have asked Uncle Jeffrey which was the right
+way up; and I can't imagine how on earth it could have hung all those
+months without his noticing it. He must have been practically blind."
+
+Here Marchmont, who had been thinking hard, with knitted brows, suddenly
+brightened up.
+
+"I see your point," said he. "You mean that if Jeffrey was as blind as
+that, it would have been possible for some person to substitute a false
+will, which he might sign without noticing the substitution."
+
+"That wouldn't make the will a forgery," growled Winwood. "If Jeffrey
+signed it, it was Jeffrey's will. You could contest it if you could
+prove the fraud. But he said: 'This is my will,' and the two witnesses
+read it and have identified it."
+
+"Did they read it aloud?" asked Stephen.
+
+"No, they did not," replied Thorndyke.
+
+"Can you prove substitution?" asked Marchmont.
+
+"I haven't asserted it," answered Thorndyke, "My position is that the
+will is a forgery."
+
+"But it is not," said Winwood.
+
+"We won't argue it now," said Thorndyke. "I ask you to note the fact
+that the inscription was upside down. I also observed on the walls of
+the chambers some valuable Japanese colour-prints on which were recent
+damp-spots. I noted that the sitting-room had a gas-stove and that the
+kitchen contained practically no stores or remains of food and hardly
+any traces of even the simplest cooking. In the bedroom I found a large
+box that had contained a considerable stock of hard stearine candles,
+six to the pound, and that was now nearly empty. I examined the clothing
+of the deceased. On the soles of the boots I observed dried mud, which
+was unlike that on my own and Jervis's boots, from the gravelly square
+of the inn. I noted a crease on each leg of the deceased man's trousers
+as if they had been turned up half-way to the knee; and in the waistcoat
+pocket I found the stump of a 'Contango' pencil. On the floor of the
+bedroom, I found a portion of an oval glass somewhat like that of a
+watch or locket, but ground at the edge to a double bevel. Dr. Jervis
+and I also found one or two beads and a bugle, all of dark brown glass."
+
+Here Thorndyke paused, and Marchmont, who had been gazing at him with
+growing amazement, said nervously:
+
+"Er--yes. Very interesting. These observations of yours--er--are--"
+
+"Are all the observations that I made at New Inn."
+
+The two lawyers looked at one another and Stephen Blackmore stared
+fixedly at a spot on the hearth-rug. Then Mr. Winwood's face contorted
+itself into a sour, lopsided smile.
+
+"You might have observed a good many other things, sir," said he, "if
+you had looked. If you had examined the doors, you would have noted that
+they had hinges and were covered with paint; and, if you had looked up
+the chimney you might have noted that it was black inside."
+
+"Now, now, Winwood," protested Marchmont in an agony of uneasiness as to
+what his partner might say next, "I must really beg you--er--to refrain
+from--what Mr. Winwood means, Dr. Thorndyke, is that--er--we do not
+quite perceive the relevancy of these--ah--observations of yours."
+
+"Probably not," said Thorndyke, "but you will perceive their relevancy
+later. For the present, I will ask you to note the facts and bear them
+in mind, so that you may be able to follow the argument when we come to
+that.
+
+"The next set of data I acquired on the same evening, when Dr. Jervis
+gave me a detailed account of a very strange adventure that befell him.
+I need not burden you with all the details, but I will give you the
+substance of his story."
+
+He then proceeded to recount the incidents connected with my visits to
+Mr. Graves, dwelling on the personal peculiarities of the parties
+concerned and especially of the patient, and not even forgetting the
+very singular spectacles worn by Mr. Weiss. He also explained briefly
+the construction of the chart, presenting the latter for the inspection
+of his hearers. To this recital our three visitors listened in utter
+bewilderment, as, indeed did I also; for I could not conceive in what
+way my adventures could possibly be related to the affairs of the late
+Mr. Blackmore. This was manifestly the view taken by Mr. Marchmont, for,
+during a pause in which the chart was handed to him, he remarked
+somewhat stiffly:
+
+"I am assuming, Dr. Thorndyke, that the curious story you are telling us
+has some relevance to the matter in which we are interested."
+
+"You are quite correct in your assumption," replied Thorndyke. "The
+story is very relevant indeed, as you will presently be convinced."
+
+"Thank you," said Marchmont, sinking back once more into his chair with
+a sigh of resignation.
+
+"A few days ago," pursued Thorndyke, "Dr. Jervis and I located, with the
+aid of this chart, the house to which he had been called. We found that
+the late tenant had left somewhat hurriedly and that the house was to
+let; and, as no other kind of investigation was possible, we obtained
+the keys and made an exploration of the premises."
+
+Here he gave a brief account of our visit and the conditions that we
+observed, and was proceeding to furnish a list of the articles that we
+had found under the grate, when Mr. Winwood started from his chair.
+
+"Really, sir!" he exclaimed, "this is too much! Have I come here, at
+great personal inconvenience, to hear you read the inventory of a
+dust-heap?"
+
+Thorndyke smiled benevolently and caught my eye, once more, with a gleam
+of amusement.
+
+"Sit down, Mr. Winwood," he said quietly. "You came here to learn the
+facts of the case, and I am giving them to you. Please don't interrupt
+needlessly and waste time."
+
+Winwood stared at him ferociously for several seconds; then, somewhat
+disconcerted by the unruffled calm of his manner, he uttered a snort of
+defiance, sat down heavily and shut himself up again.
+
+"We will now," Thorndyke continued, with unmoved serenity, "consider
+these relics in more detail, and we will begin with this pair of
+spectacles. They belonged to a person who was near-sighted and
+astigmatic in the left eye and almost certainly blind in the right. Such
+a description agrees entirely with Dr. Jervis's account of the sick
+man."
+
+He paused for the moment, and then, as no one made any comment,
+proceeded:
+
+"We next come to these little pieces of reed, which you, Mr. Stephen,
+will probably recognize as the remains of a Japanese brush, such as is
+used for writing in Chinese ink or for making small drawings."
+
+Again he paused, as though expecting some remark from his listeners; but
+no one spoke, and he continued:
+
+"Then there is this bottle with the theatrical wig-maker's label on it,
+which once contained cement such as is used for fixing on false beards,
+moustaches or eyebrows."
+
+He paused once more and looked round expectantly at his audience, none
+of whom, however, volunteered any remark.
+
+"Do none of these objects that I have described and shown you, seem to
+have any significance for us?" he asked, in a tone of some surprise.
+
+"They convey nothing to me," said Mr. Marchmont, glancing at his
+partner, who shook his head like a restive horse.
+
+"Nor to you, Mr. Stephen?"
+
+"No," replied Stephen. "Under the existing circumstances they convey no
+reasonable suggestion to me."
+
+Thorndyke hesitated as if he were half inclined to say something more;
+then, with a slight shrug, he turned over his notes and resumed:
+
+"The next group of new facts is concerned with the signatures of the
+recent cheques. We have photographed them and placed them together for
+the purpose of comparison and analysis."
+
+"I am not prepared to question the signatures." said Winwood. "We have
+had a highly expert opinion, which would override ours in a court of law
+even if we differed from it; which I think we do not."
+
+"Yes," said Marchmont; "that is so. I think we must accept the
+signatures, especially as that of the will has been proved, beyond any
+question" to be authentic."
+
+"Very well," agreed Thorndyke; "we will pass over the signatures. Then
+we have some further evidence in regard to the spectacles, which serves
+to verify our conclusions respecting them."
+
+"Perhaps," said Marchmont, "we might pass over that, too, as we do not
+seem to have reached any conclusions."
+
+"As you please," said Thorndyke. "It is important, but we can reserve it
+for verification. The next item will interest you more, I think. It is
+the signed and witnessed statement of Samuel Wilkins, the driver of the
+cab in which the deceased came home to the inn on the evening of his
+death."
+
+My colleague was right. An actual document, signed by a tangible
+witness, who could be put in the box and sworn, brought both lawyers to
+a state of attention; and when Thorndyke read out the cabman's evidence,
+their attention soon quickened into undisguised astonishment.
+
+"But this is a most mysterious affair," exclaimed Marchmont. "Who could
+this woman have been, and what could she have been doing in Jeffrey's
+chambers at this time? Can you throw any light on it, Mr. Stephen?"
+
+"No, indeed I can't," replied Stephen. "It is a complete mystery to me.
+My uncle Jeffrey was a confirmed old bachelor, and, although he did not
+dislike women, he was far from partial to their society, wrapped up as
+he was in his favourite studies. To the best of my belief, he had not a
+single female friend. He was not on intimate terms even with his sister,
+Mrs. Wilson."
+
+"Very remarkable," mused Marchmont; "most remarkable. But, perhaps, you
+can tell us, Dr. Thorndyke, who this woman was?"
+
+"I think," replied Thorndyke, "that the next item of evidence will
+enable you to form an opinion for yourselves. I only obtained it
+yesterday, and, as it made my case quite complete, I wrote off to you
+immediately. It is the statement of Joseph Ridley, another cabman, and
+unfortunately, a rather dull, unobservant fellow, unlike Wilkins. He has
+not much to tell us, but what little he has is highly instructive. Here
+is the statement, signed by the deponent and witnessed by me:
+
+"'My name is Joseph Ridley. I am the driver of a four-wheeled cab. On
+the fourteenth of March, the day of the great fog, I was waiting at
+Vauxhall Station, where I had just set down a fare. About five o'clock a
+lady came and told me to drive over to Upper Kennington Lane to take up
+a passenger. She was a middle-sized woman. I could not tell what her age
+was, or what she was like, because her head was wrapped up in a sort of
+knitted, woollen veil to keep out the fog. I did not notice how she was
+dressed. She got into the cab and I led the horse over to Upper
+Kennington Lane and a little way up the lane, until the lady tapped at
+the front window for me to stop.
+
+"'She got out of the cab and told me to wait. Then she went away and
+disappeared in the fog. Presently a lady and gentleman came from the
+direction in which she had gone. The lady looked like the same lady, but
+I won't answer to that. Her head was wrapped up in the same kind of veil
+or shawl, and I noticed that she had on a dark coloured mantle with
+bead fringe on it.
+
+"'The gentleman was clean shaved and wore spectacles, and he stooped a
+good deal. I can't say whether his sight was good or bad. He helped the
+lady into the cab and told me to drive to the Great Northern Station,
+King's Cross. Then he got in himself and I drove off. I got to the
+station about a quarter to six and the lady and gentleman got out. The
+gentleman paid my fare and they both went into the station. I did not
+notice anything unusual about either of them. Directly after they had
+gone, I got a fresh fare and drove away.'
+
+"That," Thorndyke concluded, "is Joseph Ridley's statement; and I think
+it will enable you to give a meaning to the other facts that I have
+offered for your consideration."
+
+"I am not so sure about that," said Marchmont. "It is all exceedingly
+mysterious. Your suggestion is, of course, that the woman who came to
+New Inn in the cab was Mrs. Schallibaum!"
+
+"Not at all," replied Thorndyke. "My suggestion is that the woman was
+Jeffrey Blackmore."
+
+There was deathly silence for a few moments. We were all absolutely
+thunderstruck, and sat gaping at Thorndyke in speechless-astonishment.
+Then--Mr. Winwood fairly bounced out of his chair.
+
+"But--my--good--sir!" he screeched. "Jeffrey Blackmore was with her at
+the time!"
+
+"Naturally," replied Thorndyke, "my suggestion implies that the person
+who was with her was not Jeffrey Blackmore."
+
+"But he was!" bawled Winwood. "The porter saw him!"
+
+"The porter saw a person whom he believed to be Jeffrey Blackmore. I
+suggest that the porter's belief was erroneous."
+
+"Well," snapped Winwood, "perhaps you can prove that it was. I don't see
+how you are going to; but perhaps you can."
+
+He subsided once more into his chair and glared defiantly at Thorndyke.
+
+"You seemed," said Stephen, "to suggest some connection between the sick
+man, Graves, and my uncle. I noted it at the time, but put it aside as
+impossible. Was I right. Did you mean to suggest any connection?"
+
+"I suggest something more than a connection. I suggest identity. My
+position is that the sick man, Graves, was your uncle."
+
+"From Dr. Jervis's description," said Stephen, "this man must have been
+very like my uncle. Both were blind in the right eye and had very poor
+vision with the left; and my uncle certainly used brushes of the kind
+that you have shown us, when writing in the Japanese character, for I
+have watched him and admired his skill; but--"
+
+"But," said Marchmont, "there is the insuperable objection that, at the
+very time when this man was lying sick in Kennington Lane, Mr. Jeffrey
+was living at New Inn."
+
+"What evidence is there of that?" asked Thorndyke.
+
+"Evidence!" Marchmont exclaimed impatiently. "Why, my dear sir--"
+
+He paused suddenly, and, leaning forward, regarded Thorndyke with a new
+and rather startled expression.
+
+"You mean to suggest--" he began.
+
+"I suggest that Jeffrey Blackmore never lived at New Inn at all."
+
+For the moment, Marchmont seemed absolutely paralysed by astonishment.
+
+"This is an amazing proposition!" he exclaimed, at length. "Yet the
+thing is certainly not impossible, for, now that you recall the fact, I
+realize that no one who had known him previously--excepting his brother,
+John--ever saw him at the inn. The question of identity was never
+raised."
+
+"Excepting," said Mr. Winwood, "in regard to the body; which was
+certainly that of Jeffrey Blackmore."
+
+"Yes, yes. Of course," said Marchmont. "I had forgotten that for the
+moment. The body was identified beyond doubt. You don't dispute the
+identity of the body, do you?"
+
+"Certainly not," replied Thorndyke.
+
+Here Mr. Winwood grasped his hair with both hands and stuck his elbows
+on his knees, while Marchmont drew forth a large handkerchief and mopped
+his forehead. Stephen Blackmore looked from one to the other
+expectantly, and finally said:
+
+"If I might make a suggestion, it would be that, as Dr. Thorndyke has
+shown us the pieces now of the puzzle, he should be so kind as to put
+them together for our information."
+
+"Yes," agreed Marchmont, "that will be the best plan. Let us have the
+argument, Doctor, and any additional evidence that you possess."
+
+"The argument," said Thorndyke, "will be a rather long one, as the data
+are so numerous, and there are some points in verification on which I
+shall have to dwell in some detail. We will have some coffee to clear
+our brains, and then I will bespeak your patience for what may seem like
+a rather prolix demonstration."
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XVI
+
+An Exposition and a Tragedy
+
+
+"You may have wondered," Thorndyke commenced, when he had poured out the
+coffee and handed round the cups, "what induced me to undertake the
+minute investigation of so apparently simple and straightforward a case.
+Perhaps I had better explain that first and let you see what was the
+real starting-point of the inquiry.
+
+"When you, Mr. Marchmont and Mr. Stephen, introduced the case to me, I
+made a very brief precis of the facts as you presented them, and of
+these there were one or two which immediately attracted my attention. In
+the first place, there was the will. It was a very strange will. It was
+perfectly unnecessary. It contained no new matter; it expressed no
+changed intentions; it met no new circumstances, as known to the
+testator. In short it was not really a new will at all, but merely a
+repetition of the first one, drafted in different and less suitable
+language. It differed only in introducing a certain ambiguity from which
+the original was free. It created the possibility that, in certain
+circumstances, not known to or anticipated by the testator, John
+Blackmore might become the principal beneficiary, contrary to the
+obvious wishes of the testator.
+
+"The next point that impressed me was the manner of Mrs. Wilson's death.
+She died of cancer. Now people do not die suddenly and unexpectedly of
+cancer. This terrible disease stands almost alone in that it marks out
+its victim months in advance. A person who has an incurable cancer is a
+person whose death may be predicted with certainty and its date fixed
+within comparatively narrow limits.
+
+"And now observe the remarkable series of coincidences that are brought
+into light when we consider this peculiarity of the disease. Mrs. Wilson
+died on the twelfth of March of this present year. Mr. Jeffrey's second
+will was signed on the twelfth of November of last year; at a time, that
+is to say, when the existence of cancer must have been known to Mrs.
+Wilson's doctor, and might have been known to any of her relatives who
+chose to inquire after her.
+
+"Then you will observe that the remarkable change in Mr. Jeffrey's
+habits coincides in the most singular way with the same events. The
+cancer must have been detectable as early as September of last year;
+about the time, in fact, at which Mrs. Wilson made her will. Mr. Jeffrey
+went to the inn at the beginning of October. From that time his habits
+were totally changed, and I can demonstrate to you that a change--not a
+gradual, but an abrupt change--took place in the character of his
+signature.
+
+"In short, the whole of this peculiar set of circumstances--the change
+in Jeffrey's habits, the change in his signature, and the execution of
+his strange will--came into existence about the time when Mrs. Wilson
+was first known to be suffering from cancer.
+
+"This struck me as a very suggestive fact.
+
+"Then there is the extraordinarily opportune date of Mr. Jeffrey's
+death. Mrs. Wilson died on the twelfth of March. Mr. Jeffrey was found
+dead on the fifteenth of March, having apparently died on the
+fourteenth, on which day he was seen alive. If he had died only three
+days sooner, he would have predeceased Mrs. Wilson, and her property
+would never have devolved on him at all; while, if he had lived only a
+day or two longer, he would have learned of her death and would
+certainly have made a new will or codicil in his nephew's favour.
+
+"Circumstances, therefore, conspired in the most singular manner in
+favour of John Blackmore.
+
+"But there is yet another coincidence. Jeffrey's body was found, by the
+merest chance, the day after his death. But it might have remained
+undiscovered for weeks, or even months; and if it had, it would have
+been impossible to fix the date of his death. Then Mrs. Wilson's next
+of kin would certainly have contested John Blackmore's claim--and
+probably with success--on the ground that Jeffrey died before Mrs.
+Wilson. But all this uncertainty is provided for by the circumstance
+that Mr. Jeffrey paid his rent personally--and prematurely--to the
+porter on the fourteenth of March, thus establishing beyond question the
+fact that he was alive on that date; and yet further, in case the
+porter's memory should be untrustworthy or his statement doubted,
+Jeffrey furnished a signed and dated document--the cheque--which could
+be produced in a court to furnish incontestable proof of survival.
+
+"To sum up this part of the evidence. Here was a will which enabled John
+Blackmore to inherit the fortune of a man who, almost certainly, had no
+intention of bequeathing it to him. The wording of that will seemed to
+be adjusted to the peculiarities of Mrs. Wilson's disease; and the death
+of the testator occurred under a peculiar set of circumstances which
+seemed to be exactly adjusted to the wording of the will. Or, to put it
+in another way: the wording of the will and the time, the manner and the
+circumstances of the testator's death, all seemed to be precisely
+adjusted to the fact that the approximate date of Mrs. Wilson's death
+was known some months before it occurred.
+
+"Now you must admit that this compound group of coincidences, all
+conspiring to a single end--the enrichment of John Blackmore--has a very
+singular appearance. Coincidences are common enough in real life; but
+we cannot accept too many at a time. My feeling was that there were too
+many in this case and that I could not accept them without searching
+inquiry."
+
+Thorndyke paused, and Mr. Marchmont, who had listened with close
+attention, nodded, as he glanced at his silent partner.
+
+"You have stated the case with remarkable clearness," he said; "and I am
+free to confess that some of the points that you have raised had escaped
+my notice."
+
+"My first idea," Thorndyke resumed, "was that John Blackmore, taking
+advantage of the mental enfeeblement produced by the opium habit, had
+dictated this will to Jeffrey, It was then that I sought permission to
+inspect Jeffrey's chambers; to learn what I could about him and to see
+for myself whether they presented the dirty and disorderly appearance
+characteristic of the regular opium-smoker's den. But when, during a
+walk into the City, I thought over the case, it seemed to me that this
+explanation hardly met the facts. Then I endeavoured to think of some
+other explanation; and looking over my notes I observed two points that
+seemed worth considering. One was that neither of the witnesses to the
+will was really acquainted with Jeffrey Blackmore; both being strangers
+who had accepted his identity on his own statement. The other was that
+no one who had previously known him, with the single exception of his
+brother John, had ever seen Jeffrey at the inn.
+
+"What was the import of these two facts? Probably they had none. But
+still they suggested the desirability of considering the question: Was
+the person who signed the will really Jeffrey Blackmore? The contrary
+supposition--that some one had personated Jeffrey and forged his
+signature to a false will--seemed wildly improbable, especially in view
+of the identification of the body; but it involved no actual
+impossibility; and it offered a complete explanation of the, otherwise
+inexplicable, coincidences that I have mentioned.
+
+"I did not, however, for a moment, think that this was the true
+explanation, but I resolved to bear it in mind, to test it when the
+opportunity arose, and consider it by the light of any fresh facts that
+I might acquire.
+
+"The new facts came sooner than I had expected. That same evening I went
+with Dr. Jervis to New Inn and found Mr. Stephen in the chambers. By him
+I was informed that Jeffrey was a learned Orientalist, with a quite
+expert knowledge of the cuneiform writing; and even as he was telling me
+this, I looked over his shoulder and saw a cuneiform inscription hanging
+on the wall upside down.
+
+"Now, of this there could be only one reasonable explanation.
+Disregarding the fact that no one would screw the suspension plates on a
+frame without ascertaining which was the right way up, and assuming it
+to be hung up inverted, it was impossible that the misplacement could
+have been overlooked by Jeffrey. He was not blind, though his sight was
+defective. The frame was thirty inches long and the individual
+characters nearly an inch in length--about the size of the D 18 letters
+of Snellen's test-types, which can be read by a person of ordinary sight
+at a distance of fifty-five feet. There was, I repeat, only one
+reasonable explanation; which was that the person who had inhabited
+those chambers was not Jeffrey Blackmore.
+
+"This conclusion received considerable support from a fact which I
+observed later, but mention in this place. On examining the soles of the
+shoes taken from the dead man's feet, I found only the ordinary mud of
+the streets. There was no trace of the peculiar gravelly mud that
+adhered to my own boots and Jervis's, and which came from the square of
+the inn. Yet the porter distinctly stated that the deceased, after
+paying the rent, walked back towards his chambers across the square; the
+mud of which should, therefore, have been conspicuous on his shoes.
+
+"Thus, in a moment, a wildly speculative hypothesis had assumed a high
+degree of probability.
+
+"When Mr. Stephen was gone, Jervis and I looked over the chambers
+thoroughly; and then another curious fact came to light. On the wall
+were a number of fine Japanese colour-prints, all of which showed recent
+damp-spots. Now, apart from the consideration that Jeffrey, who had been
+at the trouble and expense of collecting these valuable prints, would
+hardly have allowed them to rot on his walls, there arose the question:
+How came they to be damp? There was a gas stove in the room, and a gas
+stove has at least the virtue of preserving a dry atmosphere. It was
+winter weather, when the stove would naturally be pretty constantly
+alight. How came the walls to be so damp? The answer seemed to be that
+the stove had not been constantly alight, but had been lighted only
+occasionally. This suggestion was borne out by a further examination of
+the rooms. In the kitchen there were practically no stores and hardly
+any arrangements even for simple bachelor cooking; the bedroom offered
+the same suggestion; the soap in the wash-stand was shrivelled and
+cracked; there was no cast-off linen, and the shirts in the drawers,
+though clean, had the peculiar yellowish, faded appearance that linen
+acquires when long out of use. In short, the rooms had the appearance of
+not having been lived in at all, but only visited at intervals.
+
+"Against this view, however, was the statement of the night porter that
+he had often seen a light in Jeffrey's sitting-room at one o'clock in
+the morning, with the apparent implication that it was then turned out.
+Now a light may be left in an empty room, but its extinction implies the
+presence of some person to extinguish it; unless some automatic device
+be adopted for putting it out at a given time. Such a device--the alarm
+movement of a clock, for instance, with a suitable attachment--is a
+simple enough matter, but my search of the rooms failed to discover
+anything of the kind. However, when looking over the drawers in the
+bedroom, I came upon a large box that had held a considerable quantity
+of hard stearine candles. There were only a few left, but a flat
+candlestick with numerous wick-ends in its socket accounted for the
+remainder.
+
+"These candles seemed to dispose of the difficulty. They were not
+necessary for ordinary lighting, since gas was laid on in all three
+rooms. For what purpose, then, were they used, and in such considerable
+quantities? I subsequently obtained some of the same brand--Price's
+stearine candles, six to the pound--and experimented with them. Each
+candle was seven and a quarter inches in length, not counting the cone
+at the top, and I found that they burned in still air at the rate of a
+fraction over one inch in an hour. We may say that one of these candles
+would burn in still air a little over six hours. It would thus be
+possible for the person who inhabited these rooms to go away at seven
+o'clock in the evening and leave a light which would burn until past one
+in the morning and then extinguish itself. This, of course, was only
+surmise, but it destroyed the significance of the night porter's
+statement.
+
+"But, if the person who inhabited these chambers was not Jeffrey, who
+was he?
+
+"The answer to that question seemed plain enough. There was only one
+person who had a strong motive for perpetrating a fraud of this kind,
+and there was only one person to whom it was possible. If this person
+was not Jeffrey, he must have been very like Jeffrey; sufficiently like
+for the body of the one to be mistaken for the body of the other. For
+the production of Jeffrey's body was an essential part of the plan and
+must have been contemplated from the first. But the only person who
+fulfills the conditions is John Blackmore.
+
+"We have learned from Mr. Stephen that John and Jeffrey, though very
+different in appearance in later years, were much alike as young men.
+But when two brothers who are much alike as young men, become unlike in
+later life, we shall find that the unlikeness is produced by superficial
+differences and that the essential likeness remains. Thus, in the
+present case, Jeffrey was clean shaved, had bad eyesight, wore
+spectacles and stooped as he walked; John wore a beard and moustache,
+had good eyesight, did not wear spectacles and had a brisk gait and
+upright carriage. But supposing John to shave off his beard and
+moustache, to put on spectacles and to stoop in his walk, these
+conspicuous but superficial differences would vanish and the original
+likeness reappear.
+
+"There is another consideration. John had been an actor and was an actor
+of some experience. Now, any person can, with some care and practice,
+make up a disguise; the great difficulty is to support that disguise by
+a suitable manner and voice. But to an experienced actor this difficulty
+does not exist. To him, personation is easy; and, moreover, an actor is
+precisely the person to whom the idea of disguise and impersonation
+would occur.
+
+"There is a small item bearing on this point, so small as to be hardly
+worth calling evidence, but just worth noting. In the pocket of the
+waistcoat taken from the body of Jeffrey I found the stump of a
+'Contango' pencil; a pencil that is sold for the use of stock dealers
+and brokers. Now John was an outside broker and might very probably have
+used such a pencil, whereas Jeffrey had no connection with the stock
+markets and there is no reason why he should have possessed a pencil of
+this kind. But the fact is merely suggestive; it has no evidential
+value.
+
+"A more important inference is to be drawn from the collected
+signatures. I have remarked that the change in the signature occurred
+abruptly, with one or two alterations of manner, last September, and
+that there are two distinct forms with no intermediate varieties. This
+is, in itself, remarkable and suspicious. But a remark made by Mr.
+Britton furnishes a really valuable piece of evidence on the point we
+are now considering. He admitted that the character of the signature had
+undergone a change, but observed that the change did not affect the
+individual or personal character of the writing. This is very important;
+for handwriting is, as it were, an extension of the personality of the
+writer. And just as a man to some extent snares his personality with his
+near blood-relations in the form of family resemblances, so his
+handwriting often shows a subtle likeness to that of his near relatives.
+You must have noticed, as I have, how commonly the handwriting of one
+brother resembles that of another, and in just this peculiar and subtle
+way. The inference, then, from Mr. Britton's statement is, that if the
+signature of the will was forged, it was probably forged by a relative
+of the deceased. But the only relative in question is his brother John.
+
+"All the facts, therefore, pointed to John Blackmore as the person who
+occupied these chambers, and I accordingly adopted that view as a
+working hypothesis."
+
+"But this was all pure speculation," objected Mr. Winwood.
+
+"Not speculation," said Thorndyke. "Hypothesis. It was ordinary
+inductive reasoning such as we employ in scientific research. I started
+with the purely tentative hypothesis that the person who signed the will
+was not Jeffrey Blackmore. I assumed this; and I may say that I did not
+believe it at the time, but merely adopted it as a proposition that was
+worth testing. I accordingly tested it, 'Yes?' or 'No?' with each new
+fact; but as each new fact said 'Yes,' and no fact said definitely 'No,'
+its probability increased rapidly by a sort of geometrical progression.
+The probabilities multiplied into one another. It is a perfectly sound
+method, for one knows that if a hypothesis be true, it will lead one,
+sooner or later, to a crucial fact by which its truth can be
+demonstrated.
+
+"To resume our argument. We have now set up the proposition that John
+Blackmore was the tenant of New Inn and that he was personating Jeffrey.
+Let us reason from this and see what it leads to.
+
+"If the tenant of New Inn was John, then Jeffrey must be elsewhere,
+since his concealment at the inn was clearly impossible. But he could
+not have been far away, for he had to be producible at short notice
+whenever the death of Mrs. Wilson should make the production of his
+body necessary. But if he was producible, his person must have been in
+the possession or control of John. He could not have been at large, for
+that would have involved the danger of his being seen and recognized. He
+could not have been in any institution or place where he would be in
+contact with strangers. Then he must be in some sort of confinement. But
+it is difficult to keep an adult in confinement in an ordinary house.
+Such a proceeding would involve great risk of discovery and the use of
+violence which would leave traces on the body, to be observed and
+commented on at the inquest. What alternative method could be suggested?
+
+"The most obvious method is that of keeping the prisoner in such a state
+of debility as would confine him to his bed. But such debility could be
+produced by only starvation, unsuitable food, or chronic poisoning. Of
+these alternatives, poisoning is much more exact, more calculable in its
+effect and more under control. The probabilities, then, were in favour
+of chronic poisoning.
+
+"Having reached this stage, I recalled a singular case which Jervis had
+mentioned to me and which seemed to illustrate this method. On our
+return home I asked him for further particulars, and he then gave me a
+very detailed description of the patient and the circumstances. The
+upshot was rather startling. I had looked on his case as merely
+illustrative, and wished to study it for the sake of the suggestions
+that it might offer. But when I had heard his account, I began to
+suspect that there was something more than mere parallelism of method.
+It began to look as if his patient, Mr. Graves, might actually be
+Jeffrey Blackmore.
+
+"The coincidences were remarkable. The general appearance of the patient
+tallied completely with Mr. Stephen's description of his uncle Jeffrey.
+The patient had a tremulous iris in his right eye and had clearly
+suffered from dislocation of the crystalline lens. But from Mr.
+Stephen's account of his uncle's sudden loss of sight in the right eye
+after a fall, I judged that Jeffrey had also suffered from dislocation
+of the lens and therefore had a tremulous iris in the right eye. The
+patient, Graves, evidently had defective vision in his left eye, as
+proved by the marks made behind his ears by the hooked side-bars of his
+spectacles; for it is only on spectacles that are intended for constant
+use that we find hooked side-bars. But Jeffrey had defective vision in
+his left eye and wore spectacles constantly. Lastly, the patient Graves
+was suffering from chronic morphine poisoning, and morphine was found in
+the body of Jeffrey.
+
+"Once more, it appeared to me that there were too many coincidences.
+
+"The question as to whether Graves and Jeffrey were identical admitted
+of fairly easy disproof; for if Graves was still alive, he could not be
+Jeffrey. It was an important question and I resolved to test it without
+delay. That night, Jervis and I plotted out the chart, and on the
+following morning we located the house. But it was empty and to let.
+The birds had flown, and we failed to discover whither they had gone.
+
+"However, we entered the house and explored. I have told you about the
+massive bolts and fastenings that we found on the bedroom doors and
+window, showing that the room had been used as a prison. I have told you
+of the objects that we picked out of the dust-heap under the grate. Of
+the obvious suggestion offered by the Japanese brush and the bottle of
+'spirit gum' or cement, I need not speak now; but I must trouble you
+with some details concerning the broken spectacles. For here we had come
+upon the crucial fact to which, as I have said, all sound inductive
+reasoning brings one sooner or later.
+
+"The spectacles were of a rather peculiar pattern. The frames were of
+the type invented by Mr. Stopford of Moorfields and known by his name.
+The right eye-piece was fitted with plain glass, as is usual in the case
+of a blind, or useless, eye. It was very much shattered, but its
+character was obvious. The glass of the left eye was much thicker and
+fortunately less damaged, so that I was able accurately to test its
+refraction.
+
+"When I reached home, I laid the pieces of the spectacles together,
+measured the frames very carefully, tested the left eye-glass, and wrote
+down a full description such as would have been given by the surgeon to
+the spectacle-maker. Here it is, and I will ask you to note it
+carefully.
+
+"'Spectacles for constant use. Steel frame, Stopford's pattern, curl
+sides, broad bridge with gold lining. Distance between centres, 6.2
+centimetres; extreme length of side-bars, 13.3 centimetres.
+
+"'Right eye plain glass.
+
+"'Left eye -5.75 D. spherical
+            -------------------
+           -3.25 D. cylindrical axis 35 deg..'
+
+"The spectacles, you see, were of a very distinctive character and
+seemed to offer a good chance of identification. Stopford's frames are,
+I believe, made by only one firm of opticians in London, Parry & Cuxton
+of Regent Street. I therefore wrote to Mr. Cuxton, who knows me, asking
+him if he had supplied spectacles to the late Jeffrey Blackmore,
+Esq.--here is a copy of my letter--and if so, whether he would mind
+letting me have a full description of them, together with the name of
+the oculist who prescribed them.
+
+"He replied in this letter, which is pinned to the copy of mine, that,
+about four years ago, he supplied a pair of glasses to Mr. Jeffrey
+Blackmore, and described them thus: 'The spectacles were for constant
+use and had steel frames of Stopford's pattern with curl sides, the
+length of the side-bars including the curled ends being 13.3 cm. The
+bridge was broad with a gold lining-plate, shaped as shown by the
+enclosed tracing from the diagram on the prescription. Distance between
+centres 6.2 cm.
+
+"'Right eye plain glass.
+
+"'Left eye -5.75 D. spherical
+            -------------------
+           -3.25 D. cylindrical, axis 35 deg..'
+
+"'The spectacles were prescribed by Mr. Hindley of Wimpole Street.'
+
+"You see that Mr. Cuxton's description is identical with mine. However,
+for further confirmation, I wrote to Mr. Hindley, asking certain
+questions, to which he replied thus:
+
+"'You are quite right. Mr. Jeffrey Blackmore had a tremulous iris in his
+right eye (which was practically blind), due to dislocation of the lens.
+The pupils were rather large; certainly not contracted.'
+
+"Here, then, we have three important facts. One is that the spectacles
+found by us at Kennington Lane were undoubtedly Jeffrey's; for it is as
+unlikely that there exists another pair of spectacles exactly identical
+with those as that there exists another face exactly like Jeffrey's
+face. The second fact is that the description of Jeffrey tallies
+completely with that of the sick man, Graves, as given by Dr. Jervis;
+and the third is that when Jeffrey was seen by Mr. Hindley, there was no
+sign of his being addicted to the taking of morphine. The first and
+second facts, you will agree, constitute complete identification."
+
+"Yes," said Marchmont; "I think we must admit the identification as
+being quite conclusive, though the evidence is of a kind that is more
+striking to the medical than to the legal mind."
+
+"You will not have that complaint to make against the next item of
+evidence," said Thorndyke. "It is after the lawyer's own heart, as you
+shall hear. A few days ago I wrote to Mr. Stephen asking him if he
+possessed a recent photograph of his uncle Jeffrey. He had one, and he
+sent it to me by return. This portrait I showed to Dr. Jervis and asked
+him if he had ever seen the person it represented. After examining it
+attentively, without any hint whatever from me, he identified it as the
+portrait of the sick man, Graves."
+
+"Indeed!" exclaimed Marchmont. "This is most important. Are you prepared
+to swear to the identity, Dr. Jervis?"
+
+"I have not the slightest doubt," I replied, "that the portrait is that
+of Mr. Graves."
+
+"Excellent!" said Marchmont, rubbing his hands gleefully; "this will be
+much more convincing to a jury. Pray go on, Dr. Thorndyke."
+
+"That," said Thorndyke, "completes the first part of my investigation.
+We had now reached a definite, demonstrable fact; and that fact, as you
+see, disposed at once of the main question--the genuineness of the will.
+For if the man at Kennington Lane was Jeffrey Blackmore, then the man at
+New Inn was not. But it was the latter who had signed the will.
+Therefore the will was not signed by Jeffrey Blackmore; that is to say,
+it was a forgery. The case was complete for the purposes of the civil
+proceedings; the rest of my investigations had reference to the criminal
+prosecution that was inevitable. Shall I proceed, or is your interest
+confined to the will?"
+
+"Hang the will!" exclaimed Stephen. "I want to hear how you propose to
+lay hands on the villain who murdered poor old uncle Jeffrey--for I
+suppose he did murder him?"
+
+"I think there is no doubt of it," replied Thorndyke.
+
+"Then," said Marchmont, "we will hear the rest of the argument, if you
+please."
+
+"Very well," said Thorndyke. "As the evidence stands, we have proved
+that Jeffrey Blackmore was a prisoner in the house in Kennington Lane
+and that some one was personating him at New Inn. That some one, we have
+seen, was, in all probability, John Blackmore. We now have to consider
+the man Weiss. Who was he? and can we connect him in any way with New
+Inn?
+
+"We may note in passing that Weiss and the coachman were apparently one
+and the same person. They were never seen together. When Weiss was
+present, the coachman was not available even for so urgent a service as
+the obtaining of an antidote to the poison. Weiss always appeared some
+time after Jervis's arrival and disappeared some time before his
+departure, in each case sufficiently long to allow of a change of
+disguise. But we need not labour the point, as it is not of primary
+importance.
+
+"To return to Weiss. He was clearly heavily disguised, as we see by his
+unwillingness to show himself even by the light of a candle. But there
+is an item of positive evidence on this point which is important from
+having other bearings. It is furnished by the spectacles worn by Weiss,
+of which you have heard Jervis's description. These spectacles had very
+peculiar optical properties. When you looked <i>through</i> them they had the
+properties of plain glass; when you looked <i>at</i> them they had the
+appearance of lenses. But only one kind of glass possesses these
+properties; namely, that which, like an ordinary watch-glass, has
+curved, parallel surfaces. But for what purpose could a person wear
+'watch-glass' spectacles? Clearly, not to assist his vision. The only
+alternative is disguise.
+
+"The properties of these spectacles introduce a very curious and
+interesting feature into the case. To the majority of persons, the
+wearing of spectacles for the purpose of disguise or personation, seems
+a perfectly simple and easy proceeding. But, to a person of normal
+eyesight, it is nothing of the kind. For, if he wears spectacles suited
+for long sight he cannot see distinctly through them at all; while, if
+he wears concave, or near sight, glasses, the effort to see through them
+produces such strain and fatigue that his eyes become disabled
+altogether. On the stage the difficulty is met by using spectacles of
+plain window-glass, but in real life this would hardly do; the
+'property' spectacles would be detected at once and give rise to
+suspicion.
+
+"The personator is therefore in this dilemma: if he wears actual
+spectacles, he cannot see through them; if he wears sham spectacles of
+plain glass, his disguise will probably be detected. There is only one
+way out of the difficulty, and that not a very satisfactory one; but Mr.
+Weiss seems to have adopted it in lieu of a better. It is that of using
+watch-glass spectacles such as I have described.
+
+"Now, what do we learn from these very peculiar glasses? In the first
+place they confirm our opinion that Weiss was wearing a disguise. But,
+for use in a room so very dimly lighted, the ordinary stage spectacles
+would have answered quite well. The second inference is, then, that
+these spectacles were prepared to be worn under more trying conditions
+of light--out of doors, for instance. The third inference is that Weiss
+was a man with normal eyesight; for otherwise he could have worn real
+spectacles suited to the state of his vision.
+
+"These are inferences by the way, to which we may return. But these
+glasses furnish a much more important suggestion. On the floor of the
+bedroom at New Inn I found some fragments of glass which had been
+trodden on. By joining one or two of them together, we have been able to
+make out the general character of the object of which they formed parts.
+My assistant--who was formerly a watch-maker--judged that object to be
+the thin crystal glass of a lady's watch, and this, I think, was
+Jervis's opinion. But the small part which remains of the original edge
+furnishes proof in two respects that this was not a watch-glass. In the
+first place, on taking a careful tracing of this piece of the edge, I
+found that its curve was part of an ellipse; but watch-glasses,
+nowadays, are invariably circular. In the second place, watch-glasses
+are ground on the edge to a single bevel to snap into the bezel or
+frame; but the edge of this object was ground to a double bevel, like
+the edge of a spectacle-glass, which fits into a groove in the frame and
+is held by the side-bar screw. The inevitable inference was that this
+was a spectacle-glass. But, if so, it was part of a pair of spectacles
+identical in properties with those worn by Mr. Weiss.
+
+"The importance of this conclusion emerges when we consider the
+exceptional character of Mr. Weiss's spectacles. They were not merely
+peculiar or remarkable; they were probably unique. It is exceedingly
+likely that there is not in the entire world another similar pair of
+spectacles. Whence the finding of these fragments of glass in the
+bedroom establishes a considerable probability that Mr. Weiss was, at
+some time, in the chambers at New Inn.
+
+"And now let us gather up the threads of this part of the argument. We
+are inquiring into the identity of the man Weiss. Who was he?
+
+"In the first place, we find him committing a secret crime from which
+John Blackmore alone will benefit. This suggests the <i>prima-facie</i>
+probability that he was John Blackmore.
+
+"Then we find that he was a man of normal eyesight who was wearing
+spectacles for the purpose of disguise. But the tenant of New Inn, whom
+we have seen to be, almost certainly, John Blackmore--and whom we will,
+for the present, assume to have been John Blackmore--was a man with
+normal eyesight who wore spectacles for disguise.
+
+"John Blackmore did not reside at New Inn, but at some place within
+easy reach of it. But Weiss resided at a place within easy reach of New
+Inn.
+
+"John Blackmore must have had possession and control of the person of
+Jeffrey. But Weiss had possession and control of the person of Jeffrey.
+
+"Weiss wore spectacles of a certain peculiar and probably unique
+character. But portions of such spectacles were found in the chambers at
+New Inn.
+
+"The overwhelming probability, therefore, is that Weiss and the tenant
+of New Inn were one and the same person; and that that person was John
+Blackmore."
+
+"That," said Mr. Winwood, "is a very plausible argument. But, you
+observe, sir, that it contains an undistributed middle term."
+
+Thorndyke smiled genially. I think he forgave Winwood everything for
+that remark.
+
+"You are quite right, sir," he said. "It does. And, for that reason, the
+demonstration is not absolute. But we must not forget, what logicians
+seem occasionally to overlook: that the 'undistributed middle,' while it
+interferes with absolute proof, may be quite consistent with a degree of
+probability that approaches very near to certainty. Both the Bertillon
+system and the English fingerprint system involve a process of reasoning
+in which the middle term is undistributed. But the great probabilities
+are accepted in practice as equivalent to certainties."
+
+Mr. Winwood grunted a grudging assent, and Thorndyke resumed:
+
+"We have now furnished fairly conclusive evidence on three heads: we
+have proved that the sick man, Graves, was Jeffrey Blackmore; that the
+tenant of New Inn was John Blackmore; and that the man Weiss was also
+John Blackmore. We now have to prove that John and Jeffrey were together
+in the chambers at New Inn on the night of Jeffrey's death.
+
+"We know that two persons, and two persons only, came from Kennington
+Lane to New Inn. But one of those persons was the tenant of New
+Inn--that is, John Blackmore. Who was the other? Jeffrey is known by us
+to have been at Kennington Lane. His body was found on the following
+morning in the room at New Inn. No third person is known to have come
+from Kennington Lane; no third person is known to have arrived at New
+Inn. The inference, by exclusion, is that the second person--the
+woman--was Jeffrey.
+
+"Again; Jeffrey had to be brought from Kennington to the inn by John.
+But John was personating Jeffrey and was made up to resemble him very
+closely. If Jeffrey were undisguised the two men would be almost exactly
+alike; which would be very noticeable in any case and suspicious after
+the death of one of them. Therefore Jeffrey would have to be disguised
+in some way; and what disguise could be simpler and more effective than
+the one that I suggest was used?
+
+"Again; it was unavoidable that some one--the cabman--should know that
+Jeffrey was not alone when he came to the inn that night. If the fact
+had leaked out and it had become known that a man had accompanied him to
+his chambers, some suspicion might have arisen, and that suspicion would
+have pointed to John, who was directly interested in his brother's
+death. But if it had transpired that Jeffrey was accompanied by a woman,
+there would have been less suspicion, and that suspicion would not have
+pointed to John Blackmore.
+
+"Thus all the general probabilities are in favour of the hypothesis that
+this woman was Jeffrey Blackmore. There is, however, an item of positive
+evidence that strongly supports this view. When I examined the clothing
+of the deceased, I found on the trousers a horizontal crease on each leg
+as if the trousers had been turned up half-way to the knees. This
+appearance is quite understandable if we suppose that the trousers were
+worn under a skirt and were turned up so that they should not be
+accidentally seen. Otherwise it is quite incomprehensible."
+
+"Is it not rather strange," said Marchmont, "that Jeffrey should have
+allowed himself to be dressed up in this remarkable manner?"
+
+"I think not," replied Thorndyke. "There is no reason to suppose that he
+knew how he was dressed. You have heard Jervis's description of his
+condition; that of a mere automaton. You know that without his
+spectacles he was practically blind, and that he could not have worn
+them since we found them at the house in Kennington Lane. Probably his
+head was wrapped up in the veil, and the skirt and mantle put on
+afterwards; but, in any case, his condition rendered him practically
+devoid of will power. That is all the evidence I have to prove that the
+unknown woman was Jeffrey. It is not conclusive but it is convincing
+enough for our purpose, seeing that the case against John Blackmore does
+not depend upon it."
+
+"Your case against him is on the charge of murder, I presume?" said
+Stephen.
+
+"Undoubtedly. And you will notice that the statements made by the
+supposed Jeffrey to the porter, hinting at suicide, are now important
+evidence. By the light of what we know, the announcement of intended
+suicide becomes the announcement of intended murder. It conclusively
+disproves what it was intended to prove; that Jeffrey died by his own
+hand."
+
+"Yes, I see that," said Stephen, and then after a pause he asked: "Did
+you identify Mrs. Schallibaum? You have told us nothing about her."
+
+"I have considered her as being outside the case as far as I am
+concerned," replied Thorndyke. "She was an accessory; my business was
+with the principal. But, of course, she will be swept up in the net. The
+evidence that convicts John Blackmore will convict her. I have not
+troubled about her identity. If John Blackmore is married, she is
+probably his wife. Do you happen to know if he is married?"
+
+"Yes; but Mrs. John Blackmore is not much like Mrs. Schallibaum,
+excepting that she has a cast in the left eye. She is a dark woman with
+very heavy eyebrows."
+
+"That is to say that she differs from Mrs. Schallibaum in those
+peculiarities that can be artificially changed and resembles her in the
+one feature that is unchangeable. Do you know if her Christian name
+happens to be Pauline?"
+
+"Yes, it is. She was a Miss Pauline Hagenbeck, a member of an American
+theatrical company. What made you ask?"
+
+"The name which Jervis heard poor Jeffrey struggling to pronounce seemed
+to me to resemble Pauline more than any other name."
+
+"There is one little point that strikes me," said Marchmont. "Is it not
+rather remarkable that the porter should have noticed no difference
+between the body of Jeffrey and the living man whom he knew by sight,
+and who must, after all, have been distinctly different in appearance?"
+
+"I am glad you raised that question," Thorndyke replied, "for that very
+difficulty presented itself to me at the beginning of the case. But on
+thinking it over, I decided that it was an imaginary difficulty,
+assuming, as we do, that there was a good deal of resemblance between
+the two men. Put yourself in the porter's place and follow his mental
+processes. He is informed that a dead man is lying on the bed in Mr.
+Blackmore's rooms. Naturally, he assumes that the dead man is Mr.
+Blackmore--who, by the way, had hinted at suicide only the night before.
+With this idea he enters the chambers and sees a man a good deal like
+Mr. Blackmore and wearing Mr. Blackmore's clothes, lying on Mr.
+Blackmore's bed. The idea that the body could be that of some other
+person has never entered his mind. If he notes any difference of
+appearance he will put that down to the effects of death; for every one
+knows that a man dead looks somewhat different from the same man alive.
+I take it as evidence of great acuteness on the part of John Blackmore
+that he should have calculated so cleverly, not only the mental process
+of the porter, but the erroneous reasoning which every one would base on
+the porter's conclusions. For, since the body was actually Jeffrey's,
+and was identified by the porter as that of his tenant, it has been
+assumed by every one that no question was possible as to the identity of
+Jeffrey Blackmore and the tenant of New Inn."
+
+There was a brief silence, and then Marchmont asked:
+
+"May we take it that we have now heard all the evidence?"
+
+"Yes," replied Thorndyke. "That is my case."
+
+"Have you given information to the police?" Stephen asked eagerly.
+
+"Yes. As soon as I had obtained the statement of the cabman, Ridley, and
+felt that I had enough evidence to secure a conviction, I called at
+Scotland Yard and had an interview with the Assistant Commissioner. The
+case is in the hands of Superintendent Miller of the Criminal
+Investigation Department, a most acute and energetic officer. I have
+been expecting to hear that the warrant has been executed, for Mr.
+Miller is usually very punctilious in keeping me informed of the
+progress of the cases to which I introduce him. We shall hear to-morrow,
+no doubt."
+
+"And, for the present," said Marchmont, "the case seems to have passed
+out of our hands."
+
+"I shall enter a caveat, all the same," said Mr. Winwood.
+
+"That doesn't seem very necessary," Marchmont objected. "The evidence
+that we have heard is amply sufficient to ensure a conviction and there
+will be plenty more when the police go into the case. And a conviction
+on the charges of forgery and murder would, of course, invalidate the
+second will."
+
+"I shall enter a caveat, all the same," repeated Mr. Winwood.
+
+As the two partners showed a disposition to become heated over this
+question, Thorndyke suggested that they might discuss it at leisure by
+the light of subsequent events. Acting on this hint--for it was now
+close upon midnight--our visitors prepared to depart; and were, in fact,
+just making their way towards the door when the bell rang. Thorndyke
+flung open the door, and, as he recognized his visitor, greeted him with
+evident satisfaction.
+
+"Ha! Mr. Miller; we were just speaking of you. These gentlemen are Mr.
+Stephen Blackmore and his solicitors, Mr. Marchmont and Mr. Winwood. You
+know Dr. Jervis, I think."
+
+The officer bowed to our friends and remarked:
+
+"I am just in time, it seems. A few minutes more and I should have
+missed these gentlemen. I don't know what you'll think of my news."
+
+"You haven't let that villain escape, I hope," Stephen exclaimed.
+
+"Well," said the Superintendent, "he is out of my hands and yours too;
+and so is the woman. Perhaps I had better tell you what has happened."
+
+"If you would be so kind," said Thorndyke, motioning the officer to a
+chair.
+
+The superintendent seated himself with the manner of a man who has had a
+long and strenuous day, and forthwith began his story.
+
+"As soon as we had your information, we procured a warrant for the
+arrest of both parties, and then I went straight to their flat with
+Inspector Badger and a sergeant. There we learned from the attendant
+that they were away from home and were not expected back until to-day
+about noon. We kept a watch on the premises, and this morning, about the
+time appointed, a man and a woman, answering to the description, arrived
+at the flat. We followed them in and saw them enter the lift, and we
+were going to get into the lift too, when the man pulled the rope, and
+away they went. There was nothing for us to do but run up the stairs,
+which we did as fast as we could race; but they got to their landing
+first, and we were only just in time to see them nip in and shut the
+door. However, it seemed that we had them safe enough, for there was no
+dropping out of the windows at that height; so we sent the sergeant to
+get a locksmith to pick the lock or force the door, while we kept on
+ringing the bell.
+
+"About three minutes after the sergeant left, I happened to look out of
+the landing window and saw a hansom pull up opposite the flats. I put my
+head out of the window, and, hang me if I didn't see our two friends
+getting into the cab. It seems that there was a small lift inside the
+flat communicating with the kitchen, and they had slipped down it one at
+a time.
+
+"Well, of course, we raced down the stairs like acrobats, but by the
+time we got to the bottom the cab was off with a fine start. We ran out
+into Victoria Street, and there we could see it half-way down the street
+and going like a chariot race. We managed to pick up another hansom and
+told the cabby to keep the other one in sight, and away we went like the
+very deuce; along Victoria Street and Broad Sanctuary, across Parliament
+Square, over Westminster Bridge and along York Road; we kept the other
+beggar in sight, but we couldn't gain an inch on him. Then we turned
+into Waterloo Station, and, as we were driving up the slope we met
+another hansom coming down; and when the cabby kissed his hand and
+smiled at us, we guessed that he was the sportsman we had been
+following.
+
+"But there was no time to ask questions. It is an awkward station with a
+lot of different exits, and it looked a good deal as if our quarry had
+got away. However, I took a chance. I remembered that the Southampton
+express was due to start about this time, and I took a short cut across
+the lines and made for the platform that it starts from. Just as Badger
+and I got to the end, about thirty yards from the rear of the train, we
+saw a man and a woman running in front of us. Then the guard blew his
+whistle and the train began to move. The man and the woman managed to
+scramble into one of the rear compartments and Badger and I raced up the
+platform like mad. A porter tried to head us off, but Badger capsized
+him and we both sprinted harder than ever, and just hopped on the
+foot-board of the guard's van as the train began to get up speed. The
+guard couldn't risk putting us off, so he had to let us into his van,
+which suited us exactly, as we could watch the train on both sides from
+the look-out. And we did watch, I can tell you; for our friend in front
+had seen us. His head was out of the window as we climbed on to the
+foot-board.
+
+"However, nothing happened until we stopped at Southampton West. There,
+I need not say, we lost no time in hopping out, for we naturally
+expected our friends to make a rush for the exit. But they didn't.
+Badger watched the platform, and I kept a look-out to see that they
+didn't slip away across the line from the off-side. But still there was
+no sign of them. Then I walked up the train to the compartment which I
+had seen them enter. And there they were, apparently fast asleep in the
+corner by the off-side window, the man leaning back with his mouth open
+and the woman resting against him with her head on his shoulder. She
+gave me quite a turn when I went in to look at them, for she had her
+eyes half-closed and seemed to be looking round at me with a most
+horrible expression; but I found afterwards that the peculiar appearance
+of looking round was due to the cast in her eye."
+
+"They were dead, I suppose?" said Thorndyke.
+
+"Yes, sir. Stone dead; and I found these on the floor of the carriage."
+
+He held up two tiny yellow glass tubes, each labelled "Hypodermic
+tabloids. Aconitine Nitrate gr. 1/640."
+
+"Ha!" exclaimed Thorndyke, "this fellow was well up in alkaloidal
+poisons, it seems; and they appear to have gone about prepared for
+emergencies. These tubes each contained twenty tabloids, a thirty-second
+of a grain altogether, so we may assume that about twelve times the
+medicinal dose was swallowed. Death must have occurred in a few minutes,
+and a merciful death too."
+
+"A more merciful death than they deserved," exclaimed Stephen, "when one
+thinks of the misery and suffering that they inflicted on poor old uncle
+Jeffrey. I would sooner have had them hanged."
+
+"It's better as it is, sir," said Miller. "There is no need, now, to
+raise any questions in detail at the inquest. The publicity of a trial
+for murder would have been very unpleasant for you. I wish Dr. Jervis
+had given the tip to me instead of to that confounded,
+over-cautious--but there, I mustn't run down my brother officers: and
+it's easy to be wise after the event.
+
+"Good night, gentlemen. I suppose this accident disposes of your
+business as far as the will is concerned?"
+
+"I suppose it does," agreed Mr. Winwood. "But I shall enter a caveat,
+all the same."
+
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Mystery of 31 New Inn, by R. Austin Freeman
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #12187 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12187)
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+Project Gutenberg's The Mystery of 31 New Inn, by R. Austin Freeman
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Mystery of 31 New Inn
+
+Author: R. Austin Freeman
+
+Release Date: April 28, 2004 [EBook #12187]
+Last updated: February 3, 2011
+Last updated: November 25, 1012
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MYSTERY OF 31 NEW INN ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Steven desJardins and Distributed Proofreaders
+
+
+
+
+
+THE MYSTERY OF 31 NEW INN
+
+BY R. AUSTIN FREEMAN
+
+Author of "The Red Thumb Mark,"
+"The Eye of Osiris," etc.
+
+
+
+
+TO MY FRIEND
+
+BERNARD E. BISHOP
+
+
+
+
+Preface
+
+
+Commenting upon one of my earlier novels, in respect of which I had
+claimed to have been careful to adhere to common probabilities and to
+have made use only of really practicable methods of investigation, a
+critic remarked that this was of no consequence whatever, so long as the
+story was amusing.
+
+Few people, I imagine, will agree with him. To most readers, and
+certainly to the kind of reader for whom an author is willing to take
+trouble, complete realism in respect of incidents and methods is an
+essential factor in maintaining the interest of a detective story. Hence
+it may be worth while to mention that Thorndyke's method of producing
+the track chart, described in Chapters II and III, has been actually
+used in practice. It is a modification of one devised by me many years
+ago when I was crossing Ashanti to the city of Bontuku, the whereabouts
+of which in the far interior was then only vaguely known. My
+instructions were to fix the positions of all towns, villages, rivers
+and mountains as accurately as possible; but finding ordinary methods of
+surveying impracticable in the dense forest which covers the whole
+region, I adopted this simple and apparently rude method, checking the
+distances whenever possible by astronomical observation.
+
+The resulting route-map was surprisingly accurate, as shown by the
+agreement of the outward and homeward tracks, It was published by the
+Royal Geographical Society, and incorporated in the map of this region
+compiled by the Intelligence Branch of the War Office, and it formed the
+basis of the map which accompanied my volume of <i>Travels in Ashanti and
+Jaman</i>. So that Thorndyke's plan must be taken as quite a practicable
+one.
+
+New Inn, the background of this story, and one of the last surviving
+inns of Chancery, has recently passed away after upwards of four
+centuries of newness. Even now, however, a few of the old, dismantled
+houses (including perhaps, the mysterious 31) may be seen from the
+Strand peeping over the iron roof of the skating rink which has
+displaced the picturesque hall, the pension-room and the garden. The
+postern gate, too, in Houghton Street still remains, though the arch is
+bricked up inside. Passing it lately, I made the rough sketch which
+appears on next page, and which shows all that is left of this pleasant
+old London backwater.
+
+R. A. F.
+
+GRAVESEND
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: New Inn]
+
+
+
+
+Contents
+
+
+CHAPTER.
+
+   I  THE MYSTERIOUS PATIENT
+  II  THORNDYKE DEVISES A SCHEME
+ III  "A CHIEL'S AMANG YE TAKIN' NOTES"
+  IV  THE OFFICIAL VIEW
+   V  JEFFREY BLACKMORE'S WILL
+  VI  JEFFREY BLACKMORE, DECEASED
+ VII  THE CUNEIFORM INSCRIPTION
+VIII THE TRACK CHART
+  IX  THE HOUSE OF MYSTERY
+   X  THE HUNTER HUNTED
+  XI  THE BLACKMORE CASE REVIEWED
+ XII  THE PORTRAIT
+XIII  THE STATEMENT OF SAMUEL WILKINS
+ XIV  THORNDYKE LAYS THE MINE
+  XV  THORNDYKE EXPLODES THE MINE
+ XVI  AN EXPOSITION AND A TRAGEDY
+
+
+
+
+Chapter I
+
+The Mysterious Patient
+
+
+As I look back through the years of my association with John Thorndyke,
+I am able to recall a wealth of adventures and strange experiences such
+as falls to the lot of very few men who pass their lives within hearing
+of Big Ben. Many of these experiences I have already placed on record;
+but it now occurs to me that I have hitherto left unrecorded one that
+is, perhaps, the most astonishing and incredible of the whole series; an
+adventure, too, that has for me the added interest that it inaugurated
+my permanent association with my learned and talented friend, and marked
+the close of a rather unhappy and unprosperous period of my life.
+
+Memory, retracing the journey through the passing years to the
+starting-point of those strange events, lands me in a shabby little
+ground-floor room in a house near the Walworth end of Lower Kennington
+Lane. A couple of framed diplomas on the wall, a card of Snellen's
+test-types and a stethoscope lying on the writing-table, proclaim it a
+doctor's consulting-room; and my own position in the round-backed chair
+at the said table, proclaims me the practitioner in charge.
+
+It was nearly nine o'clock. The noisy little clock on the mantelpiece
+announced the fact, and, by its frantic ticking, seemed as anxious as I
+to get the consultation hours over. I glanced wistfully at my
+mud-splashed boots and wondered if I might yet venture to assume the
+slippers that peeped coyly from under the shabby sofa. I even allowed my
+thoughts to wander to the pipe that reposed in my coat pocket. Another
+minute and I could turn down the surgery gas and shut the outer door.
+The fussy little clock gave a sort of preliminary cough or hiccup, as if
+it should say: "Ahem! ladies and gentlemen, I am about to strike." And
+at that moment, the bottle-boy opened the door and, thrusting in his
+head, uttered the one word: "Gentleman."
+
+Extreme economy of words is apt to result in ambiguity. But I
+understood. In Kennington Lane, the race of mere men and women appeared
+to be extinct. They were all gentlemen--unless they were ladies or
+children--even as the Liberian army was said to consist entirely of
+generals. Sweeps, labourers, milkmen, costermongers--all were
+impartially invested by the democratic bottle-boy with the rank and
+title of <i>armigeri</i>. The present nobleman appeared to favour the
+aristocratic recreation of driving a cab or job-master's carriage, and,
+as he entered the room, he touched his hat, closed the door somewhat
+carefully, and then, without remark, handed me a note which bore the
+superscription "Dr. Stillbury."
+
+"You understand," I said, as I prepared to open the envelope, "that I
+am not Dr. Stillbury. He is away at present and I am looking after his
+patients."
+
+"It doesn't signify," the man replied. "You'll do as well."
+
+On this, I opened the envelope and read the note, which was quite brief,
+and, at first sight, in no way remarkable.
+
+"DEAR SIR," it ran, "Would you kindly come and see a friend of mine who
+is staying with me? The bearer of this will give you further particulars
+and convey you to the house. Yours truly, H. WEISS."
+
+There was no address on the paper and no date, and the writer was
+unknown to me.
+
+"This note," I said, "refers to some further particulars. What are
+they?"
+
+The messenger passed his hand over his hair with a gesture of
+embarrassment. "It's a ridicklus affair," he said, with a contemptuous
+laugh. "If I had been Mr. Weiss, I wouldn't have had nothing to do with
+it. The sick gentleman, Mr. Graves, is one of them people what can't
+abear doctors. He's been ailing now for a week or two, but nothing would
+induce him to see a doctor. Mr. Weiss did everything he could to
+persuade him, but it was no go. He wouldn't. However, it seems Mr. Weiss
+threatened to send for a medical man on his own account, because, you
+see, he was getting a bit nervous; and then Mr. Graves gave way. But
+only on one condition. He said the doctor was to come from a distance
+and was not to be told who he was or where he lived or anything about
+him; and he made Mr. Weiss promise to keep to that condition before he'd
+let him send. So Mr. Weiss promised, and, of course, he's got to keep
+his word."
+
+"But," I said, with a smile, "you've just told me his name--if his name
+really is Graves."
+
+"You can form your own opinion on that," said the coachman.
+
+"And," I added, "as to not being told where he lives, I can see that for
+myself. I'm not blind, you know."
+
+"We'll take the risk of what you see," the man replied. "The question
+is, will you take the job on?"
+
+Yes; that was the question, and I considered it for some time before
+replying. We medical men are pretty familiar with the kind of person who
+"can't abear doctors," and we like to have as little to do with him as
+possible. He is a thankless and unsatisfactory patient. Intercourse with
+him is unpleasant, he gives a great deal of trouble and responds badly
+to treatment. If this had been my own practice, I should have declined
+the case off-hand. But it was not my practice. I was only a deputy. I
+could not lightly refuse work which would yield a profit to my
+principal, unpleasant though it might be.
+
+As I turned the matter over in my mind, I half unconsciously scrutinized
+my visitor--somewhat to his embarrassment--and I liked his appearance
+as little as I liked his mission. He kept his station near the door,
+where the light was dim--for the illumination was concentrated on the
+table and the patient's chair--but I could see that he had a somewhat
+sly, unprepossessing face and a greasy, red moustache that seemed out of
+character with his rather perfunctory livery; though this was mere
+prejudice. He wore a wig, too--not that there was anything discreditable
+in that--and the thumb-nail of the hand that held his hat bore
+disfiguring traces of some injury--which, again, though unsightly, in no
+wise reflected on his moral character. Lastly, he watched me keenly with
+a mixture of anxiety and sly complacency that I found distinctly
+unpleasant. In a general way, he impressed me disagreeably. I did not
+like the look of him at all; but nevertheless I decided to undertake the
+case.
+
+"I suppose," I answered, at length, "it is no affair of mine who the
+patient is or where he lives. But how do you propose to manage the
+business? Am I to be led to the house blindfolded, like the visitor to
+the bandit's cave?"
+
+The man grinned slightly and looked very decidedly relieved.
+
+"No, sir," he answered; "we ain't going to blindfold you. I've got a
+carriage outside. I don't think you'll see much out of that."
+
+"Very well," I rejoined, opening the door to let him out, "I'll be with
+you in a minute. I suppose you can't give me any idea as to what is the
+matter with the patient?"
+
+"No, sir, I can't," he replied; and he went out to see to the carriage.
+
+I slipped into a bag an assortment of emergency drugs and a few
+diagnostic instruments, turned down the gas and passed out through the
+surgery. The carriage was standing at the kerb, guarded by the coachman
+and watched with deep interest by the bottle-boy. I viewed it with
+mingled curiosity and disfavour. It was a kind of large brougham, such
+as is used by some commercial travellers, the usual glass windows being
+replaced by wooden shutters intended to conceal the piles of
+sample-boxes, and the doors capable of being locked from outside with a
+railway key.
+
+As I emerged from the house, the coachman unlocked the door and held it
+open.
+
+"How long will the journey take?" I asked, pausing with my foot on the
+step.
+
+The coachman considered a moment or two and replied:
+
+"It took me, I should say, nigh upon half an hour to get here."
+
+This was pleasant hearing. A half an hour each way and a half an hour at
+the patient's house. At that rate it would be half-past ten before I was
+home again, and then it was quite probable that I should find some other
+untimely messenger waiting on the doorstep. With a muttered anathema on
+the unknown Mr. Graves and the unrestful life of a locum tenens, I
+stepped into the uninviting vehicle. Instantly the coachman slammed the
+door and turned the key, leaving me in total darkness.
+
+One comfort was left to me; my pipe was in my pocket. I made shift to
+load it in the dark, and, having lit it with a wax match, took the
+opportunity to inspect the interior of my prison. It was a shabby
+affair. The moth-eaten state of the blue cloth cushions seemed to
+suggest that it had been long out of regular use; the oil-cloth
+floor-covering was worn into holes; ordinary internal fittings there
+were none. But the appearances suggested that the crazy vehicle had been
+prepared with considerable forethought for its present use. The inside
+handles of the doors had apparently been removed; the wooden shutters
+were permanently fixed in their places; and a paper label, stuck on the
+transom below each window, had a suspicious appearance of having been
+put there to cover the painted name and address of the job-master or
+livery-stable keeper who had originally owned the carriage.
+
+These observations gave me abundant food for reflection. This Mr. Weiss
+must be an excessively conscientious man if he had considered that his
+promise to Mr. Graves committed him to such extraordinary precautions.
+Evidently no mere following of the letter of the law was enough to
+satisfy his sensitive conscience. Unless he had reasons for sharing Mr.
+Graves's unreasonable desire for secrecy--for one could not suppose that
+these measures of concealment had been taken by the patient himself.
+
+The further suggestions that evolved themselves from this consideration
+were a little disquieting. Whither was I being carried and for what
+purpose? The idea that I was bound for some den of thieves where I
+might be robbed and possibly murdered, I dismissed with a smile. Thieves
+do not make elaborately concerted plans to rob poor devils like me.
+Poverty has its compensations in that respect. But there were other
+possibilities. Imagination backed by experience had no difficulty in
+conjuring up a number of situations in which a medical man might be
+called upon, with or without coercion, either to witness or actively to
+participate in the commission of some unlawful act.
+
+Reflections of this kind occupied me pretty actively if not very
+agreeably during this strange journey. And the monotony was relieved,
+too, by other distractions. I was, for example, greatly interested to
+notice how, when one sense is in abeyance, the other senses rouse into a
+compensating intensity of perception. I sat smoking my pipe in darkness
+which was absolute save for the dim glow from the smouldering tobacco in
+the bowl, and seemed to be cut off from all knowledge of the world
+without. But yet I was not. The vibrations of the carriage, with its
+hard springs and iron-tired wheels, registered accurately and plainly
+the character of the roadway. The harsh rattle of granite setts, the
+soft bumpiness of macadam, the smooth rumble of wood-pavement, the
+jarring and swerving of crossed tram-lines; all were easily recognizable
+and together sketched the general features of the neighbourhood through
+which I was passing. And the sense of hearing filled in the details. Now
+the hoot of a tug's whistle told of proximity to the river. A sudden
+and brief hollow reverberation announced the passage under a railway
+arch (which, by the way, happened several times during the journey);
+and, when I heard the familiar whistle of a railway-guard followed by
+the quick snorts of a skidding locomotive, I had as clear a picture of a
+heavy passenger-train moving out of a station as if I had seen it in
+broad daylight.
+
+I had just finished my pipe and knocked out the ashes on the heel of my
+boot, when the carriage slowed down and entered a covered way--as I
+could tell by the hollow echoes. Then I distinguished the clang of heavy
+wooden gates closed behind me, and a moment or two later the carriage
+door was unlocked and opened. I stepped out blinking into a covered
+passage paved with cobbles and apparently leading down to a mews; but it
+was all in darkness, and I had no time to make any detailed
+observations, as the carriage had drawn up opposite a side door which
+was open and in which stood a woman holding a lighted candle.
+
+"Is that the doctor?" she asked, speaking with a rather pronounced
+German accent and shading the candle with her hand as she peered at me.
+
+I answered in the affirmative, and she then exclaimed:
+
+"I am glad you have come. Mr. Weiss will be so relieved. Come in,
+please."
+
+I followed her across a dark passage into a dark room, where she set the
+candle down on a chest of drawers and turned to depart. At the door,
+however, she paused and looked back.
+
+"It is not a very nice room to ask you into," she said. "We are very
+untidy just now, but you must excuse us. We have had so much anxiety
+about poor Mr. Graves."
+
+"He has been ill some time, then?"
+
+"Yes. Some little time. At intervals, you know. Sometimes better,
+sometimes not so well."
+
+As she spoke, she gradually backed out into the passage but did not go
+away at once. I accordingly pursued my inquiries.
+
+"He has not been seen by any doctor, has he?"
+
+"No," she answered, "he has always refused to see a doctor. That has
+been a great trouble to us. Mr. Weiss has been very anxious about him.
+He will be so glad to hear that you have come. I had better go and tell
+him. Perhaps you will kindly sit down until he is able to come to you,"
+and with this she departed on her mission.
+
+It struck me as a little odd that, considering his anxiety and the
+apparent urgency of the case, Mr. Weiss should not have been waiting to
+receive me. And when several minutes elapsed without his appearing, the
+oddness of the circumstance impressed me still more. Having no desire,
+after the journey in the carriage, to sit down, I whiled away the time
+by an inspection of the room. And a very curious room it was; bare,
+dirty, neglected and, apparently, unused. A faded carpet had been flung
+untidily on the floor. A small, shabby table stood in the middle of the
+room; and beyond this, three horsehair-covered chairs and a chest of
+drawers formed the entire set of furniture. No pictures hung on the
+mouldy walls, no curtains covered the shuttered windows, and the dark
+drapery of cobwebs that hung from the ceiling to commemorate a long and
+illustrious dynasty of spiders hinted at months of neglect and disuse.
+
+The chest of drawers--an incongruous article of furniture for what
+seemed to be a dining-room--as being the nearest and best lighted object
+received most of my attention. It was a fine old chest of nearly black
+mahogany, very battered and in the last stage of decay, but originally a
+piece of some pretensions. Regretful of its fallen estate, I looked it
+over with some interest and had just observed on its lower corner a
+little label bearing the printed inscription "Lot 201" when I heard
+footsteps descending the stairs. A moment later the door opened and a
+shadowy figure appeared standing close by the threshold.
+
+"Good evening, doctor," said the stranger, in a deep, quiet voice and
+with a distinct, though not strong, German accent. "I must apologize for
+keeping you waiting."
+
+I acknowledged the apology somewhat stiffly and asked: "You are Mr.
+Weiss, I presume?"
+
+"Yes, I am Mr. Weiss. It is very good of you to come so far and so late
+at night and to make no objection to the absurd conditions that my poor
+friend has imposed."
+
+"Not at all," I replied. "It is my business to go when and where I am
+wanted, and it is not my business to inquire into the private affairs of
+my patients."
+
+"That is very true, sir," he agreed cordially, "and I am much obliged
+to you for taking that very proper view of the case. I pointed that out
+to my friend, but he is not a very reasonable man. He is very secretive
+and rather suspicious by nature."
+
+"So I inferred. And as to his condition; is he seriously ill?"
+
+"Ah," said Mr. Weiss, "that is what I want you to tell me. I am very
+much puzzled about him."
+
+"But what is the nature of his illness? What does he complain of?"
+
+"He makes very few complaints of any kind although he is obviously ill.
+But the fact is that he is hardly ever more than half awake. He lies in
+a kind of dreamy stupor from morning to night."
+
+This struck me as excessively strange and by no means in agreement with
+the patient's energetic refusal to see a doctor.
+
+"But," I asked, "does he never rouse completely?"
+
+"Oh, yes," Mr. Weiss answered quickly; "he rouses from time to time and
+is then quite rational, and, as you may have gathered, rather obstinate.
+That is the peculiar and puzzling feature in the case; this alternation
+between a state of stupor and an almost normal and healthy condition.
+But perhaps you had better see him and judge for yourself. He had a
+rather severe attack just now. Follow me, please. The stairs are rather
+dark."
+
+The stairs were very dark, and I noticed that they were without any
+covering of carpet, or even oil-cloth, so that our footsteps resounded
+dismally as if we were in an empty house. I stumbled up after my guide,
+feeling my way by the hand-rail, and on the first floor followed him
+into a room similar in size to the one below and very barely furnished,
+though less squalid than the other. A single candle at the farther end
+threw its feeble light on a figure in the bed, leaving the rest of the
+room in a dim twilight.
+
+As Mr. Weiss tiptoed into the chamber, a woman--the one who had spoken
+to me below--rose from a chair by the bedside and quietly left the room
+by a second door. My conductor halted, and looking fixedly at the figure
+in the bed, called out:
+
+"Philip! Philip! Here is the doctor come to see you."
+
+He paused for a moment or two, and, receiving no answer, said: "He seems
+to be dozing as usual. Will you go and see what you can make of him?"
+
+I stepped forward to the bedside, leaving Mr. Weiss at the end of the
+room near the door by which we had entered, where he remained, slowly
+and noiselessly pacing backwards and forwards in the semi-obscurity. By
+the light of the candle I saw an elderly man with good features and a
+refined, intelligent and even attractive face, but dreadfully emaciated,
+bloodless and sallow. He lay quite motionless except for the scarcely
+perceptible rise and fall of his chest; his eyes were nearly closed, his
+features relaxed, and, though he was not actually asleep, he seemed to
+be in a dreamy, somnolent, lethargic state, as if under the influence of
+some narcotic.
+
+I watched him for a minute or so, timing his slow breathing by my
+watch, and then suddenly and sharply addressed him by name; but the only
+response was a slight lifting of the eyelids, which, after a brief,
+drowsy glance at me, slowly subsided to their former position.
+
+I now proceeded to make a physical examination. First, I felt his pulse,
+grasping his wrist with intentional brusqueness in the hope of rousing
+him from his stupor. The beats were slow, feeble and slightly irregular,
+giving clear evidence, if any were needed, of his generally lowered
+vitality. I listened carefully to his heart, the sounds of which were
+very distinct through the thin walls of his emaciated chest, but found
+nothing abnormal beyond the feebleness and uncertainty of its action.
+Then I turned my attention to his eyes, which I examined closely with
+the aid of the candle and my ophthalmoscope lens, raising the lids
+somewhat roughly so as to expose the whole of the irises. He submitted
+without resistance to my rather ungentle handling of these sensitive
+structures, and showed no signs of discomfort even when I brought the
+candle-flame to within a couple of inches of his eyes.
+
+But this extraordinary tolerance of light was easily explained by closer
+examination; for the pupils were contracted to such an extreme degree
+that only the very minutest point of black was visible at the centre of
+the grey iris. Nor was this the only abnormal peculiarity of the sick
+man's eyes. As he lay on his back, the right iris sagged down slightly
+towards its centre, showing a distinctly concave surface; and, when I
+contrived to produce a slight but quick movement of the eyeball, a
+perceptible undulatory movement could be detected. The patient had, in
+fact, what is known as a tremulous iris, a condition that is seen in
+cases where the crystalline lens has been extracted for the cure of
+cataract, or where it has become accidentally displaced, leaving the
+iris unsupported. In the present case, the complete condition of the
+iris made it clear that the ordinary extraction operation had not been
+performed, nor was I able, on the closest inspection with the aid of my
+lens, to find any trace of the less common "needle operation." The
+inference was that the patient had suffered from the accident known as
+"dislocation of the lens"; and this led to the further inference that he
+was almost or completely blind in the right eye.
+
+This conclusion was, indeed, to some extent negatived by a deep
+indentation on the bridge of the nose, evidently produced by spectacles,
+and by marks which I looked for and found behind the ears, corresponding
+to the hooks or "curl sides" of the glasses. For those spectacles which
+are fitted with curl sides to hook over the ears are usually intended to
+be worn habitually, and this agreed with the indentation on the nose;
+which was deeper than would have been accounted for by the merely
+occasional use of spectacles for reading. But if only one eye was
+useful, a single eye-glass would have answered the purpose; not that
+there was any weight in this objection, for a single eye-glass worn
+constantly would be much less convenient than a pair of hook-sided
+spectacles.
+
+As to the nature of the patient's illness, only one opinion seemed
+possible. It was a clear and typical case of opium or morphine
+poisoning. To this conclusion all his symptoms seemed to point with
+absolute certainty. The coated tongue, which he protruded slowly and
+tremulously in response to a command bawled in his ear; his yellow skin
+and ghastly expression; his contracted pupils and the stupor from which
+he could hardly be roused by the roughest handling and which yet did not
+amount to actual insensibility; all these formed a distinct and coherent
+group of symptoms, not only pointing plainly to the nature of the drug,
+but also suggesting a very formidable dose.
+
+But this conclusion in its turn raised a very awkward and difficult
+question. If a large--a poisonous--dose of the drug had been taken, how,
+and by whom had that dose been administered? The closest scrutiny of
+the patient's arms and legs failed to reveal a single mark such as would
+be made by a hypodermic needle. This man was clearly no common
+morphinomaniac; and in the absence of the usual sprinkling of
+needlemarks, there was nothing to show or suggest whether the drug had
+been taken voluntarily by the patient himself or administered by someone
+else.
+
+And then there remained the possibility that I might, after all, be
+mistaken in my diagnosis. I felt pretty confident. But the wise man
+always holds a doubt in reserve. And, in the present case, having regard
+to the obviously serious condition of the patient, such a doubt was
+eminently disturbing. Indeed, as I pocketed my stethoscope and took a
+last look at the motionless, silent figure, I realized that my position
+was one of extraordinary difficulty and perplexity. On the one hand my
+suspicions--aroused, naturally enough, by the very unusual circumstances
+that surrounded my visit--inclined me to extreme reticence; while, on
+the other, it was evidently my duty to give any information that might
+prove serviceable to the patient.
+
+As I turned away from the bed Mr. Weiss stopped his slow pacing to and
+fro and faced me. The feeble light of the candle now fell on him, and I
+saw him distinctly for the first time. He did not impress me favourably.
+He was a thick-set, round-shouldered man, a typical fair German with
+tow-coloured hair, greased and brushed down smoothly, a large, ragged,
+sandy beard and coarse, sketchy features. His nose was large and thick
+with a bulbous end, and inclined to a reddish purple, a tint which
+extended to the adjacent parts of his face as if the colour had run. His
+eyebrows were large and beetling, overhanging deep-set eyes, and he wore
+a pair of spectacles which gave him a somewhat owlish expression. His
+exterior was unprepossessing, and I was in a state of mind that rendered
+me easily receptive of an unfavourable impression.
+
+"Well," he said, "what do you make of him?" I hesitated, still perplexed
+by the conflicting necessities of caution and frankness, but at length
+replied:
+
+"I think rather badly of him, Mr. Weiss. He is in a very low state."
+
+"Yes, I can see that. But have you come to any decision as to the nature
+of his illness?"
+
+There was a tone of anxiety and suppressed eagerness in the question
+which, while it was natural enough in the circumstances, by no means
+allayed my suspicions, but rather influenced me on the side of caution.
+
+"I cannot give a very definite opinion at present," I replied guardedly.
+"The symptoms are rather obscure and might very well indicate several
+different conditions. They might be due to congestion of the brain, and,
+if no other explanation were possible, I should incline to that view.
+The alternative is some narcotic poison, such as opium or morphia."
+
+"But that is quite impossible. There is no such drug in the house, and
+as he never leaves his room now, he could not get any from outside."
+
+"What about the servants?" I asked.
+
+"There are no servants excepting my housekeeper, and she is absolutely
+trustworthy."
+
+"He might have some store of the drug that you are not aware of. Is he
+left alone much?"
+
+"Very seldom indeed. I spend as much time with him as I can, and when I
+am not able to be in the room, Mrs Schallibaum, my housekeeper, sits
+with him."
+
+"Is he often as drowsy as he is now?"
+
+"Oh, very often; in fact, I should say that is his usual condition. He
+rouses up now and again, and then he is quite lucid and natural for,
+perhaps, an hour or so; but presently he becomes drowsy again and doses
+off, and remains asleep, or half asleep, for hours on end. Do you know
+of any disease that takes people in that way?"
+
+"No," I answered. "The symptoms are not exactly like those of any
+disease that is known to me. But they are much very like those of opium
+poisoning."
+
+"But, my dear sir," Mr. Weiss retorted impatiently, "since it is clearly
+impossible that it can be opium poisoning, it must be something else.
+Now, what else can it be? You were speaking of congestion of the brain."
+
+"Yes. But the objection to that is the very complete recovery that seems
+to take place in the intervals."
+
+"I would not say very complete," said Mr. Weiss. "The recovery is rather
+comparative. He is lucid and fairly natural in his manner, but he is
+still dull and lethargic. He does not, for instance, show any desire to
+go out, or even to leave his room."
+
+I pondered uncomfortably on these rather contradictory statements.
+Clearly Mr. Weiss did not mean to entertain the theory of opium
+poisoning; which was natural enough if he had no knowledge of the drug
+having been used. But still--
+
+"I suppose," said Mr. Weiss, "you have experience of sleeping sickness?"
+
+The suggestion startled me. I had not. Very few people had. At that time
+practically nothing was known about the disease. It was a mere
+pathological curiosity, almost unheard of excepting by a few
+practitioners in remote parts of Africa, and hardly referred to in the
+text-books. Its connection with the trypanosome-bearing insects was as
+yet unsuspected, and, to me, its symptoms were absolutely unknown.
+
+"No, I have not," I replied. "The disease is nothing more than a name to
+me. But why do you ask? Has Mr. Graves been abroad?"
+
+"Yes. He has been travelling for the last three or four years, and I
+know that he spent some time recently in West Africa, where this disease
+occurs. In fact, it was from him that I first heard about it."
+
+This was a new fact. It shook my confidence in my diagnosis very
+considerably, and inclined me to reconsider my suspicions. If Mr. Weiss
+was lying to me, he now had me at a decided disadvantage.
+
+"What do you think?" he asked. "Is it possible that this can be sleeping
+sickness?"
+
+"I should not like to say that it is impossible," I replied. "The
+disease is practically unknown to me. I have never practised out of
+England and have had no occasion to study it. Until I have looked the
+subject up, I should not be in a position to give an opinion. Of course,
+if I could see Mr. Graves in one of what we may call his 'lucid
+intervals' I should be able to form a better idea. Do you think that
+could be managed?"
+
+"It might. I see the importance of it and will certainly do my best; but
+he is a difficult man; a very difficult man. I sincerely hope it is not
+sleeping sickness."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because--as I understood from him--that disease is invariably fatal,
+sooner or later. There seem to be no cure. Do you think you will be able
+to decide when you see him again?"
+
+"I hope so," I replied. "I shall look up the authorities and see exactly
+what the symptoms are--that is, so far as they are known; but my
+impression is that there is very little information available."
+
+"And in the meantime?"
+
+"We will give him some medicine and attend to his general condition, and
+you had better let me see him again as soon as possible." I was about to
+say that the effect of the medicine itself might throw some light on the
+patient's condition, but, as I proposed to treat him for morphine
+poisoning, I thought it wiser to keep this item of information to
+myself. Accordingly, I confined myself to a few general directions as to
+the care of the patient, to which Mr. Weiss listened attentively. "And,"
+I concluded, "we must not lose sight of the opium question. You had
+better search the room carefully and keep a close watch on the patient,
+especially during his intervals of wakefulness."
+
+"Very well, doctor," Mr. Weiss replied, "I will do all that you tell me
+and I will send for you again as soon as possible, if you do not object
+to poor Graves's ridiculous conditions. And now, if you will allow me to
+pay your fee, I will go and order the carriage while you are writing the
+prescription."
+
+"There is no need for a prescription," I said. "I will make up some
+medicine and give it to the coachman."
+
+Mr. Weiss seemed inclined to demur to this arrangement, but I had my own
+reasons for insisting on it. Modern prescriptions are not difficult to
+read, and I did not wish Mr. Weiss to know what treatment the patient
+was having.
+
+As soon as I was left alone, I returned to the bedside and once more
+looked down at the impassive figure. And as I looked, my suspicions
+revived. It was very like morphine poisoning; and, if it was morphine,
+it was no common, medicinal dose that had been given. I opened my bag
+and took out my hypodermic case from which I extracted a little tube of
+atropine tabloids. Shaking out into my hand a couple of the tiny discs,
+I drew down the patient's under-lip and slipped the little tablets under
+his tongue. Then I quickly replaced the tube and dropped the case into
+my bag; and I had hardly done so when the door opened softly and the
+housekeeper entered the room.
+
+"How do you find Mr. Graves?" she asked in what I thought a very
+unnecessarily low tone, considering the patient's lethargic state.
+
+"He seems to be very ill," I answered.
+
+"So!" she rejoined, and added: "I am sorry to hear that. We have been
+anxious about him."
+
+She seated herself on the chair by the bedside, and, shading the candle
+from the patient's face--and her own, too--produced from a bag that hung
+from her waist a half-finished stocking and began to knit silently and
+with the skill characteristic of the German housewife. I looked at her
+attentively (though she was so much in the shadow that I could see her
+but indistinctly) and somehow her appearance prepossessed me as little
+as did that of the other members of the household. Yet she was not an
+ill-looking woman. She had an excellent figure, and the air of a person
+of good social position; her features were good enough and her
+colouring, although a little unusual, was not unpleasant. Like Mr.
+Weiss, she had very fair hair, greased, parted in the middle and brushed
+down as smoothly as the painted hair of a Dutch doll. She appeared to
+have no eyebrows at all--owing, no doubt, to the light colour of the
+hair--and the doll-like character was emphasized by her eyes, which were
+either brown or dark grey, I could not see which. A further peculiarity
+consisted in a "habit spasm," such as one often sees in nervous
+children; a periodical quick jerk of the head, as if a cap-string or
+dangling lock were being shaken off the cheek. Her age I judged to be
+about thirty-five.
+
+The carriage, which one might have expected to be waiting, seemed to
+take some time in getting ready. I sat, with growing impatience,
+listening to the sick man's soft breathing and the click of the
+housekeeper's knitting-needles. I wanted to get home, not only for my
+own sake; the patient's condition made it highly desirable that the
+remedies should be given as quickly as possible. But the minutes dragged
+on, and I was on the point of expostulating when a bell rang on the
+landing.
+
+"The carriage is ready," said Mrs. Schallibaum. "Let me light you down
+the stairs."
+
+She rose, and, taking the candle, preceded me to the head of the stairs,
+where she stood holding the light over the baluster-rail as I descended
+and crossed the passage to the open side door. The carriage was drawn up
+in the covered way as I could see by the faint glimmer of the distant
+candle; which also enabled me dimly to discern the coachman standing
+close by in the shadow. I looked round, rather expecting to see Mr.
+Weiss, but, as he made no appearance, I entered the carriage. The door
+was immediately banged to and locked, and I then heard the heavy bolts
+of the gates withdrawn and the loud creaking of hinges. The carriage
+moved out slowly and stopped; the gates slammed to behind me; I felt the
+lurch as the coachman climbed to his seat and we started forward.
+
+My reflections during the return journey were the reverse of agreeable.
+I could not rid myself of the conviction that I was being involved in
+some very suspicious proceedings. It was possible, of course, that this
+feeling was due to the strange secrecy that surrounded my connection
+with this case; that, had I made my visit under ordinary conditions, I
+might have found in the patient's symptoms nothing to excite suspicion
+or alarm. It might be so, but that consideration did not comfort me.
+
+Then, my diagnosis might be wrong. It might be that this was, in
+reality, a case of some brain affection accompanied by compression, such
+as slow haemorrhage, abscess, tumour or simple congestion. These cases
+were very difficult at times. But the appearances in this one did not
+consistently agree with the symptoms accompanying any of these
+conditions. As to sleeping sickness, it was, perhaps a more hopeful
+suggestion, but I could not decide for or against it until I had more
+knowledge; and against this view was the weighty fact that the symptoms
+did exactly agree with the theory of morphine poisoning.
+
+But even so, there was no conclusive evidence of any criminal act. The
+patient might be a confirmed opium-eater, and the symptoms heightened by
+deliberate deception. The cunning of these unfortunates is proverbial
+and is only equalled by their secretiveness and mendacity. It would be
+quite possible for this man to feign profound stupor so long as he was
+watched, and then, when left alone for a few minutes, to nip out of bed
+and help himself from some secret store of the drug. This would be quite
+in character with his objection to seeing a doctor and his desire for
+secrecy. But still, I did not believe it to be the true explanation. In
+spite of all the various alternative possibilities, my suspicions came
+back to Mr. Weiss and the strange, taciturn woman, and refused to budge.
+
+For all the circumstances of the case were suspicious. The elaborate
+preparations implied by the state of the carriage in which I was
+travelling; the make-shift appearance of the house; the absence of
+ordinary domestic servants, although a coachman was kept; the evident
+desire of Mr. Weiss and the woman to avoid thorough inspection of their
+persons; and, above all, the fact that the former had told me a
+deliberate lie. For he had lied, beyond all doubt. His statement as to
+the almost continuous stupor was absolutely irreconcilable with his
+other statement as to the patient's wilfulness and obstinacy and even
+more irreconcilable with the deep and comparatively fresh marks of the
+spectacles on the patient's nose. That man had certainly worn spectacles
+within twenty-four hours, which he would hardly have done if he had been
+in a state bordering on coma.
+
+My reflections were interrupted by the stopping of the carriage. The
+door was unlocked and thrown open, and I emerged from my dark and stuffy
+prison opposite my own house.
+
+"I will let you have the medicine in a minute or two," I said to the
+coachman; and, as I let myself in with my latch-key, my mind came back
+swiftly from the general circumstances of the case to the very critical
+condition of the patient. Already I was regretting that I had not taken
+more energetic measures to rouse him and restore his flagging vitality;
+for it would be a terrible thing if he should take a turn for the worse
+and die before the coachman returned with the remedies. Spurred on by
+this alarming thought, I made up the medicines quickly and carried the
+hastily wrapped bottles out to the man, whom I found standing by the
+horse's head.
+
+"Get back as quickly as you can," I said, "and tell Mr. Weiss to lose no
+time in giving the patient the draught in the small bottle. The
+directions are on the labels."
+
+The coachman took the packages from me without reply, climbed to his
+seat, touched the horse with his whip and drove off at a rapid pace
+towards Newington Butts.
+
+The little clock in the consulting-room showed that it was close on
+eleven; time for a tired G.P. to be thinking of bed. But I was not
+sleepy. Over my frugal supper I found myself taking up anew the thread
+of my meditations, and afterwards, as I smoked my last pipe by the
+expiring surgery fire, the strange and sinister features of the case
+continued to obtrude themselves on my notice. I looked up Stillbury's
+little reference library for information on the subject of sleeping
+sickness, but learned no more than that it was "a rare and obscure
+disease of which very little was known at present." I read up morphine
+poisoning and was only further confirmed in the belief that my diagnosis
+was correct; which would have been more satisfactory if the
+circumstances had been different.
+
+For the interest of the case was not merely academic. I was in a
+position of great difficulty and responsibility and had to decide on a
+course of action. What ought I to do? Should I maintain the professional
+secrecy to which I was tacitly committed, or ought I to convey a hint to
+the police?
+
+Suddenly, and with a singular feeling of relief, I bethought myself of
+my old friend and fellow-student, John Thorndyke, now an eminent
+authority on Medical Jurisprudence. I had been associated with him
+temporarily in one case as his assistant, and had then been deeply
+impressed by his versatile learning, his acuteness and his marvellous
+resourcefulness. Thorndyke was a barrister in extensive practice, and so
+would be able to tell me at once what was my duty from a legal point of
+view; and, as he was also a doctor of medicine, he would understand the
+exigencies of medical practice. If I could find time to call at the
+Temple and lay the case before him, all my doubts and difficulties would
+be resolved.
+
+Anxiously, I opened my visiting-list to see what kind of day's work was
+in store for me on the morrow. It was not a heavy day, even allowing for
+one or two extra calls in the morning, but yet I was doubtful whether it
+would allow of my going so far from my district, until my eye caught,
+near the foot of the page, the name of Burton. Now Mr. Burton lived in
+one of the old houses on the east side of Bouverie Street, less than
+five minutes' walk from Thorndyke's chambers in King's Bench Walk; and
+he was, moreover, a "chronic" who could safely be left for the last.
+When I had done with Mr. Burton I could look in on my friend with a very
+good chance of catching him on his return from the hospital. I could
+allow myself time for quite a long chat with him, and, by taking a
+hansom, still get back in good time for the evening's work.
+
+This was a great comfort. At the prospect of sharing my responsibilities
+with a friend on whose judgment I could so entirely rely, my
+embarrassments seemed to drop from me in a moment. Having entered the
+engagement in my visiting-list, I rose, in greatly improved spirits, and
+knocked out my pipe just as the little clock banged out impatiently the
+hour of midnight.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter II
+
+Thorndyke Devises a Scheme
+
+
+As I entered the Temple by the Tudor Street gate the aspect of the place
+smote my senses with an air of agreeable familiarity. Here had I spent
+many a delightful hour when working with Thorndyke at the remarkable
+Hornby case, which the newspapers had called "The Case of the Red Thumb
+Mark"; and here had I met the romance of my life, the story whereof is
+told elsewhere. The place was thus endeared to me by pleasant
+recollections of a happy past, and its associations suggested hopes of
+happiness yet to come and in the not too far distant future.
+
+My brisk tattoo on the little brass knocker brought to the door no less
+a person than Thorndyke himself; and the warmth of his greeting made me
+at once proud and ashamed. For I had not only been an absentee; I had
+been a very poor correspondent.
+
+"The prodigal has returned, Polton," he exclaimed, looking into the
+room. "Here is Dr. Jervis."
+
+I followed him into the room and found Polton--his confidential servant,
+laboratory assistant, artificer and general "familiar"--setting out the
+tea-tray on a small table. The little man shook hands cordially with me,
+and his face crinkled up into the sort of smile that one might expect to
+see on a benevolent walnut.
+
+"We've often talked about you, sir," said he. "The doctor was wondering
+only yesterday when you were coming back to us."
+
+As I was not "coming back to them" quite in the sense intended I felt a
+little guilty, but reserved my confidences for Thorndyke's ear and
+replied in polite generalities. Then Polton fetched the tea-pot from the
+laboratory, made up the fire and departed, and Thorndyke and I subsided,
+as of old, into our respective arm-chairs.
+
+"And whence do you spring from in this unexpected fashion?" my colleague
+asked. "You look as if you had been making professional visits."
+
+"I have. The base of operations is in Lower Kennington Lane."
+
+"Ah! Then you are 'back once more on the old trail'?"
+
+"Yes," I answered, with a laugh, "'the old trail, the long trail, the
+trail that is always new.'"
+
+"And leads nowhere," Thorndyke added grimly.
+
+I laughed again; not very heartily, for there was an uncomfortable
+element of truth in my friend's remark, to which my own experience bore
+only too complete testimony. The medical practitioner whose lack of
+means forces him to subsist by taking temporary charge of other men's
+practices is apt to find that the passing years bring him little but
+grey hairs and a wealth of disagreeable experience.
+
+"You will have to drop it, Jervis; you will, indeed," Thorndyke resumed
+after a pause. "This casual employment is preposterous for a man of your
+class and professional attainments. Besides, are you not engaged to be
+married and to a most charming girl?"
+
+"Yes, I know. I have been a fool. But I will really amend my ways. If
+necessary, I will pocket my pride and let Juliet advance the money to
+buy a practice."
+
+"That," said Thorndyke, "is a very proper resolution. Pride and reserve
+between people who are going to be husband and wife, is an absurdity.
+But why buy a practice? Have you forgotten my proposal?"
+
+"I should be an ungrateful brute if I had."
+
+"Very well. I repeat it now. Come to me as my junior, read for the Bar
+and work with me, and, with your abilities, you will have a chance of
+something like a career. I want you, Jervis," he added, earnestly. "I
+must have a junior, with my increasing practice, and you are the junior
+I want. We are old and tried friends; we have worked together; we like
+and trust one another, and you are the best man for the job that I know.
+Come; I am not going to take a refusal. This is an ultimatum."
+
+"And what is the alternative?" I asked with a smile at his eagerness.
+
+"There isn't any. You are going to say yes."
+
+"I believe I am," I answered, not without emotion; "and I am more
+rejoiced at your offer and more grateful than I can tell you. But we
+must leave the final arrangements for our next meeting--in a week or so,
+I hope--for I have to be back in an hour, and I want to consult you on
+a matter of some importance."
+
+"Very well," said Thorndyke; "we will leave the formal agreement for
+consideration at our next meeting. What is it that you want my opinion
+on?"
+
+"The fact is," I said, "I am in a rather awkward dilemma, and I want you
+to tell me what you think I ought to do."
+
+Thorndyke paused in the act of refilling my cup and glanced at me with
+unmistakable anxiety.
+
+"Nothing of an unpleasant nature, I hope," said he.
+
+"No, no; nothing of that kind," I answered with a smile as I interpreted
+the euphemism; for "something unpleasant," in the case of a young and
+reasonably presentable medical man is ordinarily the equivalent of
+trouble with the female of his species. "It is nothing that concerns me
+personally at all," I continued; "it is a question of professional
+responsibility. But I had better give you an account of the affair in a
+complete narrative, as I know that you like to have your data in a
+regular and consecutive order."
+
+Thereupon I proceeded to relate the history of my visit to the
+mysterious Mr. Graves, not omitting any single circumstance or detail
+that I could recollect.
+
+Thorndyke listened from the very beginning of my story with the closest
+attention. His face was the most impassive that I have ever seen;
+ordinarily as inscrutable as a bronze mask; but to me, who knew him
+intimately, there was a certain something--a change of colour, perhaps,
+or an additional sparkle of the eye--that told me when his curious
+passion for investigation was fully aroused. And now, as I told him of
+that weird journey and the strange, secret house to which it had brought
+me, I could see that it offered a problem after his very heart. During
+the whole of my narration he sat as motionless as a statue, evidently
+committing the whole story to memory, detail by detail; and even when I
+had finished he remained for an appreciable time without moving or
+speaking.
+
+At length he looked up at me. "This is a very extraordinary affair,
+Jervis," he said.
+
+"Very," I agreed; "and the question that is agitating me is, what is to
+be done?"
+
+"Yes," he said, meditatively, "that is the question; and an uncommonly
+difficult question it is. It really involves the settlement of the
+antecedent question: What is it that is happening at that house?"
+
+"What do you think is happening at that house?" I asked.
+
+"We must go slow, Jervis," he replied. "We must carefully separate the
+legal tissues from the medical, and avoid confusing what we know with
+what we suspect. Now, with reference to the medical aspects of the case.
+The first question that confronts us is that of sleeping sickness, or
+negro-lethargy as it is sometimes called; and here we are in a
+difficulty. We have not enough knowledge. Neither of us, I take it, has
+ever seen a case, and the extant descriptions are inadequate. From what
+I know of the disease, its symptoms agree with those in your case in
+respect of the alleged moroseness and in the gradually increasing
+periods of lethargy alternating with periods of apparent recovery. On
+the other hand, the disease is said to be confined to negroes; but that
+probably means only that negroes alone have hitherto been exposed to the
+conditions that produce it. A more important fact is that, as far as I
+know, extreme contraction of the pupils is not a symptom of sleeping
+sickness. To sum up, the probabilities are against sleeping sickness,
+but with our insufficient knowledge, we cannot definitely exclude it."
+
+"You think that it may really be sleeping sickness?"
+
+"No; personally I do not entertain that theory for a moment. But I am
+considering the evidence apart from our opinions on the subject. We have
+to accept it as a conceivable hypothesis that it may be sleeping
+sickness because we cannot positively prove that it is not. That is all.
+But when we come to the hypothesis of morphine poisoning, the case is
+different. The symptoms agree with those of morphine poisoning in every
+respect. There is no exception or disagreement whatever. The common
+sense of the matter is therefore that we adopt morphine poisoning as our
+working diagnosis; which is what you seem to have done."
+
+"Yes. For purposes of treatment."
+
+"Exactly. For medical purposes you adopted the more probable view and
+dismissed the less probable. That was the reasonable thing to do. But
+for legal purposes you must entertain both possibilities; for the
+hypothesis of poisoning involves serious legal issues, whereas the
+hypothesis of disease involves no legal issues at all."
+
+"That doesn't sound very helpful," I remarked.
+
+"It indicates the necessity for caution," he retorted.
+
+"Yes, I see that. But what is your own opinion of the case?"
+
+"Well," he said, "let us consider the facts in order. Here is a man who,
+we assume, is under the influence of a poisonous dose of morphine. The
+question is, did he take that dose himself or was it administered to him
+by some other person? If he took it himself, with what object did he
+take it? The history that was given to you seems completely to exclude
+the idea of suicide. But the patient's condition seems equally to
+exclude the idea of morphinomania. Your opium-eater does not reduce
+himself to a state of coma. He usually keeps well within the limits of
+the tolerance that has been established. The conclusion that emerges is,
+I think, that the drug was administered by some other person; and the
+most likely person seems to be Mr. Weiss."
+
+"Isn't morphine a very unusual poison?"
+
+"Very; and most inconvenient except in a single, fatal dose, by reason
+of the rapidity with which tolerance of the drug is established. But we
+must not forget that slow morphine poisoning might be eminently
+suitable in certain cases. The manner in which it enfeebles the will,
+confuses the judgment and debilitates the body might make it very useful
+to a poisoner whose aim was to get some instrument or document executed,
+such as a will, deed or assignment. And death could be produced
+afterwards by other means. You see the important bearing of this?"
+
+"You mean in respect of a death certificate?"
+
+"Yes. Suppose Mr. Weiss to have given a large dose of morphine. He then
+sends for you and throws out a suggestion of sleeping sickness. If you
+accept the suggestion he is pretty safe. He can repeat the process until
+he kills his victim and then get a certificate from you which will cover
+the murder. It was quite an ingenious scheme--which, by the way, is
+characteristic of intricate crimes; your subtle criminal often plans his
+crime like a genius, but he generally executes it like a fool--as this
+man seems to have done, if we are not doing him an injustice."
+
+"How has he acted like a fool?"
+
+"In several respects. In the first place, he should have chosen his
+doctor. A good, brisk, confident man who 'knows his own mind' is the
+sort of person who would have suited him; a man who would have jumped at
+a diagnosis and stuck to it; or else an ignorant weakling of alcoholic
+tendencies. It was shockingly bad luck to run against a cautious
+scientific practitioner like my learned friend. Then, of course, all
+this secrecy was sheer tomfoolery, exactly calculated to put a careful
+man on his guard; as it has actually done. If Mr. Weiss is really a
+criminal, he has mismanaged his affairs badly."
+
+"And you apparently think that he is a criminal?"
+
+"I suspect him deeply. But I should like to ask you one or two questions
+about him. You say he spoke with a German accent. What command of
+English had he? Was his vocabulary good? Did he use any German idioms?"
+
+"No. I should say that his English was perfect, and I noticed that his
+phrases were quite well chosen even for an Englishman."
+
+"Did he seem to you 'made up' in any way; disguised, I mean?"
+
+"I couldn't say. The light was so very feeble."
+
+"You couldn't see the colour of his eyes, for instance?"
+
+"No. I think they were grey, but I couldn't be sure."
+
+"And as to the coachman. He wore a wig, you said. Could you see the
+colour of his eyes? Or any peculiarity by which you could recognize
+him?"
+
+"He had a malformed thumb-nail on his right hand. That is all I can say
+about him."
+
+"He didn't strike you as resembling Weiss in any way; in voice or
+features?"
+
+"Not at all; and he spoke, as I told you, with a distinct Scotch
+accent."
+
+"The reason I ask is that if Weiss is attempting to poison this man, the
+coachman is almost certain to be a confederate and might be a relative.
+You had better examine him closely if you get another chance."
+
+"I will. And that brings me back to the question, What am I to do? Ought
+I to report the case to the police?"
+
+"I am inclined to think not. You have hardly enough facts. Of course, if
+Mr. Weiss has administered poison 'unlawfully and maliciously' he has
+committed a felony, and is liable under the Consolidation Acts of 1861
+to ten years' penal servitude. But I do not see how you could swear an
+information. You don't know that he administered the poison--if poison
+has really been administered--and you cannot give any reliable name or
+any address whatever. Then there is the question of sleeping sickness.
+You reject it for medical purposes, but you could not swear, in a court
+of law, that this is not a case of sleeping sickness."
+
+"No," I admitted, "I could not."
+
+"Then I think the police would decline to move in the matter, and you
+might find that you had raised a scandal in Dr. Stillbury's practice to
+no purpose."
+
+"So you think I had better do nothing in the matter?"
+
+"For the present. It is, of course, a medical man's duty to assist
+justice in any way that is possible. But a doctor is not a detective; he
+should not go out of his way to assume police functions. He should keep
+his eyes and ears open, and, though, in general, he should keep his own
+counsel, it is his duty to note very carefully anything that seems to
+him likely to bear on any important legal issues. It is not his
+business officiously to initiate criminal inquiries, but it is
+emphatically his business to be ready, if called upon, to assist justice
+with information that his special knowledge and opportunities have
+rendered accessible to him. You see the bearing of this?"
+
+"You mean that I should note down what I have seen and heard and say
+nothing about it until I am asked."
+
+"Yes; if nothing further happens. But if you should be sent for again, I
+think it is your duty to make further observations with a view, if
+necessary, to informing the police. It may be, for instance, of vital
+importance to identify the house, and it is your duty to secure the
+means of doing so."
+
+"But, my dear Thorndyke," I expostulated, "I have told you how I was
+conveyed to the house. Now, will you kindly explain to me how a man,
+boxed up in a pitch-dark carriage, is going to identify any place to
+which he may be carried?"
+
+"The problem doesn't appear to me to present any serious difficulties,"
+he replied.
+
+"Doesn't it?" said I. "To me it looks like a pretty solid impossibility.
+But what do you suggest? Should I break out of the house and run away up
+the street? Or should I bore a hole through the shutter of the carriage
+and peep out?"
+
+Thorndyke smiled indulgently. "The methods proposed by my learned friend
+display a certain crudity inappropriate to the character of a man of
+science; to say nothing of the disadvantage of letting the enemy into
+our counsels. No, no, Jervis; we can do something better than that.
+Just excuse me for a minute while I run up to the laboratory."
+
+He hurried away to Polton's sanctum on the upper floor, leaving me to
+speculate on the method by which he proposed that a man should be
+enabled, as Sam Weller would express it, "to see through a flight of
+stairs and a deal door"; or, what was equally opaque, the wooden
+shutters of a closed carriage.
+
+"Now," he said, when he returned a couple of minutes later with a small,
+paper-covered notebook in his hand, "I have set Polton to work on a
+little appliance that will, I think, solve our difficulty, and I will
+show you how I propose that you should make your observations. First of
+all, we have to rule the pages of this book into columns."
+
+He sat down at the table and began methodically to rule the pages each
+into three columns, two quite narrow and one broad. The process occupied
+some time, during which I sat and watched with impatient curiosity the
+unhurried, precise movements of Thorndyke's pencil, all agog to hear the
+promised explanation. He was just finishing the last page when there
+came a gentle tap at the door, and Polton entered with a satisfied smile
+on his dry, shrewd-looking face and a small board in his hand.
+
+"Will this do, sir?" he asked.
+
+As he spoke he handed the little board to Thorndyke, who looked at it
+and passed it to me.
+
+"The very thing, Polton," my friend replied. "Where did you find it?
+It's of no use for you to pretend that you've made it in about two
+minutes and a half."
+
+Polton smiled one of his queer crinkly smiles, and remarking that "it
+didn't take much making," departed much gratified by the compliment.
+
+"What a wonderful old fellow that is, Jervis," Thorndyke observed as his
+factotum retired. "He took in the idea instantly and seems to have
+produced the finished article by magic, as the conjurers bring forth
+rabbits and bowls of goldfish at a moment's notice. I suppose you see
+what your <i>modus operandi</i> is to be?"
+
+I had gathered a clue from the little appliance--a plate of white
+fret-wood about seven inches by five, to one corner of which a
+pocket-compass had been fixed with shellac--but was not quite clear as
+to the details of the method.
+
+"You can read a compass pretty quickly, I think?" Thorndyke said.
+
+"Of course I can. Used we not to sail a yacht together when we were
+students?"
+
+"To be sure we did; and we will again before we die. And now as to your
+method of locating this house. Here is a pocket reading-lamp which you
+can hook on the carriage lining. This notebook can be fixed to the board
+with an india-rubber band--thus. You observe that the thoughtful Polton
+has stuck a piece of thread on the glass of the compass to serve as a
+lubber's line. This is how you will proceed. As soon as you are locked
+in the carriage, light your lamp--better have a book with you in case
+the light is noticed--take out your watch and put the board on your
+knee, keeping its long side exactly in a line with the axis of the
+carriage. Then enter in one narrow column of your notebook the time, in
+the other the direction shown by the compass, and in the broad column
+any particulars, including the number of steps the horse makes in a
+minute. Like this."
+
+He took a loose sheet of paper and made one or two sample entries on it
+in pencil, thus--
+
+  "9.40.  S.E.    Start from home.
+   9.41   S.W.    Granite setts.
+   9.43.  S.W.    Wood pavement. Hoofs 104.
+   9.47.  W. by S Granite crossing. Macadam--
+
+and so on. Note every change of direction, with the time; and whenever
+you hear or feel anything from outside, note it, with the time and
+direction; and don't forget to note any variations in the horse's pace.
+You follow the process?"
+
+"Perfectly. But do you think the method is accurate enough to fix the
+position of a house? Remember, this is only a pocket-compass with no
+dial, and it will jump frightfully. And the mode of estimating distance
+is very rough."
+
+"That is all perfectly true," Thorndyke answered. "But you are
+overlooking certain important facts. The track-chart that you will
+produce can be checked by other data. The house, for instance, has a
+covered way by which you could identify it if you knew approximately
+where to look for it. Then you must remember that your carriage is not
+travelling over a featureless plain. It is passing through streets which
+have a determined position and direction and which are accurately
+represented on the ordnance map. I think, Jervis, that, in spite of the
+apparent roughness of the method, if you make your observations
+carefully, we shall have no trouble in narrowing down the inquiry to a
+quite small area. If we get the chance, that is to say."
+
+"Yes, if we do. I am doubtful whether Mr. Weiss will require my services
+again, but I sincerely hope he will. It would be rare sport to locate
+his secret burrow, all unsuspected. But now I must really be off."
+
+"Good-bye, then," said Thorndyke, slipping a well-sharpened pencil
+through the rubber band that fixed the notebook to the board. "Let me
+know how the adventure progresses--if it progresses at all--and
+remember, I hold your promise to come and see me again quite soon in any
+case."
+
+He handed me the board and the lamp, and, when I had slipped them into
+my pocket, we shook hands and I hurried away, a little uneasy at having
+left my charge so long.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter III
+
+"A Chiel's Amang Ye Takin' Notes"
+
+
+The attitude of the suspicious man tends to generate in others the kind
+of conduct that seems to justify his suspicions. In most of us there
+lurks a certain strain of mischief which trustfulness disarms but
+distrust encourages. The inexperienced kitten which approaches us
+confidingly with arched back and upright tail, soliciting caresses,
+generally receives the gentle treatment that it expects; whereas the
+worldly-wise tom-cat, who, in response to friendly advances, scampers
+away and grins at us suspiciously from the fancied security of an
+adjacent wall, impels us to accelerate his retreat with a well-directed
+clod.
+
+Now the proceedings of Mr. H. Weiss resembled those of the tom-cat
+aforesaid and invited an analogous reply. To a responsible professional
+man his extraordinary precautions were at once an affront and a
+challenge. Apart from graver considerations, I found myself dwelling
+with unholy pleasure on the prospect of locating the secret hiding-place
+from which he seemed to grin at me with such complacent defiance; and I
+lost no time and spared no trouble in preparing myself for the
+adventure. The very hansom which bore me from the Temple to Kennington
+Lane was utilized for a preliminary test of Thorndyke's little
+apparatus. During the whole of that brief journey I watched the compass
+closely, noted the feel and sound of the road-material and timed the
+trotting of the horse. And the result was quite encouraging. It is true
+that the compass-needle oscillated wildly to the vibration of the cab,
+but still its oscillations took place around a definite point which was
+the average direction, and it was evident to me that the data it
+furnished were very fairly reliable. I felt very little doubt, after the
+preliminary trial, as to my being able to produce a moderately
+intelligible track-chart if only I should get an opportunity to exercise
+my skill.
+
+But it looked as if I should not. Mr. Weiss's promise to send for me
+again soon was not fulfilled. Three days passed and still he made no
+sign. I began to fear that I had been too outspoken; that the shuttered
+carriage had gone forth to seek some more confiding and easy-going
+practitioner, and that our elaborate preparations had been made in vain.
+When the fourth day drew towards a close and still no summons had come,
+I was disposed reluctantly to write the case off as a lost opportunity.
+
+And at that moment, in the midst of my regrets, the bottle-boy thrust an
+uncomely head in at the door. His voice was coarse, his accent was
+hideous, and his grammatical construction beneath contempt; but I
+forgave him all when I gathered the import of his message.
+
+"Mr. Weiss's carriage is waiting, and he says will you come as quickly
+as you can because he's took very bad to-night."
+
+I sprang from my chair and hastily collected the necessaries for the
+journey. The little board and the lamp I put in my overcoat pocket; I
+overhauled the emergency bag and added to its usual contents a bottle of
+permanganate of potassium which I thought I might require. Then I tucked
+the evening paper under my arm and went out.
+
+The coachman, who was standing at the horse's head as I emerged, touched
+his hat and came forward to open the door.
+
+"I have fortified myself for the long drive, you see," I remarked,
+exhibiting the newspaper as I stepped into the carriage.
+
+"But you can't read in the dark," said he.
+
+"No, but I have provided myself with a lamp," I replied, producing it
+and striking a match.
+
+He watched me as I lit the lamp and hooked it on the back cushion, and
+observed:
+
+"I suppose you found it rather a dull ride last time. It's a longish
+way. They might have fitted the carriage with an inside lamp. But we
+shall have to make it a quicker passage to-night. Governor says Mr.
+Graves is uncommon bad."
+
+With this he slammed the door and locked it. I drew the board from my
+pocket, laid it on my knee, glanced at my watch, and, as the coachman
+climbed to his seat, I made the first entry in the little book.
+
+"8.58. W. by S. Start from home. Horse 13 hands."
+
+The first move of the carriage on starting was to turn round as if
+heading for Newington Butts, and the second entry accordingly read:
+
+"8.58.30. E. by N."
+
+But this direction was not maintained long. Very soon we turned south
+and then west and then south again. I sat with my eyes riveted on the
+compass, following with some difficulty its rapid changes. The needle
+swung to and fro incessantly but always within a definite arc, the
+centre of which was the true direction. But this direction varied from
+minute to minute in the most astonishing manner. West, south, east,
+north, the carriage turned, "boxing" the compass until I lost all count
+of direction. It was an amazing performance. Considering that the man
+was driving against time on a mission of life and death urgency, his
+carelessness as to direction was astounding. The tortuousness of the
+route must have made the journey twice as long as it need have been
+with a little more careful selection. At least so it appeared to me,
+though, naturally, I was not in a position to offer an authoritative
+criticism.
+
+As far as I could judge, we followed the same route as before. Once I
+heard a tug's whistle and knew that we were near the river, and we
+passed the railway station, apparently at the same time as on the
+previous occasion, for I heard a passenger train start and assumed that
+it was the same train. We crossed quite a number of thoroughfares with
+tram-lines--I had no idea there were so many--and it was a revelation to
+me to find how numerous the railway arches were in this part of London
+and how continually the nature of the road-metal varied.
+
+It was by no means a dull journey this time. The incessant changes of
+direction and variations in the character of the road kept me most
+uncommonly busy; for I had hardly time to scribble down one entry before
+the compass-needle would swing round sharply, showing that we had once
+more turned a corner; and I was quite taken by surprise when the
+carriage slowed down and turned into the covered way. Very hastily I
+scribbled down the final entry ("9.24. S.E. In covered way"), and having
+closed the book and slipped it and the board into my pocket, had just
+opened out the newspaper when the carriage door was unlocked and opened,
+whereupon I unhooked and blew out the lamp and pocketed that too,
+reflecting that it might be useful later.
+
+As on the last occasion, Mrs. Schallibaum stood in the open doorway with
+a lighted candle. But she was a good deal less self-possessed this time.
+In fact she looked rather wild and terrified. Even by the candle-light
+I could see that she was very pale and she seemed unable to keep still.
+As she gave me the few necessary words of explanation, she fidgeted
+incessantly and her hands and feet were in constant movement.
+
+"You had better come up with me at once," she said. "Mr. Graves is much
+worse to-night. We will wait not for Mr. Weiss."
+
+Without waiting for a reply she quickly ascended the stairs and I
+followed. The room was in much the same condition as before. But the
+patient was not. As soon as I entered the room, a soft, rhythmical
+gurgle from the bed gave me a very clear warning of danger. I stepped
+forward quickly and looked down at the prostrate figure, and the warning
+gathered emphasis. The sick man's ghastly face was yet more ghastly; his
+eyes were more sunken, his skin more livid; "his nose was as sharp as a
+pen," and if he did not "babble of green fields" it was because he
+seemed to be beyond even that. If it had been a case of disease, I
+should have said at once that he was dying. He had all the appearance of
+a man <i>in articulo mortis</i>. Even as it was, feeling convinced that the
+case was one of morphine poisoning, I was far from confident that I
+should be able to draw him back from the extreme edge of vitality on
+which he trembled so insecurely.
+
+"He is very ill? He is dying?"
+
+It was Mrs. Schallibaum's voice; very low, but eager and intense. I
+turned, with my finger on the patient's wrist, and looked into the face
+of the most thoroughly scared woman I have ever seen. She made no
+attempt now to avoid the light, but looked me squarely in the face, and
+I noticed, half-unconsciously, that her eyes were brown and had a
+curious strained expression.
+
+"Yes," I answered, "he is very ill. He is in great danger."
+
+She still stared at me fixedly for some seconds. And then a very odd
+thing occurred. Suddenly she squinted--squinted horribly; not with the
+familiar convergent squint which burlesque artists imitate, but with
+external or divergent squint of extreme near sight or unequal vision.
+The effect was quite startling. One moment both her eyes were looking
+straight into mine; the next, one of them rolled round until it looked
+out of the uttermost corner, leaving the other gazing steadily forward.
+
+She was evidently conscious of the change, for she turned her head away
+quickly and reddened somewhat. But it was no time for thoughts of
+personal appearance.
+
+"You can save him, doctor! You will not let him die! He must not be
+allowed to die!"
+
+She spoke with as much passion as if he had been the dearest friend that
+she had in the world, which I suspected was far from being the case. But
+her manifest terror had its uses.
+
+"If anything is to be done to save him," I said, "it must be done
+quickly. I will give him some medicine at once, and meanwhile you must
+make some strong coffee."
+
+"Coffee!" she exclaimed. "But we have none in the house. Will not tea
+do, if I make it very strong?"
+
+"No, it will not. I must have coffee; and I must have it quickly."
+
+"Then I suppose I must go and get some. But it is late. The shops will
+be shut. And I don't like leaving Mr. Graves."
+
+"Can't you send the coachman?" I asked.
+
+She shook her head impatiently. "No, that is no use. I must wait until
+Mr. Weiss comes."
+
+"That won't do," I said, sharply. "He will slip through our fingers
+while you are waiting. You must go and get that coffee at once and bring
+it to me as soon as it is ready. And I want a tumbler and some water."
+
+She brought me a water-bottle and glass from the wash-stand and then,
+with a groan of despair, hurried from the room.
+
+I lost no time in applying the remedies that I had to hand. Shaking out
+into the tumbler a few crystals of potassium permanganate, I filled it
+up with water and approached the patient. His stupor was profound. I
+shook him as roughly as was safe in his depressed condition, but
+elicited no resistance or responsive movement. As it seemed very
+doubtful whether he was capable of swallowing, I dared not take the risk
+of pouring the liquid into his mouth for fear of suffocating him. A
+stomach-tube would have solved the difficulty, but, of course, I had not
+one with me. I had, however, a mouth-speculum which also acted as a gag,
+and, having propped the patient's mouth open with this, I hastily
+slipped off one of the rubber tubes from my stethoscope and inserted
+into one end of it a vulcanite ear-speculum to serve as a funnel. Then,
+introducing the other end of the tube into the gullet as far as its
+length would permit, I cautiously poured a small quantity of the
+permanganate solution into the extemporized funnel. To my great relief a
+movement of the throat showed that the swallowing reflex still existed,
+and, thus encouraged, I poured down the tube as much of the fluid as I
+thought it wise to administer at one time.
+
+The dose of permanganate that I had given was enough to neutralize any
+reasonable quantity of the poison that might yet remain in the stomach.
+I had next to deal with that portion of the drug which had already been
+absorbed and was exercising its poisonous effects. Taking my hypodermic
+case from my bag, I prepared in the syringe a full dose of atropine
+sulphate, which I injected forthwith into the unconscious man's arm. And
+that was all that I could do, so far as remedies were concerned, until
+the coffee arrived.
+
+I cleaned and put away the syringe, washed the tube, and then, returning
+to the bedside, endeavoured to rouse the patient from his profound
+lethargy. But great care was necessary. A little injudicious roughness
+of handling, and that thready, flickering pulse might stop for ever; and
+yet it was almost certain that if he were not speedily aroused, his
+stupor would gradually deepen until it shaded off imperceptibly into
+death. I went to work very cautiously, moving his limbs about, flicking
+his face and chest with the corner of a wet towel, tickling the soles
+of his feet, and otherwise applying stimuli that were strong without
+being violent.
+
+So occupied was I with my efforts to resuscitate my mysterious patient
+that I did not notice the opening of the door, and it was with something
+of a start that, happening to glance round, I perceived at the farther
+end of the room the shadowy figure of a man relieved by two spots of
+light reflected from his spectacles. How long he had been watching me I
+cannot say, but, when he saw that I had observed him, he came
+forward--though not very far--and I saw that he was Mr. Weiss.
+
+"I am afraid," he said, "that you do not find my friend so well
+to-night?"
+
+"So well!" I exclaimed. "I don't find him well at all. I am exceedingly
+anxious about him."
+
+"You don't--er--anticipate anything of a--er--anything serious, I hope?"
+
+"There is no need to anticipate," said I. "It is already about as
+serious as it can be. I think he might die at any moment."
+
+"Good God!" he gasped. "You horrify me!"
+
+He was not exaggerating. In his agitation, he stepped forward into the
+lighter part of the room, and I could see that his face was pale to
+ghastliness--except his nose and the adjacent red patches on his cheeks,
+which stood out in grotesquely hideous contrast. Presently, however, he
+recovered a little and said:
+
+"I really think--at least I hope--that you take an unnecessarily serious
+view of his condition. He has been like this before, you know."
+
+I felt pretty certain that he had not, but there was no use in
+discussing the question. I therefore replied, as I continued my efforts
+to rouse the patient:
+
+"That may or may not be. But in any case there comes a last time; and it
+may have come now."
+
+"I hope not," he said; "although I understand that these cases always
+end fatally sooner or later."
+
+"What cases?" I asked.
+
+"I was referring to sleeping sickness; but perhaps you have formed some
+other opinion as to the nature of this dreadful complaint."
+
+I hesitated for a moment, and he continued: "As to your suggestion that
+his symptoms might be due to drugs, I think we may consider that as
+disposed of. He has been watched, practically without cessation since
+you came last, and, moreover, I have myself turned out the room and
+examined the bed and have not found a trace of any drug. Have you gone
+into the question of sleeping sickness?"
+
+I looked at the man narrowly before answering, and distrusted him more
+than ever. But this was no time for reticence. My concern was with the
+patient and his present needs. After all, I was, as Thorndyke had said,
+a doctor, not a detective, and the circumstances called for
+straightforward speech and action on my part.
+
+"I have considered that question," I said, "and have come to a perfectly
+definite conclusion. His symptoms are not those of sleeping sickness.
+They are in my opinion undoubtedly due to morphine poisoning."
+
+"But my dear sir!" he exclaimed, "the thing is impossible! Haven't I
+just told you that he has been watched continuously?"
+
+"I can only judge by the appearances that I find," I answered; and,
+seeing that he was about to offer fresh objections, I continued: "Don't
+let us waste precious time in discussion, or Mr. Graves may be dead
+before we have reached a conclusion. If you will hurry them up about the
+coffee that I asked for some time ago, I will take the other necessary
+measures, and perhaps we may manage to pull him round."
+
+The rather brutal decision of my manner evidently daunted him. It must
+have been plain to him that I was not prepared to accept any explanation
+of the unconscious man's condition other than that of morphine
+poisoning; whence the inference was pretty plain that the alternatives
+were recovery or an inquest. Replying stiffly that I "must do as I
+thought best," he hurried from the room, leaving me to continue my
+efforts without further interruption.
+
+For some time these efforts seemed to make no impression. The man lay as
+still and impassive as a corpse excepting for the slow, shallow and
+rather irregular breathing with its ominous accompanying rattle. But
+presently, by imperceptible degrees, signs of returning life began to
+make their appearance. A sharp slap on the cheek with the wet towel
+produced a sensible flicker of the eyelids; a similar slap on the chest
+was followed by a slight gasp. A pencil, drawn over the sole of the
+foot, occasioned a visible shrinking movement, and, on looking once
+more at the eyes, I detected a slight change that told me that the
+atropine was beginning to take effect.
+
+This was very encouraging, and, so far, quite satisfactory, though it
+would have been premature to rejoice. I kept the patient carefully
+covered and maintained the process of gentle irritation, moving his
+limbs and shoulders, brushing his hair and generally bombarding his
+deadened senses with small but repeated stimuli. And under this
+treatment, the improvement continued so far that on my bawling a
+question into his ear he actually opened his eyes for an instant, though
+in another moment, the lids had sunk back into their former position.
+
+Soon after this, Mr. Weiss re-entered the room, followed by Mrs.
+Schallibaum, who carried a small tray, on which were a jug of coffee, a
+jug of milk, a cup and saucer and a sugar basin.
+
+"How do you find him now?" Mr. Weiss asked anxiously.
+
+"I am glad to say that there is a distinct improvement," I replied. "But
+we must persevere. He is by no means out of the wood yet."
+
+I examined the coffee, which looked black and strong and had a very
+reassuring smell, and, pouring out half a cupful, approached the bed.
+
+"Now, Mr. Graves," I shouted, "we want you to drink some of this."
+
+The flaccid eyelids lifted for an instant but there was no other
+response. I gently opened the unresisting mouth and ladled in a couple
+of spoonfuls of coffee, which were immediately swallowed; whereupon I
+repeated the proceeding and continued at short intervals until the cup
+was empty. The effect of the new remedy soon became apparent. He began
+to mumble and mutter obscurely in response to the questions that I
+bellowed at him, and once or twice he opened his eyes and looked
+dreamily into my face. Then I sat him up and made him drink some coffee
+from the cup, and, all the time, kept up a running fire of questions,
+which made up in volume of sound for what they lacked of relevancy.
+
+Of these proceedings Mr. Weiss and his housekeeper were highly
+interested spectators, and the former, contrary to his usual practice,
+came quite close up to the bed, to get a better view.
+
+"It is really a most remarkable thing," he said, "but it almost looks as
+if you were right, after all. He is certainly much better. But tell me,
+would this treatment produce a similar improvement if the symptoms were
+due to disease?"
+
+"No," I answered, "it certainly would not."
+
+"Then that seems to settle it. But it is a most mysterious affair. Can
+you suggest any way in which he can have concealed a store of the drug?"
+
+I stood up and looked him straight in the face; it was the first chance
+I had had of inspecting him by any but the feeblest light, and I looked
+at him very attentively. Now, it is a curious fact--though one that most
+persons must have observed--that there sometimes occurs a considerable
+interval between the reception of a visual impression and its complete
+transfer to the consciousness. A thing may be seen, as it were,
+unconsciously, and the impression consigned, apparently, to instant
+oblivion; and yet the picture may be subsequently revived by memory with
+such completeness that its details can be studied as though the object
+were still actually visible.
+
+Something of this kind must have happened to me now. Preoccupied as I
+was, by the condition of the patient, the professional habit of rapid
+and close observation caused me to direct a searching glance at the man
+before me. It was only a brief glance--for Mr. Weiss, perhaps
+embarrassed by my keen regard of him, almost immediately withdrew into
+the shadow--and my attention seemed principally to be occupied by the
+odd contrast between the pallor of his face and the redness of his nose
+and by the peculiar stiff, bristly character of his eyebrows. But there
+was another fact, and a very curious one, that was observed by me
+subconsciously and instantly forgotten, to be revived later when I
+reflected on the events of the night. It was this:
+
+As Mr. Weiss stood, with his head slightly turned, I was able to look
+through one glass of his spectacles at the wall beyond. On the wall was
+a framed print; and the edge of the frame, seen through the
+spectacle-glass, appeared quite unaltered and free from distortion,
+magnification or reduction, as if seen through plain window-glass; and
+yet the reflections of the candle-flame in the spectacles showed the
+flame upside down, proving conclusively that the glasses were concave on
+one surface at least. The strange phenomenon was visible only for a
+moment or two, and as it passed out of my sight it passed also out of my
+mind.
+
+"No," I said, replying to the last question; "I can think of no way in
+which he could have effectually hidden a store of morphine. Judging by
+the symptoms, he has taken a large dose, and, if he has been in the
+habit of consuming large quantities, his stock would be pretty bulky. I
+can offer no suggestion whatever."
+
+"I suppose you consider him quite out of danger now?"
+
+"Oh, not at all. I think we can pull him round if we persevere, but he
+must not be allowed to sink back into a state of coma. We must keep him
+on the move until the effects of the drug have really passed off. If you
+will put him into his dressing-gown we will walk him up and down the
+room for a while."
+
+"But is that safe?" Mr. Weiss asked anxiously.
+
+"Quite safe," I answered. "I will watch his pulse carefully. The danger
+is in the possibility, or rather certainty, of a relapse if he is not
+kept moving."
+
+With obvious unwillingness and disapproval, Mr. Weiss produced a
+dressing-gown and together we invested the patient in it. Then we
+dragged him, very limp, but not entirely unresisting, out of bed and
+stood him on his feet. He opened his eyes and blinked owlishly first at
+one and then at the other of us, and mumbled a few unintelligible words
+of protest; regardless of which, we thrust his feet into slippers and
+endeavoured to make him walk. At first he seemed unable to stand, and we
+had to support him by his arms as we urged him forward; but presently
+his trailing legs began to make definite walking movements, and, after
+one or two turns up and down the room, he was not only able partly to
+support his weight, but showed evidence of reviving consciousness in
+more energetic protests.
+
+At this point Mr. Weiss astonished me by transferring the arm that he
+held to the housekeeper.
+
+"If you will excuse me, doctor," said he, "I will go now and attend to
+some rather important business that I have had to leave unfinished. Mrs.
+Schallibaum will be able to give you all the assistance that you
+require, and will order the carriage when you think it safe to leave the
+patient. In case I should not see you again I will say 'good night.' I
+hope you won't think me very unceremonious."
+
+He shook hands with me and went out of the room, leaving me, as I have
+said, profoundly astonished that he should consider any business of more
+moment than the condition of his friend, whose life, even now, was but
+hanging by a thread. However, it was really no concern of mine. I could
+do without him, and the resuscitation of this unfortunate half-dead man
+gave me occupation enough to engross my whole attention.
+
+The melancholy progress up and down the room re-commenced, and with it
+the mumbled protests from the patient. As we walked, and especially as
+we turned, I caught frequent glimpses of the housekeeper's face. But it
+was nearly always in profile. She appeared to avoid looking me in the
+face, though she did so once or twice; and on each of these occasions
+her eyes were directed at me in a normal manner without any sign of a
+squint. Nevertheless, I had the impression that when her face was turned
+away from me she squinted. The "swivel eye"--the left--was towards me as
+she held the patient's right arm, and it was almost continuously turned
+in my direction, whereas I felt convinced that she was really looking
+straight before her, though, of course, her right eye was invisible to
+me. It struck me, even at the time, as an odd affair, but I was too much
+concerned about my charge to give it much consideration.
+
+Meanwhile the patient continued to revive apace. And the more he
+revived, the more energetically did he protest against this wearisome
+perambulation. But he was evidently a polite gentleman, for, muddled as
+his faculties were, he managed to clothe his objections in courteous and
+even gracious forms of speech singularly out of agreement with the
+character that Mr. Weiss had given him.
+
+"I thangyou," he mumbled thickly. "Ver' good take s'much trouble. Think
+I will lie down now." He looked wistfully at the bed, but I wheeled him
+about and marched him once more down the room. He submitted
+unresistingly, but as we again approached the bed he reopened the
+matter.
+
+"S'quite s'fficient, thang you. Gebback to bed now. Much 'bliged frall
+your kindness"--here I turned him round--"no, really; m'feeling rather
+tired. Sh'like to lie down now, f'you'd be s'good."
+
+"You must walk about a little longer, Mr. Graves," I said. "It would be
+very bad for you to go to sleep again."
+
+He looked at me with a curious, dull surprise, and reflected awhile as
+if in some perplexity. Then he looked at me again and said:
+
+"Thing, sir, you are mistake--mistaken me--mist--"
+
+Here Mrs. Schallibaum interrupted sharply:
+
+"The doctor thinks it's good for you to walk about. You've been sleeping
+too much. He doesn't want you to sleep any more just now."
+
+"Don't wanter sleep; wanter lie down," said the patient.
+
+"But you mustn't lie down for a little while. You must walk about for a
+few minutes more. And you'd better not talk. Just walk up and down."
+
+"There's no harm in his talking," said I; "in fact it's good for him. It
+will help to keep him awake."
+
+"I should think it would tire him," said Mrs. Schallibaum; "and it
+worries me to hear him asking to lie down when we can't let him."
+
+She spoke sharply and in an unnecessarily high tone so that the patient
+could not fail to hear. Apparently he took in the very broad hint
+contained in the concluding sentence, for he trudged wearily and
+unsteadily up and down the room for some time without speaking, though
+he continued to look at me from time to time as if something in my
+appearance puzzled him exceedingly. At length his intolerable longing
+for repose overcame his politeness and he returned to the attack.
+
+"Surely v' walked enough now. Feeling very tired. Am really. Would you
+be s'kind 's t'let me lie down few minutes?"
+
+"Don't you think he might lie down for a little while?" Mrs. Schallibaum
+asked.
+
+I felt his pulse, and decided that he was really becoming fatigued, and
+that it would be wiser not to overdo the exercise while he was so weak.
+Accordingly, I consented to his returning to bed, and turned him round
+in that direction; whereupon he tottered gleefully towards his
+resting-place like a tired horse heading for its stable.
+
+As soon as he was tucked in, I gave him a full cup of coffee, which he
+drank with some avidity as if thirsty. Then I sat down by the bedside,
+and, with a view to keeping him awake, began once more to ply him with
+questions.
+
+"Does your head ache, Mr. Graves?" I asked.
+
+"The doctor says 'does your head ache?'" Mrs. Schallibaum squalled, so
+loudly that the patient started perceptibly.
+
+"I heard him, m'dear girl," he answered with a faint smile. "Not deaf
+you know. Yes. Head aches a good deal. But I thing this gennleman
+mistakes--"
+
+"He says you are to keep awake. You mustn't go to sleep again, and you
+are not to close your eyes."
+
+"All ri' Pol'n. Keep'm open," and he proceeded forthwith to shut them
+with an air of infinite peacefulness. I grasped his hand and shook it
+gently, on which he opened his eyes and looked at me sleepily. The
+housekeeper stroked his head, keeping her face half-turned from me--as
+she had done almost constantly, to conceal the squinting eye, as I
+assumed--and said:
+
+"Need we keep you any longer, doctor? It is getting very late and you
+have a long way to go."
+
+I looked doubtfully at the patient. I was loath to leave him,
+distrusting these people as I did. But I had my work to do on the
+morrow, with, perhaps, a night call or two in the interval, and the
+endurance even of a general practitioner has its limits.
+
+"I think I heard the carriage some time ago," Mrs. Schallibaum added.
+
+I rose hesitatingly and looked at my watch. It had turned half-past
+eleven.
+
+"You understand," I said in a low voice, "that the danger is not over?
+If he is left now he will fall asleep, and in all human probability will
+never wake. You clearly understand that?"
+
+"Yes, quite clearly. I promise you he shall not be allowed to fall
+asleep again."
+
+As she spoke, she looked me full in the face for a few moments, and I
+noted that her eyes had a perfectly normal appearance, without any trace
+whatever of a squint.
+
+"Very well," I said. "On that understanding I will go now; and I shall
+hope to find our friend quite recovered at my next visit."
+
+I turned to the patient, who was already dozing, and shook his hand
+heartily.
+
+"Good-bye, Mr. Graves!" I said. "I am sorry to have to disturb your
+repose so much; but you must keep awake, you know. Won't do to go to
+sleep."
+
+"Ver' well," he replied drowsily. "Sorry t' give you all this trouble.
+L' keep awake. But I think you're mistak'n--"
+
+"He says it's very important that you shouldn't go to sleep, and that I
+am to see that you don't. Do you understand?"
+
+"Yes, I un'stan'. But why does this gennlem'n--?"
+
+"Now it's of no use for you to ask a lot of questions," Mrs. Schallibaum
+said playfully; "we'll talk to you to-morrow. Good night, doctor. I'll
+light you down the stairs, but I won't come down with you, or the
+patient will be falling asleep again."
+
+Taking this definite dismissal, I retired, followed by a dreamily
+surprised glance from the sick man. The housekeeper held the candle over
+the balusters until I reached the bottom of the stairs, when I perceived
+through the open door along the passage a glimmer of light from the
+carriage lamps. The coachman was standing just outside, faintly
+illuminated by the very dim lamplight, and as I stepped into the
+carriage he remarked in his Scotch dialect that I "seemed to have been
+makin' a nicht of it." He did not wait for any reply--none being in fact
+needed--but shut the door and locked it.
+
+I lit my little pocket-lamp and hung it on the back cushion. I even drew
+the board and notebook from my pocket. But it seemed rather unnecessary
+to take a fresh set of notes, and, to tell the truth, I rather shirked
+the labour, tired as I was after my late exertions; besides, I wanted
+to think over the events of the evening, while they were fresh in my
+memory. Accordingly I put away the notebook, filled and lighted my pipe,
+and settled myself to review the incidents attending my second visit to
+this rather uncanny house.
+
+Considered in leisurely retrospect, that visit offered quite a number of
+problems that called for elucidation. There was the patient's condition,
+for instance. Any doubt as to the cause of his symptoms was set at rest
+by the effect of the antidotes. Mr. Graves was certainly under the
+influence of morphine, and the only doubtful question was how he had
+become so. That he had taken the poison himself was incredible. No
+morphinomaniac would take such a knock-down dose. It was practically
+certain that the poison had been administered by someone else, and, on
+Mr. Weiss's own showing, there was no one but himself and the
+housekeeper who could have administered it. And to this conclusion all
+the other very queer circumstances pointed.
+
+What were these circumstances? They were, as I have said, numerous,
+though many of them seemed trivial. To begin with, Mr. Weiss's habit of
+appearing some time after my arrival and disappearing some time before
+my departure was decidedly odd. But still more odd was his sudden
+departure this evening on what looked like a mere pretext. That
+departure coincided in time with the sick man's recovery of the power of
+speech. Could it be that Mr. Weiss was afraid that the half-conscious
+man might say something compromising to him in my presence? It looked
+rather like it. And yet he had gone away and left me with the patient
+and the housekeeper.
+
+But when I came to think about it I remembered that Mrs. Schallibaum had
+shown some anxiety to prevent the patient from talking. She had
+interrupted him more than once, and had on two occasions broken in when
+he seemed to be about to ask me some question. I was "mistaken" about
+something. What was that something that he wanted to tell me?
+
+It had struck me as singular that there should be no coffee in the
+house, but a sufficiency of tea. Germans are not usually tea-drinkers
+and they do take coffee. But perhaps there was nothing in this. Rather
+more remarkable was the invisibility of the coachman. Why could he not
+be sent to fetch the coffee, and why did not he, rather than the
+housekeeper, come to take the place of Mr. Weiss when the latter had to
+go away.
+
+There were other points, too. I recalled the word that sounded like
+"Pol'n," which Mr. Graves had used in speaking to the housekeeper.
+Apparently it was a Christian name of some kind; but why did Mr. Graves
+call the woman by her Christian name when Mr. Weiss addressed her
+formally as Mrs. Schallibaum? And, as to the woman herself: what was the
+meaning of that curious disappearing squint? Physically it presented no
+mystery. The woman had an ordinary divergent squint, and, like many
+people, who suffer from this displacement, could, by a strong muscular
+effort, bring the eyes temporarily into their normal parallel position.
+I had detected the displacement when she had tried to maintain the
+effort too long, and the muscular control had given way. But why had she
+done it? Was it only feminine vanity--mere sensitiveness respecting a
+slight personal disfigurement? It might be so; or there might be some
+further motive. It was impossible to say.
+
+Turning this question over, I suddenly remembered the peculiarity of Mr.
+Weiss's spectacles. And here I met with a real poser. I had certainly
+seen through those spectacles as clearly as if they had been plain
+window-glass; and they had certainly given an inverted reflection of the
+candle-flame like that thrown from the surface of a concave lens. Now
+they obviously could not be both flat and concave; but yet they had the
+properties peculiar to both flatness and concavity. And there was a
+further difficulty. If I could see objects unaltered through them, so
+could Mr. Weiss. But the function of spectacles is to alter the
+appearances of objects, by magnification, reduction or compensating
+distortion. If they leave the appearances unchanged they are useless. I
+could make nothing of it. After puzzling over it for quite a long time,
+I had to give it up; which I did the less unwillingly inasmuch as the
+construction of Mr. Weiss's spectacles had no apparent bearing on the
+case.
+
+On arriving home, I looked anxiously at the message-book, and was
+relieved to find that there were no further visits to be made. Having
+made up a mixture for Mr. Graves and handed it to the coachman, I raked
+the ashes of the surgery fire together and sat down to smoke a final
+pipe while I reflected once more on the singular and suspicious case in
+which I had become involved. But fatigue soon put an end to my
+meditations; and having come to the conclusion that the circumstances
+demanded a further consultation with Thorndyke, I turned down the gas to
+a microscopic blue spark and betook myself to bed.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter IV
+
+The Official View
+
+
+I rose on the following morning still possessed by the determination to
+make some oportunity during the day to call on Thorndyke and take his
+advice on the now urgent question as to what I was to do. I use the word
+"urgent" advisedly; for the incidents of the preceding evening had left
+me with the firm conviction that poison was being administered for some
+purpose to my mysterious patient, and that no time must be lost if his
+life was to be saved. Last night he had escaped only by the narrowest
+margin--assuming him to be still alive--and it was only my unexpectedly
+firm attitude that had compelled Mr. Weiss to agree to restorative
+measures.
+
+That I should be sent for again I had not the slightest expectation. If
+what I so strongly suspected was true, Weiss would call in some other
+doctor, in the hope of better luck, and it was imperative that he
+should be stopped before it was too late. This was my view, but I meant
+to have Thorndyke's opinion, and act under his direction, but
+
+
+  "The best laid plans of mice and men
+   Gang aft agley."
+
+When I came downstairs and took a preliminary glance at the rough
+memorandum-book, kept by the bottle-boy, or, in his absence, by the
+housemaid, I stood aghast. The morning's entries looked already like a
+sample page of the Post Office directory. The new calls alone were more
+than equal to an ordinary day's work, and the routine visits remained to
+be added. Gloomily wondering whether the Black Death had made a sudden
+reappearance in England, I hurried to the dining-room and made a hasty
+breakfast, interrupted at intervals by the apparition of the bottle-boy
+to announce new messages.
+
+The first two or three visits solved the mystery. An epidemic of
+influenza had descended on the neighbourhood, and I was getting not only
+our own normal work but a certain amount of overflow from other
+practices. Further, it appeared that a strike in the building trade had
+been followed immediately by a widespread failure of health among the
+bricklayers who were members of a certain benefit club; which accounted
+for the remarkable suddenness of the outbreak.
+
+Of course, my contemplated visit to Thorndyke was out of the question. I
+should have to act on my own responsibility. But in the hurry and rush
+and anxiety of the work--for some of the cases were severe and even
+critical--I had no opportunity to consider any course of action, nor
+time to carry it out. Even with the aid of a hansom which I chartered,
+as Stillbury kept no carriage, I had not finished my last visit until
+near on midnight, and was then so spent with fatigue that I fell asleep
+over my postponed supper.
+
+As the next day opened with a further increase of work, I sent a
+telegram to Dr. Stillbury at Hastings, whither he had gone, like a wise
+man, to recruit after a slight illness. I asked for authority to engage
+an assistant, but the reply informed me that Stillbury himself was on
+his way to town; and to my relief, when I dropped in at the surgery for
+a cup of tea, I found him rubbing his hands over the open day-book.
+
+"It's an ill wind that blows nobody good," he remarked cheerfully as we
+shook hands. "This will pay the expenses of my holiday, including you.
+By the way, you are not anxious to be off, I suppose?"
+
+As a matter of fact, I was; for I had decided to accept Thorndyke's
+offer, and was now eager to take up my duties with him. But it would
+have been shabby to leave Stillbury to battle alone with this rush of
+work or to seek the services of a strange assistant.
+
+"I should like to get off as soon as you can spare me," I replied, "but
+I'm not going to leave you in the lurch."
+
+"That's a good fellow," said Stillbury. "I knew you wouldn't. Let us
+have some tea and divide up the work. Anything of interest going?"
+
+There were one or two unusual cases on the list, and, as we marked off
+our respective patients, I gave him the histories in brief synopsis. And
+then I opened the subject of my mysterious experiences at the house of
+Mr. Weiss.
+
+"There's another affair that I want to tell you about; rather an
+unpleasant business."
+
+"Oh, dear!" exclaimed Stillbury. He put down his cup and regarded me
+with quite painful anxiety.
+
+"It looks to me like an undoubted case of criminal poisoning," I
+continued.
+
+Stillbury's face cleared instantly. "Oh, I'm glad it's nothing more than
+that," he said with an air of relief. "I was afraid, it was some
+confounded woman. There's always that danger, you know, when a locum is
+young and happens--if I may say so, Jervis--to be a good-looking fellow.
+Let us hear about this case."
+
+I gave him a condensed narrative of my connection with the mysterious
+patient, omitting any reference to Thorndyke, and passing lightly over
+my efforts to fix the position of the house, and wound up with the
+remark that the facts ought certainly to be communicated to the police.
+
+"Yes," he admitted reluctantly, "I suppose you're right. Deuced
+unpleasant though. Police cases don't do a practice any good. They waste
+a lot of time, too; keep you hanging about to give evidence. Still, you
+are quite right. We can't stand by and see the poor devil poisoned
+without making some effort. But I don't believe the police will do
+anything in the matter."
+
+"Don't you really?"
+
+"No, I don't. They like to have things pretty well cut and dried before
+they act. A prosecution is an expensive affair, so they don't care to
+prosecute unless they are fairly sure of a conviction. If they fail they
+get hauled over the coals."
+
+"But don't you think they would get a conviction in this case?"
+
+"Not on your evidence, Jervis. They might pick up something fresh, but,
+if they didn't they would fail. You haven't got enough hard-baked facts
+to upset a capable defence. Still, that isn't our affair. You want to
+put the responsibility on the police and I entirely agree with you."
+
+"There ought not to be any delay," said I.
+
+"There needn't be. I shall look in on Mrs. Wackford and you have to see
+the Rummel children; we shall pass the station on our way. Why shouldn't
+we drop in and see the inspector or superintendent?"
+
+The suggestion met my views exactly. As soon as we had finished tea, we
+set forth, and in about ten minutes found ourselves in the bare and
+forbidding office attached to the station.
+
+The presiding officer descended from a high stool, and, carefully laying
+down his pen, shook hands cordially.
+
+"And what can I do for you gentlemen?" he asked, with an affable smile.
+
+Stillbury proceeded to open our business.
+
+"My friend here, Dr. Jervis, who has very kindly been looking after my
+work for a week or two, has had a most remarkable experience, and he
+wants to tell you about it."
+
+"Something in my line of business?" the officer inquired.
+
+"That," said I, "is for you to judge. I think it is, but you may think
+otherwise"; and hereupon, without further preamble, I plunged into the
+history of the case, giving him a condensed statement similar to that
+which I had already made to Stillbury.
+
+He listened with close attention, jotting down from time to time a brief
+note on a sheet of paper; and, when I had finished, he wrote out in a
+black-covered notebook a short précis of my statement.
+
+"I have written down here," he said, "the substance of what you have
+told me. I will read the deposition over to you, and, if it is correct,
+I will ask you to sign it."
+
+He did so, and, when I had signed the document, I asked him what was
+likely to be done in the matter.
+
+"I am afraid," he replied, "that we can't take any active measures. You
+have put us on our guard and we shall keep our eyes open. But I think
+that is all we can do, unless we hear something further."
+
+"But," I exclaimed, "don't you think that it is a very suspicious
+affair?"
+
+"I do," he replied. "A very fishy business indeed, and you were quite
+right to come and tell us about it."
+
+"It seems a pity not to take some measures," I said. "While you are
+waiting to hear something further, they may give the poor wretch a fresh
+dose and kill him."
+
+"In which case we should hear something further, unless some fool of a
+doctor were to give a death certificate."
+
+"But that is very unsatisfactory. The man ought not to be allowed to
+die."
+
+"I quite agree with you, sir. But we've no evidence that he is going to
+die. His friends sent for you, and you treated him skilfully and left
+him in a fair way to recovery. That's all that we really know about it.
+Yes, I know," the officer continued as I made signs of disagreement,
+"you think that a crime is possibly going to be committed and that we
+ought to prevent it. But you overrate our powers. We can only act on
+evidence that a crime has actually been committed or is actually being
+attempted. Now we have no such evidence. Look at your statement, and
+tell me what you can swear to."
+
+"I think I could swear that Mr. Graves had taken a poisonous dose of
+morphine."
+
+"And who gave him that poisonous dose?"
+
+"I very strongly suspect--"
+
+"That's no good, sir," interrupted the officer. "Suspicion isn't
+evidence. We should want you to swear an information and give us enough
+facts to make out a <i>primâ facie</i> case against some definite person. And
+you couldn't do it. Your information amounts to this: that a certain
+person has taken a poisonous dose of morphine and apparently recovered.
+That's all. You can't swear that the names given to you are real names,
+and you can't give us any address or even any locality."
+
+"I took some compass bearings in the carriage," I said. "You could
+locate the house, I think, without much difficulty."
+
+The officer smiled faintly and fixed an abstracted gaze on the clock.
+
+"<i>You</i> could, sir," he replied. "I have no doubt whatever that <i>you</i>
+could. <i>I</i> couldn't. But, in any case, we haven't enough to go upon. If
+you learn anything fresh, I hope you will let me know; and I am very
+much obliged to you for taking so much trouble in the matter. Good
+evening sir. Good evening, Dr. Stillbury."
+
+He shook hands with us both genially, and, accepting perforce this very
+polite but unmistakable dismissal, we took our departure.
+
+Outside the station, Stillbury heaved a comfortable sigh. He was
+evidently relieved to find that no upheavals were to take place in his
+domain.
+
+"I thought that would be their attitude," he said, "and they are quite
+right, you know. The function of law is to prevent crime, it is true;
+but prophylaxis in the sense in which we understand it is not possible
+in legal practice."
+
+I assented without enthusiasm. It was disappointing to find that no
+precautionary measures were to be taken. However, I had done all that I
+could in the matter. No further responsibility lay upon me, and, as it
+was practically certain that I had seen and heard the last of Mr. Graves
+and his mysterious household, I dismissed the case from my mind. At the
+next corner Stillbury and I parted to go our respective ways; and my
+attention was soon transferred from the romance of crime to the
+realities of epidemic influenza.
+
+The plethora of work in Dr. Stillbury's practice continued longer than I
+had bargained for. Day after day went by and still found me tramping the
+dingy streets of Kennington or scrambling up and down narrow stairways;
+turning in at night dead tired, or turning out half awake to the hideous
+jangle of the night bell.
+
+It was very provoking. For months I had resisted Thorndyke's persuasion
+to give up general practice and join him. Not from lack of inclination,
+but from a deep suspicion that he was thinking of my wants rather than
+his own; that his was a charitable rather than a business proposal. Now
+that I knew this not to be the case, I was impatient to join him; and,
+as I trudged through the dreary thoroughfares of this superannuated
+suburb, with its once rustic villas and its faded gardens, my thoughts
+would turn enviously to the quiet dignity of the Temple and my friend's
+chambers in King's Bench Walk.
+
+The closed carriage appeared no more; nor did any whisper either of good
+or evil reach me in connection with the mysterious house from which it
+had come. Mr. Graves had apparently gone out of my life for ever.
+
+But if he had gone out of my life, he had not gone out of my memory.
+Often, as I walked my rounds, would the picture of that dimly-lit room
+rise unbidden. Often would I find myself looking once more into that
+ghastly face, so worn, so wasted and haggard, and yet so far from
+repellent. All the incidents of that last night would reconstitute
+themselves with a vividness that showed the intensity of the impression
+that they had made at the time. I would have gladly forgotten the whole
+affair, for every incident of it was fraught with discomfort. But it
+clung to my memory; it haunted me; and ever as it returned it bore with
+it the disquieting questions: Was Mr. Graves still alive? And, if he was
+not, was there really nothing which could have been done to save him?
+
+Nearly a month passed before the practice began to show signs of
+returning to its normal condition. Then the daily lists became more and
+more contracted and the day's work proportionately shorter. And thus the
+term of my servitude came to an end. One evening, as we were writing up
+the day-book, Stillbury remarked:
+
+"I almost think, Jervis, I could manage by myself now. I know you are
+only staying on for my sake."
+
+"I am staying on to finish my engagement, but I shan't be sorry to clear
+out if you can do without me."
+
+"I think I can. When would you like to be off?"
+
+"As soon as possible. Say to-morrow morning, after I have made a few
+visits and transferred the patients to you."
+
+"Very well," said Stillbury. "Then I will give you your cheque and
+settle up everything to-night, so that you shall be free to go off when
+you like to-morrow morning."
+
+Thus ended my connection with Kennington Lane. On the following day at
+about noon, I found myself strolling across Waterloo Bridge with the
+sensations of a newly liberated convict and a cheque for twenty-five
+guineas in my pocket. My luggage was to follow when I sent for it. Now,
+unhampered even by a hand-bag, I joyfully descended the steps at the
+north end of the bridge and headed for King's Bench Walk by way of the
+Embankment and Middle Temple Lane.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter V
+
+Jeffrey Blackmore's Will
+
+
+My arrival at Thorndyke's chambers was not unexpected, having been
+heralded by a premonitory post-card. The "oak" was open and an
+application of the little brass knocker of the inner door immediately
+produced my colleague himself and a very hearty welcome.
+
+"At last," said Thorndyke, "you have come forth from the house of
+bondage. I began to think that you had taken up your abode in Kennington
+for good."
+
+"I was beginning, myself, to wonder when I should escape. But here I am;
+and I may say at once that I am ready to shake the dust of general
+practice off my feet for ever--that is, if you are still willing to have
+me as your assistant."
+
+"Willing!" exclaimed Thorndyke, "Barkis himself was not more willing
+than I. You will be invaluable to me. Let us settle the terms of our
+comradeship forthwith, and to-morrow we will take measures to enter you
+as a student of the Inner Temple. Shall we have our talk in the open air
+and the spring sunshine?"
+
+I agreed readily to this proposal, for it was a bright, sunny day and
+warm for the time of year--the beginning of April. We descended to the
+Walk and thence slowly made our way to the quiet court behind the
+church, where poor old Oliver Goldsmith lies, as he would surely have
+wished to lie, in the midst of all that had been dear to him in his
+chequered life. I need not record the matter of our conversation. To
+Thorndyke's proposals I had no objections to offer but my own
+unworthiness and his excessive liberality. A few minutes saw our
+covenants fully agreed upon, and when Thorndyke had noted the points on
+a slip of paper, signed and dated it and handed it to me, the business
+was at an end.
+
+"There," my colleague said with a smile as he put away his pocket-book,
+"if people would only settle their affairs in that way, a good part of
+the occupation of lawyers would be gone. Brevity is the soul of wit; and
+the fear of simplicity is the beginning of litigation."
+
+"And now," I said, "I propose that we go and feed. I will invite you to
+lunch to celebrate our contract."
+
+"My learned junior is premature," he replied. "I had already arranged a
+little festivity--or rather had modified one that was already arranged.
+You remember Mr. Marchmont, the solicitor?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"He called this morning to ask me to lunch with him and a new client at
+the 'Cheshire Cheese.' I accepted and notified him that I should bring
+you."
+
+"Why the 'Cheshire Cheese'?" I asked.
+
+"Why not? Marchmont's reasons for the selection were, first, that his
+client has never seen an old-fashioned London tavern, and second, that
+this is Wednesday and he, Marchmont, has a gluttonous affection for a
+really fine beef-steak pudding. You don't object, I hope?"
+
+"Oh, not at all. In fact, now that you mention it, my own sensations
+incline me to sympathize with Marchmont. I breakfasted rather early."
+
+"Then come," said Thorndyke. "The assignation is for one o'clock, and,
+if we walk slowly, we shall just hit it off."
+
+We sauntered up Inner Temple Lane, and, crossing Fleet Street, headed
+sedately for the tavern. As we entered the quaint old-world dining-room,
+Thorndyke looked round and a gentleman, who was seated with a companion
+at a table in one of the little boxes or compartments, rose and saluted
+us.
+
+"Let me introduce you to my friend Mr. Stephen Blackmore," he said as we
+approached. Then, turning to his companion, he introduced us by our
+respective names.
+
+"I engaged this box," he continued, "so that we might be private if we
+wished to have a little preliminary chat; not that beef-steak pudding is
+a great help to conversation. But when people have a certain business
+in view, their talk is sure to drift towards it, sooner or later."
+
+Thorndyke and I sat down opposite the lawyer and his client, and we
+mutually inspected one another. Marchmont I already knew; an elderly,
+professional-looking man, a typical solicitor of the old school;
+fresh-faced, precise, rather irascible, and conveying a not unpleasant
+impression of taking a reasonable interest in his diet. The other man
+was quite young, not more than five-and-twenty, and was a fine
+athletic-looking fellow with a healthy, out-of-door complexion and an
+intelligent and highly prepossessing face. I took a liking to him at the
+first glance, and so, I saw, did Thorndyke.
+
+"You two gentlemen," said Blackmore, addressing us, "seem to be quite
+old acquaintances. I have heard so much about you from my friend, Reuben
+Hornby."
+
+"Ah!" exclaimed Marchmont, "that was a queer case--'The Case of the Red
+Thumb Mark,' as the papers called it. It was an eye-opener to
+old-fashioned lawyers like myself. We've had scientific witnesses
+before--and bullied 'em properly, by Jove! when they wouldn't give the
+evidence that we wanted. But the scientific lawyer is something new. His
+appearance in court made us all sit up, I can assure you."
+
+"I hope we shall make you sit up again," said Thorndyke.
+
+"You won't this time," said Marchmont. "The issues in this case of my
+friend Blackmore's are purely legal; or rather, there are no issues at
+all. There is nothing in dispute. I tried to prevent Blackmore from
+consulting you, but he wouldn't listen to reason. Here! Waiter! How much
+longer are we to be waiters? We shall die of old age before we get our
+victuals!"
+
+The waiter smiled apologetically. "Yessir!" said he. "Coming now, sir."
+And at this very moment there was borne into the room a Gargantuan
+pudding in a great bucket of a basin, which being placed on a
+three-legged stool was forthwith attacked ferociously by the
+white-clothed, white-capped carver. We watched the process--as did every
+one present--with an interest not entirely gluttonous, for it added a
+pleasant touch to the picturesque old room, with its sanded floor, its
+homely, pew-like boxes, its high-backed settles and the friendly
+portrait of the "great lexicographer" that beamed down on us from the
+wall.
+
+"This is a very different affair from your great, glittering modern
+restaurant," Mr. Marchmont remarked.
+
+"It is indeed," said Blackmore, "and if this is the way in which our
+ancestors lived, it would seem that they had a better idea of comfort
+than we have."
+
+There was a short pause, during which Mr. Marchmont glared hungrily at
+the pudding; then Thorndyke said:
+
+"So you refused to listen to reason, Mr. Blackmore?"
+
+"Yes. You see, Mr. Marchmont and his partner had gone into the matter
+and decided that there was nothing to be done. Then I happened to
+mention the affair to Reuben Hornby, and he urged me to ask your advice
+on the case."
+
+"Like his impudence," growled Marchmont, "to meddle with my client."
+
+"On which," continued Blackmore, "I spoke to Mr. Marchmont and he agreed
+that it was worth while to take your opinion on the case, though he
+warned me to cherish no hopes, as the affair was not really within your
+specialty."
+
+"So you understand," said Marchmont, "that we expect nothing. This is
+quite a forlorn hope. We are taking your opinion as a mere formality, to
+be able to say that we have left nothing untried."
+
+"That is an encouraging start," Thorndyke remarked. "It leaves me
+unembarrassed by the possibility of failure. But meanwhile you are
+arousing in me a devouring curiosity as to the nature of the case. Is it
+highly confidential? Because if not, I would mention that Jervis has now
+joined me as my permanent colleague."
+
+"It isn't confidential at all," said Marchmont. "The public are in full
+possession of the facts, and we should be only too happy to put them in
+still fuller possession, through the medium of the Probate Court, if we
+could find a reasonable pretext. But we can't."
+
+Here the waiter charged our table with the fussy rapidity of the
+overdue.
+
+"Sorry to keep you waiting, sir. Rather early, sir. Wouldn't like it
+underdone, sir."
+
+Marchmont inspected his plate critically and remarked:
+
+"I sometimes suspect these oysters of being mussels; and I'll swear the
+larks are sparrows."
+
+"Let us hope so," said Thorndyke. "The lark is better employed 'at
+Heaven's gate singing' than garnishing a beef-steak pudding. But you
+were telling us about your case."
+
+"So I was. Well it's just a matter of--ale or claret? Oh, claret, I
+know. You despise the good old British John Barleycorn."
+
+"He that drinks beer thinks beer," retorted Thorndyke. "But you were
+saying that it is just a matter of--?"
+
+"A matter of a perverse testator and an ill-drawn will. A peculiarly
+irritating case, too, because the defective will replaces a perfectly
+sound one, and the intentions of the testator were--er--were--excellent
+ale, this. A little heady, perhaps, but sound. Better than your sour
+French wine, Thorndyke--were--er--were quite obvious. What he evidently
+desired was--mustard? Better have some mustard. No? Well, well! Even a
+Frenchman would take mustard. You can have no appreciation of flavour,
+Thorndyke, if you take your victuals in that crude, unseasoned state.
+And, talking of flavour, do you suppose that there is really any
+difference between that of a lark and that of a sparrow?"
+
+Thorndyke smiled grimly. "I should suppose," said he, "that they were
+indistinguishable; but the question could easily be put to the test of
+experiment."
+
+"That is true," agreed Marchmont, "and it would really be worth trying,
+for, as you say, sparrows are more easily obtainable than larks. But,
+about this will. I was saying--er--now, what was I saying?"
+
+"I understood you to say," replied Thorndyke, "that the intentions of
+the testator were in some way connected with mustard. Isn't that so,
+Jervis?"
+
+"That was what I gathered," said I.
+
+Marchmont gazed at us for a moment with a surprised expression and then,
+laughing good-humouredly, fortified himself with a draught of ale.
+
+"The moral of which is," Thorndyke added, "that testamentary
+dispositions should not be mixed up with beef-steak pudding."
+
+"I believe you're right, Thorndyke," said the unabashed solicitor.
+"Business is business and eating is eating. We had better talk over our
+case in my office or your chambers after lunch."
+
+"Yes," said Thorndyke, "come over to the Temple with me and I will give
+you a cup of coffee to clear your brain. Are there any documents?"
+
+"I have all the papers here in my bag," replied Marchmont; and the
+conversation--such conversation as is possible "when beards wag all"
+over the festive board--drifted into other channels.
+
+As soon as the meal was finished and the reckoning paid, we trooped out
+of Wine Office Court, and, insinuating ourselves through the line of
+empty hansoms that, in those days, crawled in a continuous procession
+on either side of Fleet Street, betook ourselves by way of Mitre Court
+to King's Bench Walk. There, when the coffee had been requisitioned and
+our chairs drawn up around the fire, Mr. Marchmont unloaded from his bag
+a portentous bundle of papers, and we addressed ourselves to the
+business in hand.
+
+"Now," said Marchmont, "let me repeat what I said before. Legally
+speaking, we have no case--not the ghost of one. But my client wished to
+take your opinion, and I agreed on the bare chance that you might detect
+some point that we had overlooked. I don't think you will, for we have
+gone into the case very thoroughly, but still, there is the
+infinitesimal chance and we may as well take it. Would you like to read
+the two wills, or shall I first explain the circumstances?"
+
+"I think," replied Thorndyke, "a narrative of the events in the order of
+their occurrence would be most helpful. I should like to know as much as
+possible about the testator before I examine the documents."
+
+"Very well," said Marchmont. "Then I will begin with a recital of the
+circumstances, which, briefly stated, are these: My client, Stephen
+Blackmore, is the son of Mr. Edward Blackmore, deceased. Edward
+Blackmore had two brothers who survived him, John, the elder, and
+Jeffrey, the younger. Jeffrey is the testator in this case.
+
+"Some two years ago, Jeffrey Blackmore executed a will by which he made
+his nephew Stephen his executor and sole legatee; and a few months later
+he added a codicil giving two hundred and fifty pounds to his brother
+John."
+
+"What was the value of the estate?" Thorndyke asked.
+
+"About three thousand five hundred pounds, all invested in Consols. The
+testator had a pension from the Foreign Office, on which he lived,
+leaving his capital untouched. Soon after having made his will, he left
+the rooms in Jermyn Street, where he had lived for some years, stored
+his furniture and went to Florence. From thence he moved on to Rome and
+then to Venice and other places in Italy, and so continued to travel
+about until the end of last September, when it appears that he returned
+to England, for at the beginning of October he took a set of chambers in
+New Inn, which he furnished with some of the things from his old rooms.
+As far as we can make out, he never communicated with any of his
+friends, excepting his brother, and the fact of his being in residence
+at New Inn or of his being in England at all became known to them only
+when he died."
+
+"Was this quite in accordance with his ordinary habits?" Thorndyke
+asked.
+
+"I should say not quite," Blackmore answered. "My uncle was a studious,
+solitary man, but he was not formerly a recluse. He was not much of a
+correspondent but he kept up some sort of communication with his
+friends. He used, for instance, to write to me sometimes, and, when I
+came down from Cambridge for the vacations, he had me to stay with him
+at his rooms."
+
+"Is there anything known that accounts for the change in his habits?"
+
+"Yes, there is," replied Marchmont. "We shall come to that presently. To
+proceed with the narrative: On the fifteenth of last March he was found
+dead in his chambers, and a more recent will was then discovered, dated
+the twelfth of November of last year. Now no change had taken place in
+the circumstances of the testator to account for the new will, nor was
+there any appreciable alteration in the disposition of the property. As
+far as we can make out, the new will was drawn with the idea of stating
+the intentions of the testator with greater exactness and for the sake
+of doing away with the codicil. The entire property, with the exception
+of two hundred and fifty pounds, was, as before, bequeathed to Stephen,
+but the separate items were specified, and the testator's brother, John
+Blackmore, was named as the executor and residuary legatee."
+
+"I see," said Thorndyke. "So that your client's interest in the will
+would appear to be practically unaffected by the change."
+
+"Yes. There it is," exclaimed the lawyer, slapping the table to add
+emphasis to his words. "That is the pity of it! If people who have no
+knowledge of law would only refrain from tinkering at their wills, what
+a world of trouble would be saved!"
+
+"Oh, come!" said Thorndyke. "It is not for a lawyer to say that."
+
+"No, I suppose not," Marchmont agreed. "Only, you see, we like the
+muddle to be made by the other side. But, in this case, the muddle is on
+our side. The change, as you say, seems to leave our friend Stephen's
+interests unaffected. That is, of course, what poor Jeffrey Blackmore
+thought. But he was mistaken. The effect of the change is absolutely
+disastrous."
+
+"Indeed!"
+
+"Yes. As I have said, no alteration in the testator's circumstances had
+taken place at the time the new will was executed. <i>But</i> only two days
+before his death, his sister, Mrs. Edmund Wilson, died; and on her will
+being proved it appeared that she had bequeathed to him her entire
+personalty, estimated at about thirty thousand pounds."
+
+"Heigho!" exclaimed Thorndyke. "What an unfortunate affair!"
+
+"You are right," said Mr. Marchmont; "it was a disaster. By the original
+will this great sum would have accrued to our friend Mr. Stephen,
+whereas now, of course, it goes to the residuary legatee, Mr. John
+Blackmore. And what makes it even more exasperating is the fact that
+this is obviously not in accordance with the wishes and intentions of
+Mr. Jeffrey, who clearly desired his nephew to inherit his property."
+
+"Yes," said Thorndyke; "I think you are justified in assuming that. But
+do you know whether Mr. Jeffrey was aware of his sister's intentions?"
+
+"We think not. Her will was executed as recently as the third of
+September last, and it seems that there had been no communication
+between her and Mr. Jeffrey since that date. Besides, if you consider
+Mr. Jeffrey's actions, you will see that they suggest no knowledge or
+expectation of this very important bequest. A man does not make
+elaborate dispositions in regard to three thousand pounds and then leave
+a sum of thirty thousand to be disposed of casually as the residue of
+the estate."
+
+"No," Thorndyke agreed. "And, as you have said, the manifest intention
+of the testator was to leave the bulk of his property to Mr. Stephen. So
+we may take it as virtually certain that Mr. Jeffrey had no knowledge of
+the fact that he was a beneficiary under his sister's will."
+
+"Yes," said Mr. Marchmont, "I think we may take that as nearly certain."
+
+"With reference to the second will," said Thorndyke, "I suppose there is
+no need to ask whether the document itself has been examined; I mean as
+to its being a genuine document and perfectly regular?"
+
+Mr. Marchmont shook his head sadly.
+
+"No," he said, "I am sorry to say that there can be no possible doubt as
+to the authenticity and regularity of the document. The circumstances
+under which it was executed establish its genuineness beyond any
+question."
+
+"What were those circumstances?" Thorndyke asked.
+
+"They were these: On the morning of the twelfth of November last, Mr.
+Jeffrey came to the porter's lodge with a document in his hand. 'This,'
+he said, 'is my will. I want you to witness my signature. Would you mind
+doing so, and can you find another respectable person to act as the
+second witness?' Now it happened that a nephew of the porter's, a
+painter by trade, was at work in the Inn. The porter went out and
+fetched him into the lodge and the two men agreed to witness the
+signature. 'You had better read the will,' said Mr. Jeffrey. 'It is not
+actually necessary, but it is an additional safeguard and there is
+nothing of a private nature in the document.' The two men accordingly
+read the document, and, when Mr. Jeffrey had signed it in their
+presence, they affixed their signatures; and I may add that the painter
+left the recognizable impressions of three greasy fingers."
+
+"And these witnesses have been examined?"
+
+"Yes. They have both sworn to the document and to their own signatures,
+and the painter recognized his finger-marks."
+
+"That," said Thorndyke, "seems to dispose pretty effectually of any
+question as to the genuineness of the will; and if, as I gather, Mr.
+Jeffrey came to the lodge alone, the question of undue influence is
+disposed of too."
+
+"Yes," said Mr. Marchmont. "I think we must pass the will as absolutely
+flawless."
+
+"It strikes me as rather odd," said Thorndyke, "that Jeffrey should have
+known so little about his sister's intentions. Can you explain it, Mr.
+Blackmore?"
+
+"I don't think that it is very remarkable," Stephen replied. "I knew
+very little of my aunt's affairs and I don't think my uncle Jeffrey knew
+much more, for he was under the impression that she had only a life
+interest in her husband's property. And he may have been right. It is
+not clear what money this was that she left to my uncle. She was a very
+taciturn woman and made few confidences to anyone."
+
+"So that it is possible," said Thorndyke, "that she, herself, may have
+acquired this money recently by some bequest?"
+
+"It is quite possible," Stephen answered.
+
+"She died, I understand," said Thorndyke, glancing at the notes that he
+had jotted down, "two days before Mr. Jeffrey. What date would that be?"
+
+"Jeffrey died on the fourteenth of March," said Marchmont.
+
+"So that Mrs. Wilson died on the twelfth of March?"
+
+"That is so," Marchmont replied; and Thorndyke then asked:
+
+"Did she die suddenly?"
+
+"No," replied Stephen; "she died of cancer. I understand that it was
+cancer of the stomach."
+
+"Do you happen to know," Thorndyke asked, "what sort of relations
+existed between Jeffrey and his brother John?"
+
+"At one time," said Stephen, "I know they were not very cordial; but the
+breach may have been made up later, though I don't know that it actually
+was."
+
+"I ask the question," said Thorndyke, "because, as I dare say you have
+noticed, there is, in the first will, some hint of improved relations.
+As it was originally drawn that will makes Mr. Stephen the sole legatee.
+Then, a little later, a codicil is added in favour of John, showing that
+Jeffrey had felt the necessity of making some recognition of his
+brother. This seems to point to some change in the relations, and the
+question arises: if such a change did actually occur, was it the
+beginning of a new and further improving state of feeling between the
+two brothers? Have you any facts bearing on that question?"
+
+Marchmont pursed up his lips with the air of a man considering an
+unwelcome suggestion, and, after a few moments of reflection, answered:
+
+"I think we must say 'yes' to that. There is the undeniable fact that,
+of all Jeffrey's friends, John Blackmore was the only one who knew that
+he was living in New Inn."
+
+"Oh, John knew that, did he?"
+
+"Yes, he certainly did; for it came out in the evidence that he had
+called on Jeffrey at his chambers more than once. There is no denying
+that. But, mark you!" Mr. Marchmont added emphatically, "that does not
+cover the inconsistency of the will. There is nothing in the second will
+to suggest that Jeffrey intended materially to increase the bequest to
+his brother."
+
+"I quite agree with you, Marchmont. I think that is a perfectly sound
+position. You have, I suppose, fully considered the question as to
+whether it would be possible to set aside the second will on the ground
+that it fails to carry out the evident wishes and intentions of the
+testator?"
+
+"Yes. My partner, Winwood, and I went into that question very carefully,
+and we also took counsel's opinion--Sir Horace Barnaby--and he was of
+the same opinion as ourselves; that the court would certainly uphold the
+will."
+
+"I think that would be my own view," said Thorndyke, "especially after
+what you have told me. Do I understand that John Blackmore was the only
+person who knew that Jeffrey was in residence at New Inn?"
+
+"The only one of his private friends. His bankers knew and so did the
+officials from whom he drew his pension."
+
+"Of course he would have to notify his bankers of his change of
+address."
+
+"Yes, of course. And à propos of the bank, I may mention that the
+manager tells me that, of late, they had noticed a slight change in the
+character of Jeffrey's signature--I think you will see the reason of the
+change when you hear the rest of his story. It was very trifling; not
+more than commonly occurs when a man begins to grow old, especially if
+there is some failure of eyesight."
+
+"Was Mr. Jeffrey's eyesight failing?" asked Thorndyke.
+
+"Yes, it was, undoubtedly," said Stephen. "He was practically blind in
+one eye and, in the very last letter that I ever had from him, he
+mentioned that there were signs of commencing cataract in the other."
+
+"You spoke of his pension. He continued to draw that regularly?"
+
+"Yes; he drew his allowance every month, or rather, his bankers drew it
+for him. They had been accustomed to do so when he was abroad, and the
+authorities seem to have allowed the practice to continue."
+
+Thorndyke reflected a while, running his eye over the notes on the slips
+of paper in his hand, and Marchmont surveyed him with a malicious smile.
+Presently the latter remarked:
+
+"Methinks the learned counsel is floored."
+
+Thorndyke laughed. "It seems to me," he retorted, "that your proceedings
+are rather like those of the amiable individual who offered the bear a
+flint pebble, that he might crack it and extract the kernel. Your
+confounded will seems to offer no soft spot on which one could commence
+an attack. But we won't give up. We seem to have sucked the will dry.
+Let us now have a few facts respecting the parties concerned in it; and,
+as Jeffrey is the central figure, let us begin with him and the tragedy
+at New Inn that formed the starting-point of all this trouble."
+
+
+
+
+Chapter VI
+
+Jeffrey Blackmore, Deceased
+
+
+Having made the above proposition, Thorndyke placed a fresh slip of
+paper on the blotting pad on his knee and looked inquiringly at Mr.
+Marchmont; who, in his turn, sighed and looked at the bundle of
+documents on the table.
+
+"What do you want to know?" he asked a little wearily.
+
+"Everything," replied Thorndyke. "You have hinted at circumstances that
+would account for a change in Jeffrey's habits and that would explain an
+alteration in the character of his signature. Let us have those
+circumstances. And, if I might venture on a suggestion, it would be that
+we take the events in the order in which they occurred or in which they
+became known."
+
+"That's the worst of you, Thorndyke," Marchmont grumbled. "When a case
+has been squeezed out to the last drop, in a legal sense, you want to
+begin all over again with the family history of every one concerned and
+a list of his effects and household furniture. But I suppose you will
+have to be humoured; and I imagine that the best way in which to give
+you the information you want will be to recite the circumstances
+surrounding the death of Jeffrey Blackmore. Will that suit you?"
+
+"Perfectly," replied Thorndyke; and thereupon Marchmont began:
+
+"The death of Jeffrey Blackmore was discovered at about eleven o'clock
+in the morning of the fifteenth of March. It seems that a builder's man
+was ascending a ladder to examine a gutter on number 31, New Inn, when,
+on passing a second-floor window that was open at the top, he looked in
+and perceived a gentleman lying on a bed. The gentleman was fully
+clothed and had apparently lain down on the bed to rest; at least so the
+builder thought at the time, for he was merely passing the window on
+his way up, and, very properly, did not make a minute examination. But
+when, some ten minutes later, he came down and saw that the gentleman
+was still in the same position, he looked at him more attentively; and
+this is what he noticed--but perhaps we had better have it in his own
+words as he told the story at the inquest.
+
+"'When I came to look at the gentleman a bit more closely, it struck me
+that he looked rather queer. His face looked very white, or rather pale
+yellow, like parchment, and his mouth was open. He did not seem to be
+breathing. On the bed by his side was a brass object of some kind--I
+could not make out what it was--and he seemed to be holding some small
+metal object in his hand. I thought it rather a queer affair, so, when I
+came down I went across to the lodge and told the porter about it. The
+porter came out across the square with me and I showed him the window.
+Then he told me to go up the stairs to Mr. Blackmore's chambers on the
+second pair and knock and keep on knocking until I got an answer. I went
+up and knocked and kept on knocking as loud as I could, but, though I
+fetched everybody out of all the other chambers in the house, I couldn't
+get any answer from Mr. Blackmore. So I went downstairs again and then
+Mr. Walker, the porter, sent me for a policeman.
+
+"'I went out and met a policeman just by Dane's Inn and told him about
+the affair, and he came back with me. He and the porter consulted
+together, and then they told me to go up the ladder and get in at the
+window and open the door of the chambers from the inside. So I went up;
+and as soon as I got in at the window I saw that the gentleman was dead.
+I went through the other room and opened the outer door and let in the
+porter and the policeman.'
+
+"That," said Mr. Marchmont, laying down the paper containing the
+depositions, "is the way in which poor Jeffrey Blackmore's death came to
+be discovered.
+
+"The constable reported to his inspector and the inspector sent for the
+divisional surgeon, whom he accompanied to New Inn. I need not go into
+the evidence given by the police officers, as the surgeon saw all that
+they saw and his statement covers everything that is known about
+Jeffrey's death. This is what he says, after describing how he was sent
+for and arrived at the Inn:
+
+"'In the bedroom I found the body of a man between fifty and sixty years
+of age, which has since been identified in my presence as that of Mr.
+Jeffrey Blackmore. It was fully dressed and wore boots on which was a
+moderate amount of dry mud. It was lying on its back on the bed, which
+did not appear to have been slept in, and showed no sign of any struggle
+or disturbance. The right hand loosely grasped a hypodermic syringe
+containing a few drops of clear liquid which I have since analysed and
+found to be a concentrated solution of strophanthin.
+
+"'On the bed, close to the left side of the body, was a brass opium-pipe
+of a pattern which I believe is made in China. The bowl of the pipe
+contained a small quantity of charcoal, and a fragment of opium
+together with some ash, and there was on the bed a little ash which
+appeared to have dropped from the bowl when the pipe fell or was laid
+down. On the mantelshelf in the bedroom I found a small glass-stoppered
+jar containing about an ounce of solid opium, and another, larger jar
+containing wood charcoal broken up into small fragments. Also a bowl
+containing a quantity of ash with fragments of half-burned charcoal and
+a few minute particles of charred opium. By the side of the bowl were a
+knife, a kind of awl or pricker and a very small pair of tongs, which I
+believe to have been used for carrying a piece of lighted charcoal to
+the pipe.
+
+"'On the dressing-table were two glass tubes labelled "Hypodermic
+Tabloids: Strophanthin 1/500 grain," and a minute glass mortar and
+pestle, of which the former contained a few crystals which have since
+been analysed by me and found to be strophanthin.
+
+"'On examining the body, I found that it had been dead about twelve
+hours. There were no marks of violence or any abnormal condition
+excepting a single puncture in the right thigh, apparently made by the
+needle of the hypodermic syringe. The puncture was deep and vertical in
+direction as if the needle had been driven in through the clothing.
+
+"'I made a post-mortem examination of the body and found that death was
+due to poisoning by strophanthin, which appeared to have been injected
+into the thigh. The two tubes which I found on the dressing-table would
+each have contained, if full, twenty tabloids, each tabloid
+representing one five-hundredth of a grain of strophanthin. Assuming
+that the whole of this quantity was injected the amount taken would be
+forty five-hundredths, or about one twelfth of a grain. The ordinary
+medicinal dose of strophanthin is one five-hundredth of a grain.
+
+"'I also found in the body appreciable traces of morphine--the principal
+alkaloid of opium--from which I infer that the deceased was a confirmed
+opium-smoker. This inference was supported by the general condition of
+the body, which was ill-nourished and emaciated and presented all the
+appearances usually met with in the bodies of persons addicted to the
+habitual use of opium.'
+
+"That is the evidence of the surgeon. He was recalled later, as we shall
+see, but, meanwhile, I think you will agree with me that the facts
+testified to by him fully account, not only for the change in Jeffrey's
+habits--his solitary and secretive mode of life--but also for the
+alteration in his handwriting."
+
+"Yes," agreed Thorndyke, "that seems to be so. By the way, what did the
+change in the handwriting amount to?"
+
+"Very little," replied Marchmont. "It was hardly perceptible. Just a
+slight loss of firmness and distinctness; such a trifling change as you
+would expect to find in the handwriting of a man who had taken to drink
+or drugs, or anything that might impair the steadiness of his hand. I
+should not have noticed it, myself, but, of course, the people at the
+bank are experts, constantly scrutinizing signatures and scrutinizing
+them with a very critical eye."
+
+"Is there any other evidence that bears on the case?" Thorndyke asked.
+
+Marchmont turned over the bundle of papers and smiled grimly.
+
+"My dear Thorndyke," he said, "none of this evidence has the slightest
+bearing on the case. It is all perfectly irrelevant as far as the will
+is concerned. But I know your little peculiarities and I am indulging
+you, as you see, to the top of your bent. The next evidence is that of
+the chief porter, a very worthy and intelligent man named Walker. This
+is what he says, after the usual preliminaries.
+
+"'I have viewed the body which forms the subject of this inquiry. It is
+that of Mr. Jeffrey Blackmore, the tenant of a set of chambers on the
+second floor of number thirty-one, New Inn. I have known the deceased
+nearly six months, and during that time have seen and conversed with him
+frequently. He took the chambers on the second of last October and came
+into residence at once. Tenants at New Inn have to furnish two
+references. The references that the deceased gave were his bankers and
+his brother, Mr. John Blackmore. I may say that the deceased was very
+well known to me. He was a quiet, pleasant-mannered gentleman, and it
+was his habit to drop in occasionally at the lodge and have a chat with
+me. I went into his chambers with him once or twice on some small
+matters of business and I noticed that there were always a number of
+books and papers on the table. I understood from him that he spent most
+of his time indoors engaged in study and writing. I know very little
+about his way of living. He had no laundress to look after his rooms, so
+I suppose he did his own house-work and cooking; but he told me that he
+took most of his meals outside, at restaurants or his club.
+
+"'Deceased impressed me as a rather melancholy, low-spirited gentleman.
+He was very much troubled about his eyesight and mentioned the matter to
+me on several occasions. He told me that he was practically blind in one
+eye and that the sight of the other was failing rapidly. He said that
+this afflicted him greatly, because his only pleasure in life was in the
+reading of books, and that if he could not read he should not wish to
+live. On another occasion he said that "to a blind man life was not
+worth living."
+
+"'On the twelfth of last November he came to the lodge with a paper in
+his hand which he said was his will'--But I needn't read that," said
+Marchmont, turning over the leaf, "I've told you how the will was signed
+and witnessed. We will pass on to the day of poor Jeffrey's death.
+
+"'On the fourteenth of March,' the porter says, 'at about half-past six
+in the evening, the deceased came to the Inn in a four-wheeled cab. That
+was the day of the great fog. I do not know if there was anyone in the
+cab with the deceased, but I think not, because he came to the lodge
+just before eight o'clock and had a little talk with me. He said that
+he had been overtaken by the fog and could not see at all. He was quite
+blind and had been obliged to ask a stranger to call a cab for him as he
+could not find his way through the streets. He then gave me a cheque for
+the rent. I reminded him that the rent was not due until the
+twenty-fifth, but he said he wished to pay it now. He also gave me some
+money to pay one or two small bills that were owing to some of the
+tradespeople--a milk-man, a baker and a stationer.
+
+"'This struck me as very strange, because he had always managed his
+business and paid the tradespeople himself. He told me that the fog had
+irritated his eye so that he could hardly read, and he was afraid he
+should soon be quite blind. He was very depressed; so much so that I
+felt quite uneasy about him. When he left the lodge, he went back across
+the square as if returning to his chambers. There was then no gate open
+excepting the main gate where the lodge is situated. That was the last
+time that I saw the deceased alive.'"
+
+Mr. Marchmont laid the paper on the table. "That is the porter's
+evidence. The remaining depositions are those of Noble, the night
+porter, John Blackmore and our friend here, Mr. Stephen. The night
+porter had not much to tell. This is the substance of his evidence:
+
+"'I have viewed the body of the deceased and identify it as that of Mr.
+Jeffrey Blackmore. I knew the deceased well by sight and occasionally
+had a few words with him. I know nothing of his habits excepting that he
+used to sit up rather late. It is one of my duties to go round the Inn
+at night and call out the hours until one o'clock in the morning. When
+calling out "one o'clock" I often saw a light in the sitting-room of the
+deceased's chambers. On the night of the fourteenth instant, the light
+was burning until past one o'clock, but it was in the bedroom. The light
+in the sitting-room was out by ten o'clock.'
+
+"We now come to John Blackmore's evidence. He says:
+
+"'I have viewed the body of the deceased and recognize it as that of my
+brother Jeffrey. I last saw him alive on the twenty-third of February,
+when I called at his chambers. He then seemed in a very despondent state
+of mind and told me that his eyesight was fast failing. I was aware that
+he occasionally smoked opium, but I did not know that it was a confirmed
+habit. I urged him, on several occasions, to abandon the practice. I
+have no reason to believe that his affairs were in any way embarrassed
+or that he had any reason for making away with himself other than his
+failing eyesight; but, having regard to his state of mind when I last
+saw him, I am not surprised at what has happened.'
+
+"That is the substance of John Blackmore's evidence, and, as to Mr.
+Stephen, his statement merely sets forth the fact that he had identified
+the body as that of his uncle Jeffrey. And now I think you have all the
+facts. Is there anything more that you want to ask me before I go, for I
+must really run away now?"
+
+"I should like," said Thorndyke, "to know a little more about the
+parties concerned in this affair. But perhaps Mr. Stephen can give me
+the information."
+
+"I expect he can," said Marchmont; "at any rate, he knows more about
+them than I do; so I will be off. If you should happen to think of any
+way," he continued, with a sly smile, "of upsetting that will, just let
+me know, and I will lose no time in entering a caveat. Good-bye! Don't
+trouble to let me out."
+
+As soon as he was gone, Thorndyke turned to Stephen Blackmore.
+
+"I am going," he said, "to ask you a few questions which may appear
+rather trifling, but you must remember that my methods of inquiry
+concern themselves with persons and things rather than with documents.
+For instance, I have not gathered very completely what sort of person
+your uncle Jeffrey was. Could you tell me a little more about him?"
+
+"What shall I tell you?" Stephen asked with a slightly embarrassed air.
+
+"Well, begin with his personal appearance."
+
+"That is rather difficult to describe," said Stephen. "He was a
+medium-sized man and about five feet seven--fair, slightly grey,
+clean-shaved, rather spare and slight, had grey eyes, wore spectacles
+and stooped a little as he walked. He was quiet and gentle in manner,
+rather yielding and irresolute in character, and his health was not at
+all robust though he had no infirmity or disease excepting his bad
+eyesight. His age was about fifty-five."
+
+"How came he to be a civil-service pensioner at fifty-five?" asked
+Thorndyke.
+
+"Oh, that was through an accident. He had a nasty fall from a horse,
+and, being a rather nervous man, the shock was very severe. For some
+time after he was a complete wreck. But the failure of his eyesight was
+the actual cause of his retirement. It seems that the fall damaged his
+eyes in some way; in fact he practically lost the sight of one--the
+right--from that moment; and, as that had been his good eye, the
+accident left his vision very much impaired. So that he was at first
+given sick leave and then allowed to retire on a pension."
+
+Thorndyke noted these particulars and then said:
+
+"Your uncle has been more than once referred to as a man of studious
+habits. Does that mean that he pursued any particular branch of
+learning?"
+
+"Yes. He was an enthusiastic Oriental scholar. His official duties had
+taken him at one time to Yokohama and Tokio and at another to Bagdad,
+and while at those places he gave a good deal of attention to the
+languages, literature and arts of the countries. He was also greatly
+interested in Babylonian and Assyrian archaeology, and I believe he
+assisted for some time in the excavations at Birs Nimroud."
+
+"Indeed!" said Thorndyke. "This is very interesting. I had no idea that
+he was a man of such considerable attainments. The facts mentioned by
+Mr. Marchmont would hardly have led one to think of him as what he seems
+to have been: a scholar of some distinction."
+
+"I don't know that Mr. Marchmont realized the fact himself," said
+Stephen; "or that he would have considered it of any moment if he had.
+Nor, as far as that goes, do I. But, of course, I have no experience of
+legal matters."
+
+"You can never tell beforehand," said Thorndyke, "what facts may turn
+out to be of moment, so that it is best to collect all you can get. By
+the way, were you aware that your uncle was an opium-smoker?"
+
+"No, I was not. I knew that he had an opium-pipe which he brought with
+him when he came home from Japan; but I thought it was only a curio. I
+remember him telling me that he once tried a few puffs at an opium-pipe
+and found it rather pleasant, though it gave him a headache. But I had
+no idea he had contracted the habit; in fact, I may say that I was
+utterly astonished when the fact came out at the inquest."
+
+Thorndyke made a note of this answer, too, and said:
+
+"I think that is all I have to ask you about your uncle Jeffrey. And now
+as to Mr. John Blackmore. What sort of man is he?"
+
+"I am afraid I can't tell you very much about him. Until I saw him at
+the inquest, I had not met him since I was a boy. But he is a very
+different kind of man from Uncle Jeffrey; different in appearance and
+different in character."
+
+"You would say that the two brothers were physically quite unlike,
+then?"
+
+"Well," said Stephen, "I don't know that I ought to say that. Perhaps I
+am exaggerating the difference. I am thinking of Uncle Jeffrey as he was
+when I saw him last and of uncle John as he appeared at the inquest.
+They were very different then. Jeffrey was thin, pale, clean shaven,
+wore spectacles and walked with a stoop. John is a shade taller, a shade
+greyer, has good eyesight, a healthy, florid complexion, a brisk,
+upright carriage, is distinctly stout and wears a beard and moustache
+which are black and only very slightly streaked with grey. To me they
+looked as unlike as two men could, though their features were really of
+the same type; indeed, I have heard it said that, as young men, they
+were rather alike, and they both resembled their mother. But there is no
+doubt as to their difference in character. Jeffrey was quiet, serious
+and studious, whereas John rather inclined to what is called a fast
+life; he used to frequent race meetings, and, I think, gambled a good
+deal at times."
+
+"What is his profession?"
+
+"That would be difficult to tell; he has so many; he is so very
+versatile. I believe he began life as an articled pupil in the
+laboratory of a large brewery, but he soon left that and went on the
+stage. He seems to have remained in 'the profession' for some years,
+touring about this country and making occasional visits to America. The
+life seemed to suit him and I believe he was decidedly successful as an
+actor. But suddenly he left the stage and blossomed out in connection
+with a bucket-shop in London."
+
+"And what is he doing now?"
+
+"At the inquest he described himself as a stockbroker, so I presume he
+is still connected with the bucket-shop."
+
+Thorndyke rose, and taking down from the reference shelves a list of
+members of the Stock Exchange, turned over the leaves.
+
+"Yes," he said, replacing the volume, "he must be an outside broker. His
+name is not in the list of members of 'the House.' From what you tell
+me, it is easy to understand that there should have been no great
+intimacy between the two brothers, without assuming any kind of
+ill-feeling. They simply had very little in common. Do you know of
+anything more?"
+
+"No. I have never heard of any actual quarrel or disagreement. My
+impression that they did not get on very well may have been, I think,
+due to the terms of the will, especially the first will. And they
+certainly did not seek one another's society."
+
+"That is not very conclusive," said Thorndyke. "As to the will, a
+thrifty man is not usually much inclined to bequeath his savings to a
+gentleman who may probably employ them in a merry little flutter on the
+turf or the Stock Exchange. And then there was yourself; clearly a more
+suitable subject for a legacy, as your life is all before you. But this
+is mere speculation and the matter is not of much importance, as far as
+we can see. And now, tell me what John Blackmore's relations were with
+Mrs. Wilson. I gather that she left the bulk of her property to Jeffrey,
+her younger brother. Is that so?"
+
+"Yes. She left nothing to John. The fact is that they were hardly on
+speaking terms. I believe John had treated her rather badly, or, at any
+rate, she thought he had. Mr. Wilson, her late husband, dropped some
+money over an investment in connection with the bucket-shop that I spoke
+of, and I think she suspected John of having let him in. She may have
+been mistaken, but you know what ladies are when they get an idea into
+their heads."
+
+"Did you know your aunt well?"
+
+"No; very slightly. She lived down in Devonshire and saw very little of
+any of us. She was a taciturn, strong-minded woman; quite unlike her
+brothers. She seems to have resembled her father's family."
+
+"You might give me her full name."
+
+"Julia Elizabeth Wilson. Her husband's name was Edmund Wilson."
+
+"Thank you. There is just one more point. What has happened to your
+uncle's chambers in New Inn since his death?"
+
+"They have remained shut up. As all his effects were left to me, I have
+taken over the tenancy for the present to avoid having them disturbed. I
+thought of keeping them for my own use, but I don't think I could live
+in them after what I have seen."
+
+"You have inspected them, then?"
+
+"Yes; I have just looked through them. I went there on the day of the
+inquest."
+
+"Now tell me: as you looked through those rooms, what kind of impression
+did they convey to you as to your uncle's habits and mode of life?"
+
+Stephen smiled apologetically. "I am afraid," said he, "that they did
+not convey any particular impression in that respect. I looked into the
+sitting-room and saw all his old familiar household gods, and then I
+went into the bedroom and saw the impression on the bed where his corpse
+had lain; and that gave me such a sensation of horror that I came away
+at once."
+
+"But the appearance of the rooms must have conveyed something to your
+mind," Thorndyke urged.
+
+"I am afraid it did not. You see, I have not your analytical eye. But
+perhaps you would like to look through them yourself? If you would, pray
+do so. They are my chambers now."
+
+"I think I should like to glance round them," Thorndyke replied.
+
+"Very well," said Stephen. "I will give you my card now, and I will look
+in at the lodge presently and tell the porter to hand you the key
+whenever you like to look over the rooms."
+
+He took a card from his case, and, having written a few lines on it,
+handed it to Thorndyke.
+
+"It is very good of you," he said, "to take so much trouble. Like Mr.
+Marchmont, I have no expectation of any result from your efforts, but I
+am very grateful to you, all the same, for going into the case so
+thoroughly. I suppose you don't see any possibility of upsetting that
+will--if I may ask the question?"
+
+"At present," replied Thorndyke, "I do not. But until I have carefully
+weighed every fact connected with the case--whether it seems to have any
+bearing or not--I shall refrain from expressing, or even entertaining,
+an opinion either way."
+
+Stephen Blackmore now took his leave; and Thorndyke, having collected
+the papers containing his notes, neatly punched a couple of holes in
+their margins and inserted them into a small file, which he slipped into
+his pocket.
+
+"That," said he, "is the nucleus of the body of data on which our
+investigations must be based; and I very much fear that it will not
+receive any great additions. What do you think, Jervis?"
+
+"The case looks about as hopeless as a case could look," I replied.
+
+"That is what I think," said he; "and for that reason I am more than
+ordinarily keen on making something of it. I have not much more hope
+than Marchmont has; but I shall squeeze the case as dry as a bone before
+I let go. What are you going to do? I have to attend a meeting of the
+board of directors of the Griffin Life Office."
+
+"Shall I walk down with you?"
+
+"It is very good of you to offer, Jervis, but I think I will go alone. I
+want to run over these notes and get the facts of the case arranged in
+my mind. When I have done that, I shall be ready to pick up new matter.
+Knowledge is of no use unless it is actually in your mind, so that it
+can be produced at a moment's notice. So you had better get a book and
+your pipe and spend a quiet hour by the fire while I assimilate the
+miscellaneous mental feast that we have just enjoyed. And you might do a
+little rumination yourself."
+
+With this, Thorndyke took his departure; and I, adopting his advice,
+drew my chair closer to the fire and filled my pipe. But I did not
+discover any inclination to read. The curious history that I had just
+heard, and Thorndyke's evident determination to elucidate it further,
+disposed me to meditation. Moreover, as his subordinate, it was my
+business to occupy myself with his affairs. Wherefore, having stirred
+the fire and got my pipe well alight, I abandoned myself to the renewed
+consideration of the facts relating to Jeffrey Blackmore's will.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter VII
+
+The Cuneiform Inscription
+
+
+The surprise which Thorndyke's proceedings usually occasioned,
+especially to lawyers, was principally due, I think, to my friend's
+habit of viewing occurrences from an unusual standpoint. He did not look
+at things quite as other men looked at them. He had no prejudices and he
+knew no conventions. When other men were cocksure, Thorndyke was
+doubtful. When other men despaired, he entertained hopes; and thus it
+happened that he would often undertake cases that had been rejected
+contemptuously by experienced lawyers, and, what is more, would bring
+them to a successful issue.
+
+Thus it had been in the only other case in which I had been personally
+associated with him--the so-called "Red Thumb Mark" case. There he was
+presented with an apparent impossibility; but he had given it careful
+consideration. Then, from the category of the impossible he had brought
+it to that of the possible; from the merely possible to the actually
+probable; from the probable to the certain; and in the end had won the
+case triumphantly.
+
+Was it conceivable that he could make anything of the present case? He
+had not declined it. He had certainly entertained it and was probably
+thinking it over at this moment. Yet could anything be more impossible?
+Here was the case of a man making his own will, probably writing it out
+himself, bringing it voluntarily to a certain place and executing it in
+the presence of competent witnesses. There was no suggestion of any
+compulsion or even influence or persuasion. The testator was admittedly
+sane and responsible; and if the will did not give effect to his
+wishes--which, however, could not be proved--that was due to his own
+carelessness in drafting the will and not to any unusual circumstances.
+And the problem--which Thorndyke seemed to be considering--was how to
+set aside that will.
+
+I reviewed the statements that I had heard, but turn them about as I
+would, I could get nothing out of them but confirmation of Mr.
+Marchmont's estimate of the case. One fact that I had noted with some
+curiosity I again considered; that was Thorndyke's evident desire to
+inspect Jeffrey Blackmore's chambers. He had, it is true, shown no
+eagerness, but I had seen at the time that the questions which he put to
+Stephen were put, not with any expectation of eliciting information but
+for the purpose of getting an opportunity to look over the rooms
+himself.
+
+I was still cogitating on the subject when my colleague returned,
+followed by the watchful Polton with the tea-tray, and I attacked him
+forthwith.
+
+"Well, Thorndyke," I said, "I have been thinking about this Blackmore
+case while you have been gadding about."
+
+"And may I take it that the problem is solved?"
+
+"No, I'm hanged if you may. I can make nothing of it."
+
+"Then you are in much the same position as I am."
+
+"But, if you can make nothing of it, why did you undertake it?"
+
+"I only undertook to think about it," said Thorndyke. "I never reject a
+case off-hand unless it is obviously fishy. It is surprising how
+difficulties, and even impossibilities, dwindle if you look at them
+attentively. My experience has taught me that the most unlikely case is,
+at least, worth thinking over."
+
+"By the way, why do you want to look over Jeffrey's chambers? What do
+you expect to find there?"
+
+"I have no expectations at all. I am simply looking for stray facts."
+
+"And all those questions that you asked Stephen Blackmore; had you
+nothing in your mind--no definite purpose?"
+
+"No purpose beyond getting to know as much about the case as I can."
+
+"But," I exclaimed, "do you mean that you are going to examine those
+rooms without any definite object at all?"
+
+"I wouldn't say that," replied Thorndyke. "This is a legal case. Let me
+put an analogous medical case as being more within your present sphere.
+Supposing that a man should consult you, say, about a progressive loss
+of weight. He can give no explanation. He has no pain, no discomfort, no
+symptoms of any kind; in short, he feels perfectly well in every
+respect; <i>but</i> he is losing weight continuously. What would you do?"
+
+"I should overhaul him thoroughly," I answered.
+
+"Why? What would you expect to find?"
+
+"I don't know that I should start by expecting to find anything in
+particular. But I should overhaul him organ by organ and function by
+function, and if I could find nothing abnormal I should have to give it
+up."
+
+"Exactly," said Thorndyke. "And that is just my position and my line of
+action. Here is a case which is perfectly regular and straightforward
+excepting in one respect. It has a single abnormal feature. And for that
+abnormality there is nothing to account.
+
+"Jeffrey Blackmore made a will. It was a well-drawn will and it
+apparently gave full effect to his intentions. Then he revoked that will
+and made another. No change had occurred in his circumstances or in his
+intentions. The provisions of the new will were believed by him to be
+identical with those of the old one. The new will differed from the old
+one only in having a defect in the drafting from which the first will
+was free, and of which he must have been unaware. Now why did he revoke
+the first will and replace it with another which he believed to be
+identical in its provisions? There is no answer to that question. It is
+an abnormal feature in the case. There must be some explanation of that
+abnormality and it is my business to discover it. But the facts in my
+possession yield no such explanation. Therefore it is my purpose to
+search for new facts which may give me a starting-point for an
+investigation."
+
+This exposition of Thorndyke's proposed conduct of the case, reasonable
+as it was, did not impress me as very convincing. I found myself coming
+back to Marchmont's position, that there was really nothing in dispute.
+But other matters claimed our attention at the moment, and it was not
+until after dinner that my colleague reverted to the subject.
+
+"How should you like to take a turn round to New Inn this evening?" he
+asked.
+
+"I should have thought," said I, "that it would be better to go by
+daylight. Those old chambers are not usually very well illuminated."
+
+"That is well thought of," said Thorndyke. "We had better take a lamp
+with us. Let us go up to the laboratory and get one from Polton."
+
+"There is no need to do that," said I. "The pocket-lamp that you lent me
+is in my overcoat pocket. I put it there to return it to you."
+
+"Did you have occasion to use it?" he asked.
+
+"Yes. I paid another visit to the mysterious house and carried out your
+plan. I must tell you about it later."
+
+"Do. I shall be keenly interested to hear all about your adventures. Is
+there plenty of candle left in the lamp?"
+
+"Oh yes. I only used it for about an hour."
+
+"Then let us be off," said Thorndyke; and we accordingly set forth on
+our quest; and, as we went, I reflected once more on the apparent
+vagueness of our proceedings. Presently I reopened the subject with
+Thorndyke.
+
+"I can't imagine," said I, "that you have absolutely nothing in view.
+That you are going to this place with no defined purpose whatever."
+
+"I did not say exactly that," replied Thorndyke. "I said that I was not
+going to look for any particular thing or fact. I am going in the hope
+that I may observe something that may start a new train of speculation.
+But that is not all. You know that an investigation follows a certain
+logical course. It begins with the observation of the conspicuous facts.
+We have done that. The facts were supplied by Marchmont. The next stage
+is to propose to oneself one or more provisional explanations or
+hypotheses. We have done that, too--or, at least I have, and I suppose
+you have."
+
+"I haven't," said I. "There is Jeffrey's will, but why he should have
+made the change I cannot form the foggiest idea. But I should like to
+hear your provisional theories on the subject."
+
+"You won't hear them at present. They are mere wild conjectures. But to
+resume: what do we do next?"
+
+"Go to New Inn and rake over the deceased gentleman's apartments."
+
+Thorndyke smilingly ignored my answer and continued--
+
+"We examine each explanation in turn and see what follows from it;
+whether it agrees with all the facts and leads to the discovery of new
+ones, or, on the other hand, disagrees with some facts or leads us to an
+absurdity. Let us take a simple example.
+
+"Suppose we find scattered over a field a number of largish masses of
+stone, which are entirely different in character from the rocks found in
+the neighbourhood. The question arises, how did those stones get into
+that field? Three explanations are proposed. One: that they are the
+products of former volcanic action; two: that they were brought from a
+distance by human agency; three: that they were carried thither from
+some distant country by icebergs. Now each of those explanations
+involves certain consequences. If the stones are volcanic, then they
+were once in a state of fusion. But we find that they are unaltered
+limestone and contain fossils. Then they are not volcanic. If they were
+borne by icebergs, then they were once part of a glacier and some of
+them will probably show the flat surfaces with parallel scratches which
+are found on glacier-borne stones. We examine them and find the
+characteristic scratched surfaces. Then they have probably been brought
+to this place by icebergs. But this does not exclude human agency, for
+they might have been brought by men to this place from some other where
+the icebergs had deposited them. A further comparison with other facts
+would be needed.
+
+"So we proceed in cases like this present one. Of the facts that are
+known to us we invent certain explanations. From each of those
+explanations we deduce consequences; and if those consequences agree
+with new facts, they confirm the explanation, whereas if they disagree
+they tend to disprove it. But here we are at our destination."
+
+We turned out of Wych Street into the arched passage leading into New
+Inn, and, halting at the half-door of the lodge, perceived a stout,
+purple-faced man crouching over the fire, coughing violently. He held up
+his hand to intimate that he was fully occupied for the moment, and we
+accordingly waited for his paroxysm to subside. At length he turned
+towards us, wiping his eyes, and inquired our business.
+
+"Mr. Stephen Blackmore," said Thorndyke, "has given me permission to
+look over his chambers. He said that he would mention the matter to
+you."
+
+"So he has, sir," said the porter; "but he has just taken the key
+himself to go to the chambers. If you walk across the Inn you'll find
+him there; it's on the farther side; number thirty-one, second floor."
+
+We made our way across to the house indicated, the ground floor of which
+was occupied by a solicitor's offices and was distinguished by a
+good-sized brass plate. Although it had now been dark some time there
+was no light on the lower stairs, but we encountered on the first-floor
+landing a man who had just lit the lamp there. Thorndyke halted to
+address him.
+
+"Can you tell me who occupies the chambers on the third floor?"
+
+"The third floor has been empty about three months," was the reply.
+
+"We are going up to look at the chambers on the second floor," said
+Thorndyke. "Are they pretty quiet?"
+
+"Quiet!" exclaimed the man. "Lord bless you the place is like a cemetery
+for the deaf and dumb. There's the solicitors on the ground floor and
+the architects on the first floor. They both clear out about six, and
+when they're gone the house is as empty as a blown hegg. I don't wonder
+poor Mr. Blackmore made away with his-self. Livin' up there all alone,
+it must have been like Robinson Crusoe without no man Friday and not
+even a blooming goat to talk to. Quiet! It's quiet enough, if that's
+what you want. Wouldn't be no good to <i>me</i>."
+
+With a contemptuous shake of the head, he turned and retired down the
+next flight, and, as the echoes of his footsteps died away we resumed
+our ascent.
+
+"So it would appear," Thorndyke commented, "that when Jeffrey Blackmore
+came home that last evening, the house was empty."
+
+Arrived on the second-floor landing, we were confronted by a
+solid-looking door on the lintel of which the deceased man's name was
+painted in white lettering which still looked new and fresh. Thorndyke
+knocked at the door, which was at once opened by Stephen Blackmore.
+
+"I haven't wasted any time before taking advantage of your permission,
+you see," my colleague said as we entered.
+
+"No, indeed," said Stephen; "you are very prompt. I have been rather
+wondering what kind of information you expect to gather from an
+inspection of these rooms."
+
+Thorndyke smiled genially, amused, no doubt, by the similarity of
+Stephen's remarks to those of mine which he had so recently criticized.
+
+"A man of science, Mr. Blackmore," he said, "expects nothing. He
+collects facts and keeps an open mind. As to me, I am a mere legal
+Autolycus, a snapper-up of unconsidered trifles of evidence. When I have
+accumulated a few facts, I arrange them, compare them and think about
+them. Sometimes the comparison yields new matter and sometimes it
+doesn't; but in any case, believe me, it is a capital error to decide
+beforehand what data are to be sought for."
+
+"Yes, I suppose that is so," said Stephen; "though, to me, it almost
+looks as if Mr. Marchmont was right; that there is nothing to
+investigate."
+
+"You should have thought of that before you consulted me," laughed
+Thorndyke. "As it is, I am engaged to look into the case and I shall do
+so; and, as I have said, I shall keep an open mind until I have all the
+facts in my possession."
+
+He glanced round the sitting-room, which we had now entered, and
+continued:
+
+"These are fine, dignified old rooms. It seems a sin to have covered up
+all this oak panelling and that carved cornice and mantel with paint.
+Think what it must have been like when the beautiful figured wood was
+exposed."
+
+"It would be very dark," Stephen observed.
+
+"Yes," Thorndyke agreed, "and I suppose we care more for light and less
+for beauty than our ancestors did. But now, tell me; looking round these
+rooms, do they convey to you a similar impression to that which the old
+rooms did? Have they the same general character?"
+
+"Not quite, I think. Of course the rooms in Jermyn Street were in a
+different kind of house, but beyond that, I seem to feel a certain
+difference; which is rather odd, seeing that the furniture is the same.
+But the old rooms were more cosy, more homelike. I find something rather
+bare and cheerless, I was almost going to say squalid, in the look of
+these chambers."
+
+"That is rather what I should have expected," said Thorndyke. "The opium
+habit alters a man's character profoundly; and, somehow, apart from the
+mere furnishing, a room reflects in some subtle way, but very
+distinctly, the personality of its occupant, especially when that
+occupant lives a solitary life. Do you see any evidences of the
+activities that used to occupy your uncle?"
+
+"Not very much," replied Stephen. "But the place may not be quite as he
+left it. I found one or two of his books on the table and put them back
+in the shelves, but I found no manuscript or notes such as he used to
+make. I noticed, too, that his ink-slab which he used to keep so
+scrupulously clean is covered with dry smears and that the stick of ink
+is all cracked at the end, as if he had not used it for months. It seems
+to point to a great change in his habits."
+
+"What used he to do with Chinese ink?" Thorndyke asked.
+
+"He corresponded with some of his native friends in Japan, and he used
+to write in the Japanese character even if they understood English. That
+was what he chiefly used the Chinese ink for. But he also used to copy
+the inscriptions from these things." Here Stephen lifted from the
+mantelpiece what looked like a fossil Bath bun, but was actually a clay
+tablet covered with minute indented writing.
+
+"Your uncle could read the cuneiform character, then?"
+
+"Yes; he was something of an expert. These tablets are, I believe,
+leases and other legal documents from Eridu and other Babylonian cities.
+He used to copy the inscriptions in the cuneiform writing and then
+translate them into English. But I mustn't stay here any longer as I
+have an engagement for this evening. I just dropped in to get these two
+volumes--<i>Thornton's History of Babylonia</i>, which he once advised me to
+read. Shall I give you the key? You'd better have it and leave it with
+the porter as you go out."
+
+He shook hands with us and we walked out with him to the landing and
+stood watching him as he ran down the stairs. Glancing at Thorndyke by
+the light of the gas lamp on the landing, I thought I detected in his
+impassive face that almost imperceptible change of expression to which I
+have already alluded as indicating pleasure or satisfaction.
+
+"You are looking quite pleased with yourself," I remarked.
+
+"I am not displeased," he replied calmly. "Autolycus has picked up a few
+crumbs; very small ones, but still crumbs. No doubt his learned junior
+has picked up a few likewise?"
+
+I shook my head--and inwardly suspected it of being rather a thick head.
+
+"I did not perceive anything in the least degree significant in what
+Stephen was telling you," said I. "It was all very interesting, but it
+did not seem to have any bearing on his uncle's will."
+
+"I was not referring only to what Stephen has told us, although that
+was, as you say, very interesting. While he was talking I was looking
+about the room, and I have seen a very strange thing. Let me show it to
+you."
+
+He linked his arm in mine and, walking me back into the room, halted
+opposite the fire-place.
+
+"There," said he, "look at that. It is a most remarkable object."
+
+[Illustration: THE INVERTED INSCRIPTION.]
+
+I followed the direction of his gaze and saw an oblong frame enclosing a
+large photograph of an inscription in the weird and cabalistic
+arrow-head character. I looked at it in silence for some seconds and
+then, somewhat disappointed, remarked:
+
+"I don't see anything very remarkable in it, under the circumstances. In
+any ordinary room it would be, I admit; but Stephen has just told us
+that his uncle was something of an expert in cuneiform writing."
+
+"Exactly," said Thorndyke. "That is my point. That is what makes it so
+remarkable."
+
+"I don't follow you at all," said I. "That a man should hang upon his
+wall an inscription that is legible to him does not seem to me at all
+out of the way. It would be much more singular if he should hang up an
+inscription that he could <i>not</i> read."
+
+"No doubt," replied Thorndyke. "But you will agree with me that it would
+be still more singular if a man should hang upon his wall an inscription
+that he <i>could</i> read--and hang it upside down."
+
+I stared at Thorndyke in amazement.
+
+"Do you mean to tell me," I exclaimed, "that that photograph is really
+upside down?"
+
+"I do indeed," he replied.
+
+"But how do you know? Have we here yet another Oriental scholar?"
+
+Thorndyke chuckled. "Some fool," he replied, "has said that 'a little
+knowledge is a dangerous thing.' Compared with much knowledge, it may
+be; but it is a vast deal better than no knowledge. Here is a case in
+point. I have read with very keen interest the wonderful history of the
+decipherment of the cuneiform writing, and I happen to recollect one or
+two of the main facts that seemed to me to be worth remembering. This
+particular inscription is in the Persian cuneiform, a much more simple
+and open form of the script than the Babylonian or Assyrian; in fact, I
+suspect that this is the famous inscription from the gateway at
+Persepolis--the first to be deciphered; which would account for its
+presence here in a frame. Now this script consists, as you see, of two
+kinds of characters; the small, solid, acutely pointed characters which
+are known as wedges, and the larger, more obtuse characters, somewhat
+like our government broad arrows, and called arrow-heads. The names are
+rather unfortunate, as both forms are wedge-like and both resemble
+arrow-heads. The script reads from left to right, like our own writing,
+and unlike that of the Semitic peoples and the primitive Greeks; and the
+rule for the placing of the characters is that all the 'wedges' point to
+the right or downwards and the arrow-head forms are open towards the
+right. But if you look at this photograph you will see that all the
+wedges point upwards to the left and that the arrow-head characters are
+open towards the left. Obviously the photograph is upside down."
+
+"But," I exclaimed, "this is really most mysterious. What do you suppose
+can be the explanation?"
+
+"I think," replied Thorndyke, "that we may perhaps get a suggestion from
+the back of the frame. Let us see."
+
+He disengaged the frame from the two nails on which it hung, and,
+turning it round, glanced at the back; which he then presented for my
+inspection. A label on the backing paper bore the words, "J. Budge,
+Frame-maker and Gilder, 16, Gt. Anne Street, W.C."
+
+"Well?" I said, when I had read the label without gathering from it
+anything fresh.
+
+"The label, you observe, is the right way up as it hangs on the wall."
+
+"So it is," I rejoined hastily, a little annoyed that I had not been
+quicker to observe so obvious a fact. "I see your point. You mean that
+the frame-maker hung the thing upside down and Jeffrey never noticed the
+mistake?"
+
+"That is a perfectly sound explanation," said Thorndyke. "But I think
+there is something more. You will notice that the label is an old one;
+it must have been on some years, to judge by its dingy appearance,
+whereas the two mirror-plates look to me comparatively new. But we can
+soon put that matter to the test, for the label was evidently stuck on
+when the frame was new, and if the plates were screwed on at the same
+time, the wood that they cover will be clean and new-looking."
+
+He drew from his pocket a "combination" knife containing, among other
+implements, a screw-driver, with which he carefully extracted the screws
+from one of the little brass plates by which the frame had been
+suspended from the nails.
+
+"You see," he said, when he had removed the plate and carried the
+photograph over to the gasjet, "the wood covered by the plate is as
+dirty and time-stained as the rest of the frame. The plates have been
+put on recently."
+
+"And what are we to infer from that?"
+
+"Well, since there are no other marks of plates or rings upon the
+frame, we may safely infer that the photograph was never hung up until
+it came to these rooms."
+
+"Yes, I suppose we may. But what then? What inference does that lead
+to?"
+
+Thorndyke reflected for a few moments and I continued:
+
+"It is evident that this photograph suggests more to you than it does to
+me. I should like to hear your exposition of its bearing on the case, if
+it has any."
+
+"Whether or no it has any real bearing on the case," Thorndyke answered,
+"it is impossible for me to say at this stage. I told you that I had
+proposed to myself one or two hypotheses to account for and explain
+Jeffrey Blackmore's will, and I may say that the curious misplacement of
+this photograph fits more than one of them. I won't say more than that,
+because I think it would be profitable to you to work at this case
+independently. You have all the facts that I have and you shall have a
+copy of my notes of Marchmont's statement of the case. With this
+material you ought to be able to reach some conclusion. Of course
+neither of us may be able to make anything of the case--it doesn't look
+very hopeful at present--but whatever happens, we can compare notes
+after the event and you will be the richer by so much experience of
+actual investigation. But I will start you off with one hint, which is
+this: that neither you nor Marchmont seem to appreciate in the least the
+very extraordinary nature of the facts that he communicated to us."
+
+"I thought Marchmont seemed pretty much alive to the fact that it was a
+very queer will."
+
+"So he did," agreed Thorndyke. "But that is not quite what I mean. The
+whole set of circumstances, taken together and in relation to one
+another, impressed me as most remarkable; and that is why I am giving so
+much attention to what looks at first sight like such a very unpromising
+case. Copy out my notes, Jervis, and examine the facts critically. I
+think you will see what I mean. And now let us proceed."
+
+He replaced the brass plate and having reinserted the screws, hung up
+the frame, and proceeded to browse slowly round the room, stopping now
+and again to inspect the Japanese colour-prints and framed photographs
+of buildings and other objects of archaeological interest that formed
+the only attempts at wall-decoration. To one of the former he drew my
+attention.
+
+"These things are of some value," he remarked. "Here is one by
+Utamaro--that little circle with the mark over it is his signature--and
+you notice that the paper is becoming spotted in places with mildew. The
+fact is worth noting in more than one connection."
+
+I accordingly made a mental note and the perambulation continued.
+
+"You observe that Jeffrey used a gas-stove, instead of a coal fire, no
+doubt to economize work, but perhaps for other reasons. Presumably he
+cooked by gas, too; let us see."
+
+We wandered into the little cupboard-like kitchen and glanced round. A
+ring-burner on a shelf, a kettle, a frying-pan and a few pieces of
+crockery were its sole appointments. Apparently the porter was correct
+in his statement as to Jeffrey's habits.
+
+Returning to the sitting-room, Thorndyke resumed his inspection, pulling
+out the table drawers, peering inquisitively into cupboards and
+bestowing a passing glance on each of the comparatively few objects that
+the comfortless room contained.
+
+"I have never seen a more characterless apartment," was his final
+comment. "There is nothing that seems to suggest any kind of habitual
+activity on the part of the occupant. Let us look at the bedroom."
+
+We passed through into the chamber of tragic memories, and, when
+Thorndyke had lit the gas, we stood awhile looking about us in silence.
+It was a bare, comfortless room, dirty, neglected and squalid. The bed
+appeared not to have been remade since the catastrophe, for an
+indentation still marked the place where the corpse had lain, and even a
+slight powdering of ash could still be seen on the shabby counterpane.
+It looked to me a typical opium-smoker's bedroom.
+
+"Well," Thorndyke remarked at length, "there is character enough
+here--of a kind. Jeffrey Blackmore would seem to have been a man of few
+needs. One could hardly imagine a bedroom in which less attention seemed
+to have been given to the comfort of the occupant."
+
+He looked about him keenly and continued: "The syringe and the rest of
+the lethal appliances and material have been taken away, I see.
+Probably the analyst did not return them. But there are the opium-pipe
+and the jar and the ash-bowl, and I presume those are the clothes that
+the undertakers removed from the body. Shall we look them over?"
+
+He took up the clothes which lay, roughly folded, on a chair and held
+them up, garment by garment.
+
+"These are evidently the trousers," he remarked, spreading them out on
+the bed. "Here is a little white spot on the middle of the thigh which
+looks like a patch of small crystals from a drop of the solution. Just
+light the lamp, Jervis, and let us examine it with a lens."
+
+I lit the lamp, and when we had examined the spot minutely and
+identified it as a mass of minute crystals, Thorndyke asked:
+
+"What do you make of those creases? You see there is one on each leg."
+
+"It looks as if the trousers had been turned up. But if they have been
+they must have been turned up about seven inches. Poor Jeffrey couldn't
+have had much regard for appearances, for they would have been right
+above his socks. But perhaps the creases were made in undressing the
+body."
+
+"That is possible," said Thorndyke: "though I don't quite see how it
+would have happened. I notice that his pockets seem to have been
+emptied--no, wait; here is something in the waistcoat pocket."
+
+He drew out a shabby, pigskin card-case and a stump of lead pencil, at
+which latter he looked with what seemed to me much more interest than
+was deserved by so commonplace an object.
+
+"The cards, you observe," said he, "are printed from type, not from a
+plate. I would note that fact. And tell me what you make of that."
+
+He handed me the pencil, which I examined with concentrated attention,
+helping myself even with the lamp and my pocket lens. But even with
+these aids I failed to discover anything unusual in its appearance.
+Thorndyke watched me with a mischievous smile, and, when I had finished,
+inquired:
+
+"Well; what is it?"
+
+"Confound you!" I exclaimed. "It's a pencil. Any fool can see that, and
+this particular fool can't see any more. It's a wretched stump of a
+pencil, villainously cut to an abominably bad point. It is coloured dark
+red on the outside and was stamped with some name that began with
+C--O--Co-operative Stores, perhaps."
+
+"Now, my dear Jervis," Thorndyke protested, "don't begin by confusing
+speculation with fact. The letters which remain are C--O. Note that fact
+and find out what pencils there are which have inscriptions beginning
+with those letters. I am not going to help you, because you can easily
+do this for yourself. And it will be good discipline even if the fact
+turns out to mean nothing."
+
+At this moment he stepped back suddenly, and, looking down at the floor,
+said:
+
+"Give me the lamp, Jervis, I've trodden on something that felt like
+glass."
+
+I brought the lamp to the place where he had been standing, close by
+the bed, and we both knelt on the floor, throwing the light of the lamp
+on the bare and dusty boards. Under the bed, just within reach of the
+foot of a person standing close by, was a little patch of fragments of
+glass. Thorndyke produced a piece of paper from his pocket and
+delicately swept the little fragments on to it, remarking:
+
+"By the look of things, I am not the first person who has trodden on
+that object, whatever it is. Do you mind holding the lamp while I
+inspect the remains?"
+
+I took the lamp and held it over the paper while he examined the little
+heap of glass through his lens.
+
+"Well," I asked. "What have you found?"
+
+"That is what I am asking myself," he replied. "As far as I can judge by
+the appearance of these fragments, they appear to be portions of a small
+watch-glass. I wish there were some larger pieces."
+
+"Perhaps there are," said I. "Let us look about the floor under the
+bed."
+
+We resumed our groping about the dirty floor, throwing the light of the
+lamp on one spot after another. Presently, as we moved the lamp about,
+its light fell on a small glass bead, which I instantly picked up and
+exhibited to Thorndyke.
+
+"Is this of any interest to you?" I asked.
+
+Thorndyke took the bead and examined it curiously.
+
+"It is certainly," he said, "a very odd thing to find in the bedroom of
+an old bachelor like Jeffrey, especially as we know that he employed no
+woman to look after his rooms. Of course, it may be a relic of the last
+tenant. Let us see if there are any more."
+
+We renewed our search, crawling under the bed and throwing the light of
+the lamp in all directions over the floor. The result was the discovery
+of three more beads, one entire bugle and the crushed remains of
+another, which had apparently been trodden on. All of these, including
+the fragments of the bugle that had been crushed, Thorndyke placed
+carefully on the paper, which he laid on the dressing-table the more
+conveniently to examine our find.
+
+"I am sorry," said he, "that there are no more fragments of the
+watch-glass, or whatever it was. The broken pieces were evidently picked
+up, with the exception of the one that I trod on, which was an isolated
+fragment that had been overlooked. As to the beads, judging by their
+number and the position in which we found some of them--that crushed
+bugle, for instance--they must have been dropped during Jeffrey's
+tenancy and probably quite recently."
+
+"What sort of garment do you suppose they came from?" I asked.
+
+"They may have been part of a beaded veil or the trimming of a dress,
+but the grouping rather suggests to me a tag of bead fringe. The colour
+is rather unusual."
+
+"I thought they looked like black beads."
+
+"So they do by this light, but I think that by daylight we shall find
+them to be a dark, reddish-brown. You can see the colour now if you look
+at the smaller fragments of the one that is crushed."
+
+He handed me his lens, and, when I had verified his statement, he
+produced from his pocket a small tin box with a closely-fitting lid in
+which he deposited the paper, having first folded it up into a small
+parcel.
+
+"We will put the pencil in too," said he; and, as he returned the box to
+his pocket he added: "you had better get one of these little boxes from
+Polton. It is often useful to have a safe receptacle for small and
+fragile articles."
+
+He folded up and replaced the dead man's clothes as we had found them.
+Then, observing a pair of shoes standing by the wall, he picked them up
+and looked them over thoughtfully, paying special attention to the backs
+of the soles and the fronts of the heels.
+
+"I suppose we may take it," said he, "that these are the shoes that poor
+Jeffrey wore on the night of his death. At any rate there seem to be no
+others. He seems to have been a fairly clean walker. The streets were
+shockingly dirty that day, as I remember most distinctly. Do you see any
+slippers? I haven't noticed any."
+
+He opened and peeped into a cupboard in which an overcoat surmounted by
+a felt hat hung from a peg like an attenuated suicide; he looked in all
+the corners and into the sitting-room, but no slippers were to be seen.
+
+"Our friend seems to have had surprisingly little regard for comfort,"
+Thorndyke remarked. "Think of spending the winter evenings in damp boots
+by a gas fire!"
+
+"Perhaps the opium-pipe compensated," said I; "or he may have gone to
+bed early."
+
+"But he did not. The night porter used to see the light in his rooms at
+one o'clock in the morning. In the sitting-room, too, you remember. But
+he seems to have been in the habit of reading in bed--or perhaps
+smoking--for here is a candlestick with the remains of a whole dynasty
+of candles in it. As there is gas in the room, he couldn't have wanted
+the candle to undress by. He used stearine candles, too; not the common
+paraffin variety. I wonder why he went to that expense."
+
+"Perhaps the smell of the paraffin candle spoiled the aroma of the
+opium," I suggested; to which Thorndyke made no reply but continued his
+inspection of the room, pulling out the drawer of the washstand--which
+contained a single, worn-out nail-brush--and even picking up and
+examining the dry and cracked cake of soap in the dish.
+
+"He seems to have had a fair amount of clothing," said Thorndyke, who
+was now going through the chest of drawers, "though, by the look of it,
+he didn't change very often, and the shirts have a rather yellow and
+faded appearance. I wonder how he managed about his washing. Why, here
+are a couple of pairs of boots in the drawer with his clothes! And here
+is his stock of candles. Quite a large box--though nearly empty now--of
+stearine candles, six to the pound."
+
+He closed the drawer and cast another inquiring look round the room.
+
+"I think we have seen all now, Jervis," he said, "unless there is
+anything more that you would like to look into?"
+
+"No," I replied. "I have seen all that I wanted to see and more than I
+am able to attach any meaning to. So we may as well go."
+
+I blew out the lamp and put it in my overcoat pocket, and, when we had
+turned out the gas in both rooms, we took our departure.
+
+As we approached the lodge, we found our stout friend in the act of
+retiring in favour of the night porter. Thorndyke handed him the key of
+the chambers, and, after a few sympathetic inquiries, about his
+health--which was obviously very indifferent--said:
+
+"Let me see; you were one of the witnesses to Mr. Blackmore's will, I
+think?"
+
+"I was, sir," replied the porter.
+
+"And I believe you read the document through before you witnessed the
+signature?"
+
+"I did, sir."
+
+"Did you read it aloud?"
+
+"Aloud, sir! Lor' bless you, no, sir! Why should I? The other witness
+read it, and, of course, Mr. Blackmore knew what was in it, seeing that
+it was in his own handwriting. What should I want to read it aloud for?"
+
+"No, of course you wouldn't want to. By the way, I have been wondering
+how Mr. Blackmore managed about his washing."
+
+The porter evidently regarded this question with some disfavour, for he
+replied only with an interrogative grunt. It was, in fact, rather an odd
+question.
+
+"Did you get it done for him," Thorndyke pursued.
+
+"No, certainly not, sir. He got it done for himself. The laundry people
+used to deliver the basket here at the lodge, and Mr. Blackmore used to
+take it in with him when he happened to be passing."
+
+"It was not delivered at his chambers, then?"
+
+"No, sir. Mr. Blackmore was a very studious gentleman and he didn't like
+to be disturbed. A studious gentleman would naturally not like to be
+disturbed."
+
+Thorndyke cordially agreed with these very proper sentiments and finally
+wished the porter "good night." We passed out through the gateway into
+Wych Street, and, turning our faces eastward towards the Temple, set
+forth in silence, each thinking his own thoughts. What Thorndyke's were
+I cannot tell, though I have no doubt that he was busily engaged in
+piecing together all that he had seen and heard and considering its
+possible application to the case in hand.
+
+As to me, my mind was in a whirl of confusion. All this searching and
+examining seemed to be the mere flogging of a dead horse. The will was
+obviously a perfectly valid and regular will and there was an end of the
+matter. At least, so it seemed to me. But clearly that was not
+Thorndyke's view. His investigations were certainly not purposeless;
+and, as I walked by his side trying to conceive some purpose in his
+actions, I only became more and more mystified as I recalled them one
+by one, and perhaps most of all by the cryptic questions that I had just
+heard him address to the equally mystified porter.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter VIII
+
+The Track Chart
+
+
+As Thorndyke and I arrived at the main gateway of the Temple and he
+swung round into the narrow lane, it was suddenly borne in on me that I
+had made no arrangements for the night. Events had followed one another
+so continuously and each had been so engrossing that I had lost sight of
+what I may call my domestic affairs.
+
+"We seem to be heading for your chambers, Thorndyke," I ventured to
+remark. "It is a little late to think of it, but I have not yet settled
+where I am to put up to-night."
+
+"My dear fellow," he replied, "you are going to put up in your own
+bedroom which has been waiting in readiness for you ever since you left
+it. Polton went up and inspected it as soon as you arrived. I take it
+that you will consider my chambers yours until such time as you may join
+the benedictine majority and set up a home for yourself."
+
+"That is very handsome of you," said I. "You didn't mention that the
+billet you offered was a resident appointment."
+
+"Rooms and commons included," said Thorndyke; and when I protested that
+I should at least contribute to the costs of living he impatiently
+waved the suggestion away. We were still arguing the question when we
+reached our chambers--as I will now call them--and a diversion was
+occasioned by my taking the lamp from my pocket and placing it on the
+table.
+
+"Ah," my colleague remarked, "that is a little reminder. We will put it
+on the mantelpiece for Polton to collect and you shall give me a full
+account of your further adventures in the wilds of Kennington. That was
+a very odd affair. I have often wondered how it ended."
+
+He drew our two arm-chairs up to the fire, put on some more coal, placed
+the tobacco jar on the table exactly equidistant from the two chairs,
+and settled himself with the air of a man who is anticipating an
+agreeable entertainment.
+
+I filled my pipe, and, taking up the thread of the story where I had
+broken off on the last occasion, began to outline my later experiences.
+But he brought me up short.
+
+"Don't be sketchy, Jervis. To be sketchy is to be vague. Detail, my
+child, detail is the soul of induction. Let us have all the facts. We
+can sort them out afterwards."
+
+I began afresh in a vein of the extremest circumstantiality. With
+deliberate malice I loaded a prolix narrative with every triviality that
+a fairly retentive memory could rake out of the half-forgotten past. I
+cudgelled my brains for irrelevant incidents. I described with the
+minutest accuracy things that had not the faintest significance. I drew
+a vivid picture of the carriage inside and out; I painted a lifelike
+portrait of the horse, even going into particulars of the harness--which
+I was surprised to find that I had noticed. I described the furniture of
+the dining-room and the cobwebs that had hung from the ceiling; the
+auction-ticket on the chest of drawers, the rickety table and the
+melancholy chairs. I gave the number per minute of the patient's
+respirations and the exact quantity of coffee consumed on each occasion,
+with an exhaustive description of the cup from which it was taken; and I
+left no personal details unconsidered, from the patient's finger-nails
+to the roseate pimples on Mr. Weiss's nose.
+
+But my tactics of studied prolixity were a complete failure. The attempt
+to fatigue Thorndyke's brain with superabundant detail was like trying
+to surfeit a pelican with whitebait. He consumed it all with calm
+enjoyment and asked for more; and when, at last, I did really begin to
+think that I had bored him a little, he staggered me by reading over his
+notes and starting a brisk cross-examination to elicit fresh facts! And
+the most surprising thing of all was that when I had finished I seemed
+to know a great deal more about the case than I had ever known before.
+
+"It was a very remarkable affair," he observed, when the
+cross-examination was over--leaving me somewhat in the condition of a
+cider-apple that has just been removed from a hydraulic press--"a very
+suspicious affair with a highly unsatisfactory end. I am not sure that I
+entirely agree with your police officer. Nor do I fancy that some of my
+acquaintances at Scotland Yard would have agreed with him."
+
+"Do you think I ought to have taken any further measures?" I asked
+uneasily.
+
+"No; I don't see how you could. You did all that was possible under the
+circumstances. You gave information, which is all that a private
+individual can do, especially if he is an overworked general
+practitioner. But still, an actual crime is the affair of every good
+citizen. I think we ought to take some action."
+
+"You think there really was a crime, then?"
+
+"What else can one think? What do you think about it yourself?"
+
+"I don't like to think about it at all. The recollection of that
+corpse-like figure in that gloomy bedroom has haunted me ever since I
+left the house. What do you suppose has happened?"
+
+Thorndyke did not answer for a few seconds. At length he said gravely:
+
+"I am afraid, Jervis, that the answer to that question can be given in
+one word."
+
+"Murder?" I asked with a slight shudder.
+
+He nodded, and we were both silent for a while.
+
+"The probability," he resumed after a pause, "that Mr. Graves is alive
+at this moment seems to me infinitesimal. There was evidently a
+conspiracy to murder him, and the deliberate, persistent manner in which
+that object was being pursued points to a very strong and definite
+motive. Then the tactics adopted point to considerable forethought and
+judgment. They are not the tactics of a fool or an ignoramus. We may
+criticize the closed carriage as a tactical mistake, calculated to
+arouse suspicion, but we have to weigh it against its alternative."
+
+"What is that?"
+
+"Well, consider the circumstances. Suppose Weiss had called you in in
+the ordinary way. You would still have detected the use of poison. But
+now you could have located your man and made inquiries about him in the
+neighbourhood. You would probably have given the police a hint and they
+would almost certainly have taken action, as they would have had the
+means of identifying the parties. The result would have been fatal to
+Weiss. The closed carriage invited suspicion, but it was a great
+safeguard. Weiss's method's were not so unsound after all. He is a
+cautious man, but cunning and very persistent. And he could be bold on
+occasion. The use of the blinded carriage was a decidedly audacious
+proceeding. I should put him down as a gambler of a very discreet,
+courageous and resourceful type."
+
+"Which all leads to the probability that he has pursued his scheme and
+brought it to a successful issue."
+
+"I am afraid it does. But--have you got your notes of the
+compass-bearings?"
+
+"The book is in my overcoat pocket with the board. I will fetch them."
+
+I went into the office, where our coats hung, and brought back the
+notebook with the little board to which it was still attached by the
+rubber band. Thorndyke took them from me, and, opening the book, ran
+his eye quickly down one page after another. Suddenly he glanced at the
+clock.
+
+"It is a little late to begin," said he, "but these notes look rather
+alluring. I am inclined to plot them out at once. I fancy, from their
+appearance, that they will enable us to locate the house without much
+difficulty. But don't let me keep you up if you are tired. I can work
+them out by myself."
+
+"You won't do anything of the kind," I exclaimed. "I am as keen on
+plotting them as you are, and, besides, I want to see how it is done. It
+seems to be a rather useful accomplishment."
+
+"It is," said Thorndyke. "In our work, the ability to make a rough but
+reliable sketch survey is often of great value. Have you ever looked
+over these notes?"
+
+"No. I put the book away when I came in and have never looked at it
+since."
+
+"It is a quaint document. You seem to be rich in railway bridges in
+those parts, and the route was certainly none of the most direct, as you
+noticed at the time. However, we will plot it out and then we shall see
+exactly what it looks like and whither it leads us."
+
+He retired to the laboratory and presently returned with a T-square, a
+military protractor, a pair of dividers and a large drawing-board on
+which was pinned a sheet of cartridge paper.
+
+"Now," said he, seating himself at the table with the board before him,
+"as to the method. You started from a known position and you arrived at
+a place the position of which is at present unknown. We shall fix the
+position of that spot by applying two factors, the distance that you
+travelled and the direction in which you were moving. The direction is
+given by the compass; and, as the horse seems to have kept up a
+remarkably even pace, we can take time as representing distance. You
+seem to have been travelling at about eight miles an hour, that is,
+roughly, a seventh of a mile in one minute. So if, on our chart, we take
+one inch as representing one minute, we shall be working with a scale of
+about seven inches to the mile."
+
+"That doesn't sound very exact as to distance," I objected.
+
+"It isn't. But that doesn't matter much. We have certain landmarks, such
+as these railway arches that you have noted, by which the actual
+distance can be settled after the route is plotted. You had better read
+out the entries, and, opposite each, write a number for reference, so
+that we need not confuse the chart by writing details on it. I shall
+start near the middle of the board, as neither you nor I seem to have
+the slightest notion what your general direction was."
+
+I laid the open notebook before me and read out the first entry:
+
+"'Eight fifty-eight. West by South. Start from home. Horse thirteen
+hands.'"
+
+"You turned round at once, I understand," said Thorndyke, "so we draw no
+line in that direction. The next is--?"
+
+"'Eight fifty-eight minutes, thirty seconds, East by North'; and the
+next is 'Eight fifty-nine, North-east.'"
+
+"Then you travelled east by north about a fifteenth of a mile and we
+shall put down half an inch on the chart. Then you turned north-east.
+How long did you go on?"
+
+"Exactly a minute. The next entry is 'Nine. West north-west.'"
+
+"Then you travelled about the seventh of a mile in a north-easterly
+direction and we draw a line an inch long at an angle of forty-five
+degrees to the right of the north and south line. From the end of that
+we carry a line at an angle of fifty-six and a quarter degrees to the
+left of the north and south line, and so on. The method is perfectly
+simple, you see."
+
+"Perfectly; I quite understand it now."
+
+I went back to my chair and continued to read out the entries from the
+notebook while Thorndyke laid off the lines of direction with the
+protractor, taking out the distances with the dividers from a scale of
+equal parts on the back of the instrument. As the work proceeded, I
+noticed, from time to time, a smile of quiet amusement spread over my
+colleague's keen, attentive face, and at each new reference to a railway
+bridge he chuckled softly.
+
+"What, again!" he laughed, as I recorded the passage of the fifth or
+sixth bridge. "It's like a game of croquet. Go on. What is the next?"
+
+I went on reading out the notes until I came to the final one:
+
+"'Nine twenty-four. South-east. In covered way. Stop. Wooden gates
+closed.'"
+
+Thorndyke ruled off the last line, remarking: "Then your covered way is
+on the south side of a street which bears north-east. So we complete our
+chart. Just look at your route, Jervis."
+
+He held up the board with a quizzical smile and I stared in astonishment
+at the chart. The single line, which represented the route of the
+carriage, zigzagged in the most amazing manner, turning, re-turning and
+crossing itself repeatedly, evidently passing more than once down the
+same thoroughfares and terminating at a comparatively short distance
+from its commencement.
+
+"Why!" I exclaimed, the "rascal must have lived quite near to
+Stillbury's house!"
+
+Thorndyke measured with the dividers the distance between the starting
+and arriving points of the route and took it off from the scale.
+
+"Five-eighths of a mile, roughly," he said. "You could have walked it in
+less than ten minutes. And now let us get out the ordnance map and see
+if we can give to each of those marvellously erratic lines 'a local
+habitation and a name.'"
+
+He spread the map out on the table and placed our chart by its side.
+
+"I think," said he, "you started from Lower Kennington Lane?"
+
+"Yes, from this point," I replied, indicating the spot with a pencil.
+
+"Then," said Thorndyke, "if we swing the chart round twenty degrees to
+correct the deviation of the compass, we can compare it with the
+ordnance map."
+
+He set off with the protractor an angle of twenty degrees from the
+north and south line and turned the chart round to that extent. After
+closely scrutinizing the map and the chart and comparing the one with
+the other, he said:
+
+"By mere inspection it seems fairly easy to identify the thoroughfares
+that correspond to the lines of the chart. Take the part that is near
+your destination. At nine twenty-one you passed under a bridge, going
+westward. That would seem to be Glasshouse Street. Then you turned
+south, apparently along the Albert Embankment, where you heard the tug's
+whistle. Then you heard a passenger train start on your left; that would
+be Vauxhall Station. Next you turned round due east and passed under a
+large railway bridge, which suggests the bridge that carries the Station
+over Upper Kennington Lane. If that is so, your house should be on the
+south side of Upper Kennington Lane, some three hundred yards from the
+bridge. But we may as well test our inferences by one or two
+measurements."
+
+"How can you do that if you don't know the exact scale of the chart?"
+
+"I will show you," said Thorndyke. "We shall establish the true scale
+and that will form part of the proof."
+
+He rapidly constructed on the upper blank part of the paper, a
+proportional diagram consisting of two intersecting lines with a single
+cross-line.
+
+"This long line," he explained, "is the distance from Stillbury's house
+to the Vauxhall railway bridge as it appears on the chart; the shorter
+cross-line is the same distance taken from the ordnance map. If our
+inference is correct and the chart is reasonably accurate, all the other
+distances will show a similar proportion. Let us try some of them. Take
+the distance from Vauxhall bridge to the Glasshouse Street bridge."
+
+[Illustration: The Track Chart, showing the route followed by Weiss's
+carriage.
+
+A.--Starting-point in Lower Kennington Lane.
+
+B.--Position of Mr. Weiss's house. The dotted lines connecting the
+bridges indicate probable railway lines.]
+
+He made the two measurements carefully, and, as the point of the
+dividers came down almost precisely in the correct place on the diagram,
+he looked up at me.
+
+"Considering the roughness of the method by which the chart was made, I
+think that is pretty conclusive, though, if you look at the various
+arches that you passed under and see how nearly they appear to follow
+the position of the South-Western Railway line, you hardly need further
+proof. But I will take a few more proportional measurements for the
+satisfaction of proving the case by scientific methods before we proceed
+to verify our conclusions by a visit to the spot."
+
+He took off one or two more distances, and on comparing them with the
+proportional distances on the ordnance map, found them in every case as
+nearly correct as could be expected.
+
+"Yes," said Thorndyke, laying down the dividers, "I think we have
+narrowed down the locality of Mr. Weiss's house to a few yards in a
+known street. We shall get further help from your note of nine
+twenty-three thirty, which records a patch of newly laid macadam
+extending up to the house."
+
+"That new macadam will be pretty well smoothed down by now," I objected.
+
+"Not so very completely," answered Thorndyke. "It is only a little over
+a month ago, and there has been very little wet weather since. It may be
+smooth, but it will be easily distinguishable from the old."
+
+"And do I understand that you propose to go and explore the
+neighbourhood?"
+
+"Undoubtedly I do. That is to say, I intend to convert the locality of
+this house into a definite address; which, I think, will now be
+perfectly easy, unless we should have the bad luck to find more than one
+covered way. Even then, the difficulty would be trifling."
+
+"And when you have ascertained where Mr. Weiss lives? What then?"
+
+"That will depend on circumstances. I think we shall probably call at
+Scotland Yard and have a little talk with our friend Mr. Superintendent
+Miller; unless, for any reason, it seems better to look into the case
+ourselves."
+
+"When is this voyage of exploration to take place?"
+
+Thorndyke considered this question, and, taking out his pocket-book,
+glanced through his engagements.
+
+"It seems to me," he said, "that to-morrow is a fairly free day. We
+could take the morning without neglecting other business. I suggest that
+we start immediately after breakfast. How will that suit my learned
+friend?"
+
+"My time is yours," I replied; "and if you choose to waste it on matters
+that don't concern you, that's your affair."
+
+"Then we will consider the arrangement to stand for to-morrow morning,
+or rather, for this morning, as I see that it is past twelve."
+
+With this Thorndyke gathered up the chart and instruments and we
+separated for the night.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter IX
+
+The House of Mystery
+
+
+Half-past nine on the following morning found us spinning along the
+Albert Embankment in a hansom to the pleasant tinkle of the horse's
+bell. Thorndyke appeared to be in high spirits, though the full
+enjoyment of the matutinal pipe precluded fluent conversation. As a
+precaution, he had put my notebook in his pocket before starting, and
+once or twice he took it out and looked over its pages; but he made no
+reference to the object of our quest, and the few remarks that he
+uttered would have indicated that his thoughts were occupied with other
+matters.
+
+Arrived at Vauxhall Station, we alighted and forthwith made our way to
+the bridge that spans Upper Kennington Lane near its junction with
+Harleyford Road.
+
+"Here is our starting point," said Thorndyke. "From this place to the
+house is about three hundred yards--say four hundred and twenty
+paces--and at about two hundred paces we ought to reach our patch of new
+road-metal. Now, are you ready? If we keep step we shall average our
+stride."
+
+We started together at a good pace, stepping out with military
+regularity and counting aloud as we went. As we told out the hundred and
+ninety-fourth pace I observed Thorndyke nod towards the roadway a little
+ahead, and, looking at it attentively as we approached, it was easy to
+see by the regularity of surface and lighter colour, that it had
+recently been re-metalled.
+
+Having counted out the four hundred and twenty paces, we halted, and
+Thorndyke turned to me with a smile of triumph.
+
+"Not a bad estimate, Jervis," said he. "That will be your house if I am
+not much mistaken. There is no other mews or private roadway in sight."
+
+He pointed to a narrow turning some dozen yards ahead, apparently the
+entrance to a mews or yard and closed by a pair of massive wooden gates.
+
+"Yes," I answered, "there can be no doubt that this is the place; but,
+by Jove!" I added, as we drew nearer, "the nest is empty! Do you see?"
+
+I pointed to a bill that was stuck on the gate, bearing, as I could see
+at this distance, the inscription "To Let."
+
+"Here is a new and startling, if not altogether unexpected,
+development," said Thorndyke, as we stood gazing at the bill; which set
+forth that "these premises, including stabling and workshops," were "to
+be let on lease or otherwise," and referred inquiries to Messrs. Ryebody
+Brothers, house-agents and valuers, Upper Kennington Lane. "The question
+is, should we make a few inquiries of the agent, or should we get the
+keys and have a look at the inside of the house? I am inclined to do
+both, and the latter first, if Messrs. Ryebody Brothers will trust us
+with the keys."
+
+We proceeded up the lane to the address given, and, entering the
+office, Thorndyke made his request--somewhat to the surprise of the
+clerk; for Thorndyke was not quite the kind of person whom one naturally
+associates with stabling and workshops. However, there was no
+difficulty, but as the clerk sorted out the keys from a bunch hanging
+from a hook, he remarked:
+
+"I expect you will find the place in a rather dirty and neglected
+condition. The house has not been cleaned yet; it is just as it was left
+when the brokers took away the furniture."
+
+"Was the last tenant sold up, then?" Thorndyke asked.
+
+"Oh, no. He had to leave rather unexpectedly to take up some business in
+Germany."
+
+"I hope he paid his rent," said Thorndyke.
+
+"Oh, yes. Trust us for that. But I should say that Mr. Weiss--that was
+his name--was a man of some means. He seemed to have plenty of money,
+though he always paid in notes. I don't fancy he had a banking account
+in this country. He hadn't been here more than about six or seven months
+and I imagine he didn't know many people in England, as he paid us a
+cash deposit in lieu of references when he first came."
+
+"I think you said his name was Weiss. It wouldn't be H. Weiss by any
+chance?"
+
+"I believe it was. But I can soon tell you." He opened a drawer and
+consulted what looked like a book of receipt forms. "Yes; H Weiss. Do
+you know him, sir?"
+
+"I knew a Mr. H. Weiss some years ago. He came from Bremen, I
+remember."
+
+"This Mr. Weiss has gone back to Hamburg," the clerk observed.
+
+"Ah," said Thorndyke, "then it would seem not to be the same. My
+acquaintance was a fair man with a beard and a decidedly red nose and he
+wore spectacles."
+
+"That's the man. You've described him exactly," said the clerk, who was
+apparently rather easily satisfied in the matter of description.
+
+"Dear me," said Thorndyke; "what a small world it is. Do you happen to
+have a note of his address in Hamburg?"
+
+"I haven't," the clerk replied. "You see we've done with him, having got
+the rent, though the house is not actually surrendered yet. Mr Weiss's
+housekeeper still has the front-door key. She doesn't start for Hamburg
+for a week or so, and meanwhile she keeps the key so that she can call
+every day and see if there are any letters."
+
+"Indeed," said Thorndyke. "I wonder if he still has the same
+housekeeper."
+
+"This lady is a German," replied the clerk, "with a regular jaw-twisting
+name. Sounded like Shallybang."
+
+"Schallibaum. That is the lady. A fair woman with hardly any eyebrows
+and a pronounced cast in the left eye."
+
+"Now that's very curious, sir," said the clerk. "It's the same name, and
+this is a fair woman with remarkably thin eyebrows, I remember, now that
+you mention it. But it can't be the same person. I have only seen her a
+few times and then only just for a minute or so; but I'm quite certain
+she had no cast in her eye. So, you see, sir, she can't be the same
+person. You can dye your hair or you can wear a wig or you can paint
+your face; but a squint is a squint. There's no faking a swivel eye."
+
+Thorndyke laughed softly. "I suppose not; unless, perhaps, some one
+might invent an adjustable glass eye. Are these the keys?"
+
+"Yes, sir. The large one belongs to the wicket in the front gate. The
+other is the latch-key belonging to the side door. Mrs. Shallybang has
+the key of the front door."
+
+"Thank you," said Thorndyke. He took the keys, to which a wooden label
+was attached, and we made our way back towards the house of mystery,
+discussing the clerk's statements as we went.
+
+"A very communicable young gentleman, that," Thorndyke remarked. "He
+seemed quite pleased to relieve the monotony of office work with a
+little conversation. And I am sure I was very delighted to indulge him."
+
+"He hadn't much to tell, all the same," said I.
+
+Thorndyke looked at me in surprise. "I don't know what you would have,
+Jervis, unless you expect casual strangers to present you with a
+ready-made body of evidence, fully classified, with all the inferences
+and implications stated. It seemed to me that he was a highly
+instructive young man."
+
+"What did you learn from him?" I asked.
+
+"Oh, come, Jervis," he protested; "is that a fair question, under our
+present arrangement? However, I will mention a few points. We learn that
+about six or seven months ago, Mr. H. Weiss dropped from the clouds into
+Kennington Lane and that he has now ascended from Kennington Lane into
+the clouds. That is a useful piece of information. Then we learn that
+Mrs. Schallibaum has remained in England; which might be of little
+importance if it were not for a very interesting corollary that it
+suggests."
+
+"What is that?"
+
+"I must leave you to consider the facts at your leisure; but you will
+have noticed the ostensible reason for her remaining behind. She is
+engaged in puttying up the one gaping joint in their armour. One of them
+has been indiscreet enough to give this address to some
+correspondent--probably a foreign correspondent. Now, as they obviously
+wish to leave no tracks, they cannot give their new address to the Post
+Office to have their letters forwarded, and, on the other hand, a letter
+left in the box might establish such a connection as would enable them
+to be traced. Moreover, the letter might be of a kind that they would
+not wish to fall into the wrong hands. They would not have given this
+address excepting under some peculiar circumstances."
+
+"No, I should think not, if they took this house for the express purpose
+of committing a crime in it."
+
+"Exactly. And then there is one other fact that you may have gathered
+from our young friend's remarks."
+
+"What is that?"
+
+"That a controllable squint is a very valuable asset to a person who
+wishes to avoid identification."
+
+"Yes, I did note that. The fellow seemed to think that it was absolutely
+conclusive."
+
+"And so would most people; especially in the case of a squint of that
+kind. We can all squint towards our noses, but no normal person can turn
+his eyes away from one another. My impression is that the presence or
+absence, as the case might be, of a divergent squint would be accepted
+as absolute disproof of identity. But here we are."
+
+He inserted the key into the wicket of the large gate, and, when we had
+stepped through into the covered way, he locked it from the inside.
+
+"Why have you locked us in?" I asked, seeing that the wicket had a
+latch.
+
+"Because," he replied, "if we now hear any one on the premises we shall
+know who it is. Only one person besides ourselves has a key."
+
+His reply startled me somewhat. I stopped and looked at him.
+
+"That is a quaint situation, Thorndyke. I hadn't thought of it. Why she
+may actually come to the house while we are here; in fact, she may be in
+the house at this moment."
+
+"I hope not," said he. "We don't particularly want Mr. Weiss to be put
+on his guard, for I take it, he is a pretty wide-awake gentleman under
+any circumstances. If she does come, we had better keep out of sight. I
+think we will look over the house first. That is of the most interest to
+us. If the lady does happen to come while we are here, she may stay to
+show us over the place and keep an eye on us. So we will leave the
+stables to the last."
+
+We walked down the entry to the side door at which I had been admitted
+by Mrs. Schallibaum on the occasion of my previous visits. Thorndyke
+inserted the latch-key, and, as soon as we were inside, shut the door
+and walked quickly through into the hall, whither I followed him. He
+made straight for the front door, where, having slipped up the catch of
+the lock, he began very attentively to examine the letter-box. It was a
+somewhat massive wooden box, fitted with a lock of good quality and
+furnished with a wire grille through which one could inspect the
+interior.
+
+"We are in luck, Jervis," Thorndyke remarked. "Our visit has been most
+happily timed. There is a letter in the box."
+
+"Well," I said, "we can't get it out; and if we could, it would be
+hardly justifiable."
+
+"I don't know," he replied, "that I am prepared to assent off-hand to
+either of those propositions; but I would rather not tamper with another
+person's letter, even if that person should happen to be a murderer.
+Perhaps we can get the information we want from the outside of the
+envelope."
+
+He produced from his pocket a little electric lamp fitted with a
+bull's-eye, and, pressing the button, threw a beam of light in through
+the grille. The letter was lying on the bottom of the box face upwards,
+so that the address could easily be read.
+
+"Herrn Dr. H. Weiss," Thorndyke read aloud. "German stamp, postmark
+apparently Darmstadt. You notice that the 'Herrn Dr.' is printed and the
+rest written. What do you make of that?"
+
+"I don't quite know. Do you think he is really a medical man?"
+
+"Perhaps we had better finish our investigation, in case we are
+disturbed, and discuss the bearings of the facts afterwards. The name of
+the sender may be on the flap of the envelope. If it is not, I shall
+pick the lock and take out the letter. Have you got a probe about you?"
+
+"Yes; by force of habit I am still carrying my pocket case."
+
+I took the little case from my pocket and extracting from it a jointed
+probe of thickish silver wire, screwed the two halves together and
+handed the completed instrument to Thorndyke; who passed the slender rod
+through the grille and adroitly turned the letter over.
+
+"Ha!" he exclaimed with deep satisfaction, as the light fell on the
+reverse of the envelope, "we are saved from the necessity of theft--or
+rather, unauthorized borrowing--'Johann Schnitzler, Darmstadt.' That is
+all that we actually want. The German police can do the rest if
+necessary."
+
+He handed me back my probe, pocketed his lamp, released the catch of the
+lock on the door, and turned away along the dark, musty-smelling hall.
+
+"Do you happen to know the name of Johann Schnitzler?" he asked.
+
+I replied that I had no recollection of ever having heard the name
+before.
+
+"Neither have I," said he; "but I think we may form a pretty shrewd
+guess as to his avocation. As you saw, the words 'Herrn Dr.' were
+printed on the envelope, leaving the rest of the address to be written
+by hand. The plain inference is that he is a person who habitually
+addresses letters to medical men, and as the style of the envelope and
+the lettering--which is printed, not embossed--is commercial, we may
+assume that he is engaged in some sort of trade. Now, what is a likely
+trade?"
+
+"He might be an instrument maker or a drug manufacturer; more probably
+the latter, as there is an extensive drug and chemical industry in
+Germany, and as Mr. Weiss seemed to have more use for drugs than
+instruments."
+
+"Yes, I think you are right; but we will look him up when we get home.
+And now we had better take a glance at the bedroom; that is, if you can
+remember which room it was."
+
+"It was on the first floor," said I, "and the door by which I entered
+was just at the head of the stairs."
+
+We ascended the two flights, and, as we reached the landing, I halted.
+
+"This was the door," I said, and was about to turn the handle when
+Thorndyke caught me by the arm.
+
+"One moment, Jervis," said he. "What do you make of this?"
+
+He pointed to a spot near the bottom of the door where, on close
+inspection, four good-sized screw-holes were distinguishable. They had
+been neatly stopped with putty and covered with knotting, and were so
+nearly the colour of the grained and varnished woodwork as to be hardly
+visible.
+
+"Evidently," I answered, "there has been a bolt there, though it seems a
+queer place to fix one."
+
+"Not at all," replied Thorndyke. "If you look up you will see that there
+was another at the top of the door, and, as the lock is in the middle,
+they must have been highly effective. But there are one or two other
+points that strike one. First, you will notice that the bolts have been
+fixed on quite recently, for the paint that they covered is of the same
+grimy tint as that on the rest of the door. Next, they have been taken
+off, which, seeing that they could hardly have been worth the trouble of
+removal, seems to suggest that the person who fixed them considered that
+their presence might appear remarkable, while the screw-holes, which
+have been so skilfully and carefully stopped, would be less conspicuous.
+
+"Then, they are on the outside of the door--an unusual situation for
+bedroom bolts--and were of considerable size. They were long and thick."
+
+"I can see, by the position of the screw-holes, that they were long; but
+how do you arrive at their thickness?"
+
+"By the size of the counter-holes in the jamb of the door. These holes
+have been very carefully filled with wooden plugs covered with knotting;
+but you can make out their diameter, which is that of the bolts, and
+which is decidedly out of proportion for an ordinary bedroom door. Let
+me show you a light."
+
+He flashed his lamp into the dark corner, and I was able to see
+distinctly the portentously large holes into which the bolts had fitted,
+and also to note the remarkable neatness with which they had been
+plugged.
+
+"There was a second door, I remember," said I. "Let us see if that was
+guarded in a similar manner."
+
+We strode through the empty room, awakening dismal echoes as we trod the
+bare boards, and flung open the other door. At top and bottom, similar
+groups of screw-holes showed that this also had been made secure, and
+that these bolts had been of the same very substantial character as the
+others.
+
+Thorndyke turned away from the door with a slight frown.
+
+"If we had any doubts," said he, "as to what has been going on in this
+house, these traces of massive fastenings would be almost enough to
+settle them."
+
+"They might have been there before Weiss came," I suggested. "He only
+came about seven months ago and there is no date on the screw-holes."
+
+"That is quite true. But when, with their recent fixture, you couple the
+facts that they have been removed, that very careful measures have been
+taken to obliterate the traces of their presence, and that they would
+have been indispensable for the commission of the crime that we are
+almost certain was being committed here, it looks like an excess of
+caution to seek other explanations."
+
+"But," I objected, "if the man, Graves, was really imprisoned, could not
+he have smashed the window and called for help?"
+
+"The window looks out on the yard, as you see; but I expect it was
+secured too."
+
+He drew the massive, old-fashioned shutters out of their recess and
+closed them.
+
+"Yes, here we are." He pointed to four groups of screw-holes at the
+corners of the shutters, and, once more producing his lamp, narrowly
+examined the insides of the recesses into which the shutters folded.
+
+"The nature of the fastening is quite evident," said he. "An iron bar
+passed right across at the top and bottom and was secured by a staple
+and padlock. You can see the mark the bar made in the recess when the
+shutters were folded. When these bars were fixed and padlocked and the
+bolts were shot, this room was as secure, for a prisoner unprovided with
+tools, as a cell in Newgate."
+
+We looked at one another for awhile without speaking; and I fancy that
+if Mr. H. Weiss could have seen our faces he might have thought it
+desirable to seek some retreat even more remote than Hamburg.
+
+"It was a diabolical affair, Jervis," Thorndyke said at length, in an
+ominously quiet and even gentle tone. "A sordid, callous, cold-blooded
+crime of a type that is to me utterly unforgivable and incapable of
+extenuation. Of course, it may have failed. Mr. Graves may even now be
+alive. I shall make it my very especial business to ascertain whether he
+is or not. And if he is not, I shall take it to myself as a sacred duty
+to lay my hand on the man who has compassed his death."
+
+I looked at Thorndyke with something akin to awe. In the quiet
+unemotional tone of his voice, in his unruffled manner and the stony
+calm of his face, there was something much more impressive, more
+fateful, than there could have been in the fiercest threats or the most
+passionate denunciations. I felt that in those softly spoken words he
+had pronounced the doom of the fugitive villain.
+
+He turned away from the window and glanced round the empty room. It
+seemed that our discovery of the fastenings had exhausted the
+information that it had to offer.
+
+"It is a thousand pities," I remarked, "that we were unable to look
+round before they moved out the furniture. We might have found some clue
+to the scoundrel's identity."
+
+"Yes," replied Thorndyke; "there isn't much information to be gathered
+here, I am afraid. I see they have swept up the small litter from the
+floor and poked it under the grate. We will turn that over, as there
+seems to be nothing else, and then look at the other rooms."
+
+He raked out the little heap of rubbish with his stick and spread it out
+on the hearth. It certainly looked unpromising enough, being just such a
+rubbish heap as may be swept up in any untidy room during a move. But
+Thorndyke went through it systematically, examining each item
+attentively, even to the local tradesmen's bills and empty paper bags,
+before laying them aside. Another rake of his stick scattered the bulky
+masses of crumpled paper and brought into view an object which he picked
+up with some eagerness. It was a portion of a pair of spectacles, which
+had apparently been trodden on, for the side-bar was twisted and bent
+and the glass was shattered into fragments.
+
+"This ought to give us a hint," said he. "It will probably have belonged
+either to Weiss or Graves, as Mrs. Schallibaum apparently did not wear
+glasses. Let us see if we can find the remainder."
+
+We both groped carefully with our sticks amongst the rubbish, spreading
+it out on the hearth and removing the numerous pieces of crumpled paper.
+Our search was rewarded by the discovery of the second eye-piece of the
+spectacles, of which the glass was badly cracked but less shattered than
+the other. I also picked up two tiny sticks at which Thorndyke looked
+with deep interest before laying them on the mantelshelf.
+
+"We will consider them presently," said he. "Let us finish with the
+spectacles first. You see that the left eye-glass is a concave
+cylindrical lens of some sort. We can make out that much from the
+fragments that remain, and we can measure the curvature when we get them
+home, although that will be easier if we can collect some more fragments
+and stick them together. The right eye is plain glass; that is quite
+evident. Then these will have belonged to your patient, Jervis. You said
+that the tremulous iris was in the right eye, I think?"
+
+"Yes," I replied. "These will be his spectacles, without doubt."
+
+"They are peculiar frames," he continued. "If they were made in this
+country, we might be able to discover the maker. But we must collect as
+many fragments of glass as we can."
+
+Once more we searched amongst the rubbish and succeeded, eventually, in
+recovering some seven or eight small fragments of the broken
+spectacle-glasses, which Thorndyke laid on the mantelshelf beside the
+little sticks.
+
+"By the way, Thorndyke," I said, taking up the latter to examine them
+afresh, "what are these things? Can you make anything of them?"
+
+He looked at them thoughtfully for a few moments and then replied:
+
+"I don't think I will tell you what they are. You should find that out
+for yourself, and it will be well worth your while to do so. They are
+rather suggestive objects under the circumstances. But notice their
+peculiarities carefully. Both are portions of some smooth, stout reed.
+There is a long, thin stick--about six inches long--and a thicker piece
+only three inches in length. The longer piece has a little scrap of red
+paper stuck on at the end; apparently a portion of a label of some kind
+with an ornamental border. The other end of the stick has been broken
+off. The shorter, stouter stick has had its central cavity artificially
+enlarged so that it fits over the other to form a cap or sheath. Make a
+careful note of those facts and try to think what they probably mean;
+what would be the most likely use for an object of this kind. When you
+have ascertained that, you will have learned something new about this
+case. And now, to resume our investigations. Here is a very suggestive
+thing." He picked up a small, wide-mouthed bottle and, holding it up for
+my inspection, continued: "Observe the fly sticking to the inside, and
+the name on the label, 'Fox, Russell Street, Covent Garden.'"
+
+"I don't know Mr. Fox."
+
+"Then I will inform you that he is a dealer in the materials for
+'make-up,' theatrical or otherwise, and will leave you to consider the
+bearing of this bottle on our present investigation. There doesn't seem
+to be anything else of interest in this El Dorado excepting that screw,
+which you notice is about the size of those with which the bolts were
+fastened on the doors. I don't think it is worth while to unstop any of
+the holes to try it; we should learn nothing fresh."
+
+He rose, and, having kicked the discarded rubbish back under the grate,
+gathered up his gleanings from the mantelpiece, carefully bestowing the
+spectacles and the fragments of glass in the tin box that he appeared
+always to carry in his pocket, and wrapping the larger objects in his
+handkerchief.
+
+"A poor collection," was his comment, as he returned the box and
+handkerchief to his pocket, "and yet not so poor as I had feared.
+Perhaps, if we question them closely enough, these unconsidered trifles
+may be made to tell us something worth learning after all. Shall we go
+into the other room?"
+
+We passed out on to the landing and into the front room, where, guided
+by experience, we made straight for the fire-place. But the little heap
+of rubbish there contained nothing that even Thorndyke's inquisitive eye
+could view with interest. We wandered disconsolately round the room,
+peering into the empty cupboards and scanning the floor and the corners
+by the skirting, without discovering a single object or relic of the
+late occupants. In the course of my perambulations I halted by the
+window and was looking down into the street when Thorndyke called to me
+sharply:
+
+"Come away from the window, Jervis! Have you forgotten that Mrs.
+Schallibaum may be in the neighbourhood at this moment?"
+
+As a matter of fact I had entirely forgotten the matter, nor did it now
+strike me as anything but the remotest of possibilities. I replied to
+that effect.
+
+"I don't agree with you," Thorndyke rejoined. "We have heard that she
+comes here to look for letters. Probably she comes every day, or even
+oftener. There is a good deal at stake, remember, and they cannot feel
+quite as secure as they would wish. Weiss must have seen what view you
+took of the case and must have had some uneasy moments thinking of what
+you might do. In fact, we may take it that the fear of you drove them
+out of the neighbourhood, and that they are mighty anxious to get that
+letter and cut the last link that binds them to this house."
+
+"I suppose that is so," I agreed; "and if the lady should happen to pass
+this way and should see me at the window and recognize me, she would
+certainly smell a rat."
+
+"A rat!" exclaimed Thorndyke. "She would smell a whole pack of foxes,
+and Mr. H. Weiss would be more on his guard than ever. Let us have a
+look at the other rooms; there is nothing here."
+
+We went up to the next floor and found traces of recent occupation in
+one room only. The garrets had evidently been unused, and the kitchen
+and ground-floor rooms offered nothing that appeared to Thorndyke worth
+noting. Then we went out by the side door and down the covered way into
+the yard at the back. The workshops were fastened with rusty padlocks
+that looked as if they had not been disturbed for months. The stables
+were empty and had been tentatively cleaned out, the coach-house was
+vacant, and presented no traces of recent use excepting a half-bald
+spoke-brush. We returned up the covered way and I was about to close the
+side door, which Thorndyke had left ajar, when he stopped me.
+
+"We'll have another look at the hall before we go," said he; and,
+walking softly before me, he made his way to the front door, where,
+producing his lamp, he threw a beam of light into the letter-box.
+
+"Any more letters?" I asked.
+
+"Any more!" he repeated. "Look for yourself."
+
+I stooped and peered through the grille into the lighted interior; and
+then I uttered an exclamation.
+
+The box was empty.
+
+Thorndyke regarded me with a grim smile. "We have been caught on the
+hop, Jervis, I suspect," said he.
+
+"It is queer," I replied. "I didn't hear any sound of the opening or
+closing of the door; did you?"
+
+"No; I didn't hear any sound; which makes me suspect that she did. She
+would have heard our voices and she is probably keeping a sharp look-out
+at this very moment. I wonder if she saw you at the window. But whether
+she did or not, we must go very warily. Neither of us must return to the
+Temple direct, and we had better separate when we have returned the keys
+and I will watch you out of sight and see if anyone is following you.
+What are you going to do?"
+
+"If you don't want me, I shall run over to Kensington and drop in to
+lunch at the Hornbys'. I said I would call as soon as I had an hour or
+so free."
+
+"Very well. Do so; and keep a look-out in case you are followed. I have
+to go down to Guildford this afternoon. Under the circumstances, I shall
+not go back home, but send Polton a telegram and take a train at
+Vauxhall and change at some small station where I can watch the
+platform. Be as careful as you can. Remember that what you have to
+avoid is being followed to any place where you are known, and, above
+all, revealing your connection with number Five A, King's Bench Walk."
+
+Having thus considered our immediate movements, we emerged together from
+the wicket, and locking it behind us, walked quickly to the
+house-agents', where an opportune office-boy received the keys without
+remark. As we came out of the office, I halted irresolutely and we both
+looked up and down the lane.
+
+"There is no suspicious looking person in sight at present," Thorndyke
+said, and then asked: "Which way do you think of going?"
+
+"It seems to me," I replied, "that my best plan would be to take a cab
+or an omnibus so as to get out of the neighbourhood as quickly as
+possible. If I go through Ravensden Street into Kennington Park Road, I
+can pick up an omnibus that will take me to the Mansion House, where I
+can change for Kensington. I shall go on the top so that I can keep a
+look-out for any other omnibus or cab that may be following."
+
+"Yes," said Thorndyke, "that seems a good plan. I will walk with you and
+see that you get a fair start."
+
+We walked briskly along the lane and through Ravensden Street to the
+Kennington Park Road. An omnibus was approaching from the south at a
+steady jog-trot and we halted at the corner to wait for it. Several
+people passed us in different directions, but none seemed to take any
+particular notice of us, though we observed them rather narrowly,
+especially the women. Then the omnibus crawled up. I sprang on the
+foot-board and ascended to the roof, where I seated myself and surveyed
+the prospect to the rear. No one else got on the omnibus--which had not
+stopped--and no cab or other passenger vehicle was in sight. I continued
+to watch Thorndyke as he stood sentinel at the corner, and noted that no
+one appeared to be making any effort to overtake the omnibus. Presently
+my colleague waved his hand to me and turned back towards Vauxhall, and
+I, having satisfied myself once more that no pursuing cab or hurrying
+foot-passenger was in sight, decided that our precautions had been
+unnecessary and settled myself in a rather more comfortable position.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter X
+
+The Hunter Hunted
+
+
+The omnibus of those days was a leisurely vehicle. Its ordinary pace was
+a rather sluggish trot, and in a thickly populated thoroughfare its
+speed was further reduced by frequent stoppages. Bearing these facts in
+mind, I gave an occasional backward glance as we jogged northward,
+though my attention soon began to wander from the rather remote
+possibility of pursuit to the incidents of our late exploration.
+
+It had not been difficult to see that Thorndyke was very well pleased
+with the results of our search, but excepting the letter--which
+undoubtedly opened up a channel for further inquiry and possible
+identification--I could not perceive that any of the traces that we had
+found justified his satisfaction. There were the spectacles, for
+instance. They were almost certainly the pair worn by Mr. Graves. But
+what then? It was exceedingly improbable that we should be able to
+discover the maker of them, and if we were, it was still more improbable
+that he would be able to give us any information that would help us.
+Spectacle-makers are not usually on confidential terms with their
+customers.
+
+As to the other objects, I could make nothing of them. The little sticks
+of reed evidently had some use that was known to Thorndyke and
+furnished, by inference, some kind of information about Weiss, Graves,
+or Mrs. Schallibaum. But I had never seen anything like them before and
+they conveyed nothing whatever to me. Then the bottle that had seemed so
+significant to Thorndyke was to me quite uninforming. It did, indeed,
+suggest that some member of the household might be connected with the
+stage, but it gave no hint as to which one. Certainly that person was
+not Mr. Weiss, whose appearance was as remote from that of an actor as
+could well be imagined. At any rate, the bottle and its label gave me no
+more useful hint than it might be worth while to call on Mr. Fox and
+make inquiries; and something told me very emphatically that this was
+not what it had conveyed to Thorndyke.
+
+These reflections occupied me until the omnibus, having rumbled over
+London Bridge and up King William Street, joined the converging streams
+of traffic at the Mansion House. Here I got down and changed to an
+omnibus bound for Kensington; on which I travelled westward pleasantly
+enough, looking down into the teeming streets and whiling away the time
+by meditating upon the very agreeable afternoon that I promised myself,
+and considering how far my new arrangement with Thorndyke would justify
+me in entering into certain domestic engagements of a highly interesting
+kind.
+
+What might have happened under other circumstances it is impossible to
+tell and useless to speculate; the fact is that my journey ended in a
+disappointment. I arrived, all agog, at the familiar house in Endsley
+Gardens only to be told by a sympathetic housemaid that the family was
+out; that Mrs. Hornby had gone into the country and would not be home
+until night, and--which mattered a good deal more to me--that her niece,
+Miss Juliet Gibson, had accompanied her.
+
+Now a man who drops into lunch without announcing his intention or
+previously ascertaining those of his friends has no right to quarrel
+with fate if he finds an empty house. Thus philosophically I reflected
+as I turned away from the house in profound discontent, demanding of the
+universe in general why Mrs. Hornby need have perversely chosen my first
+free day to go gadding into the country, and above all, why she must
+needs spirit away the fair Juliet. This was the crowning misfortune (for
+I could have endured the absence of the elder lady with commendable
+fortitude), and since I could not immediately return to the Temple it
+left me a mere waif and stray for the time being.
+
+Instinct--of the kind that manifests itself especially about one
+o'clock in the afternoon--impelled me in the direction of Brompton Road,
+and finally landed me at a table in a large restaurant apparently
+adjusted to the needs of ladies who had come from a distance to engage
+in the feminine sport of shopping. Here, while waiting for my lunch, I
+sat idly scanning the morning paper and wondering what I should do with
+the rest of the day; and presently it chanced that my eye caught the
+announcement of a matinée at the theatre in Sloane Square. It was quite
+a long time since I had been at a theatre, and, as the play--light
+comedy--seemed likely to satisfy my not very critical taste, I decided
+to devote the afternoon to reviving my acquaintance with the drama.
+Accordingly as soon as my lunch was finished, I walked down the Brompton
+Road, stepped on to an omnibus, and was duly deposited at the door of
+the theatre. A couple of minutes later I found myself occupying an
+excellent seat in the second row of the pit, oblivious alike of my
+recent disappointment and of Thorndyke's words of warning.
+
+I am not an enthusiastic play-goer. To dramatic performances I am
+disposed to assign nothing further than the modest function of
+furnishing entertainment. I do not go to a theatre to be instructed or
+to have my moral outlook elevated. But, by way of compensation, I am not
+difficult to please. To a simple play, adjusted to my primitive taste, I
+can bring a certain bucolic appreciation that enables me to extract from
+the performance the maximum of enjoyment; and when, on this occasion,
+the final curtain fell and the audience rose, I rescued my hat from its
+insecure resting-place and turned to go with the feeling that I had
+spent a highly agreeable afternoon.
+
+Emerging from the theatre, borne on the outgoing stream, I presently
+found myself opposite the door of a tea-shop. Instinct--the five o'clock
+instinct this time--guided me in; for we are creatures of habit,
+especially of the tea habit. The unoccupied table to which I drifted was
+in a shady corner not very far from the pay-desk; and here I had been
+seated less than a minute when a lady passed me on her way to the
+farther table. The glimpse that I caught of her as she approached--it
+was but a glimpse, since she passed behind me--showed that she was
+dressed in black, that she wore a beaded veil and hat, and in addition
+to the glass of milk and the bun that she carried, she was encumbered by
+an umbrella and a small basket, apparently containing some kind of
+needlework. I must confess that I gave her very little attention at the
+time, being occupied in anxious speculation as to how long it would be
+before the fact of my presence would impinge on the consciousness of the
+waitress.
+
+The exact time by the clock on the wall was three minutes and a quarter,
+at the expiration of which an anaemic young woman sauntered up to the
+table and bestowed on me a glance of sullen interrogation, as if mutely
+demanding what the devil I wanted. I humbly requested that I might be
+provided with a pot of tea; whereupon she turned on her heel (which was
+a good deal worn down on the offside) and reported my conduct to a lady
+behind a marble-topped counter.
+
+It seemed that the counter lady took a lenient view of the case, for in
+less than four minutes the waitress returned and gloomily deposited on
+the table before me a tea-pot, a milk-jug, a cup and saucer, a jug of
+hot water, and a small pool of milk. Then she once more departed in
+dudgeon.
+
+I had just given the tea in the pot a preliminary stir and was about to
+pour out the first cup when I felt some one bump lightly against my
+chair and heard something rattle on the floor. I turned quickly and
+perceived the lady, whom I had seen enter, stooping just behind my
+chair. It seemed that having finished her frugal meal she was on her way
+out when she had dropped the little basket that I had noticed hanging
+from her wrist; which basket had promptly disgorged its entire contents
+on the floor.
+
+Now every one must have noticed the demon of agility that seems to enter
+into an inanimate object when it is dropped, and the apparently
+intelligent malice with which it discovers, and rolls into, the most
+inaccessible places. Here was a case in point. This particular basket
+had contained materials for Oriental bead-work; and no sooner had it
+reached the floor than each item of its contents appeared to become
+possessed of a separate and particular devil impelling it to travel at
+headlong speed to some remote and unapproachable corner as distant as
+possible from its fellows.
+
+As the only man--and almost the only person--near, the duty of
+salvage-agent manifestly devolved upon me; and down I went, accordingly,
+on my hands and knees, regardless of a nearly new pair of trousers, to
+grope under tables, chairs and settles in reach of the scattered
+treasure. A ball of the thick thread or twine I recovered from a dark
+and dirty corner after a brief interview with the sharp corner of a
+settle, and a multitude of the large beads with which this infernal
+industry is carried on I gathered from all parts of the compass, coming
+forth at length (quadrupedally) with a double handful of the
+treasure-trove and a very lively appreciation of the resistant qualities
+of a cast-iron table-stand when applied to the human cranium.
+
+The owner of the lost and found property was greatly distressed by the
+accident and the trouble it had caused me; in fact she was quite
+needlessly agitated about it. The hand which held the basket into which
+I poured the rescued trash trembled visibly, and the brief glance that I
+bestowed on her as she murmured her thanks and apologies--with a very
+slight foreign accent--showed me that she was excessively pale. That
+much I could see plainly in spite of the rather dim light in this part
+of the shop and the beaded veil that covered her face; and I could also
+see that she was a rather remarkable looking woman, with a great mass of
+harsh, black hair and very broad black eyebrows that nearly met above
+her nose and contrasted strikingly with the dead white of her skin. But,
+of course, I did not look at her intently. Having returned her property
+and received her acknowledgments, I resumed my seat and left her to go
+on her way.
+
+I had once more grasped the handle of the tea-pot when I made a rather
+curious discovery. At the bottom of the tea-cup lay a single lump of
+sugar. To the majority of persons it would have meant nothing. They
+would have assumed that they had dropped it in and forgotten it and
+would have proceeded to pour out the tea. But it happened that, at this
+time, I did not take sugar in my tea; whence it followed that the lump
+had not been put in by me. Assuming, therefore, that it had been
+carelessly dropped in by the waitress, I turned it out on the table,
+filled the cup, added the milk, and took a tentative draught to test the
+temperature.
+
+The cup was yet at my lips when I chanced to look into the mirror that
+faced my table. Of course it reflected the part of the shop that was
+behind me, including the cashier's desk; at which the owner of the
+basket now stood paying for her refreshment. Between her and me was a
+gas chandelier which cast its light on my back but full on her face; and
+her veil notwithstanding, I could see that she was looking at me
+steadily; was, in fact, watching me intently and with a very curious
+expression--an expression of expectancy mingled with alarm. But this was
+not all. As I returned her intent look--which I could do unobserved,
+since my face, reflected in the mirror, was in deep shadow--I suddenly
+perceived that that steady gaze engaged her right eye only; the other
+eye was looking sharply towards her left shoulder. In short, she had a
+divergent squint of the left eye.
+
+I put down my cup with a thrill of amazement and a sudden surging up of
+suspicion and alarm. An instant's reflection reminded me that when she
+had spoken to me a few moments before, both her eyes had looked into
+mine without the slightest trace of a squint. My thoughts flew back to
+the lump of sugar, to the unguarded milk-jug and the draught of tea that
+I had already swallowed; and, hardly knowing what I intended, I started
+to my feet and turned to confront her. But as I rose, she snatched up
+her change and darted from the shop. Through the glass door, I saw her
+spring on to the foot-board of a passing hansom and give the driver some
+direction. I saw the man whip up his horse, and, by the time I reached
+the door, the cab was moving off swiftly towards Sloane Street.
+
+I stood irresolute. I had not paid and could not run out of the shop
+without making a fuss, and my hat and stick were still on the rail
+opposite my seat. The woman ought to be followed, but I had no fancy for
+the task. If the tea that I had swallowed was innocuous, no harm was
+done and I was rid of my pursuer. So far as I was concerned, the
+incident was closed. I went back to my seat, and picking up the lump of
+sugar which still lay on the table where I had dropped it, put it
+carefully in my pocket. But my appetite for tea was satisfied for the
+present. Moreover it was hardly advisable to stay in the shop lest some
+fresh spy should come to see how I fared. Accordingly I obtained my
+check, handed it in at the cashier's desk and took my departure.
+
+All this time, it will be observed, I had been taking it for granted
+that the lady in black had followed me from Kensington to this shop;
+that, in fact, she was none other than Mrs. Schallibaum. And, indeed,
+the circumstances had rendered the conclusion inevitable. In the very
+instant when I had perceived the displacement of the left eye, complete
+recognition had come upon me. When I had stood facing the woman, the
+brief glance at her face had conveyed to me something dimly reminiscent
+of which I had been but half conscious and had instantly forgotten. But
+the sight of that characteristic squint had at once revived and
+explained it. That the woman was Mrs. Schallibaum I now felt no doubt
+whatever.
+
+Nevertheless, the whole affair was profoundly mysterious. As to the
+change in the woman's appearance, there was little in that. The coarse,
+black hair might be her own, dyed, or it might be a wig. The eyebrows
+were made-up; it was a simple enough proceeding and made still more
+simple by the beaded veil. But how did she come to be there at all? How
+did she happen to be made-up in this fashion at this particular time?
+And, above all, how came she to be provided with a lump of what I had
+little doubt was poisoned sugar?
+
+I turned over the events of the day, and the more I considered them the
+less comprehensible they appeared. No one had followed the omnibus
+either on foot or in a vehicle, as far as I could see; and I had kept a
+careful look-out, not only at starting but for some considerable time
+after. Yet, all the time, Mrs. Schallibaum must have been following.
+But how? If she had known that I was intending to travel by the omnibus
+she might have gone to meet it and entered before I did. But she could
+not have known: and moreover she did not meet the omnibus, for we
+watched its approach from some considerable distance. I considered
+whether she might not have been concealed in the house and overheard me
+mention my destination to Thorndyke. But this failed to explain the
+mystery, since I had mentioned no address beyond "Kensington." I had,
+indeed, mentioned the name of Mrs. Hornby, but the supposition that my
+friends might be known by name to Mrs. Schallibaum, or even that she
+might have looked the name up in the directory, presented a probability
+too remote to be worth entertaining.
+
+But, if I reached no satisfactory conclusion, my cogitations had one
+useful effect; they occupied my mind to the exclusion of that
+unfortunate draught of tea. Not that I had been seriously uneasy after
+the first shock. The quantity that I had swallowed was not large--the
+tea being hotter than I cared for--and I remembered that, when I had
+thrown out the lump of sugar, I had turned the cup upside down on the
+table; so there could have been nothing solid left in it. And the lump
+of sugar was in itself reassuring, for it certainly would not have been
+used in conjunction with any less conspicuous but more incriminating
+form of poison. That lump of sugar was now in my pocket, reserved for
+careful examination at my leisure; and I reflected with a faint grin
+that it would be a little disconcerting if it should turn out to
+contain nothing but sugar after all.
+
+On leaving the tea-shop, I walked up Sloane Street with the intention of
+doing what I ought to have done earlier in the day. I was going to make
+perfectly sure that no spy was dogging my footsteps. But for my
+ridiculous confidence I could have done so quite easily before going to
+Endsley Gardens; and now, made wiser by a startling experience, I
+proceeded with systematic care. It was still broad daylight--for the
+lamps in the tea-shop had been rendered necessary only by the faulty
+construction of the premises and the dullness of the afternoon--and in
+an open space I could see far enough for complete safety. Arriving at
+the top of Sloane Street, I crossed Knightsbridge, and, entering Hyde
+Park, struck out towards the Serpentine. Passing along the eastern
+shore, I entered one of the long paths that lead towards the Marble Arch
+and strode along it at such a pace as would make it necessary for any
+pursuer to hurry in order to keep me in sight. Half-way across the great
+stretch of turf, I halted for a few moments and noted the few people who
+were coming in my direction. Then I turned sharply to the left and
+headed straight for the Victoria Gate, but again, half-way, I turned off
+among a clump of trees, and, standing behind the trunk of one of them,
+took a fresh survey of the people who were moving along the paths. All
+were at a considerable distance and none appeared to be coming my way.
+
+I now moved cautiously from one tree to another and passed through the
+wooded region to the south, crossed the Serpentine bridge at a rapid
+walk and hurrying along the south shore left the Park by Apsley House.
+From hence I walked at the same rapid pace along Piccadilly, insinuating
+myself among the crowd with the skill born of long acquaintance with the
+London streets, crossed amidst the seething traffic at the Circus,
+darted up Windmill Street and began to zigzag amongst the narrow streets
+and courts of Soho. Crossing the Seven Dials and Drury Lane I passed
+through the multitudinous back-streets and alleys that then filled the
+area south of Lincoln's Inn, came out by Newcastle Street, Holywell
+Street and Half-Moon Alley into the Strand, which I crossed immediately,
+ultimately entering the Temple by Devereux Court.
+
+Even then I did not relax my precautions. From one court to another I
+passed quickly, loitering in those dark entries and unexpected passages
+that are known to so few but the regular Templars, and coming out into
+the open only at the last where the wide passage of King's Bench Walk
+admits of no evasion. Half-way up the stairs, I stood for some time in
+the shadow, watching the approaches from the staircase window; and when,
+at length, I felt satisfied that I had taken every precaution that was
+possible, I inserted my key and let myself into our chambers.
+
+Thorndyke had already arrived, and, as I entered, he rose to greet me
+with an expression of evident relief.
+
+"I am glad to see you, Jervis," he said. "I have been rather anxious
+about you."
+
+"Why?" I asked.
+
+"For several reasons. One is that you are the sole danger that threatens
+these people--as far as they know. Another is that we made a most
+ridiculous mistake. We overlooked a fact that ought to have struck us
+instantly. But how have you fared?"
+
+"Better than I deserved. That good lady stuck to me like a burr--at
+least I believe she did."
+
+"I have no doubt she did. We have been caught napping finely, Jervis."
+
+"How?"
+
+"We'll go into that presently. Let us hear about your adventures first."
+
+I gave him a full account of my movements from the time when we parted
+to that of my arrival home, omitting no incident that I was able to
+remember and, as far as I could, reconstituting my exceedingly devious
+homeward route.
+
+"Your retreat was masterly," he remarked with a broad smile. "I should
+think that it would have utterly defeated any pursuer; and the only pity
+is that it was probably wasted on the desert air. Your pursuer had by
+that time become a fugitive. But you were wise to take these
+precautions, for, of course, Weiss might have followed you."
+
+"But I thought he was in Hamburg?"
+
+"Did you? You are a very confiding young gentleman, for a budding
+medical jurist. Of course we don't know that he is not; but the fact
+that he has given Hamburg as his present whereabouts establishes a
+strong presumption that he is somewhere else. I only hope that he has
+not located you, and, from what you tell me of your later methods, I
+fancy that you would have shaken him off even if he had started to
+follow you from the tea-shop."
+
+"I hope so too. But how did that woman manage to stick to me in that
+way? What was the mistake we made?"
+
+Thorndyke laughed grimly. "It was a perfectly asinine mistake, Jervis.
+You started up Kennington Park Road on a leisurely, jog-trotting
+omnibus, and neither you nor I remembered what there is underneath
+Kennington Park Road."
+
+"Underneath!" I exclaimed, completely puzzled for the moment. Then,
+suddenly realizing what he meant, "Of course!" I exclaimed. "Idiot that
+I am! You mean the electric railway?"
+
+"Yes. That explains everything. Mrs. Schallibaum must have watched us
+from some shop and quietly followed us up the lane. There were a good
+many women about and several were walking in our direction. There was
+nothing to distinguish her from the others unless you had recognized
+her, which you would hardly have been able to do if she had worn a veil
+and kept at a fair distance. At least I think not."
+
+"No," I agreed, "I certainly should not. I had only seen her in a
+half-dark room. In outdoor clothes and with a veil, I should never have
+been able to identify her without very close inspection. Besides there
+was the disguise or make-up."
+
+"Not at that time. She would hardly come disguised to her own house,
+for it might have led to her being challenged and asked who she was. I
+think we may take it that there was no actual disguise, although she
+would probably wear a shady hat and a veil; which would have prevented
+either of us from picking her out from the other women in the street."
+
+"And what do you think happened next?"
+
+"I think that she simply walked past us--probably on the other side of
+the road--as we stood waiting for the omnibus, and turned up Kennington
+Park Road. She probably guessed that we were waiting for the omnibus and
+walked up the road in the direction in which it was going. Presently the
+omnibus would pass her, and there were you in full view on top keeping a
+vigilant look-out in the wrong direction. Then she would quicken her
+pace a little and in a minute or two would arrive at the Kennington
+Station of the South London Railway. In a minute or two more she would
+be in one of the electric trains whirling along under the street on
+which your omnibus was crawling. She would get out at the Borough
+Station, or she might take a more risky chance and go on to the
+Monument; but in any case she would wait for your omnibus, hail it and
+get inside. I suppose you took up some passengers on the way?"
+
+"Oh dear, yes. We were stopping every two or three minutes to take up or
+set down passengers; and most of them were women."
+
+"Very well; then we may take it that when you arrived at the Mansion
+House, Mrs. Schallibaum was one of your inside passengers. It was a
+rather quaint situation, I think."
+
+"Yes, confound her! What a couple of noodles she must have thought us!"
+
+"No doubt. And that is the one consoling feature in the case. She will
+have taken us for a pair of absolute greenhorns. But to continue. Of
+course she travelled in your omnibus to Kensington--you ought to have
+gone inside on both occasions, so that you could see every one who
+entered and examine the inside passengers; she will have followed you to
+Endsley Gardens and probably noted the house you went to. Thence she
+will have followed you to the restaurant and may even have lunched
+there."
+
+"It is quite possible," said I. "There were two rooms and they were
+filled principally with women."
+
+"Then she will have followed you to Sloane Street, and, as you persisted
+in riding outside, she could easily take an inside place in your
+omnibus. As to the theatre, she must have taken it as a veritable gift
+of the gods; an arrangement made by you for her special convenience."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"My dear fellow! consider. She had only to follow you in and see you
+safely into your seat and there you were, left till called for. She
+could then go home, make up for her part; draw out a plan of action,
+with the help, perhaps, of Mr. Weiss, provide herself with the necessary
+means and appliances and, at the appointed time, call and collect you."
+
+"That is assuming a good deal," I objected. "It is assuming, for
+instance, that she lives within a moderate distance of Sloane Square.
+Otherwise it would have been impossible."
+
+"Exactly. That is why I assume it. You don't suppose that she goes about
+habitually with lumps of prepared sugar in her pocket. And if not, then
+she must have got that lump from somewhere. Then the beads suggest a
+carefully prepared plan, and, as I said just now, she can hardly have
+been made-up when she met us in Kennington Lane. From all of which it
+seems likely that her present abode is not very far from Sloane Square."
+
+"At any rate," said I, "it was taking a considerable risk. I might have
+left the theatre before she came back."
+
+"Yes," Thorndyke agreed. "But it is like a woman to take chances. A man
+would probably have stuck to you when once he had got you off your
+guard. But she was ready to take chances. She chanced the railway, and
+it came off; she chanced your remaining in the theatre, and that came
+off too. She calculated on the probability of your getting tea when you
+came out, and she hit it off again. And then she took one chance too
+many; she assumed that you probably took sugar in your tea, and she was
+wrong."
+
+"We are taking it for granted that the sugar was prepared," I remarked.
+
+"Yes. Our explanation is entirely hypothetical and may be entirely
+wrong. But it all hangs together, and if we find any poisonous matter in
+the sugar, it will be reasonable to assume that we are right. The sugar
+is the Experimentum Crucis. If you will hand it over to me, we will go
+up to the laboratory and make a preliminary test or two."
+
+I took the lump of sugar from my pocket and gave it to him, and he
+carried it to the gas-burner, by the light of which he examined it with
+a lens.
+
+"I don't see any foreign crystals on the surface," said he; "but we had
+better make a solution and go to work systematically. If it contains any
+poison we may assume that it will be some alkaloid, though I will test
+for arsenic too. But a man of Weiss's type would almost certainly use an
+alkaloid, on account of its smaller bulk and more ready solubility. You
+ought not to have carried this loose in your pocket. For legal purposes
+that would seriously interfere with its value as evidence. Bodies that
+are suspected of containing poison should be carefully isolated and
+preserved from contact with anything that might lead to doubt in the
+analysis. It doesn't matter much to us, as this analysis is only for our
+own information and we can satisfy ourselves as to the state of your
+pocket. But bear the rule in mind another time."
+
+We now ascended to the laboratory, where Thorndyke proceeded at once to
+dissolve the lump of sugar in a measured quantity of distilled water by
+the aid of gentle heat.
+
+"Before we add any acid," said he, "or introduce any fresh matter, we
+will adopt the simple preliminary measure of tasting the solution. The
+sugar is a disturbing factor, but some of the alkaloids and most
+mineral poisons excepting arsenic have a very characteristic taste."
+
+He dipped a glass rod in the warm solution and applied it gingerly to
+his tongue.
+
+"Ha!" he exclaimed, as he carefully wiped his mouth with his
+handkerchief, "simple methods are often very valuable. There isn't much
+doubt as to what is in that sugar. Let me recommend my learned brother
+to try the flavour. But be careful. A little of this will go a long
+way."
+
+He took a fresh rod from the rack, and, dipping it in the solution,
+handed it to me. I cautiously applied it to the tip of my tongue and was
+immediately aware of a peculiar tingling sensation accompanied by a
+feeling of numbness.
+
+"Well," said Thorndyke; "what is it?"
+
+"Aconite," I replied without hesitation.
+
+"Yes," he agreed; "aconite it is, or more probably aconitine. And that,
+I think, gives us all the information we want. We need not trouble now
+to make a complete analysis, though I shall have a quantitative
+examination made later. You note the intensity of the taste and you see
+what the strength of the solution is. Evidently that lump of sugar
+contained a very large dose of the poison. If the sugar had been
+dissolved in your tea, the quantity that you drank would have contained
+enough aconitine to lay you out within a few minutes; which would
+account for Mrs. Schallibaum's anxiety to get clear of the premises. She
+saw you drink from the cup, but I imagine she had not seen you turn the
+sugar out."
+
+"No, I should say not, to judge by her expression. She looked
+terrified. She is not as hardened as her rascally companion."
+
+"Which is fortunate for you, Jervis. If she had not been in such a
+fluster, she would have waited until you had poured out your tea, which
+was what she probably meant to do, or have dropped the sugar into the
+milk-jug. In either case you would have got a poisonous dose before you
+noticed anything amiss."
+
+"They are a pretty pair, Thorndyke," I exclaimed. "A human life seems to
+be no more to them than the life of a fly or a beetle."
+
+"No; that is so. They are typical poisoners of the worst kind; of the
+intelligent, cautious, resourceful kind. They are a standing menace to
+society. As long as they are at large, human lives are in danger, and it
+is our business to see that they do not remain at large a moment longer
+than is unavoidable. And that brings us to another point. You had better
+keep indoors for the next few days."
+
+"Oh, nonsense," I protested. "I can take care of myself."
+
+"I won't dispute that," said Thorndyke, "although I might. But the
+matter is of vital importance and we can't be too careful. Yours is the
+only evidence that could convict these people. They know that and will
+stick at nothing to get rid of you--for by this time they will almost
+certainly have ascertained that the tea-shop plan has failed. Now your
+life is of some value to you and to another person whom I could mention;
+but apart from that, you are the indispensable instrument for ridding
+society of these dangerous vermin. Moreover, if you were seen abroad and
+connected with these chambers, they would get the information that their
+case was really being investigated in a businesslike manner. If Weiss
+has not already left the country he would do so immediately, and if he
+has, Mrs. Schallibaum would join him at once, and we might never be able
+to lay hands on them. You must stay indoors, out of sight, and you had
+better write to Miss Gibson and ask her to warn the servants to give no
+information about you to anyone."
+
+"And how long," I asked, "am I to be held on parole?"
+
+"Not long, I think. We have a very promising start. If I have any luck,
+I shall be able to collect all the evidence I want in about a week. But
+there is an element of chance in some of it which prevents me from
+giving a date. And it is just possible that I may have started on a
+false track. But that I shall be able to tell you better in a day or
+two."
+
+"And I suppose," I said gloomily, "I shall be out of the hunt
+altogether?"
+
+"Not at all," he replied. "You have got the Blackmore case to attend to.
+I shall hand you over all the documents and get you to make an orderly
+digest of the evidence. You will then have all the facts and can work
+out the case for yourself. Also I shall ask you to help Polton in some
+little operations which are designed to throw light into dark places and
+which you will find both entertaining and instructive."
+
+"Supposing Mrs. Hornby should propose to call and take tea with us in
+the gardens?" I suggested.
+
+"And bring Miss Gibson with her?" Thorndyke added dryly. "No, Jervis, it
+would never do. You must make that quite clear to her. It is more
+probable than not that Mrs. Schallibaum made a careful note of the house
+in Endsley Gardens, and as that would be the one place actually known to
+her, she and Weiss--if he is in England--would almost certainly keep a
+watch on it. If they should succeed in connecting that house with these
+chambers, a few inquiries would show them the exact state of the case.
+No; we must keep them in the dark if we possibly can. We have shown too
+much of our hand already. It is hard on you, but it cannot be helped."
+
+"Oh, don't think I am complaining," I exclaimed. "If it is a matter of
+business, I am as keen as you are. I thought at first that you were
+merely considering the safety of my vile body. When shall I start on my
+job?"
+
+"To-morrow morning. I shall give you my notes on the Blackmore case and
+the copies of the will and the depositions, from which you had better
+draw up a digest of the evidence with remarks as to the conclusions that
+it suggests. Then there are our gleanings from New Inn to be looked over
+and considered; and with regard to this case, we have the fragments of a
+pair of spectacles which had better be put together into a rather more
+intelligible form in case we have to produce them in evidence. That will
+keep you occupied for a day or two, together with some work
+appertaining to other cases. And now let us dismiss professional topics.
+You have not dined and neither have I, but I dare say Polton has made
+arrangements for some sort of meal. We will go down and see."
+
+We descended to the lower floor, where Thorndyke's anticipations were
+justified by a neatly laid table to which Polton was giving the
+finishing touches.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XI
+
+The Blackmore Case Reviewed
+
+
+One of the conditions of medical practice is the capability of
+transferring one's attention at a moment's notice from one set of
+circumstances to another equally important but entirely unrelated. At
+each visit on his round, the practitioner finds himself concerned with a
+particular, self-contained group of phenomena which he must consider at
+the moment with the utmost concentration, but which he must instantly
+dismiss from his mind as he moves on to the next case. It is a difficult
+habit to acquire; for an important, distressing or obscure case is apt
+to take possession of the consciousness and hinder the exercise of
+attention that succeeding cases demand; but experience shows the faculty
+to be indispensable, and the practitioner learns in time to forget
+everything but the patient with whose condition he is occupied at the
+moment.
+
+My first morning's work on the Blackmore case showed me that the same
+faculty is demanded in legal practice; and it also showed me that I had
+yet to acquire it. For, as I looked over the depositions and the copy of
+the will, memories of the mysterious house in Kennington Lane
+continually intruded into my reflections, and the figure of Mrs.
+Schallibaum, white-faced, terrified, expectant, haunted me continually.
+
+In truth, my interest in the Blackmore case was little more than
+academic, whereas in the Kennington case I was one of the parties and
+was personally concerned. To me, John Blackmore was but a name, Jeffrey
+but a shadowy figure to which I could assign no definite personality,
+and Stephen himself but a casual stranger. Mr. Graves, on the other
+hand, was a real person. I had seen him amidst the tragic circumstances
+that had probably heralded his death, and had brought away with me, not
+only a lively recollection of him, but a feeling of profound pity and
+concern as to his fate. The villain Weiss, too, and the terrible woman
+who aided, abetted and, perhaps, even directed him, lived in my memory
+as vivid and dreadful realities. Although I had uttered no hint to
+Thorndyke, I lamented inwardly that I had not been given some work--if
+there was any to do--connected with this case, in which I was so deeply
+interested, rather than with the dry, purely legal and utterly
+bewildering case of Jeffrey Blackmore's will.
+
+Nevertheless, I stuck loyally to my task. I read through the depositions
+and the will--without getting a single glimmer of fresh light on the
+case--and I made a careful digest of all the facts. I compared my
+digest with Thorndyke's notes--of which I also made a copy--and found
+that, brief as they were, they contained several matters that I had
+overlooked. I also drew up a brief account of our visit to New Inn, with
+a list of the objects that we had observed or collected. And then I
+addressed myself to the second part of my task, the statement of my
+conclusions from the facts set forth.
+
+It was only when I came to make the attempt that I realized how
+completely I was at sea. In spite of Thorndyke's recommendation to study
+Marchmont's statement as it was summarized in those notes which I had
+copied, and of his hint that I should find in that statement something
+highly significant, I was borne irresistibly to one conclusion, and one
+only--and the wrong one at that, as I suspected: that Jeffrey
+Blackmore's will was a perfectly regular, sound and valid document.
+
+I tried to attack the validity of the will from various directions, and
+failed every time. As to its genuineness, that was obviously not in
+question. There seemed to me only two conceivable respects in which any
+objection could be raised, viz. the competency of Jeffrey to execute a
+will and the possibility of undue influence having been brought to bear
+on him.
+
+With reference to the first, there was the undoubted fact that Jeffrey
+was addicted to the opium habit, and this might, under some
+circumstances, interfere with a testator's competency to make a will.
+But had any such circumstances existed in this case? Had the drug habit
+produced such mental changes in the deceased as would destroy or weaken
+his judgment? There was not a particle of evidence in favour of any such
+belief. Up to the very end he had managed his own affairs, and, if his
+habits of life had undergone a change, they were still the habits of a
+perfectly sane and responsible man.
+
+The question of undue influence was more difficult. If it applied to any
+person in particular, that person could be none other than John
+Blackmore. Now it was an undoubted fact that, of all Jeffrey's
+acquaintance, his brother John was the only one who knew that he was in
+residence at New Inn. Moreover John had visited him there more than
+once. It was therefore possible that influence might have been brought
+to bear on the deceased. But there was no evidence that it had. The fact
+that the deceased man's only brother should be the one person who knew
+where he was living was not a remarkable one, and it had been
+satisfactorily explained by the necessity of Jeffrey's finding a
+reference on applying for the chambers. And against the theory of undue
+influence was the fact that the testator had voluntarily brought his
+will to the lodge and executed it in the presence of entirely
+disinterested witnesses.
+
+In the end I had to give up the problem in despair, and, abandoning the
+documents, turned my attention to the facts elicited by our visit to New
+Inn.
+
+What had we learned from our exploration? It was clear that Thorndyke
+had picked up some facts that had appeared to him important. But
+important in what respect? The only possible issue that could be raised
+was the validity or otherwise of Jeffrey Blackmore's will; and since the
+validity of that will was supported by positive evidence of the most
+incontestable kind, it seemed that nothing that we had observed could
+have any real bearing on the case at all.
+
+But this, of course, could not be. Thorndyke was no dreamer nor was he
+addicted to wild speculation. If the facts observed by us seemed to him
+to be relevant to the case, I was prepared to assume that they were
+relevant, although I could not see their connection with it. And, on
+this assumption, I proceeded to examine them afresh.
+
+Now, whatever Thorndyke might have observed on his own account, I had
+brought away from the dead man's chambers only a single fact; and a very
+extraordinary fact it was. The cuneiform inscription was upside down.
+That was the sum of the evidence that I had collected; and the question
+was, What did it prove? To Thorndyke it conveyed some deep significance.
+What could that significance be?
+
+The inverted position was not a mere temporary accident, as it might
+have been if the frame had been stood on a shelf or support. It was hung
+on the wall, and the plates screwed on the frame showed that its
+position was permanent and that it had never hung in any other. That it
+could have been hung up by Jeffrey himself was clearly inconceivable.
+But allowing that it had been fixed in its present position by some
+workman when the new tenant moved in, the fact remained that there it
+had hung, presumably for months, and that Jeffrey Blackmore, with his
+expert knowledge of the cuneiform character, had never noticed that it
+was upside down; or, if he had noticed it, that he had never taken the
+trouble to have it altered.
+
+What could this mean? If he had noticed the error but had not troubled
+to correct it, that would point to a very singular state of mind, an
+inertness and indifference remarkable even in an opium-smoker. But
+assuming such a state of mind, I could not see that it had any bearing
+on the will, excepting that it was rather inconsistent with the tendency
+to make fussy and needless alterations which the testator had actually
+shown. On the other hand, if he had not noticed the inverted position of
+the photograph he must have been nearly blind or quite idiotic; for the
+photograph was over two feet long and the characters large enough to be
+read easily by a person of ordinary eyesight at a distance of forty or
+fifty feet. Now he obviously was not in a state of dementia, whereas his
+eyesight was admittedly bad; and it seemed to me that the only
+conclusion deducible from the photograph was that it furnished a measure
+of the badness of the deceased man's vision--that it proved him to have
+been verging on total blindness.
+
+But there was nothing startling new in this. He had, himself, declared
+that he was fast losing his sight. And again, what was the bearing of
+his partial blindness on the will? A totally blind man cannot draw up
+his will at all. But if he has eyesight sufficient to enable him to
+write out and sign a will, mere defective vision will not lead him to
+muddle the provisions. Yet something of this kind seemed to be in
+Thorndyke's mind, for now I recalled the question that he had put to the
+porter: "When you read the will over in Mr. Blackmore's presence, did
+you read it aloud?" That question could have but one significance. It
+implied a doubt as to whether the testator was fully aware of the exact
+nature of the document that he was signing. Yet, if he was able to write
+and sign it, surely he was able also to read it through, to say nothing
+of the fact that, unless he was demented, he must have remembered what
+he had written.
+
+Thus, once more, my reasoning only led me into a blind alley at the end
+of which was the will, regular and valid and fulfilling all the
+requirements that the law imposed. Once again I had to confess myself
+beaten and in full agreement with Mr. Marchmont that "there was no
+case"; that "there was nothing in dispute." Nevertheless, I carefully
+fixed in the pocket file that Thorndyke had given me the copy that I had
+made of his notes, together with the notes on our visit to New Inn, and
+the few and unsatisfactory conclusions at which I had arrived; and this
+brought me to the end of my first morning in my new capacity.
+
+"And how," Thorndyke asked as we sat at lunch, "has my learned friend
+progressed? Does he propose that we advise Mr. Marchmont to enter a
+caveat?"
+
+"I've read all the documents and boiled all the evidence down to a stiff
+jelly; and I am in a worse fog than ever."
+
+"There seems to be a slight mixture of metaphors in my learned friend's
+remarks. But never mind the fog, Jervis. There is a certain virtue in
+fog. It serves, like a picture frame, to surround the essential with a
+neutral zone that separates it from the irrelevant."
+
+"That is a very profound observation, Thorndyke," I remarked ironically.
+
+"I was just thinking so myself," he rejoined.
+
+"And if you could contrive to explain what it means--"
+
+"Oh, but that is unreasonable. When one throws off a subtly philosophic
+obiter dictum one looks to the discerning critic to supply the meaning.
+By the way, I am going to introduce you to the gentle art of photography
+this afternoon. I am getting the loan of all the cheques that were drawn
+by Jeffrey Blackmore during his residence at New Inn--there are only
+twenty-three of them, all told--and I am going to photograph them."
+
+"I shouldn't have thought the bank people would have let them go out of
+their possession."
+
+"They are not going to. One of the partners, a Mr. Britton, is bringing
+them here himself and will be present while the photographs are being
+taken; so they will not go out of his custody. But, all the same, it is
+a great concession, and I should not have obtained it but for the fact
+that I have done a good deal of work for the bank and that Mr. Britton
+is more or less a personal friend."
+
+"By the way, how comes it that the cheques are at the bank? Why were
+they not returned to Jeffrey with the pass-book in the usual way?"
+
+"I understand from Britton," replied Thorndyke, "that all Jeffrey's
+cheques were retained by the bank at his request. When he was travelling
+he used to leave his investment securities and other valuable documents
+in his bankers' custody, and, as he has never applied to have them
+returned, the bankers still have them and are retaining them until the
+will is proved, when they will, of course, hand over everything to the
+executors."
+
+"What is the object of photographing these cheques?" I asked.
+
+"There are several objects. First, since a good photograph is
+practically as good as the original, when we have the photographs we
+practically have the cheques for reference. Then, since a photograph can
+be duplicated indefinitely, it is possible to perform experiments on it
+which involve its destruction; which would, of course, be impossible in
+the case of original cheques."
+
+"But the ultimate object, I mean. What are you going to prove?"
+
+"You are incorrigible, Jervis," he exclaimed. "How should I know what I
+am going to prove? This is an investigation. If I knew the result
+beforehand, I shouldn't want to perform the experiment."
+
+He looked at his watch, and, as we rose from the table, he said:
+
+"If we have finished, we had better go up to the laboratory and see that
+the apparatus is ready. Mr. Britton is a busy man, and, as he is doing
+us a great service, we mustn't keep him waiting when he comes."
+
+We ascended to the laboratory, where Polton was already busy inspecting
+the massively built copying camera which--with the long, steel guides on
+which the easel or copy-holder travelled--took up the whole length of
+the room on the side opposite to that occupied by the chemical bench. As
+I was to be inducted into the photographic art, I looked at it with more
+attention than I had ever done before.
+
+"We've made some improvements since you were here last, sir," said
+Polton, who was delicately lubricating the steel guides. "We've fitted
+these steel runners instead of the blackleaded wooden ones that we used
+to have. And we've made two scales instead of one. Hallo! That's the
+downstairs bell. Shall I go sir?"
+
+"Perhaps you'd better," said Thorndyke. "It may not be Mr. Britton, and
+I don't want to be caught and delayed just now."
+
+However, it was Mr. Britton; a breezy alert-looking middle-aged man, who
+came in escorted by Polton and shook our hands cordially, having been
+previously warned of my presence. He carried a small but solid hand-bag,
+to which he clung tenaciously up to the very moment when its contents
+were required for use.
+
+"So that is the camera," said he, running an inquisitive eye over the
+instrument. "Very fine one, too; I am a bit of a photographer myself.
+What is that graduation on the side-bar?"
+
+"Those are the scales," replied Thorndyke, "that shows the degree of
+magnification or reduction. The pointer is fixed to the easel and
+travels with it, of course, showing the exact size of the photograph.
+When the pointer is opposite 0 the photograph will be identical in size
+with the object photographed; when it points to, say, × 6, the
+photograph will be six times as long as the object, or magnified
+thirty-six times superficially, whereas if the pointer is at ÷ 6, the
+photograph will be a sixth of the length of the object, or one
+thirty-sixth superficial."
+
+"Why are there two scales?" Mr. Britton asked.
+
+"There is a separate scale for each of the two lenses that we
+principally use. For great magnification or reduction a lens of
+comparatively short focus must be used, but, as a long-focus lens gives
+a more perfect image, we use one of very long focus--thirty-six
+inches--for copying the same size or for slight magnification or
+reduction."
+
+"Are you going to magnify these cheques?" Mr. Britton asked.
+
+"Not in the first place," replied Thorndyke. "For convenience and speed
+I am going to photograph them half-size, so that six cheques will go on
+one whole plate. Afterwards we can enlarge from the negatives as much as
+we like. But we should probably enlarge only the signatures in any
+case."
+
+The precious bag was now opened and the twenty-three cheques brought out
+and laid on the bench in a consecutive series in the order of their
+dates. They were then fixed by tapes--to avoid making pin-holes in
+them--in batches of six to small drawing boards, each batch being so
+arranged that the signatures were towards the middle. The first board
+was clamped to the easel, the latter was slid along its guides until
+the pointer stood at ÷ 2 on the long-focus scale and Thorndyke proceeded
+to focus the camera with the aid of a little microscope that Polton had
+made for the purpose. When Mr. Britton and I had inspected the
+exquisitely sharp image on the focusing-screen through the microscope,
+Polton introduced the plate and made the first exposure, carrying the
+dark-slide off to develop the plate while the next batch of cheques was
+being fixed in position.
+
+In his photographic technique, as in everything else, Polton followed as
+closely as he could the methods of his principal and instructor; methods
+characterized by that unhurried precision that leads to perfect
+accomplishment. When the first negative was brought forth, dripping,
+from the dark-room, it was without spot or stain, scratch or pin-hole;
+uniform in colour and of exactly the required density. The six cheques
+shown on it--ridiculously small in appearance, though only reduced to
+half-length--looked as clear and sharp as fine etchings; though, to be
+sure, my opportunity for examining them was rather limited, for Polton
+was uncommonly careful to keep the wet plate out of reach and so safe
+from injury.
+
+"Well," said Mr. Britton, when, at the end of the séance, he returned
+his treasures to the bag, "you have now got twenty-three of our cheques,
+to all intents and purposes. I hope you are not going to make any
+unlawful use of them--must tell our cashiers to keep a bright look-out;
+and"--here he lowered his voice impressively and addressed himself to
+me and Polton--"you understand that this is a private matter between Dr.
+Thorndyke and me. Of course, as Mr. Blackmore is dead, there is no
+reason why his cheques should not be photographed for legal purposes;
+but we don't want it talked about; nor, I think, does Dr. Thorndyke."
+
+"Certainly not," Thorndyke agreed emphatically; "but you need not be
+uneasy, Mr. Britton. We are very uncommunicative people in this
+establishment."
+
+As my colleague and I escorted our visitor down the stairs, he returned
+to the subject of the cheques.
+
+"I don't understand what you want them for," he remarked. "There is no
+question turning on signatures in the case of Blackmore deceased, is
+there?"
+
+"I should say not," Thorndyke replied rather evasively.
+
+"I should say very decidedly not," said Mr. Britton, "if I understood
+Marchmont aright. And, even if there were, let me tell you, these
+signatures that you have got wouldn't help you. I have looked them over
+very closely--and I have seen a few signatures in my time, you know.
+Marchmont asked me to glance over them as a matter of form, but I don't
+believe in matters of form; I examined them very carefully. There is an
+appreciable amount of variation; a very appreciable amount. <i>But</i> under
+the variation one can trace the personal character (which is what
+matters); the subtle, indescribable quality that makes it recognizable
+to the expert eye as Jeffrey Blackmore's writing. You understand me.
+There is such a quality, which remains when the coarser characteristics
+vary; just as a man may grow old, or fat, or bald, or may take to drink,
+and become quite changed; and yet, through it all, he preserves a
+certain something which makes him recognizable as a member of a
+particular family. Well, I find that quality in all those signatures,
+and so will you, if you have had enough experience of handwriting. I
+thought it best to mention it in case you might be giving yourself
+unnecessary trouble."
+
+"It is very good of you," said Thorndyke, "and I need not say that the
+information is of great value, coming from such a highly expert source.
+As a matter of fact, your hint will be of great value to me."
+
+He shook hands with Mr. Britton, and, as the latter disappeared down the
+stairs, he turned into the sitting-room and remarked:
+
+"There is a very weighty and significant observation, Jervis. I advise
+you to consider it attentively in all its bearings."
+
+"You mean the fact that these signatures are undoubtedly genuine?"
+
+"I meant, rather, the very interesting general truth that is contained
+in Britton's statement; that physiognomy is not a mere matter of facial
+character. A man carries his personal trademark, not in his face only,
+but in his nervous system and muscles--giving rise to characteristic
+movements and gait; in his larynx--producing an individual voice; and
+even in his mouth, as shown by individual peculiarities of speech and
+accent. And the individual nervous system, by means of these
+characteristic movements, transfers its peculiarities to inanimate
+objects that are the products of such movements; as we see in pictures,
+in carving, in musical execution and in handwriting. No one has ever
+painted quite like Reynolds or Romney; no one has ever played exactly
+like Liszt or Paganini; the pictures or the sounds produced by them,
+were, so to speak, an extension of the physiognomy of the artist. And so
+with handwriting. A particular specimen is the product of a particular
+set of motor centres in an individual brain."
+
+"These are very interesting considerations, Thorndyke," I remarked; "but
+I don't quite see their present application. Do you mean them to bear in
+any special way on the Blackmore case?"
+
+"I think they do bear on it very directly. I thought so while Mr.
+Britton was making his very illuminating remarks."
+
+"I don't see how. In fact I cannot see why you are going into the
+question of the signatures at all. The signature on the will is
+admittedly genuine, and that seems to me to dispose of the whole
+affair."
+
+"My dear Jervis," said he, "you and Marchmont are allowing yourselves to
+be obsessed by a particular fact--a very striking and weighty fact, I
+will admit, but still, only an isolated fact. Jeffrey Blackmore executed
+his will in a regular manner, complying with all the necessary
+formalities and conditions. In the face of that single circumstance you
+and Marchmont would 'chuck up the sponge,' as the old pugilists
+expressed it. Now that is a great mistake. You should never allow
+yourself to be bullied and browbeaten by a single fact."
+
+"But, my dear Thorndyke!" I protested, "this fact seems to be final. It
+covers all possibilities---unless you can suggest any other that would
+cancel it."
+
+"I could suggest a dozen," he replied. "Let us take an instance.
+Supposing Jeffrey executed this will for a wager; that he immediately
+revoked it and made a fresh will, that he placed the latter in the
+custody of some person and that that person has suppressed it."
+
+"Surely you do not make this suggestion seriously!" I exclaimed.
+
+"Certainly I do not," he replied with a smile. "I merely give it as an
+instance to show that your final and absolute fact is really only
+conditional on there being no other fact that cancels it."
+
+"Do you think he might have made a third will?"
+
+"It is obviously possible. A man who makes two wills may make three or
+more; but I may say that I see no present reason for assuming the
+existence of another will. What I want to impress on you is the
+necessity of considering all the facts instead of bumping heavily
+against the most conspicuous one and forgetting all the rest. By the
+way, here is a little problem for you. What was the object of which
+these are the parts?"
+
+He pushed across the table a little cardboard box, having first removed
+the lid. In it were a number of very small pieces of broken glass, some
+of which had been cemented together by their edges.
+
+"These, I suppose," said I, looking with considerable curiosity at the
+little collection, "are the pieces of glass that we picked up in poor
+Blackmore's bedroom?"
+
+"Yes. You see that Polton has been endeavouring to reconstitute the
+object, whatever it was; but he has not been very successful, for the
+fragments were too small and irregular and the collection too
+incomplete. However, here is a specimen, built up of six small pieces,
+which exhibits the general character of the object fairly well."
+
+He picked out the little irregularly shaped object and handed it to me;
+and I could not but admire the neatness with which Polton had joined the
+tiny fragments together.
+
+I took the little "restoration," and, holding it up before my eyes,
+moved it to and fro as I looked through it at the window.
+
+"It was not a lens," I pronounced eventually.
+
+"No," Thorndyke agreed, "it was not a lens."
+
+"And so cannot have been a spectacle-glass. But the surface was
+curved--one side convex and the other concave--and the little piece that
+remains of the original edge seems to have been ground to fit a bezel or
+frame. I should say that these are portions of a watch-glass."
+
+"That is Polton's opinion," said Thorndyke, "and I think you are both
+wrong."
+
+"What do you say to the glass of a miniature or locket?"
+
+"That is rather more probable, but it is not my view."
+
+"What do you think it is?" I asked. But Thorndyke was not to be drawn.
+
+"I am submitting the problem for solution by my learned friend," he
+replied with an exasperating smile, and then added: "I don't say that
+you and Polton are wrong; only that I don't agree with you. Perhaps you
+had better make a note of the properties of this object, and consider it
+at your leisure when you are ruminating on the other data referring to
+the Blackmore case."
+
+"My ruminations," I said, "always lead me back to the same point."
+
+"But you mustn't let them," he replied. "Shuffle your data about. Invent
+hypotheses. Never mind if they seem rather wild. Don't put them aside on
+that account. Take the first hypothesis that you can invent and test it
+thoroughly with your facts. You will probably have to reject it, but you
+will be certain to have learned something new. Then try again with a
+fresh one. You remember what I told you of my methods when I began this
+branch of practice and had plenty of time on my hands?"
+
+"I am not sure that I do."
+
+"Well, I used to occupy my leisure in constructing imaginary cases,
+mostly criminal, for the purpose of study and for the acquirement of
+experience. For instance, I would devise an ingenious fraud and would
+plan it in detail, taking every precaution that I could think of against
+failure or detection, considering, and elaborately providing for, every
+imaginable contingency. For the time being, my entire attention was
+concentrated on it, making it as perfect and secure and undetectable as
+I could with the knowledge and ingenuity at my command. I behaved
+exactly as if I were proposing actually to carry it out, and my life or
+liberty depended on its success--excepting that I made full notes of
+every detail of the scheme. Then when my plans were as complete as I
+could make them, and I could think of no way in which to improve them, I
+changed sides and considered the case from the standpoint of detection.
+I analysed the case, I picked out its inherent and unavoidable
+weaknesses, and, especially, I noted the respects in which a fraudulent
+proceeding of a particular kind differed from the <i>bona fide</i> proceeding
+that it simulated. The exercise was invaluable to me. I acquired as much
+experience from those imaginary cases as I should from real ones, and in
+addition, I learned a method which is the one that I practise to this
+day."
+
+"Do you mean that you still invent imaginary cases as mental exercises?"
+
+"No; I mean that, when I have a problem of any intricacy, I invent a
+case which fits the facts and the assumed motives of one of the parties.
+Then I work at that case until I find whether it leads to elucidation or
+to some fundamental disagreement. In the latter case I reject it and
+begin the process over again."
+
+"Doesn't that method sometimes involve a good deal of wasted time and
+energy?" I asked.
+
+"No; because each time that you fail to establish a given case, you
+exclude a particular explanation of the facts and narrow down the field
+of inquiry. By repeating the process, you are bound, in the end, to
+arrive at an imaginary case which fits all the facts. Then your
+imaginary case is the real case and the problem is solved. Let me
+recommend you to give the method a trial."
+
+I promised to do so, though with no very lively expectations as to the
+result, and with this, the subject was allowed, for the present, to
+drop.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XII
+
+The Portrait
+
+
+The state of mind which Thorndyke had advised me to cultivate was one
+that did not come easily. However much I endeavoured to shuffle the
+facts of the Blackmore case, there was one which inevitably turned up on
+the top of the pack. The circumstances surrounding the execution of
+Jeffrey Blackmore's will intruded into all my cogitations on the subject
+with hopeless persistency. That scene in the porter's lodge was to me
+what King Charles's head was to poor Mr. Dick. In the midst of my
+praiseworthy efforts to construct some intelligible scheme of the case,
+it would make its appearance and reduce my mind to instant chaos.
+
+For the next few days, Thorndyke was very much occupied with one or two
+civil cases, which kept him in court during the whole of the sitting;
+and when he came home, he seemed indisposed to talk on professional
+topics. Meanwhile, Polton worked steadily at the photographs of the
+signatures, and, with a view to gaining experience, I assisted him and
+watched his methods.
+
+In the present case, the signatures were enlarged from their original
+dimensions--rather less than an inch and a half in length--to a length
+of four and a half inches; which rendered all the little peculiarities
+of the handwriting surprisingly distinct and conspicuous. Each signature
+was eventually mounted on a slip of card bearing a number and the date
+of the cheque from which it was taken, so that it was possible to place
+any two signatures together for comparison. I looked over the whole
+series and very carefully compared those which showed any differences,
+but without discovering anything more than might have been expected in
+view of Mr. Britton's statement. There were some trifling variations,
+but they were all very much alike, and no one could doubt, on looking at
+them, that they were all written by the same hand.
+
+As this, however, was apparently not in dispute, it furnished no new
+information. Thorndyke's object--for I felt certain that he had
+something definite in his mind--must be to test something apart from the
+genuineness of the signatures. But what could that something be? I dared
+not ask him, for questions of that kind were anathema, so there was
+nothing for it but to lie low and see what he would do with the
+photographs.
+
+The whole series was finished on the fourth morning after my adventure
+at Sloane Square, and the pack of cards was duly delivered by Polton
+when he brought in the breakfast tray. Thorndyke took up the pack
+somewhat with the air of a whist player, and, as he ran through them, I
+noticed that the number had increased from twenty-three to twenty-four.
+
+"The additional one," Thorndyke explained, "is the signature to the
+first will, which was in Marchmont's possession. I have added it to the
+collection as it carries us back to an earlier date. The signature of
+the second will presumably resembles those of the cheques drawn about
+the same date. But that is not material, or, if it should become so, we
+could claim to examine the second will."
+
+He laid the cards out on the table in the order of their dates and
+slowly ran his eye down the series. I watched him closely and ventured
+presently to ask:
+
+"Do you agree with Mr. Britton as to the general identity of character
+in the whole set of signatures?"
+
+"Yes," he replied. "I should certainly have put them down as being all
+the signatures of one person. The variations are very slight. The later
+signatures are a little stiffer, a little more shaky and indistinct, and
+the B's and k's are both appreciably different from those in the earlier
+ones. But there is another fact which emerges when the whole series is
+seen together, and it is so striking and significant a fact, that I am
+astonished at its not having been remarked on by Mr. Britton."
+
+"Indeed!" said I, stooping to examine the photographs with fresh
+interest; "what is that?"
+
+"It is a very simple fact and very obvious, but yet, as I have said,
+very significant. Look carefully at number one, which is the signature
+of the first will, dated three years ago, and compare it with number
+three, dated the eighteenth of September last year."
+
+"They look to me identical," said I, after a careful comparison.
+
+"So they do to me," said Thorndyke. "Neither of them shows the change
+that occurred later. But if you look at number two, dated the sixteenth
+of September, you will see that it is in the later style. So is number
+four, dated the twenty-third of September; but numbers five and six,
+both at the beginning of October, are in the earlier style, like the
+signature of the will. Thereafter all the signatures are in the new
+style; but, if you compare number two, dated the sixteenth of September
+with number twenty-four, dated the fourteenth of March of this year--the
+day of Jeffrey's death--you see that they exhibit no difference. Both
+are in the 'later style,' but the last shows no greater change than the
+first. Don't you consider these facts very striking and significant?"
+
+I reflected a few moments, trying to make out the deep significance to
+which Thorndyke was directing my attention--and not succeeding very
+triumphantly.
+
+"You mean," I said, "that the occasional reversions to the earlier form
+convey some material suggestion?"
+
+"Yes; but more than that. What we learn from an inspection of this
+series is this: that there was a change in the character of the
+signature; a very slight change, but quite recognizable. Now that change
+was not gradual or insidious nor was it progressive. It occurred at a
+certain definite time. At first there were one or two reversions to the
+earlier form, but after number six the new style continued to the end;
+and you notice that it continued without any increase in the change and
+without any variation. There are no intermediate forms. Some of the
+signatures are in the 'old style' and some in the 'new,' but there are
+none that are half and half. So that, to repeat: We have here two types
+of signature, very much alike, but distinguishable. They alternate, but
+do not merge into one another to produce intermediate forms. The change
+occurs abruptly, but shows no tendency to increase as time goes on; it
+is not a progressive change. What do you make of that, Jervis?"
+
+"It is very remarkable," I said, poring over the cards to verify
+Thorndyke's statements. "I don't quite know what to make of it. If the
+circumstances admitted of the idea of forgery, one would suspect the
+genuineness of some of the signatures. But they don't--at any rate, in
+the case of the later will, to say nothing of Mr. Britton's opinion on
+the signatures."
+
+"Still," said Thorndyke, "there must be some explanation of the change
+in the character of the signatures, and that explanation cannot be the
+failing eyesight of the writer; for that is a gradually progressive and
+continuous condition, whereas the change in the writing is abrupt and
+intermittent."
+
+I considered Thorndyke's remark for a few moments; and then a
+light--though not a very brilliant one--seemed to break on me.
+
+"I think I see what you are driving at," said I. "You mean that the
+change in the writing must be associated with some new condition
+affecting the writer, and that that condition existed intermittently?"
+
+Thorndyke nodded approvingly, and I continued:
+
+"The only intermittent condition that we know of is the effect of opium.
+So that we might consider the clearer signatures to have been made when
+Jeffrey was in his normal state, and the less distinct ones after a bout
+of opium-smoking."
+
+"That is perfectly sound reasoning," said Thorndyke. "What further
+conclusion does it lead to?"
+
+"It suggests that the opium habit had been only recently acquired, since
+the change was noticed only about the time he went to live at New Inn;
+and, since the change in the writing is at first intermittent and then
+continuous, we may infer that the opium-smoking was at first occasional
+and later became a a confirmed habit."
+
+"Quite a reasonable conclusion and very clearly stated," said Thorndyke.
+"I don't say that I entirely agree with you, or that you have exhausted
+the information that these signatures offer. But you have started in the
+right direction."
+
+"I may be on the right road," I said gloomily; "but I am stuck fast in
+one place and I see no chance of getting any farther."
+
+"But you have a quantity of data," said Thorndyke. "You have all the
+facts that I had to start with, from which I constructed the hypothesis
+that I am now busily engaged in verifying. I have a few more data now,
+for 'as money makes money' so knowledge begets knowledge, and I put my
+original capital out to interest. Shall we tabulate the facts that are
+in our joint possession and see what they suggest?"
+
+I grasped eagerly at the offer, though I had conned over my notes again
+and again.
+
+Thorndyke produced a slip of paper from a drawer, and, uncapping his
+fountain-pen, proceeded to write down the leading facts, reading each
+aloud as soon as it was written.
+
+"1. The second will was unnecessary since it contained no new matter,
+expressed no new intentions and met no new conditions, and the first
+will was quite clear and efficient.
+
+"2. The evident intention of the testator was to leave the bulk of his
+property to Stephen Blackmore.
+
+"3. The second will did not, under existing circumstances, give effect
+to this intention, whereas the first will did.
+
+"4. The signature of the second will differs slightly from that of the
+first, and also from what had hitherto been the testator's ordinary
+signature.
+
+"And now we come to a very curious group of dates, which I will advise
+you to consider with great attention.
+
+"5. Mrs. Wilson made her will at the beginning of September last year,
+without acquainting Jeffrey Blackmore, who seems to have been unaware of
+the existence of this will.
+
+"6. His own second will was dated the twelfth of November of last year.
+
+"7. Mrs. Wilson died of cancer on the twelfth of March this present
+year.
+
+"8. Jeffrey Blackmore was last seen alive on the fourteenth of March.
+
+"9. His body was discovered on the fifteenth of March.
+
+"10. The change in the character of his signature began about September
+last year and became permanent after the middle of October.
+
+"You will find that collection of facts repay careful study, Jervis,
+especially when considered in relation to the further data:
+
+"11. That we found in Blackmore's chambers a framed inscription of large
+size, hung upside down, together with what appeared to be the remains of
+a watch-glass and a box of stearine candles and some other objects."
+
+He passed the paper to me and I pored over it intently, focusing my
+attention on the various items with all the power of my will. But,
+struggle as I would, no general conclusion could be made to emerge from
+the mass of apparently disconnected facts.
+
+"Well?" Thorndyke said presently, after watching with grave interest my
+unavailing efforts; "what do you make of it?"
+
+"Nothing!" I exclaimed desperately, slapping the paper down on the
+table. "Of course, I can see that there are some queer coincidences. But
+how do they bear on the case? I understand that you want to upset this
+will; which we know to have been signed without compulsion or even
+suggestion in the presence of two respectable men, who have sworn to the
+identity of the document. That is your object, I believe?"
+
+"Certainly it is."
+
+"Then I am hanged if I see how you are going to do it. Not, I should
+say, by offering a group of vague coincidences that would muddle any
+brain but your own."
+
+Thorndyke chuckled softly but pursued the subject no farther.
+
+"Put that paper in your file with your other notes," he said, "and think
+it over at your leisure. And now I want a little help from you. Have you
+a good memory for faces?"
+
+"Fairly good, I think. Why?"
+
+"Because I have a photograph of a man whom I think you may have met.
+Just look at it and tell me if you remember the face."
+
+He drew a cabinet size photograph from an envelope that had come by the
+morning's post and handed it to me.
+
+"I have certainly seen this face somewhere," said I, taking the portrait
+over to the window to examine it more thoroughly, "but I can't, at the
+moment, remember where."
+
+"Try," said Thorndyke. "If you have seen the face before, you should be
+able to recall the person."
+
+I looked intently at the photograph, and the more I looked, the more
+familiar did the face appear. Suddenly the identity of the man flashed
+into my mind and I exclaimed in astonishment:
+
+"It can't be that poor creature at Kennington, Mr. Graves?"
+
+"I think it can," replied Thorndyke, "and I think it is. But could you
+swear to the identity in a court of law?"
+
+"It is my firm conviction that the photograph is that of Mr. Graves. I
+would swear to that."
+
+"No man ought to swear to more," said Thorndyke. "Identification is
+always a matter of opinion or belief. The man who will swear
+unconditionally to identity from memory only is a man whose evidence
+should be discredited. I think your sworn testimony would be
+sufficient."
+
+It is needless to say that the production of this photograph filled me
+with amazement and curiosity as to how Thorndyke had obtained it. But,
+as he replaced it impassively in its envelope without volunteering any
+explanation, I felt that I could not question him directly.
+Nevertheless, I ventured to approach the subject in an indirect manner.
+
+"Did you get any information from those Darmstadt people?" I asked.
+
+"Schnitzler? Yes. I learned, through the medium of an official
+acquaintance, that Dr. H. Weiss was a stranger to them; that they knew
+nothing about him excepting that he had ordered from them, and been
+supplied with, a hundred grammes of pure hydrochlorate of morphine."
+
+"All at once?"
+
+"No. In separate parcels of twenty-five grammes each."
+
+"Is that all you know about Weiss?"
+
+"It is all that I actually know; but it is not all that I suspect--on
+very substantial grounds. By the way, what did you think of the
+coachman?"
+
+"I don't know that I thought very much about him. Why?"
+
+"You never suspected that he and Weiss were one and the same person?"
+
+"No. How could they be? They weren't in the least alike. And one was a
+Scotchman and the other a German. But perhaps you know that they were
+the same?"
+
+"I only know what you have told me. But considering that you never saw
+them together, that the coachman was never available for messages or
+assistance when Weiss was with you; that Weiss always made his
+appearance some time after you arrived, and disappeared some time before
+you left; it has seemed to me that they might have been the same
+person."
+
+"I should say it was impossible. They were so very different in
+appearance. But supposing that they were the same; would the fact be of
+any importance?"
+
+"It would mean that we could save ourselves the trouble of looking for
+the coachman. And it would suggest some inferences, which will occur to
+you if you think the matter over. But being only a speculative opinion,
+at present, it would not be safe to infer very much from it."
+
+"You have rather taken me by surprise," I remarked. "It seems that you
+have been working at this Kennington case, and working pretty actively I
+imagine, whereas I supposed that your entire attention was taken up by
+the Blackmore affair."
+
+"It doesn't do," he replied, "to allow one's entire attention to be
+taken up by any one case. I have half a dozen others--minor cases,
+mostly--to which I am attending at this moment. Did you think I was
+proposing to keep you under lock and key indefinitely?"
+
+"Well, no. But I thought the Kennington case would have to wait its
+turn. And I had no idea that you were in possession of enough facts to
+enable you to get any farther with it."
+
+"But you knew all the very striking facts of the case, and you saw the
+further evidence that we extracted from the empty house."
+
+"Do you mean those things that we picked out from the rubbish under the
+grate?"
+
+"Yes. You saw those curious little pieces of reed and the pair of
+spectacles. They are lying in the top drawer of that cabinet at this
+moment, and I should recommend you to have another look at them. To me
+they are most instructive. The pieces of reed offered an extremely
+valuable suggestion, and the spectacles enabled me to test that
+suggestion and turn it into actual information."
+
+"Unfortunately," said I, "the pieces of reed convey nothing to me. I
+don't know what they are or of what they have formed a part."
+
+"I think," he replied, "that if you examine them with due consideration,
+you will find their use pretty obvious. Have a good look at them and the
+spectacles too. Think over all that you know of that mysterious group of
+people who lived in that house, and see if you cannot form some coherent
+theory of their actions. Think, also, if we have not some information in
+our possession by which we might be able to identify some of them, and
+infer the identity of the others. You will have a quiet day, as I shall
+not be home until the evening; set yourself this task. I assure you that
+you have the material for identifying--or rather for testing the
+identity of--at least one of those persons. Go over your material
+systematically, and let me know in the evening what further
+investigations you would propose."
+
+"Very well," said I. "It shall be done according to your word. I will
+addle my brain afresh with the affair of Mr. Weiss and his patient, and
+let the Blackmore case rip."
+
+"There is no need to do that. You have a whole day before you. An hour's
+really close consideration of the Kennington case ought to show you what
+your next move should be, and then you could devote yourself to the
+consideration of Jeffrey Blackmore's will."
+
+With this final piece of advice, Thorndyke collected the papers for his
+day's work, and, having deposited them in his brief bag, took his
+departure, leaving me to my meditations.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XIII
+
+The Statement of Samuel Wilkins
+
+
+As soon as I was alone, I commenced my investigations with a rather
+desperate hope of eliciting some startling and unsuspected facts. I
+opened the drawer and taking from it the two pieces of reed and the
+shattered remains of the spectacles, laid them on the table. The repairs
+that Thorndyke had contemplated in the case of the spectacles, had not
+been made. Apparently they had not been necessary. The battered wreck
+that lay before me, just as we had found it, had evidently furnished the
+necessary information; for, since Thorndyke was in possession of a
+portrait of Mr. Graves, it was clear that he had succeeded in
+identifying him so far as to get into communication with some one who
+had known him intimately.
+
+The circumstance should have been encouraging. But somehow it was not.
+What was possible to Thorndyke was, theoretically, possible to me--or to
+anyone else. But the possibility did not realize itself in practice.
+There was the personal equation. Thorndyke's brain was not an ordinary
+brain. Facts of which his mind instantly perceived the relation remained
+to other people unconnected and without meaning. His powers of
+observation and rapid inference were almost incredible, as I had noticed
+again and again, and always with undiminished wonder. He seemed to take
+in everything at a single glance and in an instant to appreciate the
+meaning of everything that he had seen.
+
+Here was a case in point. I had myself seen all that he had seen, and,
+indeed, much more; for I had looked on the very people and witnessed
+their actions, whereas he had never set eyes on any of them. I had
+examined the little handful of rubbish that he had gathered up so
+carefully, and would have flung it back under the grate without a qualm.
+Not a glimmer of light had I perceived in the cloud of mystery, nor even
+a hint of the direction in which to seek enlightenment. And yet
+Thorndyke had, in some incomprehensible manner, contrived to piece
+together facts that I had probably not even observed, and that so
+completely that he had already, in these few days, narrowed down the
+field of inquiry to quite a small area.
+
+From these reflections I returned to the objects on the table. The
+spectacles, as things of which I had some expert knowledge, were not so
+profound a mystery to me. A pair of spectacles might easily afford good
+evidence for identification; that I perceived clearly enough. Not a
+ready-made pair, picked up casually at a shop, but a pair constructed by
+a skilled optician to remedy a particular defect of vision and to fit a
+particular face. And such were the spectacles before me. The build of
+the frames was peculiar; the existence of a cylindrical lens--which I
+could easily make out from the remaining fragments--showed that one
+glass had been cut to a prescribed shape and almost certainly ground to
+a particular formula, and also that the distance between centres must
+have been carefully secured. Hence these spectacles had an individual
+character. But it was manifestly impossible to inquire of all the
+spectacle-makers in Europe--for the glasses were not necessarily made in
+England. As confirmation the spectacles might be valuable; as a
+starting-point they were of no use at all.
+
+From the spectacles I turned to the pieces of reed. These were what had
+given Thorndyke his start. Would they give me a leading hint too? I
+looked at them and wondered what it was that they had told Thorndyke.
+The little fragment of the red paper label had a dark-brown or thin
+black border ornamented with a fret-pattern, and on it I detected a
+couple of tiny points of gold like the dust from leaf-gilding. But I
+learned nothing from that. Then the shorter piece of reed was
+artificially hollowed to fit on the longer piece. Apparently it formed a
+protective sheath or cap. But what did it protect? Presumably a point or
+edge of some kind. Could this be a pocket-knife of any sort, such as a
+small stencil-knife? No; the material was too fragile for a
+knife-handle. It could not be an etching-needle for the same reason; and
+it was not a surgical appliance--at least it was not like any surgical
+instrument that was known to me.
+
+I turned it over and over and cudgelled my brains; and then I had a
+brilliant idea. Was it a reed pen of which the point had been broken
+off? I knew that reed pens were still in use by draughtsmen of
+decorative leanings with an affection for the "fat line." Could any of
+our friends be draughtsmen? This seemed the most probable solution of
+the difficulty, and the more I thought about it the more likely it
+seemed. Draughtsmen usually sign their work intelligibly, and even when
+they use a device instead of a signature their identity is easily
+traceable. Could it be that Mr. Graves, for instance, was an
+illustrator, and that Thorndyke had established his identity by looking
+through the works of all the well-known thick-line draughtsmen?
+
+This problem occupied me for the rest of the day. My explanation did not
+seem quite to fit Thorndyke's description of his methods; but I could
+think of no other. I turned it over during my solitary lunch; I
+meditated on it with the aid of several pipes in the afternoon; and
+having refreshed my brain with a cup of tea, I went forth to walk in the
+Temple gardens--which I was permitted to do without breaking my
+parole--to think it out afresh.
+
+The result was disappointing. I was basing my reasoning on the
+assumption that the pieces of reed were parts of a particular appliance,
+appertaining to a particular craft; whereas they might be the remains of
+something quite different, appertaining to a totally different craft or
+to no craft at all. And in no case did they point to any known
+individual or indicate any but the vaguest kind of search. After pacing
+the pleasant walks for upwards of two hours, I at length turned back
+towards our chambers, where I arrived as the lamp-lighter was just
+finishing his round.
+
+My fruitless speculations had left me somewhat irritable. The lighted
+windows that I had noticed as I approached had given me the impression
+that Thorndyke had returned. I had intended to press him for a little
+further information. When, therefore, I let myself into our chambers and
+found, instead of my colleague, a total stranger--and only a back view
+at that--I was disappointed and annoyed.
+
+The stranger was seated by the table, reading a large document that
+looked like a lease. He made no movement when I entered, but when I
+crossed the room and wished him "Good evening," he half rose and bowed
+silently. It was then that I first saw his face, and a mighty start he
+gave me. For one moment I actually thought he was Mr. Weiss, so close
+was the resemblance, but immediately I perceived that he was a much
+smaller man.
+
+I sat down nearly opposite and stole an occasional furtive glance at
+him. The resemblance to Weiss was really remarkable. The same flaxen
+hair, the same ragged beard and a similar red nose, with the patches of
+<i>acne rosacea</i> spreading to the adjacent cheeks. He wore spectacles,
+too, through which he took a quick glance at me now and again, returning
+immediately to his document.
+
+After some moments of rather embarrassing silence, I ventured to remark
+that it was a mild evening; to which he assented with a sort of Scotch
+"Hm--hm" and nodded slowly. Then came another interval of silence,
+during which I speculated on the possibility of his being a relative of
+Mr. Weiss and wondered what the deuce he was doing in our chambers.
+
+"Have you an appointment with Dr. Thorndyke?" I asked, at length.
+
+He bowed solemnly, and by way of reply--in the affirmative, as I
+assumed--emitted another "hm--hm."
+
+I looked at him sharply, a little nettled by his lack of manners;
+whereupon he opened out the lease so that it screened his face, and as I
+glanced at the back of the document, I was astonished to observe that it
+was shaking rapidly.
+
+The fellow was actually laughing! What he found in my simple question to
+cause him so much amusement I was totally unable to imagine. But there
+it was. The tremulous movements of the document left me in no possible
+doubt that he was for some reason convulsed with laughter.
+
+It was extremely mysterious. Also, it was rather embarrassing. I took
+out my pocket file and began to look over my notes. Then the document
+was lowered and I was able to get another look at the stranger's face.
+He was really extraordinarily like Weiss. The shaggy eyebrows, throwing
+the eye-sockets into shadow, gave him, in conjunction with the
+spectacles, the same owlish, solemn expression that I had noticed in my
+Kennington acquaintance; and which, by the way, was singularly out of
+character with the frivolous behaviour that I had just witnessed.
+
+From time to time as I looked at him, he caught my eye and instantly
+averted his own, turning rather red. Apparently he was a shy, nervous
+man, which might account for his giggling; for I have noticed that shy
+or nervous people have a habit of smiling inopportunely and even
+giggling when embarrassed by meeting an over-steady eye. And it seemed
+my own eye had this disconcerting quality, for even as I looked at him,
+the document suddenly went up again and began to shake violently.
+
+I stood it for a minute or two, but, finding the situation intolerably
+embarrassing, I rose, and brusquely excusing myself, went up to the
+laboratory to look for Polton and inquire at what time Thorndyke was
+expected home. To my surprise, however, on entering, I discovered
+Thorndyke himself just finishing the mounting of a microscopical
+specimen.
+
+"Did you know that there is some one below waiting to see you?" I asked.
+
+"Is it anyone you know?" he inquired.
+
+"No," I answered. "It is a red-nosed, sniggering fool in spectacles. He
+has got a lease or a deed or some other sort of document which he has
+been using to play a sort of idiotic game of Peep-Bo! I couldn't stand
+him, so I came up here."
+
+Thorndyke laughed heartily at my description of his client.
+
+"What are you laughing at?" I asked sourly; at which he laughed yet more
+heartily and added to the aggravation by wiping his eyes.
+
+"Our friend seems to have put you out," he remarked.
+
+"He put me out literally. If I had stayed much longer I should have
+punched his head."
+
+"In that case," said Thorndyke, "I am glad you didn't stay. But come
+down and let me introduce you."
+
+"No, thank you. I've had enough of him for the present."
+
+"But I have a very special reason for wishing to introduce you. I think
+you will get some information from him that will interest you very much;
+and you needn't quarrel with a man for being of a cheerful disposition."
+
+"Cheerful be hanged!" I exclaimed. "I don't call a man cheerful because
+he behaves like a gibbering idiot."
+
+To this Thorndyke made no reply but a broad and appreciative smile, and
+we descended to the lower floor. As we entered the room, the stranger
+rose, and, glancing in an embarrassed way from one of us to the other,
+suddenly broke out into an undeniable snigger. I looked at him sternly,
+and Thorndyke, quite unmoved by his indecorous behaviour, said in a
+grave voice:
+
+"Let me introduce you, Jervis; though I think you have met this
+gentleman before."
+
+"I think not," I said stiffly.
+
+"Oh yes, you have, sir," interposed the stranger; and, as he spoke, I
+started; for the voice was uncommonly like the familiar voice of Polton.
+
+I looked at the speaker with sudden suspicion. And now I could see that
+the flaxen hair was a wig; that the beard had a decidedly artificial
+look, and that the eyes that beamed through the spectacles were
+remarkably like the eyes of our factotum. But the blotchy face, the
+bulbous nose and the shaggy, overhanging eyebrows were alien features
+that I could not reconcile with the personality of our refined and
+aristocratic-looking little assistant.
+
+"Is this a practical joke?" I asked.
+
+"No," replied Thorndyke; "it is a demonstration. When we were talking
+this morning it appeared to me that you did not realize the extent to
+which it is possible to conceal identity under suitable conditions of
+light. So I arranged, with Polton's rather reluctant assistance, to give
+you ocular evidence. The conditions are not favourable--which makes the
+demonstration more convincing. This is a very well-lighted room and
+Polton is a very poor actor; in spite of which it has been possible for
+you to sit opposite him for several minutes and look at him, I have no
+doubt, very attentively, without discovering his identity. If the room
+had been lighted only with a candle, and Polton had been equal to the
+task of supporting his make-up with an appropriate voice and manner, the
+deception would have been perfect."
+
+"I can see that he has a wig on, quite plainly," said I.
+
+"Yes; but you would not in a dimly lighted room. On the other hand, if
+Polton were to walk down Fleet Street at mid-day in this condition, the
+make-up would be conspicuously evident to any moderately observant
+passer-by. The secret of making up consists in a careful adjustment to
+the conditions of light and distance in which the make-up is to be seen.
+That in use on the stage would look ridiculous in an ordinary room; that
+which would serve in an artificially lighted room would look ridiculous
+out of doors by daylight."
+
+"Is any effective make-up possible out of doors in ordinary daylight?" I
+asked.
+
+"Oh, yes," replied Thorndyke. "But it must be on a totally different
+scale from that of the stage. A wig, and especially a beard or
+moustache, must be joined up at the edges with hair actually stuck on
+the skin with transparent cement and carefully trimmed with scissors.
+The same applies to eyebrows; and alterations in the colour of the skin
+must be carried out much more subtly. Polton's nose has been built up
+with a small covering of toupée-paste, the pimples on the cheeks
+produced with little particles of the same material; and the general
+tinting has been done with grease-paint with a very light scumble of
+powder colour to take off some of the shine. This would be possible in
+outdoor make-up, but it would have to be done with the greatest care and
+delicacy; in fact, with what the art-critics call 'reticence.' A very
+little make-up is sufficient and too much is fatal. You would be
+surprised to see how little paste is required to alter the shape of the
+nose and the entire character of the face."
+
+At this moment there came a loud knock at the door; a single, solid dab
+of the knocker which Polton seemed to recognize, for he ejaculated:
+
+"Good lord, sir! That'll be Wilkins, the cabman! I'd forgotten all
+about him. Whatever's to be done?"
+
+He stared at us in ludicrous horror for a moment or two, and then,
+snatching off his wig, beard and spectacles, poked them into a cupboard.
+But his appearance was now too much even for Thorndyke--who hastily got
+behind him--for he had now resumed his ordinary personality--but with a
+very material difference.
+
+"Oh, it's nothing to laugh at, sir," he exclaimed indignantly as I
+crammed my handkerchief into my mouth. "Somebody's got to let him in, or
+he'll go away."
+
+"Yes; and that won't do," said Thorndyke. "But don't worry, Polton. You
+can step into the office. I'll open the door."
+
+Polton's presence of mind, however, seemed to have entirely forsaken
+him, for he only hovered irresolutely in the wake of his principal. As
+the door opened, a thick and husky voice inquired:
+
+"Gent of the name of Polton live here?"
+
+"Yes, quite right," said Thorndyke. "Come in. Your name is Wilkins, I
+think?"
+
+"That's me, sir," said the voice; and in response to Thorndyke's
+invitation, a typical "growler" cabman of the old school, complete even
+to imbricated cape and dangling badge, stalked into the room, and
+glancing round with a mixture of embarrassment and defiance, suddenly
+fixed on Polton's nose a look of devouring curiosity.
+
+"Here you are, then," Polton remarked nervously.
+
+"Yus," replied the cabman in a slightly hostile tone. "Here I am. What
+am I wanted to do? And where's this here Mr. Polton?"
+
+"I am Mr. Polton," replied our abashed assistant.
+
+"Well, it's the other Mr. Polton what I want," said the cabman, with his
+eyes still riveted on the olfactory prominence.
+
+"There isn't any other Mr. Polton," our subordinate replied irritably.
+"I am the--er--person who spoke to you in the shelter."
+
+"Are you though?" said the manifestly incredulous cabby. "I shouldn't
+have thought it; but you ought to know. What do you want me to do?"
+
+"We want you," said Thorndyke, "to answer one or two questions. And the
+first one is, Are you a teetotaller?"
+
+The question being illustrated by the production of a decanter, the
+cabman's dignity relaxed somewhat.
+
+"I ain't bigoted," said he.
+
+"Then sit down and mix yourself a glass of grog. Soda or plain water?"
+
+"May as well have all the extries," replied the cabman, sitting down and
+grasping the decanter with the air of a man who means business. "Per'aps
+you wouldn't mind squirtin' out the soda, sir, bein' more used to it."
+
+While these preliminaries were being arranged, Polton silently slipped
+out of the room, and when our visitor had fortified himself with a gulp
+of the uncommonly stiff mixture, the examination began.
+
+"Your name, I think, is Wilkins?" said Thorndyke.
+
+"That's me, sir. Samuel Wilkins is my name."
+
+"And your occupation?"
+
+"Is a very tryin' one and not paid for as it deserves. I drives a cab,
+sir; a four-wheeled cab is what I drives; and a very poor job it is."
+
+"Do you happen to remember a very foggy day about a month ago?"
+
+"Do I not, sir! A regler sneezer that was! Wednesday, the fourteenth of
+March. I remember the date because my benefit society came down on me
+for arrears that morning."
+
+"Will you tell us what happened to you between six and seven in the
+evening of that day?"
+
+"I will, sir," replied the cabman, emptying his tumbler by way of
+bracing himself up for the effort. "A little before six I was waiting on
+the arrival side of the Great Northern Station, King's Cross, when I see
+a gentleman and a lady coming out. The gentleman he looks up and down
+and then he sees me and walks up to the cab and opens the door and helps
+the lady in. Then he says to me: 'Do you know New Inn?' he says. That's
+what he says to me what was born and brought up in White Horse Alley,
+Drury Lane.
+
+"'Get inside,' says I.
+
+"'Well,' says he, 'you drive in through the gate in Wych Street,' he
+says, as if he expected me to go in by Houghton Street and down the
+steps, 'and then,' he says, 'you drive nearly to the end and you'll see
+a house with a large brass plate at the corner of the doorway. That's
+where we want to be set down,' he says, and with that he nips in and
+pulls up the windows and off we goes.
+
+"It took us a full half-hour to get to New Inn through the fog, for I
+had to get down and lead the horse part of the way. As I drove in under
+the archway, I saw it was half-past six by the clock in the porter's
+lodge. I drove down nearly to the end of the inn and drew up opposite a
+house where there was a big brass plate by the doorway. It was number
+thirty-one. Then the gent crawls out and hands me five bob--two
+'arf-crowns--and then he helps the lady out, and away they waddles to
+the doorway and I see them start up the stairs very slow--regler
+Pilgrim's Progress. And that was the last I see of 'em."
+
+Thorndyke wrote down the cabman's statement verbatim together with his
+own questions, and then asked:
+
+"Can you give us any description of the gentleman?"
+
+"The gent," said Wilkins, was a very respectable-looking gent, though he
+did look as if he'd had a drop of something short, and small blame to
+him on a day like that. But he was all there, and he knew what was the
+proper fare for a foggy evening, which is more than some of 'em do. He
+was a elderly gent, about sixty, and he wore spectacles, but he didn't
+seem to be able to see much through 'em. He was a funny 'un to look at;
+as round in the back as a turtle and he walked with his head stuck
+forward like a goose."
+
+"What made you think he had been drinking?"
+
+"Well, he wasn't as steady as he might have been on his pins. But he
+wasn't drunk, you know. Only a bit wobbly on the plates."
+
+"And the lady; what was she like?"
+
+"I couldn't see much of her because her head was wrapped up in a sort of
+woollen veil. But I should say she wasn't a chicken. Might have been
+about the same age as the gent, but I couldn't swear to that. She seemed
+a trifle rickety on the pins too; in fact they were a rum-looking
+couple. I watched 'em tottering across the pavement and up the stairs,
+hanging on to each other, him peering through his blinkers and she
+trying to see through her veil, and I thought it was a jolly good job
+they'd got a nice sound cab and a steady driver to bring 'em safe home."
+
+"How was the lady dressed?"
+
+"Can't rightly say, not being a hexpert. Her head was done up in this
+here veil like a pudden in a cloth and she had a small hat on. She had a
+dark brown mantle with a fringe of beads round it and a black dress; and
+I noticed when she got into the cab at the station that one of her
+stockings looked like the bellows of a concertina. That's all I can tell
+you."
+
+Thorndyke wrote down the last answer, and, having read the entire
+statement aloud, handed the pen to our visitor.
+
+"If that is all correct," he said, "I will ask you to sign your name at
+the bottom."
+
+"Do you want me to swear a affidavy that it's all true?" asked Wilkins.
+
+"No, thank you," replied Thorndyke. "We may have to call you to give
+evidence in court, and then you'll be sworn; and you'll also be paid for
+your attendance. For the present I want you to keep your own counsel and
+say nothing to anybody about having been here. We have to make some
+other inquiries and we don't want the affair talked about."
+
+"I see, sir," said Wilkins, as he laboriously traced his signature at
+the foot of the statement; "you don't want the other parties for to ogle
+your lay. All right, sir; you can depend on me. I'm fly, I am."
+
+"Thank you, Wilkins," said Thorndyke. "And now what are we to give you
+for your trouble in coming here?"
+
+"I'll leave the fare to you, sir. You know what the information's worth;
+but I should think 'arf a thick-un wouldn't hurt you."
+
+Thorndyke laid on the table a couple of sovereigns, at the sight of
+which the cabman's eyes glistened.
+
+"We have your address, Wilkins," said he. "If we want you as a witness
+we shall let you know, and if not, there will be another two pounds for
+you at the end of a fortnight, provided you have not let this little
+interview leak out."
+
+Wilkins gathered up the spoils gleefully. "You can trust me, sir," said
+he, "for to keep my mouth shut. I knows which side my bread's buttered.
+Good night, gentlemen all."
+
+With this comprehensive salute he moved towards the door and let
+himself out.
+
+"Well, Jervis; what do you think of it?" Thorndyke asked, as the
+cabman's footsteps faded away in a creaky diminuendo.
+
+"I don't know what to think. This woman is a new factor in the case and
+I don't know how to place her."
+
+"Not entirely new," said Thorndyke. "You have not forgotten those beads
+that we found in Jeffrey's bedroom, have you?"
+
+"No, I had not forgotten them, but I did not see that they told us much
+excepting that some woman had apparently been in his bedroom at some
+time."
+
+"That, I think, is all that they did tell us. But now they tell us that
+a particular woman was in his bedroom at a particular time, which is a
+good deal more significant."
+
+"Yes. It almost looks as if she must have been there when he made away
+with himself."
+
+"It does, very much."
+
+"By the way, you were right about the colours of those beads, and also
+about the way they were used."
+
+"As to their use, that was a mere guess; but it has turned out to be
+correct. It was well that we found the beads, for, small as is the
+amount of information they give, it is still enough to carry us a stage
+further."
+
+"How so?"
+
+"I mean that the cabman's evidence tells us only that this woman entered
+the house. The beads tell us that she was in the bedroom; which, as you
+say, seems to connect her to some extent with Jeffrey's death. Not
+necessarily, of course. It is only a suggestion; but a rather strong
+suggestion under the peculiar circumstances."
+
+"Even so," said I, "this new fact seems to me so far from clearing up
+the mystery, only to add to it a fresh element of still deeper mystery.
+The porter's evidence at the inquest could leave no doubt that Jeffrey
+contemplated suicide, and his preparations pointedly suggest this
+particular night as the time selected by him for doing away with
+himself. Is not that so?"
+
+"Certainly. The porter's evidence was very clear on that point."
+
+"Then I don't see where this woman comes in. It is obvious that her
+presence at the inn, and especially in the bedroom, on this occasion and
+in these strange, secret circumstances, has a rather sinister look; but
+yet I do not see in what way she could have been connected with the
+tragedy. Perhaps, after all, she has nothing to do with it. You remember
+that Jeffrey went to the lodge about eight o'clock, to pay his rent, and
+chatted for some time with the porter. That looks as if the lady had
+already left."
+
+"Yes," said Thorndyke. "But, on the other hand, Jeffrey's remarks to the
+porter with reference to the cab do not quite agree with the account
+that we have just heard from Wilkins. Which suggests--as does Wilkins's
+account generally--some secrecy as to the lady's visit to his chambers."
+
+"Do you know who the woman was?" I asked.
+
+"No, I don't know," he replied. "I have a rather strong suspicion that I
+can identify her, but I am waiting for some further facts."
+
+"Is your suspicion founded on some new matter that you have discovered,
+or is it deducible from facts that are known to me?"
+
+"I think," he replied, "that you know practically all that I know,
+although I have, in one instance, turned a very strong suspicion into a
+certainty by further inquiries. But I think you ought to be able to form
+some idea as to who this lady probably was."
+
+"But no woman has been mentioned in the case at all."
+
+"No; but I think you should be able to give this lady a name,
+notwithstanding."
+
+"Should I? Then I begin to suspect that I am not cut out for
+medico-legal practice, for I don't see the faintest glimmer of a
+suggestion."
+
+Thorndyke smiled benevolently. "Don't be discouraged, Jervis," said he.
+"I expect that when you first began to go round the wards, you doubted
+whether you were cut out for medical practice. I did. For special work
+one needs special knowledge and an acquired faculty for making use of
+it. What does a second year's student make of a small thoracic aneurysm?
+He knows the anatomy of the chest; he begins to know the normal heart
+sounds and areas of dullness; but he cannot yet fit his various items of
+knowledge together. Then comes the experienced physician and perhaps
+makes a complete diagnosis without any examination at all, merely from
+hearing the patient speak or cough. He has the same facts as the
+student, but he has acquired the faculty of instantly connecting an
+abnormality of function with its correleated anatomical change. It is a
+matter of experience. And, with your previous training, you will soon
+acquire the faculty. Try to observe everything. Let nothing escape you.
+And try constantly to find some connection between facts and events that
+seem to be unconnected. That is my advice to you; and with that we will
+put away the Blackmore case for the present and consider our day's work
+at an end."
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XIV
+
+Thorndyke Lays the Mine
+
+
+The information supplied by Mr. Samuel Wilkins, so far from dispelling
+the cloud of mystery that hung over the Blackmore case, only enveloped
+it in deeper obscurity, so far as I was concerned. The new problem that
+Thorndyke offered for solution was a tougher one than any of the others.
+He proposed that I should identify and give a name to this mysterious
+woman. But how could I? No woman, excepting Mrs. Wilson, had been
+mentioned in connection with the case. This new <i>dramatis persona</i> had
+appeared suddenly from nowhere and straightway vanished without leaving
+a trace, excepting the two or three beads that we had picked up in
+Jeffrey's room.
+
+Nor was it in the least clear what part, if any, she had played in the
+tragedy. The facts still pointed as plainly to suicide as before her
+appearance. Jeffrey's repeated hints as to his intentions, and the very
+significant preparations that he had made, were enough to negative any
+idea of foul play. And yet the woman's presence in the chambers at that
+time, the secret manner of her arrival and her precautions against
+recognition, strongly suggested some kind of complicity in the dreadful
+event that followed.
+
+But what complicity is possible in the case of suicide? The woman might
+have furnished him with the syringe and the poison, but it would not
+have been necessary for her to go to his chambers for that purpose.
+Vague ideas of persuasion and hypnotic suggestion floated through my
+brain; but the explanations did not fit the case and the hypnotic
+suggestion of crime is not very convincing to the medical mind. Then I
+thought of blackmail in connection with some disgraceful secret; but
+though this was a more hopeful suggestion, it was not very probable,
+considering Jeffrey's age and character.
+
+And all these speculations failed to throw the faintest light on the
+main question: "Who was this woman?"
+
+A couple of days passed, during which Thorndyke made no further
+reference to the case. He was, most of the time, away from home, though
+how he was engaged I had no idea. What was rather more unusual was that
+Polton seemed to have deserted the laboratory and taken to outdoor
+pursuits. I assumed that he had seized the opportunity of leaving me in
+charge, and I dimly surmised that he was acting as Thorndyke's private
+inquiry agent, as he seemed to have done in the case of Samuel Wilkins.
+
+On the evening of the second day Thorndyke came home in obviously good
+spirits, and his first proceedings aroused my expectant curiosity. He
+went to a cupboard and brought forth a box of Trichinopoly cheroots. Now
+the Trichinopoly cheroot was Thorndyke's one dissipation, to be enjoyed
+only on rare and specially festive occasions; which, in practice, meant
+those occasions on which he had scored some important point or solved
+some unusually tough problem. Wherefore I watched him with lively
+interest.
+
+"It's a pity that the 'Trichy' is such a poisonous beast," he remarked,
+taking up one of the cheroots and sniffing at it delicately. "There is
+no other cigar like it, to a really abandoned smoker." He laid the cigar
+back in the box and continued: "I think I shall treat myself to one
+after dinner to celebrate the occasion."
+
+"What occasion?" I asked.
+
+"The completion of the Blackmore case. I am just going to write to
+Marchmont advising him to enter a caveat."
+
+"Do you mean to say that you have discovered a flaw in the will, after
+all?"
+
+"A flaw!" he exclaimed. "My dear Jervis, that second will is a forgery."
+
+I stared at him in amazement; for his assertion sounded like nothing
+more or less than arrant nonsense.
+
+"But the thing is impossible, Thorndyke," I said. "Not only did the
+witnesses recognize their own signatures and the painter's greasy
+finger-marks, but they had both read the will and remembered its
+contents."
+
+"Yes; that is the interesting feature in the case. It is a very pretty
+problem. I shall give you a last chance to solve it. To-morrow evening
+we shall have to give a full explanation, so you have another
+twenty-four hours in which to think it over. And, meanwhile, I am going
+to take you to my club to dine. I think we shall be pretty safe there
+from Mrs. Schallibaum."
+
+He sat down and wrote a letter, which was apparently quite a short one,
+and having addressed and stamped it, prepared to go out.
+
+"Come," said he, "let us away to 'the gay and festive scenes and halls
+of dazzling light.' We will lay the mine in the Fleet Street pillar box.
+I should like to be in Marchmont's office when it explodes."
+
+"I expect, for that matter," said I, "that the explosion will be felt
+pretty distinctly in these chambers."
+
+"I expect so, too," replied Thorndyke; "and that reminds me that I shall
+be out all day to-morrow, so, if Marchmont calls, you must do all that
+you can to persuade him to come round after dinner and bring Stephen
+Blackmore, if possible. I am anxious to have Stephen here, as he will be
+able to give us some further information and confirm certain matters of
+fact."
+
+I promised to exercise my utmost powers of persuasion on Mr. Marchmont
+which I should certainly have done on my own account, being now on the
+very tiptoe of curiosity to hear Thorndyke's explanation of the
+unthinkable conclusion at which he had arrived--and the subject dropped
+completely; nor could I, during the rest of the evening, induce my
+colleague to reopen it even in the most indirect or allusive manner.
+
+Our explanations in respect of Mr. Marchmont were fully realized; for,
+on the following morning, within an hour of Thorndyke's departure from
+our chambers, the knocker was plied with more than usual emphasis, and,
+on my opening the door, I discovered the solicitor in company with a
+somewhat older gentleman. Mr. Marchmont appeared somewhat out of humour,
+while his companion was obviously in a state of extreme irritation.
+
+"How d'you do, Dr. Jervis?" said Marchmont as he entered at my
+invitation. "Your friend, I suppose, is not in just now?"
+
+"No; and he will not be returning until the evening."
+
+"Hm; I'm sorry. We wished to see him rather particularly. This is my
+partner, Mr. Winwood."
+
+The latter gentleman bowed stiffly and Marchmont continued:
+
+"We have had a letter from Dr. Thorndyke, and it is, I may say, a rather
+curious letter; in fact, a very singular letter indeed."
+
+"It is the letter of a madman!" growled Mr. Winwood.
+
+"No, no, Winwood; nothing of the kind. Control yourself, I beg you. But
+really, the letter is rather incomprehensible. It relates to the will of
+the late Jeffrey Blackmore--you know the main facts of the case; and we
+cannot reconcile it with those facts."
+
+"This is the letter," exclaimed Mr. Winwood, dragging the document from
+his wallet and slapping it down on the table. "If you are acquainted
+with the case, sir, just read that, and let us hear what <i>you</i> think."
+
+I took up the letter and read aloud:
+
+"JEFFREY BLACKMORE, DECD.
+
+"DEAR MR. MARCHMONT,--
+
+"I have gone into this case with great care and have now no doubt that
+the second will is a forgery. Criminal proceedings will, I think, be
+inevitable, but meanwhile it would be wise to enter a caveat.
+
+"If you could look in at my chambers to-morrow evening we could talk the
+case over; and I should be glad if you could bring Mr. Stephen
+Blackmore; whose personal knowledge of the events and the parties
+concerned would be of great assistance in clearing up obscure details.
+
+"I am,
+
+"Yours sincerely,
+
+"JOHN EVELYN THORNDYKE
+
+"C.F. MARCHMONT, ESQ."
+
+"Well!" exclaimed Mr. Winwood, glaring ferociously at me, "what do you
+think of the learned counsel's opinion?"
+
+"I knew that Thorndyke was writing to you to this effect," I replied,
+"but I must frankly confess that I can make nothing of it. Have you
+acted on his advice?"
+
+"Certainly not!" shouted the irascible lawyer. "Do you suppose that we
+wish to make ourselves the laughing-stock of the courts? The thing is
+impossible--ridiculously impossible!"
+
+"It can't be that, you know," I said, a little stiffly, for I was
+somewhat nettled by Mr. Winwood's manner, "or Thorndyke would not have
+written this letter. The conclusion looks as impossible to me as it does
+to you; but I have complete confidence in Thorndyke. If he says that the
+will is a forgery, I have no doubt that it is a forgery."
+
+"But how the deuce can it be?" roared Winwood. "You know the
+circumstances under which the will was executed."
+
+"Yes; but so does Thorndyke. And he is not a man who overlooks important
+facts. It is useless to argue with me. I am in a complete fog about the
+case myself. You had better come in this evening and talk it over with
+him as he suggests."
+
+"It is very inconvenient," grumbled Mr. Winwood. "We shall have to dine
+in town."
+
+"Yes," said Marchmont, "but it is the only thing to be done. As Dr.
+Jervis says, we must take it that Thorndyke has something solid to base
+his opinion on. He doesn't make elementary mistakes. And, of course, if
+what he says is correct, Mr. Stephen's position is totally changed."
+
+"Bah!" exclaimed Winwood, "he has found a mare's nest, I tell you.
+Still, I agree that the explanation should be worth hearing."
+
+"You mustn't mind Winwood," said Marchmont, in an apologetic undertone;
+"he's a peppery old fellow with a rough tongue, but he doesn't mean any
+harm." Which statement Winwood assented to--or dissented from; for it
+was impossible to say which--by a prolonged growl.
+
+"We shall expect you then," I said, "about eight to-night, and you will
+try to bring Mr. Stephen with you?"
+
+"Yes," replied Marchmont; "I think we can promise that he shall come
+with us. I have sent him a telegram asking him to attend."
+
+With this the two lawyers took their departure, leaving me to meditate
+upon my colleague's astonishing statement; which I did, considerably to
+the prejudice of other employment. That Thorndyke would be able to
+justify the opinion that he had given, I had no doubt whatever; but yet
+there was no denying that his proposition was what Mr. Dick Swiveller
+would call "a staggerer."
+
+When Thorndyke returned, I informed him of the visit of our two friends,
+and acquainted him with the sentiments that they had expressed; whereat
+he smiled with quiet amusement.
+
+"I thought," he remarked, "that letter would bring Marchmont to our door
+before long. As to Winwood, I have never met him, but I gather that he
+is one of those people whom you 'mustn't mind.' In a general way, I
+object to people who tacitly claim exemption from the ordinary rules of
+conduct that are held to be binding on their fellows. But, as he
+promises to give us what the variety artists call 'an extra turn,' we
+will make the best of him and give him a run for his money."
+
+Here Thorndyke smiled mischievously--I understood the meaning of that
+smile later in the evening--and asked: "What do you think of the affair
+yourself?"
+
+"I have given it up," I answered. "To my paralysed brain, the Blackmore
+case is like an endless algebraical problem propounded by an insane
+mathematician."
+
+Thorndyke laughed at my comparison, which I flatter myself was a rather
+apt one.
+
+"Come and dine," said he, "and let us crack a bottle, that our hearts
+may not turn to water under the frown of the disdainful Winwood. I think
+the old 'Bell' in Holborn will meet our present requirements better than
+the club. There is something jovial and roystering about an ancient
+tavern; but we must keep a sharp lookout for Mrs. Schallibaum."
+
+Thereupon we set forth; and, after a week's close imprisonment, I once
+more looked upon the friendly London streets, the cheerfully lighted
+shop windows and the multitudes of companionable strangers who moved
+unceasingly along the pavements.
+
+
+
+Chapter XV
+
+Thorndyke Explodes the Mine
+
+
+We had not been back in our chambers more than a few minutes when the
+little brass knocker on the inner door rattled out its summons.
+Thorndyke himself opened the door, and, finding our three expected
+visitors on the threshold, he admitted them and closed the "oak."
+
+"We have accepted your invitation, you see," said Marchmont, whose
+manner was now a little flurried and uneasy. "This is my partner, Mr.
+Winwood; you haven't met before, I think. Well, we thought we should
+like to hear some further particulars from you, as we could not quite
+understand your letter."
+
+"My conclusion, I suppose," said Thorndyke, "was a little unexpected?"
+
+"It was more than that, sir," exclaimed Winwood. "It was absolutely
+irreconcilable either with the facts of the case or with common physical
+possibilities."
+
+"At the first glance," Thorndyke agreed, "it would probably have that
+appearance."
+
+"It has that appearance still to me." said Winwood, growing suddenly red
+and wrathful, "and I may say that I speak as a solicitor who was
+practising in the law when you were an infant in arms. You tell us, sir,
+that this will is a forgery; this will, which was executed in broad
+daylight in the presence of two unimpeachable witnesses who have sworn,
+not only to their signatures and the contents of the document, but to
+their very finger-marks on the paper. Are those finger-marks forgeries,
+too? Have you examined and tested them?"
+
+"I have not," replied Thorndyke. "The fact is they are of no interest to
+me, as I am not disputing the witnesses' signatures."
+
+At this, Mr. Winwood fairly danced with irritation.
+
+"Marchmont!" he exclaimed fiercely, "you know this good gentleman, I
+believe. Tell me, is he addicted to practical jokes?"
+
+"Now, my dear Winwood," groaned Marchmont, "I pray you--I beg you to
+control yourself. No doubt--"
+
+"But confound it!" roared Winwood, "you have, yourself, heard him say
+that the will is a forgery, but that he doesn't dispute the signatures;
+which," concluded Winwood, banging his fist down on the table, "is
+damned nonsense."
+
+"May I suggest," interposed Stephen Blackmore, "that we came here to
+receive Dr. Thorndyke's explanation of his letter. Perhaps it would be
+better to postpone any comments until we have heard it."
+
+"Undoubtedly, undoubtedly," said Marchmont. "Let me entreat you,
+Winwood, to listen patiently and refrain from interruption until we have
+heard our learned friend's exposition of the case."
+
+"Oh, very well," Winwood replied sulkily; "I'll say no more."
+
+He sank into a chair with the manner of a man who shuts himself up and
+turns the key; and so remained--excepting when the internal pressure
+approached bursting-point--throughout the subsequent proceedings,
+silent, stony and impassive, like a seated statue of Obstinacy.
+
+"I take it," said Marchmont, "that you have some new facts that are not
+in our possession?"
+
+"Yes," replied Thorndyke; "we have some new facts, and we have made some
+new use of the old ones. But how shall I lay the case before you? Shall
+I state my theory of the sequence of events and furnish the verification
+afterwards? Or shall I retrace the actual course of my investigations
+and give you the facts in the order in which I obtained them myself,
+with the inferences from them?"
+
+"I almost think," said Mr. Marchmont, "that it would be better if you
+would put us in possession of the new facts. Then, if the conclusions
+that follow from them are not sufficiently obvious, we could hear the
+argument. What do you say, Winwood?"
+
+Mr. Winwood roused himself for an instant, barked out the one word
+"Facts," and shut himself up again with a snap.
+
+"You would like to have the new facts by themselves?" said Thorndyke.
+
+"If you please. The facts only, in the first place, at any rate."
+
+"Very well," said Thorndyke; and here I caught his eye with a
+mischievous twinkle in it that I understood perfectly; for I had most of
+the facts myself and realized how much these two lawyers were likely to
+extract from them. Winwood was going to "have a run for his money," as
+Thorndyke had promised.
+
+My colleague, having placed on the table by his side a small cardboard
+box and the sheets of notes from his file, glanced quickly at Mr.
+Winwood and began:
+
+"The first important new facts came into my possession on the day on
+which you introduced the case to me. In the evening, after you left, I
+availed myself of Mr. Stephen's kind invitation to look over his uncle's
+chambers in New Inn. I wished to do so in order to ascertain, if
+possible, what had been the habits of the deceased during his residence
+there. When I arrived with Dr. Jervis, Mr. Stephen was in the chambers,
+and I learned from him that his uncle was an Oriental scholar of some
+position and that he had a very thorough acquaintance with the cuneiform
+writing. Now, while I was talking with Mr. Stephen I made a very curious
+discovery. On the wall over the fire-place hung a large framed
+photograph of an ancient Persian inscription in the cuneiform character;
+and that photograph was upside down."
+
+"Upside down!" exclaimed Stephen. "But that is really very odd."
+
+"Very odd indeed," agreed Thorndyke, "and very suggestive. The way in
+which it came to be inverted is pretty obvious and also rather
+suggestive. The photograph had evidently been in the frame some years
+but had apparently never been hung up before."
+
+"It had not," said Stephen, "though I don't know how you arrived at the
+fact. It used to stand on the mantelpiece in his old rooms in Jermyn
+Street."
+
+"Well," continued Thorndyke, "the frame-maker had pasted his label on
+the back of the frame, and as this label hung the right way up, it
+appeared as if the person who fixed the photograph on the wall had
+adopted it as a guide."
+
+"It is very extraordinary," said Stephen. "I should have thought the
+person who hung it would have asked Uncle Jeffrey which was the right
+way up; and I can't imagine how on earth it could have hung all those
+months without his noticing it. He must have been practically blind."
+
+Here Marchmont, who had been thinking hard, with knitted brows, suddenly
+brightened up.
+
+"I see your point," said he. "You mean that if Jeffrey was as blind as
+that, it would have been possible for some person to substitute a false
+will, which he might sign without noticing the substitution."
+
+"That wouldn't make the will a forgery," growled Winwood. "If Jeffrey
+signed it, it was Jeffrey's will. You could contest it if you could
+prove the fraud. But he said: 'This is my will,' and the two witnesses
+read it and have identified it."
+
+"Did they read it aloud?" asked Stephen.
+
+"No, they did not," replied Thorndyke.
+
+"Can you prove substitution?" asked Marchmont.
+
+"I haven't asserted it," answered Thorndyke, "My position is that the
+will is a forgery."
+
+"But it is not," said Winwood.
+
+"We won't argue it now," said Thorndyke. "I ask you to note the fact
+that the inscription was upside down. I also observed on the walls of
+the chambers some valuable Japanese colour-prints on which were recent
+damp-spots. I noted that the sitting-room had a gas-stove and that the
+kitchen contained practically no stores or remains of food and hardly
+any traces of even the simplest cooking. In the bedroom I found a large
+box that had contained a considerable stock of hard stearine candles,
+six to the pound, and that was now nearly empty. I examined the clothing
+of the deceased. On the soles of the boots I observed dried mud, which
+was unlike that on my own and Jervis's boots, from the gravelly square
+of the inn. I noted a crease on each leg of the deceased man's trousers
+as if they had been turned up half-way to the knee; and in the waistcoat
+pocket I found the stump of a 'Contango' pencil. On the floor of the
+bedroom, I found a portion of an oval glass somewhat like that of a
+watch or locket, but ground at the edge to a double bevel. Dr. Jervis
+and I also found one or two beads and a bugle, all of dark brown glass."
+
+Here Thorndyke paused, and Marchmont, who had been gazing at him with
+growing amazement, said nervously:
+
+"Er--yes. Very interesting. These observations of yours--er--are--"
+
+"Are all the observations that I made at New Inn."
+
+The two lawyers looked at one another and Stephen Blackmore stared
+fixedly at a spot on the hearth-rug. Then Mr. Winwood's face contorted
+itself into a sour, lopsided smile.
+
+"You might have observed a good many other things, sir," said he, "if
+you had looked. If you had examined the doors, you would have noted that
+they had hinges and were covered with paint; and, if you had looked up
+the chimney you might have noted that it was black inside."
+
+"Now, now, Winwood," protested Marchmont in an agony of uneasiness as to
+what his partner might say next, "I must really beg you--er--to refrain
+from--what Mr. Winwood means, Dr. Thorndyke, is that--er--we do not
+quite perceive the relevancy of these--ah--observations of yours."
+
+"Probably not," said Thorndyke, "but you will perceive their relevancy
+later. For the present, I will ask you to note the facts and bear them
+in mind, so that you may be able to follow the argument when we come to
+that.
+
+"The next set of data I acquired on the same evening, when Dr. Jervis
+gave me a detailed account of a very strange adventure that befell him.
+I need not burden you with all the details, but I will give you the
+substance of his story."
+
+He then proceeded to recount the incidents connected with my visits to
+Mr. Graves, dwelling on the personal peculiarities of the parties
+concerned and especially of the patient, and not even forgetting the
+very singular spectacles worn by Mr. Weiss. He also explained briefly
+the construction of the chart, presenting the latter for the inspection
+of his hearers. To this recital our three visitors listened in utter
+bewilderment, as, indeed did I also; for I could not conceive in what
+way my adventures could possibly be related to the affairs of the late
+Mr. Blackmore. This was manifestly the view taken by Mr. Marchmont, for,
+during a pause in which the chart was handed to him, he remarked
+somewhat stiffly:
+
+"I am assuming, Dr. Thorndyke, that the curious story you are telling us
+has some relevance to the matter in which we are interested."
+
+"You are quite correct in your assumption," replied Thorndyke. "The
+story is very relevant indeed, as you will presently be convinced."
+
+"Thank you," said Marchmont, sinking back once more into his chair with
+a sigh of resignation.
+
+"A few days ago," pursued Thorndyke, "Dr. Jervis and I located, with the
+aid of this chart, the house to which he had been called. We found that
+the late tenant had left somewhat hurriedly and that the house was to
+let; and, as no other kind of investigation was possible, we obtained
+the keys and made an exploration of the premises."
+
+Here he gave a brief account of our visit and the conditions that we
+observed, and was proceeding to furnish a list of the articles that we
+had found under the grate, when Mr. Winwood started from his chair.
+
+"Really, sir!" he exclaimed, "this is too much! Have I come here, at
+great personal inconvenience, to hear you read the inventory of a
+dust-heap?"
+
+Thorndyke smiled benevolently and caught my eye, once more, with a gleam
+of amusement.
+
+"Sit down, Mr. Winwood," he said quietly. "You came here to learn the
+facts of the case, and I am giving them to you. Please don't interrupt
+needlessly and waste time."
+
+Winwood stared at him ferociously for several seconds; then, somewhat
+disconcerted by the unruffled calm of his manner, he uttered a snort of
+defiance, sat down heavily and shut himself up again.
+
+"We will now," Thorndyke continued, with unmoved serenity, "consider
+these relics in more detail, and we will begin with this pair of
+spectacles. They belonged to a person who was near-sighted and
+astigmatic in the left eye and almost certainly blind in the right. Such
+a description agrees entirely with Dr. Jervis's account of the sick
+man."
+
+He paused for the moment, and then, as no one made any comment,
+proceeded:
+
+"We next come to these little pieces of reed, which you, Mr. Stephen,
+will probably recognize as the remains of a Japanese brush, such as is
+used for writing in Chinese ink or for making small drawings."
+
+Again he paused, as though expecting some remark from his listeners; but
+no one spoke, and he continued:
+
+"Then there is this bottle with the theatrical wig-maker's label on it,
+which once contained cement such as is used for fixing on false beards,
+moustaches or eyebrows."
+
+He paused once more and looked round expectantly at his audience, none
+of whom, however, volunteered any remark.
+
+"Do none of these objects that I have described and shown you, seem to
+have any significance for us?" he asked, in a tone of some surprise.
+
+"They convey nothing to me," said Mr. Marchmont, glancing at his
+partner, who shook his head like a restive horse.
+
+"Nor to you, Mr. Stephen?"
+
+"No," replied Stephen. "Under the existing circumstances they convey no
+reasonable suggestion to me."
+
+Thorndyke hesitated as if he were half inclined to say something more;
+then, with a slight shrug, he turned over his notes and resumed:
+
+"The next group of new facts is concerned with the signatures of the
+recent cheques. We have photographed them and placed them together for
+the purpose of comparison and analysis."
+
+"I am not prepared to question the signatures." said Winwood. "We have
+had a highly expert opinion, which would override ours in a court of law
+even if we differed from it; which I think we do not."
+
+"Yes," said Marchmont; "that is so. I think we must accept the
+signatures, especially as that of the will has been proved, beyond any
+question" to be authentic."
+
+"Very well," agreed Thorndyke; "we will pass over the signatures. Then
+we have some further evidence in regard to the spectacles, which serves
+to verify our conclusions respecting them."
+
+"Perhaps," said Marchmont, "we might pass over that, too, as we do not
+seem to have reached any conclusions."
+
+"As you please," said Thorndyke. "It is important, but we can reserve it
+for verification. The next item will interest you more, I think. It is
+the signed and witnessed statement of Samuel Wilkins, the driver of the
+cab in which the deceased came home to the inn on the evening of his
+death."
+
+My colleague was right. An actual document, signed by a tangible
+witness, who could be put in the box and sworn, brought both lawyers to
+a state of attention; and when Thorndyke read out the cabman's evidence,
+their attention soon quickened into undisguised astonishment.
+
+"But this is a most mysterious affair," exclaimed Marchmont. "Who could
+this woman have been, and what could she have been doing in Jeffrey's
+chambers at this time? Can you throw any light on it, Mr. Stephen?"
+
+"No, indeed I can't," replied Stephen. "It is a complete mystery to me.
+My uncle Jeffrey was a confirmed old bachelor, and, although he did not
+dislike women, he was far from partial to their society, wrapped up as
+he was in his favourite studies. To the best of my belief, he had not a
+single female friend. He was not on intimate terms even with his sister,
+Mrs. Wilson."
+
+"Very remarkable," mused Marchmont; "most remarkable. But, perhaps, you
+can tell us, Dr. Thorndyke, who this woman was?"
+
+"I think," replied Thorndyke, "that the next item of evidence will
+enable you to form an opinion for yourselves. I only obtained it
+yesterday, and, as it made my case quite complete, I wrote off to you
+immediately. It is the statement of Joseph Ridley, another cabman, and
+unfortunately, a rather dull, unobservant fellow, unlike Wilkins. He has
+not much to tell us, but what little he has is highly instructive. Here
+is the statement, signed by the deponent and witnessed by me:
+
+"'My name is Joseph Ridley. I am the driver of a four-wheeled cab. On
+the fourteenth of March, the day of the great fog, I was waiting at
+Vauxhall Station, where I had just set down a fare. About five o'clock a
+lady came and told me to drive over to Upper Kennington Lane to take up
+a passenger. She was a middle-sized woman. I could not tell what her age
+was, or what she was like, because her head was wrapped up in a sort of
+knitted, woollen veil to keep out the fog. I did not notice how she was
+dressed. She got into the cab and I led the horse over to Upper
+Kennington Lane and a little way up the lane, until the lady tapped at
+the front window for me to stop.
+
+"'She got out of the cab and told me to wait. Then she went away and
+disappeared in the fog. Presently a lady and gentleman came from the
+direction in which she had gone. The lady looked like the same lady, but
+I won't answer to that. Her head was wrapped up in the same kind of veil
+or shawl, and I noticed that she had on a dark coloured mantle with
+bead fringe on it.
+
+"'The gentleman was clean shaved and wore spectacles, and he stooped a
+good deal. I can't say whether his sight was good or bad. He helped the
+lady into the cab and told me to drive to the Great Northern Station,
+King's Cross. Then he got in himself and I drove off. I got to the
+station about a quarter to six and the lady and gentleman got out. The
+gentleman paid my fare and they both went into the station. I did not
+notice anything unusual about either of them. Directly after they had
+gone, I got a fresh fare and drove away.'
+
+"That," Thorndyke concluded, "is Joseph Ridley's statement; and I think
+it will enable you to give a meaning to the other facts that I have
+offered for your consideration."
+
+"I am not so sure about that," said Marchmont. "It is all exceedingly
+mysterious. Your suggestion is, of course, that the woman who came to
+New Inn in the cab was Mrs. Schallibaum!"
+
+"Not at all," replied Thorndyke. "My suggestion is that the woman was
+Jeffrey Blackmore."
+
+There was deathly silence for a few moments. We were all absolutely
+thunderstruck, and sat gaping at Thorndyke in speechless-astonishment.
+Then--Mr. Winwood fairly bounced out of his chair.
+
+"But--my--good--sir!" he screeched. "Jeffrey Blackmore was with her at
+the time!"
+
+"Naturally," replied Thorndyke, "my suggestion implies that the person
+who was with her was not Jeffrey Blackmore."
+
+"But he was!" bawled Winwood. "The porter saw him!"
+
+"The porter saw a person whom he believed to be Jeffrey Blackmore. I
+suggest that the porter's belief was erroneous."
+
+"Well," snapped Winwood, "perhaps you can prove that it was. I don't see
+how you are going to; but perhaps you can."
+
+He subsided once more into his chair and glared defiantly at Thorndyke.
+
+"You seemed," said Stephen, "to suggest some connection between the sick
+man, Graves, and my uncle. I noted it at the time, but put it aside as
+impossible. Was I right. Did you mean to suggest any connection?"
+
+"I suggest something more than a connection. I suggest identity. My
+position is that the sick man, Graves, was your uncle."
+
+"From Dr. Jervis's description," said Stephen, "this man must have been
+very like my uncle. Both were blind in the right eye and had very poor
+vision with the left; and my uncle certainly used brushes of the kind
+that you have shown us, when writing in the Japanese character, for I
+have watched him and admired his skill; but--"
+
+"But," said Marchmont, "there is the insuperable objection that, at the
+very time when this man was lying sick in Kennington Lane, Mr. Jeffrey
+was living at New Inn."
+
+"What evidence is there of that?" asked Thorndyke.
+
+"Evidence!" Marchmont exclaimed impatiently. "Why, my dear sir--"
+
+He paused suddenly, and, leaning forward, regarded Thorndyke with a new
+and rather startled expression.
+
+"You mean to suggest--" he began.
+
+"I suggest that Jeffrey Blackmore never lived at New Inn at all."
+
+For the moment, Marchmont seemed absolutely paralysed by astonishment.
+
+"This is an amazing proposition!" he exclaimed, at length. "Yet the
+thing is certainly not impossible, for, now that you recall the fact, I
+realize that no one who had known him previously--excepting his brother,
+John--ever saw him at the inn. The question of identity was never
+raised."
+
+"Excepting," said Mr. Winwood, "in regard to the body; which was
+certainly that of Jeffrey Blackmore."
+
+"Yes, yes. Of course," said Marchmont. "I had forgotten that for the
+moment. The body was identified beyond doubt. You don't dispute the
+identity of the body, do you?"
+
+"Certainly not," replied Thorndyke.
+
+Here Mr. Winwood grasped his hair with both hands and stuck his elbows
+on his knees, while Marchmont drew forth a large handkerchief and mopped
+his forehead. Stephen Blackmore looked from one to the other
+expectantly, and finally said:
+
+"If I might make a suggestion, it would be that, as Dr. Thorndyke has
+shown us the pieces now of the puzzle, he should be so kind as to put
+them together for our information."
+
+"Yes," agreed Marchmont, "that will be the best plan. Let us have the
+argument, Doctor, and any additional evidence that you possess."
+
+"The argument," said Thorndyke, "will be a rather long one, as the data
+are so numerous, and there are some points in verification on which I
+shall have to dwell in some detail. We will have some coffee to clear
+our brains, and then I will bespeak your patience for what may seem like
+a rather prolix demonstration."
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XVI
+
+An Exposition and a Tragedy
+
+
+"You may have wondered," Thorndyke commenced, when he had poured out the
+coffee and handed round the cups, "what induced me to undertake the
+minute investigation of so apparently simple and straightforward a case.
+Perhaps I had better explain that first and let you see what was the
+real starting-point of the inquiry.
+
+"When you, Mr. Marchmont and Mr. Stephen, introduced the case to me, I
+made a very brief précis of the facts as you presented them, and of
+these there were one or two which immediately attracted my attention. In
+the first place, there was the will. It was a very strange will. It was
+perfectly unnecessary. It contained no new matter; it expressed no
+changed intentions; it met no new circumstances, as known to the
+testator. In short it was not really a new will at all, but merely a
+repetition of the first one, drafted in different and less suitable
+language. It differed only in introducing a certain ambiguity from which
+the original was free. It created the possibility that, in certain
+circumstances, not known to or anticipated by the testator, John
+Blackmore might become the principal beneficiary, contrary to the
+obvious wishes of the testator.
+
+"The next point that impressed me was the manner of Mrs. Wilson's death.
+She died of cancer. Now people do not die suddenly and unexpectedly of
+cancer. This terrible disease stands almost alone in that it marks out
+its victim months in advance. A person who has an incurable cancer is a
+person whose death may be predicted with certainty and its date fixed
+within comparatively narrow limits.
+
+"And now observe the remarkable series of coincidences that are brought
+into light when we consider this peculiarity of the disease. Mrs. Wilson
+died on the twelfth of March of this present year. Mr. Jeffrey's second
+will was signed on the twelfth of November of last year; at a time, that
+is to say, when the existence of cancer must have been known to Mrs.
+Wilson's doctor, and might have been known to any of her relatives who
+chose to inquire after her.
+
+"Then you will observe that the remarkable change in Mr. Jeffrey's
+habits coincides in the most singular way with the same events. The
+cancer must have been detectable as early as September of last year;
+about the time, in fact, at which Mrs. Wilson made her will. Mr. Jeffrey
+went to the inn at the beginning of October. From that time his habits
+were totally changed, and I can demonstrate to you that a change--not a
+gradual, but an abrupt change--took place in the character of his
+signature.
+
+"In short, the whole of this peculiar set of circumstances--the change
+in Jeffrey's habits, the change in his signature, and the execution of
+his strange will--came into existence about the time when Mrs. Wilson
+was first known to be suffering from cancer.
+
+"This struck me as a very suggestive fact.
+
+"Then there is the extraordinarily opportune date of Mr. Jeffrey's
+death. Mrs. Wilson died on the twelfth of March. Mr. Jeffrey was found
+dead on the fifteenth of March, having apparently died on the
+fourteenth, on which day he was seen alive. If he had died only three
+days sooner, he would have predeceased Mrs. Wilson, and her property
+would never have devolved on him at all; while, if he had lived only a
+day or two longer, he would have learned of her death and would
+certainly have made a new will or codicil in his nephew's favour.
+
+"Circumstances, therefore, conspired in the most singular manner in
+favour of John Blackmore.
+
+"But there is yet another coincidence. Jeffrey's body was found, by the
+merest chance, the day after his death. But it might have remained
+undiscovered for weeks, or even months; and if it had, it would have
+been impossible to fix the date of his death. Then Mrs. Wilson's next
+of kin would certainly have contested John Blackmore's claim--and
+probably with success--on the ground that Jeffrey died before Mrs.
+Wilson. But all this uncertainty is provided for by the circumstance
+that Mr. Jeffrey paid his rent personally--and prematurely--to the
+porter on the fourteenth of March, thus establishing beyond question the
+fact that he was alive on that date; and yet further, in case the
+porter's memory should be untrustworthy or his statement doubted,
+Jeffrey furnished a signed and dated document--the cheque--which could
+be produced in a court to furnish incontestable proof of survival.
+
+"To sum up this part of the evidence. Here was a will which enabled John
+Blackmore to inherit the fortune of a man who, almost certainly, had no
+intention of bequeathing it to him. The wording of that will seemed to
+be adjusted to the peculiarities of Mrs. Wilson's disease; and the death
+of the testator occurred under a peculiar set of circumstances which
+seemed to be exactly adjusted to the wording of the will. Or, to put it
+in another way: the wording of the will and the time, the manner and the
+circumstances of the testator's death, all seemed to be precisely
+adjusted to the fact that the approximate date of Mrs. Wilson's death
+was known some months before it occurred.
+
+"Now you must admit that this compound group of coincidences, all
+conspiring to a single end--the enrichment of John Blackmore--has a very
+singular appearance. Coincidences are common enough in real life; but
+we cannot accept too many at a time. My feeling was that there were too
+many in this case and that I could not accept them without searching
+inquiry."
+
+Thorndyke paused, and Mr. Marchmont, who had listened with close
+attention, nodded, as he glanced at his silent partner.
+
+"You have stated the case with remarkable clearness," he said; "and I am
+free to confess that some of the points that you have raised had escaped
+my notice."
+
+"My first idea," Thorndyke resumed, "was that John Blackmore, taking
+advantage of the mental enfeeblement produced by the opium habit, had
+dictated this will to Jeffrey, It was then that I sought permission to
+inspect Jeffrey's chambers; to learn what I could about him and to see
+for myself whether they presented the dirty and disorderly appearance
+characteristic of the regular opium-smoker's den. But when, during a
+walk into the City, I thought over the case, it seemed to me that this
+explanation hardly met the facts. Then I endeavoured to think of some
+other explanation; and looking over my notes I observed two points that
+seemed worth considering. One was that neither of the witnesses to the
+will was really acquainted with Jeffrey Blackmore; both being strangers
+who had accepted his identity on his own statement. The other was that
+no one who had previously known him, with the single exception of his
+brother John, had ever seen Jeffrey at the inn.
+
+"What was the import of these two facts? Probably they had none. But
+still they suggested the desirability of considering the question: Was
+the person who signed the will really Jeffrey Blackmore? The contrary
+supposition--that some one had personated Jeffrey and forged his
+signature to a false will--seemed wildly improbable, especially in view
+of the identification of the body; but it involved no actual
+impossibility; and it offered a complete explanation of the, otherwise
+inexplicable, coincidences that I have mentioned.
+
+"I did not, however, for a moment, think that this was the true
+explanation, but I resolved to bear it in mind, to test it when the
+opportunity arose, and consider it by the light of any fresh facts that
+I might acquire.
+
+"The new facts came sooner than I had expected. That same evening I went
+with Dr. Jervis to New Inn and found Mr. Stephen in the chambers. By him
+I was informed that Jeffrey was a learned Orientalist, with a quite
+expert knowledge of the cuneiform writing; and even as he was telling me
+this, I looked over his shoulder and saw a cuneiform inscription hanging
+on the wall upside down.
+
+"Now, of this there could be only one reasonable explanation.
+Disregarding the fact that no one would screw the suspension plates on a
+frame without ascertaining which was the right way up, and assuming it
+to be hung up inverted, it was impossible that the misplacement could
+have been overlooked by Jeffrey. He was not blind, though his sight was
+defective. The frame was thirty inches long and the individual
+characters nearly an inch in length--about the size of the D 18 letters
+of Snellen's test-types, which can be read by a person of ordinary sight
+at a distance of fifty-five feet. There was, I repeat, only one
+reasonable explanation; which was that the person who had inhabited
+those chambers was not Jeffrey Blackmore.
+
+"This conclusion received considerable support from a fact which I
+observed later, but mention in this place. On examining the soles of the
+shoes taken from the dead man's feet, I found only the ordinary mud of
+the streets. There was no trace of the peculiar gravelly mud that
+adhered to my own boots and Jervis's, and which came from the square of
+the inn. Yet the porter distinctly stated that the deceased, after
+paying the rent, walked back towards his chambers across the square; the
+mud of which should, therefore, have been conspicuous on his shoes.
+
+"Thus, in a moment, a wildly speculative hypothesis had assumed a high
+degree of probability.
+
+"When Mr. Stephen was gone, Jervis and I looked over the chambers
+thoroughly; and then another curious fact came to light. On the wall
+were a number of fine Japanese colour-prints, all of which showed recent
+damp-spots. Now, apart from the consideration that Jeffrey, who had been
+at the trouble and expense of collecting these valuable prints, would
+hardly have allowed them to rot on his walls, there arose the question:
+How came they to be damp? There was a gas stove in the room, and a gas
+stove has at least the virtue of preserving a dry atmosphere. It was
+winter weather, when the stove would naturally be pretty constantly
+alight. How came the walls to be so damp? The answer seemed to be that
+the stove had not been constantly alight, but had been lighted only
+occasionally. This suggestion was borne out by a further examination of
+the rooms. In the kitchen there were practically no stores and hardly
+any arrangements even for simple bachelor cooking; the bedroom offered
+the same suggestion; the soap in the wash-stand was shrivelled and
+cracked; there was no cast-off linen, and the shirts in the drawers,
+though clean, had the peculiar yellowish, faded appearance that linen
+acquires when long out of use. In short, the rooms had the appearance of
+not having been lived in at all, but only visited at intervals.
+
+"Against this view, however, was the statement of the night porter that
+he had often seen a light in Jeffrey's sitting-room at one o'clock in
+the morning, with the apparent implication that it was then turned out.
+Now a light may be left in an empty room, but its extinction implies the
+presence of some person to extinguish it; unless some automatic device
+be adopted for putting it out at a given time. Such a device--the alarm
+movement of a clock, for instance, with a suitable attachment--is a
+simple enough matter, but my search of the rooms failed to discover
+anything of the kind. However, when looking over the drawers in the
+bedroom, I came upon a large box that had held a considerable quantity
+of hard stearine candles. There were only a few left, but a flat
+candlestick with numerous wick-ends in its socket accounted for the
+remainder.
+
+"These candles seemed to dispose of the difficulty. They were not
+necessary for ordinary lighting, since gas was laid on in all three
+rooms. For what purpose, then, were they used, and in such considerable
+quantities? I subsequently obtained some of the same brand--Price's
+stearine candles, six to the pound--and experimented with them. Each
+candle was seven and a quarter inches in length, not counting the cone
+at the top, and I found that they burned in still air at the rate of a
+fraction over one inch in an hour. We may say that one of these candles
+would burn in still air a little over six hours. It would thus be
+possible for the person who inhabited these rooms to go away at seven
+o'clock in the evening and leave a light which would burn until past one
+in the morning and then extinguish itself. This, of course, was only
+surmise, but it destroyed the significance of the night porter's
+statement.
+
+"But, if the person who inhabited these chambers was not Jeffrey, who
+was he?
+
+"The answer to that question seemed plain enough. There was only one
+person who had a strong motive for perpetrating a fraud of this kind,
+and there was only one person to whom it was possible. If this person
+was not Jeffrey, he must have been very like Jeffrey; sufficiently like
+for the body of the one to be mistaken for the body of the other. For
+the production of Jeffrey's body was an essential part of the plan and
+must have been contemplated from the first. But the only person who
+fulfills the conditions is John Blackmore.
+
+"We have learned from Mr. Stephen that John and Jeffrey, though very
+different in appearance in later years, were much alike as young men.
+But when two brothers who are much alike as young men, become unlike in
+later life, we shall find that the unlikeness is produced by superficial
+differences and that the essential likeness remains. Thus, in the
+present case, Jeffrey was clean shaved, had bad eyesight, wore
+spectacles and stooped as he walked; John wore a beard and moustache,
+had good eyesight, did not wear spectacles and had a brisk gait and
+upright carriage. But supposing John to shave off his beard and
+moustache, to put on spectacles and to stoop in his walk, these
+conspicuous but superficial differences would vanish and the original
+likeness reappear.
+
+"There is another consideration. John had been an actor and was an actor
+of some experience. Now, any person can, with some care and practice,
+make up a disguise; the great difficulty is to support that disguise by
+a suitable manner and voice. But to an experienced actor this difficulty
+does not exist. To him, personation is easy; and, moreover, an actor is
+precisely the person to whom the idea of disguise and impersonation
+would occur.
+
+"There is a small item bearing on this point, so small as to be hardly
+worth calling evidence, but just worth noting. In the pocket of the
+waistcoat taken from the body of Jeffrey I found the stump of a
+'Contango' pencil; a pencil that is sold for the use of stock dealers
+and brokers. Now John was an outside broker and might very probably have
+used such a pencil, whereas Jeffrey had no connection with the stock
+markets and there is no reason why he should have possessed a pencil of
+this kind. But the fact is merely suggestive; it has no evidential
+value.
+
+"A more important inference is to be drawn from the collected
+signatures. I have remarked that the change in the signature occurred
+abruptly, with one or two alterations of manner, last September, and
+that there are two distinct forms with no intermediate varieties. This
+is, in itself, remarkable and suspicious. But a remark made by Mr.
+Britton furnishes a really valuable piece of evidence on the point we
+are now considering. He admitted that the character of the signature had
+undergone a change, but observed that the change did not affect the
+individual or personal character of the writing. This is very important;
+for handwriting is, as it were, an extension of the personality of the
+writer. And just as a man to some extent snares his personality with his
+near blood-relations in the form of family resemblances, so his
+handwriting often shows a subtle likeness to that of his near relatives.
+You must have noticed, as I have, how commonly the handwriting of one
+brother resembles that of another, and in just this peculiar and subtle
+way. The inference, then, from Mr. Britton's statement is, that if the
+signature of the will was forged, it was probably forged by a relative
+of the deceased. But the only relative in question is his brother John.
+
+"All the facts, therefore, pointed to John Blackmore as the person who
+occupied these chambers, and I accordingly adopted that view as a
+working hypothesis."
+
+"But this was all pure speculation," objected Mr. Winwood.
+
+"Not speculation," said Thorndyke. "Hypothesis. It was ordinary
+inductive reasoning such as we employ in scientific research. I started
+with the purely tentative hypothesis that the person who signed the will
+was not Jeffrey Blackmore. I assumed this; and I may say that I did not
+believe it at the time, but merely adopted it as a proposition that was
+worth testing. I accordingly tested it, 'Yes?' or 'No?' with each new
+fact; but as each new fact said 'Yes,' and no fact said definitely 'No,'
+its probability increased rapidly by a sort of geometrical progression.
+The probabilities multiplied into one another. It is a perfectly sound
+method, for one knows that if a hypothesis be true, it will lead one,
+sooner or later, to a crucial fact by which its truth can be
+demonstrated.
+
+"To resume our argument. We have now set up the proposition that John
+Blackmore was the tenant of New Inn and that he was personating Jeffrey.
+Let us reason from this and see what it leads to.
+
+"If the tenant of New Inn was John, then Jeffrey must be elsewhere,
+since his concealment at the inn was clearly impossible. But he could
+not have been far away, for he had to be producible at short notice
+whenever the death of Mrs. Wilson should make the production of his
+body necessary. But if he was producible, his person must have been in
+the possession or control of John. He could not have been at large, for
+that would have involved the danger of his being seen and recognized. He
+could not have been in any institution or place where he would be in
+contact with strangers. Then he must be in some sort of confinement. But
+it is difficult to keep an adult in confinement in an ordinary house.
+Such a proceeding would involve great risk of discovery and the use of
+violence which would leave traces on the body, to be observed and
+commented on at the inquest. What alternative method could be suggested?
+
+"The most obvious method is that of keeping the prisoner in such a state
+of debility as would confine him to his bed. But such debility could be
+produced by only starvation, unsuitable food, or chronic poisoning. Of
+these alternatives, poisoning is much more exact, more calculable in its
+effect and more under control. The probabilities, then, were in favour
+of chronic poisoning.
+
+"Having reached this stage, I recalled a singular case which Jervis had
+mentioned to me and which seemed to illustrate this method. On our
+return home I asked him for further particulars, and he then gave me a
+very detailed description of the patient and the circumstances. The
+upshot was rather startling. I had looked on his case as merely
+illustrative, and wished to study it for the sake of the suggestions
+that it might offer. But when I had heard his account, I began to
+suspect that there was something more than mere parallelism of method.
+It began to look as if his patient, Mr. Graves, might actually be
+Jeffrey Blackmore.
+
+"The coincidences were remarkable. The general appearance of the patient
+tallied completely with Mr. Stephen's description of his uncle Jeffrey.
+The patient had a tremulous iris in his right eye and had clearly
+suffered from dislocation of the crystalline lens. But from Mr.
+Stephen's account of his uncle's sudden loss of sight in the right eye
+after a fall, I judged that Jeffrey had also suffered from dislocation
+of the lens and therefore had a tremulous iris in the right eye. The
+patient, Graves, evidently had defective vision in his left eye, as
+proved by the marks made behind his ears by the hooked side-bars of his
+spectacles; for it is only on spectacles that are intended for constant
+use that we find hooked side-bars. But Jeffrey had defective vision in
+his left eye and wore spectacles constantly. Lastly, the patient Graves
+was suffering from chronic morphine poisoning, and morphine was found in
+the body of Jeffrey.
+
+"Once more, it appeared to me that there were too many coincidences.
+
+"The question as to whether Graves and Jeffrey were identical admitted
+of fairly easy disproof; for if Graves was still alive, he could not be
+Jeffrey. It was an important question and I resolved to test it without
+delay. That night, Jervis and I plotted out the chart, and on the
+following morning we located the house. But it was empty and to let.
+The birds had flown, and we failed to discover whither they had gone.
+
+"However, we entered the house and explored. I have told you about the
+massive bolts and fastenings that we found on the bedroom doors and
+window, showing that the room had been used as a prison. I have told you
+of the objects that we picked out of the dust-heap under the grate. Of
+the obvious suggestion offered by the Japanese brush and the bottle of
+'spirit gum' or cement, I need not speak now; but I must trouble you
+with some details concerning the broken spectacles. For here we had come
+upon the crucial fact to which, as I have said, all sound inductive
+reasoning brings one sooner or later.
+
+"The spectacles were of a rather peculiar pattern. The frames were of
+the type invented by Mr. Stopford of Moorfields and known by his name.
+The right eye-piece was fitted with plain glass, as is usual in the case
+of a blind, or useless, eye. It was very much shattered, but its
+character was obvious. The glass of the left eye was much thicker and
+fortunately less damaged, so that I was able accurately to test its
+refraction.
+
+"When I reached home, I laid the pieces of the spectacles together,
+measured the frames very carefully, tested the left eye-glass, and wrote
+down a full description such as would have been given by the surgeon to
+the spectacle-maker. Here it is, and I will ask you to note it
+carefully.
+
+"'Spectacles for constant use. Steel frame, Stopford's pattern, curl
+sides, broad bridge with gold lining. Distance between centres, 6.2
+centimetres; extreme length of side-bars, 13.3 centimetres.
+
+"'Right eye plain glass.
+
+"'Left eye -5.75 D. spherical
+            -------------------
+           -3.25 D. cylindrical axis 35°.'
+
+"The spectacles, you see, were of a very distinctive character and
+seemed to offer a good chance of identification. Stopford's frames are,
+I believe, made by only one firm of opticians in London, Parry & Cuxton
+of Regent Street. I therefore wrote to Mr. Cuxton, who knows me, asking
+him if he had supplied spectacles to the late Jeffrey Blackmore,
+Esq.--here is a copy of my letter--and if so, whether he would mind
+letting me have a full description of them, together with the name of
+the oculist who prescribed them.
+
+"He replied in this letter, which is pinned to the copy of mine, that,
+about four years ago, he supplied a pair of glasses to Mr. Jeffrey
+Blackmore, and described them thus: 'The spectacles were for constant
+use and had steel frames of Stopford's pattern with curl sides, the
+length of the side-bars including the curled ends being 13.3 cm. The
+bridge was broad with a gold lining-plate, shaped as shown by the
+enclosed tracing from the diagram on the prescription. Distance between
+centres 6.2 cm.
+
+"'Right eye plain glass.
+
+"'Left eye -5.75 D. spherical
+            -------------------
+           -3.25 D. cylindrical, axis 35°.'
+
+"'The spectacles were prescribed by Mr. Hindley of Wimpole Street.'
+
+"You see that Mr. Cuxton's description is identical with mine. However,
+for further confirmation, I wrote to Mr. Hindley, asking certain
+questions, to which he replied thus:
+
+"'You are quite right. Mr. Jeffrey Blackmore had a tremulous iris in his
+right eye (which was practically blind), due to dislocation of the lens.
+The pupils were rather large; certainly not contracted.'
+
+"Here, then, we have three important facts. One is that the spectacles
+found by us at Kennington Lane were undoubtedly Jeffrey's; for it is as
+unlikely that there exists another pair of spectacles exactly identical
+with those as that there exists another face exactly like Jeffrey's
+face. The second fact is that the description of Jeffrey tallies
+completely with that of the sick man, Graves, as given by Dr. Jervis;
+and the third is that when Jeffrey was seen by Mr. Hindley, there was no
+sign of his being addicted to the taking of morphine. The first and
+second facts, you will agree, constitute complete identification."
+
+"Yes," said Marchmont; "I think we must admit the identification as
+being quite conclusive, though the evidence is of a kind that is more
+striking to the medical than to the legal mind."
+
+"You will not have that complaint to make against the next item of
+evidence," said Thorndyke. "It is after the lawyer's own heart, as you
+shall hear. A few days ago I wrote to Mr. Stephen asking him if he
+possessed a recent photograph of his uncle Jeffrey. He had one, and he
+sent it to me by return. This portrait I showed to Dr. Jervis and asked
+him if he had ever seen the person it represented. After examining it
+attentively, without any hint whatever from me, he identified it as the
+portrait of the sick man, Graves."
+
+"Indeed!" exclaimed Marchmont. "This is most important. Are you prepared
+to swear to the identity, Dr. Jervis?"
+
+"I have not the slightest doubt," I replied, "that the portrait is that
+of Mr. Graves."
+
+"Excellent!" said Marchmont, rubbing his hands gleefully; "this will be
+much more convincing to a jury. Pray go on, Dr. Thorndyke."
+
+"That," said Thorndyke, "completes the first part of my investigation.
+We had now reached a definite, demonstrable fact; and that fact, as you
+see, disposed at once of the main question--the genuineness of the will.
+For if the man at Kennington Lane was Jeffrey Blackmore, then the man at
+New Inn was not. But it was the latter who had signed the will.
+Therefore the will was not signed by Jeffrey Blackmore; that is to say,
+it was a forgery. The case was complete for the purposes of the civil
+proceedings; the rest of my investigations had reference to the criminal
+prosecution that was inevitable. Shall I proceed, or is your interest
+confined to the will?"
+
+"Hang the will!" exclaimed Stephen. "I want to hear how you propose to
+lay hands on the villain who murdered poor old uncle Jeffrey--for I
+suppose he did murder him?"
+
+"I think there is no doubt of it," replied Thorndyke.
+
+"Then," said Marchmont, "we will hear the rest of the argument, if you
+please."
+
+"Very well," said Thorndyke. "As the evidence stands, we have proved
+that Jeffrey Blackmore was a prisoner in the house in Kennington Lane
+and that some one was personating him at New Inn. That some one, we have
+seen, was, in all probability, John Blackmore. We now have to consider
+the man Weiss. Who was he? and can we connect him in any way with New
+Inn?
+
+"We may note in passing that Weiss and the coachman were apparently one
+and the same person. They were never seen together. When Weiss was
+present, the coachman was not available even for so urgent a service as
+the obtaining of an antidote to the poison. Weiss always appeared some
+time after Jervis's arrival and disappeared some time before his
+departure, in each case sufficiently long to allow of a change of
+disguise. But we need not labour the point, as it is not of primary
+importance.
+
+"To return to Weiss. He was clearly heavily disguised, as we see by his
+unwillingness to show himself even by the light of a candle. But there
+is an item of positive evidence on this point which is important from
+having other bearings. It is furnished by the spectacles worn by Weiss,
+of which you have heard Jervis's description. These spectacles had very
+peculiar optical properties. When you looked <i>through</i> them they had the
+properties of plain glass; when you looked <i>at</i> them they had the
+appearance of lenses. But only one kind of glass possesses these
+properties; namely, that which, like an ordinary watch-glass, has
+curved, parallel surfaces. But for what purpose could a person wear
+'watch-glass' spectacles? Clearly, not to assist his vision. The only
+alternative is disguise.
+
+"The properties of these spectacles introduce a very curious and
+interesting feature into the case. To the majority of persons, the
+wearing of spectacles for the purpose of disguise or personation, seems
+a perfectly simple and easy proceeding. But, to a person of normal
+eyesight, it is nothing of the kind. For, if he wears spectacles suited
+for long sight he cannot see distinctly through them at all; while, if
+he wears concave, or near sight, glasses, the effort to see through them
+produces such strain and fatigue that his eyes become disabled
+altogether. On the stage the difficulty is met by using spectacles of
+plain window-glass, but in real life this would hardly do; the
+'property' spectacles would be detected at once and give rise to
+suspicion.
+
+"The personator is therefore in this dilemma: if he wears actual
+spectacles, he cannot see through them; if he wears sham spectacles of
+plain glass, his disguise will probably be detected. There is only one
+way out of the difficulty, and that not a very satisfactory one; but Mr.
+Weiss seems to have adopted it in lieu of a better. It is that of using
+watch-glass spectacles such as I have described.
+
+"Now, what do we learn from these very peculiar glasses? In the first
+place they confirm our opinion that Weiss was wearing a disguise. But,
+for use in a room so very dimly lighted, the ordinary stage spectacles
+would have answered quite well. The second inference is, then, that
+these spectacles were prepared to be worn under more trying conditions
+of light--out of doors, for instance. The third inference is that Weiss
+was a man with normal eyesight; for otherwise he could have worn real
+spectacles suited to the state of his vision.
+
+"These are inferences by the way, to which we may return. But these
+glasses furnish a much more important suggestion. On the floor of the
+bedroom at New Inn I found some fragments of glass which had been
+trodden on. By joining one or two of them together, we have been able to
+make out the general character of the object of which they formed parts.
+My assistant--who was formerly a watch-maker--judged that object to be
+the thin crystal glass of a lady's watch, and this, I think, was
+Jervis's opinion. But the small part which remains of the original edge
+furnishes proof in two respects that this was not a watch-glass. In the
+first place, on taking a careful tracing of this piece of the edge, I
+found that its curve was part of an ellipse; but watch-glasses,
+nowadays, are invariably circular. In the second place, watch-glasses
+are ground on the edge to a single bevel to snap into the bezel or
+frame; but the edge of this object was ground to a double bevel, like
+the edge of a spectacle-glass, which fits into a groove in the frame and
+is held by the side-bar screw. The inevitable inference was that this
+was a spectacle-glass. But, if so, it was part of a pair of spectacles
+identical in properties with those worn by Mr. Weiss.
+
+"The importance of this conclusion emerges when we consider the
+exceptional character of Mr. Weiss's spectacles. They were not merely
+peculiar or remarkable; they were probably unique. It is exceedingly
+likely that there is not in the entire world another similar pair of
+spectacles. Whence the finding of these fragments of glass in the
+bedroom establishes a considerable probability that Mr. Weiss was, at
+some time, in the chambers at New Inn.
+
+"And now let us gather up the threads of this part of the argument. We
+are inquiring into the identity of the man Weiss. Who was he?
+
+"In the first place, we find him committing a secret crime from which
+John Blackmore alone will benefit. This suggests the <i>prima-facie</i>
+probability that he was John Blackmore.
+
+"Then we find that he was a man of normal eyesight who was wearing
+spectacles for the purpose of disguise. But the tenant of New Inn, whom
+we have seen to be, almost certainly, John Blackmore--and whom we will,
+for the present, assume to have been John Blackmore--was a man with
+normal eyesight who wore spectacles for disguise.
+
+"John Blackmore did not reside at New Inn, but at some place within
+easy reach of it. But Weiss resided at a place within easy reach of New
+Inn.
+
+"John Blackmore must have had possession and control of the person of
+Jeffrey. But Weiss had possession and control of the person of Jeffrey.
+
+"Weiss wore spectacles of a certain peculiar and probably unique
+character. But portions of such spectacles were found in the chambers at
+New Inn.
+
+"The overwhelming probability, therefore, is that Weiss and the tenant
+of New Inn were one and the same person; and that that person was John
+Blackmore."
+
+"That," said Mr. Winwood, "is a very plausible argument. But, you
+observe, sir, that it contains an undistributed middle term."
+
+Thorndyke smiled genially. I think he forgave Winwood everything for
+that remark.
+
+"You are quite right, sir," he said. "It does. And, for that reason, the
+demonstration is not absolute. But we must not forget, what logicians
+seem occasionally to overlook: that the 'undistributed middle,' while it
+interferes with absolute proof, may be quite consistent with a degree of
+probability that approaches very near to certainty. Both the Bertillon
+system and the English fingerprint system involve a process of reasoning
+in which the middle term is undistributed. But the great probabilities
+are accepted in practice as equivalent to certainties."
+
+Mr. Winwood grunted a grudging assent, and Thorndyke resumed:
+
+"We have now furnished fairly conclusive evidence on three heads: we
+have proved that the sick man, Graves, was Jeffrey Blackmore; that the
+tenant of New Inn was John Blackmore; and that the man Weiss was also
+John Blackmore. We now have to prove that John and Jeffrey were together
+in the chambers at New Inn on the night of Jeffrey's death.
+
+"We know that two persons, and two persons only, came from Kennington
+Lane to New Inn. But one of those persons was the tenant of New
+Inn--that is, John Blackmore. Who was the other? Jeffrey is known by us
+to have been at Kennington Lane. His body was found on the following
+morning in the room at New Inn. No third person is known to have come
+from Kennington Lane; no third person is known to have arrived at New
+Inn. The inference, by exclusion, is that the second person--the
+woman--was Jeffrey.
+
+"Again; Jeffrey had to be brought from Kennington to the inn by John.
+But John was personating Jeffrey and was made up to resemble him very
+closely. If Jeffrey were undisguised the two men would be almost exactly
+alike; which would be very noticeable in any case and suspicious after
+the death of one of them. Therefore Jeffrey would have to be disguised
+in some way; and what disguise could be simpler and more effective than
+the one that I suggest was used?
+
+"Again; it was unavoidable that some one--the cabman--should know that
+Jeffrey was not alone when he came to the inn that night. If the fact
+had leaked out and it had become known that a man had accompanied him to
+his chambers, some suspicion might have arisen, and that suspicion would
+have pointed to John, who was directly interested in his brother's
+death. But if it had transpired that Jeffrey was accompanied by a woman,
+there would have been less suspicion, and that suspicion would not have
+pointed to John Blackmore.
+
+"Thus all the general probabilities are in favour of the hypothesis that
+this woman was Jeffrey Blackmore. There is, however, an item of positive
+evidence that strongly supports this view. When I examined the clothing
+of the deceased, I found on the trousers a horizontal crease on each leg
+as if the trousers had been turned up half-way to the knees. This
+appearance is quite understandable if we suppose that the trousers were
+worn under a skirt and were turned up so that they should not be
+accidentally seen. Otherwise it is quite incomprehensible."
+
+"Is it not rather strange," said Marchmont, "that Jeffrey should have
+allowed himself to be dressed up in this remarkable manner?"
+
+"I think not," replied Thorndyke. "There is no reason to suppose that he
+knew how he was dressed. You have heard Jervis's description of his
+condition; that of a mere automaton. You know that without his
+spectacles he was practically blind, and that he could not have worn
+them since we found them at the house in Kennington Lane. Probably his
+head was wrapped up in the veil, and the skirt and mantle put on
+afterwards; but, in any case, his condition rendered him practically
+devoid of will power. That is all the evidence I have to prove that the
+unknown woman was Jeffrey. It is not conclusive but it is convincing
+enough for our purpose, seeing that the case against John Blackmore does
+not depend upon it."
+
+"Your case against him is on the charge of murder, I presume?" said
+Stephen.
+
+"Undoubtedly. And you will notice that the statements made by the
+supposed Jeffrey to the porter, hinting at suicide, are now important
+evidence. By the light of what we know, the announcement of intended
+suicide becomes the announcement of intended murder. It conclusively
+disproves what it was intended to prove; that Jeffrey died by his own
+hand."
+
+"Yes, I see that," said Stephen, and then after a pause he asked: "Did
+you identify Mrs. Schallibaum? You have told us nothing about her."
+
+"I have considered her as being outside the case as far as I am
+concerned," replied Thorndyke. "She was an accessory; my business was
+with the principal. But, of course, she will be swept up in the net. The
+evidence that convicts John Blackmore will convict her. I have not
+troubled about her identity. If John Blackmore is married, she is
+probably his wife. Do you happen to know if he is married?"
+
+"Yes; but Mrs. John Blackmore is not much like Mrs. Schallibaum,
+excepting that she has a cast in the left eye. She is a dark woman with
+very heavy eyebrows."
+
+"That is to say that she differs from Mrs. Schallibaum in those
+peculiarities that can be artificially changed and resembles her in the
+one feature that is unchangeable. Do you know if her Christian name
+happens to be Pauline?"
+
+"Yes, it is. She was a Miss Pauline Hagenbeck, a member of an American
+theatrical company. What made you ask?"
+
+"The name which Jervis heard poor Jeffrey struggling to pronounce seemed
+to me to resemble Pauline more than any other name."
+
+"There is one little point that strikes me," said Marchmont. "Is it not
+rather remarkable that the porter should have noticed no difference
+between the body of Jeffrey and the living man whom he knew by sight,
+and who must, after all, have been distinctly different in appearance?"
+
+"I am glad you raised that question," Thorndyke replied, "for that very
+difficulty presented itself to me at the beginning of the case. But on
+thinking it over, I decided that it was an imaginary difficulty,
+assuming, as we do, that there was a good deal of resemblance between
+the two men. Put yourself in the porter's place and follow his mental
+processes. He is informed that a dead man is lying on the bed in Mr.
+Blackmore's rooms. Naturally, he assumes that the dead man is Mr.
+Blackmore--who, by the way, had hinted at suicide only the night before.
+With this idea he enters the chambers and sees a man a good deal like
+Mr. Blackmore and wearing Mr. Blackmore's clothes, lying on Mr.
+Blackmore's bed. The idea that the body could be that of some other
+person has never entered his mind. If he notes any difference of
+appearance he will put that down to the effects of death; for every one
+knows that a man dead looks somewhat different from the same man alive.
+I take it as evidence of great acuteness on the part of John Blackmore
+that he should have calculated so cleverly, not only the mental process
+of the porter, but the erroneous reasoning which every one would base on
+the porter's conclusions. For, since the body was actually Jeffrey's,
+and was identified by the porter as that of his tenant, it has been
+assumed by every one that no question was possible as to the identity of
+Jeffrey Blackmore and the tenant of New Inn."
+
+There was a brief silence, and then Marchmont asked:
+
+"May we take it that we have now heard all the evidence?"
+
+"Yes," replied Thorndyke. "That is my case."
+
+"Have you given information to the police?" Stephen asked eagerly.
+
+"Yes. As soon as I had obtained the statement of the cabman, Ridley, and
+felt that I had enough evidence to secure a conviction, I called at
+Scotland Yard and had an interview with the Assistant Commissioner. The
+case is in the hands of Superintendent Miller of the Criminal
+Investigation Department, a most acute and energetic officer. I have
+been expecting to hear that the warrant has been executed, for Mr.
+Miller is usually very punctilious in keeping me informed of the
+progress of the cases to which I introduce him. We shall hear to-morrow,
+no doubt."
+
+"And, for the present," said Marchmont, "the case seems to have passed
+out of our hands."
+
+"I shall enter a caveat, all the same," said Mr. Winwood.
+
+"That doesn't seem very necessary," Marchmont objected. "The evidence
+that we have heard is amply sufficient to ensure a conviction and there
+will be plenty more when the police go into the case. And a conviction
+on the charges of forgery and murder would, of course, invalidate the
+second will."
+
+"I shall enter a caveat, all the same," repeated Mr. Winwood.
+
+As the two partners showed a disposition to become heated over this
+question, Thorndyke suggested that they might discuss it at leisure by
+the light of subsequent events. Acting on this hint--for it was now
+close upon midnight--our visitors prepared to depart; and were, in fact,
+just making their way towards the door when the bell rang. Thorndyke
+flung open the door, and, as he recognized his visitor, greeted him with
+evident satisfaction.
+
+"Ha! Mr. Miller; we were just speaking of you. These gentlemen are Mr.
+Stephen Blackmore and his solicitors, Mr. Marchmont and Mr. Winwood. You
+know Dr. Jervis, I think."
+
+The officer bowed to our friends and remarked:
+
+"I am just in time, it seems. A few minutes more and I should have
+missed these gentlemen. I don't know what you'll think of my news."
+
+"You haven't let that villain escape, I hope," Stephen exclaimed.
+
+"Well," said the Superintendent, "he is out of my hands and yours too;
+and so is the woman. Perhaps I had better tell you what has happened."
+
+"If you would be so kind," said Thorndyke, motioning the officer to a
+chair.
+
+The superintendent seated himself with the manner of a man who has had a
+long and strenuous day, and forthwith began his story.
+
+"As soon as we had your information, we procured a warrant for the
+arrest of both parties, and then I went straight to their flat with
+Inspector Badger and a sergeant. There we learned from the attendant
+that they were away from home and were not expected back until to-day
+about noon. We kept a watch on the premises, and this morning, about the
+time appointed, a man and a woman, answering to the description, arrived
+at the flat. We followed them in and saw them enter the lift, and we
+were going to get into the lift too, when the man pulled the rope, and
+away they went. There was nothing for us to do but run up the stairs,
+which we did as fast as we could race; but they got to their landing
+first, and we were only just in time to see them nip in and shut the
+door. However, it seemed that we had them safe enough, for there was no
+dropping out of the windows at that height; so we sent the sergeant to
+get a locksmith to pick the lock or force the door, while we kept on
+ringing the bell.
+
+"About three minutes after the sergeant left, I happened to look out of
+the landing window and saw a hansom pull up opposite the flats. I put my
+head out of the window, and, hang me if I didn't see our two friends
+getting into the cab. It seems that there was a small lift inside the
+flat communicating with the kitchen, and they had slipped down it one at
+a time.
+
+"Well, of course, we raced down the stairs like acrobats, but by the
+time we got to the bottom the cab was off with a fine start. We ran out
+into Victoria Street, and there we could see it half-way down the street
+and going like a chariot race. We managed to pick up another hansom and
+told the cabby to keep the other one in sight, and away we went like the
+very deuce; along Victoria Street and Broad Sanctuary, across Parliament
+Square, over Westminster Bridge and along York Road; we kept the other
+beggar in sight, but we couldn't gain an inch on him. Then we turned
+into Waterloo Station, and, as we were driving up the slope we met
+another hansom coming down; and when the cabby kissed his hand and
+smiled at us, we guessed that he was the sportsman we had been
+following.
+
+"But there was no time to ask questions. It is an awkward station with a
+lot of different exits, and it looked a good deal as if our quarry had
+got away. However, I took a chance. I remembered that the Southampton
+express was due to start about this time, and I took a short cut across
+the lines and made for the platform that it starts from. Just as Badger
+and I got to the end, about thirty yards from the rear of the train, we
+saw a man and a woman running in front of us. Then the guard blew his
+whistle and the train began to move. The man and the woman managed to
+scramble into one of the rear compartments and Badger and I raced up the
+platform like mad. A porter tried to head us off, but Badger capsized
+him and we both sprinted harder than ever, and just hopped on the
+foot-board of the guard's van as the train began to get up speed. The
+guard couldn't risk putting us off, so he had to let us into his van,
+which suited us exactly, as we could watch the train on both sides from
+the look-out. And we did watch, I can tell you; for our friend in front
+had seen us. His head was out of the window as we climbed on to the
+foot-board.
+
+"However, nothing happened until we stopped at Southampton West. There,
+I need not say, we lost no time in hopping out, for we naturally
+expected our friends to make a rush for the exit. But they didn't.
+Badger watched the platform, and I kept a look-out to see that they
+didn't slip away across the line from the off-side. But still there was
+no sign of them. Then I walked up the train to the compartment which I
+had seen them enter. And there they were, apparently fast asleep in the
+corner by the off-side window, the man leaning back with his mouth open
+and the woman resting against him with her head on his shoulder. She
+gave me quite a turn when I went in to look at them, for she had her
+eyes half-closed and seemed to be looking round at me with a most
+horrible expression; but I found afterwards that the peculiar appearance
+of looking round was due to the cast in her eye."
+
+"They were dead, I suppose?" said Thorndyke.
+
+"Yes, sir. Stone dead; and I found these on the floor of the carriage."
+
+He held up two tiny yellow glass tubes, each labelled "Hypodermic
+tabloids. Aconitine Nitrate gr. 1/640."
+
+"Ha!" exclaimed Thorndyke, "this fellow was well up in alkaloidal
+poisons, it seems; and they appear to have gone about prepared for
+emergencies. These tubes each contained twenty tabloids, a thirty-second
+of a grain altogether, so we may assume that about twelve times the
+medicinal dose was swallowed. Death must have occurred in a few minutes,
+and a merciful death too."
+
+"A more merciful death than they deserved," exclaimed Stephen, "when one
+thinks of the misery and suffering that they inflicted on poor old uncle
+Jeffrey. I would sooner have had them hanged."
+
+"It's better as it is, sir," said Miller. "There is no need, now, to
+raise any questions in detail at the inquest. The publicity of a trial
+for murder would have been very unpleasant for you. I wish Dr. Jervis
+had given the tip to me instead of to that confounded,
+over-cautious--but there, I mustn't run down my brother officers: and
+it's easy to be wise after the event.
+
+"Good night, gentlemen. I suppose this accident disposes of your
+business as far as the will is concerned?"
+
+"I suppose it does," agreed Mr. Winwood. "But I shall enter a caveat,
+all the same."
+
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
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+<meta http-equiv="Content-Type"
+    content="text/html; charset=us-ascii">
+<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of
+    The Mystery of 31 New inn,
+    by  R. Austin Freeman.
+</title>
+<style type="text/css">
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+<pre>
+
+Project Gutenberg's The Mystery of 31 New Inn, by R. Austin Freeman
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Mystery of 31 New Inn
+
+Author: R. Austin Freeman
+
+Release Date: April 28, 2004 [EBook #12187]
+Last updated: February 3, 2011
+Last updated: November 25, 1012
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MYSTERY OF 31 NEW INN ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Steven desJardins and Distributed Proofreaders
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h1>THE MYSTERY OF 31 NEW INN</h1>
+<h2>BY R. AUSTIN FREEMAN </h2>
+<h4>
+Author of "The Red Thumb Mark,"
+"The Eye of Osiris," etc.
+</h4>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<a name="RULE4_1"><!-- RULE4 1 --></a>
+<h3>
+	TO MY FRIEND
+</h3>
+<h3>
+BERNARD E. BISHOP
+</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="PRF"><!-- PRF --></a>
+<h2>
+	Preface
+</h2>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>
+Commenting upon one of my earlier novels, in respect of which I had
+claimed to have been careful to adhere to common probabilities and to
+have made use only of really practicable methods of investigation, a
+critic remarked that this was of no consequence whatever, so long as the
+story was amusing.
+</p>
+<p>
+Few people, I imagine, will agree with him. To most readers, and
+certainly to the kind of reader for whom an author is willing to take
+trouble, complete realism in respect of incidents and methods is an
+essential factor in maintaining the interest of a detective story. Hence
+it may be worth while to mention that Thorndyke's method of producing
+the track chart, described in Chapters II and III, has been actually
+used in practice. It is a modification of one devised by me many years
+ago when I was crossing Ashanti to the city of Bontuku, the whereabouts
+of which in the far interior was then only vaguely known. My
+instructions were to fix the positions of all towns, villages, rivers
+and mountains as accurately as possible; but finding ordinary methods of
+surveying impracticable in the dense forest which covers the whole
+region, I adopted this simple and apparently rude method, checking the
+distances whenever possible by astronomical observation.
+</p>
+<p>
+The resulting route-map was surprisingly accurate, as shown by the
+agreement of the outward and homeward tracks, It was published by the
+Royal Geographical Society, and incorporated in the map of this region
+compiled by the Intelligence Branch of the War Office, and it formed the
+basis of the map which accompanied my volume of <i>Travels in Ashanti and
+Jaman</i>. So that Thorndyke's plan must be taken as quite a practicable
+one.
+</p>
+<p>
+New Inn, the background of this story, and one of the last surviving
+inns of Chancery, has recently passed away after upwards of four
+centuries of newness. Even now, however, a few of the old, dismantled
+houses (including perhaps, the mysterious 31) may be seen from the
+Strand peeping over the iron roof of the skating rink which has
+displaced the picturesque hall, the pension-room and the garden. The
+postern gate, too, in Houghton Street still remains, though the arch is
+bricked up inside. Passing it lately, I made the rough sketch which
+appears on next page, and which shows all that is left of this pleasant
+old London backwater.
+</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<center>
+R. A. F.
+</center>
+<center>
+GRAVESEND
+</center>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="image-1"><!-- Image 1 --></a>
+<center>
+<img src="newinn.png" width="25%"
+alt="New inn">
+</center>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<hr>
+
+<a name="TOC"><!-- TOC --></a>
+<h2>
+	Contents
+</h2>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER I&mdash;<a href="#CH1">THE MYSTERIOUS PATIENT</a></h3>
+<h3>CHAPTER II&mdash;<a href="#CH2">THORNDYKE DEVISES A SCHEME</a></h3>
+<h3>CHAPTER III&mdash;<a href="#CH3">"A CHIEL'S AMANG YE TAKIN' NOTES"</a></h3>
+<h3>CHAPTER IV&mdash;<a href="#CH4">THE OFFICIAL VIEW</a></h3>
+<h3>CHAPTER V&mdash;<a href="#CH5">JEFFREY BLACKMORE'S WILL</a></h3>
+<h3>CHAPTER VI&mdash;<a href="#CH6">JEFFREY BLACKMORE, DECEASED</a></h3>
+<h3>CHAPTER VII&mdash;<a href="#CH7">THE CUNEIFORM INSCRIPTION</a></h3>
+<h3>CHAPTER VIII&mdash;<a href="#CH8">THE TRACK CHART</a></h3>
+<h3>CHAPTER IX&mdash;<a href="#CH9">THE HOUSE OF MYSTERY</a></h3>
+<h3>CHAPTER X&mdash;<a href="#CH10">THE HUNTER HUNTED</a></h3>
+<h3>CHAPTER XI&mdash;<a href="#CH11">THE BLACKMORE CASE REVIEWED</a></h3>
+<h3>CHAPTER XII&mdash;<a href="#CH12">THE PORTRAIT</a></h3>
+<h3>CHAPTER XIII&mdash;<a href="#CH13">THE STATEMENT OF SAMUEL WILKINS</a></h3>
+<h3>CHAPTER XIV&mdash;<a href="#CH14">THORNDYKE LAYS THE MINE</a></h3>
+<h3>CHAPTER XV&mdash;<a href="#CH15">THORNDYKE EXPLODES THE MINE</a></h3>
+<h3>CHAPTER XVI&mdash;<a href="#CH16">AN EXPOSITION AND A TRAGEDY</a></h3>
+<hr>
+<h2>Illustrations</h2>
+<h3>1. <a href="#image-1">New inn</a></h3>
+<h3>2. <a href="#image-2">The inverted inscription</a></h3>
+<h3>3. <a href="#image-3">The Track Chart, Showing the Route Followed by Weiss's Carriage</a></h3>
+<hr>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="CH1"><!-- CH1 --></a>
+<h2>
+	Chapter I
+</h2>
+
+<h3>
+The Mysterious Patient
+</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>
+As I look back through the years of my association with John Thorndyke,
+I am able to recall a wealth of adventures and strange experiences such
+as falls to the lot of very few men who pass their lives within hearing
+of Big Ben. Many of these experiences I have already placed on record;
+but it now occurs to me that I have hitherto left unrecorded one that
+is, perhaps, the most astonishing and incredible of the whole series; an
+adventure, too, that has for me the added interest that it inaugurated
+my permanent association with my learned and talented friend, and marked
+the close of a rather unhappy and unprosperous period of my life.
+</p>
+<p>
+Memory, retracing the journey through the passing years to the
+starting-point of those strange events, lands me in a shabby little
+ground-floor room in a house near the Walworth end of Lower Kennington
+Lane. A couple of framed diplomas on the wall, a card of Snellen's
+test-types and a stethoscope lying on the writing-table, proclaim it a
+doctor's consulting-room; and my own position in the round-backed chair
+at the said table, proclaims me the practitioner in charge.
+</p>
+<p>
+It was nearly nine o'clock. The noisy little clock on the mantelpiece
+announced the fact, and, by its frantic ticking, seemed as anxious as I
+to get the consultation hours over. I glanced wistfully at my
+mud-splashed boots and wondered if I might yet venture to assume the
+slippers that peeped coyly from under the shabby sofa. I even allowed my
+thoughts to wander to the pipe that reposed in my coat pocket. Another
+minute and I could turn down the surgery gas and shut the outer door.
+The fussy little clock gave a sort of preliminary cough or hiccup, as if
+it should say: "Ahem! ladies and gentlemen, I am about to strike." And
+at that moment, the bottle-boy opened the door and, thrusting in his
+<a name="note-word"><!-- Note Anchor word --></a>head, uttered the one word: "Gentleman."
+</p>
+<p>
+Extreme economy of words is apt to result in ambiguity. But I
+understood. In Kennington Lane, the race of mere men and women appeared
+to be extinct. They were all gentlemen&mdash;unless they were ladies or
+children&mdash;even as the Liberian army was said to consist entirely of
+generals. Sweeps, labourers, milkmen, costermongers&mdash;all were
+impartially invested by the democratic bottle-boy with the rank and
+title of <i>armigeri</i>. The present nobleman appeared to favour the
+aristocratic recreation of driving a cab or job-master's carriage, and,
+as he entered the room, he touched his hat, closed the door somewhat
+carefully, and then, without remark, handed me a note which bore the
+superscription "Dr. Stillbury."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You understand," I said, as I prepared to open the envelope, "that I
+am not Dr. Stillbury. He is away at present and I am looking after his
+patients."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It doesn't signify," the man replied. "You'll do as well."
+</p>
+<p>
+On this, I opened the envelope and read the note, which was quite brief,
+and, at first sight, in no way remarkable.
+</p>
+<p>
+"DEAR SIR," it ran, "Would you kindly come and see a friend of mine who
+is staying with me? The bearer of this will give you further particulars
+and convey you to the house. Yours truly, H. WEISS."
+</p>
+<p>
+There was no address on the paper and no date, and the writer was
+unknown to me.
+</p>
+<p>
+"This note," I said, "refers to some further particulars. What are
+they?"
+</p>
+<p>
+The messenger passed his hand over his hair with a gesture of
+embarrassment. "It's a ridicklus affair," he said, with a contemptuous
+laugh. "If I had been Mr. Weiss, I wouldn't have had nothing to do with
+it. The sick gentleman, Mr. Graves, is one of them people what can't
+abear doctors. He's been ailing now for a week or two, but nothing would
+induce him to see a doctor. Mr. Weiss did everything he could to
+persuade him, but it was no go. He wouldn't. However, it seems Mr. Weiss
+threatened to send for a medical man on his own account, because, you
+see, he was getting a bit nervous; and then Mr. Graves gave way. But
+only on one condition. He said the doctor was to come from a distance
+and was not to be told who he was or where he lived or anything about
+him; and he made Mr. Weiss promise to keep to that condition before he'd
+let him send. So Mr. Weiss promised, and, of course, he's got to keep
+his word."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But," I said, with a smile, "you've just told me his name&mdash;if his name
+really is Graves."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You can form your own opinion on that," said the coachman.
+</p>
+<p>
+"And," I added, "as to not being told where he lives, I can see that for
+myself. I'm not blind, you know."
+</p>
+<p>
+"We'll take the risk of what you see," the man replied. "The question
+is, will you take the job on?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Yes; that was the question, and I considered it for some time before
+replying. We medical men are pretty familiar with the kind of person who
+"can't abear doctors," and we like to have as little to do with him as
+possible. He is a thankless and unsatisfactory patient. Intercourse with
+him is unpleasant, he gives a great deal of trouble and responds badly
+to treatment. If this had been my own practice, I should have declined
+the case off-hand. But it was not my practice. I was only a deputy. I
+could not lightly refuse work which would yield a profit to my
+principal, unpleasant though it might be.
+</p>
+<p>
+As I turned the matter over in my mind, I half unconsciously scrutinized
+my visitor&mdash;somewhat to his embarrassment&mdash;and I liked his appearance
+as little as I liked his mission. He kept his station near the door,
+where the light was dim&mdash;for the illumination was concentrated on the
+table and the patient's chair&mdash;but I could see that he had a somewhat
+sly, unprepossessing face and a greasy, red moustache that seemed out of
+character with his rather perfunctory livery; though this was mere
+prejudice. He wore a wig, too&mdash;not that there was anything discreditable
+in that&mdash;and the thumb-nail of the hand that held his hat bore
+disfiguring traces of some injury&mdash;which, again, though unsightly, in no
+wise reflected on his moral character. Lastly, he watched me keenly with
+a mixture of anxiety and sly complacency that I found distinctly
+unpleasant. In a general way, he impressed me disagreeably. I did not
+like the look of him at all; but nevertheless I decided to undertake the
+case.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I suppose," I answered, at length, "it is no affair of mine who the
+patient is or where he lives. But how do you propose to manage the
+business? Am I to be led to the house blindfolded, like the visitor to
+the bandit's cave?"
+</p>
+<p>
+The man grinned slightly and looked very decidedly relieved.
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, sir," he answered; "we ain't going to blindfold you. I've got a
+carriage outside. I don't think you'll see much out of that."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Very well," I rejoined, opening the door to let him out, "I'll be with
+you in a minute. I suppose you can't give me any idea as to what is the
+matter with the patient?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, sir, I can't," he replied; and he went out to see to the carriage.
+</p>
+<p>
+I slipped into a bag an assortment of emergency drugs and a few
+diagnostic instruments, turned down the gas and passed out through the
+surgery. The carriage was standing at the kerb, guarded by the coachman
+and watched with deep interest by the bottle-boy. I viewed it with
+mingled curiosity and disfavour. It was a kind of large brougham, such
+as is used by some commercial travellers, the usual glass windows being
+replaced by wooden shutters intended to conceal the piles of
+sample-boxes, and the doors capable of being locked from outside with a
+railway key.
+</p>
+<p>
+As I emerged from the house, the coachman unlocked the door and held it
+open.
+</p>
+<p>
+"How long will the journey take?" I asked, pausing with my foot on the
+step.
+</p>
+<p>
+The coachman considered a moment or two and replied:
+</p>
+<p>
+"It took me, I should say, nigh upon half an hour to get here."
+</p>
+<p>
+This was pleasant hearing. A half an hour each way and a half an hour at
+the patient's house. At that rate it would be half-past ten before I was
+home again, and then it was quite probable that I should find some other
+untimely messenger waiting on the doorstep. With a muttered anathema on
+the unknown Mr. Graves and the unrestful life of a locum tenens, I
+stepped into the uninviting vehicle. Instantly the coachman slammed the
+door and turned the key, leaving me in total darkness.
+</p>
+<p>
+One comfort was left to me; my pipe was in my pocket. I made shift to
+load it in the dark, and, having lit it with a wax match, took the
+opportunity to inspect the interior of my prison. It was a shabby
+affair. The moth-eaten state of the blue cloth cushions seemed to
+suggest that it had been long out of regular use; the oil-cloth
+floor-covering was worn into holes; ordinary internal fittings there
+were none. But the appearances suggested that the crazy vehicle had been
+prepared with considerable forethought for its present use. The inside
+handles of the doors had apparently been removed; the wooden shutters
+were permanently fixed in their places; and a paper label, stuck on the
+transom below each window, had a suspicious appearance of having been
+put there to cover the painted name and address of the job-master or
+livery-stable keeper who had originally owned the carriage.
+</p>
+<p>
+These observations gave me abundant food for reflection. This Mr. Weiss
+must be an excessively conscientious man if he had considered that his
+promise to Mr. Graves committed him to such extraordinary precautions.
+Evidently no mere following of the letter of the law was enough to
+satisfy his sensitive conscience. Unless he had reasons for sharing Mr.
+Graves's unreasonable desire for secrecy&mdash;for one could not suppose that
+these measures of concealment had been taken by the patient himself.
+</p>
+<p>
+The further suggestions that evolved themselves from this consideration
+were a little disquieting. Whither was I being carried and for what
+purpose? The idea that I was bound for some den of thieves where I
+might be robbed and possibly murdered, I dismissed with a smile. Thieves
+do not make elaborately concerted plans to rob poor devils like me.
+Poverty has its compensations in that respect. But there were other
+possibilities. Imagination backed by experience had no difficulty in
+conjuring up a number of situations in which a medical man might be
+called upon, with or without coercion, either to witness or actively to
+participate in the commission of some unlawful act.
+</p>
+<p>
+Reflections of this kind occupied me pretty actively if not very
+agreeably during this strange journey. And the monotony was relieved,
+too, by other distractions. I was, for example, greatly interested to
+notice how, when one sense is in abeyance, the other senses rouse into a
+compensating intensity of perception. I sat smoking my pipe in darkness
+which was absolute save for the dim glow from the smouldering tobacco in
+the bowl, and seemed to be cut off from all knowledge of the world
+without. But yet I was not. The vibrations of the carriage, with its
+hard springs and iron-tired wheels, registered accurately and plainly
+the character of the roadway. The harsh rattle of granite setts, the
+soft bumpiness of macadam, the smooth rumble of wood-pavement, the
+jarring and swerving of crossed tram-lines; all were easily recognizable
+and together sketched the general features of the neighbourhood through
+which I was passing. And the sense of hearing filled in the details. Now
+the hoot of a tug's whistle told of proximity to the river. A sudden
+and brief hollow reverberation announced the passage under a railway
+arch (which, by the way, happened several times during the journey);
+and, when I heard the familiar whistle of a railway-guard followed by
+the quick snorts of a skidding locomotive, I had as clear a picture of a
+heavy passenger-train moving out of a station as if I had seen it in
+broad daylight.
+</p>
+<p>
+I had just finished my pipe and knocked out the ashes on the heel of my
+boot, when the carriage slowed down and entered a covered way&mdash;as I
+could tell by the hollow echoes. Then I distinguished the clang of heavy
+wooden gates closed behind me, and a moment or two later the carriage
+door was unlocked and opened. I stepped out blinking into a covered
+passage paved with cobbles and apparently leading down to a mews; but it
+was all in darkness, and I had no time to make any detailed
+observations, as the carriage had drawn up opposite a side door which
+was open and in which stood a woman holding a lighted candle.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Is that the doctor?" she asked, speaking with a rather pronounced
+German accent and shading the candle with her hand as she peered at me.
+</p>
+<p>
+I answered in the affirmative, and she then exclaimed:
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am glad you have come. Mr. Weiss will be so relieved. Come in,
+please."
+</p>
+<p>
+I followed her across a dark passage into a dark room, where she set the
+candle down on a chest of drawers and turned to depart. At the door,
+however, she paused and looked back.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is not a very nice room to ask you into," she said. "We are very
+untidy just now, but you must excuse us. We have had so much anxiety
+about poor Mr. Graves."
+</p>
+<p>
+"He has been ill some time, then?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes. Some little time. At intervals, you know. Sometimes better,
+sometimes not so well."
+</p>
+<p>
+As she spoke, she gradually backed out into the passage but did not go
+away at once. I accordingly pursued my inquiries.
+</p>
+<p>
+"He has not been seen by any doctor, has he?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No," she answered, "he has always refused to see a doctor. That has
+been a great trouble to us. Mr. Weiss has been very anxious about him.
+He will be so glad to hear that you have come. I had better go and tell
+him. Perhaps you will kindly sit down until he is able to come to you,"
+and with this she departed on her mission.
+</p>
+<p>
+It struck me as a little odd that, considering his anxiety and the
+apparent urgency of the case, Mr. Weiss should not have been waiting to
+receive me. And when several minutes elapsed without his appearing, the
+oddness of the circumstance impressed me still more. Having no desire,
+after the journey in the carriage, to sit down, I whiled away the time
+by an inspection of the room. And a very curious room it was; bare,
+dirty, neglected and, apparently, unused. A faded carpet had been flung
+untidily on the floor. A small, shabby table stood in the middle of the
+room; and beyond this, three horsehair-covered chairs and a chest of
+drawers formed the entire set of furniture. No pictures hung on the
+mouldy walls, no curtains covered the shuttered windows, and the dark
+drapery of cobwebs that hung from the ceiling to commemorate a long and
+illustrious dynasty of spiders hinted at months of neglect and disuse.
+</p>
+<p>
+The chest of drawers&mdash;an incongruous article of furniture for what
+seemed to be a dining-room&mdash;as being the nearest and best lighted object
+received most of my attention. It was a fine old chest of nearly black
+mahogany, very battered and in the last stage of decay, but originally a
+piece of some pretensions. Regretful of its fallen estate, I looked it
+over with some interest and had just observed on its lower corner a
+little label bearing the printed inscription "Lot 201" when I heard
+footsteps descending the stairs. A moment later the door opened and a
+shadowy figure appeared standing close by the threshold.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Good evening, doctor," said the stranger, in a deep, quiet voice and
+with a distinct, though not strong, German accent. "I must apologize for
+keeping you waiting."
+</p>
+<p>
+I acknowledged the apology somewhat stiffly and asked: "You are Mr.
+Weiss, I presume?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, I am Mr. Weiss. It is very good of you to come so far and so late
+at night and to make no objection to the absurd conditions that my poor
+friend has imposed."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not at all," I replied. "It is my business to go when and where I am
+wanted, and it is not my business to inquire into the private affairs of
+my patients."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is very true, sir," he agreed cordially, "and I am much obliged
+to you for taking that very proper view of the case. I pointed that out
+to my friend, but he is not a very reasonable man. He is very secretive
+and rather suspicious by nature."
+</p>
+<p>
+"So I inferred. And as to his condition; is he seriously ill?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Ah," said Mr. Weiss, "that is what I want you to tell me. I am very
+much puzzled about him."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But what is the nature of his illness? What does he complain of?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"He makes very few complaints of any kind although he is obviously ill.
+But the fact is that he is hardly ever more than half awake. He lies in
+a kind of dreamy stupor from morning to night."
+</p>
+<p>
+This struck me as excessively strange and by no means in agreement with
+the patient's energetic refusal to see a doctor.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But," I asked, "does he never rouse completely?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, yes," Mr. Weiss answered quickly; "he rouses from time to time and
+is then quite rational, and, as you may have gathered, rather obstinate.
+That is the peculiar and puzzling feature in the case; this alternation
+between a state of stupor and an almost normal and healthy condition.
+But perhaps you had better see him and judge for yourself. He had a
+rather severe attack just now. Follow me, please. The stairs are rather
+dark."
+</p>
+<p>
+The stairs were very dark, and I noticed that they were without any
+covering of carpet, or even oil-cloth, so that our footsteps resounded
+dismally as if we were in an empty house. I stumbled up after my guide,
+feeling my way by the hand-rail, and on the first floor followed him
+into a room similar in size to the one below and very barely furnished,
+though less squalid than the other. A single candle at the farther end
+threw its feeble light on a figure in the bed, leaving the rest of the
+room in a dim twilight.
+</p>
+<p>
+As Mr. Weiss tiptoed into the chamber, a woman&mdash;the one who had spoken
+to me below&mdash;rose from a chair by the bedside and quietly left the room
+by a second door. My conductor halted, and looking fixedly at the figure
+in the bed, called out:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Philip! Philip! Here is the doctor come to see you."
+</p>
+<p>
+He paused for a moment or two, and, receiving no answer, said: "He seems
+to be dozing as usual. Will you go and see what you can make of him?"
+</p>
+<p>
+I stepped forward to the bedside, leaving Mr. Weiss at the end of the
+room near the door by which we had entered, where he remained, slowly
+and noiselessly pacing backwards and forwards in the semi-obscurity. By
+the light of the candle I saw an elderly man with good features and a
+refined, intelligent and even attractive face, but dreadfully emaciated,
+bloodless and sallow. He lay quite motionless except for the scarcely
+perceptible rise and fall of his chest; his eyes were nearly closed, his
+features relaxed, and, though he was not actually asleep, he seemed to
+be in a dreamy, somnolent, lethargic state, as if under the influence of
+some narcotic.
+</p>
+<p>
+I watched him for a minute or so, timing his slow breathing by my
+watch, and then suddenly and sharply addressed him by name; but the only
+response was a slight lifting of the eyelids, which, after a brief,
+drowsy glance at me, slowly subsided to their former position.
+</p>
+<p>
+I now proceeded to make a physical examination. First, I felt his pulse,
+grasping his wrist with intentional brusqueness in the hope of rousing
+him from his stupor. The beats were slow, feeble and slightly irregular,
+giving clear evidence, if any were needed, of his generally lowered
+vitality. I listened carefully to his heart, the sounds of which were
+very distinct through the thin walls of his emaciated chest, but found
+nothing abnormal beyond the feebleness and uncertainty of its action.
+Then I turned my attention to his eyes, which I examined closely with
+the aid of the candle and my ophthalmoscope lens, raising the lids
+somewhat roughly so as to expose the whole of the irises. He submitted
+without resistance to my rather ungentle handling of these sensitive
+structures, and showed no signs of discomfort even when I brought the
+candle-flame to within a couple of inches of his eyes.
+</p>
+<p>
+But this extraordinary tolerance of light was easily explained by closer
+examination; for the pupils were contracted to such an extreme degree
+that only the very minutest point of black was visible at the centre of
+the grey iris. Nor was this the only abnormal peculiarity of the sick
+man's eyes. As he lay on his back, the right iris sagged down slightly
+towards its centre, showing a distinctly concave surface; and, when I
+contrived to produce a slight but quick movement of the eyeball, a
+perceptible undulatory movement could be detected. The patient had, in
+fact, what is known as a tremulous iris, a condition that is seen in
+cases where the crystalline lens has been extracted for the cure of
+cataract, or where it has become accidentally displaced, leaving the
+iris unsupported. In the present case, the complete condition of the
+iris made it clear that the ordinary extraction operation had not been
+performed, nor was I able, on the closest inspection with the aid of my
+lens, to find any trace of the less common "needle operation." The
+inference was that the patient had suffered from the accident known as
+"dislocation of the lens"; and this led to the further inference that he
+was almost or completely blind in the right eye.
+</p>
+<p>
+This conclusion was, indeed, to some extent negatived by a deep
+indentation on the bridge of the nose, evidently produced by spectacles,
+and by marks which I looked for and found behind the ears, corresponding
+to the hooks or "curl sides" of the glasses. For those spectacles which
+are fitted with curl sides to hook over the ears are usually intended to
+be worn habitually, and this agreed with the indentation on the nose;
+which was deeper than would have been accounted for by the merely
+occasional use of spectacles for reading. But if only one eye was
+useful, a single eye-glass would have answered the purpose; not that
+there was any weight in this objection, for a single eye-glass worn
+constantly would be much less convenient than a pair of hook-sided
+spectacles.
+</p>
+<p>
+As to the nature of the patient's illness, only one opinion seemed
+possible. It was a clear and typical case of opium or morphine
+poisoning. To this conclusion all his symptoms seemed to point with
+absolute certainty. The coated tongue, which he protruded slowly and
+tremulously in response to a command bawled in his ear; his yellow skin
+and ghastly expression; his contracted pupils and the stupor from which
+he could hardly be roused by the roughest handling and which yet did not
+amount to actual insensibility; all these formed a distinct and coherent
+group of symptoms, not only pointing plainly to the nature of the drug,
+but also suggesting a very formidable dose.
+</p>
+<p>
+But this conclusion in its turn raised a very awkward and difficult
+question. If a large&mdash;a poisonous&mdash;dose of the drug had been taken, how,
+and by whom had that dose been administered? The closest scrutiny of
+the patient's arms and legs failed to reveal a single mark such as would
+be made by a hypodermic needle. This man was clearly no common
+morphinomaniac; and in the absence of the usual sprinkling of
+needlemarks, there was nothing to show or suggest whether the drug had
+been taken voluntarily by the patient himself or administered by someone
+else.
+</p>
+<p>
+And then there remained the possibility that I might, after all, be
+mistaken in my diagnosis. I felt pretty confident. But the wise man
+always holds a doubt in reserve. And, in the present case, having regard
+to the obviously serious condition of the patient, such a doubt was
+eminently disturbing. Indeed, as I pocketed my stethoscope and took a
+last look at the motionless, silent figure, I realized that my position
+was one of extraordinary difficulty and perplexity. On the one hand my
+suspicions&mdash;aroused, naturally enough, by the very unusual circumstances
+that surrounded my visit&mdash;inclined me to extreme reticence; while, on
+the other, it was evidently my duty to give any information that might
+prove serviceable to the patient.
+</p>
+<p>
+As I turned away from the bed Mr. Weiss stopped his slow pacing to and
+fro and faced me. The feeble light of the candle now fell on him, and I
+saw him distinctly for the first time. He did not impress me favourably.
+He was a thick-set, round-shouldered man, a typical fair German with
+tow-coloured hair, greased and brushed down smoothly, a large, ragged,
+sandy beard and coarse, sketchy features. His nose was large and thick
+with a bulbous end, and inclined to a reddish purple, a tint which
+extended to the adjacent parts of his face as if the colour had run. His
+eyebrows were large and beetling, overhanging deep-set eyes, and he wore
+a pair of spectacles which gave him a somewhat owlish expression. His
+exterior was unprepossessing, and I was in a state of mind that rendered
+me easily receptive of an unfavourable impression.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well," he said, "what do you make of him?" I hesitated, still perplexed
+by the conflicting necessities of caution and frankness, but at length
+replied:
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think rather badly of him, Mr. Weiss. He is in a very low state."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, I can see that. But have you come to any decision as to the nature
+of his illness?"
+</p>
+<p>
+There was a tone of anxiety and suppressed eagerness in the question
+which, while it was natural enough in the circumstances, by no means
+allayed my suspicions, but rather influenced me on the side of caution.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I cannot give a very definite opinion at present," I replied guardedly.
+"The symptoms are rather obscure and might very well indicate several
+different conditions. They might be due to congestion of the brain, and,
+if no other explanation were possible, I should incline to that view.
+The alternative is some narcotic poison, such as opium or morphia."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But that is quite impossible. There is no such drug in the house, and
+as he never leaves his room now, he could not get any from outside."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What about the servants?" I asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"There are no servants excepting my housekeeper, and she is absolutely
+trustworthy."
+</p>
+<p>
+"He might have some store of the drug that you are not aware of. Is he
+left alone much?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Very seldom indeed. I spend as much time with him as I can, and when I
+am not able to be in the room, Mrs Schallibaum, my housekeeper, sits
+with him."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Is he often as drowsy as he is now?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, very often; in fact, I should say that is his usual condition. He
+rouses up now and again, and then he is quite lucid and natural for,
+perhaps, an hour or so; but presently he becomes drowsy again and doses
+off, and remains asleep, or half asleep, for hours on end. Do you know
+of any disease that takes people in that way?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No," I answered. "The symptoms are not exactly like those of any
+disease that is known to me. But they are much very like those of opium
+poisoning."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But, my dear sir," Mr. Weiss retorted impatiently, "since it is clearly
+impossible that it can be opium poisoning, it must be something else.
+Now, what else can it be? You were speaking of congestion of the brain."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes. But the objection to that is the very complete recovery that seems
+to take place in the intervals."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I would not say very complete," said Mr. Weiss. "The recovery is rather
+comparative. He is lucid and fairly natural in his manner, but he is
+still dull and lethargic. He does not, for instance, show any desire to
+go out, or even to leave his room."
+</p>
+<p>
+I pondered uncomfortably on these rather contradictory statements.
+Clearly Mr. Weiss did not mean to entertain the theory of opium
+poisoning; which was natural enough if he had no knowledge of the drug
+having been used. But still&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+"I suppose," said Mr. Weiss, "you have experience of sleeping sickness?"
+</p>
+<p>
+The suggestion startled me. I had not. Very few people had. At that time
+practically nothing was known about the disease. It was a mere
+pathological curiosity, almost unheard of excepting by a few
+practitioners in remote parts of Africa, and hardly referred to in the
+text-books. Its connection with the trypanosome-bearing insects was as
+yet unsuspected, and, to me, its symptoms were absolutely unknown.
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, I have not," I replied. "The disease is nothing more than a name to
+me. But why do you ask? Has Mr. Graves been abroad?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes. He has been travelling for the last three or four years, and I
+know that he spent some time recently in West Africa, where this disease
+occurs. In fact, it was from him that I first heard about it."
+</p>
+<p>
+This was a new fact. It shook my confidence in my diagnosis very
+considerably, and inclined me to reconsider my suspicions. If Mr. Weiss
+was lying to me, he now had me at a decided disadvantage.
+</p>
+<p>
+"What do you think?" he asked. "Is it possible that this can be sleeping
+sickness?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I should not like to say that it is impossible," I replied. "The
+disease is practically unknown to me. I have never practised out of
+England and have had no occasion to study it. Until I have looked the
+subject up, I should not be in a position to give an opinion. Of course,
+if I could see Mr. Graves in one of what we may call his 'lucid
+intervals' I should be able to form a better idea. Do you think that
+could be managed?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"It might. I see the importance of it and will certainly do my best; but
+he is a difficult man; a very difficult man. I sincerely hope it is not
+sleeping sickness."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Because&mdash;as I understood from him&mdash;that disease is invariably fatal,
+sooner or later. There seem to be no cure. Do you think you will be able
+to decide when you see him again?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I hope so," I replied. "I shall look up the authorities and see exactly
+what the symptoms are&mdash;that is, so far as they are known; but my
+impression is that there is very little information available."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And in the meantime?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"We will give him some medicine and attend to his general condition, and
+you had better let me see him again as soon as possible." I was about to
+say that the effect of the medicine itself might throw some light on the
+patient's condition, but, as I proposed to treat him for morphine
+poisoning, I thought it wiser to keep this item of information to
+myself. Accordingly, I confined myself to a few general directions as to
+the care of the patient, to which Mr. Weiss listened attentively. "And,"
+I concluded, "we must not lose sight of the opium question. You had
+better search the room carefully and keep a close watch on the patient,
+especially during his intervals of wakefulness."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Very well, doctor," Mr. Weiss replied, "I will do all that you tell me
+and I will send for you again as soon as possible, if you do not object
+to poor Graves's ridiculous conditions. And now, if you will allow me to
+pay your fee, I will go and order the carriage while you are writing the
+prescription."
+</p>
+<p>
+"There is no need for a prescription," I said. "I will make up some
+medicine and give it to the coachman."
+</p>
+<p>
+Mr. Weiss seemed inclined to demur to this arrangement, but I had my own
+reasons for insisting on it. Modern prescriptions are not difficult to
+read, and I did not wish Mr. Weiss to know what treatment the patient
+was having.
+</p>
+<p>
+As soon as I was left alone, I returned to the bedside and once more
+looked down at the impassive figure. And as I looked, my suspicions
+revived. It was very like morphine poisoning; and, if it was morphine,
+it was no common, medicinal dose that had been given. I opened my bag
+and took out my hypodermic case from which I extracted a little tube of
+atropine tabloids. Shaking out into my hand a couple of the tiny discs,
+I drew down the patient's under-lip and slipped the little tablets under
+his tongue. Then I quickly replaced the tube and dropped the case into
+my bag; and I had hardly done so when the door opened softly and the
+housekeeper entered the room.
+</p>
+<p>
+"How do you find Mr. Graves?" she asked in what I thought a very
+unnecessarily low tone, considering the patient's lethargic state.
+</p>
+<p>
+"He seems to be very ill," I answered.
+</p>
+<p>
+"So!" she rejoined, and added: "I am sorry to hear that. We have been
+anxious about him."
+</p>
+<p>
+She seated herself on the chair by the bedside, and, shading the candle
+from the patient's face&mdash;and her own, too&mdash;produced from a bag that hung
+from her waist a half-finished stocking and began to knit silently and
+with the skill characteristic of the German housewife. I looked at her
+attentively (though she was so much in the shadow that I could see her
+but indistinctly) and somehow her appearance prepossessed me as little
+as did that of the other members of the household. Yet she was not an
+ill-looking woman. She had an excellent figure, and the air of a person
+of good social position; her features were good enough and her
+colouring, although a little unusual, was not unpleasant. Like Mr.
+Weiss, she had very fair hair, greased, parted in the middle and brushed
+down as smoothly as the painted hair of a Dutch doll. She appeared to
+have no eyebrows at all&mdash;owing, no doubt, to the light colour of the
+hair&mdash;and the doll-like character was emphasized by her eyes, which were
+either brown or dark grey, I could not see which. A further peculiarity
+consisted in a "habit spasm," such as one often sees in nervous
+children; a periodical quick jerk of the head, as if a cap-string or
+dangling lock were being shaken off the cheek. Her age I judged to be
+about thirty-five.
+</p>
+<p>
+The carriage, which one might have expected to be waiting, seemed to
+take some time in getting ready. I sat, with growing impatience,
+listening to the sick man's soft breathing and the click of the
+housekeeper's knitting-needles. I wanted to get home, not only for my
+own sake; the patient's condition made it highly desirable that the
+remedies should be given as quickly as possible. But the minutes dragged
+on, and I was on the point of expostulating when a bell rang on the
+landing.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The carriage is ready," said Mrs. Schallibaum. "Let me light you down
+the stairs."
+</p>
+<p>
+She rose, and, taking the candle, preceded me to the head of the stairs,
+where she stood holding the light over the baluster-rail as I descended
+and crossed the passage to the open side door. The carriage was drawn up
+in the covered way as I could see by the faint glimmer of the distant
+candle; which also enabled me dimly to discern the coachman standing
+close by in the shadow. I looked round, rather expecting to see Mr.
+Weiss, but, as he made no appearance, I entered the carriage. The door
+was immediately banged to and locked, and I then heard the heavy bolts
+of the gates withdrawn and the loud creaking of hinges. The carriage
+moved out slowly and stopped; the gates slammed to behind me; I felt the
+lurch as the coachman climbed to his seat and we started forward.
+</p>
+<p>
+My reflections during the return journey were the reverse of agreeable.
+I could not rid myself of the conviction that I was being involved in
+some very suspicious proceedings. It was possible, of course, that this
+feeling was due to the strange secrecy that surrounded my connection
+with this case; that, had I made my visit under ordinary conditions, I
+might have found in the patient's symptoms nothing to excite suspicion
+or alarm. It might be so, but that consideration did not comfort me.
+</p>
+<p>
+Then, my diagnosis might be wrong. It might be that this was, in
+reality, a case of some brain affection accompanied by compression, such
+as slow haemorrhage, abscess, tumour or simple congestion. These cases
+were very difficult at times. But the appearances in this one did not
+consistently agree with the symptoms accompanying any of these
+conditions. As to sleeping sickness, it was, perhaps a more hopeful
+suggestion, but I could not decide for or against it until I had more
+knowledge; and against this view was the weighty fact that the symptoms
+did exactly agree with the theory of morphine poisoning.
+</p>
+<p>
+But even so, there was no conclusive evidence of any criminal act. The
+patient might be a confirmed opium-eater, and the symptoms heightened by
+deliberate deception. The cunning of these unfortunates is proverbial
+and is only equalled by their secretiveness and mendacity. It would be
+quite possible for this man to feign profound stupor so long as he was
+watched, and then, when left alone for a few minutes, to nip out of bed
+and help himself from some secret store of the drug. This would be quite
+in character with his objection to seeing a doctor and his desire for
+secrecy. But still, I did not believe it to be the true explanation. In
+spite of all the various alternative possibilities, my suspicions came
+back to Mr. Weiss and the strange, taciturn woman, and refused to budge.
+</p>
+<p>
+For all the circumstances of the case were suspicious. The elaborate
+preparations implied by the state of the carriage in which I was
+travelling; the make-shift appearance of the house; the absence of
+ordinary domestic servants, although a coachman was kept; the evident
+desire of Mr. Weiss and the woman to avoid thorough inspection of their
+persons; and, above all, the fact that the former had told me a
+deliberate lie. For he had lied, beyond all doubt. His statement as to
+the almost continuous stupor was absolutely irreconcilable with his
+other statement as to the patient's wilfulness and obstinacy and even
+more irreconcilable with the deep and comparatively fresh marks of the
+spectacles on the patient's nose. That man had certainly worn spectacles
+within twenty-four hours, which he would hardly have done if he had been
+in a state bordering on coma.
+</p>
+<p>
+My reflections were interrupted by the stopping of the carriage. The
+door was unlocked and thrown open, and I emerged from my dark and stuffy
+prison opposite my own house.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I will let you have the medicine in a minute or two," I said to the
+coachman; and, as I let myself in with my latch-key, my mind came back
+swiftly from the general circumstances of the case to the very critical
+condition of the patient. Already I was regretting that I had not taken
+more energetic measures to rouse him and restore his flagging vitality;
+for it would be a terrible thing if he should take a turn for the worse
+and die before the coachman returned with the remedies. Spurred on by
+this alarming thought, I made up the medicines quickly and carried the
+hastily wrapped bottles out to the man, whom I found standing by the
+horse's head.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Get back as quickly as you can," I said, "and tell Mr. Weiss to lose no
+time in giving the patient the draught in the small bottle. The
+directions are on the labels."
+</p>
+<p>
+The coachman took the packages from me without reply, climbed to his
+seat, touched the horse with his whip and drove off at a rapid pace
+towards Newington Butts.
+</p>
+<p>
+The little clock in the consulting-room showed that it was close on
+eleven; time for a tired G.P. to be thinking of bed. But I was not
+sleepy. Over my frugal supper I found myself taking up anew the thread
+of my meditations, and afterwards, as I smoked my last pipe by the
+expiring surgery fire, the strange and sinister features of the case
+continued to obtrude themselves on my notice. I looked up Stillbury's
+little reference library for information on the subject of sleeping
+sickness, but learned no more than that it was "a rare and obscure
+disease of which very little was known at present." I read up morphine
+poisoning and was only further confirmed in the belief that my diagnosis
+was correct; which would have been more satisfactory if the
+circumstances had been different.
+</p>
+<p>
+For the interest of the case was not merely academic. I was in a
+position of great difficulty and responsibility and had to decide on a
+course of action. What ought I to do? Should I maintain the professional
+secrecy to which I was tacitly committed, or ought I to convey a hint to
+the police?
+</p>
+<p>
+Suddenly, and with a singular feeling of relief, I bethought myself of
+my old friend and fellow-student, John Thorndyke, now an eminent
+authority on Medical Jurisprudence. I had been associated with him
+temporarily in one case as his assistant, and had then been deeply
+impressed by his versatile learning, his acuteness and his marvellous
+resourcefulness. Thorndyke was a barrister in extensive practice, and so
+would be able to tell me at once what was my duty from a legal point of
+view; and, as he was also a doctor of medicine, he would understand the
+exigencies of medical practice. If I could find time to call at the
+Temple and lay the case before him, all my doubts and difficulties would
+be resolved.
+</p>
+<p>
+Anxiously, I opened my visiting-list to see what kind of day's work was
+in store for me on the morrow. It was not a heavy day, even allowing for
+one or two extra calls in the morning, but yet I was doubtful whether it
+would allow of my going so far from my district, until my eye caught,
+near the foot of the page, the name of Burton. Now Mr. Burton lived in
+one of the old houses on the east side of Bouverie Street, less than
+five minutes' walk from Thorndyke's chambers in King's Bench Walk; and
+he was, moreover, a "chronic" who could safely be left for the last.
+When I had done with Mr. Burton I could look in on my friend with a very
+good chance of catching him on his return from the hospital. I could
+allow myself time for quite a long chat with him, and, by taking a
+hansom, still get back in good time for the evening's work.
+</p>
+<p>
+This was a great comfort. At the prospect of sharing my responsibilities
+with a friend on whose judgment I could so entirely rely, my
+embarrassments seemed to drop from me in a moment. Having entered the
+engagement in my visiting-list, I rose, in greatly improved spirits, and
+knocked out my pipe just as the little clock banged out impatiently the
+hour of midnight.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="CH2"><!-- CH2 --></a>
+<h2>
+	Chapter II
+</h2>
+
+<h3>
+Thorndyke Devises a Scheme
+</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>
+As I entered the Temple by the Tudor Street gate the aspect of the place
+smote my senses with an air of agreeable familiarity. Here had I spent
+many a delightful hour when working with Thorndyke at the remarkable
+Hornby case, which the newspapers had called "The Case of the Red Thumb
+Mark"; and here had I met the romance of my life, the story whereof is
+told elsewhere. The place was thus endeared to me by pleasant
+recollections of a happy past, and its associations suggested hopes of
+happiness yet to come and in the not too far distant future.
+</p>
+<p>
+My brisk tattoo on the little brass knocker brought to the door no less
+a person than Thorndyke himself; and the warmth of his greeting made me
+at once proud and ashamed. For I had not only been an absentee; I had
+been a very poor correspondent.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The prodigal has returned, Polton," he exclaimed, looking into the
+room. "Here is Dr. Jervis."
+</p>
+<p>
+I followed him into the room and found Polton&mdash;his confidential servant,
+laboratory assistant, artificer and general "familiar"&mdash;setting out the
+tea-tray on a small table. The little man shook hands cordially with me,
+and his face crinkled up into the sort of smile that one might expect to
+see on a benevolent walnut.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We've often talked about you, sir," said he. "The doctor was wondering
+only yesterday when you were coming back to us."
+</p>
+<p>
+As I was not "coming back to them" quite in the sense intended I felt a
+little guilty, but reserved my confidences for Thorndyke's ear and
+replied in polite generalities. Then Polton fetched the tea-pot from the
+laboratory, made up the fire and departed, and Thorndyke and I subsided,
+as of old, into our respective arm-chairs.
+</p>
+<p>
+"And whence do you spring from in this unexpected fashion?" my colleague
+asked. "You look as if you had been making professional visits."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I have. The base of operations is in Lower Kennington Lane."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Ah! Then you are 'back once more on the old trail'?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes," I answered, with a laugh, "'the old trail, the long trail, the
+trail that is always new.'"
+</p>
+<p>
+"And leads nowhere," Thorndyke added grimly.
+</p>
+<p>
+I laughed again; not very heartily, for there was an uncomfortable
+element of truth in my friend's remark, to which my own experience bore
+only too complete testimony. The medical practitioner whose lack of
+means forces him to subsist by taking temporary charge of other men's
+practices is apt to find that the passing years bring him little but
+grey hairs and a wealth of disagreeable experience.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You will have to drop it, Jervis; you will, indeed," Thorndyke resumed
+after a pause. "This casual employment is preposterous for a man of your
+class and professional attainments. Besides, are you not engaged to be
+married and to a most charming girl?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, I know. I have been a fool. But I will really amend my ways. If
+necessary, I will pocket my pride and let Juliet advance the money to
+buy a practice."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That," said Thorndyke, "is a very proper resolution. Pride and reserve
+between people who are going to be husband and wife, is an absurdity.
+But why buy a practice? Have you forgotten my proposal?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I should be an ungrateful brute if I had."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Very well. I repeat it now. Come to me as my junior, read for the Bar
+and work with me, and, with your abilities, you will have a chance of
+something like a career. I want you, Jervis," he added, earnestly. "I
+must have a junior, with my increasing practice, and you are the junior
+I want. We are old and tried friends; we have worked together; we like
+and trust one another, and you are the best man for the job that I know.
+Come; I am not going to take a refusal. This is an ultimatum."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And what is the alternative?" I asked with a smile at his eagerness.
+</p>
+<p>
+"There isn't any. You are going to say yes."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I believe I am," I answered, not without emotion; "and I am more
+rejoiced at your offer and more grateful than I can tell you. But we
+must leave the final arrangements for our next meeting&mdash;in a week or so,
+I hope&mdash;for I have to be back in an hour, and I want to consult you on
+a matter of some importance."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Very well," said Thorndyke; "we will leave the formal agreement for
+consideration at our next meeting. What is it that you want my opinion
+on?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"The fact is," I said, "I am in a rather awkward dilemma, and I want you
+to tell me what you think I ought to do."
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke paused in the act of refilling my cup and glanced at me with
+unmistakable anxiety.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Nothing of an unpleasant nature, I hope," said he.
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, no; nothing of that kind," I answered with a smile as I interpreted
+the euphemism; for "something unpleasant," in the case of a young and
+reasonably presentable medical man is ordinarily the equivalent of
+trouble with the female of his species. "It is nothing that concerns me
+personally at all," I continued; "it is a question of professional
+responsibility. But I had better give you an account of the affair in a
+complete narrative, as I know that you like to have your data in a
+regular and consecutive order."
+</p>
+<p>
+Thereupon I proceeded to relate the history of my visit to the
+mysterious Mr. Graves, not omitting any single circumstance or detail
+that I could recollect.
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke listened from the very beginning of my story with the closest
+attention. His face was the most impassive that I have ever seen;
+ordinarily as inscrutable as a bronze mask; but to me, who knew him
+intimately, there was a certain something&mdash;a change of colour, perhaps,
+or an additional sparkle of the eye&mdash;that told me when his curious
+passion for investigation was fully aroused. And now, as I told him of
+that weird journey and the strange, secret house to which it had brought
+me, I could see that it offered a problem after his very heart. During
+the whole of my narration he sat as motionless as a statue, evidently
+committing the whole story to memory, detail by detail; and even when I
+had finished he remained for an appreciable time without moving or
+speaking.
+</p>
+<p>
+At length he looked up at me. "This is a very extraordinary affair,
+Jervis," he said.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Very," I agreed; "and the question that is agitating me is, what is to
+be done?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes," he said, meditatively, "that is the question; and an uncommonly
+difficult question it is. It really involves the settlement of the
+antecedent question: What is it that is happening at that house?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"What do you think is happening at that house?" I asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We must go slow, Jervis," he replied. "We must carefully separate the
+legal tissues from the medical, and avoid confusing what we know with
+what we suspect. Now, with reference to the medical aspects of the case.
+The first question that confronts us is that of sleeping sickness, or
+negro-lethargy as it is sometimes called; and here we are in a
+difficulty. We have not enough knowledge. Neither of us, I take it, has
+ever seen a case, and the extant descriptions are inadequate. From what
+I know of the disease, its symptoms agree with those in your case in
+respect of the alleged moroseness and in the gradually increasing
+periods of lethargy alternating with periods of apparent recovery. On
+the other hand, the disease is said to be confined to negroes; but that
+probably means only that negroes alone have hitherto been exposed to the
+conditions that produce it. A more important fact is that, as far as I
+know, extreme contraction of the pupils is not a symptom of sleeping
+sickness. To sum up, the probabilities are against sleeping sickness,
+but with our insufficient knowledge, we cannot definitely exclude it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You think that it may really be sleeping sickness?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No; personally I do not entertain that theory for a moment. But I am
+considering the evidence apart from our opinions on the subject. We have
+to accept it as a conceivable hypothesis that it may be sleeping
+sickness because we cannot positively prove that it is not. That is all.
+But when we come to the hypothesis of morphine poisoning, the case is
+different. The symptoms agree with those of morphine poisoning in every
+respect. There is no exception or disagreement whatever. The common
+sense of the matter is therefore that we adopt morphine poisoning as our
+working diagnosis; which is what you seem to have done."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes. For purposes of treatment."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Exactly. For medical purposes you adopted the more probable view and
+dismissed the less probable. That was the reasonable thing to do. But
+for legal purposes you must entertain both possibilities; for the
+hypothesis of poisoning involves serious legal issues, whereas the
+hypothesis of disease involves no legal issues at all."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That doesn't sound very helpful," I remarked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It indicates the necessity for caution," he retorted.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, I see that. But what is your own opinion of the case?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well," he said, "let us consider the facts in order. Here is a man who,
+we assume, is under the influence of a poisonous dose of morphine. The
+question is, did he take that dose himself or was it administered to him
+by some other person? If he took it himself, with what object did he
+take it? The history that was given to you seems completely to exclude
+the idea of suicide. But the patient's condition seems equally to
+exclude the idea of morphinomania. Your opium-eater does not reduce
+himself to a state of coma. He usually keeps well within the limits of
+the tolerance that has been established. The conclusion that emerges is,
+I think, that the drug was administered by some other person; and the
+most likely person seems to be Mr. Weiss."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Isn't morphine a very unusual poison?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Very; and most inconvenient except in a single, fatal dose, by reason
+of the rapidity with which tolerance of the drug is established. But we
+must not forget that slow morphine poisoning might be eminently
+suitable in certain cases. The manner in which it enfeebles the will,
+confuses the judgment and debilitates the body might make it very useful
+to a poisoner whose aim was to get some instrument or document executed,
+such as a will, deed or assignment. And death could be produced
+afterwards by other means. You see the important bearing of this?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"You mean in respect of a death certificate?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes. Suppose Mr. Weiss to have given a large dose of morphine. He then
+sends for you and throws out a suggestion of sleeping sickness. If you
+accept the suggestion he is pretty safe. He can repeat the process until
+he kills his victim and then get a certificate from you which will cover
+the murder. It was quite an ingenious scheme&mdash;which, by the way, is
+characteristic of intricate crimes; your subtle criminal often plans his
+crime like a genius, but he generally executes it like a fool&mdash;as this
+man seems to have done, if we are not doing him an injustice."
+</p>
+<p>
+"How has he acted like a fool?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"In several respects. In the first place, he should have chosen his
+doctor. A good, brisk, confident man who 'knows his own mind' is the
+sort of person who would have suited him; a man who would have jumped at
+a diagnosis and stuck to it; or else an ignorant weakling of alcoholic
+tendencies. It was shockingly bad luck to run against a cautious
+scientific practitioner like my learned friend. Then, of course, all
+this secrecy was sheer tomfoolery, exactly calculated to put a careful
+man on his guard; as it has actually done. If Mr. Weiss is really a
+criminal, he has mismanaged his affairs badly."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And you apparently think that he is a criminal?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I suspect him deeply. But I should like to ask you one or two questions
+about him. You say he spoke with a German accent. What command of
+English had he? Was his vocabulary good? Did he use any German idioms?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No. I should say that his English was perfect, and I noticed that his
+phrases were quite well chosen even for an Englishman."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Did he seem to you 'made up' in any way; disguised, I mean?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I couldn't say. The light was so very feeble."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You couldn't see the colour of his eyes, for instance?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No. I think they were grey, but I couldn't be sure."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And as to the coachman. He wore a wig, you said. Could you see the
+colour of his eyes? Or any peculiarity by which you could recognize
+him?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"He had a malformed thumb-nail on his right hand. That is all I can say
+about him."
+</p>
+<p>
+"He didn't strike you as resembling Weiss in any way; in voice or
+features?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not at all; and he spoke, as I told you, with a distinct Scotch
+accent."
+</p>
+<p>
+"The reason I ask is that if Weiss is attempting to poison this man, the
+coachman is almost certain to be a confederate and might be a relative.
+You had better examine him closely if you get another chance."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I will. And that brings me back to the question, What am I to do? Ought
+I to report the case to the police?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am inclined to think not. You have hardly enough facts. Of course, if
+Mr. Weiss has administered poison 'unlawfully and maliciously' he has
+committed a felony, and is liable under the Consolidation Acts of 1861
+to ten years' penal servitude. But I do not see how you could swear an
+information. You don't know that he administered the poison&mdash;if poison
+has really been administered&mdash;and you cannot give any reliable name or
+any address whatever. Then there is the question of sleeping sickness.
+You reject it for medical purposes, but you could not swear, in a court
+of law, that this is not a case of sleeping sickness."
+</p>
+<p>
+"No," I admitted, "I could not."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Then I think the police would decline to move in the matter, and you
+might find that you had raised a scandal in Dr. Stillbury's practice to
+no purpose."
+</p>
+<p>
+"So you think I had better do nothing in the matter?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"For the present. It is, of course, a medical man's duty to assist
+justice in any way that is possible. But a doctor is not a detective; he
+should not go out of his way to assume police functions. He should keep
+his eyes and ears open, and, though, in general, he should keep his own
+counsel, it is his duty to note very carefully anything that seems to
+him likely to bear on any important legal issues. It is not his
+business officiously to initiate criminal inquiries, but it is
+emphatically his business to be ready, if called upon, to assist justice
+with information that his special knowledge and opportunities have
+rendered accessible to him. You see the bearing of this?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"You mean that I should note down what I have seen and heard and say
+nothing about it until I am asked."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes; if nothing further happens. But if you should be sent for again, I
+think it is your duty to make further observations with a view, if
+necessary, to informing the police. It may be, for instance, of vital
+importance to identify the house, and it is your duty to secure the
+means of doing so."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But, my dear Thorndyke," I expostulated, "I have told you how I was
+conveyed to the house. Now, will you kindly explain to me how a man,
+boxed up in a pitch-dark carriage, is going to identify any place to
+which he may be carried?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"The problem doesn't appear to me to present any serious difficulties,"
+he replied.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Doesn't it?" said I. "To me it looks like a pretty solid impossibility.
+But what do you suggest? Should I break out of the house and run away up
+the street? Or should I bore a hole through the shutter of the carriage
+and peep out?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke smiled indulgently. "The methods proposed by my learned friend
+display a certain crudity inappropriate to the character of a man of
+science; to say nothing of the disadvantage of letting the enemy into
+our counsels. No, no, Jervis; we can do something better than that.
+Just excuse me for a minute while I run up to the laboratory."
+</p>
+<p>
+He hurried away to Polton's sanctum on the upper floor, leaving me to
+speculate on the method by which he proposed that a man should be
+enabled, as Sam Weller would express it, "to see through a flight of
+stairs and a deal door"; or, what was equally opaque, the wooden
+shutters of a closed carriage.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Now," he said, when he returned a couple of minutes later with a small,
+paper-covered notebook in his hand, "I have set Polton to work on a
+little appliance that will, I think, solve our difficulty, and I will
+show you how I propose that you should make your observations. First of
+all, we have to rule the pages of this book into columns."
+</p>
+<p>
+He sat down at the table and began methodically to rule the pages each
+into three columns, two quite narrow and one broad. The process occupied
+some time, during which I sat and watched with impatient curiosity the
+unhurried, precise movements of Thorndyke's pencil, all agog to hear the
+promised explanation. He was just finishing the last page when there
+came a gentle tap at the door, and Polton entered with a satisfied smile
+on his dry, shrewd-looking face and a small board in his hand.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Will this do, sir?" he asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+As he spoke he handed the little board to Thorndyke, who looked at it
+and passed it to me.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The very thing, Polton," my friend replied. "Where did you find it?
+It's of no use for you to pretend that you've made it in about two
+minutes and a half."
+</p>
+<p>
+Polton smiled one of his queer crinkly smiles, and remarking that "it
+didn't take much making," departed much gratified by the compliment.
+</p>
+<p>
+"What a wonderful old fellow that is, Jervis," Thorndyke observed as his
+factotum retired. "He took in the idea instantly and seems to have
+produced the finished article by magic, as the conjurers bring forth
+rabbits and bowls of goldfish at a moment's notice. I suppose you see
+what your <i>modus operandi</i> is to be?"
+</p>
+<p>
+I had gathered a clue from the little appliance&mdash;a plate of white
+fret-wood about seven inches by five, to one corner of which a
+pocket-compass had been fixed with shellac&mdash;but was not quite clear as
+to the details of the method.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You can read a compass pretty quickly, I think?" Thorndyke said.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Of course I can. Used we not to sail a yacht together when we were
+students?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"To be sure we did; and we will again before we die. And now as to your
+method of locating this house. Here is a pocket reading-lamp which you
+can hook on the carriage lining. This notebook can be fixed to the board
+with an india-rubber band&mdash;thus. You observe that the thoughtful Polton
+has stuck a piece of thread on the glass of the compass to serve as a
+lubber's line. This is how you will proceed. As soon as you are locked
+in the carriage, light your lamp&mdash;better have a book with you in case
+the light is noticed&mdash;take out your watch and put the board on your
+knee, keeping its long side exactly in a line with the axis of the
+carriage. Then enter in one narrow column of your notebook the time, in
+the other the direction shown by the compass, and in the broad column
+any particulars, including the number of steps the horse makes in a
+minute. Like this."
+</p>
+<p>
+He took a loose sheet of paper and made one or two sample entries on it
+in pencil, thus&mdash;
+</p>
+<blockquote>
+  "9.40.  S.E.    Start from home.<br />
+   9.41   S.W.    Granite setts.<br />
+   9.43.  S.W.    Wood pavement. Hoofs 104.<br />
+   9.47.  W. by S Granite crossing. Macadam&mdash;
+</blockquote>
+<p>
+and so on. Note every change of direction, with the time; and whenever
+you hear or feel anything from outside, note it, with the time and
+direction; and don't forget to note any variations in the horse's pace.
+You follow the process?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Perfectly. But do you think the method is accurate enough to fix the
+position of a house? Remember, this is only a pocket-compass with no
+dial, and it will jump frightfully. And the mode of estimating distance
+is very rough."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is all perfectly true," Thorndyke answered. "But you are
+overlooking certain important facts. The track-chart that you will
+produce can be checked by other data. The house, for instance, has a
+covered way by which you could identify it if you knew approximately
+where to look for it. Then you must remember that your carriage is not
+travelling over a featureless plain. It is passing through streets which
+have a determined position and direction and which are accurately
+represented on the ordnance map. I think, Jervis, that, in spite of the
+apparent roughness of the method, if you make your observations
+carefully, we shall have no trouble in narrowing down the inquiry to a
+quite small area. If we get the chance, that is to say."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, if we do. I am doubtful whether Mr. Weiss will require my services
+again, but I sincerely hope he will. It would be rare sport to locate
+his secret burrow, all unsuspected. But now I must really be off."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Good-bye, then," said Thorndyke, slipping a well-sharpened pencil
+through the rubber band that fixed the notebook to the board. "Let me
+know how the adventure progresses&mdash;if it progresses at all&mdash;and
+remember, I hold your promise to come and see me again quite soon in any
+case."
+</p>
+<p>
+He handed me the board and the lamp, and, when I had slipped them into
+my pocket, we shook hands and I hurried away, a little uneasy at having
+left my charge so long.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="CH3"><!-- CH3 --></a>
+<h2>
+	Chapter III
+</h2>
+
+<h3>
+"A Chiel's Amang Ye Takin' Notes"
+</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>
+The attitude of the suspicious man tends to generate in others the kind
+of conduct that seems to justify his suspicions. In most of us there
+lurks a certain strain of mischief which trustfulness disarms but
+distrust encourages. The inexperienced kitten which approaches us
+confidingly with arched back and upright tail, soliciting caresses,
+generally receives the gentle treatment that it expects; whereas the
+worldly-wise tom-cat, who, in response to friendly advances, scampers
+away and grins at us suspiciously from the fancied security of an
+adjacent wall, impels us to accelerate his retreat with a well-directed
+clod.
+</p>
+<p>
+Now the proceedings of Mr. H. Weiss resembled those of the tom-cat
+aforesaid and invited an analogous reply. To a responsible professional
+man his extraordinary precautions were at once an affront and a
+challenge. Apart from graver considerations, I found myself dwelling
+with unholy pleasure on the prospect of locating the secret hiding-place
+from which he seemed to grin at me with such complacent defiance; and I
+lost no time and spared no trouble in preparing myself for the
+adventure. The very hansom which bore me from the Temple to Kennington
+Lane was utilized for a preliminary test of Thorndyke's little
+apparatus. During the whole of that brief journey I watched the compass
+closely, noted the feel and sound of the road-material and timed the
+trotting of the horse. And the result was quite encouraging. It is true
+that the compass-needle oscillated wildly to the vibration of the cab,
+but still its oscillations took place around a definite point which was
+the average direction, and it was evident to me that the data it
+furnished were very fairly reliable. I felt very little doubt, after the
+preliminary trial, as to my being able to produce a moderately
+intelligible track-chart if only I should get an opportunity to exercise
+my skill.
+</p>
+<p>
+But it looked as if I should not. Mr. Weiss's promise to send for me
+again soon was not fulfilled. Three days passed and still he made no
+sign. I began to fear that I had been too outspoken; that the shuttered
+carriage had gone forth to seek some more confiding and easy-going
+practitioner, and that our elaborate preparations had been made in vain.
+When the fourth day drew towards a close and still no summons had come,
+I was disposed reluctantly to write the case off as a lost opportunity.
+</p>
+<p>
+And at that moment, in the midst of my regrets, the bottle-boy thrust an
+uncomely head in at the door. His voice was coarse, his accent was
+hideous, and his grammatical construction beneath contempt; but I
+forgave him all when I gathered the import of his message.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Mr. Weiss's carriage is waiting, and he says will you come as quickly
+as you can because he's took very bad to-night."
+</p>
+<p>
+I sprang from my chair and hastily collected the necessaries for the
+journey. The little board and the lamp I put in my overcoat pocket; I
+overhauled the emergency bag and added to its usual contents a bottle of
+permanganate of potassium which I thought I might require. Then I tucked
+the evening paper under my arm and went out.
+</p>
+<p>
+The coachman, who was standing at the horse's head as I emerged, touched
+his hat and came forward to open the door.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I have fortified myself for the long drive, you see," I remarked,
+exhibiting the newspaper as I stepped into the carriage.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But you can't read in the dark," said he.
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, but I have provided myself with a lamp," I replied, producing it
+and striking a match.
+</p>
+<p>
+He watched me as I lit the lamp and hooked it on the back cushion, and
+observed:
+</p>
+<p>
+"I suppose you found it rather a dull ride last time. It's a longish
+way. They might have fitted the carriage with an inside lamp. But we
+shall have to make it a quicker passage to-night. Governor says Mr.
+Graves is uncommon bad."
+</p>
+<p>
+With this he slammed the door and locked it. I drew the board from my
+pocket, laid it on my knee, glanced at my watch, and, as the coachman
+climbed to his seat, I made the first entry in the little book.
+</p>
+<p>
+"8.58. W. by S. Start from home. Horse 13 hands."
+</p>
+<p>
+The first move of the carriage on starting was to turn round as if
+heading for Newington Butts, and the second entry accordingly read:
+</p>
+<p>
+"8.58.30. E. by N."
+</p>
+<p>
+But this direction was not maintained long. Very soon we turned south
+and then west and then south again. I sat with my eyes riveted on the
+compass, following with some difficulty its rapid changes. The needle
+swung to and fro incessantly but always within a definite arc, the
+centre of which was the true direction. But this direction varied from
+minute to minute in the most astonishing manner. West, south, east,
+north, the carriage turned, "boxing" the compass until I lost all count
+of direction. It was an amazing performance. Considering that the man
+was driving against time on a mission of life and death urgency, his
+carelessness as to direction was astounding. The tortuousness of the
+route must have made the journey twice as long as it need have been
+with a little more careful selection. At least so it appeared to me,
+though, naturally, I was not in a position to offer an authoritative
+criticism.
+</p>
+<p>
+As far as I could judge, we followed the same route as before. Once I
+heard a tug's whistle and knew that we were near the river, and we
+passed the railway station, apparently at the same time as on the
+previous occasion, for I heard a passenger train start and assumed that
+it was the same train. We crossed quite a number of thoroughfares with
+tram-lines&mdash;I had no idea there were so many&mdash;and it was a revelation to
+me to find how numerous the railway arches were in this part of London
+and how continually the nature of the road-metal varied.
+</p>
+<p>
+It was by no means a dull journey this time. The incessant changes of
+direction and variations in the character of the road kept me most
+uncommonly busy; for I had hardly time to scribble down one entry before
+the compass-needle would swing round sharply, showing that we had once
+more turned a corner; and I was quite taken by surprise when the
+carriage slowed down and turned into the covered way. Very hastily I
+scribbled down the final entry ("9.24. S.E. In covered way"), and having
+closed the book and slipped it and the board into my pocket, had just
+opened out the newspaper when the carriage door was unlocked and opened,
+whereupon I unhooked and blew out the lamp and pocketed that too,
+reflecting that it might be useful later.
+</p>
+<p>
+As on the last occasion, Mrs. Schallibaum stood in the open doorway with
+a lighted candle. But she was a good deal less self-possessed this time.
+In fact she looked rather wild and terrified. Even by the candle-light
+I could see that she was very pale and she seemed unable to keep still.
+As she gave me the few necessary words of explanation, she fidgeted
+incessantly and her hands and feet were in constant movement.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You had better come up with me at once," she said. "Mr. Graves is much
+worse to-night. We will wait not for Mr. Weiss."
+</p>
+<p>
+Without waiting for a reply she quickly ascended the stairs and I
+followed. The room was in much the same condition as before. But the
+patient was not. As soon as I entered the room, a soft, rhythmical
+gurgle from the bed gave me a very clear warning of danger. I stepped
+forward quickly and looked down at the prostrate figure, and the warning
+gathered emphasis. The sick man's ghastly face was yet more ghastly; his
+eyes were more sunken, his skin more livid; "his nose was as sharp as a
+pen," and if he did not "babble of green fields" it was because he
+seemed to be beyond even that. If it had been a case of disease, I
+should have said at once that he was dying. He had all the appearance of
+a man <i>in articulo mortis</i>. Even as it was, feeling convinced that the
+case was one of morphine poisoning, I was far from confident that I
+should be able to draw him back from the extreme edge of vitality on
+which he trembled so insecurely.
+</p>
+<p>
+"He is very ill? He is dying?"
+</p>
+<p>
+It was Mrs. Schallibaum's voice; very low, but eager and intense. I
+turned, with my finger on the patient's wrist, and looked into the face
+of the most thoroughly scared woman I have ever seen. She made no
+attempt now to avoid the light, but looked me squarely in the face, and
+I noticed, half-unconsciously, that her eyes were brown and had a
+curious strained expression.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes," I answered, "he is very ill. He is in great danger."
+</p>
+<p>
+She still stared at me fixedly for some seconds. And then a very odd
+thing occurred. Suddenly she squinted&mdash;squinted horribly; not with the
+familiar convergent squint which burlesque artists imitate, but with
+external or divergent squint of extreme near sight or unequal vision.
+The effect was quite startling. One moment both her eyes were looking
+straight into mine; the next, one of them rolled round until it looked
+out of the uttermost corner, leaving the other gazing steadily forward.
+</p>
+<p>
+She was evidently conscious of the change, for she turned her head away
+quickly and reddened somewhat. But it was no time for thoughts of
+personal appearance.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You can save him, doctor! You will not let him die! He must not be
+allowed to die!"
+</p>
+<p>
+She spoke with as much passion as if he had been the dearest friend that
+she had in the world, which I suspected was far from being the case. But
+her manifest terror had its uses.
+</p>
+<p>
+"If anything is to be done to save him," I said, "it must be done
+quickly. I will give him some medicine at once, and meanwhile you must
+make some strong coffee."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Coffee!" she exclaimed. "But we have none in the house. Will not tea
+do, if I make it very strong?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, it will not. I must have coffee; and I must have it quickly."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Then I suppose I must go and get some. But it is late. The shops will
+be shut. And I don't like leaving Mr. Graves."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Can't you send the coachman?" I asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+She shook her head impatiently. "No, that is no use. I must wait until
+Mr. Weiss comes."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That won't do," I said, sharply. "He will slip through our fingers
+while you are waiting. You must go and get that coffee at once and bring
+it to me as soon as it is ready. And I want a tumbler and some water."
+</p>
+<p>
+She brought me a water-bottle and glass from the wash-stand and then,
+with a groan of despair, hurried from the room.
+</p>
+<p>
+I lost no time in applying the remedies that I had to hand. Shaking out
+into the tumbler a few crystals of potassium permanganate, I filled it
+up with water and approached the patient. His stupor was profound. I
+shook him as roughly as was safe in his depressed condition, but
+elicited no resistance or responsive movement. As it seemed very
+doubtful whether he was capable of swallowing, I dared not take the risk
+of pouring the liquid into his mouth for fear of suffocating him. A
+stomach-tube would have solved the difficulty, but, of course, I had not
+one with me. I had, however, a mouth-speculum which also acted as a gag,
+and, having propped the patient's mouth open with this, I hastily
+slipped off one of the rubber tubes from my stethoscope and inserted
+into one end of it a vulcanite ear-speculum to serve as a funnel. Then,
+introducing the other end of the tube into the gullet as far as its
+length would permit, I cautiously poured a small quantity of the
+permanganate solution into the extemporized funnel. To my great relief a
+movement of the throat showed that the swallowing reflex still existed,
+and, thus encouraged, I poured down the tube as much of the fluid as I
+thought it wise to administer at one time.
+</p>
+<p>
+The dose of permanganate that I had given was enough to neutralize any
+reasonable quantity of the poison that might yet remain in the stomach.
+I had next to deal with that portion of the drug which had already been
+absorbed and was exercising its poisonous effects. Taking my hypodermic
+case from my bag, I prepared in the syringe a full dose of atropine
+sulphate, which I injected forthwith into the unconscious man's arm. And
+that was all that I could do, so far as remedies were concerned, until
+the coffee arrived.
+</p>
+<p>
+I cleaned and put away the syringe, washed the tube, and then, returning
+to the bedside, endeavoured to rouse the patient from his profound
+lethargy. But great care was necessary. A little injudicious roughness
+of handling, and that thready, flickering pulse might stop for ever; and
+yet it was almost certain that if he were not speedily aroused, his
+stupor would gradually deepen until it shaded off imperceptibly into
+death. I went to work very cautiously, moving his limbs about, flicking
+his face and chest with the corner of a wet towel, tickling the soles
+of his feet, and otherwise applying stimuli that were strong without
+being violent.
+</p>
+<p>
+So occupied was I with my efforts to resuscitate my mysterious patient
+that I did not notice the opening of the door, and it was with something
+of a start that, happening to glance round, I perceived at the farther
+end of the room the shadowy figure of a man relieved by two spots of
+light reflected from his spectacles. How long he had been watching me I
+cannot say, but, when he saw that I had observed him, he came
+forward&mdash;though not very far&mdash;and I saw that he was Mr. Weiss.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am afraid," he said, "that you do not find my friend so well
+to-night?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"So well!" I exclaimed. "I don't find him well at all. I am exceedingly
+anxious about him."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You don't&mdash;er&mdash;anticipate anything of a&mdash;er&mdash;anything serious, I hope?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"There is no need to anticipate," said I. "It is already about as
+serious as it can be. I think he might die at any moment."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Good God!" he gasped. "You horrify me!"
+</p>
+<p>
+He was not exaggerating. In his agitation, he stepped forward into the
+lighter part of the room, and I could see that his face was pale to
+ghastliness&mdash;except his nose and the adjacent red patches on his cheeks,
+which stood out in grotesquely hideous contrast. Presently, however, he
+recovered a little and said:
+</p>
+<p>
+"I really think&mdash;at least I hope&mdash;that you take an unnecessarily serious
+view of his condition. He has been like this before, you know."
+</p>
+<p>
+I felt pretty certain that he had not, but there was no use in
+discussing the question. I therefore replied, as I continued my efforts
+to rouse the patient:
+</p>
+<p>
+"That may or may not be. But in any case there comes a last time; and it
+may have come now."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I hope not," he said; "although I understand that these cases always
+end fatally sooner or later."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What cases?" I asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I was referring to sleeping sickness; but perhaps you have formed some
+other opinion as to the nature of this dreadful complaint."
+</p>
+<p>
+I hesitated for a moment, and he continued: "As to your suggestion that
+his symptoms might be due to drugs, I think we may consider that as
+disposed of. He has been watched, practically without cessation since
+you came last, and, moreover, I have myself turned out the room and
+examined the bed and have not found a trace of any drug. Have you gone
+into the question of sleeping sickness?"
+</p>
+<p>
+I looked at the man narrowly before answering, and distrusted him more
+than ever. But this was no time for reticence. My concern was with the
+patient and his present needs. After all, I was, as Thorndyke had said,
+a doctor, not a detective, and the circumstances called for
+straightforward speech and action on my part.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I have considered that question," I said, "and have come to a perfectly
+definite conclusion. His symptoms are not those of sleeping sickness.
+They are in my opinion undoubtedly due to morphine poisoning."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But my dear sir!" he exclaimed, "the thing is impossible! Haven't I
+just told you that he has been watched continuously?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I can only judge by the appearances that I find," I answered; and,
+seeing that he was about to offer fresh objections, I continued: "Don't
+let us waste precious time in discussion, or Mr. Graves may be dead
+before we have reached a conclusion. If you will hurry them up about the
+coffee that I asked for some time ago, I will take the other necessary
+measures, and perhaps we may manage to pull him round."
+</p>
+<p>
+The rather brutal decision of my manner evidently daunted him. It must
+have been plain to him that I was not prepared to accept any explanation
+of the unconscious man's condition other than that of morphine
+poisoning; whence the inference was pretty plain that the alternatives
+were recovery or an inquest. Replying stiffly that I "must do as I
+thought best," he hurried from the room, leaving me to continue my
+efforts without further interruption.
+</p>
+<p>
+For some time these efforts seemed to make no impression. The man lay as
+still and impassive as a corpse excepting for the slow, shallow and
+rather irregular breathing with its ominous accompanying rattle. But
+presently, by imperceptible degrees, signs of returning life began to
+make their appearance. A sharp slap on the cheek with the wet towel
+produced a sensible flicker of the eyelids; a similar slap on the chest
+was followed by a slight gasp. A pencil, drawn over the sole of the
+foot, occasioned a visible shrinking movement, and, on looking once
+more at the eyes, I detected a slight change that told me that the
+atropine was beginning to take effect.
+</p>
+<p>
+This was very encouraging, and, so far, quite satisfactory, though it
+would have been premature to rejoice. I kept the patient carefully
+covered and maintained the process of gentle irritation, moving his
+limbs and shoulders, brushing his hair and generally bombarding his
+deadened senses with small but repeated stimuli. And under this
+treatment, the improvement continued so far that on my bawling a
+question into his ear he actually opened his eyes for an instant, though
+in another moment, the lids had sunk back into their former position.
+</p>
+<p>
+Soon after this, Mr. Weiss re-entered the room, followed by Mrs.
+Schallibaum, who carried a small tray, on which were a jug of coffee, a
+jug of milk, a cup and saucer and a sugar basin.
+</p>
+<p>
+"How do you find him now?" Mr. Weiss asked anxiously.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am glad to say that there is a distinct improvement," I replied. "But
+we must persevere. He is by no means out of the wood yet."
+</p>
+<p>
+I examined the coffee, which looked black and strong and had a very
+reassuring smell, and, pouring out half a cupful, approached the bed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Now, Mr. Graves," I shouted, "we want you to drink some of this."
+</p>
+<p>
+The flaccid eyelids lifted for an instant but there was no other
+response. I gently opened the unresisting mouth and ladled in a couple
+of spoonfuls of coffee, which were immediately swallowed; whereupon I
+repeated the proceeding and continued at short intervals until the cup
+was empty. The effect of the new remedy soon became apparent. He began
+to mumble and mutter obscurely in response to the questions that I
+bellowed at him, and once or twice he opened his eyes and looked
+dreamily into my face. Then I sat him up and made him drink some coffee
+from the cup, and, all the time, kept up a running fire of questions,
+which made up in volume of sound for what they lacked of relevancy.
+</p>
+<p>
+Of these proceedings Mr. Weiss and his housekeeper were highly
+interested spectators, and the former, contrary to his usual practice,
+came quite close up to the bed, to get a better view.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is really a most remarkable thing," he said, "but it almost looks as
+if you were right, after all. He is certainly much better. But tell me,
+would this treatment produce a similar improvement if the symptoms were
+due to disease?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No," I answered, "it certainly would not."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Then that seems to settle it. But it is a most mysterious affair. Can
+you suggest any way in which he can have concealed a store of the drug?"
+</p>
+<p>
+I stood up and looked him straight in the face; it was the first chance
+I had had of inspecting him by any but the feeblest light, and I looked
+at him very attentively. Now, it is a curious fact&mdash;though one that most
+persons must have observed&mdash;that there sometimes occurs a considerable
+interval between the reception of a visual impression and its complete
+transfer to the consciousness. A thing may be seen, as it were,
+unconsciously, and the impression consigned, apparently, to instant
+oblivion; and yet the picture may be subsequently revived by memory with
+such completeness that its details can be studied as though the object
+were still actually visible.
+</p>
+<p>
+Something of this kind must have happened to me now. Preoccupied as I
+was, by the condition of the patient, the professional habit of rapid
+and close observation caused me to direct a searching glance at the man
+before me. It was only a brief glance&mdash;for Mr. Weiss, perhaps
+embarrassed by my keen regard of him, almost immediately withdrew into
+the shadow&mdash;and my attention seemed principally to be occupied by the
+odd contrast between the pallor of his face and the redness of his nose
+and by the peculiar stiff, bristly character of his eyebrows. But there
+was another fact, and a very curious one, that was observed by me
+subconsciously and instantly forgotten, to be revived later when I
+reflected on the events of the night. It was this:
+</p>
+<p>
+As Mr. Weiss stood, with his head slightly turned, I was able to look
+through one glass of his spectacles at the wall beyond. On the wall was
+a framed print; and the edge of the frame, seen through the
+spectacle-glass, appeared quite unaltered and free from distortion,
+magnification or reduction, as if seen through plain window-glass; and
+yet the reflections of the candle-flame in the spectacles showed the
+flame upside down, proving conclusively that the glasses were concave on
+one surface at least. The strange phenomenon was visible only for a
+moment or two, and as it passed out of my sight it passed also out of my
+mind.
+</p>
+<p>
+"No," I said, replying to the last question; "I can think of no way in
+which he could have effectually hidden a store of morphine. Judging by
+the symptoms, he has taken a large dose, and, if he has been in the
+habit of consuming large quantities, his stock would be pretty bulky. I
+can offer no suggestion whatever."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I suppose you consider him quite out of danger now?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, not at all. I think we can pull him round if we persevere, but he
+must not be allowed to sink back into a state of coma. We must keep him
+on the move until the effects of the drug have really passed off. If you
+will put him into his dressing-gown we will walk him up and down the
+room for a while."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But is that safe?" Mr. Weiss asked anxiously.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Quite safe," I answered. "I will watch his pulse carefully. The danger
+is in the possibility, or rather certainty, of a relapse if he is not
+kept moving."
+</p>
+<p>
+With obvious unwillingness and disapproval, Mr. Weiss produced a
+dressing-gown and together we invested the patient in it. Then we
+dragged him, very limp, but not entirely unresisting, out of bed and
+stood him on his feet. He opened his eyes and blinked owlishly first at
+one and then at the other of us, and mumbled a few unintelligible words
+of protest; regardless of which, we thrust his feet into slippers and
+endeavoured to make him walk. At first he seemed unable to stand, and we
+had to support him by his arms as we urged him forward; but presently
+his trailing legs began to make definite walking movements, and, after
+one or two turns up and down the room, he was not only able partly to
+support his weight, but showed evidence of reviving consciousness in
+more energetic protests.
+</p>
+<p>
+At this point Mr. Weiss astonished me by transferring the arm that he
+held to the housekeeper.
+</p>
+<p>
+"If you will excuse me, doctor," said he, "I will go now and attend to
+some rather important business that I have had to leave unfinished. Mrs.
+Schallibaum will be able to give you all the assistance that you
+require, and will order the carriage when you think it safe to leave the
+patient. In case I should not see you again I will say 'good night.' I
+hope you won't think me very unceremonious."
+</p>
+<p>
+He shook hands with me and went out of the room, leaving me, as I have
+said, profoundly astonished that he should consider any business of more
+moment than the condition of his friend, whose life, even now, was but
+hanging by a thread. However, it was really no concern of mine. I could
+do without him, and the resuscitation of this unfortunate half-dead man
+gave me occupation enough to engross my whole attention.
+</p>
+<p>
+The melancholy progress up and down the room re-commenced, and with it
+the mumbled protests from the patient. As we walked, and especially as
+we turned, I caught frequent glimpses of the housekeeper's face. But it
+was nearly always in profile. She appeared to avoid looking me in the
+face, though she did so once or twice; and on each of these occasions
+her eyes were directed at me in a normal manner without any sign of a
+squint. Nevertheless, I had the impression that when her face was turned
+away from me she squinted. The "swivel eye"&mdash;the left&mdash;was towards me as
+she held the patient's right arm, and it was almost continuously turned
+in my direction, whereas I felt convinced that she was really looking
+straight before her, though, of course, her right eye was invisible to
+me. It struck me, even at the time, as an odd affair, but I was too much
+concerned about my charge to give it much consideration.
+</p>
+<p>
+Meanwhile the patient continued to revive apace. And the more he
+revived, the more energetically did he protest against this wearisome
+perambulation. But he was evidently a polite gentleman, for, muddled as
+his faculties were, he managed to clothe his objections in courteous and
+even gracious forms of speech singularly out of agreement with the
+character that Mr. Weiss had given him.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I thangyou," he mumbled thickly. "Ver' good take s'much trouble. Think
+I will lie down now." He looked wistfully at the bed, but I wheeled him
+about and marched him once more down the room. He submitted
+unresistingly, but as we again approached the bed he reopened the
+matter.
+</p>
+<p>
+"S'quite s'fficient, thang you. Gebback to bed now. Much 'bliged frall
+your kindness"&mdash;here I turned him round&mdash;"no, really; m'feeling rather
+tired. Sh'like to lie down now, f'you'd be s'good."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You must walk about a little longer, Mr. Graves," I said. "It would be
+very bad for you to go to sleep again."
+</p>
+<p>
+He looked at me with a curious, dull surprise, and reflected awhile as
+if in some perplexity. Then he looked at me again and said:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Thing, sir, you are mistake&mdash;mistaken me&mdash;mist&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+Here Mrs. Schallibaum interrupted sharply:
+</p>
+<p>
+"The doctor thinks it's good for you to walk about. You've been sleeping
+too much. He doesn't want you to sleep any more just now."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Don't wanter sleep; wanter lie down," said the patient.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But you mustn't lie down for a little while. You must walk about for a
+few minutes more. And you'd better not talk. Just walk up and down."
+</p>
+<p>
+"There's no harm in his talking," said I; "in fact it's good for him. It
+will help to keep him awake."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I should think it would tire him," said Mrs. Schallibaum; "and it
+worries me to hear him asking to lie down when we can't let him."
+</p>
+<p>
+She spoke sharply and in an unnecessarily high tone so that the patient
+could not fail to hear. Apparently he took in the very broad hint
+contained in the concluding sentence, for he trudged wearily and
+unsteadily up and down the room for some time without speaking, though
+he continued to look at me from time to time as if something in my
+appearance puzzled him exceedingly. At length his intolerable longing
+for repose overcame his politeness and he returned to the attack.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Surely v' walked enough now. Feeling very tired. Am really. Would you
+be s'kind 's t'let me lie down few minutes?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Don't you think he might lie down for a little while?" Mrs. Schallibaum
+asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+I felt his pulse, and decided that he was really becoming fatigued, and
+that it would be wiser not to overdo the exercise while he was so weak.
+Accordingly, I consented to his returning to bed, and turned him round
+in that direction; whereupon he tottered gleefully towards his
+resting-place like a tired horse heading for its stable.
+</p>
+<p>
+As soon as he was tucked in, I gave him a full cup of coffee, which he
+drank with some avidity as if thirsty. Then I sat down by the bedside,
+and, with a view to keeping him awake, began once more to ply him with
+questions.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Does your head ache, Mr. Graves?" I asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The doctor says 'does your head ache?'" Mrs. Schallibaum squalled, so
+loudly that the patient started perceptibly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I heard him, m'dear girl," he answered with a faint smile. "Not deaf
+you know. Yes. Head aches a good deal. But I thing this gennleman
+mistakes&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+"He says you are to keep awake. You mustn't go to sleep again, and you
+are not to close your eyes."
+</p>
+<p>
+"All ri' Pol'n. Keep'm open," and he proceeded forthwith to shut them
+with an air of infinite peacefulness. I grasped his hand and shook it
+gently, on which he opened his eyes and looked at me sleepily. The
+housekeeper stroked his head, keeping her face half-turned from me&mdash;as
+she had done almost constantly, to conceal the squinting eye, as I
+assumed&mdash;and said:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Need we keep you any longer, doctor? It is getting very late and you
+have a long way to go."
+</p>
+<p>
+I looked doubtfully at the patient. I was loath to leave him,
+distrusting these people as I did. But I had my work to do on the
+morrow, with, perhaps, a night call or two in the interval, and the
+endurance even of a general practitioner has its limits.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think I heard the carriage some time ago," Mrs. Schallibaum added.
+</p>
+<p>
+I rose hesitatingly and looked at my watch. It had turned half-past
+eleven.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You understand," I said in a low voice, "that the danger is not over?
+If he is left now he will fall asleep, and in all human probability will
+never wake. You clearly understand that?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, quite clearly. I promise you he shall not be allowed to fall
+asleep again."
+</p>
+<p>
+As she spoke, she looked me full in the face for a few moments, and I
+noted that her eyes had a perfectly normal appearance, without any trace
+whatever of a squint.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Very well," I said. "On that understanding I will go now; and I shall
+hope to find our friend quite recovered at my next visit."
+</p>
+<p>
+I turned to the patient, who was already dozing, and shook his hand
+heartily.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Good-bye, Mr. Graves!" I said. "I am sorry to have to disturb your
+repose so much; but you must keep awake, you know. Won't do to go to
+sleep."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Ver' well," he replied drowsily. "Sorry t' give you all this trouble.
+L' keep awake. But I think you're mistak'n&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+"He says it's very important that you shouldn't go to sleep, and that I
+am to see that you don't. Do you understand?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, I un'stan'. But why does this gennlem'n&mdash;?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Now it's of no use for you to ask a lot of questions," Mrs. Schallibaum
+said playfully; "we'll talk to you to-morrow. Good night, doctor. I'll
+light you down the stairs, but I won't come down with you, or the
+patient will be falling asleep again."
+</p>
+<p>
+Taking this definite dismissal, I retired, followed by a dreamily
+surprised glance from the sick man. The housekeeper held the candle over
+the balusters until I reached the bottom of the stairs, when I perceived
+through the open door along the passage a glimmer of light from the
+carriage lamps. The coachman was standing just outside, faintly
+illuminated by the very dim lamplight, and as I stepped into the
+carriage he remarked in his Scotch dialect that I "seemed to have been
+makin' a nicht of it." He did not wait for any reply&mdash;none being in fact
+needed&mdash;but shut the door and locked it.
+</p>
+<p>
+I lit my little pocket-lamp and hung it on the back cushion. I even drew
+the board and notebook from my pocket. But it seemed rather unnecessary
+to take a fresh set of notes, and, to tell the truth, I rather shirked
+the labour, tired as I was after my late exertions; besides, I wanted
+to think over the events of the evening, while they were fresh in my
+memory. Accordingly I put away the notebook, filled and lighted my pipe,
+and settled myself to review the incidents attending my second visit to
+this rather uncanny house.
+</p>
+<p>
+Considered in leisurely retrospect, that visit offered quite a number of
+problems that called for elucidation. There was the patient's condition,
+for instance. Any doubt as to the cause of his symptoms was set at rest
+by the effect of the antidotes. Mr. Graves was certainly under the
+influence of morphine, and the only doubtful question was how he had
+become so. That he had taken the poison himself was incredible. No
+morphinomaniac would take such a knock-down dose. It was practically
+certain that the poison had been administered by someone else, and, on
+Mr. Weiss's own showing, there was no one but himself and the
+housekeeper who could have administered it. And to this conclusion all
+the other very queer circumstances pointed.
+</p>
+<p>
+What were these circumstances? They were, as I have said, numerous,
+though many of them seemed trivial. To begin with, Mr. Weiss's habit of
+appearing some time after my arrival and disappearing some time before
+my departure was decidedly odd. But still more odd was his sudden
+departure this evening on what looked like a mere pretext. That
+departure coincided in time with the sick man's recovery of the power of
+speech. Could it be that Mr. Weiss was afraid that the half-conscious
+man might say something compromising to him in my presence? It looked
+rather like it. And yet he had gone away and left me with the patient
+and the housekeeper.
+</p>
+<p>
+But when I came to think about it I remembered that Mrs. Schallibaum had
+shown some anxiety to prevent the patient from talking. She had
+interrupted him more than once, and had on two occasions broken in when
+he seemed to be about to ask me some question. I was "mistaken" about
+something. What was that something that he wanted to tell me?
+</p>
+<p>
+It had struck me as singular that there should be no coffee in the
+house, but a sufficiency of tea. Germans are not usually tea-drinkers
+and they do take coffee. But perhaps there was nothing in this. Rather
+more remarkable was the invisibility of the coachman. Why could he not
+be sent to fetch the coffee, and why did not he, rather than the
+housekeeper, come to take the place of Mr. Weiss when the latter had to
+go away.
+</p>
+<p>
+There were other points, too. I recalled the word that sounded like
+"Pol'n," which Mr. Graves had used in speaking to the housekeeper.
+Apparently it was a Christian name of some kind; but why did Mr. Graves
+call the woman by her Christian name when Mr. Weiss addressed her
+formally as Mrs. Schallibaum? And, as to the woman herself: what was the
+meaning of that curious disappearing squint? Physically it presented no
+mystery. The woman had an ordinary divergent squint, and, like many
+people, who suffer from this displacement, could, by a strong muscular
+effort, bring the eyes temporarily into their normal parallel position.
+I had detected the displacement when she had tried to maintain the
+effort too long, and the muscular control had given way. But why had she
+done it? Was it only feminine vanity&mdash;mere sensitiveness respecting a
+slight personal disfigurement? It might be so; or there might be some
+further motive. It was impossible to say.
+</p>
+<p>
+Turning this question over, I suddenly remembered the peculiarity of Mr.
+Weiss's spectacles. And here I met with a real poser. I had certainly
+seen through those spectacles as clearly as if they had been plain
+window-glass; and they had certainly given an inverted reflection of the
+candle-flame like that thrown from the surface of a concave lens. Now
+they obviously could not be both flat and concave; but yet they had the
+properties peculiar to both flatness and concavity. And there was a
+further difficulty. If I could see objects unaltered through them, so
+could Mr. Weiss. But the function of spectacles is to alter the
+appearances of objects, by magnification, reduction or compensating
+distortion. If they leave the appearances unchanged they are useless. I
+could make nothing of it. After puzzling over it for quite a long time,
+I had to give it up; which I did the less unwillingly inasmuch as the
+construction of Mr. Weiss's spectacles had no apparent bearing on the
+case.
+</p>
+<p>
+On arriving home, I looked anxiously at the message-book, and was
+relieved to find that there were no further visits to be made. Having
+made up a mixture for Mr. Graves and handed it to the coachman, I raked
+the ashes of the surgery fire together and sat down to smoke a final
+pipe while I reflected once more on the singular and suspicious case in
+which I had become involved. But fatigue soon put an end to my
+meditations; and having come to the conclusion that the circumstances
+demanded a further consultation with Thorndyke, I turned down the gas to
+a microscopic blue spark and betook myself to bed.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="CH4"><!-- CH4 --></a>
+<h2>
+	Chapter IV
+</h2>
+
+<h3>
+The Official View
+</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>
+I rose on the following morning still possessed by the determination to
+make some oportunity during the day to call on Thorndyke and take his
+advice on the now urgent question as to what I was to do. I use the word
+"urgent" advisedly; for the incidents of the preceding evening had left
+me with the firm conviction that poison was being administered for some
+purpose to my mysterious patient, and that no time must be lost if his
+life was to be saved. Last night he had escaped only by the narrowest
+margin&mdash;assuming him to be still alive&mdash;and it was only my unexpectedly
+firm attitude that had compelled Mr. Weiss to agree to restorative
+measures.
+</p>
+<p>
+That I should be sent for again I had not the slightest expectation. If
+what I so strongly suspected was true, Weiss would call in some other
+doctor, in the hope of better luck, and it was imperative that he
+should be stopped before it was too late. This was my view, but I meant
+to have Thorndyke's opinion, and act under his direction, but
+</p>
+<blockquote>
+  "The best laid plans of mice and men<br />
+   Gang aft agley."
+</blockquote>
+<p>
+When I came downstairs and took a preliminary glance at the rough
+memorandum-book, kept by the bottle-boy, or, in his absence, by the
+housemaid, I stood aghast. The morning's entries looked already like a
+sample page of the Post Office directory. The new calls alone were more
+than equal to an ordinary day's work, and the routine visits remained to
+be added. Gloomily wondering whether the Black Death had made a sudden
+reappearance in England, I hurried to the dining-room and made a hasty
+breakfast, interrupted at intervals by the apparition of the bottle-boy
+to announce new messages.
+</p>
+<p>
+The first two or three visits solved the mystery. An epidemic of
+influenza had descended on the neighbourhood, and I was getting not only
+our own normal work but a certain amount of overflow from other
+practices. Further, it appeared that a strike in the building trade had
+been followed immediately by a widespread failure of health among the
+bricklayers who were members of a certain benefit club; which accounted
+for the remarkable suddenness of the outbreak.
+</p>
+<p>
+Of course, my contemplated visit to Thorndyke was out of the question. I
+should have to act on my own responsibility. But in the hurry and rush
+and anxiety of the work&mdash;for some of the cases were severe and even
+critical&mdash;I had no opportunity to consider any course of action, nor
+time to carry it out. Even with the aid of a hansom which I chartered,
+as Stillbury kept no carriage, I had not finished my last visit until
+near on midnight, and was then so spent with fatigue that I fell asleep
+over my postponed supper.
+</p>
+<p>
+As the next day opened with a further increase of work, I sent a
+telegram to Dr. Stillbury at Hastings, whither he had gone, like a wise
+man, to recruit after a slight illness. I asked for authority to engage
+an assistant, but the reply informed me that Stillbury himself was on
+his way to town; and to my relief, when I dropped in at the surgery for
+a cup of tea, I found him rubbing his hands over the open day-book.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It's an ill wind that blows nobody good," he remarked cheerfully as we
+shook hands. "This will pay the expenses of my holiday, including you.
+By the way, you are not anxious to be off, I suppose?"
+</p>
+<p>
+As a matter of fact, I was; for I had decided to accept Thorndyke's
+offer, and was now eager to take up my duties with him. But it would
+have been shabby to leave Stillbury to battle alone with this rush of
+work or to seek the services of a strange assistant.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I should like to get off as soon as you can spare me," I replied, "but
+I'm not going to leave you in the lurch."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That's a good fellow," said Stillbury. "I knew you wouldn't. Let us
+have some tea and divide up the work. Anything of interest going?"
+</p>
+<p>
+There were one or two unusual cases on the list, and, as we marked off
+our respective patients, I gave him the histories in brief synopsis. And
+then I opened the subject of my mysterious experiences at the house of
+Mr. Weiss.
+</p>
+<p>
+"There's another affair that I want to tell you about; rather an
+unpleasant business."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, dear!" exclaimed Stillbury. He put down his cup and regarded me
+with quite painful anxiety.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It looks to me like an undoubted case of criminal poisoning," I
+continued.
+</p>
+<p>
+Stillbury's face cleared instantly. "Oh, I'm glad it's nothing more than
+that," he said with an air of relief. "I was afraid, it was some
+confounded woman. There's always that danger, you know, when a locum is
+young and happens&mdash;if I may say so, Jervis&mdash;to be a good-looking fellow.
+Let us hear about this case."
+</p>
+<p>
+I gave him a condensed narrative of my connection with the mysterious
+patient, omitting any reference to Thorndyke, and passing lightly over
+my efforts to fix the position of the house, and wound up with the
+remark that the facts ought certainly to be communicated to the police.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes," he admitted reluctantly, "I suppose you're right. Deuced
+unpleasant though. Police cases don't do a practice any good. They waste
+a lot of time, too; keep you hanging about to give evidence. Still, you
+are quite right. We can't stand by and see the poor devil poisoned
+without making some effort. But I don't believe the police will do
+anything in the matter."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Don't you really?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, I don't. They like to have things pretty well cut and dried before
+they act. A prosecution is an expensive affair, so they don't care to
+prosecute unless they are fairly sure of a conviction. If they fail they
+get hauled over the coals."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But don't you think they would get a conviction in this case?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not on your evidence, Jervis. They might pick up something fresh, but,
+if they didn't they would fail. You haven't got enough hard-baked facts
+to upset a capable defence. Still, that isn't our affair. You want to
+put the responsibility on the police and I entirely agree with you."
+</p>
+<p>
+"There ought not to be any delay," said I.
+</p>
+<p>
+"There needn't be. I shall look in on Mrs. Wackford and you have to see
+the Rummel children; we shall pass the station on our way. Why shouldn't
+we drop in and see the inspector or superintendent?"
+</p>
+<p>
+The suggestion met my views exactly. As soon as we had finished tea, we
+set forth, and in about ten minutes found ourselves in the bare and
+forbidding office attached to the station.
+</p>
+<p>
+The presiding officer descended from a high stool, and, carefully laying
+down his pen, shook hands cordially.
+</p>
+<p>
+"And what can I do for you gentlemen?" he asked, with an affable smile.
+</p>
+<p>
+Stillbury proceeded to open our business.
+</p>
+<p>
+"My friend here, Dr. Jervis, who has very kindly been looking after my
+work for a week or two, has had a most remarkable experience, and he
+wants to tell you about it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Something in my line of business?" the officer inquired.
+</p>
+<p>
+"That," said I, "is for you to judge. I think it is, but you may think
+otherwise"; and hereupon, without further preamble, I plunged into the
+history of the case, giving him a condensed statement similar to that
+which I had already made to Stillbury.
+</p>
+<p>
+He listened with close attention, jotting down from time to time a brief
+note on a sheet of paper; and, when I had finished, he wrote out in a
+black-covered notebook a short pr&eacute;cis of my statement.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I have written down here," he said, "the substance of what you have
+told me. I will read the deposition over to you, and, if it is correct,
+I will ask you to sign it."
+</p>
+<p>
+He did so, and, when I had signed the document, I asked him what was
+likely to be done in the matter.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am afraid," he replied, "that we can't take any active measures. You
+have put us on our guard and we shall keep our eyes open. But I think
+that is all we can do, unless we hear something further."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But," I exclaimed, "don't you think that it is a very suspicious
+affair?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I do," he replied. "A very fishy business indeed, and you were quite
+right to come and tell us about it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It seems a pity not to take some measures," I said. "While you are
+waiting to hear something further, they may give the poor wretch a fresh
+dose and kill him."
+</p>
+<p>
+"In which case we should hear something further, unless some fool of a
+doctor were to give a death certificate."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But that is very unsatisfactory. The man ought not to be allowed to
+die."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I quite agree with you, sir. But we've no evidence that he is going to
+die. His friends sent for you, and you treated him skilfully and left
+him in a fair way to recovery. That's all that we really know about it.
+Yes, I know," the officer continued as I made signs of disagreement,
+"you think that a crime is possibly going to be committed and that we
+ought to prevent it. But you overrate our powers. We can only act on
+evidence that a crime has actually been committed or is actually being
+attempted. Now we have no such evidence. Look at your statement, and
+tell me what you can swear to."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think I could swear that Mr. Graves had taken a poisonous dose of
+morphine."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And who gave him that poisonous dose?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I very strongly suspect&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+"That's no good, sir," interrupted the officer. "Suspicion isn't
+evidence. We should want you to swear an information and give us enough
+facts to make out a <i>prim&acirc; facie</i> case against some definite person. And
+you couldn't do it. Your information amounts to this: that a certain
+person has taken a poisonous dose of morphine and apparently recovered.
+That's all. You can't swear that the names given to you are real names,
+and you can't give us any address or even any locality."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I took some compass bearings in the carriage," I said. "You could
+locate the house, I think, without much difficulty."
+</p>
+<p>
+The officer smiled faintly and fixed an abstracted gaze on the clock.
+</p>
+<p>
+"<i>You</i> could, sir," he replied. "I have no doubt whatever that <i>you</i>
+could. <i>I</i> couldn't. But, in any case, we haven't enough to go upon. If
+you learn anything fresh, I hope you will let me know; and I am very
+much obliged to you for taking so much trouble in the matter. Good
+evening sir. Good evening, Dr. Stillbury."
+</p>
+<p>
+He shook hands with us both genially, and, accepting perforce this very
+polite but unmistakable dismissal, we took our departure.
+</p>
+<p>
+Outside the station, Stillbury heaved a comfortable sigh. He was
+evidently relieved to find that no upheavals were to take place in his
+domain.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I thought that would be their attitude," he said, "and they are quite
+right, you know. The function of law is to prevent crime, it is true;
+but prophylaxis in the sense in which we understand it is not possible
+in legal practice."
+</p>
+<p>
+I assented without enthusiasm. It was disappointing to find that no
+precautionary measures were to be taken. However, I had done all that I
+could in the matter. No further responsibility lay upon me, and, as it
+was practically certain that I had seen and heard the last of Mr. Graves
+and his mysterious household, I dismissed the case from my mind. At the
+next corner Stillbury and I parted to go our respective ways; and my
+attention was soon transferred from the romance of crime to the
+realities of epidemic influenza.
+</p>
+<p>
+The plethora of work in Dr. Stillbury's practice continued longer than I
+had bargained for. Day after day went by and still found me tramping the
+dingy streets of Kennington or scrambling up and down narrow stairways;
+turning in at night dead tired, or turning out half awake to the hideous
+jangle of the night bell.
+</p>
+<p>
+It was very provoking. For months I had resisted Thorndyke's persuasion
+to give up general practice and join him. Not from lack of inclination,
+but from a deep suspicion that he was thinking of my wants rather than
+his own; that his was a charitable rather than a business proposal. Now
+that I knew this not to be the case, I was impatient to join him; and,
+as I trudged through the dreary thoroughfares of this superannuated
+suburb, with its once rustic villas and its faded gardens, my thoughts
+would turn enviously to the quiet dignity of the Temple and my friend's
+chambers in King's Bench Walk.
+</p>
+<p>
+The closed carriage appeared no more; nor did any whisper either of good
+or evil reach me in connection with the mysterious house from which it
+had come. Mr. Graves had apparently gone out of my life for ever.
+</p>
+<p>
+But if he had gone out of my life, he had not gone out of my memory.
+Often, as I walked my rounds, would the picture of that dimly-lit room
+rise unbidden. Often would I find myself looking once more into that
+ghastly face, so worn, so wasted and haggard, and yet so far from
+repellent. All the incidents of that last night would reconstitute
+themselves with a vividness that showed the intensity of the impression
+that they had made at the time. I would have gladly forgotten the whole
+affair, for every incident of it was fraught with discomfort. But it
+clung to my memory; it haunted me; and ever as it returned it bore with
+it the disquieting questions: Was Mr. Graves still alive? And, if he was
+not, was there really nothing which could have been done to save him?
+</p>
+<p>
+Nearly a month passed before the practice began to show signs of
+returning to its normal condition. Then the daily lists became more and
+more contracted and the day's work proportionately shorter. And thus the
+term of my servitude came to an end. One evening, as we were writing up
+the day-book, Stillbury remarked:
+</p>
+<p>
+"I almost think, Jervis, I could manage by myself now. I know you are
+only staying on for my sake."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am staying on to finish my engagement, but I shan't be sorry to clear
+out if you can do without me."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think I can. When would you like to be off?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"As soon as possible. Say to-morrow morning, after I have made a few
+visits and transferred the patients to you."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Very well," said Stillbury. "Then I will give you your cheque and
+settle up everything to-night, so that you shall be free to go off when
+you like to-morrow morning."
+</p>
+<p>
+Thus ended my connection with Kennington Lane. On the following day at
+about noon, I found myself strolling across Waterloo Bridge with the
+sensations of a newly liberated convict and a cheque for twenty-five
+guineas in my pocket. My luggage was to follow when I sent for it. Now,
+unhampered even by a hand-bag, I joyfully descended the steps at the
+north end of the bridge and headed for King's Bench Walk by way of the
+Embankment and Middle Temple Lane.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="CH5"><!-- CH5 --></a>
+<h2>
+	Chapter V
+</h2>
+
+<h3>
+Jeffrey Blackmore's Will
+</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>
+My arrival at Thorndyke's chambers was not unexpected, having been
+heralded by a premonitory post-card. The "oak" was open and an
+application of the little brass knocker of the inner door immediately
+produced my colleague himself and a very hearty welcome.
+</p>
+<p>
+"At last," said Thorndyke, "you have come forth from the house of
+bondage. I began to think that you had taken up your abode in Kennington
+for good."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I was beginning, myself, to wonder when I should escape. But here I am;
+and I may say at once that I am ready to shake the dust of general
+practice off my feet for ever&mdash;that is, if you are still willing to have
+me as your assistant."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Willing!" exclaimed Thorndyke, "Barkis himself was not more willing
+than I. You will be invaluable to me. Let us settle the terms of our
+comradeship forthwith, and to-morrow we will take measures to enter you
+as a student of the Inner Temple. Shall we have our talk in the open air
+and the spring sunshine?"
+</p>
+<p>
+I agreed readily to this proposal, for it was a bright, sunny day and
+warm for the time of year&mdash;the beginning of April. We descended to the
+Walk and thence slowly made our way to the quiet court behind the
+church, where poor old Oliver Goldsmith lies, as he would surely have
+wished to lie, in the midst of all that had been dear to him in his
+chequered life. I need not record the matter of our conversation. To
+Thorndyke's proposals I had no objections to offer but my own
+unworthiness and his excessive liberality. A few minutes saw our
+covenants fully agreed upon, and when Thorndyke had noted the points on
+a slip of paper, signed and dated it and handed it to me, the business
+was at an end.
+</p>
+<p>
+"There," my colleague said with a smile as he put away his pocket-book,
+"if people would only settle their affairs in that way, a good part of
+the occupation of lawyers would be gone. Brevity is the soul of wit; and
+the fear of simplicity is the beginning of litigation."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And now," I said, "I propose that we go and feed. I will invite you to
+lunch to celebrate our contract."
+</p>
+<p>
+"My learned junior is premature," he replied. "I had already arranged a
+little festivity&mdash;or rather had modified one that was already arranged.
+You remember Mr. Marchmont, the solicitor?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes."
+</p>
+<p>
+"He called this morning to ask me to lunch with him and a new client at
+the 'Cheshire Cheese.' I accepted and notified him that I should bring
+you."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why the 'Cheshire Cheese'?" I asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why not? Marchmont's reasons for the selection were, first, that his
+client has never seen an old-fashioned London tavern, and second, that
+this is Wednesday and he, Marchmont, has a gluttonous affection for a
+really fine beef-steak pudding. You don't object, I hope?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, not at all. In fact, now that you mention it, my own sensations
+incline me to sympathize with Marchmont. I breakfasted rather early."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Then come," said Thorndyke. "The assignation is for one o'clock, and,
+if we walk slowly, we shall just hit it off."
+</p>
+<p>
+We sauntered up Inner Temple Lane, and, crossing Fleet Street, headed
+sedately for the tavern. As we entered the quaint old-world dining-room,
+Thorndyke looked round and a gentleman, who was seated with a companion
+at a table in one of the little boxes or compartments, rose and saluted
+us.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Let me introduce you to my friend Mr. Stephen Blackmore," he said as we
+approached. Then, turning to his companion, he introduced us by our
+respective names.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I engaged this box," he continued, "so that we might be private if we
+wished to have a little preliminary chat; not that beef-steak pudding is
+a great help to conversation. But when people have a certain business
+in view, their talk is sure to drift towards it, sooner or later."
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke and I sat down opposite the lawyer and his client, and we
+mutually inspected one another. Marchmont I already knew; an elderly,
+professional-looking man, a typical solicitor of the old school;
+fresh-faced, precise, rather irascible, and conveying a not unpleasant
+impression of taking a reasonable interest in his diet. The other man
+was quite young, not more than five-and-twenty, and was a fine
+athletic-looking fellow with a healthy, out-of-door complexion and an
+intelligent and highly prepossessing face. I took a liking to him at the
+first glance, and so, I saw, did Thorndyke.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You two gentlemen," said Blackmore, addressing us, "seem to be quite
+old acquaintances. I have heard so much about you from my friend, Reuben
+Hornby."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Ah!" exclaimed Marchmont, "that was a queer case&mdash;'The Case of the Red
+Thumb Mark,' as the papers called it. It was an eye-opener to
+old-fashioned lawyers like myself. We've had scientific witnesses
+before&mdash;and bullied 'em properly, by Jove! when they wouldn't give the
+evidence that we wanted. But the scientific lawyer is something new. His
+appearance in court made us all sit up, I can assure you."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I hope we shall make you sit up again," said Thorndyke.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You won't this time," said Marchmont. "The issues in this case of my
+friend Blackmore's are purely legal; or rather, there are no issues at
+all. There is nothing in dispute. I tried to prevent Blackmore from
+consulting you, but he wouldn't listen to reason. Here! Waiter! How much
+longer are we to be waiters? We shall die of old age before we get our
+victuals!"
+</p>
+<p>
+The waiter smiled apologetically. "Yessir!" said he. "Coming now, sir."
+And at this very moment there was borne into the room a Gargantuan
+pudding in a great bucket of a basin, which being placed on a
+three-legged stool was forthwith attacked ferociously by the
+white-clothed, white-capped carver. We watched the process&mdash;as did every
+one present&mdash;with an interest not entirely gluttonous, for it added a
+pleasant touch to the picturesque old room, with its sanded floor, its
+homely, pew-like boxes, its high-backed settles and the friendly
+portrait of the "great lexicographer" that beamed down on us from the
+wall.
+</p>
+<p>
+"This is a very different affair from your great, glittering modern
+restaurant," Mr. Marchmont remarked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is indeed," said Blackmore, "and if this is the way in which our
+ancestors lived, it would seem that they had a better idea of comfort
+than we have."
+</p>
+<p>
+There was a short pause, during which Mr. Marchmont glared hungrily at
+the pudding; then Thorndyke said:
+</p>
+<p>
+"So you refused to listen to reason, Mr. Blackmore?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes. You see, Mr. Marchmont and his partner had gone into the matter
+and decided that there was nothing to be done. Then I happened to
+mention the affair to Reuben Hornby, and he urged me to ask your advice
+on the case."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Like his impudence," growled Marchmont, "to meddle with my client."
+</p>
+<p>
+"On which," continued Blackmore, "I spoke to Mr. Marchmont and he agreed
+that it was worth while to take your opinion on the case, though he
+warned me to cherish no hopes, as the affair was not really within your
+specialty."
+</p>
+<p>
+"So you understand," said Marchmont, "that we expect nothing. This is
+quite a forlorn hope. We are taking your opinion as a mere formality, to
+be able to say that we have left nothing untried."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is an encouraging start," Thorndyke remarked. "It leaves me
+unembarrassed by the possibility of failure. But meanwhile you are
+arousing in me a devouring curiosity as to the nature of the case. Is it
+highly confidential? Because if not, I would mention that Jervis has now
+joined me as my permanent colleague."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It isn't confidential at all," said Marchmont. "The public are in full
+possession of the facts, and we should be only too happy to put them in
+still fuller possession, through the medium of the Probate Court, if we
+could find a reasonable pretext. But we can't."
+</p>
+<p>
+Here the waiter charged our table with the fussy rapidity of the
+overdue.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Sorry to keep you waiting, sir. Rather early, sir. Wouldn't like it
+underdone, sir."
+</p>
+<p>
+Marchmont inspected his plate critically and remarked:
+</p>
+<p>
+"I sometimes suspect these oysters of being mussels; and I'll swear the
+larks are sparrows."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Let us hope so," said Thorndyke. "The lark is better employed 'at
+Heaven's gate singing' than garnishing a beef-steak pudding. But you
+were telling us about your case."
+</p>
+<p>
+"So I was. Well it's just a matter of&mdash;ale or claret? Oh, claret, I
+know. You despise the good old British John Barleycorn."
+</p>
+<p>
+"He that drinks beer thinks beer," retorted Thorndyke. "But you were
+saying that it is just a matter of&mdash;?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"A matter of a perverse testator and an ill-drawn will. A peculiarly
+irritating case, too, because the defective will replaces a perfectly
+sound one, and the intentions of the testator were&mdash;er&mdash;were&mdash;excellent
+ale, this. A little heady, perhaps, but sound. Better than your sour
+French wine, Thorndyke&mdash;were&mdash;er&mdash;were quite obvious. What he evidently
+desired was&mdash;mustard? Better have some mustard. No? Well, well! Even a
+Frenchman would take mustard. You can have no appreciation of flavour,
+Thorndyke, if you take your victuals in that crude, unseasoned state.
+And, talking of flavour, do you suppose that there is really any
+difference between that of a lark and that of a sparrow?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke smiled grimly. "I should suppose," said he, "that they were
+indistinguishable; but the question could easily be put to the test of
+experiment."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is true," agreed Marchmont, "and it would really be worth trying,
+for, as you say, sparrows are more easily obtainable than larks. But,
+about this will. I was saying&mdash;er&mdash;now, what was I saying?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I understood you to say," replied Thorndyke, "that the intentions of
+the testator were in some way connected with mustard. Isn't that so,
+Jervis?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"That was what I gathered," said I.
+</p>
+<p>
+Marchmont gazed at us for a moment with a surprised expression and then,
+laughing good-humouredly, fortified himself with a draught of ale.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The moral of which is," Thorndyke added, "that testamentary
+dispositions should not be mixed up with beef-steak pudding."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I believe you're right, Thorndyke," said the unabashed solicitor.
+"Business is business and eating is eating. We had better talk over our
+case in my office or your chambers after lunch."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes," said Thorndyke, "come over to the Temple with me and I will give
+you a cup of coffee to clear your brain. Are there any documents?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I have all the papers here in my bag," replied Marchmont; and the
+conversation&mdash;such conversation as is possible "when beards wag all"
+over the festive board&mdash;drifted into other channels.
+</p>
+<p>
+As soon as the meal was finished and the reckoning paid, we trooped out
+of Wine Office Court, and, insinuating ourselves through the line of
+empty hansoms that, in those days, crawled in a continuous procession
+on either side of Fleet Street, betook ourselves by way of Mitre Court
+to King's Bench Walk. There, when the coffee had been requisitioned and
+our chairs drawn up around the fire, Mr. Marchmont unloaded from his bag
+a portentous bundle of papers, and we addressed ourselves to the
+business in hand.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Now," said Marchmont, "let me repeat what I said before. Legally
+speaking, we have no case&mdash;not the ghost of one. But my client wished to
+take your opinion, and I agreed on the bare chance that you might detect
+some point that we had overlooked. I don't think you will, for we have
+gone into the case very thoroughly, but still, there is the
+infinitesimal chance and we may as well take it. Would you like to read
+the two wills, or shall I first explain the circumstances?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think," replied Thorndyke, "a narrative of the events in the order of
+their occurrence would be most helpful. I should like to know as much as
+possible about the testator before I examine the documents."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Very well," said Marchmont. "Then I will begin with a recital of the
+circumstances, which, briefly stated, are these: My client, Stephen
+Blackmore, is the son of Mr. Edward Blackmore, deceased. Edward
+Blackmore had two brothers who survived him, John, the elder, and
+Jeffrey, the younger. Jeffrey is the testator in this case.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Some two years ago, Jeffrey Blackmore executed a will by which he made
+his nephew Stephen his executor and sole legatee; and a few months later
+he added a codicil giving two hundred and fifty pounds to his brother
+John."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What was the value of the estate?" Thorndyke asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"About three thousand five hundred pounds, all invested in Consols. The
+testator had a pension from the Foreign Office, on which he lived,
+leaving his capital untouched. Soon after having made his will, he left
+the rooms in Jermyn Street, where he had lived for some years, stored
+his furniture and went to Florence. From thence he moved on to Rome and
+then to Venice and other places in Italy, and so continued to travel
+about until the end of last September, when it appears that he returned
+to England, for at the beginning of October he took a set of chambers in
+New Inn, which he furnished with some of the things from his old rooms.
+As far as we can make out, he never communicated with any of his
+friends, excepting his brother, and the fact of his being in residence
+at New Inn or of his being in England at all became known to them only
+when he died."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Was this quite in accordance with his ordinary habits?" Thorndyke
+asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I should say not quite," Blackmore answered. "My uncle was a studious,
+solitary man, but he was not formerly a recluse. He was not much of a
+correspondent but he kept up some sort of communication with his
+friends. He used, for instance, to write to me sometimes, and, when I
+came down from Cambridge for the vacations, he had me to stay with him
+at his rooms."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Is there anything known that accounts for the change in his habits?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, there is," replied Marchmont. "We shall come to that presently. To
+proceed with the narrative: On the fifteenth of last March he was found
+dead in his chambers, and a more recent will was then discovered, dated
+the twelfth of November of last year. Now no change had taken place in
+the circumstances of the testator to account for the new will, nor was
+there any appreciable alteration in the disposition of the property. As
+far as we can make out, the new will was drawn with the idea of stating
+the intentions of the testator with greater exactness and for the sake
+of doing away with the codicil. The entire property, with the exception
+of two hundred and fifty pounds, was, as before, bequeathed to Stephen,
+but the separate items were specified, and the testator's brother, John
+Blackmore, was named as the executor and residuary legatee."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I see," said Thorndyke. "So that your client's interest in the will
+would appear to be practically unaffected by the change."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes. There it is," exclaimed the lawyer, slapping the table to add
+emphasis to his words. "That is the pity of it! If people who have no
+knowledge of law would only refrain from tinkering at their wills, what
+a world of trouble would be saved!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, come!" said Thorndyke. "It is not for a lawyer to say that."
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, I suppose not," Marchmont agreed. "Only, you see, we like the
+muddle to be made by the other side. But, in this case, the muddle is on
+our side. The change, as you say, seems to leave our friend Stephen's
+interests unaffected. That is, of course, what poor Jeffrey Blackmore
+thought. But he was mistaken. The effect of the change is absolutely
+disastrous."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Indeed!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes. As I have said, no alteration in the testator's circumstances had
+taken place at the time the new will was executed. <i>But</i> only two days
+before his death, his sister, Mrs. Edmund Wilson, died; and on her will
+being proved it appeared that she had bequeathed to him her entire
+personalty, estimated at about thirty thousand pounds."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Heigho!" exclaimed Thorndyke. "What an unfortunate affair!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"You are right," said Mr. Marchmont; "it was a disaster. By the original
+will this great sum would have accrued to our friend Mr. Stephen,
+whereas now, of course, it goes to the residuary legatee, Mr. John
+Blackmore. And what makes it even more exasperating is the fact that
+this is obviously not in accordance with the wishes and intentions of
+Mr. Jeffrey, who clearly desired his nephew to inherit his property."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes," said Thorndyke; "I think you are justified in assuming that. But
+do you know whether Mr. Jeffrey was aware of his sister's intentions?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"We think not. Her will was executed as recently as the third of
+September last, and it seems that there had been no communication
+between her and Mr. Jeffrey since that date. Besides, if you consider
+Mr. Jeffrey's actions, you will see that they suggest no knowledge or
+expectation of this very important bequest. A man does not make
+elaborate dispositions in regard to three thousand pounds and then leave
+a sum of thirty thousand to be disposed of casually as the residue of
+the estate."
+</p>
+<p>
+"No," Thorndyke agreed. "And, as you have said, the manifest intention
+of the testator was to leave the bulk of his property to Mr. Stephen. So
+we may take it as virtually certain that Mr. Jeffrey had no knowledge of
+the fact that he was a beneficiary under his sister's will."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes," said Mr. Marchmont, "I think we may take that as nearly certain."
+</p>
+<p>
+"With reference to the second will," said Thorndyke, "I suppose there is
+no need to ask whether the document itself has been examined; I mean as
+to its being a genuine document and perfectly regular?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Mr. Marchmont shook his head sadly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"No," he said, "I am sorry to say that there can be no possible doubt as
+to the authenticity and regularity of the document. The circumstances
+under which it was executed establish its genuineness beyond any
+question."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What were those circumstances?" Thorndyke asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"They were these: On the morning of the twelfth of November last, Mr.
+Jeffrey came to the porter's lodge with a document in his hand. 'This,'
+he said, 'is my will. I want you to witness my signature. Would you mind
+doing so, and can you find another respectable person to act as the
+second witness?' Now it happened that a nephew of the porter's, a
+painter by trade, was at work in the Inn. The porter went out and
+fetched him into the lodge and the two men agreed to witness the
+signature. 'You had better read the will,' said Mr. Jeffrey. 'It is not
+actually necessary, but it is an additional safeguard and there is
+nothing of a private nature in the document.' The two men accordingly
+read the document, and, when Mr. Jeffrey had signed it in their
+presence, they affixed their signatures; and I may add that the painter
+left the recognizable impressions of three greasy fingers."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And these witnesses have been examined?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes. They have both sworn to the document and to their own signatures,
+and the painter recognized his finger-marks."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That," said Thorndyke, "seems to dispose pretty effectually of any
+question as to the genuineness of the will; and if, as I gather, Mr.
+Jeffrey came to the lodge alone, the question of undue influence is
+disposed of too."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes," said Mr. Marchmont. "I think we must pass the will as absolutely
+flawless."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It strikes me as rather odd," said Thorndyke, "that Jeffrey should have
+known so little about his sister's intentions. Can you explain it, Mr.
+Blackmore?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't think that it is very remarkable," Stephen replied. "I knew
+very little of my aunt's affairs and I don't think my uncle Jeffrey knew
+much more, for he was under the impression that she had only a life
+interest in her husband's property. And he may have been right. It is
+not clear what money this was that she left to my uncle. She was a very
+taciturn woman and made few confidences to anyone."
+</p>
+<p>
+"So that it is possible," said Thorndyke, "that she, herself, may have
+acquired this money recently by some bequest?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is quite possible," Stephen answered.
+</p>
+<p>
+"She died, I understand," said Thorndyke, glancing at the notes that he
+had jotted down, "two days before Mr. Jeffrey. What date would that be?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Jeffrey died on the fourteenth of March," said Marchmont.
+</p>
+<p>
+"So that Mrs. Wilson died on the twelfth of March?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is so," Marchmont replied; and Thorndyke then asked:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Did she die suddenly?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No," replied Stephen; "she died of cancer. I understand that it was
+cancer of the stomach."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Do you happen to know," Thorndyke asked, "what sort of relations
+existed between Jeffrey and his brother John?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"At one time," said Stephen, "I know they were not very cordial; but the
+breach may have been made up later, though I don't know that it actually
+was."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I ask the question," said Thorndyke, "because, as I dare say you have
+noticed, there is, in the first will, some hint of improved relations.
+As it was originally drawn that will makes Mr. Stephen the sole legatee.
+Then, a little later, a codicil is added in favour of John, showing that
+Jeffrey had felt the necessity of making some recognition of his
+brother. This seems to point to some change in the relations, and the
+question arises: if such a change did actually occur, was it the
+beginning of a new and further improving state of feeling between the
+two brothers? Have you any facts bearing on that question?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Marchmont pursed up his lips with the air of a man considering an
+unwelcome suggestion, and, after a few moments of reflection, answered:
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think we must say 'yes' to that. There is the undeniable fact that,
+of all Jeffrey's friends, John Blackmore was the only one who knew that
+he was living in New Inn."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, John knew that, did he?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, he certainly did; for it came out in the evidence that he had
+called on Jeffrey at his chambers more than once. There is no denying
+that. But, mark you!" Mr. Marchmont added emphatically, "that does not
+cover the inconsistency of the will. There is nothing in the second will
+to suggest that Jeffrey intended materially to increase the bequest to
+his brother."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I quite agree with you, Marchmont. I think that is a perfectly sound
+position. You have, I suppose, fully considered the question as to
+whether it would be possible to set aside the second will on the ground
+that it fails to carry out the evident wishes and intentions of the
+testator?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes. My partner, Winwood, and I went into that question very carefully,
+and we also took counsel's opinion&mdash;Sir Horace Barnaby&mdash;and he was of
+the same opinion as ourselves; that the court would certainly uphold the
+will."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think that would be my own view," said Thorndyke, "especially after
+what you have told me. Do I understand that John Blackmore was the only
+person who knew that Jeffrey was in residence at New Inn?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"The only one of his private friends. His bankers knew and so did the
+officials from whom he drew his pension."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Of course he would have to notify his bankers of his change of
+address."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, of course. And &agrave; propos of the bank, I may mention that the
+manager tells me that, of late, they had noticed a slight change in the
+character of Jeffrey's signature&mdash;I think you will see the reason of the
+change when you hear the rest of his story. It was very trifling; not
+more than commonly occurs when a man begins to grow old, especially if
+there is some failure of eyesight."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Was Mr. Jeffrey's eyesight failing?" asked Thorndyke.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, it was, undoubtedly," said Stephen. "He was practically blind in
+one eye and, in the very last letter that I ever had from him, he
+mentioned that there were signs of commencing cataract in the other."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You spoke of his pension. He continued to draw that regularly?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes; he drew his allowance every month, or rather, his bankers drew it
+for him. They had been accustomed to do so when he was abroad, and the
+authorities seem to have allowed the practice to continue."
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke reflected a while, running his eye over the notes on the slips
+of paper in his hand, and Marchmont surveyed him with a malicious smile.
+Presently the latter remarked:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Methinks the learned counsel is floored."
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke laughed. "It seems to me," he retorted, "that your proceedings
+are rather like those of the amiable individual who offered the bear a
+flint pebble, that he might crack it and extract the kernel. Your
+confounded will seems to offer no soft spot on which one could commence
+an attack. But we won't give up. We seem to have sucked the will dry.
+Let us now have a few facts respecting the parties concerned in it; and,
+as Jeffrey is the central figure, let us begin with him and the tragedy
+at New Inn that formed the starting-point of all this trouble."
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="CH6"><!-- CH6 --></a>
+<h2>
+	Chapter VI
+</h2>
+
+<h3>
+Jeffrey Blackmore, Deceased
+</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>
+Having made the above proposition, Thorndyke placed a fresh slip of
+paper on the blotting pad on his knee and looked inquiringly at Mr.
+Marchmont; who, in his turn, sighed and looked at the bundle of
+documents on the table.
+</p>
+<p>
+"What do you want to know?" he asked a little wearily.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Everything," replied Thorndyke. "You have hinted at circumstances that
+would account for a change in Jeffrey's habits and that would explain an
+alteration in the character of his signature. Let us have those
+circumstances. And, if I might venture on a suggestion, it would be that
+we take the events in the order in which they occurred or in which they
+became known."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That's the worst of you, Thorndyke," Marchmont grumbled. "When a case
+has been squeezed out to the last drop, in a legal sense, you want to
+begin all over again with the family history of every one concerned and
+a list of his effects and household furniture. But I suppose you will
+have to be humoured; and I imagine that the best way in which to give
+you the information you want will be to recite the circumstances
+surrounding the death of Jeffrey Blackmore. Will that suit you?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Perfectly," replied Thorndyke; and thereupon Marchmont began:
+</p>
+<p>
+"The death of Jeffrey Blackmore was discovered at about eleven o'clock
+in the morning of the fifteenth of March. It seems that a builder's man
+was ascending a ladder to examine a gutter on number 31, New Inn, when,
+on passing a second-floor window that was open at the top, he looked in
+and perceived a gentleman lying on a bed. The gentleman was fully
+clothed and had apparently lain down on the bed to rest; at least so the
+builder thought at the time, for he was merely passing the window on
+his way up, and, very properly, did not make a minute examination. But
+when, some ten minutes later, he came down and saw that the gentleman
+was still in the same position, he looked at him more attentively; and
+this is what he noticed&mdash;but perhaps we had better have it in his own
+words as he told the story at the inquest.
+</p>
+<p>
+"'When I came to look at the gentleman a bit more closely, it struck me
+that he looked rather queer. His face looked very white, or rather pale
+yellow, like parchment, and his mouth was open. He did not seem to be
+breathing. On the bed by his side was a brass object of some kind&mdash;I
+could not make out what it was&mdash;and he seemed to be holding some small
+metal object in his hand. I thought it rather a queer affair, so, when I
+came down I went across to the lodge and told the porter about it. The
+porter came out across the square with me and I showed him the window.
+Then he told me to go up the stairs to Mr. Blackmore's chambers on the
+second pair and knock and keep on knocking until I got an answer. I went
+up and knocked and kept on knocking as loud as I could, but, though I
+fetched everybody out of all the other chambers in the house, I couldn't
+get any answer from Mr. Blackmore. So I went downstairs again and then
+Mr. Walker, the porter, sent me for a policeman.
+</p>
+<p>
+"'I went out and met a policeman just by Dane's Inn and told him about
+the affair, and he came back with me. He and the porter consulted
+together, and then they told me to go up the ladder and get in at the
+window and open the door of the chambers from the inside. So I went up;
+and as soon as I got in at the window I saw that the gentleman was dead.
+I went through the other room and opened the outer door and let in the
+porter and the policeman.'
+</p>
+<p>
+"That," said Mr. Marchmont, laying down the paper containing the
+depositions, "is the way in which poor Jeffrey Blackmore's death came to
+be discovered.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The constable reported to his inspector and the inspector sent for the
+divisional surgeon, whom he accompanied to New Inn. I need not go into
+the evidence given by the police officers, as the surgeon saw all that
+they saw and his statement covers everything that is known about
+Jeffrey's death. This is what he says, after describing how he was sent
+for and arrived at the Inn:
+</p>
+<p>
+"'In the bedroom I found the body of a man between fifty and sixty years
+of age, which has since been identified in my presence as that of Mr.
+Jeffrey Blackmore. It was fully dressed and wore boots on which was a
+moderate amount of dry mud. It was lying on its back on the bed, which
+did not appear to have been slept in, and showed no sign of any struggle
+or disturbance. The right hand loosely grasped a hypodermic syringe
+containing a few drops of clear liquid which I have since analysed and
+found to be a concentrated solution of strophanthin.
+</p>
+<p>
+"'On the bed, close to the left side of the body, was a brass opium-pipe
+of a pattern which I believe is made in China. The bowl of the pipe
+contained a small quantity of charcoal, and a fragment of opium
+together with some ash, and there was on the bed a little ash which
+appeared to have dropped from the bowl when the pipe fell or was laid
+down. On the mantelshelf in the bedroom I found a small glass-stoppered
+jar containing about an ounce of solid opium, and another, larger jar
+containing wood charcoal broken up into small fragments. Also a bowl
+containing a quantity of ash with fragments of half-burned charcoal and
+a few minute particles of charred opium. By the side of the bowl were a
+knife, a kind of awl or pricker and a very small pair of tongs, which I
+believe to have been used for carrying a piece of lighted charcoal to
+the pipe.
+</p>
+<p>
+"'On the dressing-table were two glass tubes labelled "Hypodermic
+Tabloids: Strophanthin 1/500 grain," and a minute glass mortar and
+pestle, of which the former contained a few crystals which have since
+been analysed by me and found to be strophanthin.
+</p>
+<p>
+"'On examining the body, I found that it had been dead about twelve
+hours. There were no marks of violence or any abnormal condition
+excepting a single puncture in the right thigh, apparently made by the
+needle of the hypodermic syringe. The puncture was deep and vertical in
+direction as if the needle had been driven in through the clothing.
+</p>
+<p>
+"'I made a post-mortem examination of the body and found that death was
+due to poisoning by strophanthin, which appeared to have been injected
+into the thigh. The two tubes which I found on the dressing-table would
+each have contained, if full, twenty tabloids, each tabloid
+representing one five-hundredth of a grain of strophanthin. Assuming
+that the whole of this quantity was injected the amount taken would be
+forty five-hundredths, or about one twelfth of a grain. The ordinary
+medicinal dose of strophanthin is one five-hundredth of a grain.
+</p>
+<p>
+"'I also found in the body appreciable traces of morphine&mdash;the principal
+alkaloid of opium&mdash;from which I infer that the deceased was a confirmed
+opium-smoker. This inference was supported by the general condition of
+the body, which was ill-nourished and emaciated and presented all the
+appearances usually met with in the bodies of persons addicted to the
+habitual use of opium.'
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is the evidence of the surgeon. He was recalled later, as we shall
+see, but, meanwhile, I think you will agree with me that the facts
+testified to by him fully account, not only for the change in Jeffrey's
+habits&mdash;his solitary and secretive mode of life&mdash;but also for the
+alteration in his handwriting."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes," agreed Thorndyke, "that seems to be so. By the way, what did the
+change in the handwriting amount to?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Very little," replied Marchmont. "It was hardly perceptible. Just a
+slight loss of firmness and distinctness; such a trifling change as you
+would expect to find in the handwriting of a man who had taken to drink
+or drugs, or anything that might impair the steadiness of his hand. I
+should not have noticed it, myself, but, of course, the people at the
+bank are experts, constantly scrutinizing signatures and scrutinizing
+them with a very critical eye."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Is there any other evidence that bears on the case?" Thorndyke asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+Marchmont turned over the bundle of papers and smiled grimly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"My dear Thorndyke," he said, "none of this evidence has the slightest
+bearing on the case. It is all perfectly irrelevant as far as the will
+is concerned. But I know your little peculiarities and I am indulging
+you, as you see, to the top of your bent. The next evidence is that of
+the chief porter, a very worthy and intelligent man named Walker. This
+is what he says, after the usual preliminaries.
+</p>
+<p>
+"'I have viewed the body which forms the subject of this inquiry. It is
+that of Mr. Jeffrey Blackmore, the tenant of a set of chambers on the
+second floor of number thirty-one, New Inn. I have known the deceased
+nearly six months, and during that time have seen and conversed with him
+frequently. He took the chambers on the second of last October and came
+into residence at once. Tenants at New Inn have to furnish two
+references. The references that the deceased gave were his bankers and
+his brother, Mr. John Blackmore. I may say that the deceased was very
+well known to me. He was a quiet, pleasant-mannered gentleman, and it
+was his habit to drop in occasionally at the lodge and have a chat with
+me. I went into his chambers with him once or twice on some small
+matters of business and I noticed that there were always a number of
+books and papers on the table. I understood from him that he spent most
+of his time indoors engaged in study and writing. I know very little
+about his way of living. He had no laundress to look after his rooms, so
+I suppose he did his own house-work and cooking; but he told me that he
+took most of his meals outside, at restaurants or his club.
+</p>
+<p>
+"'Deceased impressed me as a rather melancholy, low-spirited gentleman.
+He was very much troubled about his eyesight and mentioned the matter to
+me on several occasions. He told me that he was practically blind in one
+eye and that the sight of the other was failing rapidly. He said that
+this afflicted him greatly, because his only pleasure in life was in the
+reading of books, and that if he could not read he should not wish to
+live. On another occasion he said that "to a blind man life was not
+worth living."
+</p>
+<p>
+"'On the twelfth of last November he came to the lodge with a paper in
+his hand which he said was his will'&mdash;But I needn't read that," said
+Marchmont, turning over the leaf, "I've told you how the will was signed
+and witnessed. We will pass on to the day of poor Jeffrey's death.
+</p>
+<p>
+"'On the fourteenth of March,' the porter says, 'at about half-past six
+in the evening, the deceased came to the Inn in a four-wheeled cab. That
+was the day of the great fog. I do not know if there was anyone in the
+cab with the deceased, but I think not, because he came to the lodge
+just before eight o'clock and had a little talk with me. He said that
+he had been overtaken by the fog and could not see at all. He was quite
+blind and had been obliged to ask a stranger to call a cab for him as he
+could not find his way through the streets. He then gave me a cheque for
+the rent. I reminded him that the rent was not due until the
+twenty-fifth, but he said he wished to pay it now. He also gave me some
+money to pay one or two small bills that were owing to some of the
+tradespeople&mdash;a milk-man, a baker and a stationer.
+</p>
+<p>
+"'This struck me as very strange, because he had always managed his
+business and paid the tradespeople himself. He told me that the fog had
+irritated his eye so that he could hardly read, and he was afraid he
+should soon be quite blind. He was very depressed; so much so that I
+felt quite uneasy about him. When he left the lodge, he went back across
+the square as if returning to his chambers. There was then no gate open
+excepting the main gate where the lodge is situated. That was the last
+time that I saw the deceased alive.'"
+</p>
+<p>
+Mr. Marchmont laid the paper on the table. "That is the porter's
+evidence. The remaining depositions are those of Noble, the night
+porter, John Blackmore and our friend here, Mr. Stephen. The night
+porter had not much to tell. This is the substance of his evidence:
+</p>
+<p>
+"'I have viewed the body of the deceased and identify it as that of Mr.
+Jeffrey Blackmore. I knew the deceased well by sight and occasionally
+had a few words with him. I know nothing of his habits excepting that he
+used to sit up rather late. It is one of my duties to go round the Inn
+at night and call out the hours until one o'clock in the morning. When
+calling out "one o'clock" I often saw a light in the sitting-room of the
+deceased's chambers. On the night of the fourteenth instant, the light
+was burning until past one o'clock, but it was in the bedroom. The light
+in the sitting-room was out by ten o'clock.'
+</p>
+<p>
+"We now come to John Blackmore's evidence. He says:
+</p>
+<p>
+"'I have viewed the body of the deceased and recognize it as that of my
+brother Jeffrey. I last saw him alive on the twenty-third of February,
+when I called at his chambers. He then seemed in a very despondent state
+of mind and told me that his eyesight was fast failing. I was aware that
+he occasionally smoked opium, but I did not know that it was a confirmed
+habit. I urged him, on several occasions, to abandon the practice. I
+have no reason to believe that his affairs were in any way embarrassed
+or that he had any reason for making away with himself other than his
+failing eyesight; but, having regard to his state of mind when I last
+saw him, I am not surprised at what has happened.'
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is the substance of John Blackmore's evidence, and, as to Mr.
+Stephen, his statement merely sets forth the fact that he had identified
+the body as that of his uncle Jeffrey. And now I think you have all the
+facts. Is there anything more that you want to ask me before I go, for I
+must really run away now?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I should like," said Thorndyke, "to know a little more about the
+parties concerned in this affair. But perhaps Mr. Stephen can give me
+the information."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I expect he can," said Marchmont; "at any rate, he knows more about
+them than I do; so I will be off. If you should happen to think of any
+way," he continued, with a sly smile, "of upsetting that will, just let
+me know, and I will lose no time in entering a caveat. Good-bye! Don't
+trouble to let me out."
+</p>
+<p>
+As soon as he was gone, Thorndyke turned to Stephen Blackmore.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am going," he said, "to ask you a few questions which may appear
+rather trifling, but you must remember that my methods of inquiry
+concern themselves with persons and things rather than with documents.
+For instance, I have not gathered very completely what sort of person
+your uncle Jeffrey was. Could you tell me a little more about him?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"What shall I tell you?" Stephen asked with a slightly embarrassed air.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, begin with his personal appearance."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is rather difficult to describe," said Stephen. "He was a
+medium-sized man and about five feet seven&mdash;fair, slightly grey,
+clean-shaved, rather spare and slight, had grey eyes, wore spectacles
+and stooped a little as he walked. He was quiet and gentle in manner,
+rather yielding and irresolute in character, and his health was not at
+all robust though he had no infirmity or disease excepting his bad
+eyesight. His age was about fifty-five."
+</p>
+<p>
+"How came he to be a civil-service pensioner at fifty-five?" asked
+Thorndyke.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, that was through an accident. He had a nasty fall from a horse,
+and, being a rather nervous man, the shock was very severe. For some
+time after he was a complete wreck. But the failure of his eyesight was
+the actual cause of his retirement. It seems that the fall damaged his
+eyes in some way; in fact he practically lost the sight of one&mdash;the
+right&mdash;from that moment; and, as that had been his good eye, the
+accident left his vision very much impaired. So that he was at first
+given sick leave and then allowed to retire on a pension."
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke noted these particulars and then said:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Your uncle has been more than once referred to as a man of studious
+habits. Does that mean that he pursued any particular branch of
+learning?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes. He was an enthusiastic Oriental scholar. His official duties had
+taken him at one time to Yokohama and Tokio and at another to Bagdad,
+and while at those places he gave a good deal of attention to the
+languages, literature and arts of the countries. He was also greatly
+interested in Babylonian and Assyrian archaeology, and I believe he
+assisted for some time in the excavations at Birs Nimroud."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Indeed!" said Thorndyke. "This is very interesting. I had no idea that
+he was a man of such considerable attainments. The facts mentioned by
+Mr. Marchmont would hardly have led one to think of him as what he seems
+to have been: a scholar of some distinction."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't know that Mr. Marchmont realized the fact himself," said
+Stephen; "or that he would have considered it of any moment if he had.
+Nor, as far as that goes, do I. But, of course, I have no experience of
+legal matters."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You can never tell beforehand," said Thorndyke, "what facts may turn
+out to be of moment, so that it is best to collect all you can get. By
+the way, were you aware that your uncle was an opium-smoker?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, I was not. I knew that he had an opium-pipe which he brought with
+him when he came home from Japan; but I thought it was only a curio. I
+remember him telling me that he once tried a few puffs at an opium-pipe
+and found it rather pleasant, though it gave him a headache. But I had
+no idea he had contracted the habit; in fact, I may say that I was
+utterly astonished when the fact came out at the inquest."
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke made a note of this answer, too, and said:
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think that is all I have to ask you about your uncle Jeffrey. And now
+as to Mr. John Blackmore. What sort of man is he?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am afraid I can't tell you very much about him. Until I saw him at
+the inquest, I had not met him since I was a boy. But he is a very
+different kind of man from Uncle Jeffrey; different in appearance and
+different in character."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You would say that the two brothers were physically quite unlike,
+then?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well," said Stephen, "I don't know that I ought to say that. Perhaps I
+am exaggerating the difference. I am thinking of Uncle Jeffrey as he was
+when I saw him last and of uncle John as he appeared at the inquest.
+They were very different then. Jeffrey was thin, pale, clean shaven,
+wore spectacles and walked with a stoop. John is a shade taller, a shade
+greyer, has good eyesight, a healthy, florid complexion, a brisk,
+upright carriage, is distinctly stout and wears a beard and moustache
+which are black and only very slightly streaked with grey. To me they
+looked as unlike as two men could, though their features were really of
+the same type; indeed, I have heard it said that, as young men, they
+were rather alike, and they both resembled their mother. But there is no
+doubt as to their difference in character. Jeffrey was quiet, serious
+and studious, whereas John rather inclined to what is called a fast
+life; he used to frequent race meetings, and, I think, gambled a good
+deal at times."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What is his profession?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"That would be difficult to tell; he has so many; he is so very
+versatile. I believe he began life as an articled pupil in the
+laboratory of a large brewery, but he soon left that and went on the
+stage. He seems to have remained in 'the profession' for some years,
+touring about this country and making occasional visits to America. The
+life seemed to suit him and I believe he was decidedly successful as an
+actor. But suddenly he left the stage and blossomed out in connection
+with a bucket-shop in London."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And what is he doing now?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"At the inquest he described himself as a stockbroker, so I presume he
+is still connected with the bucket-shop."
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke rose, and taking down from the reference shelves a list of
+members of the Stock Exchange, turned over the leaves.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes," he said, replacing the volume, "he must be an outside broker. His
+name is not in the list of members of 'the House.' From what you tell
+me, it is easy to understand that there should have been no great
+intimacy between the two brothers, without assuming any kind of
+ill-feeling. They simply had very little in common. Do you know of
+anything more?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No. I have never heard of any actual quarrel or disagreement. My
+impression that they did not get on very well may have been, I think,
+due to the terms of the will, especially the first will. And they
+certainly did not seek one another's society."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is not very conclusive," said Thorndyke. "As to the will, a
+thrifty man is not usually much inclined to bequeath his savings to a
+gentleman who may probably employ them in a merry little flutter on the
+turf or the Stock Exchange. And then there was yourself; clearly a more
+suitable subject for a legacy, as your life is all before you. But this
+is mere speculation and the matter is not of much importance, as far as
+we can see. And now, tell me what John Blackmore's relations were with
+Mrs. Wilson. I gather that she left the bulk of her property to Jeffrey,
+her younger brother. Is that so?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes. She left nothing to John. The fact is that they were hardly on
+speaking terms. I believe John had treated her rather badly, or, at any
+rate, she thought he had. Mr. Wilson, her late husband, dropped some
+money over an investment in connection with the bucket-shop that I spoke
+of, and I think she suspected John of having let him in. She may have
+been mistaken, but you know what ladies are when they get an idea into
+their heads."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Did you know your aunt well?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No; very slightly. She lived down in Devonshire and saw very little of
+any of us. She was a taciturn, strong-minded woman; quite unlike her
+brothers. She seems to have resembled her father's family."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You might give me her full name."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Julia Elizabeth Wilson. Her husband's name was Edmund Wilson."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Thank you. There is just one more point. What has happened to your
+uncle's chambers in New Inn since his death?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"They have remained shut up. As all his effects were left to me, I have
+taken over the tenancy for the present to avoid having them disturbed. I
+thought of keeping them for my own use, but I don't think I could live
+in them after what I have seen."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You have inspected them, then?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes; I have just looked through them. I went there on the day of the
+inquest."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Now tell me: as you looked through those rooms, what kind of impression
+did they convey to you as to your uncle's habits and mode of life?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Stephen smiled apologetically. "I am afraid," said he, "that they did
+not convey any particular impression in that respect. I looked into the
+sitting-room and saw all his old familiar household gods, and then I
+went into the bedroom and saw the impression on the bed where his corpse
+had lain; and that gave me such a sensation of horror that I came away
+at once."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But the appearance of the rooms must have conveyed something to your
+mind," Thorndyke urged.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am afraid it did not. You see, I have not your analytical eye. But
+perhaps you would like to look through them yourself? If you would, pray
+do so. They are my chambers now."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think I should like to glance round them," Thorndyke replied.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Very well," said Stephen. "I will give you my card now, and I will look
+in at the lodge presently and tell the porter to hand you the key
+whenever you like to look over the rooms."
+</p>
+<p>
+He took a card from his case, and, having written a few lines on it,
+handed it to Thorndyke.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is very good of you," he said, "to take so much trouble. Like Mr.
+Marchmont, I have no expectation of any result from your efforts, but I
+am very grateful to you, all the same, for going into the case so
+thoroughly. I suppose you don't see any possibility of upsetting that
+will&mdash;if I may ask the question?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"At present," replied Thorndyke, "I do not. But until I have carefully
+weighed every fact connected with the case&mdash;whether it seems to have any
+bearing or not&mdash;I shall refrain from expressing, or even entertaining,
+an opinion either way."
+</p>
+<p>
+Stephen Blackmore now took his leave; and Thorndyke, having collected
+the papers containing his notes, neatly punched a couple of holes in
+their margins and inserted them into a small file, which he slipped into
+his pocket.
+</p>
+<p>
+"That," said he, "is the nucleus of the body of data on which our
+investigations must be based; and I very much fear that it will not
+receive any great additions. What do you think, Jervis?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"The case looks about as hopeless as a case could look," I replied.
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is what I think," said he; "and for that reason I am more than
+ordinarily keen on making something of it. I have not much more hope
+than Marchmont has; but I shall squeeze the case as dry as a bone before
+I let go. What are you going to do? I have to attend a meeting of the
+board of directors of the Griffin Life Office."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Shall I walk down with you?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is very good of you to offer, Jervis, but I think I will go alone. I
+want to run over these notes and get the facts of the case arranged in
+my mind. When I have done that, I shall be ready to pick up new matter.
+Knowledge is of no use unless it is actually in your mind, so that it
+can be produced at a moment's notice. So you had better get a book and
+your pipe and spend a quiet hour by the fire while I assimilate the
+miscellaneous mental feast that we have just enjoyed. And you might do a
+little rumination yourself."
+</p>
+<p>
+With this, Thorndyke took his departure; and I, adopting his advice,
+drew my chair closer to the fire and filled my pipe. But I did not
+discover any inclination to read. The curious history that I had just
+heard, and Thorndyke's evident determination to elucidate it further,
+disposed me to meditation. Moreover, as his subordinate, it was my
+business to occupy myself with his affairs. Wherefore, having stirred
+the fire and got my pipe well alight, I abandoned myself to the renewed
+consideration of the facts relating to Jeffrey Blackmore's will.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="CH7"><!-- CH7 --></a>
+<h2>
+	Chapter VII
+</h2>
+
+<h3>
+The Cuneiform Inscription
+</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>
+The surprise which Thorndyke's proceedings usually occasioned,
+especially to lawyers, was principally due, I think, to my friend's
+habit of viewing occurrences from an unusual standpoint. He did not look
+at things quite as other men looked at them. He had no prejudices and he
+knew no conventions. When other men were cocksure, Thorndyke was
+doubtful. When other men despaired, he entertained hopes; and thus it
+happened that he would often undertake cases that had been rejected
+contemptuously by experienced lawyers, and, what is more, would bring
+them to a successful issue.
+</p>
+<p>
+Thus it had been in the only other case in which I had been personally
+associated with him&mdash;the so-called "Red Thumb Mark" case. There he was
+presented with an apparent impossibility; but he had given it careful
+consideration. Then, from the category of the impossible he had brought
+it to that of the possible; from the merely possible to the actually
+probable; from the probable to the certain; and in the end had won the
+case triumphantly.
+</p>
+<p>
+Was it conceivable that he could make anything of the present case? He
+had not declined it. He had certainly entertained it and was probably
+thinking it over at this moment. Yet could anything be more impossible?
+Here was the case of a man making his own will, probably writing it out
+himself, bringing it voluntarily to a certain place and executing it in
+the presence of competent witnesses. There was no suggestion of any
+compulsion or even influence or persuasion. The testator was admittedly
+sane and responsible; and if the will did not give effect to his
+wishes&mdash;which, however, could not be proved&mdash;that was due to his own
+carelessness in drafting the will and not to any unusual circumstances.
+And the problem&mdash;which Thorndyke seemed to be considering&mdash;was how to
+set aside that will.
+</p>
+<p>
+I reviewed the statements that I had heard, but turn them about as I
+would, I could get nothing out of them but confirmation of Mr.
+Marchmont's estimate of the case. One fact that I had noted with some
+curiosity I again considered; that was Thorndyke's evident desire to
+inspect Jeffrey Blackmore's chambers. He had, it is true, shown no
+eagerness, but I had seen at the time that the questions which he put to
+Stephen were put, not with any expectation of eliciting information but
+for the purpose of getting an opportunity to look over the rooms
+himself.
+</p>
+<p>
+I was still cogitating on the subject when my colleague returned,
+followed by the watchful Polton with the tea-tray, and I attacked him
+forthwith.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, Thorndyke," I said, "I have been thinking about this Blackmore
+case while you have been gadding about."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And may I take it that the problem is solved?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, I'm hanged if you may. I can make nothing of it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Then you are in much the same position as I am."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But, if you can make nothing of it, why did you undertake it?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I only undertook to think about it," said Thorndyke. "I never reject a
+case off-hand unless it is obviously fishy. It is surprising how
+difficulties, and even impossibilities, dwindle if you look at them
+attentively. My experience has taught me that the most unlikely case is,
+at least, worth thinking over."
+</p>
+<p>
+"By the way, why do you want to look over Jeffrey's chambers? What do
+you expect to find there?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I have no expectations at all. I am simply looking for stray facts."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And all those questions that you asked Stephen Blackmore; had you
+nothing in your mind&mdash;no definite purpose?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No purpose beyond getting to know as much about the case as I can."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But," I exclaimed, "do you mean that you are going to examine those
+rooms without any definite object at all?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I wouldn't say that," replied Thorndyke. "This is a legal case. Let me
+put an analogous medical case as being more within your present sphere.
+Supposing that a man should consult you, say, about a progressive loss
+of weight. He can give no explanation. He has no pain, no discomfort, no
+symptoms of any kind; in short, he feels perfectly well in every
+respect; <i>but</i> he is losing weight continuously. What would you do?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I should overhaul him thoroughly," I answered.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why? What would you expect to find?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't know that I should start by expecting to find anything in
+particular. But I should overhaul him organ by organ and function by
+function, and if I could find nothing abnormal I should have to give it
+up."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Exactly," said Thorndyke. "And that is just my position and my line of
+action. Here is a case which is perfectly regular and straightforward
+excepting in one respect. It has a single abnormal feature. And for that
+abnormality there is nothing to account.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Jeffrey Blackmore made a will. It was a well-drawn will and it
+apparently gave full effect to his intentions. Then he revoked that will
+and made another. No change had occurred in his circumstances or in his
+intentions. The provisions of the new will were believed by him to be
+identical with those of the old one. The new will differed from the old
+one only in having a defect in the drafting from which the first will
+was free, and of which he must have been unaware. Now why did he revoke
+the first will and replace it with another which he believed to be
+identical in its provisions? There is no answer to that question. It is
+an abnormal feature in the case. There must be some explanation of that
+abnormality and it is my business to discover it. But the facts in my
+possession yield no such explanation. Therefore it is my purpose to
+search for new facts which may give me a starting-point for an
+investigation."
+</p>
+<p>
+This exposition of Thorndyke's proposed conduct of the case, reasonable
+as it was, did not impress me as very convincing. I found myself coming
+back to Marchmont's position, that there was really nothing in dispute.
+But other matters claimed our attention at the moment, and it was not
+until after dinner that my colleague reverted to the subject.
+</p>
+<p>
+"How should you like to take a turn round to New Inn this evening?" he
+asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I should have thought," said I, "that it would be better to go by
+daylight. Those old chambers are not usually very well illuminated."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is well thought of," said Thorndyke. "We had better take a lamp
+with us. Let us go up to the laboratory and get one from Polton."
+</p>
+<p>
+"There is no need to do that," said I. "The pocket-lamp that you lent me
+is in my overcoat pocket. I put it there to return it to you."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Did you have occasion to use it?" he asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes. I paid another visit to the mysterious house and carried out your
+plan. I must tell you about it later."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Do. I shall be keenly interested to hear all about your adventures. Is
+there plenty of candle left in the lamp?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh yes. I only used it for about an hour."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Then let us be off," said Thorndyke; and we accordingly set forth on
+our quest; and, as we went, I reflected once more on the apparent
+vagueness of our proceedings. Presently I reopened the subject with
+Thorndyke.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I can't imagine," said I, "that you have absolutely nothing in view.
+That you are going to this place with no defined purpose whatever."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I did not say exactly that," replied Thorndyke. "I said that I was not
+going to look for any particular thing or fact. I am going in the hope
+that I may observe something that may start a new train of speculation.
+But that is not all. You know that an investigation follows a certain
+logical course. It begins with the observation of the conspicuous facts.
+We have done that. The facts were supplied by Marchmont. The next stage
+is to propose to oneself one or more provisional explanations or
+hypotheses. We have done that, too&mdash;or, at least I have, and I suppose
+you have."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I haven't," said I. "There is Jeffrey's will, but why he should have
+made the change I cannot form the foggiest idea. But I should like to
+hear your provisional theories on the subject."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You won't hear them at present. They are mere wild conjectures. But to
+resume: what do we do next?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Go to New Inn and rake over the deceased gentleman's apartments."
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke smilingly ignored my answer and continued&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+"We examine each explanation in turn and see what follows from it;
+whether it agrees with all the facts and leads to the discovery of new
+ones, or, on the other hand, disagrees with some facts or leads us to an
+absurdity. Let us take a simple example.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Suppose we find scattered over a field a number of largish masses of
+stone, which are entirely different in character from the rocks found in
+the neighbourhood. The question arises, how did those stones get into
+that field? Three explanations are proposed. One: that they are the
+products of former volcanic action; two: that they were brought from a
+distance by human agency; three: that they were carried thither from
+some distant country by icebergs. Now each of those explanations
+involves certain consequences. If the stones are volcanic, then they
+were once in a state of fusion. But we find that they are unaltered
+limestone and contain fossils. Then they are not volcanic. If they were
+borne by icebergs, then they were once part of a glacier and some of
+them will probably show the flat surfaces with parallel scratches which
+are found on glacier-borne stones. We examine them and find the
+characteristic scratched surfaces. Then they have probably been brought
+to this place by icebergs. But this does not exclude human agency, for
+they might have been brought by men to this place from some other where
+the icebergs had deposited them. A further comparison with other facts
+would be needed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"So we proceed in cases like this present one. Of the facts that are
+known to us we invent certain explanations. From each of those
+explanations we deduce consequences; and if those consequences agree
+with new facts, they confirm the explanation, whereas if they disagree
+they tend to disprove it. But here we are at our destination."
+</p>
+<p>
+We turned out of Wych Street into the arched passage leading into New
+Inn, and, halting at the half-door of the lodge, perceived a stout,
+purple-faced man crouching over the fire, coughing violently. He held up
+his hand to intimate that he was fully occupied for the moment, and we
+accordingly waited for his paroxysm to subside. At length he turned
+towards us, wiping his eyes, and inquired our business.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Mr. Stephen Blackmore," said Thorndyke, "has given me permission to
+look over his chambers. He said that he would mention the matter to
+you."
+</p>
+<p>
+"So he has, sir," said the porter; "but he has just taken the key
+himself to go to the chambers. If you walk across the Inn you'll find
+him there; it's on the farther side; number thirty-one, second floor."
+</p>
+<p>
+We made our way across to the house indicated, the ground floor of which
+was occupied by a solicitor's offices and was distinguished by a
+good-sized brass plate. Although it had now been dark some time there
+was no light on the lower stairs, but we encountered on the first-floor
+landing a man who had just lit the lamp there. Thorndyke halted to
+address him.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Can you tell me who occupies the chambers on the third floor?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"The third floor has been empty about three months," was the reply.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We are going up to look at the chambers on the second floor," said
+Thorndyke. "Are they pretty quiet?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Quiet!" exclaimed the man. "Lord bless you the place is like a cemetery
+for the deaf and dumb. There's the solicitors on the ground floor and
+the architects on the first floor. They both clear out about six, and
+when they're gone the house is as empty as a blown hegg. I don't wonder
+poor Mr. Blackmore made away with his-self. Livin' up there all alone,
+it must have been like Robinson Crusoe without no man Friday and not
+even a blooming goat to talk to. Quiet! It's quiet enough, if that's
+what you want. Wouldn't be no good to <i>me</i>."
+</p>
+<p>
+With a contemptuous shake of the head, he turned and retired down the
+next flight, and, as the echoes of his footsteps died away we resumed
+our ascent.
+</p>
+<p>
+"So it would appear," Thorndyke commented, "that when Jeffrey Blackmore
+came home that last evening, the house was empty."
+</p>
+<p>
+Arrived on the second-floor landing, we were confronted by a
+solid-looking door on the lintel of which the deceased man's name was
+painted in white lettering which still looked new and fresh. Thorndyke
+knocked at the door, which was at once opened by Stephen Blackmore.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I haven't wasted any time before taking advantage of your permission,
+you see," my colleague said as we entered.
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, indeed," said Stephen; "you are very prompt. I have been rather
+wondering what kind of information you expect to gather from an
+inspection of these rooms."
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke smiled genially, amused, no doubt, by the similarity of
+Stephen's remarks to those of mine which he had so recently criticized.
+</p>
+<p>
+"A man of science, Mr. Blackmore," he said, "expects nothing. He
+collects facts and keeps an open mind. As to me, I am a mere legal
+Autolycus, a snapper-up of unconsidered trifles of evidence. When I have
+accumulated a few facts, I arrange them, compare them and think about
+them. Sometimes the comparison yields new matter and sometimes it
+doesn't; but in any case, believe me, it is a capital error to decide
+beforehand what data are to be sought for."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, I suppose that is so," said Stephen; "though, to me, it almost
+looks as if Mr. Marchmont was right; that there is nothing to
+investigate."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You should have thought of that before you consulted me," laughed
+Thorndyke. "As it is, I am engaged to look into the case and I shall do
+so; and, as I have said, I shall keep an open mind until I have all the
+facts in my possession."
+</p>
+<p>
+He glanced round the sitting-room, which we had now entered, and
+continued:
+</p>
+<p>
+"These are fine, dignified old rooms. It seems a sin to have covered up
+all this oak panelling and that carved cornice and mantel with paint.
+Think what it must have been like when the beautiful figured wood was
+exposed."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It would be very dark," Stephen observed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes," Thorndyke agreed, "and I suppose we care more for light and less
+for beauty than our ancestors did. But now, tell me; looking round these
+rooms, do they convey to you a similar impression to that which the old
+rooms did? Have they the same general character?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not quite, I think. Of course the rooms in Jermyn Street were in a
+different kind of house, but beyond that, I seem to feel a certain
+difference; which is rather odd, seeing that the furniture is the same.
+But the old rooms were more cosy, more homelike. I find something rather
+bare and cheerless, I was almost going to say squalid, in the look of
+these chambers."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is rather what I should have expected," said Thorndyke. "The opium
+habit alters a man's character profoundly; and, somehow, apart from the
+mere furnishing, a room reflects in some subtle way, but very
+distinctly, the personality of its occupant, especially when that
+occupant lives a solitary life. Do you see any evidences of the
+activities that used to occupy your uncle?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not very much," replied Stephen. "But the place may not be quite as he
+left it. I found one or two of his books on the table and put them back
+in the shelves, but I found no manuscript or notes such as he used to
+make. I noticed, too, that his ink-slab which he used to keep so
+scrupulously clean is covered with dry smears and that the stick of ink
+is all cracked at the end, as if he had not used it for months. It seems
+to point to a great change in his habits."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What used he to do with Chinese ink?" Thorndyke asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"He corresponded with some of his native friends in Japan, and he used
+to write in the Japanese character even if they understood English. That
+was what he chiefly used the Chinese ink for. But he also used to copy
+the inscriptions from these things." Here Stephen lifted from the
+mantelpiece what looked like a fossil Bath bun, but was actually a clay
+tablet covered with minute indented writing.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Your uncle could read the cuneiform character, then?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes; he was something of an expert. These tablets are, I believe,
+leases and other legal documents from Eridu and other Babylonian cities.
+He used to copy the inscriptions in the cuneiform writing and then
+translate them into English. But I mustn't stay here any longer as I
+have an engagement for this evening. I just dropped in to get these two
+volumes&mdash;<i>Thornton's History of Babylonia</i>, which he once advised me to
+read. Shall I give you the key? You'd better have it and leave it with
+the porter as you go out."
+</p>
+<p>
+He shook hands with us and we walked out with him to the landing and
+stood watching him as he ran down the stairs. Glancing at Thorndyke by
+the light of the gas lamp on the landing, I thought I detected in his
+impassive face that almost imperceptible change of expression to which I
+have already alluded as indicating pleasure or satisfaction.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You are looking quite pleased with yourself," I remarked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am not displeased," he replied calmly. "Autolycus has picked up a few
+crumbs; very small ones, but still crumbs. No doubt his learned junior
+has picked up a few likewise?"
+</p>
+<p>
+I shook my head&mdash;and inwardly suspected it of being rather a thick head.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I did not perceive anything in the least degree significant in what
+Stephen was telling you," said I. "It was all very interesting, but it
+did not seem to have any bearing on his uncle's will."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I was not referring only to what Stephen has told us, although that
+was, as you say, very interesting. While he was talking I was looking
+about the room, and I have seen a very strange thing. Let me show it to
+you."
+</p>
+<p>
+He linked his arm in mine and, walking me back into the room, halted
+opposite the fire-place.
+</p>
+<p>
+"There," said he, "look at that. It is a most remarkable object."
+</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="image-2"><!-- Image 2 --></a>
+<center>
+<img src="inscription.png" width="80%"
+alt="cuneiform inscription">
+</center>
+<center><b>The Inverted Inscription.</b></center>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>
+I followed the direction of his gaze and saw an oblong frame enclosing a
+large photograph of an inscription in the weird and cabalistic
+arrow-head character. I looked at it in silence for some seconds and
+then, somewhat disappointed, remarked:
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't see anything very remarkable in it, under the circumstances. In
+any ordinary room it would be, I admit; but Stephen has just told us
+that his uncle was something of an expert in cuneiform writing."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Exactly," said Thorndyke. "That is my point. That is what makes it so
+remarkable."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't follow you at all," said I. "That a man should hang upon his
+wall an inscription that is legible to him does not seem to me at all
+out of the way. It would be much more singular if he should hang up an
+inscription that he could <i>not</i> read."
+</p>
+<p>
+"No doubt," replied Thorndyke. "But you will agree with me that it would
+be still more singular if a man should hang upon his wall an inscription
+that he <i>could</i> read&mdash;and hang it upside down."
+</p>
+<p>
+I stared at Thorndyke in amazement.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Do you mean to tell me," I exclaimed, "that that photograph is really
+upside down?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I do indeed," he replied.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But how do you know? Have we here yet another Oriental scholar?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke chuckled. "Some fool," he replied, "has said that 'a little
+knowledge is a dangerous thing.' Compared with much knowledge, it may
+be; but it is a vast deal better than no knowledge. Here is a case in
+point. I have read with very keen interest the wonderful history of the
+decipherment of the cuneiform writing, and I happen to recollect one or
+two of the main facts that seemed to me to be worth remembering. This
+particular inscription is in the Persian cuneiform, a much more simple
+and open form of the script than the Babylonian or Assyrian; in fact, I
+suspect that this is the famous inscription from the gateway at
+Persepolis&mdash;the first to be deciphered; which would account for its
+presence here in a frame. Now this script consists, as you see, of two
+kinds of characters; the small, solid, acutely pointed characters which
+are known as wedges, and the larger, more obtuse characters, somewhat
+like our government broad arrows, and called arrow-heads. The names are
+rather unfortunate, as both forms are wedge-like and both resemble
+arrow-heads. The script reads from left to right, like our own writing,
+and unlike that of the Semitic peoples and the primitive Greeks; and the
+rule for the placing of the characters is that all the 'wedges' point to
+the right or downwards and the arrow-head forms are open towards the
+right. But if you look at this photograph you will see that all the
+wedges point upwards to the left and that the arrow-head characters are
+open towards the left. Obviously the photograph is upside down."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But," I exclaimed, "this is really most mysterious. What do you suppose
+can be the explanation?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think," replied Thorndyke, "that we may perhaps get a suggestion from
+the back of the frame. Let us see."
+</p>
+<p>
+He disengaged the frame from the two nails on which it hung, and,
+turning it round, glanced at the back; which he then presented for my
+inspection. A label on the backing paper bore the words, "J. Budge,
+Frame-maker and Gilder, 16, Gt. Anne Street, W.C."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well?" I said, when I had read the label without gathering from it
+anything fresh.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The label, you observe, is the right way up as it hangs on the wall."
+</p>
+<p>
+"So it is," I rejoined hastily, a little annoyed that I had not been
+quicker to observe so obvious a fact. "I see your point. You mean that
+the frame-maker hung the thing upside down and Jeffrey never noticed the
+mistake?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is a perfectly sound explanation," said Thorndyke. "But I think
+there is something more. You will notice that the label is an old one;
+it must have been on some years, to judge by its dingy appearance,
+whereas the two mirror-plates look to me comparatively new. But we can
+soon put that matter to the test, for the label was evidently stuck on
+when the frame was new, and if the plates were screwed on at the same
+time, the wood that they cover will be clean and new-looking."
+</p>
+<p>
+He drew from his pocket a "combination" knife containing, among other
+implements, a screw-driver, with which he carefully extracted the screws
+from one of the little brass plates by which the frame had been
+suspended from the nails.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You see," he said, when he had removed the plate and carried the
+photograph over to the gasjet, "the wood covered by the plate is as
+dirty and time-stained as the rest of the frame. The plates have been
+put on recently."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And what are we to infer from that?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, since there are no other marks of plates or rings upon the
+frame, we may safely infer that the photograph was never hung up until
+it came to these rooms."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, I suppose we may. But what then? What inference does that lead
+to?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke reflected for a few moments and I continued:
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is evident that this photograph suggests more to you than it does to
+me. I should like to hear your exposition of its bearing on the case, if
+it has any."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Whether or no it has any real bearing on the case," Thorndyke answered,
+"it is impossible for me to say at this stage. I told you that I had
+proposed to myself one or two hypotheses to account for and explain
+Jeffrey Blackmore's will, and I may say that the curious misplacement of
+this photograph fits more than one of them. I won't say more than that,
+because I think it would be profitable to you to work at this case
+independently. You have all the facts that I have and you shall have a
+copy of my notes of Marchmont's statement of the case. With this
+material you ought to be able to reach some conclusion. Of course
+neither of us may be able to make anything of the case&mdash;it doesn't look
+very hopeful at present&mdash;but whatever happens, we can compare notes
+after the event and you will be the richer by so much experience of
+actual investigation. But I will start you off with one hint, which is
+this: that neither you nor Marchmont seem to appreciate in the least the
+very extraordinary nature of the facts that he communicated to us."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I thought Marchmont seemed pretty much alive to the fact that it was a
+very queer will."
+</p>
+<p>
+"So he did," agreed Thorndyke. "But that is not quite what I mean. The
+whole set of circumstances, taken together and in relation to one
+another, impressed me as most remarkable; and that is why I am giving so
+much attention to what looks at first sight like such a very unpromising
+case. Copy out my notes, Jervis, and examine the facts critically. I
+think you will see what I mean. And now let us proceed."
+</p>
+<p>
+He replaced the brass plate and having reinserted the screws, hung up
+the frame, and proceeded to browse slowly round the room, stopping now
+and again to inspect the Japanese colour-prints and framed photographs
+of buildings and other objects of archaeological interest that formed
+the only attempts at wall-decoration. To one of the former he drew my
+attention.
+</p>
+<p>
+"These things are of some value," he remarked. "Here is one by
+Utamaro&mdash;that little circle with the mark over it is his signature&mdash;and
+you notice that the paper is becoming spotted in places with mildew. The
+fact is worth noting in more than one connection."
+</p>
+<p>
+I accordingly made a mental note and the perambulation continued.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You observe that Jeffrey used a gas-stove, instead of a coal fire, no
+doubt to economize work, but perhaps for other reasons. Presumably he
+cooked by gas, too; let us see."
+</p>
+<p>
+We wandered into the little cupboard-like kitchen and glanced round. A
+ring-burner on a shelf, a kettle, a frying-pan and a few pieces of
+crockery were its sole appointments. Apparently the porter was correct
+in his statement as to Jeffrey's habits.
+</p>
+<p>
+Returning to the sitting-room, Thorndyke resumed his inspection, pulling
+out the table drawers, peering inquisitively into cupboards and
+bestowing a passing glance on each of the comparatively few objects that
+the comfortless room contained.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I have never seen a more characterless apartment," was his final
+comment. "There is nothing that seems to suggest any kind of habitual
+activity on the part of the occupant. Let us look at the bedroom."
+</p>
+<p>
+We passed through into the chamber of tragic memories, and, when
+Thorndyke had lit the gas, we stood awhile looking about us in silence.
+It was a bare, comfortless room, dirty, neglected and squalid. The bed
+appeared not to have been remade since the catastrophe, for an
+indentation still marked the place where the corpse had lain, and even a
+slight powdering of ash could still be seen on the shabby counterpane.
+It looked to me a typical opium-smoker's bedroom.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well," Thorndyke remarked at length, "there is character enough
+here&mdash;of a kind. Jeffrey Blackmore would seem to have been a man of few
+needs. One could hardly imagine a bedroom in which less attention seemed
+to have been given to the comfort of the occupant."
+</p>
+<p>
+He looked about him keenly and continued: "The syringe and the rest of
+the lethal appliances and material have been taken away, I see.
+Probably the analyst did not return them. But there are the opium-pipe
+and the jar and the ash-bowl, and I presume those are the clothes that
+the undertakers removed from the body. Shall we look them over?"
+</p>
+<p>
+He took up the clothes which lay, roughly folded, on a chair and held
+them up, garment by garment.
+</p>
+<p>
+"These are evidently the trousers," he remarked, spreading them out on
+the bed. "Here is a little white spot on the middle of the thigh which
+looks like a patch of small crystals from a drop of the solution. Just
+light the lamp, Jervis, and let us examine it with a lens."
+</p>
+<p>
+I lit the lamp, and when we had examined the spot minutely and
+identified it as a mass of minute crystals, Thorndyke asked:
+</p>
+<p>
+"What do you make of those creases? You see there is one on each leg."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It looks as if the trousers had been turned up. But if they have been
+they must have been turned up about seven inches. Poor Jeffrey couldn't
+have had much regard for appearances, for they would have been right
+above his socks. But perhaps the creases were made in undressing the
+body."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is possible," said Thorndyke: "though I don't quite see how it
+would have happened. I notice that his pockets seem to have been
+emptied&mdash;no, wait; here is something in the waistcoat pocket."
+</p>
+<p>
+He drew out a shabby, pigskin card-case and a stump of lead pencil, at
+which latter he looked with what seemed to me much more interest than
+was deserved by so commonplace an object.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The cards, you observe," said he, "are printed from type, not from a
+plate. I would note that fact. And tell me what you make of that."
+</p>
+<p>
+He handed me the pencil, which I examined with concentrated attention,
+helping myself even with the lamp and my pocket lens. But even with
+these aids I failed to discover anything unusual in its appearance.
+Thorndyke watched me with a mischievous smile, and, when I had finished,
+inquired:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well; what is it?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Confound you!" I exclaimed. "It's a pencil. Any fool can see that, and
+this particular fool can't see any more. It's a wretched stump of a
+pencil, villainously cut to an abominably bad point. It is coloured dark
+red on the outside and was stamped with some name that began with
+C&mdash;O&mdash;Co-operative Stores, perhaps."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Now, my dear Jervis," Thorndyke protested, "don't begin by confusing
+speculation with fact. The letters which remain are C&mdash;O. Note that fact
+and find out what pencils there are which have inscriptions beginning
+with those letters. I am not going to help you, because you can easily
+do this for yourself. And it will be good discipline even if the fact
+turns out to mean nothing."
+</p>
+<p>
+At this moment he stepped back suddenly, and, looking down at the floor,
+said:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Give me the lamp, Jervis, I've trodden on something that felt like
+glass."
+</p>
+<p>
+I brought the lamp to the place where he had been standing, close by
+the bed, and we both knelt on the floor, throwing the light of the lamp
+on the bare and dusty boards. Under the bed, just within reach of the
+foot of a person standing close by, was a little patch of fragments of
+glass. Thorndyke produced a piece of paper from his pocket and
+delicately swept the little fragments on to it, remarking:
+</p>
+<p>
+"By the look of things, I am not the first person who has trodden on
+that object, whatever it is. Do you mind holding the lamp while I
+inspect the remains?"
+</p>
+<p>
+I took the lamp and held it over the paper while he examined the little
+heap of glass through his lens.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well," I asked. "What have you found?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is what I am asking myself," he replied. "As far as I can judge by
+the appearance of these fragments, they appear to be portions of a small
+watch-glass. I wish there were some larger pieces."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Perhaps there are," said I. "Let us look about the floor under the
+bed."
+</p>
+<p>
+We resumed our groping about the dirty floor, throwing the light of the
+lamp on one spot after another. Presently, as we moved the lamp about,
+its light fell on a small glass bead, which I instantly picked up and
+exhibited to Thorndyke.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Is this of any interest to you?" I asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke took the bead and examined it curiously.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is certainly," he said, "a very odd thing to find in the bedroom of
+an old bachelor like Jeffrey, especially as we know that he employed no
+woman to look after his rooms. Of course, it may be a relic of the last
+tenant. Let us see if there are any more."
+</p>
+<p>
+We renewed our search, crawling under the bed and throwing the light of
+the lamp in all directions over the floor. The result was the discovery
+of three more beads, one entire bugle and the crushed remains of
+another, which had apparently been trodden on. All of these, including
+the fragments of the bugle that had been crushed, Thorndyke placed
+carefully on the paper, which he laid on the dressing-table the more
+conveniently to examine our find.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am sorry," said he, "that there are no more fragments of the
+watch-glass, or whatever it was. The broken pieces were evidently picked
+up, with the exception of the one that I trod on, which was an isolated
+fragment that had been overlooked. As to the beads, judging by their
+number and the position in which we found some of them&mdash;that crushed
+bugle, for instance&mdash;they must have been dropped during Jeffrey's
+tenancy and probably quite recently."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What sort of garment do you suppose they came from?" I asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"They may have been part of a beaded veil or the trimming of a dress,
+but the grouping rather suggests to me a tag of bead fringe. The colour
+is rather unusual."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I thought they looked like black beads."
+</p>
+<p>
+"So they do by this light, but I think that by daylight we shall find
+them to be a dark, reddish-brown. You can see the colour now if you look
+at the smaller fragments of the one that is crushed."
+</p>
+<p>
+He handed me his lens, and, when I had verified his statement, he
+produced from his pocket a small tin box with a closely-fitting lid in
+which he deposited the paper, having first folded it up into a small
+parcel.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We will put the pencil in too," said he; and, as he returned the box to
+his pocket he added: "you had better get one of these little boxes from
+Polton. It is often useful to have a safe receptacle for small and
+fragile articles."
+</p>
+<p>
+He folded up and replaced the dead man's clothes as we had found them.
+Then, observing a pair of shoes standing by the wall, he picked them up
+and looked them over thoughtfully, paying special attention to the backs
+of the soles and the fronts of the heels.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I suppose we may take it," said he, "that these are the shoes that poor
+Jeffrey wore on the night of his death. At any rate there seem to be no
+others. He seems to have been a fairly clean walker. The streets were
+shockingly dirty that day, as I remember most distinctly. Do you see any
+slippers? I haven't noticed any."
+</p>
+<p>
+He opened and peeped into a cupboard in which an overcoat surmounted by
+a felt hat hung from a peg like an attenuated suicide; he looked in all
+the corners and into the sitting-room, but no slippers were to be seen.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Our friend seems to have had surprisingly little regard for comfort,"
+Thorndyke remarked. "Think of spending the winter evenings in damp boots
+by a gas fire!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Perhaps the opium-pipe compensated," said I; "or he may have gone to
+bed early."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But he did not. The night porter used to see the light in his rooms at
+one o'clock in the morning. In the sitting-room, too, you remember. But
+he seems to have been in the habit of reading in bed&mdash;or perhaps
+smoking&mdash;for here is a candlestick with the remains of a whole dynasty
+of candles in it. As there is gas in the room, he couldn't have wanted
+the candle to undress by. He used stearine candles, too; not the common
+paraffin variety. I wonder why he went to that expense."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Perhaps the smell of the paraffin candle spoiled the aroma of the
+opium," I suggested; to which Thorndyke made no reply but continued his
+inspection of the room, pulling out the drawer of the washstand&mdash;which
+contained a single, worn-out nail-brush&mdash;and even picking up and
+examining the dry and cracked cake of soap in the dish.
+</p>
+<p>
+"He seems to have had a fair amount of clothing," said Thorndyke, who
+was now going through the chest of drawers, "though, by the look of it,
+he didn't change very often, and the shirts have a rather yellow and
+faded appearance. I wonder how he managed about his washing. Why, here
+are a couple of pairs of boots in the drawer with his clothes! And here
+is his stock of candles. Quite a large box&mdash;though nearly empty now&mdash;of
+stearine candles, six to the pound."
+</p>
+<p>
+He closed the drawer and cast another inquiring look round the room.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think we have seen all now, Jervis," he said, "unless there is
+anything more that you would like to look into?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No," I replied. "I have seen all that I wanted to see and more than I
+am able to attach any meaning to. So we may as well go."
+</p>
+<p>
+I blew out the lamp and put it in my overcoat pocket, and, when we had
+turned out the gas in both rooms, we took our departure.
+</p>
+<p>
+As we approached the lodge, we found our stout friend in the act of
+retiring in favour of the night porter. Thorndyke handed him the key of
+the chambers, and, after a few sympathetic inquiries, about his
+health&mdash;which was obviously very indifferent&mdash;said:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Let me see; you were one of the witnesses to Mr. Blackmore's will, I
+think?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I was, sir," replied the porter.
+</p>
+<p>
+"And I believe you read the document through before you witnessed the
+signature?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I did, sir."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Did you read it aloud?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Aloud, sir! Lor' bless you, no, sir! Why should I? The other witness
+read it, and, of course, Mr. Blackmore knew what was in it, seeing that
+it was in his own handwriting. What should I want to read it aloud for?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, of course you wouldn't want to. By the way, I have been wondering
+how Mr. Blackmore managed about his washing."
+</p>
+<p>
+The porter evidently regarded this question with some disfavour, for he
+replied only with an interrogative grunt. It was, in fact, rather an odd
+question.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Did you get it done for him," Thorndyke pursued.
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, certainly not, sir. He got it done for himself. The laundry people
+used to deliver the basket here at the lodge, and Mr. Blackmore used to
+take it in with him when he happened to be passing."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It was not delivered at his chambers, then?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, sir. Mr. Blackmore was a very studious gentleman and he didn't like
+to be disturbed. A studious gentleman would naturally not like to be
+disturbed."
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke cordially agreed with these very proper sentiments and finally
+wished the porter "good night." We passed out through the gateway into
+Wych Street, and, turning our faces eastward towards the Temple, set
+forth in silence, each thinking his own thoughts. What Thorndyke's were
+I cannot tell, though I have no doubt that he was busily engaged in
+piecing together all that he had seen and heard and considering its
+possible application to the case in hand.
+</p>
+<p>
+As to me, my mind was in a whirl of confusion. All this searching and
+examining seemed to be the mere flogging of a dead horse. The will was
+obviously a perfectly valid and regular will and there was an end of the
+matter. At least, so it seemed to me. But clearly that was not
+Thorndyke's view. His investigations were certainly not purposeless;
+and, as I walked by his side trying to conceive some purpose in his
+actions, I only became more and more mystified as I recalled them one
+by one, and perhaps most of all by the cryptic questions that I had just
+heard him address to the equally mystified porter.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="CH8"><!-- CH8 --></a>
+<h2>
+	Chapter VIII
+</h2>
+
+<h3>
+The Track Chart
+</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>
+As Thorndyke and I arrived at the main gateway of the Temple and he
+swung round into the narrow lane, it was suddenly borne in on me that I
+had made no arrangements for the night. Events had followed one another
+so continuously and each had been so engrossing that I had lost sight of
+what I may call my domestic affairs.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We seem to be heading for your chambers, Thorndyke," I ventured to
+remark. "It is a little late to think of it, but I have not yet settled
+where I am to put up to-night."
+</p>
+<p>
+"My dear fellow," he replied, "you are going to put up in your own
+bedroom which has been waiting in readiness for you ever since you left
+it. Polton went up and inspected it as soon as you arrived. I take it
+that you will consider my chambers yours until such time as you may join
+the benedictine majority and set up a home for yourself."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is very handsome of you," said I. "You didn't mention that the
+billet you offered was a resident appointment."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Rooms and commons included," said Thorndyke; and when I protested that
+I should at least contribute to the costs of living he impatiently
+waved the suggestion away. We were still arguing the question when we
+reached our chambers&mdash;as I will now call them&mdash;and a diversion was
+occasioned by my taking the lamp from my pocket and placing it on the
+table.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Ah," my colleague remarked, "that is a little reminder. We will put it
+on the mantelpiece for Polton to collect and you shall give me a full
+account of your further adventures in the wilds of Kennington. That was
+a very odd affair. I have often wondered how it ended."
+</p>
+<p>
+He drew our two arm-chairs up to the fire, put on some more coal, placed
+the tobacco jar on the table exactly equidistant from the two chairs,
+and settled himself with the air of a man who is anticipating an
+agreeable entertainment.
+</p>
+<p>
+I filled my pipe, and, taking up the thread of the story where I had
+broken off on the last occasion, began to outline my later experiences.
+But he brought me up short.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Don't be sketchy, Jervis. To be sketchy is to be vague. Detail, my
+child, detail is the soul of induction. Let us have all the facts. We
+can sort them out afterwards."
+</p>
+<p>
+I began afresh in a vein of the extremest circumstantiality. With
+deliberate malice I loaded a prolix narrative with every triviality that
+a fairly retentive memory could rake out of the half-forgotten past. I
+cudgelled my brains for irrelevant incidents. I described with the
+minutest accuracy things that had not the faintest significance. I drew
+a vivid picture of the carriage inside and out; I painted a lifelike
+portrait of the horse, even going into particulars of the harness&mdash;which
+I was surprised to find that I had noticed. I described the furniture of
+the dining-room and the cobwebs that had hung from the ceiling; the
+auction-ticket on the chest of drawers, the rickety table and the
+melancholy chairs. I gave the number per minute of the patient's
+respirations and the exact quantity of coffee consumed on each occasion,
+with an exhaustive description of the cup from which it was taken; and I
+left no personal details unconsidered, from the patient's finger-nails
+to the roseate pimples on Mr. Weiss's nose.
+</p>
+<p>
+But my tactics of studied prolixity were a complete failure. The attempt
+to fatigue Thorndyke's brain with superabundant detail was like trying
+to surfeit a pelican with whitebait. He consumed it all with calm
+enjoyment and asked for more; and when, at last, I did really begin to
+think that I had bored him a little, he staggered me by reading over his
+notes and starting a brisk cross-examination to elicit fresh facts! And
+the most surprising thing of all was that when I had finished I seemed
+to know a great deal more about the case than I had ever known before.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It was a very remarkable affair," he observed, when the
+cross-examination was over&mdash;leaving me somewhat in the condition of a
+cider-apple that has just been removed from a hydraulic press&mdash;"a very
+suspicious affair with a highly unsatisfactory end. I am not sure that I
+entirely agree with your police officer. Nor do I fancy that some of my
+acquaintances at Scotland Yard would have agreed with him."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Do you think I ought to have taken any further measures?" I asked
+uneasily.
+</p>
+<p>
+"No; I don't see how you could. You did all that was possible under the
+circumstances. You gave information, which is all that a private
+individual can do, especially if he is an overworked general
+practitioner. But still, an actual crime is the affair of every good
+citizen. I think we ought to take some action."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You think there really was a crime, then?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"What else can one think? What do you think about it yourself?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't like to think about it at all. The recollection of that
+corpse-like figure in that gloomy bedroom has haunted me ever since I
+left the house. What do you suppose has happened?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke did not answer for a few seconds. At length he said gravely:
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am afraid, Jervis, that the answer to that question can be given in
+one word."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Murder?" I asked with a slight shudder.
+</p>
+<p>
+He nodded, and we were both silent for a while.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The probability," he resumed after a pause, "that Mr. Graves is alive
+at this moment seems to me infinitesimal. There was evidently a
+conspiracy to murder him, and the deliberate, persistent manner in which
+that object was being pursued points to a very strong and definite
+motive. Then the tactics adopted point to considerable forethought and
+judgment. They are not the tactics of a fool or an ignoramus. We may
+criticize the closed carriage as a tactical mistake, calculated to
+arouse suspicion, but we have to weigh it against its alternative."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What is that?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, consider the circumstances. Suppose Weiss had called you in in
+the ordinary way. You would still have detected the use of poison. But
+now you could have located your man and made inquiries about him in the
+neighbourhood. You would probably have given the police a hint and they
+would almost certainly have taken action, as they would have had the
+means of identifying the parties. The result would have been fatal to
+Weiss. The closed carriage invited suspicion, but it was a great
+safeguard. Weiss's method's were not so unsound after all. He is a
+cautious man, but cunning and very persistent. And he could be bold on
+occasion. The use of the blinded carriage was a decidedly audacious
+proceeding. I should put him down as a gambler of a very discreet,
+courageous and resourceful type."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Which all leads to the probability that he has pursued his scheme and
+brought it to a successful issue."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am afraid it does. But&mdash;have you got your notes of the
+compass-bearings?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"The book is in my overcoat pocket with the board. I will fetch them."
+</p>
+<p>
+I went into the office, where our coats hung, and brought back the
+notebook with the little board to which it was still attached by the
+rubber band. Thorndyke took them from me, and, opening the book, ran
+his eye quickly down one page after another. Suddenly he glanced at the
+clock.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is a little late to begin," said he, "but these notes look rather
+alluring. I am inclined to plot them out at once. I fancy, from their
+appearance, that they will enable us to locate the house without much
+difficulty. But don't let me keep you up if you are tired. I can work
+them out by myself."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You won't do anything of the kind," I exclaimed. "I am as keen on
+plotting them as you are, and, besides, I want to see how it is done. It
+seems to be a rather useful accomplishment."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is," said Thorndyke. "In our work, the ability to make a rough but
+reliable sketch survey is often of great value. Have you ever looked
+over these notes?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No. I put the book away when I came in and have never looked at it
+since."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is a quaint document. You seem to be rich in railway bridges in
+those parts, and the route was certainly none of the most direct, as you
+noticed at the time. However, we will plot it out and then we shall see
+exactly what it looks like and whither it leads us."
+</p>
+<p>
+He retired to the laboratory and presently returned with a T-square, a
+military protractor, a pair of dividers and a large drawing-board on
+which was pinned a sheet of cartridge paper.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Now," said he, seating himself at the table with the board before him,
+"as to the method. You started from a known position and you arrived at
+a place the position of which is at present unknown. We shall fix the
+position of that spot by applying two factors, the distance that you
+travelled and the direction in which you were moving. The direction is
+given by the compass; and, as the horse seems to have kept up a
+remarkably even pace, we can take time as representing distance. You
+seem to have been travelling at about eight miles an hour, that is,
+roughly, a seventh of a mile in one minute. So if, on our chart, we take
+one inch as representing one minute, we shall be working with a scale of
+about seven inches to the mile."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That doesn't sound very exact as to distance," I objected.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It isn't. But that doesn't matter much. We have certain landmarks, such
+as these railway arches that you have noted, by which the actual
+distance can be settled after the route is plotted. You had better read
+out the entries, and, opposite each, write a number for reference, so
+that we need not confuse the chart by writing details on it. I shall
+start near the middle of the board, as neither you nor I seem to have
+the slightest notion what your general direction was."
+</p>
+<p>
+I laid the open notebook before me and read out the first entry:
+</p>
+<p>
+"'Eight fifty-eight. West by South. Start from home. Horse thirteen
+hands.'"
+</p>
+<p>
+"You turned round at once, I understand," said Thorndyke, "so we draw no
+line in that direction. The next is&mdash;?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"'Eight fifty-eight minutes, thirty seconds, East by North'; and the
+next is 'Eight fifty-nine, North-east.'"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Then you travelled east by north about a fifteenth of a mile and we
+shall put down half an inch on the chart. Then you turned north-east.
+How long did you go on?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Exactly a minute. The next entry is 'Nine. West north-west.'"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Then you travelled about the seventh of a mile in a north-easterly
+direction and we draw a line an inch long at an angle of forty-five
+degrees to the right of the north and south line. From the end of that
+we carry a line at an angle of fifty-six and a quarter degrees to the
+left of the north and south line, and so on. The method is perfectly
+simple, you see."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Perfectly; I quite understand it now."
+</p>
+<p>
+I went back to my chair and continued to read out the entries from the
+notebook while Thorndyke laid off the lines of direction with the
+protractor, taking out the distances with the dividers from a scale of
+equal parts on the back of the instrument. As the work proceeded, I
+noticed, from time to time, a smile of quiet amusement spread over my
+colleague's keen, attentive face, and at each new reference to a railway
+bridge he chuckled softly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"What, again!" he laughed, as I recorded the passage of the fifth or
+sixth bridge. "It's like a game of croquet. Go on. What is the next?"
+</p>
+<p>
+I went on reading out the notes until I came to the final one:
+</p>
+<p>
+"'Nine twenty-four. South-east. In covered way. Stop. Wooden gates
+closed.'"
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke ruled off the last line, remarking: "Then your covered way is
+on the south side of a street which bears north-east. So we complete our
+chart. Just look at your route, Jervis."
+</p>
+<p>
+He held up the board with a quizzical smile and I stared in astonishment
+at the chart. The single line, which represented the route of the
+carriage, zigzagged in the most amazing manner, turning, re-turning and
+crossing itself repeatedly, evidently passing more than once down the
+same thoroughfares and terminating at a comparatively short distance
+from its commencement.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why!" I exclaimed, the "rascal must have lived quite near to
+Stillbury's house!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke measured with the dividers the distance between the starting
+and arriving points of the route and took it off from the scale.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Five-eighths of a mile, roughly," he said. "You could have walked it in
+less than ten minutes. And now let us get out the ordnance map and see
+if we can give to each of those marvellously erratic lines 'a local
+habitation and a name.'"
+</p>
+<p>
+He spread the map out on the table and placed our chart by its side.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think," said he, "you started from Lower Kennington Lane?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, from this point," I replied, indicating the spot with a pencil.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Then," said Thorndyke, "if we swing the chart round twenty degrees to
+correct the deviation of the compass, we can compare it with the
+ordnance map."
+</p>
+<p>
+He set off with the protractor an angle of twenty degrees from the
+north and south line and turned the chart round to that extent. After
+closely scrutinizing the map and the chart and comparing the one with
+the other, he said:
+</p>
+<p>
+"By mere inspection it seems fairly easy to identify the thoroughfares
+that correspond to the lines of the chart. Take the part that is near
+your destination. At nine twenty-one you passed under a bridge, going
+westward. That would seem to be Glasshouse Street. Then you turned
+south, apparently along the Albert Embankment, where you heard the tug's
+whistle. Then you heard a passenger train start on your left; that would
+be Vauxhall Station. Next you turned round due east and passed under a
+large railway bridge, which suggests the bridge that carries the Station
+over Upper Kennington Lane. If that is so, your house should be on the
+south side of Upper Kennington Lane, some three hundred yards from the
+bridge. But we may as well test our inferences by one or two
+measurements."
+</p>
+<p>
+"How can you do that if you don't know the exact scale of the chart?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I will show you," said Thorndyke. "We shall establish the true scale
+and that will form part of the proof."
+</p>
+<p>
+He rapidly constructed on the upper blank part of the paper, a
+proportional diagram consisting of two intersecting lines with a single
+cross-line.
+</p>
+<p>
+"This long line," he explained, "is the distance from Stillbury's house
+to the Vauxhall railway bridge as it appears on the chart; the shorter
+cross-line is the same distance taken from the ordnance map. If our
+inference is correct and the chart is reasonably accurate, all the other
+distances will show a similar proportion. Let us try some of them. Take
+the distance from Vauxhall bridge to the Glasshouse Street bridge."
+</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="image-3"><!-- Image 3 --></a>
+<center>
+<img src="track.png" width="50%"
+alt="The Track Chart, Showing the Route Followed by Weiss's Carriage.">
+</center>
+<center>The Track Chart, Showing the Route Followed by Weiss's Carriage.</center>
+<center>A.&mdash;Starting-point in Lower Kennington Lane.</center>
+<center>B.&mdash;Position of Mr. Weiss's house. The dotted lines connecting the
+bridges indicate probable railway lines.</center>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>
+He made the two measurements carefully, and, as the point of the
+dividers came down almost precisely in the correct place on the diagram,
+he looked up at me.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Considering the roughness of the method by which the chart was made, I
+think that is pretty conclusive, though, if you look at the various
+arches that you passed under and see how nearly they appear to follow
+the position of the South-Western Railway line, you hardly need further
+proof. But I will take a few more proportional measurements for the
+satisfaction of proving the case by scientific methods before we proceed
+to verify our conclusions by a visit to the spot."
+</p>
+<p>
+He took off one or two more distances, and on comparing them with the
+proportional distances on the ordnance map, found them in every case as
+nearly correct as could be expected.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes," said Thorndyke, laying down the dividers, "I think we have
+narrowed down the locality of Mr. Weiss's house to a few yards in a
+known street. We shall get further help from your note of nine
+twenty-three thirty, when which records a patch of newly laid macadam
+extending up to the house."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That new macadam will be pretty well smoothed down by now," I objected.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not so very completely," answered Thorndyke. "It is only a little over
+a month ago, and there has been very little wet weather since. It may be
+smooth, but it will be easily distinguishable from the old."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And do I understand that you propose to go and explore the
+neighbourhood?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Undoubtedly I do. That is to say, I intend to convert the locality of
+this house into a definite address; which, I think, will now be
+perfectly easy, unless we should have the bad luck to find more than one
+covered way. Even then, the difficulty would be trifling."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And when you have ascertained where Mr. Weiss lives? What then?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"That will depend on circumstances. I think we shall probably call at
+Scotland Yard and have a little talk with our friend Mr. Superintendent
+Miller; unless, for any reason, it seems better to look into the case
+ourselves."
+</p>
+<p>
+"When is this voyage of exploration to take place?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke considered this question, and, taking out his pocket-book,
+glanced through his engagements.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It seems to me," he said, "that to-morrow is a fairly free day. We
+could take the morning without neglecting other business. I suggest that
+we start immediately after breakfast. How will that suit my learned
+friend?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"My time is yours," I replied; "and if you choose to waste it on matters
+that don't concern you, that's your affair."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Then we will consider the arrangement to stand for to-morrow morning,
+or rather, for this morning, as I see that it is past twelve."
+</p>
+<p>
+With this Thorndyke gathered up the chart and instruments and we
+separated for the night.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="CH9"><!-- CH9 --></a>
+<h2>
+	Chapter IX
+</h2>
+
+<h3>
+The House of Mystery
+</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>
+Half-past nine on the following morning found us spinning along the
+Albert Embankment in a hansom to the pleasant tinkle of the horse's
+bell. Thorndyke appeared to be in high spirits, though the full
+enjoyment of the matutinal pipe precluded fluent conversation. As a
+precaution, he had put my notebook in his pocket before starting, and
+once or twice he took it out and looked over its pages; but he made no
+reference to the object of our quest, and the few remarks that he
+uttered would have indicated that his thoughts were occupied with other
+matters.
+</p>
+<p>
+Arrived at Vauxhall Station, we alighted and forthwith made our way to
+the bridge that spans Upper Kennington Lane near its junction with
+Harleyford Road.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Here is our starting point," said Thorndyke. "From this place to the
+house is about three hundred yards&mdash;say four hundred and twenty
+paces&mdash;and at about two hundred paces we ought to reach our patch of new
+road-metal. Now, are you ready? If we keep step we shall average our
+stride."
+</p>
+<p>
+We started together at a good pace, stepping out with military
+regularity and counting aloud as we went. As we told out the hundred and
+ninety-fourth pace I observed Thorndyke nod towards the roadway a little
+ahead, and, looking at it attentively as we approached, it was easy to
+see by the regularity of surface and lighter colour, that it had
+recently been re-metalled.
+</p>
+<p>
+Having counted out the four hundred and twenty paces, we halted, and
+Thorndyke turned to me with a smile of triumph.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not a bad estimate, Jervis," said he. "That will be your house if I am
+not much mistaken. There is no other mews or private roadway in sight."
+</p>
+<p>
+He pointed to a narrow turning some dozen yards ahead, apparently the
+entrance to a mews or yard and closed by a pair of massive wooden gates.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes," I answered, "there can be no doubt that this is the place; but,
+by Jove!" I added, as we drew nearer, "the nest is empty! Do you see?"
+</p>
+<p>
+I pointed to a bill that was stuck on the gate, bearing, as I could see
+at this distance, the inscription "To Let."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Here is a new and startling, if not altogether unexpected,
+development," said Thorndyke, as we stood gazing at the bill; which set
+forth that "these premises, including stabling and workshops," were "to
+be let on lease or otherwise," and referred inquiries to Messrs. Ryebody
+Brothers, house-agents and valuers, Upper Kennington Lane. "The question
+is, should we make a few inquiries of the agent, or should we get the
+keys and have a look at the inside of the house? I am inclined to do
+both, and the latter first, if Messrs. Ryebody Brothers will trust us
+with the keys."
+</p>
+<p>
+We proceeded up the lane to the address given, and, entering the
+office, Thorndyke made his request&mdash;somewhat to the surprise of the
+clerk; for Thorndyke was not quite the kind of person whom one naturally
+associates with stabling and workshops. However, there was no
+difficulty, but as the clerk sorted out the keys from a bunch hanging
+from a hook, he remarked:
+</p>
+<p>
+"I expect you will find the place in a rather dirty and neglected
+condition. The house has not been cleaned yet; it is just as it was left
+when the brokers took away the furniture."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Was the last tenant sold up, then?" Thorndyke asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, no. He had to leave rather unexpectedly to take up some business in
+Germany."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I hope he paid his rent," said Thorndyke.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, yes. Trust us for that. But I should say that Mr. Weiss&mdash;that was
+his name&mdash;was a man of some means. He seemed to have plenty of money,
+though he always paid in notes. I don't fancy he had a banking account
+in this country. He hadn't been here more than about six or seven months
+and I imagine he didn't know many people in England, as he paid us a
+cash deposit in lieu of references when he first came."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think you said his name was Weiss. It wouldn't be H. Weiss by any
+chance?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I believe it was. But I can soon tell you." He opened a drawer and
+consulted what looked like a book of receipt forms. "Yes; H Weiss. Do
+you know him, sir?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I knew a Mr. H. Weiss some years ago. He came from Bremen, I
+remember."
+</p>
+<p>
+"This Mr. Weiss has gone back to Hamburg," the clerk observed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Ah," said Thorndyke, "then it would seem not to be the same. My
+acquaintance was a fair man with a beard and a decidedly red nose and he
+wore spectacles."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That's the man. You've described him exactly," said the clerk, who was
+apparently rather easily satisfied in the matter of description.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Dear me," said Thorndyke; "what a small world it is. Do you happen to
+have a note of his address in Hamburg?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I haven't," the clerk replied. "You see we've done with him, having got
+the rent, though the house is not actually surrendered yet. Mr Weiss's
+housekeeper still has the front-door key. She doesn't start for Hamburg
+for a week or so, and meanwhile she keeps the key so that she can call
+every day and see if there are any letters."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Indeed," said Thorndyke. "I wonder if he still has the same
+housekeeper."
+</p>
+<p>
+"This lady is a German," replied the clerk, "with a regular jaw-twisting
+name. Sounded like Shallybang."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Schallibaum. That is the lady. A fair woman with hardly any eyebrows
+and a pronounced cast in the left eye."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Now that's very curious, sir," said the clerk. "It's the same name, and
+this is a fair woman with remarkably thin eyebrows, I remember, now that
+you mention it. But it can't be the same person. I have only seen her a
+few times and then only just for a minute or so; but I'm quite certain
+she had no cast in her eye. So, you see, sir, she can't be the same
+person. You can dye your hair or you can wear a wig or you can paint
+your face; but a squint is a squint. There's no faking a swivel eye."
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke laughed softly. "I suppose not; unless, perhaps, some one
+might invent an adjustable glass eye. Are these the keys?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, sir. The large one belongs to the wicket in the front gate. The
+other is the latch-key belonging to the side door. Mrs. Shallybang has
+the key of the front door."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Thank you," said Thorndyke. He took the keys, to which a wooden label
+was attached, and we made our way back towards the house of mystery,
+discussing the clerk's statements as we went.
+</p>
+<p>
+"A very communicable young gentleman, that," Thorndyke remarked. "He
+seemed quite pleased to relieve the monotony of office work with a
+little conversation. And I am sure I was very delighted to indulge him."
+</p>
+<p>
+"He hadn't much to tell, all the same," said I.
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke looked at me in surprise. "I don't know what you would have,
+Jervis, unless you expect casual strangers to present you with a
+ready-made body of evidence, fully classified, with all the inferences
+and implications stated. It seemed to me that he was a highly
+instructive young man."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What did you learn from him?" I asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, come, Jervis," he protested; "is that a fair question, under our
+present arrangement? However, I will mention a few points. We learn that
+about six or seven months ago, Mr. H. Weiss dropped from the clouds into
+Kennington Lane and that he has now ascended from Kennington Lane into
+the clouds. That is a useful piece of information. Then we learn that
+Mrs. Schallibaum has remained in England; which might be of little
+importance if it were not for a very interesting corollary that it
+suggests."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What is that?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I must leave you to consider the facts at your leisure; but you will
+have noticed the ostensible reason for her remaining behind. She is
+engaged in puttying up the one gaping joint in their armour. One of them
+has been indiscreet enough to give this address to some
+correspondent&mdash;probably a foreign correspondent. Now, as they obviously
+wish to leave no tracks, they cannot give their new address to the Post
+Office to have their letters forwarded, and, on the other hand, a letter
+left in the box might establish such a connection as would enable them
+to be traced. Moreover, the letter might be of a kind that they would
+not wish to fall into the wrong hands. They would not have given this
+address excepting under some peculiar circumstances."
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, I should think not, if they took this house for the express purpose
+of committing a crime in it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Exactly. And then there is one other fact that you may have gathered
+from our young friend's remarks."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What is that?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"That a controllable squint is a very valuable asset to a person who
+wishes to avoid identification."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, I did note that. The fellow seemed to think that it was absolutely
+conclusive."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And so would most people; especially in the case of a squint of that
+kind. We can all squint towards our noses, but no normal person can turn
+his eyes away from one another. My impression is that the presence or
+absence, as the case might be, of a divergent squint would be accepted
+as absolute disproof of identity. But here we are."
+</p>
+<p>
+He inserted the key into the wicket of the large gate, and, when we had
+stepped through into the covered way, he locked it from the inside.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why have you locked us in?" I asked, seeing that the wicket had a
+latch.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Because," he replied, "if we now hear any one on the premises we shall
+know who it is. Only one person besides ourselves has a key."
+</p>
+<p>
+His reply startled me somewhat. I stopped and looked at him.
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is a quaint situation, Thorndyke. I hadn't thought of it. Why she
+may actually come to the house while we are here; in fact, she may be in
+the house at this moment."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I hope not," said he. "We don't particularly want Mr. Weiss to be put
+on his guard, for I take it, he is a pretty wide-awake gentleman under
+any circumstances. If she does come, we had better keep out of sight. I
+think we will look over the house first. That is of the most interest to
+us. If the lady does happen to come while we are here, she may stay to
+show us over the place and keep an eye on us. So we will leave the
+stables to the last."
+</p>
+<p>
+We walked down the entry to the side door at which I had been admitted
+by Mrs. Schallibaum on the occasion of my previous visits. Thorndyke
+inserted the latch-key, and, as soon as we were inside, shut the door
+and walked quickly through into the hall, whither I followed him. He
+made straight for the front door, where, having slipped up the catch of
+the lock, he began very attentively to examine the letter-box. It was a
+somewhat massive wooden box, fitted with a lock of good quality and
+furnished with a wire grille through which one could inspect the
+interior.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We are in luck, Jervis," Thorndyke remarked. "Our visit has been most
+happily timed. There is a letter in the box."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well," I said, "we can't get it out; and if we could, it would be
+hardly justifiable."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't know," he replied, "that I am prepared to assent off-hand to
+either of those propositions; but I would rather not tamper with another
+person's letter, even if that person should happen to be a murderer.
+Perhaps we can get the information we want from the outside of the
+envelope."
+</p>
+<p>
+He produced from his pocket a little electric lamp fitted with a
+bull's-eye, and, pressing the button, threw a beam of light in through
+the grille. The letter was lying on the bottom of the box face upwards,
+so that the address could easily be read.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Herrn Dr. H. Weiss," Thorndyke read aloud. "German stamp, postmark
+apparently Darmstadt. You notice that the 'Herrn Dr.' is printed and the
+rest written. What do you make of that?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't quite know. Do you think he is really a medical man?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Perhaps we had better finish our investigation, in case we are
+disturbed, and discuss the bearings of the facts afterwards. The name of
+the sender may be on the flap of the envelope. If it is not, I shall
+pick the lock and take out the letter. Have you got a probe about you?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes; by force of habit I am still carrying my pocket case."
+</p>
+<p>
+I took the little case from my pocket and extracting from it a jointed
+probe of thickish silver wire, screwed the two halves together and
+handed the completed instrument to Thorndyke; who passed the slender rod
+through the grille and adroitly turned the letter over.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Ha!" he exclaimed with deep satisfaction, as the light fell on the
+reverse of the envelope, "we are saved from the necessity of theft&mdash;or
+rather, unauthorized borrowing&mdash;'Johann Schnitzler, Darmstadt.' That is
+all that we actually want. The German police can do the rest if
+necessary."
+</p>
+<p>
+He handed me back my probe, pocketed his lamp, released the catch of the
+lock on the door, and turned away along the dark, musty-smelling hall.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Do you happen to know the name of Johann Schnitzler?" he asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+I replied that I had no recollection of ever having heard the name
+before.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Neither have I," said he; "but I think we may form a pretty shrewd
+guess as to his avocation. As you saw, the words 'Herrn Dr.' were
+printed on the envelope, leaving the rest of the address to be written
+by hand. The plain inference is that he is a person who habitually
+addresses letters to medical men, and as the style of the envelope and
+the lettering&mdash;which is printed, not embossed&mdash;is commercial, we may
+assume that he is engaged in some sort of trade. Now, what is a likely
+trade?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"He might be an instrument maker or a drug manufacturer; more probably
+the latter, as there is an extensive drug and chemical industry in
+Germany, and as Mr. Weiss seemed to have more use for drugs than
+instruments."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, I think you are right; but we will look him up when we get home.
+And now we had better take a glance at the bedroom; that is, if you can
+remember which room it was."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It was on the first floor," said I, "and the door by which I entered
+was just at the head of the stairs."
+</p>
+<p>
+We ascended the two flights, and, as we reached the landing, I halted.
+</p>
+<p>
+"This was the door," I said, and was about to turn the handle when
+Thorndyke caught me by the arm.
+</p>
+<p>
+"One moment, Jervis," said he. "What do you make of this?"
+</p>
+<p>
+He pointed to a spot near the bottom of the door where, on close
+inspection, four good-sized screw-holes were distinguishable. They had
+been neatly stopped with putty and covered with knotting, and were so
+nearly the colour of the grained and varnished woodwork as to be hardly
+visible.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Evidently," I answered, "there has been a bolt there, though it seems a
+queer place to fix one."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not at all," replied Thorndyke. "If you look up you will see that there
+was another at the top of the door, and, as the lock is in the middle,
+they must have been highly effective. But there are one or two other
+points that strike one. First, you will notice that the bolts have been
+fixed on quite recently, for the paint that they covered is of the same
+grimy tint as that on the rest of the door. Next, they have been taken
+off, which, seeing that they could hardly have been worth the trouble of
+removal, seems to suggest that the person who fixed them considered that
+their presence might appear remarkable, while the screw-holes, which
+have been so skilfully and carefully stopped, would be less conspicuous.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Then, they are on the outside of the door&mdash;an unusual situation for
+bedroom bolts&mdash;and were of considerable size. They were long and thick."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I can see, by the position of the screw-holes, that they were long; but
+how do you arrive at their thickness?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"By the size of the counter-holes in the jamb of the door. These holes
+have been very carefully filled with wooden plugs covered with knotting;
+but you can make out their diameter, which is that of the bolts, and
+which is decidedly out of proportion for an ordinary bedroom door. Let
+me show you a light."
+</p>
+<p>
+He flashed his lamp into the dark corner, and I was able to see
+distinctly the portentously large holes into which the bolts had fitted,
+and also to note the remarkable neatness with which they had been
+plugged.
+</p>
+<p>
+"There was a second door, I remember," said I. "Let us see if that was
+guarded in a similar manner."
+</p>
+<p>
+We strode through the empty room, awakening dismal echoes as we trod the
+bare boards, and flung open the other door. At top and bottom, similar
+groups of screw-holes showed that this also had been made secure, and
+that these bolts had been of the same very substantial character as the
+others.
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke turned away from the door with a slight frown.
+</p>
+<p>
+"If we had any doubts," said he, "as to what has been going on in this
+house, these traces of massive fastenings would be almost enough to
+settle them."
+</p>
+<p>
+"They might have been there before Weiss came," I suggested. "He only
+came about seven months ago and there is no date on the screw-holes."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is quite true. But when, with their recent fixture, you couple the
+facts that they have been removed, that very careful measures have been
+taken to obliterate the traces of their presence, and that they would
+have been indispensable for the commission of the crime that we are
+almost certain was being committed here, it looks like an excess of
+caution to seek other explanations."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But," I objected, "if the man, Graves, was really imprisoned, could not
+he have smashed the window and called for help?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"The window looks out on the yard, as you see; but I expect it was
+secured too."
+</p>
+<p>
+He drew the massive, old-fashioned shutters out of their recess and
+closed them.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, here we are." He pointed to four groups of screw-holes at the
+corners of the shutters, and, once more producing his lamp, narrowly
+examined the insides of the recesses into which the shutters folded.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The nature of the fastening is quite evident," said he. "An iron bar
+passed right across at the top and bottom and was secured by a staple
+and padlock. You can see the mark the bar made in the recess when the
+shutters were folded. When these bars were fixed and padlocked and the
+bolts were shot, this room was as secure, for a prisoner unprovided with
+tools, as a cell in Newgate."
+</p>
+<p>
+We looked at one another for awhile without speaking; and I fancy that
+if Mr. H. Weiss could have seen our faces he might have thought it
+desirable to seek some retreat even more remote than Hamburg.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It was a diabolical affair, Jervis," Thorndyke said at length, in an
+ominously quiet and even gentle tone. "A sordid, callous, cold-blooded
+crime of a type that is to me utterly unforgivable and incapable of
+extenuation. Of course, it may have failed. Mr. Graves may even now be
+alive. I shall make it my very especial business to ascertain whether he
+is or not. And if he is not, I shall take it to myself as a sacred duty
+to lay my hand on the man who has compassed his death."
+</p>
+<p>
+I looked at Thorndyke with something akin to awe. In the quiet
+unemotional tone of his voice, in his unruffled manner and the stony
+calm of his face, there was something much more impressive, more
+fateful, than there could have been in the fiercest threats or the most
+passionate denunciations. I felt that in those softly spoken words he
+had pronounced the doom of the fugitive villain.
+</p>
+<p>
+He turned away from the window and glanced round the empty room. It
+seemed that our discovery of the fastenings had exhausted the
+information that it had to offer.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is a thousand pities," I remarked, "that we were unable to look
+round before they moved out the furniture. We might have found some clue
+to the scoundrel's identity."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes," replied Thorndyke; "there isn't much information to be gathered
+here, I am afraid. I see they have swept up the small litter from the
+floor and poked it under the grate. We will turn that over, as there
+seems to be nothing else, and then look at the other rooms."
+</p>
+<p>
+He raked out the little heap of rubbish with his stick and spread it out
+on the hearth. It certainly looked unpromising enough, being just such a
+rubbish heap as may be swept up in any untidy room during a move. But
+Thorndyke went through it systematically, examining each item
+attentively, even to the local tradesmen's bills and empty paper bags,
+before laying them aside. Another rake of his stick scattered the bulky
+masses of crumpled paper and brought into view an object which he picked
+up with some eagerness. It was a portion of a pair of spectacles, which
+had apparently been trodden on, for the side-bar was twisted and bent
+and the glass was shattered into fragments.
+</p>
+<p>
+"This ought to give us a hint," said he. "It will probably have belonged
+either to Weiss or Graves, as Mrs. Schallibaum apparently did not wear
+glasses. Let us see if we can find the remainder."
+</p>
+<p>
+We both groped carefully with our sticks amongst the rubbish, spreading
+it out on the hearth and removing the numerous pieces of crumpled paper.
+Our search was rewarded by the discovery of the second eye-piece of the
+spectacles, of which the glass was badly cracked but less shattered than
+the other. I also picked up two tiny sticks at which Thorndyke looked
+with deep interest before laying them on the mantelshelf.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We will consider them presently," said he. "Let us finish with the
+spectacles first. You see that the left eye-glass is a concave
+cylindrical lens of some sort. We can make out that much from the
+fragments that remain, and we can measure the curvature when we get them
+home, although that will be easier if we can collect some more fragments
+and stick them together. The right eye is plain glass; that is quite
+evident. Then these will have belonged to your patient, Jervis. You said
+that the tremulous iris was in the right eye, I think?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes," I replied. "These will be his spectacles, without doubt."
+</p>
+<p>
+"They are peculiar frames," he continued. "If they were made in this
+country, we might be able to discover the maker. But we must collect as
+many fragments of glass as we can."
+</p>
+<p>
+Once more we searched amongst the rubbish and succeeded, eventually, in
+recovering some seven or eight small fragments of the broken
+spectacle-glasses, which Thorndyke laid on the mantelshelf beside the
+little sticks.
+</p>
+<p>
+"By the way, Thorndyke," I said, taking up the latter to examine them
+afresh, "what are these things? Can you make anything of them?"
+</p>
+<p>
+He looked at them thoughtfully for a few moments and then replied:
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't think I will tell you what they are. You should find that out
+for yourself, and it will be well worth your while to do so. They are
+rather suggestive objects under the circumstances. But notice their
+peculiarities carefully. Both are portions of some smooth, stout reed.
+There is a long, thin stick&mdash;about six inches long&mdash;and a thicker piece
+only three inches in length. The longer piece has a little scrap of red
+paper stuck on at the end; apparently a portion of a label of some kind
+with an ornamental border. The other end of the stick has been broken
+off. The shorter, stouter stick has had its central cavity artificially
+enlarged so that it fits over the other to form a cap or sheath. Make a
+careful note of those facts and try to think what they probably mean;
+what would be the most likely use for an object of this kind. When you
+have ascertained that, you will have learned something new about this
+case. And now, to resume our investigations. Here is a very suggestive
+thing." He picked up a small, wide-mouthed bottle and, holding it up for
+my inspection, continued: "Observe the fly sticking to the inside, and
+the name on the label, 'Fox, Russell Street, Covent Garden.'"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't know Mr. Fox."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Then I will inform you that he is a dealer in the materials for
+'make-up,' theatrical or otherwise, and will leave you to consider the
+bearing of this bottle on our present investigation. There doesn't seem
+to be anything else of interest in this El Dorado excepting that screw,
+which you notice is about the size of those with which the bolts were
+fastened on the doors. I don't think it is worth while to unstop any of
+the holes to try it; we should learn nothing fresh."
+</p>
+<p>
+He rose, and, having kicked the discarded rubbish back under the grate,
+gathered up his gleanings from the mantelpiece, carefully bestowing the
+spectacles and the fragments of glass in the tin box that he appeared
+always to carry in his pocket, and wrapping the larger objects in his
+handkerchief.
+</p>
+<p>
+"A poor collection," was his comment, as he returned the box and
+handkerchief to his pocket, "and yet not so poor as I had feared.
+Perhaps, if we question them closely enough, these unconsidered trifles
+may be made to tell us something worth learning after all. Shall we go
+into the other room?"
+</p>
+<p>
+We passed out on to the landing and into the front room, where, guided
+by experience, we made straight for the fire-place. But the little heap
+of rubbish there contained nothing that even Thorndyke's inquisitive eye
+could view with interest. We wandered disconsolately round the room,
+peering into the empty cupboards and scanning the floor and the corners
+by the skirting, without discovering a single object or relic of the
+late occupants. In the course of my perambulations I halted by the
+window and was looking down into the street when Thorndyke called to me
+sharply:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Come away from the window, Jervis! Have you forgotten that Mrs.
+Schallibaum may be in the neighbourhood at this moment?"
+</p>
+<p>
+As a matter of fact I had entirely forgotten the matter, nor did it now
+strike me as anything but the remotest of possibilities. I replied to
+that effect.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't agree with you," Thorndyke rejoined. "We have heard that she
+comes here to look for letters. Probably she comes every day, or even
+oftener. There is a good deal at stake, remember, and they cannot feel
+quite as secure as they would wish. Weiss must have seen what view you
+took of the case and must have had some uneasy moments thinking of what
+you might do. In fact, we may take it that the fear of you drove them
+out of the neighbourhood, and that they are mighty anxious to get that
+letter and cut the last link that binds them to this house."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I suppose that is so," I agreed; "and if the lady should happen to pass
+this way and should see me at the window and recognize me, she would
+certainly smell a rat."
+</p>
+<p>
+"A rat!" exclaimed Thorndyke. "She would smell a whole pack of foxes,
+and Mr. H. Weiss would be more on his guard than ever. Let us have a
+look at the other rooms; there is nothing here."
+</p>
+<p>
+We went up to the next floor and found traces of recent occupation in
+one room only. The garrets had evidently been unused, and the kitchen
+and ground-floor rooms offered nothing that appeared to Thorndyke worth
+noting. Then we went out by the side door and down the covered way into
+the yard at the back. The workshops were fastened with rusty padlocks
+that looked as if they had not been disturbed for months. The stables
+were empty and had been tentatively cleaned out, the coach-house was
+vacant, and presented no traces of recent use excepting a half-bald
+spoke-brush. We returned up the covered way and I was about to close the
+side door, which Thorndyke had left ajar, when he stopped me.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We'll have another look at the hall before we go," said he; and,
+walking softly before me, he made his way to the front door, where,
+producing his lamp, he threw a beam of light into the letter-box.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Any more letters?" I asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Any more!" he repeated. "Look for yourself."
+</p>
+<p>
+I stooped and peered through the grille into the lighted interior; and
+then I uttered an exclamation.
+</p>
+<p>
+The box was empty.
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke regarded me with a grim smile. "We have been caught on the
+hop, Jervis, I suspect," said he.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is queer," I replied. "I didn't hear any sound of the opening or
+closing of the door; did you?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No; I didn't hear any sound; which makes me suspect that she did. She
+would have heard our voices and she is probably keeping a sharp look-out
+at this very moment. I wonder if she saw you at the window. But whether
+she did or not, we must go very warily. Neither of us must return to the
+Temple direct, and we had better separate when we have returned the keys
+and I will watch you out of sight and see if anyone is following you.
+What are you going to do?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"If you don't want me, I shall run over to Kensington and drop in to
+lunch at the Hornbys'. I said I would call as soon as I had an hour or
+so free."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Very well. Do so; and keep a look-out in case you are followed. I have
+to go down to Guildford this afternoon. Under the circumstances, I shall
+not go back home, but send Polton a telegram and take a train at
+Vauxhall and change at some small station where I can watch the
+platform. Be as careful as you can. Remember that what you have to
+avoid is being followed to any place where you are known, and, above
+all, revealing your connection with number Five A, King's Bench Walk."
+</p>
+<p>
+Having thus considered our immediate movements, we emerged together from
+the wicket, and locking it behind us, walked quickly to the
+house-agents', where an opportune office-boy received the keys without
+remark. As we came out of the office, I halted irresolutely and we both
+looked up and down the lane.
+</p>
+<p>
+"There is no suspicious looking person in sight at present," Thorndyke
+said, and then asked: "Which way do you think of going?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"It seems to me," I replied, "that my best plan would be to take a cab
+or an omnibus so as to get out of the neighbourhood as quickly as
+possible. If I go through Ravensden Street into Kennington Park Road, I
+can pick up an omnibus that will take me to the Mansion House, where I
+can change for Kensington. I shall go on the top so that I can keep a
+look-out for any other omnibus or cab that may be following."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes," said Thorndyke, "that seems a good plan. I will walk with you and
+see that you get a fair start."
+</p>
+<p>
+We walked briskly along the lane and through Ravensden Street to the
+Kennington Park Road. An omnibus was approaching from the south at a
+steady jog-trot and we halted at the corner to wait for it. Several
+people passed us in different directions, but none seemed to take any
+particular notice of us, though we observed them rather narrowly,
+especially the women. Then the omnibus crawled up. I sprang on the
+foot-board and ascended to the roof, where I seated myself and surveyed
+the prospect to the rear. No one else got on the omnibus&mdash;which had not
+stopped&mdash;and no cab or other passenger vehicle was in sight. I continued
+to watch Thorndyke as he stood sentinel at the corner, and noted that no
+one appeared to be making any effort to overtake the omnibus. Presently
+my colleague waved his hand to me and turned back towards Vauxhall, and
+I, having satisfied myself once more that no pursuing cab or hurrying
+foot-passenger was in sight, decided that our precautions had been
+unnecessary and settled myself in a rather more comfortable position.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="CH10"><!-- CH10 --></a>
+<h2>
+	Chapter X
+</h2>
+
+<h3>
+The Hunter Hunted
+</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>
+The omnibus of those days was a leisurely vehicle. Its ordinary pace was
+a rather sluggish trot, and in a thickly populated thoroughfare its
+speed was further reduced by frequent stoppages. Bearing these facts in
+mind, I gave an occasional backward glance as we jogged northward,
+though my attention soon began to wander from the rather remote
+possibility of pursuit to the incidents of our late exploration.
+</p>
+<p>
+It had not been difficult to see that Thorndyke was very well pleased
+with the results of our search, but excepting the letter&mdash;which
+undoubtedly opened up a channel for further inquiry and possible
+identification&mdash;I could not perceive that any of the traces that we had
+found justified his satisfaction. There were the spectacles, for
+instance. They were almost certainly the pair worn by Mr. Graves. But
+what then? It was exceedingly improbable that we should be able to
+discover the maker of them, and if we were, it was still more improbable
+that he would be able to give us any information that would help us.
+Spectacle-makers are not usually on confidential terms with their
+customers.
+</p>
+<p>
+As to the other objects, I could make nothing of them. The little sticks
+of reed evidently had some use that was known to Thorndyke and
+furnished, by inference, some kind of information about Weiss, Graves,
+or Mrs. Schallibaum. But I had never seen anything like them before and
+they conveyed nothing whatever to me. Then the bottle that had seemed so
+significant to Thorndyke was to me quite uninforming. It did, indeed,
+suggest that some member of the household might be connected with the
+stage, but it gave no hint as to which one. Certainly that person was
+not Mr. Weiss, whose appearance was as remote from that of an actor as
+could well be imagined. At any rate, the bottle and its label gave me no
+more useful hint than it might be worth while to call on Mr. Fox and
+make inquiries; and something told me very emphatically that this was
+not what it had conveyed to Thorndyke.
+</p>
+<p>
+These reflections occupied me until the omnibus, having rumbled over
+London Bridge and up King William Street, joined the converging streams
+of traffic at the Mansion House. Here I got down and changed to an
+omnibus bound for Kensington; on which I travelled westward pleasantly
+enough, looking down into the teeming streets and whiling away the time
+by meditating upon the very agreeable afternoon that I promised myself,
+and considering how far my new arrangement with Thorndyke would justify
+me in entering into certain domestic engagements of a highly interesting
+kind.
+</p>
+<p>
+What might have happened under other circumstances it is impossible to
+tell and useless to speculate; the fact is that my journey ended in a
+disappointment. I arrived, all agog, at the familiar house in Endsley
+Gardens only to be told by a sympathetic housemaid that the family was
+out; that Mrs. Hornby had gone into the country and would not be home
+until night, and&mdash;which mattered a good deal more to me&mdash;that her niece,
+Miss Juliet Gibson, had accompanied her.
+</p>
+<p>
+Now a man who drops into lunch without announcing his intention or
+previously ascertaining those of his friends has no right to quarrel
+with fate if he finds an empty house. Thus philosophically I reflected
+as I turned away from the house in profound discontent, demanding of the
+universe in general why Mrs. Hornby need have perversely chosen my first
+free day to go gadding into the country, and above all, why she must
+needs spirit away the fair Juliet. This was the crowning misfortune (for
+I could have endured the absence of the elder lady with commendable
+fortitude), and since I could not immediately return to the Temple it
+left me a mere waif and stray for the time being.
+</p>
+<p>
+Instinct&mdash;of the kind that manifests itself especially about one
+o'clock in the afternoon&mdash;impelled me in the direction of Brompton Road,
+and finally landed me at a table in a large restaurant apparently
+adjusted to the needs of ladies who had come from a distance to engage
+in the feminine sport of shopping. Here, while waiting for my lunch, I
+sat idly scanning the morning paper and wondering what I should do with
+the rest of the day; and presently it chanced that my eye caught the
+announcement of a matin&eacute;e at the theatre in Sloane Square. It was quite
+a long time since I had been at a theatre, and, as the play&mdash;light
+comedy&mdash;seemed likely to satisfy my not very critical taste, I decided
+to devote the afternoon to reviving my acquaintance with the drama.
+Accordingly as soon as my lunch was finished, I walked down the Brompton
+Road, stepped on to an omnibus, and was duly deposited at the door of
+the theatre. A couple of minutes later I found myself occupying an
+excellent seat in the second row of the pit, oblivious alike of my
+recent disappointment and of Thorndyke's words of warning.
+</p>
+<p>
+I am not an enthusiastic play-goer. To dramatic performances I am
+disposed to assign nothing further than the modest function of
+furnishing entertainment. I do not go to a theatre to be instructed or
+to have my moral outlook elevated. But, by way of compensation, I am not
+difficult to please. To a simple play, adjusted to my primitive taste, I
+can bring a certain bucolic appreciation that enables me to extract from
+the performance the maximum of enjoyment; and when, on this occasion,
+the final curtain fell and the audience rose, I rescued my hat from its
+insecure resting-place and turned to go with the feeling that I had
+spent a highly agreeable afternoon.
+</p>
+<p>
+Emerging from the theatre, borne on the outgoing stream, I presently
+found myself opposite the door of a tea-shop. Instinct&mdash;the five o'clock
+instinct this time&mdash;guided me in; for we are creatures of habit,
+especially of the tea habit. The unoccupied table to which I drifted was
+in a shady corner not very far from the pay-desk; and here I had been
+seated less than a minute when a lady passed me on her way to the
+farther table. The glimpse that I caught of her as she approached&mdash;it
+was but a glimpse, since she passed behind me&mdash;showed that she was
+dressed in black, that she wore a beaded veil and hat, and in addition
+to the glass of milk and the bun that she carried, she was encumbered by
+an umbrella and a small basket, apparently containing some kind of
+needlework. I must confess that I gave her very little attention at the
+time, being occupied in anxious speculation as to how long it would be
+before the fact of my presence would impinge on the consciousness of the
+waitress.
+</p>
+<p>
+The exact time by the clock on the wall was three minutes and a quarter,
+at the expiration of which an anaemic young woman sauntered up to the
+table and bestowed on me a glance of sullen interrogation, as if mutely
+demanding what the devil I wanted. I humbly requested that I might be
+provided with a pot of tea; whereupon she turned on her heel (which was
+a good deal worn down on the offside) and reported my conduct to a lady
+behind a marble-topped counter.
+</p>
+<p>
+It seemed that the counter lady took a lenient view of the case, for in
+less than four minutes the waitress returned and gloomily deposited on
+the table before me a tea-pot, a milk-jug, a cup and saucer, a jug of
+hot water, and a small pool of milk. Then she once more departed in
+dudgeon.
+</p>
+<p>
+I had just given the tea in the pot a preliminary stir and was about to
+pour out the first cup when I felt some one bump lightly against my
+chair and heard something rattle on the floor. I turned quickly and
+perceived the lady, whom I had seen enter, stooping just behind my
+chair. It seemed that having finished her frugal meal she was on her way
+out when she had dropped the little basket that I had noticed hanging
+from her wrist; which basket had promptly disgorged its entire contents
+on the floor.
+</p>
+<p>
+Now every one must have noticed the demon of agility that seems to enter
+into an inanimate object when it is dropped, and the apparently
+intelligent malice with which it discovers, and rolls into, the most
+inaccessible places. Here was a case in point. This particular basket
+had contained materials for Oriental bead-work; and no sooner had it
+reached the floor than each item of its contents appeared to become
+possessed of a separate and particular devil impelling it to travel at
+headlong speed to some remote and unapproachable corner as distant as
+possible from its fellows.
+</p>
+<p>
+As the only man&mdash;and almost the only person&mdash;near, the duty of
+salvage-agent manifestly devolved upon me; and down I went, accordingly,
+on my hands and knees, regardless of a nearly new pair of trousers, to
+grope under tables, chairs and settles in reach of the scattered
+treasure. A ball of the thick thread or twine I recovered from a dark
+and dirty corner after a brief interview with the sharp corner of a
+settle, and a multitude of the large beads with which this infernal
+industry is carried on I gathered from all parts of the compass, coming
+forth at length (quadrupedally) with a double handful of the
+treasure-trove and a very lively appreciation of the resistant qualities
+of a cast-iron table-stand when applied to the human cranium.
+</p>
+<p>
+The owner of the lost and found property was greatly distressed by the
+accident and the trouble it had caused me; in fact she was quite
+needlessly agitated about it. The hand which held the basket into which
+I poured the rescued trash trembled visibly, and the brief glance that I
+bestowed on her as she murmured her thanks and apologies&mdash;with a very
+slight foreign accent&mdash;showed me that she was excessively pale. That
+much I could see plainly in spite of the rather dim light in this part
+of the shop and the beaded veil that covered her face; and I could also
+see that she was a rather remarkable looking woman, with a great mass of
+harsh, black hair and very broad black eyebrows that nearly met above
+her nose and contrasted strikingly with the dead white of her skin. But,
+of course, I did not look at her intently. Having returned her property
+and received her acknowledgments, I resumed my seat and left her to go
+on her way.
+</p>
+<p>
+I had once more grasped the handle of the tea-pot when I made a rather
+curious discovery. At the bottom of the tea-cup lay a single lump of
+sugar. To the majority of persons it would have meant nothing. They
+would have assumed that they had dropped it in and forgotten it and
+would have proceeded to pour out the tea. But it happened that, at this
+time, I did not take sugar in my tea; whence it followed that the lump
+had not been put in by me. Assuming, therefore, that it had been
+carelessly dropped in by the waitress, I turned it out on the table,
+filled the cup, added the milk, and took a tentative draught to test the
+temperature.
+</p>
+<p>
+The cup was yet at my lips when I chanced to look into the mirror that
+faced my table. Of course it reflected the part of the shop that was
+behind me, including the cashier's desk; at which the owner of the
+basket now stood paying for her refreshment. Between her and me was a
+gas chandelier which cast its light on my back but full on her face; and
+her veil notwithstanding, I could see that she was looking at me
+steadily; was, in fact, watching me intently and with a very curious
+expression&mdash;an expression of expectancy mingled with alarm. But this was
+not all. As I returned her intent look&mdash;which I could do unobserved,
+since my face, reflected in the mirror, was in deep shadow&mdash;I suddenly
+perceived that that steady gaze engaged her right eye only; the other
+eye was looking sharply towards her left shoulder. In short, she had a
+divergent squint of the left eye.
+</p>
+<p>
+I put down my cup with a thrill of amazement and a sudden surging up of
+suspicion and alarm. An instant's reflection reminded me that when she
+had spoken to me a few moments before, both her eyes had looked into
+mine without the slightest trace of a squint. My thoughts flew back to
+the lump of sugar, to the unguarded milk-jug and the draught of tea that
+I had already swallowed; and, hardly knowing what I intended, I started
+to my feet and turned to confront her. But as I rose, she snatched up
+her change and darted from the shop. Through the glass door, I saw her
+spring on to the foot-board of a passing hansom and give the driver some
+direction. I saw the man whip up his horse, and, by the time I reached
+the door, the cab was moving off swiftly towards Sloane Street.
+</p>
+<p>
+I stood irresolute. I had not paid and could not run out of the shop
+without making a fuss, and my hat and stick were still on the rail
+opposite my seat. The woman ought to be followed, but I had no fancy for
+the task. If the tea that I had swallowed was innocuous, no harm was
+done and I was rid of my pursuer. So far as I was concerned, the
+incident was closed. I went back to my seat, and picking up the lump of
+sugar which still lay on the table where I had dropped it, put it
+carefully in my pocket. But my appetite for tea was satisfied for the
+present. Moreover it was hardly advisable to stay in the shop lest some
+fresh spy should come to see how I fared. Accordingly I obtained my
+check, handed it in at the cashier's desk and took my departure.
+</p>
+<p>
+All this time, it will be observed, I had been taking it for granted
+that the lady in black had followed me from Kensington to this shop;
+that, in fact, she was none other than Mrs. Schallibaum. And, indeed,
+the circumstances had rendered the conclusion inevitable. In the very
+instant when I had perceived the displacement of the left eye, complete
+recognition had come upon me. When I had stood facing the woman, the
+brief glance at her face had conveyed to me something dimly reminiscent
+of which I had been but half conscious and had instantly forgotten. But
+the sight of that characteristic squint had at once revived and
+explained it. That the woman was Mrs. Schallibaum I now felt no doubt
+whatever.
+</p>
+<p>
+Nevertheless, the whole affair was profoundly mysterious. As to the
+change in the woman's appearance, there was little in that. The coarse,
+black hair might be her own, dyed, or it might be a wig. The eyebrows
+were made-up; it was a simple enough proceeding and made still more
+simple by the beaded veil. But how did she come to be there at all? How
+did she happen to be made-up in this fashion at this particular time?
+And, above all, how came she to be provided with a lump of what I had
+little doubt was poisoned sugar?
+</p>
+<p>
+I turned over the events of the day, and the more I considered them the
+less comprehensible they appeared. No one had followed the omnibus
+either on foot or in a vehicle, as far as I could see; and I had kept a
+careful look-out, not only at starting but for some considerable time
+after. Yet, all the time, Mrs. Schallibaum must have been following.
+But how? If she had known that I was intending to travel by the omnibus
+she might have gone to meet it and entered before I did. But she could
+not have known: and moreover she did not meet the omnibus, for we
+watched its approach from some considerable distance. I considered
+whether she might not have been concealed in the house and overheard me
+mention my destination to Thorndyke. But this failed to explain the
+mystery, since I had mentioned no address beyond "Kensington." I had,
+indeed, mentioned the name of Mrs. Hornby, but the supposition that my
+friends might be known by name to Mrs. Schallibaum, or even that she
+might have looked the name up in the directory, presented a probability
+too remote to be worth entertaining.
+</p>
+<p>
+But, if I reached no satisfactory conclusion, my cogitations had one
+useful effect; they occupied my mind to the exclusion of that
+unfortunate draught of tea. Not that I had been seriously uneasy after
+the first shock. The quantity that I had swallowed was not large&mdash;the
+tea being hotter than I cared for&mdash;and I remembered that, when I had
+thrown out the lump of sugar, I had turned the cup upside down on the
+table; so there could have been nothing solid left in it. And the lump
+of sugar was in itself reassuring, for it certainly would not have been
+used in conjunction with any less conspicuous but more incriminating
+form of poison. That lump of sugar was now in my pocket, reserved for
+careful examination at my leisure; and I reflected with a faint grin
+that it would be a little disconcerting if it should turn out to
+contain nothing but sugar after all.
+</p>
+<p>
+On leaving the tea-shop, I walked up Sloane Street with the intention of
+doing what I ought to have done earlier in the day. I was going to make
+perfectly sure that no spy was dogging my footsteps. But for my
+ridiculous confidence I could have done so quite easily before going to
+Endsley Gardens; and now, made wiser by a startling experience, I
+proceeded with systematic care. It was still broad daylight&mdash;for the
+lamps in the tea-shop had been rendered necessary only by the faulty
+construction of the premises and the dullness of the afternoon&mdash;and in
+an open space I could see far enough for complete safety. Arriving at
+the top of Sloane Street, I crossed Knightsbridge, and, entering Hyde
+Park, struck out towards the Serpentine. Passing along the eastern
+shore, I entered one of the long paths that lead towards the Marble Arch
+and strode along it at such a pace as would make it necessary for any
+pursuer to hurry in order to keep me in sight. Half-way across the great
+stretch of turf, I halted for a few moments and noted the few people who
+were coming in my direction. Then I turned sharply to the left and
+headed straight for the Victoria Gate, but again, half-way, I turned off
+among a clump of trees, and, standing behind the trunk of one of them,
+took a fresh survey of the people who were moving along the paths. All
+were at a considerable distance and none appeared to be coming my way.
+</p>
+<p>
+I now moved cautiously from one tree to another and passed through the
+wooded region to the south, crossed the Serpentine bridge at a rapid
+walk and hurrying along the south shore left the Park by Apsley House.
+From hence I walked at the same rapid pace along Piccadilly, insinuating
+myself among the crowd with the skill born of long acquaintance with the
+London streets, crossed amidst the seething traffic at the Circus,
+darted up Windmill Street and began to zigzag amongst the narrow streets
+and courts of Soho. Crossing the Seven Dials and Drury Lane I passed
+through the multitudinous back-streets and alleys that then filled the
+area south of Lincoln's Inn, came out by Newcastle Street, Holywell
+Street and Half-Moon Alley into the Strand, which I crossed immediately,
+ultimately entering the Temple by Devereux Court.
+</p>
+<p>
+Even then I did not relax my precautions. From one court to another I
+passed quickly, loitering in those dark entries and unexpected passages
+that are known to so few but the regular Templars, and coming out into
+the open only at the last where the wide passage of King's Bench Walk
+admits of no evasion. Half-way up the stairs, I stood for some time in
+the shadow, watching the approaches from the staircase window; and when,
+at length, I felt satisfied that I had taken every precaution that was
+possible, I inserted my key and let myself into our chambers.
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke had already arrived, and, as I entered, he rose to greet me
+with an expression of evident relief.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am glad to see you, Jervis," he said. "I have been rather anxious
+about you."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why?" I asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"For several reasons. One is that you are the sole danger that threatens
+these people&mdash;as far as they know. Another is that we made a most
+ridiculous mistake. We overlooked a fact that ought to have struck us
+instantly. But how have you fared?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Better than I deserved. That good lady stuck to me like a burr&mdash;at
+least I believe she did."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I have no doubt she did. We have been caught napping finely, Jervis."
+</p>
+<p>
+"How?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"We'll go into that presently. Let us hear about your adventures first."
+</p>
+<p>
+I gave him a full account of my movements from the time when we parted
+to that of my arrival home, omitting no incident that I was able to
+remember and, as far as I could, reconstituting my exceedingly devious
+homeward route.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Your retreat was masterly," he remarked with a broad smile. "I should
+think that it would have utterly defeated any pursuer; and the only pity
+is that it was probably wasted on the desert air. Your pursuer had by
+that time become a fugitive. But you were wise to take these
+precautions, for, of course, Weiss might have followed you."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But I thought he was in Hamburg?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Did you? You are a very confiding young gentleman, for a budding
+medical jurist. Of course we don't know that he is not; but the fact
+that he has given Hamburg as his present whereabouts establishes a
+strong presumption that he is somewhere else. I only hope that he has
+not located you, and, from what you tell me of your later methods, I
+fancy that you would have shaken him off even if he had started to
+follow you from the tea-shop."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I hope so too. But how did that woman manage to stick to me in that
+way? What was the mistake we made?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke laughed grimly. "It was a perfectly asinine mistake, Jervis.
+You started up Kennington Park Road on a leisurely, jog-trotting
+omnibus, and neither you nor I remembered what there is underneath
+Kennington Park Road."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Underneath!" I exclaimed, completely puzzled for the moment. Then,
+suddenly realizing what he meant, "Of course!" I exclaimed. "Idiot that
+I am! You mean the electric railway?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes. That explains everything. Mrs. Schallibaum must have watched us
+from some shop and quietly followed us up the lane. There were a good
+many women about and several were walking in our direction. There was
+nothing to distinguish her from the others unless you had recognized
+her, which you would hardly have been able to do if she had worn a veil
+and kept at a fair distance. At least I think not."
+</p>
+<p>
+"No," I agreed, "I certainly should not. I had only seen her in a
+half-dark room. In outdoor clothes and with a veil, I should never have
+been able to identify her without very close inspection. Besides there
+was the disguise or make-up."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not at that time. She would hardly come disguised to her own house,
+for it might have led to her being challenged and asked who she was. I
+think we may take it that there was no actual disguise, although she
+would probably wear a shady hat and a veil; which would have prevented
+either of us from picking her out from the other women in the street."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And what do you think happened next?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think that she simply walked past us&mdash;probably on the other side of
+the road&mdash;as we stood waiting for the omnibus, and turned up Kennington
+Park Road. She probably guessed that we were waiting for the omnibus and
+walked up the road in the direction in which it was going. Presently the
+omnibus would pass her, and there were you in full view on top keeping a
+vigilant look-out in the wrong direction. Then she would quicken her
+pace a little and in a minute or two would arrive at the Kennington
+Station of the South London Railway. In a minute or two more she would
+be in one of the electric trains whirling along under the street on
+which your omnibus was crawling. She would get out at the Borough
+Station, or she might take a more risky chance and go on to the
+Monument; but in any case she would wait for your omnibus, hail it and
+get inside. I suppose you took up some passengers on the way?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh dear, yes. We were stopping every two or three minutes to take up or
+set down passengers; and most of them were women."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Very well; then we may take it that when you arrived at the Mansion
+House, Mrs. Schallibaum was one of your inside passengers. It was a
+rather quaint situation, I think."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, confound her! What a couple of noodles she must have thought us!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No doubt. And that is the one consoling feature in the case. She will
+have taken us for a pair of absolute greenhorns. But to continue. Of
+course she travelled in your omnibus to Kensington&mdash;you ought to have
+gone inside on both occasions, so that you could see every one who
+entered and examine the inside passengers; she will have followed you to
+Endsley Gardens and probably noted the house you went to. Thence she
+will have followed you to the restaurant and may even have lunched
+there."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is quite possible," said I. "There were two rooms and they were
+filled principally with women."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Then she will have followed you to Sloane Street, and, as you persisted
+in riding outside, she could easily take an inside place in your
+omnibus. As to the theatre, she must have taken it as a veritable gift
+of the gods; an arrangement made by you for her special convenience."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"My dear fellow! consider. She had only to follow you in and see you
+safely into your seat and there you were, left till called for. She
+could then go home, make up for her part; draw out a plan of action,
+with the help, perhaps, of Mr. Weiss, provide herself with the necessary
+means and appliances and, at the appointed time, call and collect you."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is assuming a good deal," I objected. "It is assuming, for
+instance, that she lives within a moderate distance of Sloane Square.
+Otherwise it would have been impossible."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Exactly. That is why I assume it. You don't suppose that she goes about
+habitually with lumps of prepared sugar in her pocket. And if not, then
+she must have got that lump from somewhere. Then the beads suggest a
+carefully prepared plan, and, as I said just now, she can hardly have
+been made-up when she met us in Kennington Lane. From all of which it
+seems likely that her present abode is not very far from Sloane Square."
+</p>
+<p>
+"At any rate," said I, "it was taking a considerable risk. I might have
+left the theatre before she came back."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes," Thorndyke agreed. "But it is like a woman to take chances. A man
+would probably have stuck to you when once he had got you off your
+guard. But she was ready to take chances. She chanced the railway, and
+it came off; she chanced your remaining in the theatre, and that came
+off too. She calculated on the probability of your getting tea when you
+came out, and she hit it off again. And then she took one chance too
+many; she assumed that you probably took sugar in your tea, and she was
+wrong."
+</p>
+<p>
+"We are taking it for granted that the sugar was prepared," I remarked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes. Our explanation is entirely hypothetical and may be entirely
+wrong. But it all hangs together, and if we find any poisonous matter in
+the sugar, it will be reasonable to assume that we are right. The sugar
+is the Experimentum Crucis. If you will hand it over to me, we will go
+up to the laboratory and make a preliminary test or two."
+</p>
+<p>
+I took the lump of sugar from my pocket and gave it to him, and he
+carried it to the gas-burner, by the light of which he examined it with
+a lens.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't see any foreign crystals on the surface," said he; "but we had
+better make a solution and go to work systematically. If it contains any
+poison we may assume that it will be some alkaloid, though I will test
+for arsenic too. But a man of Weiss's type would almost certainly use an
+alkaloid, on account of its smaller bulk and more ready solubility. You
+ought not to have carried this loose in your pocket. For legal purposes
+that would seriously interfere with its value as evidence. Bodies that
+are suspected of containing poison should be carefully isolated and
+preserved from contact with anything that might lead to doubt in the
+analysis. It doesn't matter much to us, as this analysis is only for our
+own information and we can satisfy ourselves as to the state of your
+pocket. But bear the rule in mind another time."
+</p>
+<p>
+We now ascended to the laboratory, where Thorndyke proceeded at once to
+dissolve the lump of sugar in a measured quantity of distilled water by
+the aid of gentle heat.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Before we add any acid," said he, "or introduce any fresh matter, we
+will adopt the simple preliminary measure of tasting the solution. The
+sugar is a disturbing factor, but some of the alkaloids and most
+mineral poisons excepting arsenic have a very characteristic taste."
+</p>
+<p>
+He dipped a glass rod in the warm solution and applied it gingerly to
+his tongue.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Ha!" he exclaimed, as he carefully wiped his mouth with his
+handkerchief, "simple methods are often very valuable. There isn't much
+doubt as to what is in that sugar. Let me recommend my learned brother
+to try the flavour. But be careful. A little of this will go a long
+way."
+</p>
+<p>
+He took a fresh rod from the rack, and, dipping it in the solution,
+handed it to me. I cautiously applied it to the tip of my tongue and was
+immediately aware of a peculiar tingling sensation accompanied by a
+feeling of numbness.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well," said Thorndyke; "what is it?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Aconite," I replied without hesitation.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes," he agreed; "aconite it is, or more probably aconitine. And that,
+I think, gives us all the information we want. We need not trouble now
+to make a complete analysis, though I shall have a quantitative
+examination made later. You note the intensity of the taste and you see
+what the strength of the solution is. Evidently that lump of sugar
+contained a very large dose of the poison. If the sugar had been
+dissolved in your tea, the quantity that you drank would have contained
+enough aconitine to lay you out within a few minutes; which would
+account for Mrs. Schallibaum's anxiety to get clear of the premises. She
+saw you drink from the cup, but I imagine she had not seen you turn the
+sugar out."
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, I should say not, to judge by her expression. She looked
+terrified. She is not as hardened as her rascally companion."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Which is fortunate for you, Jervis. If she had not been in such a
+fluster, she would have waited until you had poured out your tea, which
+was what she probably meant to do, or have dropped the sugar into the
+milk-jug. In either case you would have got a poisonous dose before you
+noticed anything amiss."
+</p>
+<p>
+"They are a pretty pair, Thorndyke," I exclaimed. "A human life seems to
+be no more to them than the life of a fly or a beetle."
+</p>
+<p>
+"No; that is so. They are typical poisoners of the worst kind; of the
+intelligent, cautious, resourceful kind. They are a standing menace to
+society. As long as they are at large, human lives are in danger, and it
+is our business to see that they do not remain at large a moment longer
+than is unavoidable. And that brings us to another point. You had better
+keep indoors for the next few days."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, nonsense," I protested. "I can take care of myself."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I won't dispute that," said Thorndyke, "although I might. But the
+matter is of vital importance and we can't be too careful. Yours is the
+only evidence that could convict these people. They know that and will
+stick at nothing to get rid of you&mdash;for by this time they will almost
+certainly have ascertained that the tea-shop plan has failed. Now your
+life is of some value to you and to another person whom I could mention;
+but apart from that, you are the indispensable instrument for ridding
+society of these dangerous vermin. Moreover, if you were seen abroad and
+connected with these chambers, they would get the information that their
+case was really being investigated in a businesslike manner. If Weiss
+has not already left the country he would do so immediately, and if he
+has, Mrs. Schallibaum would join him at once, and we might never be able
+to lay hands on them. You must stay indoors, out of sight, and you had
+better write to Miss Gibson and ask her to warn the servants to give no
+information about you to anyone."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And how long," I asked, "am I to be held on parole?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not long, I think. We have a very promising start. If I have any luck,
+I shall be able to collect all the evidence I want in about a week. But
+there is an element of chance in some of it which prevents me from
+giving a date. And it is just possible that I may have started on a
+false track. But that I shall be able to tell you better in a day or
+two."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And I suppose," I said gloomily, "I shall be out of the hunt
+altogether?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not at all," he replied. "You have got the Blackmore case to attend to.
+I shall hand you over all the documents and get you to make an orderly
+digest of the evidence. You will then have all the facts and can work
+out the case for yourself. Also I shall ask you to help Polton in some
+little operations which are designed to throw light into dark places and
+which you will find both entertaining and instructive."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Supposing Mrs. Hornby should propose to call and take tea with us in
+the gardens?" I suggested.
+</p>
+<p>
+"And bring Miss Gibson with her?" Thorndyke added dryly. "No, Jervis, it
+would never do. You must make that quite clear to her. It is more
+probable than not that Mrs. Schallibaum made a careful note of the house
+in Endsley Gardens, and as that would be the one place actually known to
+her, she and Weiss&mdash;if he is in England&mdash;would almost certainly keep a
+watch on it. If they should succeed in connecting that house with these
+chambers, a few inquiries would show them the exact state of the case.
+No; we must keep them in the dark if we possibly can. We have shown too
+much of our hand already. It is hard on you, but it cannot be helped."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, don't think I am complaining," I exclaimed. "If it is a matter of
+business, I am as keen as you are. I thought at first that you were
+merely considering the safety of my vile body. When shall I start on my
+job?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"To-morrow morning. I shall give you my notes on the Blackmore case and
+the copies of the will and the depositions, from which you had better
+draw up a digest of the evidence with remarks as to the conclusions that
+it suggests. Then there are our gleanings from New Inn to be looked over
+and considered; and with regard to this case, we have the fragments of a
+pair of spectacles which had better be put together into a rather more
+intelligible form in case we have to produce them in evidence. That will
+keep you occupied for a day or two, together with some work
+appertaining to other cases. And now let us dismiss professional topics.
+You have not dined and neither have I, but I dare say Polton has made
+arrangements for some sort of meal. We will go down and see."
+</p>
+<p>
+We descended to the lower floor, where Thorndyke's anticipations were
+justified by a neatly laid table to which Polton was giving the
+finishing touches.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="CH11"><!-- CH11 --></a>
+<h2>
+	Chapter XI
+</h2>
+
+<h3>
+The Blackmore Case Reviewed
+</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>
+One of the conditions of medical practice is the capability of
+transferring one's attention at a moment's notice from one set of
+circumstances to another equally important but entirely unrelated. At
+each visit on his round, the practitioner finds himself concerned with a
+particular, self-contained group of phenomena which he must consider at
+the moment with the utmost concentration, but which he must instantly
+dismiss from his mind as he moves on to the next case. It is a difficult
+habit to acquire; for an important, distressing or obscure case is apt
+to take possession of the consciousness and hinder the exercise of
+attention that succeeding cases demand; but experience shows the faculty
+to be indispensable, and the practitioner learns in time to forget
+everything but the patient with whose condition he is occupied at the
+moment.
+</p>
+<p>
+My first morning's work on the Blackmore case showed me that the same
+faculty is demanded in legal practice; and it also showed me that I had
+yet to acquire it. For, as I looked over the depositions and the copy of
+the will, memories of the mysterious house in Kennington Lane
+continually intruded into my reflections, and the figure of Mrs.
+Schallibaum, white-faced, terrified, expectant, haunted me continually.
+</p>
+<p>
+In truth, my interest in the Blackmore case was little more than
+academic, whereas in the Kennington case I was one of the parties and
+was personally concerned. To me, John Blackmore was but a name, Jeffrey
+but a shadowy figure to which I could assign no definite personality,
+and Stephen himself but a casual stranger. Mr. Graves, on the other
+hand, was a real person. I had seen him amidst the tragic circumstances
+that had probably heralded his death, and had brought away with me, not
+only a lively recollection of him, but a feeling of profound pity and
+concern as to his fate. The villain Weiss, too, and the terrible woman
+who aided, abetted and, perhaps, even directed him, lived in my memory
+as vivid and dreadful realities. Although I had uttered no hint to
+Thorndyke, I lamented inwardly that I had not been given some work&mdash;if
+there was any to do&mdash;connected with this case, in which I was so deeply
+interested, rather than with the dry, purely legal and utterly
+bewildering case of Jeffrey Blackmore's will.
+</p>
+<p>
+Nevertheless, I stuck loyally to my task. I read through the depositions
+and the will&mdash;without getting a single glimmer of fresh light on the
+case&mdash;and I made a careful digest of all the facts. I compared my
+digest with Thorndyke's notes&mdash;of which I also made a copy&mdash;and found
+that, brief as they were, they contained several matters that I had
+overlooked. I also drew up a brief account of our visit to New Inn, with
+a list of the objects that we had observed or collected. And then I
+addressed myself to the second part of my task, the statement of my
+conclusions from the facts set forth.
+</p>
+<p>
+It was only when I came to make the attempt that I realized how
+completely I was at sea. In spite of Thorndyke's recommendation to study
+Marchmont's statement as it was summarized in those notes which I had
+copied, and of his hint that I should find in that statement something
+highly significant, I was borne irresistibly to one conclusion, and one
+only&mdash;and the wrong one at that, as I suspected: that Jeffrey
+Blackmore's will was a perfectly regular, sound and valid document.
+</p>
+<p>
+I tried to attack the validity of the will from various directions, and
+failed every time. As to its genuineness, that was obviously not in
+question. There seemed to me only two conceivable respects in which any
+objection could be raised, viz. the competency of Jeffrey to execute a
+will and the possibility of undue influence having been brought to bear
+on him.
+</p>
+<p>
+With reference to the first, there was the undoubted fact that Jeffrey
+was addicted to the opium habit, and this might, under some
+circumstances, interfere with a testator's competency to make a will.
+But had any such circumstances existed in this case? Had the drug habit
+produced such mental changes in the deceased as would destroy or weaken
+his judgment? There was not a particle of evidence in favour of any such
+belief. Up to the very end he had managed his own affairs, and, if his
+habits of life had undergone a change, they were still the habits of a
+perfectly sane and responsible man.
+</p>
+<p>
+The question of undue influence was more difficult. If it applied to any
+person in particular, that person could be none other than John
+Blackmore. Now it was an undoubted fact that, of all Jeffrey's
+acquaintance, his brother John was the only one who knew that he was in
+residence at New Inn. Moreover John had visited him there more than
+once. It was therefore possible that influence might have been brought
+to bear on the deceased. But there was no evidence that it had. The fact
+that the deceased man's only brother should be the one person who knew
+where he was living was not a remarkable one, and it had been
+satisfactorily explained by the necessity of Jeffrey's finding a
+reference on applying for the chambers. And against the theory of undue
+influence was the fact that the testator had voluntarily brought his
+will to the lodge and executed it in the presence of entirely
+disinterested witnesses.
+</p>
+<p>
+In the end I had to give up the problem in despair, and, abandoning the
+documents, turned my attention to the facts elicited by our visit to New
+Inn.
+</p>
+<p>
+What had we learned from our exploration? It was clear that Thorndyke
+had picked up some facts that had appeared to him important. But
+important in what respect? The only possible issue that could be raised
+was the validity or otherwise of Jeffrey Blackmore's will; and since the
+validity of that will was supported by positive evidence of the most
+incontestable kind, it seemed that nothing that we had observed could
+have any real bearing on the case at all.
+</p>
+<p>
+But this, of course, could not be. Thorndyke was no dreamer nor was he
+addicted to wild speculation. If the facts observed by us seemed to him
+to be relevant to the case, I was prepared to assume that they were
+relevant, although I could not see their connection with it. And, on
+this assumption, I proceeded to examine them afresh.
+</p>
+<p>
+Now, whatever Thorndyke might have observed on his own account, I had
+brought away from the dead man's chambers only a single fact; and a very
+extraordinary fact it was. The cuneiform inscription was upside down.
+That was the sum of the evidence that I had collected; and the question
+was, What did it prove? To Thorndyke it conveyed some deep significance.
+What could that significance be?
+</p>
+<p>
+The inverted position was not a mere temporary accident, as it might
+have been if the frame had been stood on a shelf or support. It was hung
+on the wall, and the plates screwed on the frame showed that its
+position was permanent and that it had never hung in any other. That it
+could have been hung up by Jeffrey himself was clearly inconceivable.
+But allowing that it had been fixed in its present position by some
+workman when the new tenant moved in, the fact remained that there it
+had hung, presumably for months, and that Jeffrey Blackmore, with his
+expert knowledge of the cuneiform character, had never noticed that it
+was upside down; or, if he had noticed it, that he had never taken the
+trouble to have it altered.
+</p>
+<p>
+What could this mean? If he had noticed the error but had not troubled
+to correct it, that would point to a very singular state of mind, an
+inertness and indifference remarkable even in an opium-smoker. But
+assuming such a state of mind, I could not see that it had any bearing
+on the will, excepting that it was rather inconsistent with the tendency
+to make fussy and needless alterations which the testator had actually
+shown. On the other hand, if he had not noticed the inverted position of
+the photograph he must have been nearly blind or quite idiotic; for the
+photograph was over two feet long and the characters large enough to be
+read easily by a person of ordinary eyesight at a distance of forty or
+fifty feet. Now he obviously was not in a state of dementia, whereas his
+eyesight was admittedly bad; and it seemed to me that the only
+conclusion deducible from the photograph was that it furnished a measure
+of the badness of the deceased man's vision&mdash;that it proved him to have
+been verging on total blindness.
+</p>
+<p>
+But there was nothing startling new in this. He had, himself, declared
+that he was fast losing his sight. And again, what was the bearing of
+his partial blindness on the will? A totally blind man cannot draw up
+his will at all. But if he has eyesight sufficient to enable him to
+write out and sign a will, mere defective vision will not lead him to
+muddle the provisions. Yet something of this kind seemed to be in
+Thorndyke's mind, for now I recalled the question that he had put to the
+porter: "When you read the will over in Mr. Blackmore's presence, did
+you read it aloud?" That question could have but one significance. It
+implied a doubt as to whether the testator was fully aware of the exact
+nature of the document that he was signing. Yet, if he was able to write
+and sign it, surely he was able also to read it through, to say nothing
+of the fact that, unless he was demented, he must have remembered what
+he had written.
+</p>
+<p>
+Thus, once more, my reasoning only led me into a blind alley at the end
+of which was the will, regular and valid and fulfilling all the
+requirements that the law imposed. Once again I had to confess myself
+beaten and in full agreement with Mr. Marchmont that "there was no
+case"; that "there was nothing in dispute." Nevertheless, I carefully
+fixed in the pocket file that Thorndyke had given me the copy that I had
+made of his notes, together with the notes on our visit to New Inn, and
+the few and unsatisfactory conclusions at which I had arrived; and this
+brought me to the end of my first morning in my new capacity.
+</p>
+<p>
+"And how," Thorndyke asked as we sat at lunch, "has my learned friend
+progressed? Does he propose that we advise Mr. Marchmont to enter a
+caveat?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I've read all the documents and boiled all the evidence down to a stiff
+jelly; and I am in a worse fog than ever."
+</p>
+<p>
+"There seems to be a slight mixture of metaphors in my learned friend's
+remarks. But never mind the fog, Jervis. There is a certain virtue in
+fog. It serves, like a picture frame, to surround the essential with a
+neutral zone that separates it from the irrelevant."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is a very profound observation, Thorndyke," I remarked ironically.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I was just thinking so myself," he rejoined.
+</p>
+<p>
+"And if you could contrive to explain what it means&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, but that is unreasonable. When one throws off a subtly philosophic
+obiter dictum one looks to the discerning critic to supply the meaning.
+By the way, I am going to introduce you to the gentle art of photography
+this afternoon. I am getting the loan of all the cheques that were drawn
+by Jeffrey Blackmore during his residence at New Inn&mdash;there are only
+twenty-three of them, all told&mdash;and I am going to photograph them."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I shouldn't have thought the bank people would have let them go out of
+their possession."
+</p>
+<p>
+"They are not going to. One of the partners, a Mr. Britton, is bringing
+them here himself and will be present while the photographs are being
+taken; so they will not go out of his custody. But, all the same, it is
+a great concession, and I should not have obtained it but for the fact
+that I have done a good deal of work for the bank and that Mr. Britton
+is more or less a personal friend."
+</p>
+<p>
+"By the way, how comes it that the cheques are at the bank? Why were
+they not returned to Jeffrey with the pass-book in the usual way?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I understand from Britton," replied Thorndyke, "that all Jeffrey's
+cheques were retained by the bank at his request. When he was travelling
+he used to leave his investment securities and other valuable documents
+in his bankers' custody, and, as he has never applied to have them
+returned, the bankers still have them and are retaining them until the
+will is proved, when they will, of course, hand over everything to the
+executors."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What is the object of photographing these cheques?" I asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"There are several objects. First, since a good photograph is
+practically as good as the original, when we have the photographs we
+practically have the cheques for reference. Then, since a photograph can
+be duplicated indefinitely, it is possible to perform experiments on it
+which involve its destruction; which would, of course, be impossible in
+the case of original cheques."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But the ultimate object, I mean. What are you going to prove?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"You are incorrigible, Jervis," he exclaimed. "How should I know what I
+am going to prove? This is an investigation. If I knew the result
+beforehand, I shouldn't want to perform the experiment."
+</p>
+<p>
+He looked at his watch, and, as we rose from the table, he said:
+</p>
+<p>
+"If we have finished, we had better go up to the laboratory and see that
+the apparatus is ready. Mr. Britton is a busy man, and, as he is doing
+us a great service, we mustn't keep him waiting when he comes."
+</p>
+<p>
+We ascended to the laboratory, where Polton was already busy inspecting
+the massively built copying camera which&mdash;with the long, steel guides on
+which the easel or copy-holder travelled&mdash;took up the whole length of
+the room on the side opposite to that occupied by the chemical bench. As
+I was to be inducted into the photographic art, I looked at it with more
+attention than I had ever done before.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We've made some improvements since you were here last, sir," said
+Polton, who was delicately lubricating the steel guides. "We've fitted
+these steel runners instead of the blackleaded wooden ones that we used
+to have. And we've made two scales instead of one. Hallo! That's the
+downstairs bell. Shall I go sir?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Perhaps you'd better," said Thorndyke. "It may not be Mr. Britton, and
+I don't want to be caught and delayed just now."
+</p>
+<p>
+However, it was Mr. Britton; a breezy alert-looking middle-aged man, who
+came in escorted by Polton and shook our hands cordially, having been
+previously warned of my presence. He carried a small but solid hand-bag,
+to which he clung tenaciously up to the very moment when its contents
+were required for use.
+</p>
+<p>
+"So that is the camera," said he, running an inquisitive eye over the
+instrument. "Very fine one, too; I am a bit of a photographer myself.
+What is that graduation on the side-bar?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Those are the scales," replied Thorndyke, "that shows the degree of
+magnification or reduction. The pointer is fixed to the easel and
+travels with it, of course, showing the exact size of the photograph.
+When the pointer is opposite 0 the photograph will be identical in size
+with the object photographed; when it points to, say, &times; 6, the
+photograph will be six times as long as the object, or magnified
+thirty-six times superficially, whereas if the pointer is at &divide; 6, the
+photograph will be a sixth of the length of the object, or one
+thirty-sixth superficial."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why are there two scales?" Mr. Britton asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"There is a separate scale for each of the two lenses that we
+principally use. For great magnification or reduction a lens of
+comparatively short focus must be used, but, as a long-focus lens gives
+a more perfect image, we use one of very long focus&mdash;thirty-six
+inches&mdash;for copying the same size or for slight magnification or
+reduction."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Are you going to magnify these cheques?" Mr. Britton asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not in the first place," replied Thorndyke. "For convenience and speed
+I am going to photograph them half-size, so that six cheques will go on
+one whole plate. Afterwards we can enlarge from the negatives as much as
+we like. But we should probably enlarge only the signatures in any
+case."
+</p>
+<p>
+The precious bag was now opened and the twenty-three cheques brought out
+and laid on the bench in a consecutive series in the order of their
+dates. They were then fixed by tapes&mdash;to avoid making pin-holes in
+them&mdash;in batches of six to small drawing boards, each batch being so
+arranged that the signatures were towards the middle. The first board
+was clamped to the easel, the latter was slid along its guides until
+the pointer stood at &divide; 2 on the long-focus scale and Thorndyke proceeded
+to focus the camera with the aid of a little microscope that Polton had
+made for the purpose. When Mr. Britton and I had inspected the
+exquisitely sharp image on the focusing-screen through the microscope,
+Polton introduced the plate and made the first exposure, carrying the
+dark-slide off to develop the plate while the next batch of cheques was
+being fixed in position.
+</p>
+<p>
+In his photographic technique, as in everything else, Polton followed as
+closely as he could the methods of his principal and instructor; methods
+characterized by that unhurried precision that leads to perfect
+accomplishment. When the first negative was brought forth, dripping,
+from the dark-room, it was without spot or stain, scratch or pin-hole;
+uniform in colour and of exactly the required density. The six cheques
+shown on it&mdash;ridiculously small in appearance, though only reduced to
+half-length&mdash;looked as clear and sharp as fine etchings; though, to be
+sure, my opportunity for examining them was rather limited, for Polton
+was uncommonly careful to keep the wet plate out of reach and so safe
+from injury.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well," said Mr. Britton, when, at the end of the s&eacute;ance, he returned
+his treasures to the bag, "you have now got twenty-three of our cheques,
+to all intents and purposes. I hope you are not going to make any
+unlawful use of them&mdash;must tell our cashiers to keep a bright look-out;
+and"&mdash;here he lowered his voice impressively and addressed himself to
+me and Polton&mdash;"you understand that this is a private matter between Dr.
+Thorndyke and me. Of course, as Mr. Blackmore is dead, there is no
+reason why his cheques should not be photographed for legal purposes;
+but we don't want it talked about; nor, I think, does Dr. Thorndyke."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Certainly not," Thorndyke agreed emphatically; "but you need not be
+uneasy, Mr. Britton. We are very uncommunicative people in this
+establishment."
+</p>
+<p>
+As my colleague and I escorted our visitor down the stairs, he returned
+to the subject of the cheques.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't understand what you want them for," he remarked. "There is no
+question turning on signatures in the case of Blackmore deceased, is
+there?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I should say not," Thorndyke replied rather evasively.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I should say very decidedly not," said Mr. Britton, "if I understood
+Marchmont aright. And, even if there were, let me tell you, these
+signatures that you have got wouldn't help you. I have looked them over
+very closely&mdash;and I have seen a few signatures in my time, you know.
+Marchmont asked me to glance over them as a matter of form, but I don't
+believe in matters of form; I examined them very carefully. There is an
+appreciable amount of variation; a very appreciable amount. <i>But</i> under
+the variation one can trace the personal character (which is what
+matters); the subtle, indescribable quality that makes it recognizable
+to the expert eye as Jeffrey Blackmore's writing. You understand me.
+There is such a quality, which remains when the coarser characteristics
+vary; just as a man may grow old, or fat, or bald, or may take to drink,
+and become quite changed; and yet, through it all, he preserves a
+certain something which makes him recognizable as a member of a
+particular family. Well, I find that quality in all those signatures,
+and so will you, if you have had enough experience of handwriting. I
+thought it best to mention it in case you might be giving yourself
+unnecessary trouble."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is very good of you," said Thorndyke, "and I need not say that the
+information is of great value, coming from such a highly expert source.
+As a matter of fact, your hint will be of great value to me."
+</p>
+<p>
+He shook hands with Mr. Britton, and, as the latter disappeared down the
+stairs, he turned into the sitting-room and remarked:
+</p>
+<p>
+"There is a very weighty and significant observation, Jervis. I advise
+you to consider it attentively in all its bearings."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You mean the fact that these signatures are undoubtedly genuine?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I meant, rather, the very interesting general truth that is contained
+in Britton's statement; that physiognomy is not a mere matter of facial
+character. A man carries his personal trademark, not in his face only,
+but in his nervous system and muscles&mdash;giving rise to characteristic
+movements and gait; in his larynx&mdash;producing an individual voice; and
+even in his mouth, as shown by individual peculiarities of speech and
+accent. And the individual nervous system, by means of these
+characteristic movements, transfers its peculiarities to inanimate
+objects that are the products of such movements; as we see in pictures,
+in carving, in musical execution and in handwriting. No one has ever
+painted quite like Reynolds or Romney; no one has ever played exactly
+like Liszt or Paganini; the pictures or the sounds produced by them,
+were, so to speak, an extension of the physiognomy of the artist. And so
+with handwriting. A particular specimen is the product of a particular
+set of motor centres in an individual brain."
+</p>
+<p>
+"These are very interesting considerations, Thorndyke," I remarked; "but
+I don't quite see their present application. Do you mean them to bear in
+any special way on the Blackmore case?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think they do bear on it very directly. I thought so while Mr.
+Britton was making his very illuminating remarks."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't see how. In fact I cannot see why you are going into the
+question of the signatures at all. The signature on the will is
+admittedly genuine, and that seems to me to dispose of the whole
+affair."
+</p>
+<p>
+"My dear Jervis," said he, "you and Marchmont are allowing yourselves to
+be obsessed by a particular fact&mdash;a very striking and weighty fact, I
+will admit, but still, only an isolated fact. Jeffrey Blackmore executed
+his will in a regular manner, complying with all the necessary
+formalities and conditions. In the face of that single circumstance you
+and Marchmont would 'chuck up the sponge,' as the old pugilists
+expressed it. Now that is a great mistake. You should never allow
+yourself to be bullied and browbeaten by a single fact."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But, my dear Thorndyke!" I protested, "this fact seems to be final. It
+covers all possibilities&mdash;-unless you can suggest any other that would
+cancel it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I could suggest a dozen," he replied. "Let us take an instance.
+Supposing Jeffrey executed this will for a wager; that he immediately
+revoked it and made a fresh will, that he placed the latter in the
+custody of some person and that that person has suppressed it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Surely you do not make this suggestion seriously!" I exclaimed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Certainly I do not," he replied with a smile. "I merely give it as an
+instance to show that your final and absolute fact is really only
+conditional on there being no other fact that cancels it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Do you think he might have made a third will?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is obviously possible. A man who makes two wills may make three or
+more; but I may say that I see no present reason for assuming the
+existence of another will. What I want to impress on you is the
+necessity of considering all the facts instead of bumping heavily
+against the most conspicuous one and forgetting all the rest. By the
+way, here is a little problem for you. What was the object of which
+these are the parts?"
+</p>
+<p>
+He pushed across the table a little cardboard box, having first removed
+the lid. In it were a number of very small pieces of broken glass, some
+of which had been cemented together by their edges.
+</p>
+<p>
+"These, I suppose," said I, looking with considerable curiosity at the
+little collection, "are the pieces of glass that we picked up in poor
+Blackmore's bedroom?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes. You see that Polton has been endeavouring to reconstitute the
+object, whatever it was; but he has not been very successful, for the
+fragments were too small and irregular and the collection too
+incomplete. However, here is a specimen, built up of six small pieces,
+which exhibits the general character of the object fairly well."
+</p>
+<p>
+He picked out the little irregularly shaped object and handed it to me;
+and I could not but admire the neatness with which Polton had joined the
+tiny fragments together.
+</p>
+<p>
+I took the little "restoration," and, holding it up before my eyes,
+moved it to and fro as I looked through it at the window.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It was not a lens," I pronounced eventually.
+</p>
+<p>
+"No," Thorndyke agreed, "it was not a lens."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And so cannot have been a spectacle-glass. But the surface was
+curved&mdash;one side convex and the other concave&mdash;and the little piece that
+remains of the original edge seems to have been ground to fit a bezel or
+frame. I should say that these are portions of a watch-glass."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is Polton's opinion," said Thorndyke, "and I think you are both
+wrong."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What do you say to the glass of a miniature or locket?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is rather more probable, but it is not my view."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What do you think it is?" I asked. But Thorndyke was not to be drawn.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am submitting the problem for solution by my learned friend," he
+replied with an exasperating smile, and then added: "I don't say that
+you and Polton are wrong; only that I don't agree with you. Perhaps you
+had better make a note of the properties of this object, and consider it
+at your leisure when you are ruminating on the other data referring to
+the Blackmore case."
+</p>
+<p>
+"My ruminations," I said, "always lead me back to the same point."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But you mustn't let them," he replied. "Shuffle your data about. Invent
+hypotheses. Never mind if they seem rather wild. Don't put them aside on
+that account. Take the first hypothesis that you can invent and test it
+thoroughly with your facts. You will probably have to reject it, but you
+will be certain to have learned something new. Then try again with a
+fresh one. You remember what I told you of my methods when I began this
+branch of practice and had plenty of time on my hands?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am not sure that I do."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, I used to occupy my leisure in constructing imaginary cases,
+mostly criminal, for the purpose of study and for the acquirement of
+experience. For instance, I would devise an ingenious fraud and would
+plan it in detail, taking every precaution that I could think of against
+failure or detection, considering, and elaborately providing for, every
+imaginable contingency. For the time being, my entire attention was
+concentrated on it, making it as perfect and secure and undetectable as
+I could with the knowledge and ingenuity at my command. I behaved
+exactly as if I were proposing actually to carry it out, and my life or
+liberty depended on its success&mdash;excepting that I made full notes of
+every detail of the scheme. Then when my plans were as complete as I
+could make them, and I could think of no way in which to improve them, I
+changed sides and considered the case from the standpoint of detection.
+I analysed the case, I picked out its inherent and unavoidable
+weaknesses, and, especially, I noted the respects in which a fraudulent
+proceeding of a particular kind differed from the <i>bona fide</i> proceeding
+that it simulated. The exercise was invaluable to me. I acquired as much
+experience from those imaginary cases as I should from real ones, and in
+addition, I learned a method which is the one that I practise to this
+day."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Do you mean that you still invent imaginary cases as mental exercises?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No; I mean that, when I have a problem of any intricacy, I invent a
+case which fits the facts and the assumed motives of one of the parties.
+Then I work at that case until I find whether it leads to elucidation or
+to some fundamental disagreement. In the latter case I reject it and
+begin the process over again."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Doesn't that method sometimes involve a good deal of wasted time and
+energy?" I asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"No; because each time that you fail to establish a given case, you
+exclude a particular explanation of the facts and narrow down the field
+of inquiry. By repeating the process, you are bound, in the end, to
+arrive at an imaginary case which fits all the facts. Then your
+imaginary case is the real case and the problem is solved. Let me
+recommend you to give the method a trial."
+</p>
+<p>
+I promised to do so, though with no very lively expectations as to the
+result, and with this, the subject was allowed, for the present, to
+drop.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="CH12"><!-- CH12 --></a>
+<h2>
+	Chapter XII
+</h2>
+
+<h3>
+The Portrait
+</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>
+The state of mind which Thorndyke had advised me to cultivate was one
+that did not come easily. However much I endeavoured to shuffle the
+facts of the Blackmore case, there was one which inevitably turned up on
+the top of the pack. The circumstances surrounding the execution of
+Jeffrey Blackmore's will intruded into all my cogitations on the subject
+with hopeless persistency. That scene in the porter's lodge was to me
+what King Charles's head was to poor Mr. Dick. In the midst of my
+praiseworthy efforts to construct some intelligible scheme of the case,
+it would make its appearance and reduce my mind to instant chaos.
+</p>
+<p>
+For the next few days, Thorndyke was very much occupied with one or two
+civil cases, which kept him in court during the whole of the sitting;
+and when he came home, he seemed indisposed to talk on professional
+topics. Meanwhile, Polton worked steadily at the photographs of the
+signatures, and, with a view to gaining experience, I assisted him and
+watched his methods.
+</p>
+<p>
+In the present case, the signatures were enlarged from their original
+dimensions&mdash;rather less than an inch and a half in length&mdash;to a length
+of four and a half inches; which rendered all the little peculiarities
+of the handwriting surprisingly distinct and conspicuous. Each signature
+was eventually mounted on a slip of card bearing a number and the date
+of the cheque from which it was taken, so that it was possible to place
+any two signatures together for comparison. I looked over the whole
+series and very carefully compared those which showed any differences,
+but without discovering anything more than might have been expected in
+view of Mr. Britton's statement. There were some trifling variations,
+but they were all very much alike, and no one could doubt, on looking at
+them, that they were all written by the same hand.
+</p>
+<p>
+As this, however, was apparently not in dispute, it furnished no new
+information. Thorndyke's object&mdash;for I felt certain that he had
+something definite in his mind&mdash;must be to test something apart from the
+genuineness of the signatures. But what could that something be? I dared
+not ask him, for questions of that kind were anathema, so there was
+nothing for it but to lie low and see what he would do with the
+photographs.
+</p>
+<p>
+The whole series was finished on the fourth morning after my adventure
+at Sloane Square, and the pack of cards was duly delivered by Polton
+when he brought in the breakfast tray. Thorndyke took up the pack
+somewhat with the air of a whist player, and, as he ran through them, I
+noticed that the number had increased from twenty-three to twenty-four.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The additional one," Thorndyke explained, "is the signature to the
+first will, which was in Marchmont's possession. I have added it to the
+collection as it carries us back to an earlier date. The signature of
+the second will presumably resembles those of the cheques drawn about
+the same date. But that is not material, or, if it should become so, we
+could claim to examine the second will."
+</p>
+<p>
+He laid the cards out on the table in the order of their dates and
+slowly ran his eye down the series. I watched him closely and ventured
+presently to ask:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Do you agree with Mr. Britton as to the general identity of character
+in the whole set of signatures?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes," he replied. "I should certainly have put them down as being all
+the signatures of one person. The variations are very slight. The later
+signatures are a little stiffer, a little more shaky and indistinct, and
+the B's and k's are both appreciably different from those in the earlier
+ones. But there is another fact which emerges when the whole series is
+seen together, and it is so striking and significant a fact, that I am
+astonished at its not having been remarked on by Mr. Britton."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Indeed!" said I, stooping to examine the photographs with fresh
+interest; "what is that?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is a very simple fact and very obvious, but yet, as I have said,
+very significant. Look carefully at number one, which is the signature
+of the first will, dated three years ago, and compare it with number
+three, dated the eighteenth of September last year."
+</p>
+<p>
+"They look to me identical," said I, after a careful comparison.
+</p>
+<p>
+"So they do to me," said Thorndyke. "Neither of them shows the change
+that occurred later. But if you look at number two, dated the sixteenth
+of September, you will see that it is in the later style. So is number
+four, dated the twenty-third of September; but numbers five and six,
+both at the beginning of October, are in the earlier style, like the
+signature of the will. Thereafter all the signatures are in the new
+style; but, if you compare number two, dated the sixteenth of September
+with number twenty-four, dated the fourteenth of March of this year&mdash;the
+day of Jeffrey's death&mdash;you see that they exhibit no difference. Both
+are in the 'later style,' but the last shows no greater change than the
+first. Don't you consider these facts very striking and significant?"
+</p>
+<p>
+I reflected a few moments, trying to make out the deep significance to
+which Thorndyke was directing my attention&mdash;and not succeeding very
+triumphantly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You mean," I said, "that the occasional reversions to the earlier form
+convey some material suggestion?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes; but more than that. What we learn from an inspection of this
+series is this: that there was a change in the character of the
+signature; a very slight change, but quite recognizable. Now that change
+was not gradual or insidious nor was it progressive. It occurred at a
+certain definite time. At first there were one or two reversions to the
+earlier form, but after number six the new style continued to the end;
+and you notice that it continued without any increase in the change and
+without any variation. There are no intermediate forms. Some of the
+signatures are in the 'old style' and some in the 'new,' but there are
+none that are half and half. So that, to repeat: We have here two types
+of signature, very much alike, but distinguishable. They alternate, but
+do not merge into one another to produce intermediate forms. The change
+occurs abruptly, but shows no tendency to increase as time goes on; it
+is not a progressive change. What do you make of that, Jervis?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is very remarkable," I said, poring over the cards to verify
+Thorndyke's statements. "I don't quite know what to make of it. If the
+circumstances admitted of the idea of forgery, one would suspect the
+genuineness of some of the signatures. But they don't&mdash;at any rate, in
+the case of the later will, to say nothing of Mr. Britton's opinion on
+the signatures."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Still," said Thorndyke, "there must be some explanation of the change
+in the character of the signatures, and that explanation cannot be the
+failing eyesight of the writer; for that is a gradually progressive and
+continuous condition, whereas the change in the writing is abrupt and
+intermittent."
+</p>
+<p>
+I considered Thorndyke's remark for a few moments; and then a
+light&mdash;though not a very brilliant one&mdash;seemed to break on me.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think I see what you are driving at," said I. "You mean that the
+change in the writing must be associated with some new condition
+affecting the writer, and that that condition existed intermittently?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke nodded approvingly, and I continued:
+</p>
+<p>
+"The only intermittent condition that we know of is the effect of opium.
+So that we might consider the clearer signatures to have been made when
+Jeffrey was in his normal state, and the less distinct ones after a bout
+of opium-smoking."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is perfectly sound reasoning," said Thorndyke. "What further
+conclusion does it lead to?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"It suggests that the opium habit had been only recently acquired, since
+the change was noticed only about the time he went to live at New Inn;
+and, since the change in the writing is at first intermittent and then
+continuous, we may infer that the opium-smoking was at first occasional
+and later became a a confirmed habit."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Quite a reasonable conclusion and very clearly stated," said Thorndyke.
+"I don't say that I entirely agree with you, or that you have exhausted
+the information that these signatures offer. But you have started in the
+right direction."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I may be on the right road," I said gloomily; "but I am stuck fast in
+one place and I see no chance of getting any farther."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But you have a quantity of data," said Thorndyke. "You have all the
+facts that I had to start with, from which I constructed the hypothesis
+that I am now busily engaged in verifying. I have a few more data now,
+for 'as money makes money' so knowledge begets knowledge, and I put my
+original capital out to interest. Shall we tabulate the facts that are
+in our joint possession and see what they suggest?"
+</p>
+<p>
+I grasped eagerly at the offer, though I had conned over my notes again
+and again.
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke produced a slip of paper from a drawer, and, uncapping his
+fountain-pen, proceeded to write down the leading facts, reading each
+aloud as soon as it was written.
+</p>
+<p>
+"1. The second will was unnecessary since it contained no new matter,
+expressed no new intentions and met no new conditions, and the first
+will was quite clear and efficient.
+</p>
+<p>
+"2. The evident intention of the testator was to leave the bulk of his
+property to Stephen Blackmore.
+</p>
+<p>
+"3. The second will did not, under existing circumstances, give effect
+to this intention, whereas the first will did.
+</p>
+<p>
+"4. The signature of the second will differs slightly from that of the
+first, and also from what had hitherto been the testator's ordinary
+signature.
+</p>
+<p>
+"And now we come to a very curious group of dates, which I will advise
+you to consider with great attention.
+</p>
+<p>
+"5. Mrs. Wilson made her will at the beginning of September last year,
+without acquainting Jeffrey Blackmore, who seems to have been unaware of
+the existence of this will.
+</p>
+<p>
+"6. His own second will was dated the twelfth of November of last year.
+</p>
+<p>
+"7. Mrs. Wilson died of cancer on the twelfth of March this present
+year.
+</p>
+<p>
+"8. Jeffrey Blackmore was last seen alive on the fourteenth of March.
+</p>
+<p>
+"9. His body was discovered on the fifteenth of March.
+</p>
+<p>
+"10. The change in the character of his signature began about September
+last year and became permanent after the middle of October.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You will find that collection of facts repay careful study, Jervis,
+especially when considered in relation to the further data:
+</p>
+<p>
+"11. That we found in Blackmore's chambers a framed inscription of large
+size, hung upside down, together with what appeared to be the remains of
+a watch-glass and a box of stearine candles and some other objects."
+</p>
+<p>
+He passed the paper to me and I pored over it intently, focusing my
+attention on the various items with all the power of my will. But,
+struggle as I would, no general conclusion could be made to emerge from
+the mass of apparently disconnected facts.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well?" Thorndyke said presently, after watching with grave interest my
+unavailing efforts; "what do you make of it?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Nothing!" I exclaimed desperately, slapping the paper down on the
+table. "Of course, I can see that there are some queer coincidences. But
+how do they bear on the case? I understand that you want to upset this
+will; which we know to have been signed without compulsion or even
+suggestion in the presence of two respectable men, who have sworn to the
+identity of the document. That is your object, I believe?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Certainly it is."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Then I am hanged if I see how you are going to do it. Not, I should
+say, by offering a group of vague coincidences that would muddle any
+brain but your own."
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke chuckled softly but pursued the subject no farther.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Put that paper in your file with your other notes," he said, "and think
+it over at your leisure. And now I want a little help from you. Have you
+a good memory for faces?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Fairly good, I think. Why?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Because I have a photograph of a man whom I think you may have met.
+Just look at it and tell me if you remember the face."
+</p>
+<p>
+He drew a cabinet size photograph from an envelope that had come by the
+morning's post and handed it to me.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I have certainly seen this face somewhere," said I, taking the portrait
+over to the window to examine it more thoroughly, "but I can't, at the
+moment, remember where."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Try," said Thorndyke. "If you have seen the face before, you should be
+able to recall the person."
+</p>
+<p>
+I looked intently at the photograph, and the more I looked, the more
+familiar did the face appear. Suddenly the identity of the man flashed
+into my mind and I exclaimed in astonishment:
+</p>
+<p>
+"It can't be that poor creature at Kennington, Mr. Graves?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think it can," replied Thorndyke, "and I think it is. But could you
+swear to the identity in a court of law?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is my firm conviction that the photograph is that of Mr. Graves. I
+would swear to that."
+</p>
+<p>
+"No man ought to swear to more," said Thorndyke. "Identification is
+always a matter of opinion or belief. The man who will swear
+unconditionally to identity from memory only is a man whose evidence
+should be discredited. I think your sworn testimony would be
+sufficient."
+</p>
+<p>
+It is needless to say that the production of this photograph filled me
+with amazement and curiosity as to how Thorndyke had obtained it. But,
+as he replaced it impassively in its envelope without volunteering any
+explanation, I felt that I could not question him directly.
+Nevertheless, I ventured to approach the subject in an indirect manner.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Did you get any information from those Darmstadt people?" I asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Schnitzler? Yes. I learned, through the medium of an official
+acquaintance, that Dr. H. Weiss was a stranger to them; that they knew
+nothing about him excepting that he had ordered from them, and been
+supplied with, a hundred grammes of pure hydrochlorate of morphine."
+</p>
+<p>
+"All at once?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No. In separate parcels of twenty-five grammes each."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Is that all you know about Weiss?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is all that I actually know; but it is not all that I suspect&mdash;on
+very substantial grounds. By the way, what did you think of the
+coachman?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't know that I thought very much about him. Why?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"You never suspected that he and Weiss were one and the same person?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No. How could they be? They weren't in the least alike. And one was a
+Scotchman and the other a German. But perhaps you know that they were
+the same?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I only know what you have told me. But considering that you never saw
+them together, that the coachman was never available for messages or
+assistance when Weiss was with you; that Weiss always made his
+appearance some time after you arrived, and disappeared some time before
+you left; it has seemed to me that they might have been the same
+person."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I should say it was impossible. They were so very different in
+appearance. But supposing that they were the same; would the fact be of
+any importance?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"It would mean that we could save ourselves the trouble of looking for
+the coachman. And it would suggest some inferences, which will occur to
+you if you think the matter over. But being only a speculative opinion,
+at present, it would not be safe to infer very much from it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You have rather taken me by surprise," I remarked. "It seems that you
+have been working at this Kennington case, and working pretty actively I
+imagine, whereas I supposed that your entire attention was taken up by
+the Blackmore affair."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It doesn't do," he replied, "to allow one's entire attention to be
+taken up by any one case. I have half a dozen others&mdash;minor cases,
+mostly&mdash;to which I am attending at this moment. Did you think I was
+proposing to keep you under lock and key indefinitely?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, no. But I thought the Kennington case would have to wait its
+turn. And I had no idea that you were in possession of enough facts to
+enable you to get any farther with it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But you knew all the very striking facts of the case, and you saw the
+further evidence that we extracted from the empty house."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Do you mean those things that we picked out from the rubbish under the
+grate?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes. You saw those curious little pieces of reed and the pair of
+spectacles. They are lying in the top drawer of that cabinet at this
+moment, and I should recommend you to have another look at them. To me
+they are most instructive. The pieces of reed offered an extremely
+valuable suggestion, and the spectacles enabled me to test that
+suggestion and turn it into actual information."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Unfortunately," said I, "the pieces of reed convey nothing to me. I
+don't know what they are or of what they have formed a part."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think," he replied, "that if you examine them with due consideration,
+you will find their use pretty obvious. Have a good look at them and the
+spectacles too. Think over all that you know of that mysterious group of
+people who lived in that house, and see if you cannot form some coherent
+theory of their actions. Think, also, if we have not some information in
+our possession by which we might be able to identify some of them, and
+infer the identity of the others. You will have a quiet day, as I shall
+not be home until the evening; set yourself this task. I assure you that
+you have the material for identifying&mdash;or rather for testing the
+identity of&mdash;at least one of those persons. Go over your material
+systematically, and let me know in the evening what further
+investigations you would propose."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Very well," said I. "It shall be done according to your word. I will
+addle my brain afresh with the affair of Mr. Weiss and his patient, and
+let the Blackmore case rip."
+</p>
+<p>
+"There is no need to do that. You have a whole day before you. An hour's
+really close consideration of the Kennington case ought to show you what
+your next move should be, and then you could devote yourself to the
+consideration of Jeffrey Blackmore's will."
+</p>
+<p>
+With this final piece of advice, Thorndyke collected the papers for his
+day's work, and, having deposited them in his brief bag, took his
+departure, leaving me to my meditations.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="CH13"><!-- CH13 --></a>
+<h2>
+	Chapter XIII
+</h2>
+
+<h3>
+The Statement of Samuel Wilkins
+</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>
+As soon as I was alone, I commenced my investigations with a rather
+desperate hope of eliciting some startling and unsuspected facts. I
+opened the drawer and taking from it the two pieces of reed and the
+shattered remains of the spectacles, laid them on the table. The repairs
+that Thorndyke had contemplated in the case of the spectacles, had not
+been made. Apparently they had not been necessary. The battered wreck
+that lay before me, just as we had found it, had evidently furnished the
+necessary information; for, since Thorndyke was in possession of a
+portrait of Mr. Graves, it was clear that he had succeeded in
+identifying him so far as to get into communication with some one who
+had known him intimately.
+</p>
+<p>
+The circumstance should have been encouraging. But somehow it was not.
+What was possible to Thorndyke was, theoretically, possible to me&mdash;or to
+anyone else. But the possibility did not realize itself in practice.
+There was the personal equation. Thorndyke's brain was not an ordinary
+brain. Facts of which his mind instantly perceived the relation remained
+to other people unconnected and without meaning. His powers of
+observation and rapid inference were almost incredible, as I had noticed
+again and again, and always with undiminished wonder. He seemed to take
+in everything at a single glance and in an instant to appreciate the
+meaning of everything that he had seen.
+</p>
+<p>
+Here was a case in point. I had myself seen all that he had seen, and,
+indeed, much more; for I had looked on the very people and witnessed
+their actions, whereas he had never set eyes on any of them. I had
+examined the little handful of rubbish that he had gathered up so
+carefully, and would have flung it back under the grate without a qualm.
+Not a glimmer of light had I perceived in the cloud of mystery, nor even
+a hint of the direction in which to seek enlightenment. And yet
+Thorndyke had, in some incomprehensible manner, contrived to piece
+together facts that I had probably not even observed, and that so
+completely that he had already, in these few days, narrowed down the
+field of inquiry to quite a small area.
+</p>
+<p>
+From these reflections I returned to the objects on the table. The
+spectacles, as things of which I had some expert knowledge, were not so
+profound a mystery to me. A pair of spectacles might easily afford good
+evidence for identification; that I perceived clearly enough. Not a
+ready-made pair, picked up casually at a shop, but a pair constructed by
+a skilled optician to remedy a particular defect of vision and to fit a
+particular face. And such were the spectacles before me. The build of
+the frames was peculiar; the existence of a cylindrical lens&mdash;which I
+could easily make out from the remaining fragments&mdash;showed that one
+glass had been cut to a prescribed shape and almost certainly ground to
+a particular formula, and also that the distance between centres must
+have been carefully secured. Hence these spectacles had an individual
+character. But it was manifestly impossible to inquire of all the
+spectacle-makers in Europe&mdash;for the glasses were not necessarily made in
+England. As confirmation the spectacles might be valuable; as a
+starting-point they were of no use at all.
+</p>
+<p>
+From the spectacles I turned to the pieces of reed. These were what had
+given Thorndyke his start. Would they give me a leading hint too? I
+looked at them and wondered what it was that they had told Thorndyke.
+The little fragment of the red paper label had a dark-brown or thin
+black border ornamented with a fret-pattern, and on it I detected a
+couple of tiny points of gold like the dust from leaf-gilding. But I
+learned nothing from that. Then the shorter piece of reed was
+artificially hollowed to fit on the longer piece. Apparently it formed a
+protective sheath or cap. But what did it protect? Presumably a point or
+edge of some kind. Could this be a pocket-knife of any sort, such as a
+small stencil-knife? No; the material was too fragile for a
+knife-handle. It could not be an etching-needle for the same reason; and
+it was not a surgical appliance&mdash;at least it was not like any surgical
+instrument that was known to me.
+</p>
+<p>
+I turned it over and over and cudgelled my brains; and then I had a
+brilliant idea. Was it a reed pen of which the point had been broken
+off? I knew that reed pens were still in use by draughtsmen of
+decorative leanings with an affection for the "fat line." Could any of
+our friends be draughtsmen? This seemed the most probable solution of
+the difficulty, and the more I thought about it the more likely it
+seemed. Draughtsmen usually sign their work intelligibly, and even when
+they use a device instead of a signature their identity is easily
+traceable. Could it be that Mr. Graves, for instance, was an
+illustrator, and that Thorndyke had established his identity by looking
+through the works of all the well-known thick-line draughtsmen?
+</p>
+<p>
+This problem occupied me for the rest of the day. My explanation did not
+seem quite to fit Thorndyke's description of his methods; but I could
+think of no other. I turned it over during my solitary lunch; I
+meditated on it with the aid of several pipes in the afternoon; and
+having refreshed my brain with a cup of tea, I went forth to walk in the
+Temple gardens&mdash;which I was permitted to do without breaking my
+parole&mdash;to think it out afresh.
+</p>
+<p>
+The result was disappointing. I was basing my reasoning on the
+assumption that the pieces of reed were parts of a particular appliance,
+appertaining to a particular craft; whereas they might be the remains of
+something quite different, appertaining to a totally different craft or
+to no craft at all. And in no case did they point to any known
+individual or indicate any but the vaguest kind of search. After pacing
+the pleasant walks for upwards of two hours, I at length turned back
+towards our chambers, where I arrived as the lamp-lighter was just
+finishing his round.
+</p>
+<p>
+My fruitless speculations had left me somewhat irritable. The lighted
+windows that I had noticed as I approached had given me the impression
+that Thorndyke had returned. I had intended to press him for a little
+further information. When, therefore, I let myself into our chambers and
+found, instead of my colleague, a total stranger&mdash;and only a back view
+at that&mdash;I was disappointed and annoyed.
+</p>
+<p>
+The stranger was seated by the table, reading a large document that
+looked like a lease. He made no movement when I entered, but when I
+crossed the room and wished him "Good evening," he half rose and bowed
+silently. It was then that I first saw his face, and a mighty start he
+gave me. For one moment I actually thought he was Mr. Weiss, so close
+was the resemblance, but immediately I perceived that he was a much
+smaller man.
+</p>
+<p>
+I sat down nearly opposite and stole an occasional furtive glance at
+him. The resemblance to Weiss was really remarkable. The same flaxen
+hair, the same ragged beard and a similar red nose, with the patches of
+<i>acne rosacea</i> spreading to the adjacent cheeks. He wore spectacles,
+too, through which he took a quick glance at me now and again, returning
+immediately to his document.
+</p>
+<p>
+After some moments of rather embarrassing silence, I ventured to remark
+that it was a mild evening; to which he assented with a sort of Scotch
+"Hm&mdash;hm" and nodded slowly. Then came another interval of silence,
+during which I speculated on the possibility of his being a relative of
+Mr. Weiss and wondered what the deuce he was doing in our chambers.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Have you an appointment with Dr. Thorndyke?" I asked, at length.
+</p>
+<p>
+He bowed solemnly, and by way of reply&mdash;in the affirmative, as I
+assumed&mdash;emitted another "hm&mdash;hm."
+</p>
+<p>
+I looked at him sharply, a little nettled by his lack of manners;
+whereupon he opened out the lease so that it screened his face, and as I
+glanced at the back of the document, I was astonished to observe that it
+was shaking rapidly.
+</p>
+<p>
+The fellow was actually laughing! What he found in my simple question to
+cause him so much amusement I was totally unable to imagine. But there
+it was. The tremulous movements of the document left me in no possible
+doubt that he was for some reason convulsed with laughter.
+</p>
+<p>
+It was extremely mysterious. Also, it was rather embarrassing. I took
+out my pocket file and began to look over my notes. Then the document
+was lowered and I was able to get another look at the stranger's face.
+He was really extraordinarily like Weiss. The shaggy eyebrows, throwing
+the eye-sockets into shadow, gave him, in conjunction with the
+spectacles, the same owlish, solemn expression that I had noticed in my
+Kennington acquaintance; and which, by the way, was singularly out of
+character with the frivolous behaviour that I had just witnessed.
+</p>
+<p>
+From time to time as I looked at him, he caught my eye and instantly
+averted his own, turning rather red. Apparently he was a shy, nervous
+man, which might account for his giggling; for I have noticed that shy
+or nervous people have a habit of smiling inopportunely and even
+giggling when embarrassed by meeting an over-steady eye. And it seemed
+my own eye had this disconcerting quality, for even as I looked at him,
+the document suddenly went up again and began to shake violently.
+</p>
+<p>
+I stood it for a minute or two, but, finding the situation intolerably
+embarrassing, I rose, and brusquely excusing myself, went up to the
+laboratory to look for Polton and inquire at what time Thorndyke was
+expected home. To my surprise, however, on entering, I discovered
+Thorndyke himself just finishing the mounting of a microscopical
+specimen.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Did you know that there is some one below waiting to see you?" I asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Is it anyone you know?" he inquired.
+</p>
+<p>
+"No," I answered. "It is a red-nosed, sniggering fool in spectacles. He
+has got a lease or a deed or some other sort of document which he has
+been using to play a sort of idiotic game of Peep-Bo! I couldn't stand
+him, so I came up here."
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke laughed heartily at my description of his client.
+</p>
+<p>
+"What are you laughing at?" I asked sourly; at which he laughed yet more
+heartily and added to the aggravation by wiping his eyes.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Our friend seems to have put you out," he remarked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"He put me out literally. If I had stayed much longer I should have
+punched his head."
+</p>
+<p>
+"In that case," said Thorndyke, "I am glad you didn't stay. But come
+down and let me introduce you."
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, thank you. I've had enough of him for the present."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But I have a very special reason for wishing to introduce you. I think
+you will get some information from him that will interest you very much;
+and you needn't quarrel with a man for being of a cheerful disposition."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Cheerful be hanged!" I exclaimed. "I don't call a man cheerful because
+he behaves like a gibbering idiot."
+</p>
+<p>
+To this Thorndyke made no reply but a broad and appreciative smile, and
+we descended to the lower floor. As we entered the room, the stranger
+rose, and, glancing in an embarrassed way from one of us to the other,
+suddenly broke out into an undeniable snigger. I looked at him sternly,
+and Thorndyke, quite unmoved by his indecorous behaviour, said in a
+grave voice:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Let me introduce you, Jervis; though I think you have met this
+gentleman before."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think not," I said stiffly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh yes, you have, sir," interposed the stranger; and, as he spoke, I
+started; for the voice was uncommonly like the familiar voice of Polton.
+</p>
+<p>
+I looked at the speaker with sudden suspicion. And now I could see that
+the flaxen hair was a wig; that the beard had a decidedly artificial
+look, and that the eyes that beamed through the spectacles were
+remarkably like the eyes of our factotum. But the blotchy face, the
+bulbous nose and the shaggy, overhanging eyebrows were alien features
+that I could not reconcile with the personality of our refined and
+aristocratic-looking little assistant.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Is this a practical joke?" I asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"No," replied Thorndyke; "it is a demonstration. When we were talking
+this morning it appeared to me that you did not realize the extent to
+which it is possible to conceal identity under suitable conditions of
+light. So I arranged, with Polton's rather reluctant assistance, to give
+you ocular evidence. The conditions are not favourable&mdash;which makes the
+demonstration more convincing. This is a very well-lighted room and
+Polton is a very poor actor; in spite of which it has been possible for
+you to sit opposite him for several minutes and look at him, I have no
+doubt, very attentively, without discovering his identity. If the room
+had been lighted only with a candle, and Polton had been equal to the
+task of supporting his make-up with an appropriate voice and manner, the
+deception would have been perfect."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I can see that he has a wig on, quite plainly," said I.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes; but you would not in a dimly lighted room. On the other hand, if
+Polton were to walk down Fleet Street at mid-day in this condition, the
+make-up would be conspicuously evident to any moderately observant
+passer-by. The secret of making up consists in a careful adjustment to
+the conditions of light and distance in which the make-up is to be seen.
+That in use on the stage would look ridiculous in an ordinary room; that
+which would serve in an artificially lighted room would look ridiculous
+out of doors by daylight."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Is any effective make-up possible out of doors in ordinary daylight?" I
+asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, yes," replied Thorndyke. "But it must be on a totally different
+scale from that of the stage. A wig, and especially a beard or
+moustache, must be joined up at the edges with hair actually stuck on
+the skin with transparent cement and carefully trimmed with scissors.
+The same applies to eyebrows; and alterations in the colour of the skin
+must be carried out much more subtly. Polton's nose has been built up
+with a small covering of toup&eacute;e-paste, the pimples on the cheeks
+produced with little particles of the same material; and the general
+tinting has been done with grease-paint with a very light scumble of
+powder colour to take off some of the shine. This would be possible in
+outdoor make-up, but it would have to be done with the greatest care and
+delicacy; in fact, with what the art-critics call 'reticence.' A very
+little make-up is sufficient and too much is fatal. You would be
+surprised to see how little paste is required to alter the shape of the
+nose and the entire character of the face."
+</p>
+<p>
+At this moment there came a loud knock at the door; a single, solid dab
+of the knocker which Polton seemed to recognize, for he ejaculated:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Good lord, sir! That'll be Wilkins, the cabman! I'd forgotten all
+about him. Whatever's to be done?"
+</p>
+<p>
+He stared at us in ludicrous horror for a moment or two, and then,
+snatching off his wig, beard and spectacles, poked them into a cupboard.
+But his appearance was now too much even for Thorndyke&mdash;who hastily got
+behind him&mdash;for he had now resumed his ordinary personality&mdash;but with a
+very material difference.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, it's nothing to laugh at, sir," he exclaimed indignantly as I
+crammed my handkerchief into my mouth. "Somebody's got to let him in, or
+he'll go away."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes; and that won't do," said Thorndyke. "But don't worry, Polton. You
+can step into the office. I'll open the door."
+</p>
+<p>
+Polton's presence of mind, however, seemed to have entirely forsaken
+him, for he only hovered irresolutely in the wake of his principal. As
+the door opened, a thick and husky voice inquired:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Gent of the name of Polton live here?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, quite right," said Thorndyke. "Come in. Your name is Wilkins, I
+think?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"That's me, sir," said the voice; and in response to Thorndyke's
+invitation, a typical "growler" cabman of the old school, complete even
+to imbricated cape and dangling badge, stalked into the room, and
+glancing round with a mixture of embarrassment and defiance, suddenly
+fixed on Polton's nose a look of devouring curiosity.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Here you are, then," Polton remarked nervously.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yus," replied the cabman in a slightly hostile tone. "Here I am. What
+am I wanted to do? And where's this here Mr. Polton?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am Mr. Polton," replied our abashed assistant.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, it's the other Mr. Polton what I want," said the cabman, with his
+eyes still riveted on the olfactory prominence.
+</p>
+<p>
+"There isn't any other Mr. Polton," our subordinate replied irritably.
+"I am the&mdash;er&mdash;person who spoke to you in the shelter."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Are you though?" said the manifestly incredulous cabby. "I shouldn't
+have thought it; but you ought to know. What do you want me to do?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"We want you," said Thorndyke, "to answer one or two questions. And the
+first one is, Are you a teetotaller?"
+</p>
+<p>
+The question being illustrated by the production of a decanter, the
+cabman's dignity relaxed somewhat.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I ain't bigoted," said he.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Then sit down and mix yourself a glass of grog. Soda or plain water?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"May as well have all the extries," replied the cabman, sitting down and
+grasping the decanter with the air of a man who means business. "Per'aps
+you wouldn't mind squirtin' out the soda, sir, bein' more used to it."
+</p>
+<p>
+While these preliminaries were being arranged, Polton silently slipped
+out of the room, and when our visitor had fortified himself with a gulp
+of the uncommonly stiff mixture, the examination began.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Your name, I think, is Wilkins?" said Thorndyke.
+</p>
+<p>
+"That's me, sir. Samuel Wilkins is my name."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And your occupation?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Is a very tryin' one and not paid for as it deserves. I drives a cab,
+sir; a four-wheeled cab is what I drives; and a very poor job it is."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Do you happen to remember a very foggy day about a month ago?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Do I not, sir! A regler sneezer that was! Wednesday, the fourteenth of
+March. I remember the date because my benefit society came down on me
+for arrears that morning."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Will you tell us what happened to you between six and seven in the
+evening of that day?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I will, sir," replied the cabman, emptying his tumbler by way of
+bracing himself up for the effort. "A little before six I was waiting on
+the arrival side of the Great Northern Station, King's Cross, when I see
+a gentleman and a lady coming out. The gentleman he looks up and down
+and then he sees me and walks up to the cab and opens the door and helps
+the lady in. Then he says to me: 'Do you know New Inn?' he says. That's
+what he says to me what was born and brought up in White Horse Alley,
+Drury Lane.
+</p>
+<p>
+"'Get inside,' says I.
+</p>
+<p>
+"'Well,' says he, 'you drive in through the gate in Wych Street,' he
+says, as if he expected me to go in by Houghton Street and down the
+steps, 'and then,' he says, 'you drive nearly to the end and you'll see
+a house with a large brass plate at the corner of the doorway. That's
+where we want to be set down,' he says, and with that he nips in and
+pulls up the windows and off we goes.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It took us a full half-hour to get to New Inn through the fog, for I
+had to get down and lead the horse part of the way. As I drove in under
+the archway, I saw it was half-past six by the clock in the porter's
+lodge. I drove down nearly to the end of the inn and drew up opposite a
+house where there was a big brass plate by the doorway. It was number
+thirty-one. Then the gent crawls out and hands me five bob&mdash;two
+'arf-crowns&mdash;and then he helps the lady out, and away they waddles to
+the doorway and I see them start up the stairs very slow&mdash;regler
+Pilgrim's Progress. And that was the last I see of 'em."
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke wrote down the cabman's statement verbatim together with his
+own questions, and then asked:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Can you give us any description of the gentleman?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"The gent," said Wilkins, was a very respectable-looking gent, though he
+did look as if he'd had a drop of something short, and small blame to
+him on a day like that. But he was all there, and he knew what was the
+proper fare for a foggy evening, which is more than some of 'em do. He
+was a elderly gent, about sixty, and he wore spectacles, but he didn't
+seem to be able to see much through 'em. He was a funny 'un to look at;
+as round in the back as a turtle and he walked with his head stuck
+forward like a goose."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What made you think he had been drinking?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, he wasn't as steady as he might have been on his pins. But he
+wasn't drunk, you know. Only a bit wobbly on the plates."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And the lady; what was she like?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I couldn't see much of her because her head was wrapped up in a sort of
+woollen veil. But I should say she wasn't a chicken. Might have been
+about the same age as the gent, but I couldn't swear to that. She seemed
+a trifle rickety on the pins too; in fact they were a rum-looking
+couple. I watched 'em tottering across the pavement and up the stairs,
+hanging on to each other, him peering through his blinkers and she
+trying to see through her veil, and I thought it was a jolly good job
+they'd got a nice sound cab and a steady driver to bring 'em safe home."
+</p>
+<p>
+"How was the lady dressed?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Can't rightly say, not being a hexpert. Her head was done up in this
+here veil like a pudden in a cloth and she had a small hat on. She had a
+dark brown mantle with a fringe of beads round it and a black dress; and
+I noticed when she got into the cab at the station that one of her
+stockings looked like the bellows of a concertina. That's all I can tell
+you."
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke wrote down the last answer, and, having read the entire
+statement aloud, handed the pen to our visitor.
+</p>
+<p>
+"If that is all correct," he said, "I will ask you to sign your name at
+the bottom."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Do you want me to swear a affidavy that it's all true?" asked Wilkins.
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, thank you," replied Thorndyke. "We may have to call you to give
+evidence in court, and then you'll be sworn; and you'll also be paid for
+your attendance. For the present I want you to keep your own counsel and
+say nothing to anybody about having been here. We have to make some
+other inquiries and we don't want the affair talked about."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I see, sir," said Wilkins, as he laboriously traced his signature at
+the foot of the statement; "you don't want the other parties for to ogle
+your lay. All right, sir; you can depend on me. I'm fly, I am."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Thank you, Wilkins," said Thorndyke. "And now what are we to give you
+for your trouble in coming here?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'll leave the fare to you, sir. You know what the information's worth;
+but I should think 'arf a thick-un wouldn't hurt you."
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke laid on the table a couple of sovereigns, at the sight of
+which the cabman's eyes glistened.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We have your address, Wilkins," said he. "If we want you as a witness
+we shall let you know, and if not, there will be another two pounds for
+you at the end of a fortnight, provided you have not let this little
+interview leak out."
+</p>
+<p>
+Wilkins gathered up the spoils gleefully. "You can trust me, sir," said
+he, "for to keep my mouth shut. I knows which side my bread's buttered.
+Good night, gentlemen all."
+</p>
+<p>
+With this comprehensive salute he moved towards the door and let
+himself out.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, Jervis; what do you think of it?" Thorndyke asked, as the
+cabman's footsteps faded away in a creaky diminuendo.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't know what to think. This woman is a new factor in the case and
+I don't know how to place her."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not entirely new," said Thorndyke. "You have not forgotten those beads
+that we found in Jeffrey's bedroom, have you?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, I had not forgotten them, but I did not see that they told us much
+excepting that some woman had apparently been in his bedroom at some
+time."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That, I think, is all that they did tell us. But now they tell us that
+a particular woman was in his bedroom at a particular time, which is a
+good deal more significant."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes. It almost looks as if she must have been there when he made away
+with himself."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It does, very much."
+</p>
+<p>
+"By the way, you were right about the colours of those beads, and also
+about the way they were used."
+</p>
+<p>
+"As to their use, that was a mere guess; but it has turned out to be
+correct. It was well that we found the beads, for, small as is the
+amount of information they give, it is still enough to carry us a stage
+further."
+</p>
+<p>
+"How so?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I mean that the cabman's evidence tells us only that this woman entered
+the house. The beads tell us that she was in the bedroom; which, as you
+say, seems to connect her to some extent with Jeffrey's death. Not
+necessarily, of course. It is only a suggestion; but a rather strong
+suggestion under the peculiar circumstances."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Even so," said I, "this new fact seems to me so far from clearing up
+the mystery, only to add to it a fresh element of still deeper mystery.
+The porter's evidence at the inquest could leave no doubt that Jeffrey
+contemplated suicide, and his preparations pointedly suggest this
+particular night as the time selected by him for doing away with
+himself. Is not that so?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Certainly. The porter's evidence was very clear on that point."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Then I don't see where this woman comes in. It is obvious that her
+presence at the inn, and especially in the bedroom, on this occasion and
+in these strange, secret circumstances, has a rather sinister look; but
+yet I do not see in what way she could have been connected with the
+tragedy. Perhaps, after all, she has nothing to do with it. You remember
+that Jeffrey went to the lodge about eight o'clock, to pay his rent, and
+chatted for some time with the porter. That looks as if the lady had
+already left."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes," said Thorndyke. "But, on the other hand, Jeffrey's remarks to the
+porter with reference to the cab do not quite agree with the account
+that we have just heard from Wilkins. Which suggests&mdash;as does Wilkins's
+account generally&mdash;some secrecy as to the lady's visit to his chambers."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Do you know who the woman was?" I asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, I don't know," he replied. "I have a rather strong suspicion that I
+can identify her, but I am waiting for some further facts."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Is your suspicion founded on some new matter that you have discovered,
+or is it deducible from facts that are known to me?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think," he replied, "that you know practically all that I know,
+although I have, in one instance, turned a very strong suspicion into a
+certainty by further inquiries. But I think you ought to be able to form
+some idea as to who this lady probably was."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But no woman has been mentioned in the case at all."
+</p>
+<p>
+"No; but I think you should be able to give this lady a name,
+notwithstanding."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Should I? Then I begin to suspect that I am not cut out for
+medico-legal practice, for I don't see the faintest glimmer of a
+suggestion."
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke smiled benevolently. "Don't be discouraged, Jervis," said he.
+"I expect that when you first began to go round the wards, you doubted
+whether you were cut out for medical practice. I did. For special work
+one needs special knowledge and an acquired faculty for making use of
+it. What does a second year's student make of a small thoracic aneurysm?
+He knows the anatomy of the chest; he begins to know the normal heart
+sounds and areas of dullness; but he cannot yet fit his various items of
+knowledge together. Then comes the experienced physician and perhaps
+makes a complete diagnosis without any examination at all, merely from
+hearing the patient speak or cough. He has the same facts as the
+student, but he has acquired the faculty of instantly connecting an
+abnormality of function with its correleated anatomical change. It is a
+matter of experience. And, with your previous training, you will soon
+acquire the faculty. Try to observe everything. Let nothing escape you.
+And try constantly to find some connection between facts and events that
+seem to be unconnected. That is my advice to you; and with that we will
+put away the Blackmore case for the present and consider our day's work
+at an end."
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="CH14"><!-- CH14 --></a>
+<h2>
+	Chapter XIV
+</h2>
+
+<h3>
+Thorndyke Lays the Mine
+</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>
+The information supplied by Mr. Samuel Wilkins, so far from dispelling
+the cloud of mystery that hung over the Blackmore case, only enveloped
+it in deeper obscurity, so far as I was concerned. The new problem that
+Thorndyke offered for solution was a tougher one than any of the others.
+He proposed that I should identify and give a name to this mysterious
+woman. But how could I? No woman, excepting Mrs. Wilson, had been
+mentioned in connection with the case. This new <i>dramatis persona</i> had
+appeared suddenly from nowhere and straightway vanished without leaving
+a trace, excepting the two or three beads that we had picked up in
+Jeffrey's room.
+</p>
+<p>
+Nor was it in the least clear what part, if any, she had played in the
+tragedy. The facts still pointed as plainly to suicide as before her
+appearance. Jeffrey's repeated hints as to his intentions, and the very
+significant preparations that he had made, were enough to negative any
+idea of foul play. And yet the woman's presence in the chambers at that
+time, the secret manner of her arrival and her precautions against
+recognition, strongly suggested some kind of complicity in the dreadful
+event that followed.
+</p>
+<p>
+But what complicity is possible in the case of suicide? The woman might
+have furnished him with the syringe and the poison, but it would not
+have been necessary for her to go to his chambers for that purpose.
+Vague ideas of persuasion and hypnotic suggestion floated through my
+brain; but the explanations did not fit the case and the hypnotic
+suggestion of crime is not very convincing to the medical mind. Then I
+thought of blackmail in connection with some disgraceful secret; but
+though this was a more hopeful suggestion, it was not very probable,
+considering Jeffrey's age and character.
+</p>
+<p>
+And all these speculations failed to throw the faintest light on the
+main question: "Who was this woman?"
+</p>
+<p>
+A couple of days passed, during which Thorndyke made no further
+reference to the case. He was, most of the time, away from home, though
+how he was engaged I had no idea. What was rather more unusual was that
+Polton seemed to have deserted the laboratory and taken to outdoor
+pursuits. I assumed that he had seized the opportunity of leaving me in
+charge, and I dimly surmised that he was acting as Thorndyke's private
+inquiry agent, as he seemed to have done in the case of Samuel Wilkins.
+</p>
+<p>
+On the evening of the second day Thorndyke came home in obviously good
+spirits, and his first proceedings aroused my expectant curiosity. He
+went to a cupboard and brought forth a box of Trichinopoly cheroots. Now
+the Trichinopoly cheroot was Thorndyke's one dissipation, to be enjoyed
+only on rare and specially festive occasions; which, in practice, meant
+those occasions on which he had scored some important point or solved
+some unusually tough problem. Wherefore I watched him with lively
+interest.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It's a pity that the 'Trichy' is such a poisonous beast," he remarked,
+taking up one of the cheroots and sniffing at it delicately. "There is
+no other cigar like it, to a really abandoned smoker." He laid the cigar
+back in the box and continued: "I think I shall treat myself to one
+after dinner to celebrate the occasion."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What occasion?" I asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The completion of the Blackmore case. I am just going to write to
+Marchmont advising him to enter a caveat."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Do you mean to say that you have discovered a flaw in the will, after
+all?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"A flaw!" he exclaimed. "My dear Jervis, that second will is a forgery."
+</p>
+<p>
+I stared at him in amazement; for his assertion sounded like nothing
+more or less than arrant nonsense.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But the thing is impossible, Thorndyke," I said. "Not only did the
+witnesses recognize their own signatures and the painter's greasy
+finger-marks, but they had both read the will and remembered its
+contents."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes; that is the interesting feature in the case. It is a very pretty
+problem. I shall give you a last chance to solve it. To-morrow evening
+we shall have to give a full explanation, so you have another
+twenty-four hours in which to think it over. And, meanwhile, I am going
+to take you to my club to dine. I think we shall be pretty safe there
+from Mrs. Schallibaum."
+</p>
+<p>
+He sat down and wrote a letter, which was apparently quite a short one,
+and having addressed and stamped it, prepared to go out.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Come," said he, "let us away to 'the gay and festive scenes and halls
+of dazzling light.' We will lay the mine in the Fleet Street pillar box.
+I should like to be in Marchmont's office when it explodes."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I expect, for that matter," said I, "that the explosion will be felt
+pretty distinctly in these chambers."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I expect so, too," replied Thorndyke; "and that reminds me that I shall
+be out all day to-morrow, so, if Marchmont calls, you must do all that
+you can to persuade him to come round after dinner and bring Stephen
+Blackmore, if possible. I am anxious to have Stephen here, as he will be
+able to give us some further information and confirm certain matters of
+fact."
+</p>
+<p>
+I promised to exercise my utmost powers of persuasion on Mr. Marchmont
+which I should certainly have done on my own account, being now on the
+very tiptoe of curiosity to hear Thorndyke's explanation of the
+unthinkable conclusion at which he had arrived&mdash;and the subject dropped
+completely; nor could I, during the rest of the evening, induce my
+colleague to reopen it even in the most indirect or allusive manner.
+</p>
+<p>
+Our explanations in respect of Mr. Marchmont were fully realized; for,
+on the following morning, within an hour of Thorndyke's departure from
+our chambers, the knocker was plied with more than usual emphasis, and,
+on my opening the door, I discovered the solicitor in company with a
+somewhat older gentleman. Mr. Marchmont appeared somewhat out of humour,
+while his companion was obviously in a state of extreme irritation.
+</p>
+<p>
+"How d'you do, Dr. Jervis?" said Marchmont as he entered at my
+invitation. "Your friend, I suppose, is not in just now?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No; and he will not be returning until the evening."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Hm; I'm sorry. We wished to see him rather particularly. This is my
+partner, Mr. Winwood."
+</p>
+<p>
+The latter gentleman bowed stiffly and Marchmont continued:
+</p>
+<p>
+"We have had a letter from Dr. Thorndyke, and it is, I may say, a rather
+curious letter; in fact, a very singular letter indeed."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is the letter of a madman!" growled Mr. Winwood.
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, no, Winwood; nothing of the kind. Control yourself, I beg you. But
+really, the letter is rather incomprehensible. It relates to the will of
+the late Jeffrey Blackmore&mdash;you know the main facts of the case; and we
+cannot reconcile it with those facts."
+</p>
+<p>
+"This is the letter," exclaimed Mr. Winwood, dragging the document from
+his wallet and slapping it down on the table. "If you are acquainted
+with the case, sir, just read that, and let us hear what <i>you</i> think."
+</p>
+<p>
+I took up the letter and read aloud:
+</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p>
+"JEFFREY BLACKMORE, DECD.
+</p>
+<p>
+"DEAR MR. MARCHMONT,&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+"I have gone into this case with great care and have now no doubt that
+the second will is a forgery. Criminal proceedings will, I think, be
+inevitable, but meanwhile it would be wise to enter a caveat.
+</p>
+<p>
+"If you could look in at my chambers to-morrow evening we could talk the
+case over; and I should be glad if you could bring Mr. Stephen
+Blackmore; whose personal knowledge of the events and the parties
+concerned would be of great assistance in clearing up obscure details.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am,
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yours sincerely,
+</p>
+<p>
+"JOHN EVELYN THORNDYKE
+</p>
+<p>
+"C.F. MARCHMONT, ESQ."
+</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>
+"Well!" exclaimed Mr. Winwood, glaring ferociously at me, "what do you
+think of the learned counsel's opinion?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I knew that Thorndyke was writing to you to this effect," I replied,
+"but I must frankly confess that I can make nothing of it. Have you
+acted on his advice?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Certainly not!" shouted the irascible lawyer. "Do you suppose that we
+wish to make ourselves the laughing-stock of the courts? The thing is
+impossible&mdash;ridiculously impossible!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"It can't be that, you know," I said, a little stiffly, for I was
+somewhat nettled by Mr. Winwood's manner, "or Thorndyke would not have
+written this letter. The conclusion looks as impossible to me as it does
+to you; but I have complete confidence in Thorndyke. If he says that the
+will is a forgery, I have no doubt that it is a forgery."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But how the deuce can it be?" roared Winwood. "You know the
+circumstances under which the will was executed."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes; but so does Thorndyke. And he is not a man who overlooks important
+facts. It is useless to argue with me. I am in a complete fog about the
+case myself. You had better come in this evening and talk it over with
+him as he suggests."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is very inconvenient," grumbled Mr. Winwood. "We shall have to dine
+in town."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes," said Marchmont, "but it is the only thing to be done. As Dr.
+Jervis says, we must take it that Thorndyke has something solid to base
+his opinion on. He doesn't make elementary mistakes. And, of course, if
+what he says is correct, Mr. Stephen's position is totally changed."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Bah!" exclaimed Winwood, "he has found a mare's nest, I tell you.
+Still, I agree that the explanation should be worth hearing."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You mustn't mind Winwood," said Marchmont, in an apologetic undertone;
+"he's a peppery old fellow with a rough tongue, but he doesn't mean any
+harm." Which statement Winwood assented to&mdash;or dissented from; for it
+was impossible to say which&mdash;by a prolonged growl.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We shall expect you then," I said, "about eight to-night, and you will
+try to bring Mr. Stephen with you?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes," replied Marchmont; "I think we can promise that he shall come
+with us. I have sent him a telegram asking him to attend."
+</p>
+<p>
+With this the two lawyers took their departure, leaving me to meditate
+upon my colleague's astonishing statement; which I did, considerably to
+the prejudice of other employment. That Thorndyke would be able to
+justify the opinion that he had given, I had no doubt whatever; but yet
+there was no denying that his proposition was what Mr. Dick Swiveller
+would call "a staggerer."
+</p>
+<p>
+When Thorndyke returned, I informed him of the visit of our two friends,
+and acquainted him with the sentiments that they had expressed; whereat
+he smiled with quiet amusement.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I thought," he remarked, "that letter would bring Marchmont to our door
+before long. As to Winwood, I have never met him, but I gather that he
+is one of those people whom you 'mustn't mind.' In a general way, I
+object to people who tacitly claim exemption from the ordinary rules of
+conduct that are held to be binding on their fellows. But, as he
+promises to give us what the variety artists call 'an extra turn,' we
+will make the best of him and give him a run for his money."
+</p>
+<p>
+Here Thorndyke smiled mischievously&mdash;I understood the meaning of that
+smile later in the evening&mdash;and asked: "What do you think of the affair
+yourself?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I have given it up," I answered. "To my paralysed brain, the Blackmore
+case is like an endless algebraical problem propounded by an insane
+mathematician."
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke laughed at my comparison, which I flatter myself was a rather
+apt one.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Come and dine," said he, "and let us crack a bottle, that our hearts
+may not turn to water under the frown of the disdainful Winwood. I think
+the old 'Bell' in Holborn will meet our present requirements better than
+the club. There is something jovial and roystering about an ancient
+tavern; but we must keep a sharp lookout for Mrs. Schallibaum."
+</p>
+<p>
+Thereupon we set forth; and, after a week's close imprisonment, I once
+more looked upon the friendly London streets, the cheerfully lighted
+shop windows and the multitudes of companionable strangers who moved
+unceasingly along the pavements.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="CH15"><!-- CH15 --></a>
+<h2>
+	Chapter XV
+</h2>
+
+<h3>
+Thorndyke Explodes the Mine
+</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>
+We had not been back in our chambers more than a few minutes when the
+little brass knocker on the inner door rattled out its summons.
+Thorndyke himself opened the door, and, finding our three expected
+visitors on the threshold, he admitted them and closed the "oak."
+</p>
+<p>
+"We have accepted your invitation, you see," said Marchmont, whose
+manner was now a little flurried and uneasy. "This is my partner, Mr.
+Winwood; you haven't met before, I think. Well, we thought we should
+like to hear some further particulars from you, as we could not quite
+understand your letter."
+</p>
+<p>
+"My conclusion, I suppose," said Thorndyke, "was a little unexpected?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"It was more than that, sir," exclaimed Winwood. "It was absolutely
+irreconcilable either with the facts of the case or with common physical
+possibilities."
+</p>
+<p>
+"At the first glance," Thorndyke agreed, "it would probably have that
+appearance."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It has that appearance still to me." said Winwood, growing suddenly red
+and wrathful, "and I may say that I speak as a solicitor who was
+practising in the law when you were an infant in arms. You tell us, sir,
+that this will is a forgery; this will, which was executed in broad
+daylight in the presence of two unimpeachable witnesses who have sworn,
+not only to their signatures and the contents of the document, but to
+their very finger-marks on the paper. Are those finger-marks forgeries,
+too? Have you examined and tested them?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I have not," replied Thorndyke. "The fact is they are of no interest to
+me, as I am not disputing the witnesses' signatures."
+</p>
+<p>
+At this, Mr. Winwood fairly danced with irritation.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Marchmont!" he exclaimed fiercely, "you know this good gentleman, I
+believe. Tell me, is he addicted to practical jokes?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Now, my dear Winwood," groaned Marchmont, "I pray you&mdash;I beg you to
+control yourself. No doubt&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+"But confound it!" roared Winwood, "you have, yourself, heard him say
+that the will is a forgery, but that he doesn't dispute the signatures;
+which," concluded Winwood, banging his fist down on the table, "is
+damned nonsense."
+</p>
+<p>
+"May I suggest," interposed Stephen Blackmore, "that we came here to
+receive Dr. Thorndyke's explanation of his letter. Perhaps it would be
+better to postpone any comments until we have heard it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Undoubtedly, undoubtedly," said Marchmont. "Let me entreat you,
+Winwood, to listen patiently and refrain from interruption until we have
+heard our learned friend's exposition of the case."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, very well," Winwood replied sulkily; "I'll say no more."
+</p>
+<p>
+He sank into a chair with the manner of a man who shuts himself up and
+turns the key; and so remained&mdash;excepting when the internal pressure
+approached bursting-point&mdash;throughout the subsequent proceedings,
+silent, stony and impassive, like a seated statue of Obstinacy.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I take it," said Marchmont, "that you have some new facts that are not
+in our possession?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes," replied Thorndyke; "we have some new facts, and we have made some
+new use of the old ones. But how shall I lay the case before you? Shall
+I state my theory of the sequence of events and furnish the verification
+afterwards? Or shall I retrace the actual course of my investigations
+and give you the facts in the order in which I obtained them myself,
+with the inferences from them?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I almost think," said Mr. Marchmont, "that it would be better if you
+would put us in possession of the new facts. Then, if the conclusions
+that follow from them are not sufficiently obvious, we could hear the
+argument. What do you say, Winwood?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Mr. Winwood roused himself for an instant, barked out the one word
+"Facts," and shut himself up again with a snap.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You would like to have the new facts by themselves?" said Thorndyke.
+</p>
+<p>
+"If you please. The facts only, in the first place, at any rate."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Very well," said Thorndyke; and here I caught his eye with a
+mischievous twinkle in it that I understood perfectly; for I had most of
+the facts myself and realized how much these two lawyers were likely to
+extract from them. Winwood was going to "have a run for his money," as
+Thorndyke had promised.
+</p>
+<p>
+My colleague, having placed on the table by his side a small cardboard
+box and the sheets of notes from his file, glanced quickly at Mr.
+Winwood and began:
+</p>
+<p>
+"The first important new facts came into my possession on the day on
+which you introduced the case to me. In the evening, after you left, I
+availed myself of Mr. Stephen's kind invitation to look over his uncle's
+chambers in New Inn. I wished to do so in order to ascertain, if
+possible, what had been the habits of the deceased during his residence
+there. When I arrived with Dr. Jervis, Mr. Stephen was in the chambers,
+and I learned from him that his uncle was an Oriental scholar of some
+position and that he had a very thorough acquaintance with the cuneiform
+writing. Now, while I was talking with Mr. Stephen I made a very curious
+discovery. On the wall over the fire-place hung a large framed
+photograph of an ancient Persian inscription in the cuneiform character;
+and that photograph was upside down."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Upside down!" exclaimed Stephen. "But that is really very odd."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Very odd indeed," agreed Thorndyke, "and very suggestive. The way in
+which it came to be inverted is pretty obvious and also rather
+suggestive. The photograph had evidently been in the frame some years
+but had apparently never been hung up before."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It had not," said Stephen, "though I don't know how you arrived at the
+fact. It used to stand on the mantelpiece in his old rooms in Jermyn
+Street."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well," continued Thorndyke, "the frame-maker had pasted his label on
+the back of the frame, and as this label hung the right way up, it
+appeared as if the person who fixed the photograph on the wall had
+adopted it as a guide."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is very extraordinary," said Stephen. "I should have thought the
+person who hung it would have asked Uncle Jeffrey which was the right
+way up; and I can't imagine how on earth it could have hung all those
+months without his noticing it. He must have been practically blind."
+</p>
+<p>
+Here Marchmont, who had been thinking hard, with knitted brows, suddenly
+brightened up.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I see your point," said he. "You mean that if Jeffrey was as blind as
+that, it would have been possible for some person to substitute a false
+will, which he might sign without noticing the substitution."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That wouldn't make the will a forgery," growled Winwood. "If Jeffrey
+signed it, it was Jeffrey's will. You could contest it if you could
+prove the fraud. But he said: 'This is my will,' and the two witnesses
+read it and have identified it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Did they read it aloud?" asked Stephen.
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, they did not," replied Thorndyke.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Can you prove substitution?" asked Marchmont.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I haven't asserted it," answered Thorndyke, "My position is that the
+will is a forgery."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But it is not," said Winwood.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We won't argue it now," said Thorndyke. "I ask you to note the fact
+that the inscription was upside down. I also observed on the walls of
+the chambers some valuable Japanese colour-prints on which were recent
+damp-spots. I noted that the sitting-room had a gas-stove and that the
+kitchen contained practically no stores or remains of food and hardly
+any traces of even the simplest cooking. In the bedroom I found a large
+box that had contained a considerable stock of hard stearine candles,
+six to the pound, and that was now nearly empty. I examined the clothing
+of the deceased. On the soles of the boots I observed dried mud, which
+was unlike that on my own and Jervis's boots, from the gravelly square
+of the inn. I noted a crease on each leg of the deceased man's trousers
+as if they had been turned up half-way to the knee; and in the waistcoat
+pocket I found the stump of a 'Contango' pencil. On the floor of the
+bedroom, I found a portion of an oval glass somewhat like that of a
+watch or locket, but ground at the edge to a double bevel. Dr. Jervis
+and I also found one or two beads and a bugle, all of dark brown glass."
+</p>
+<p>
+Here Thorndyke paused, and Marchmont, who had been gazing at him with
+growing amazement, said nervously:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Er&mdash;yes. Very interesting. These observations of yours&mdash;er&mdash;are&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Are all the observations that I made at New Inn."
+</p>
+<p>
+The two lawyers looked at one another and Stephen Blackmore stared
+fixedly at a spot on the hearth-rug. Then Mr. Winwood's face contorted
+itself into a sour, lopsided smile.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You might have observed a good many other things, sir," said he, "if
+you had looked. If you had examined the doors, you would have noted that
+they had hinges and were covered with paint; and, if you had looked up
+the chimney you might have noted that it was black inside."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Now, now, Winwood," protested Marchmont in an agony of uneasiness as to
+what his partner might say next, "I must really beg you&mdash;er&mdash;to refrain
+from&mdash;what Mr. Winwood means, Dr. Thorndyke, is that&mdash;er&mdash;we do not
+quite perceive the relevancy of these&mdash;ah&mdash;observations of yours."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Probably not," said Thorndyke, "but you will perceive their relevancy
+later. For the present, I will ask you to note the facts and bear them
+in mind, so that you may be able to follow the argument when we come to
+that.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The next set of data I acquired on the same evening, when Dr. Jervis
+gave me a detailed account of a very strange adventure that befell him.
+I need not burden you with all the details, but I will give you the
+substance of his story."
+</p>
+<p>
+He then proceeded to recount the incidents connected with my visits to
+Mr. Graves, dwelling on the personal peculiarities of the parties
+concerned and especially of the patient, and not even forgetting the
+very singular spectacles worn by Mr. Weiss. He also explained briefly
+the construction of the chart, presenting the latter for the inspection
+of his hearers. To this recital our three visitors listened in utter
+bewilderment, as, indeed did I also; for I could not conceive in what
+way my adventures could possibly be related to the affairs of the late
+Mr. Blackmore. This was manifestly the view taken by Mr. Marchmont, for,
+during a pause in which the chart was handed to him, he remarked
+somewhat stiffly:
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am assuming, Dr. Thorndyke, that the curious story you are telling us
+has some relevance to the matter in which we are interested."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You are quite correct in your assumption," replied Thorndyke. "The
+story is very relevant indeed, as you will presently be convinced."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Thank you," said Marchmont, sinking back once more into his chair with
+a sigh of resignation.
+</p>
+<p>
+"A few days ago," pursued Thorndyke, "Dr. Jervis and I located, with the
+aid of this chart, the house to which he had been called. We found that
+the late tenant had left somewhat hurriedly and that the house was to
+let; and, as no other kind of investigation was possible, we obtained
+the keys and made an exploration of the premises."
+</p>
+<p>
+Here he gave a brief account of our visit and the conditions that we
+observed, and was proceeding to furnish a list of the articles that we
+had found under the grate, when Mr. Winwood started from his chair.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Really, sir!" he exclaimed, "this is too much! Have I come here, at
+great personal inconvenience, to hear you read the inventory of a
+dust-heap?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke smiled benevolently and caught my eye, once more, with a gleam
+of amusement.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Sit down, Mr. Winwood," he said quietly. "You came here to learn the
+facts of the case, and I am giving them to you. Please don't interrupt
+needlessly and waste time."
+</p>
+<p>
+Winwood stared at him ferociously for several seconds; then, somewhat
+disconcerted by the unruffled calm of his manner, he uttered a snort of
+defiance, sat down heavily and shut himself up again.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We will now," Thorndyke continued, with unmoved serenity, "consider
+these relics in more detail, and we will begin with this pair of
+spectacles. They belonged to a person who was near-sighted and
+astigmatic in the left eye and almost certainly blind in the right. Such
+a description agrees entirely with Dr. Jervis's account of the sick
+man."
+</p>
+<p>
+He paused for the moment, and then, as no one made any comment,
+proceeded:
+</p>
+<p>
+"We next come to these little pieces of reed, which you, Mr. Stephen,
+will probably recognize as the remains of a Japanese brush, such as is
+used for writing in Chinese ink or for making small drawings."
+</p>
+<p>
+Again he paused, as though expecting some remark from his listeners; but
+no one spoke, and he continued:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Then there is this bottle with the theatrical wig-maker's label on it,
+which once contained cement such as is used for fixing on false beards,
+moustaches or eyebrows."
+</p>
+<p>
+He paused once more and looked round expectantly at his audience, none
+of whom, however, volunteered any remark.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Do none of these objects that I have described and shown you, seem to
+have any significance for us?" he asked, in a tone of some surprise.
+</p>
+<p>
+"They convey nothing to me," said Mr. Marchmont, glancing at his
+partner, who shook his head like a restive horse.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Nor to you, Mr. Stephen?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No," replied Stephen. "Under the existing circumstances they convey no
+reasonable suggestion to me."
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke hesitated as if he were half inclined to say something more;
+then, with a slight shrug, he turned over his notes and resumed:
+</p>
+<p>
+"The next group of new facts is concerned with the signatures of the
+recent cheques. We have photographed them and placed them together for
+the purpose of comparison and analysis."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am not prepared to question the signatures." said Winwood. "We have
+had a highly expert opinion, which would override ours in a court of law
+even if we differed from it; which I think we do not."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes," said Marchmont; "that is so. I think we must accept the
+signatures, especially as that of the will has been proved, beyond any
+question" to be authentic."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Very well," agreed Thorndyke; "we will pass over the signatures. Then
+we have some further evidence in regard to the spectacles, which serves
+to verify our conclusions respecting them."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Perhaps," said Marchmont, "we might pass over that, too, as we do not
+seem to have reached any conclusions."
+</p>
+<p>
+"As you please," said Thorndyke. "It is important, but we can reserve it
+for verification. The next item will interest you more, I think. It is
+the signed and witnessed statement of Samuel Wilkins, the driver of the
+cab in which the deceased came home to the inn on the evening of his
+death."
+</p>
+<p>
+My colleague was right. An actual document, signed by a tangible
+witness, who could be put in the box and sworn, brought both lawyers to
+a state of attention; and when Thorndyke read out the cabman's evidence,
+their attention soon quickened into undisguised astonishment.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But this is a most mysterious affair," exclaimed Marchmont. "Who could
+this woman have been, and what could she have been doing in Jeffrey's
+chambers at this time? Can you throw any light on it, Mr. Stephen?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, indeed I can't," replied Stephen. "It is a complete mystery to me.
+My uncle Jeffrey was a confirmed old bachelor, and, although he did not
+dislike women, he was far from partial to their society, wrapped up as
+he was in his favourite studies. To the best of my belief, he had not a
+single female friend. He was not on intimate terms even with his sister,
+Mrs. Wilson."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Very remarkable," mused Marchmont; "most remarkable. But, perhaps, you
+can tell us, Dr. Thorndyke, who this woman was?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think," replied Thorndyke, "that the next item of evidence will
+enable you to form an opinion for yourselves. I only obtained it
+yesterday, and, as it made my case quite complete, I wrote off to you
+immediately. It is the statement of Joseph Ridley, another cabman, and
+unfortunately, a rather dull, unobservant fellow, unlike Wilkins. He has
+not much to tell us, but what little he has is highly instructive. Here
+is the statement, signed by the deponent and witnessed by me:
+</p>
+<p>
+"'My name is Joseph Ridley. I am the driver of a four-wheeled cab. On
+the fourteenth of March, the day of the great fog, I was waiting at
+Vauxhall Station, where I had just set down a fare. About five o'clock a
+lady came and told me to drive over to Upper Kennington Lane to take up
+a passenger. She was a middle-sized woman. I could not tell what her age
+was, or what she was like, because her head was wrapped up in a sort of
+knitted, woollen veil to keep out the fog. I did not notice how she was
+dressed. She got into the cab and I led the horse over to Upper
+Kennington Lane and a little way up the lane, until the lady tapped at
+the front window for me to stop.
+</p>
+<p>
+"'She got out of the cab and told me to wait. Then she went away and
+disappeared in the fog. Presently a lady and gentleman came from the
+direction in which she had gone. The lady looked like the same lady, but
+I won't answer to that. Her head was wrapped up in the same kind of veil
+or shawl, and I noticed that she had on a dark coloured mantle with
+bead fringe on it.
+</p>
+<p>
+"'The gentleman was clean shaved and wore spectacles, and he stooped a
+good deal. I can't say whether his sight was good or bad. He helped the
+lady into the cab and told me to drive to the Great Northern Station,
+King's Cross. Then he got in himself and I drove off. I got to the
+station about a quarter to six and the lady and gentleman got out. The
+gentleman paid my fare and they both went into the station. I did not
+notice anything unusual about either of them. Directly after they had
+gone, I got a fresh fare and drove away.'
+</p>
+<p>
+"That," Thorndyke concluded, "is Joseph Ridley's statement; and I think
+it will enable you to give a meaning to the other facts that I have
+offered for your consideration."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am not so sure about that," said Marchmont. "It is all exceedingly
+mysterious. Your suggestion is, of course, that the woman who came to
+New Inn in the cab was Mrs. Schallibaum!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not at all," replied Thorndyke. "My suggestion is that the woman was
+Jeffrey Blackmore."
+</p>
+<p>
+There was deathly silence for a few moments. We were all absolutely
+thunderstruck, and sat gaping at Thorndyke in speechless-astonishment.
+Then&mdash;Mr. Winwood fairly bounced out of his chair.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But&mdash;my&mdash;good&mdash;sir!" he screeched. "Jeffrey Blackmore was with her at
+the time!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Naturally," replied Thorndyke, "my suggestion implies that the person
+who was with her was not Jeffrey Blackmore."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But he was!" bawled Winwood. "The porter saw him!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"The porter saw a person whom he believed to be Jeffrey Blackmore. I
+suggest that the porter's belief was erroneous."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well," snapped Winwood, "perhaps you can prove that it was. I don't see
+how you are going to; but perhaps you can."
+</p>
+<p>
+He subsided once more into his chair and glared defiantly at Thorndyke.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You seemed," said Stephen, "to suggest some connection between the sick
+man, Graves, and my uncle. I noted it at the time, but put it aside as
+impossible. Was I right. Did you mean to suggest any connection?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I suggest something more than a connection. I suggest identity. My
+position is that the sick man, Graves, was your uncle."
+</p>
+<p>
+"From Dr. Jervis's description," said Stephen, "this man must have been
+very like my uncle. Both were blind in the right eye and had very poor
+vision with the left; and my uncle certainly used brushes of the kind
+that you have shown us, when writing in the Japanese character, for I
+have watched him and admired his skill; but&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+"But," said Marchmont, "there is the insuperable objection that, at the
+very time when this man was lying sick in Kennington Lane, Mr. Jeffrey
+was living at New Inn."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What evidence is there of that?" asked Thorndyke.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Evidence!" Marchmont exclaimed impatiently. "Why, my dear sir&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+He paused suddenly, and, leaning forward, regarded Thorndyke with a new
+and rather startled expression.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You mean to suggest&mdash;" he began.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I suggest that Jeffrey Blackmore never lived at New Inn at all."
+</p>
+<p>
+For the moment, Marchmont seemed absolutely paralysed by astonishment.
+</p>
+<p>
+"This is an amazing proposition!" he exclaimed, at length. "Yet the
+thing is certainly not impossible, for, now that you recall the fact, I
+realize that no one who had known him previously&mdash;excepting his brother,
+John&mdash;ever saw him at the inn. The question of identity was never
+raised."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Excepting," said Mr. Winwood, "in regard to the body; which was
+certainly that of Jeffrey Blackmore."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, yes. Of course," said Marchmont. "I had forgotten that for the
+moment. The body was identified beyond doubt. You don't dispute the
+identity of the body, do you?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Certainly not," replied Thorndyke.
+</p>
+<p>
+Here Mr. Winwood grasped his hair with both hands and stuck his elbows
+on his knees, while Marchmont drew forth a large handkerchief and mopped
+his forehead. Stephen Blackmore looked from one to the other
+expectantly, and finally said:
+</p>
+<p>
+"If I might make a suggestion, it would be that, as Dr. Thorndyke has
+shown us the pieces now of the puzzle, he should be so kind as to put
+them together for our information."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes," agreed Marchmont, "that will be the best plan. Let us have the
+argument, Doctor, and any additional evidence that you possess."
+</p>
+<p>
+"The argument," said Thorndyke, "will be a rather long one, as the data
+are so numerous, and there are some points in verification on which I
+shall have to dwell in some detail. We will have some coffee to clear
+our brains, and then I will bespeak your patience for what may seem like
+a rather prolix demonstration."
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="CH16"><!-- CH16 --></a>
+<h2>
+	Chapter XVI
+</h2>
+
+<h3>
+An Exposition and a Tragedy
+</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>
+"You may have wondered," Thorndyke commenced, when he had poured out the
+coffee and handed round the cups, "what induced me to undertake the
+minute investigation of so apparently simple and straightforward a case.
+Perhaps I had better explain that first and let you see what was the
+real starting-point of the inquiry.
+</p>
+<p>
+"When you, Mr. Marchmont and Mr. Stephen, introduced the case to me, I
+made a very brief pr&eacute;cis of the facts as you presented them, and of
+these there were one or two which immediately attracted my attention. In
+the first place, there was the will. It was a very strange will. It was
+perfectly unnecessary. It contained no new matter; it expressed no
+changed intentions; it met no new circumstances, as known to the
+testator. In short it was not really a new will at all, but merely a
+repetition of the first one, drafted in different and less suitable
+language. It differed only in introducing a certain ambiguity from which
+the original was free. It created the possibility that, in certain
+circumstances, not known to or anticipated by the testator, John
+Blackmore might become the principal beneficiary, contrary to the
+obvious wishes of the testator.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The next point that impressed me was the manner of Mrs. Wilson's death.
+She died of cancer. Now people do not die suddenly and unexpectedly of
+cancer. This terrible disease stands almost alone in that it marks out
+its victim months in advance. A person who has an incurable cancer is a
+person whose death may be predicted with certainty and its date fixed
+within comparatively narrow limits.
+</p>
+<p>
+"And now observe the remarkable series of coincidences that are brought
+into light when we consider this peculiarity of the disease. Mrs. Wilson
+died on the twelfth of March of this present year. Mr. Jeffrey's second
+will was signed on the twelfth of November of last year; at a time, that
+is to say, when the existence of cancer must have been known to Mrs.
+Wilson's doctor, and might have been known to any of her relatives who
+chose to inquire after her.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Then you will observe that the remarkable change in Mr. Jeffrey's
+habits coincides in the most singular way with the same events. The
+cancer must have been detectable as early as September of last year;
+about the time, in fact, at which Mrs. Wilson made her will. Mr. Jeffrey
+went to the inn at the beginning of October. From that time his habits
+were totally changed, and I can demonstrate to you that a change&mdash;not a
+gradual, but an abrupt change&mdash;took place in the character of his
+signature.
+</p>
+<p>
+"In short, the whole of this peculiar set of circumstances&mdash;the change
+in Jeffrey's habits, the change in his signature, and the execution of
+his strange will&mdash;came into existence about the time when Mrs. Wilson
+was first known to be suffering from cancer.
+</p>
+<p>
+"This struck me as a very suggestive fact.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Then there is the extraordinarily opportune date of Mr. Jeffrey's
+death. Mrs. Wilson died on the twelfth of March. Mr. Jeffrey was found
+dead on the fifteenth of March, having apparently died on the
+fourteenth, on which day he was seen alive. If he had died only three
+days sooner, he would have predeceased Mrs. Wilson, and her property
+would never have devolved on him at all; while, if he had lived only a
+day or two longer, he would have learned of her death and would
+certainly have made a new will or codicil in his nephew's favour.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Circumstances, therefore, conspired in the most singular manner in
+favour of John Blackmore.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But there is yet another coincidence. Jeffrey's body was found, by the
+merest chance, the day after his death. But it might have remained
+undiscovered for weeks, or even months; and if it had, it would have
+been impossible to fix the date of his death. Then Mrs. Wilson's next
+of kin would certainly have contested John Blackmore's claim&mdash;and
+probably with success&mdash;on the ground that Jeffrey died before Mrs.
+Wilson. But all this uncertainty is provided for by the circumstance
+that Mr. Jeffrey paid his rent personally&mdash;and prematurely&mdash;to the
+porter on the fourteenth of March, thus establishing beyond question the
+fact that he was alive on that date; and yet further, in case the
+porter's memory should be untrustworthy or his statement doubted,
+Jeffrey furnished a signed and dated document&mdash;the cheque&mdash;which could
+be produced in a court to furnish incontestable proof of survival.
+</p>
+<p>
+"To sum up this part of the evidence. Here was a will which enabled John
+Blackmore to inherit the fortune of a man who, almost certainly, had no
+intention of bequeathing it to him. The wording of that will seemed to
+be adjusted to the peculiarities of Mrs. Wilson's disease; and the death
+of the testator occurred under a peculiar set of circumstances which
+seemed to be exactly adjusted to the wording of the will. Or, to put it
+in another way: the wording of the will and the time, the manner and the
+circumstances of the testator's death, all seemed to be precisely
+adjusted to the fact that the approximate date of Mrs. Wilson's death
+was known some months before it occurred.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Now you must admit that this compound group of coincidences, all
+conspiring to a single end&mdash;the enrichment of John Blackmore&mdash;has a very
+singular appearance. Coincidences are common enough in real life; but
+we cannot accept too many at a time. My feeling was that there were too
+many in this case and that I could not accept them without searching
+inquiry."
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke paused, and Mr. Marchmont, who had listened with close
+attention, nodded, as he glanced at his silent partner.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You have stated the case with remarkable clearness," he said; "and I am
+free to confess that some of the points that you have raised had escaped
+my notice."
+</p>
+<p>
+"My first idea," Thorndyke resumed, "was that John Blackmore, taking
+advantage of the mental enfeeblement produced by the opium habit, had
+dictated this will to Jeffrey, It was then that I sought permission to
+inspect Jeffrey's chambers; to learn what I could about him and to see
+for myself whether they presented the dirty and disorderly appearance
+characteristic of the regular opium-smoker's den. But when, during a
+walk into the City, I thought over the case, it seemed to me that this
+explanation hardly met the facts. Then I endeavoured to think of some
+other explanation; and looking over my notes I observed two points that
+seemed worth considering. One was that neither of the witnesses to the
+will was really acquainted with Jeffrey Blackmore; both being strangers
+who had accepted his identity on his own statement. The other was that
+no one who had previously known him, with the single exception of his
+brother John, had ever seen Jeffrey at the inn.
+</p>
+<p>
+"What was the import of these two facts? Probably they had none. But
+still they suggested the desirability of considering the question: Was
+the person who signed the will really Jeffrey Blackmore? The contrary
+supposition&mdash;that some one had personated Jeffrey and forged his
+signature to a false will&mdash;seemed wildly improbable, especially in view
+of the identification of the body; but it involved no actual
+impossibility; and it offered a complete explanation of the, otherwise
+inexplicable, coincidences that I have mentioned.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I did not, however, for a moment, think that this was the true
+explanation, but I resolved to bear it in mind, to test it when the
+opportunity arose, and consider it by the light of any fresh facts that
+I might acquire.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The new facts came sooner than I had expected. That same evening I went
+with Dr. Jervis to New Inn and found Mr. Stephen in the chambers. By him
+I was informed that Jeffrey was a learned Orientalist, with a quite
+expert knowledge of the cuneiform writing; and even as he was telling me
+this, I looked over his shoulder and saw a cuneiform inscription hanging
+on the wall upside down.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Now, of this there could be only one reasonable explanation.
+Disregarding the fact that no one would screw the suspension plates on a
+frame without ascertaining which was the right way up, and assuming it
+to be hung up inverted, it was impossible that the misplacement could
+have been overlooked by Jeffrey. He was not blind, though his sight was
+defective. The frame was thirty inches long and the individual
+characters nearly an inch in length&mdash;about the size of the D 18 letters
+of Snellen's test-types, which can be read by a person of ordinary sight
+at a distance of fifty-five feet. There was, I repeat, only one
+reasonable explanation; which was that the person who had inhabited
+those chambers was not Jeffrey Blackmore.
+</p>
+<p>
+"This conclusion received considerable support from a fact which I
+observed later, but mention in this place. On examining the soles of the
+shoes taken from the dead man's feet, I found only the ordinary mud of
+the streets. There was no trace of the peculiar gravelly mud that
+adhered to my own boots and Jervis's, and which came from the square of
+the inn. Yet the porter distinctly stated that the deceased, after
+paying the rent, walked back towards his chambers across the square; the
+mud of which should, therefore, have been conspicuous on his shoes.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Thus, in a moment, a wildly speculative hypothesis had assumed a high
+degree of probability.
+</p>
+<p>
+"When Mr. Stephen was gone, Jervis and I looked over the chambers
+thoroughly; and then another curious fact came to light. On the wall
+were a number of fine Japanese colour-prints, all of which showed recent
+damp-spots. Now, apart from the consideration that Jeffrey, who had been
+at the trouble and expense of collecting these valuable prints, would
+hardly have allowed them to rot on his walls, there arose the question:
+How came they to be damp? There was a gas stove in the room, and a gas
+stove has at least the virtue of preserving a dry atmosphere. It was
+winter weather, when the stove would naturally be pretty constantly
+alight. How came the walls to be so damp? The answer seemed to be that
+the stove had not been constantly alight, but had been lighted only
+occasionally. This suggestion was borne out by a further examination of
+the rooms. In the kitchen there were practically no stores and hardly
+any arrangements even for simple bachelor cooking; the bedroom offered
+the same suggestion; the soap in the wash-stand was shrivelled and
+cracked; there was no cast-off linen, and the shirts in the drawers,
+though clean, had the peculiar yellowish, faded appearance that linen
+acquires when long out of use. In short, the rooms had the appearance of
+not having been lived in at all, but only visited at intervals.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Against this view, however, was the statement of the night porter that
+he had often seen a light in Jeffrey's sitting-room at one o'clock in
+the morning, with the apparent implication that it was then turned out.
+Now a light may be left in an empty room, but its extinction implies the
+presence of some person to extinguish it; unless some automatic device
+be adopted for putting it out at a given time. Such a device&mdash;the alarm
+movement of a clock, for instance, with a suitable attachment&mdash;is a
+simple enough matter, but my search of the rooms failed to discover
+anything of the kind. However, when looking over the drawers in the
+bedroom, I came upon a large box that had held a considerable quantity
+of hard stearine candles. There were only a few left, but a flat
+candlestick with numerous wick-ends in its socket accounted for the
+remainder.
+</p>
+<p>
+"These candles seemed to dispose of the difficulty. They were not
+necessary for ordinary lighting, since gas was laid on in all three
+rooms. For what purpose, then, were they used, and in such considerable
+quantities? I subsequently obtained some of the same brand&mdash;Price's
+stearine candles, six to the pound&mdash;and experimented with them. Each
+candle was seven and a quarter inches in length, not counting the cone
+at the top, and I found that they burned in still air at the rate of a
+fraction over one inch in an hour. We may say that one of these candles
+would burn in still air a little over six hours. It would thus be
+possible for the person who inhabited these rooms to go away at seven
+o'clock in the evening and leave a light which would burn until past one
+in the morning and then extinguish itself. This, of course, was only
+surmise, but it destroyed the significance of the night porter's
+statement.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But, if the person who inhabited these chambers was not Jeffrey, who
+was he?
+</p>
+<p>
+"The answer to that question seemed plain enough. There was only one
+person who had a strong motive for perpetrating a fraud of this kind,
+and there was only one person to whom it was possible. If this person
+was not Jeffrey, he must have been very like Jeffrey; sufficiently like
+for the body of the one to be mistaken for the body of the other. For
+the production of Jeffrey's body was an essential part of the plan and
+must have been contemplated from the first. But the only person who
+fulfills the conditions is John Blackmore.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We have learned from Mr. Stephen that John and Jeffrey, though very
+different in appearance in later years, were much alike as young men.
+But when two brothers who are much alike as young men, become unlike in
+later life, we shall find that the unlikeness is produced by superficial
+differences and that the essential likeness remains. Thus, in the
+present case, Jeffrey was clean shaved, had bad eyesight, wore
+spectacles and stooped as he walked; John wore a beard and moustache,
+had good eyesight, did not wear spectacles and had a brisk gait and
+upright carriage. But supposing John to shave off his beard and
+moustache, to put on spectacles and to stoop in his walk, these
+conspicuous but superficial differences would vanish and the original
+likeness reappear.
+</p>
+<p>
+"There is another consideration. John had been an actor and was an actor
+of some experience. Now, any person can, with some care and practice,
+make up a disguise; the great difficulty is to support that disguise by
+a suitable manner and voice. But to an experienced actor this difficulty
+does not exist. To him, personation is easy; and, moreover, an actor is
+precisely the person to whom the idea of disguise and impersonation
+would occur.
+</p>
+<p>
+"There is a small item bearing on this point, so small as to be hardly
+worth calling evidence, but just worth noting. In the pocket of the
+waistcoat taken from the body of Jeffrey I found the stump of a
+'Contango' pencil; a pencil that is sold for the use of stock dealers
+and brokers. Now John was an outside broker and might very probably have
+used such a pencil, whereas Jeffrey had no connection with the stock
+markets and there is no reason why he should have possessed a pencil of
+this kind. But the fact is merely suggestive; it has no evidential
+value.
+</p>
+<p>
+"A more important inference is to be drawn from the collected
+signatures. I have remarked that the change in the signature occurred
+abruptly, with one or two alterations of manner, last September, and
+that there are two distinct forms with no intermediate varieties. This
+is, in itself, remarkable and suspicious. But a remark made by Mr.
+Britton furnishes a really valuable piece of evidence on the point we
+are now considering. He admitted that the character of the signature had
+undergone a change, but observed that the change did not affect the
+individual or personal character of the writing. This is very important;
+for handwriting is, as it were, an extension of the personality of the
+writer. And just as a man to some extent snares his personality with his
+near blood-relations in the form of family resemblances, so his
+handwriting often shows a subtle likeness to that of his near relatives.
+You must have noticed, as I have, how commonly the handwriting of one
+brother resembles that of another, and in just this peculiar and subtle
+way. The inference, then, from Mr. Britton's statement is, that if the
+signature of the will was forged, it was probably forged by a relative
+of the deceased. But the only relative in question is his brother John.
+</p>
+<p>
+"All the facts, therefore, pointed to John Blackmore as the person who
+occupied these chambers, and I accordingly adopted that view as a
+working hypothesis."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But this was all pure speculation," objected Mr. Winwood.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not speculation," said Thorndyke. "Hypothesis. It was ordinary
+inductive reasoning such as we employ in scientific research. I started
+with the purely tentative hypothesis that the person who signed the will
+was not Jeffrey Blackmore. I assumed this; and I may say that I did not
+believe it at the time, but merely adopted it as a proposition that was
+worth testing. I accordingly tested it, 'Yes?' or 'No?' with each new
+fact; but as each new fact said 'Yes,' and no fact said definitely 'No,'
+its probability increased rapidly by a sort of geometrical progression.
+The probabilities multiplied into one another. It is a perfectly sound
+method, for one knows that if a hypothesis be true, it will lead one,
+sooner or later, to a crucial fact by which its truth can be
+demonstrated.
+</p>
+<p>
+"To resume our argument. We have now set up the proposition that John
+Blackmore was the tenant of New Inn and that he was personating Jeffrey.
+Let us reason from this and see what it leads to.
+</p>
+<p>
+"If the tenant of New Inn was John, then Jeffrey must be elsewhere,
+since his concealment at the inn was clearly impossible. But he could
+not have been far away, for he had to be producible at short notice
+whenever the death of Mrs. Wilson should make the production of his
+body necessary. But if he was producible, his person must have been in
+the possession or control of John. He could not have been at large, for
+that would have involved the danger of his being seen and recognized. He
+could not have been in any institution or place where he would be in
+contact with strangers. Then he must be in some sort of confinement. But
+it is difficult to keep an adult in confinement in an ordinary house.
+Such a proceeding would involve great risk of discovery and the use of
+violence which would leave traces on the body, to be observed and
+commented on at the inquest. What alternative method could be suggested?
+</p>
+<p>
+"The most obvious method is that of keeping the prisoner in such a state
+of debility as would confine him to his bed. But such debility could be
+produced by only starvation, unsuitable food, or chronic poisoning. Of
+these alternatives, poisoning is much more exact, more calculable in its
+effect and more under control. The probabilities, then, were in favour
+of chronic poisoning.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Having reached this stage, I recalled a singular case which Jervis had
+mentioned to me and which seemed to illustrate this method. On our
+return home I asked him for further particulars, and he then gave me a
+very detailed description of the patient and the circumstances. The
+upshot was rather startling. I had looked on his case as merely
+illustrative, and wished to study it for the sake of the suggestions
+that it might offer. But when I had heard his account, I began to
+suspect that there was something more than mere parallelism of method.
+It began to look as if his patient, Mr. Graves, might actually be
+Jeffrey Blackmore.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The coincidences were remarkable. The general appearance of the patient
+tallied completely with Mr. Stephen's description of his uncle Jeffrey.
+The patient had a tremulous iris in his right eye and had clearly
+suffered from dislocation of the crystalline lens. But from Mr.
+Stephen's account of his uncle's sudden loss of sight in the right eye
+after a fall, I judged that Jeffrey had also suffered from dislocation
+of the lens and therefore had a tremulous iris in the right eye. The
+patient, Graves, evidently had defective vision in his left eye, as
+proved by the marks made behind his ears by the hooked side-bars of his
+spectacles; for it is only on spectacles that are intended for constant
+use that we find hooked side-bars. But Jeffrey had defective vision in
+his left eye and wore spectacles constantly. Lastly, the patient Graves
+was suffering from chronic morphine poisoning, and morphine was found in
+the body of Jeffrey.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Once more, it appeared to me that there were too many coincidences.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The question as to whether Graves and Jeffrey were identical admitted
+of fairly easy disproof; for if Graves was still alive, he could not be
+Jeffrey. It was an important question and I resolved to test it without
+delay. That night, Jervis and I plotted out the chart, and on the
+following morning we located the house. But it was empty and to let.
+The birds had flown, and we failed to discover whither they had gone.
+</p>
+<p>
+"However, we entered the house and explored. I have told you about the
+massive bolts and fastenings that we found on the bedroom doors and
+window, showing that the room had been used as a prison. I have told you
+of the objects that we picked out of the dust-heap under the grate. Of
+the obvious suggestion offered by the Japanese brush and the bottle of
+'spirit gum' or cement, I need not speak now; but I must trouble you
+with some details concerning the broken spectacles. For here we had come
+upon the crucial fact to which, as I have said, all sound inductive
+reasoning brings one sooner or later.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The spectacles were of a rather peculiar pattern. The frames were of
+the type invented by Mr. Stopford of Moorfields and known by his name.
+The right eye-piece was fitted with plain glass, as is usual in the case
+of a blind, or useless, eye. It was very much shattered, but its
+character was obvious. The glass of the left eye was much thicker and
+fortunately less damaged, so that I was able accurately to test its
+refraction.
+</p>
+<p>
+"When I reached home, I laid the pieces of the spectacles together,
+measured the frames very carefully, tested the left eye-glass, and wrote
+down a full description such as would have been given by the surgeon to
+the spectacle-maker. Here it is, and I will ask you to note it
+carefully.
+</p>
+<p>
+"'Spectacles for constant use. Steel frame, Stopford's pattern, curl
+sides, broad bridge with gold lining. Distance between centres, 6.2
+centimetres; extreme length of side-bars, 13.3 centimetres.
+</p>
+<p>
+"'Right eye plain glass.
+</p>
+<table summary="eyeglass prescription">
+<tr>
+<td>"'Left eye&nbsp;</td>
+<td>-<u>5.75 D. spherical&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</u></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td> </td>
+<td>-3.25 D. cylindrical, axis 35&deg;.'</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+<p>
+"The spectacles, you see, were of a very distinctive character and
+seemed to offer a good chance of identification. Stopford's frames are,
+I believe, made by only one firm of opticians in London, Parry &amp; Cuxton
+of Regent Street. I therefore wrote to Mr. Cuxton, who knows me, asking
+him if he had supplied spectacles to the late Jeffrey Blackmore,
+Esq.&mdash;here is a copy of my letter&mdash;and if so, whether he would mind
+letting me have a full description of them, together with the name of
+the oculist who prescribed them.
+</p>
+<p>
+"He replied in this letter, which is pinned to the copy of mine, that,
+about four years ago, he supplied a pair of glasses to Mr. Jeffrey
+Blackmore, and described them thus: 'The spectacles were for constant
+use and had steel frames of Stopford's pattern with curl sides, the
+length of the side-bars including the curled ends being 13.3 cm. The
+bridge was broad with a gold lining-plate, shaped as shown by the
+enclosed tracing from the diagram on the prescription. Distance between
+centres 6.2 cm.
+</p>
+<p>
+"'Right eye plain glass.
+</p>
+<table summary="eyeglass prescription">
+<tr>
+<td>"'Left eye&nbsp;</td>
+<td>-<u>5.75 D. spherical&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</u></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td> </td>
+<td>-3.25 D. cylindrical, axis 35&deg;.'</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+<p>
+"'The spectacles were prescribed by Mr. Hindley of Wimpole Street.'
+</p>
+<p>
+"You see that Mr. Cuxton's description is identical with mine. However,
+for further confirmation, I wrote to Mr. Hindley, asking certain
+questions, to which he replied thus:
+</p>
+<p>
+"'You are quite right. Mr. Jeffrey Blackmore had a tremulous iris in his
+right eye (which was practically blind), due to dislocation of the lens.
+The pupils were rather large; certainly not contracted.'
+</p>
+<p>
+"Here, then, we have three important facts. One is that the spectacles
+found by us at Kennington Lane were undoubtedly Jeffrey's; for it is as
+unlikely that there exists another pair of spectacles exactly identical
+with those as that there exists another face exactly like Jeffrey's
+face. The second fact is that the description of Jeffrey tallies
+completely with that of the sick man, Graves, as given by Dr. Jervis;
+and the third is that when Jeffrey was seen by Mr. Hindley, there was no
+sign of his being addicted to the taking of morphine. The first and
+second facts, you will agree, constitute complete identification."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes," said Marchmont; "I think we must admit the identification as
+being quite conclusive, though the evidence is of a kind that is more
+striking to the medical than to the legal mind."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You will not have that complaint to make against the next item of
+evidence," said Thorndyke. "It is after the lawyer's own heart, as you
+shall hear. A few days ago I wrote to Mr. Stephen asking him if he
+possessed a recent photograph of his uncle Jeffrey. He had one, and he
+sent it to me by return. This portrait I showed to Dr. Jervis and asked
+him if he had ever seen the person it represented. After examining it
+attentively, without any hint whatever from me, he identified it as the
+portrait of the sick man, Graves."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Indeed!" exclaimed Marchmont. "This is most important. Are you prepared
+to swear to the identity, Dr. Jervis?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I have not the slightest doubt," I replied, "that the portrait is that
+of Mr. Graves."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Excellent!" said Marchmont, rubbing his hands gleefully; "this will be
+much more convincing to a jury. Pray go on, Dr. Thorndyke."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That," said Thorndyke, "completes the first part of my investigation.
+We had now reached a definite, demonstrable fact; and that fact, as you
+see, disposed at once of the main question&mdash;the genuineness of the will.
+For if the man at Kennington Lane was Jeffrey Blackmore, then the man at
+New Inn was not. But it was the latter who had signed the will.
+Therefore the will was not signed by Jeffrey Blackmore; that is to say,
+it was a forgery. The case was complete for the purposes of the civil
+proceedings; the rest of my investigations had reference to the criminal
+prosecution that was inevitable. Shall I proceed, or is your interest
+confined to the will?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Hang the will!" exclaimed Stephen. "I want to hear how you propose to
+lay hands on the villain who murdered poor old uncle Jeffrey&mdash;for I
+suppose he did murder him?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think there is no doubt of it," replied Thorndyke.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Then," said Marchmont, "we will hear the rest of the argument, if you
+please."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Very well," said Thorndyke. "As the evidence stands, we have proved
+that Jeffrey Blackmore was a prisoner in the house in Kennington Lane
+and that some one was personating him at New Inn. That some one, we have
+seen, was, in all probability, John Blackmore. We now have to consider
+the man Weiss. Who was he? and can we connect him in any way with New
+Inn?
+</p>
+<p>
+"We may note in passing that Weiss and the coachman were apparently one
+and the same person. They were never seen together. When Weiss was
+present, the coachman was not available even for so urgent a service as
+the obtaining of an antidote to the poison. Weiss always appeared some
+time after Jervis's arrival and disappeared some time before his
+departure, in each case sufficiently long to allow of a change of
+disguise. But we need not labour the point, as it is not of primary
+importance.
+</p>
+<p>
+"To return to Weiss. He was clearly heavily disguised, as we see by his
+unwillingness to show himself even by the light of a candle. But there
+is an item of positive evidence on this point which is important from
+having other bearings. It is furnished by the spectacles worn by Weiss,
+of which you have heard Jervis's description. These spectacles had very
+peculiar optical properties. When you looked <i>through</i> them they had the
+properties of plain glass; when you looked <i>at</i> them they had the
+appearance of lenses. But only one kind of glass possesses these
+properties; namely, that which, like an ordinary watch-glass, has
+curved, parallel surfaces. But for what purpose could a person wear
+'watch-glass' spectacles? Clearly, not to assist his vision. The only
+alternative is disguise.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The properties of these spectacles introduce a very curious and
+interesting feature into the case. To the majority of persons, the
+wearing of spectacles for the purpose of disguise or personation, seems
+a perfectly simple and easy proceeding. But, to a person of normal
+eyesight, it is nothing of the kind. For, if he wears spectacles suited
+for long sight he cannot see distinctly through them at all; while, if
+he wears concave, or near sight, glasses, the effort to see through them
+produces such strain and fatigue that his eyes become disabled
+altogether. On the stage the difficulty is met by using spectacles of
+plain window-glass, but in real life this would hardly do; the
+'property' spectacles would be detected at once and give rise to
+suspicion.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The personator is therefore in this dilemma: if he wears actual
+spectacles, he cannot see through them; if he wears sham spectacles of
+plain glass, his disguise will probably be detected. There is only one
+way out of the difficulty, and that not a very satisfactory one; but Mr.
+Weiss seems to have adopted it in lieu of a better. It is that of using
+watch-glass spectacles such as I have described.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Now, what do we learn from these very peculiar glasses? In the first
+place they confirm our opinion that Weiss was wearing a disguise. But,
+for use in a room so very dimly lighted, the ordinary stage spectacles
+would have answered quite well. The second inference is, then, that
+these spectacles were prepared to be worn under more trying conditions
+of light&mdash;out of doors, for instance. The third inference is that Weiss
+was a man with normal eyesight; for otherwise he could have worn real
+spectacles suited to the state of his vision.
+</p>
+<p>
+"These are inferences by the way, to which we may return. But these
+glasses furnish a much more important suggestion. On the floor of the
+bedroom at New Inn I found some fragments of glass which had been
+trodden on. By joining one or two of them together, we have been able to
+make out the general character of the object of which they formed parts.
+My assistant&mdash;who was formerly a watch-maker&mdash;judged that object to be
+the thin crystal glass of a lady's watch, and this, I think, was
+Jervis's opinion. But the small part which remains of the original edge
+furnishes proof in two respects that this was not a watch-glass. In the
+first place, on taking a careful tracing of this piece of the edge, I
+found that its curve was part of an ellipse; but watch-glasses,
+nowadays, are invariably circular. In the second place, watch-glasses
+are ground on the edge to a single bevel to snap into the bezel or
+frame; but the edge of this object was ground to a double bevel, like
+the edge of a spectacle-glass, which fits into a groove in the frame and
+is held by the side-bar screw. The inevitable inference was that this
+was a spectacle-glass. But, if so, it was part of a pair of spectacles
+identical in properties with those worn by Mr. Weiss.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The importance of this conclusion emerges when we consider the
+exceptional character of Mr. Weiss's spectacles. They were not merely
+peculiar or remarkable; they were probably unique. It is exceedingly
+likely that there is not in the entire world another similar pair of
+spectacles. Whence the finding of these fragments of glass in the
+bedroom establishes a considerable probability that Mr. Weiss was, at
+some time, in the chambers at New Inn.
+</p>
+<p>
+"And now let us gather up the threads of this part of the argument. We
+are inquiring into the identity of the man Weiss. Who was he?
+</p>
+<p>
+"In the first place, we find him committing a secret crime from which
+John Blackmore alone will benefit. This suggests the <i>prima-facie</i>
+probability that he was John Blackmore.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Then we find that he was a man of normal eyesight who was wearing
+spectacles for the purpose of disguise. But the tenant of New Inn, whom
+we have seen to be, almost certainly, John Blackmore&mdash;and whom we will,
+for the present, assume to have been John Blackmore&mdash;was a man with
+normal eyesight who wore spectacles for disguise.
+</p>
+<p>
+"John Blackmore did not reside at New Inn, but at some place within
+easy reach of it. But Weiss resided at a place within easy reach of New
+Inn.
+</p>
+<p>
+"John Blackmore must have had possession and control of the person of
+Jeffrey. But Weiss had possession and control of the person of Jeffrey.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Weiss wore spectacles of a certain peculiar and probably unique
+character. But portions of such spectacles were found in the chambers at
+New Inn.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The overwhelming probability, therefore, is that Weiss and the tenant
+of New Inn were one and the same person; and that that person was John
+Blackmore."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That," said Mr. Winwood, "is a very plausible argument. But, you
+observe, sir, that it contains an undistributed middle term."
+</p>
+<p>
+Thorndyke smiled genially. I think he forgave Winwood everything for
+that remark.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You are quite right, sir," he said. "It does. And, for that reason, the
+demonstration is not absolute. But we must not forget, what logicians
+seem occasionally to overlook: that the 'undistributed middle,' while it
+interferes with absolute proof, may be quite consistent with a degree of
+probability that approaches very near to certainty. Both the Bertillon
+system and the English fingerprint system involve a process of reasoning
+in which the middle term is undistributed. But the great probabilities
+are accepted in practice as equivalent to certainties."
+</p>
+<p>
+Mr. Winwood grunted a grudging assent, and Thorndyke resumed:
+</p>
+<p>
+"We have now furnished fairly conclusive evidence on three heads: we
+have proved that the sick man, Graves, was Jeffrey Blackmore; that the
+tenant of New Inn was John Blackmore; and that the man Weiss was also
+John Blackmore. We now have to prove that John and Jeffrey were together
+in the chambers at New Inn on the night of Jeffrey's death.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We know that two persons, and two persons only, came from Kennington
+Lane to New Inn. But one of those persons was the tenant of New
+Inn&mdash;that is, John Blackmore. Who was the other? Jeffrey is known by us
+to have been at Kennington Lane. His body was found on the following
+morning in the room at New Inn. No third person is known to have come
+from Kennington Lane; no third person is known to have arrived at New
+Inn. The inference, by exclusion, is that the second person&mdash;the
+woman&mdash;was Jeffrey.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Again; Jeffrey had to be brought from Kennington to the inn by John.
+But John was personating Jeffrey and was made up to resemble him very
+closely. If Jeffrey were undisguised the two men would be almost exactly
+alike; which would be very noticeable in any case and suspicious after
+the death of one of them. Therefore Jeffrey would have to be disguised
+in some way; and what disguise could be simpler and more effective than
+the one that I suggest was used?
+</p>
+<p>
+"Again; it was unavoidable that some one&mdash;the cabman&mdash;should know that
+Jeffrey was not alone when he came to the inn that night. If the fact
+had leaked out and it had become known that a man had accompanied him to
+his chambers, some suspicion might have arisen, and that suspicion would
+have pointed to John, who was directly interested in his brother's
+death. But if it had transpired that Jeffrey was accompanied by a woman,
+there would have been less suspicion, and that suspicion would not have
+pointed to John Blackmore.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Thus all the general probabilities are in favour of the hypothesis that
+this woman was Jeffrey Blackmore. There is, however, an item of positive
+evidence that strongly supports this view. When I examined the clothing
+of the deceased, I found on the trousers a horizontal crease on each leg
+as if the trousers had been turned up half-way to the knees. This
+appearance is quite understandable if we suppose that the trousers were
+worn under a skirt and were turned up so that they should not be
+accidentally seen. Otherwise it is quite incomprehensible."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Is it not rather strange," said Marchmont, "that Jeffrey should have
+allowed himself to be dressed up in this remarkable manner?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think not," replied Thorndyke. "There is no reason to suppose that he
+knew how he was dressed. You have heard Jervis's description of his
+condition; that of a mere automaton. You know that without his
+spectacles he was practically blind, and that he could not have worn
+them since we found them at the house in Kennington Lane. Probably his
+head was wrapped up in the veil, and the skirt and mantle put on
+afterwards; but, in any case, his condition rendered him practically
+devoid of will power. That is all the evidence I have to prove that the
+unknown woman was Jeffrey. It is not conclusive but it is convincing
+enough for our purpose, seeing that the case against John Blackmore does
+not depend upon it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Your case against him is on the charge of murder, I presume?" said
+Stephen.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Undoubtedly. And you will notice that the statements made by the
+supposed Jeffrey to the porter, hinting at suicide, are now important
+evidence. By the light of what we know, the announcement of intended
+suicide becomes the announcement of intended murder. It conclusively
+disproves what it was intended to prove; that Jeffrey died by his own
+hand."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, I see that," said Stephen, and then after a pause he asked: "Did
+you identify Mrs. Schallibaum? You have told us nothing about her."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I have considered her as being outside the case as far as I am
+concerned," replied Thorndyke. "She was an accessory; my business was
+with the principal. But, of course, she will be swept up in the net. The
+evidence that convicts John Blackmore will convict her. I have not
+troubled about her identity. If John Blackmore is married, she is
+probably his wife. Do you happen to know if he is married?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes; but Mrs. John Blackmore is not much like Mrs. Schallibaum,
+excepting that she has a cast in the left eye. She is a dark woman with
+very heavy eyebrows."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is to say that she differs from Mrs. Schallibaum in those
+peculiarities that can be artificially changed and resembles her in the
+one feature that is unchangeable. Do you know if her Christian name
+happens to be Pauline?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, it is. She was a Miss Pauline Hagenbeck, a member of an American
+theatrical company. What made you ask?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"The name which Jervis heard poor Jeffrey struggling to pronounce seemed
+to me to resemble Pauline more than any other name."
+</p>
+<p>
+"There is one little point that strikes me," said Marchmont. "Is it not
+rather remarkable that the porter should have noticed no difference
+between the body of Jeffrey and the living man whom he knew by sight,
+and who must, after all, have been distinctly different in appearance?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am glad you raised that question," Thorndyke replied, "for that very
+difficulty presented itself to me at the beginning of the case. But on
+thinking it over, I decided that it was an imaginary difficulty,
+assuming, as we do, that there was a good deal of resemblance between
+the two men. Put yourself in the porter's place and follow his mental
+processes. He is informed that a dead man is lying on the bed in Mr.
+Blackmore's rooms. Naturally, he assumes that the dead man is Mr.
+Blackmore&mdash;who, by the way, had hinted at suicide only the night before.
+With this idea he enters the chambers and sees a man a good deal like
+Mr. Blackmore and wearing Mr. Blackmore's clothes, lying on Mr.
+Blackmore's bed. The idea that the body could be that of some other
+person has never entered his mind. If he notes any difference of
+appearance he will put that down to the effects of death; for every one
+knows that a man dead looks somewhat different from the same man alive.
+I take it as evidence of great acuteness on the part of John Blackmore
+that he should have calculated so cleverly, not only the mental process
+of the porter, but the erroneous reasoning which every one would base on
+the porter's conclusions. For, since the body was actually Jeffrey's,
+and was identified by the porter as that of his tenant, it has been
+assumed by every one that no question was possible as to the identity of
+Jeffrey Blackmore and the tenant of New Inn."
+</p>
+<p>
+There was a brief silence, and then Marchmont asked:
+</p>
+<p>
+"May we take it that we have now heard all the evidence?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes," replied Thorndyke. "That is my case."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Have you given information to the police?" Stephen asked eagerly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes. As soon as I had obtained the statement of the cabman, Ridley, and
+felt that I had enough evidence to secure a conviction, I called at
+Scotland Yard and had an interview with the Assistant Commissioner. The
+case is in the hands of Superintendent Miller of the Criminal
+Investigation Department, a most acute and energetic officer. I have
+been expecting to hear that the warrant has been executed, for Mr.
+Miller is usually very punctilious in keeping me informed of the
+progress of the cases to which I introduce him. We shall hear to-morrow,
+no doubt."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And, for the present," said Marchmont, "the case seems to have passed
+out of our hands."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I shall enter a caveat, all the same," said Mr. Winwood.
+</p>
+<p>
+"That doesn't seem very necessary," Marchmont objected. "The evidence
+that we have heard is amply sufficient to ensure a conviction and there
+will be plenty more when the police go into the case. And a conviction
+on the charges of forgery and murder would, of course, invalidate the
+second will."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I shall enter a caveat, all the same," repeated Mr. Winwood.
+</p>
+<p>
+As the two partners showed a disposition to become heated over this
+question, Thorndyke suggested that they might discuss it at leisure by
+the light of subsequent events. Acting on this hint&mdash;for it was now
+close upon midnight&mdash;our visitors prepared to depart; and were, in fact,
+just making their way towards the door when the bell rang. Thorndyke
+flung open the door, and, as he recognized his visitor, greeted him with
+evident satisfaction.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Ha! Mr. Miller; we were just speaking of you. These gentlemen are Mr.
+Stephen Blackmore and his solicitors, Mr. Marchmont and Mr. Winwood. You
+know Dr. Jervis, I think."
+</p>
+<p>
+The officer bowed to our friends and remarked:
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am just in time, it seems. A few minutes more and I should have
+missed these gentlemen. I don't know what you'll think of my news."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You haven't let that villain escape, I hope," Stephen exclaimed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well," said the Superintendent, "he is out of my hands and yours too;
+and so is the woman. Perhaps I had better tell you what has happened."
+</p>
+<p>
+"If you would be so kind," said Thorndyke, motioning the officer to a
+chair.
+</p>
+<p>
+The superintendent seated himself with the manner of a man who has had a
+long and strenuous day, and forthwith began his story.
+</p>
+<p>
+"As soon as we had your information, we procured a warrant for the
+arrest of both parties, and then I went straight to their flat with
+Inspector Badger and a sergeant. There we learned from the attendant
+that they were away from home and were not expected back until to-day
+about noon. We kept a watch on the premises, and this morning, about the
+time appointed, a man and a woman, answering to the description, arrived
+at the flat. We followed them in and saw them enter the lift, and we
+were going to get into the lift too, when the man pulled the rope, and
+away they went. There was nothing for us to do but run up the stairs,
+which we did as fast as we could race; but they got to their landing
+first, and we were only just in time to see them nip in and shut the
+door. However, it seemed that we had them safe enough, for there was no
+dropping out of the windows at that height; so we sent the sergeant to
+get a locksmith to pick the lock or force the door, while we kept on
+ringing the bell.
+</p>
+<p>
+"About three minutes after the sergeant left, I happened to look out of
+the landing window and saw a hansom pull up opposite the flats. I put my
+head out of the window, and, hang me if I didn't see our two friends
+getting into the cab. It seems that there was a small lift inside the
+flat communicating with the kitchen, and they had slipped down it one at
+a time.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, of course, we raced down the stairs like acrobats, but by the
+time we got to the bottom the cab was off with a fine start. We ran out
+into Victoria Street, and there we could see it half-way down the street
+and going like a chariot race. We managed to pick up another hansom and
+told the cabby to keep the other one in sight, and away we went like the
+very deuce; along Victoria Street and Broad Sanctuary, across Parliament
+Square, over Westminster Bridge and along York Road; we kept the other
+beggar in sight, but we couldn't gain an inch on him. Then we turned
+into Waterloo Station, and, as we were driving up the slope we met
+another hansom coming down; and when the cabby kissed his hand and
+smiled at us, we guessed that he was the sportsman we had been
+following.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But there was no time to ask questions. It is an awkward station with a
+lot of different exits, and it looked a good deal as if our quarry had
+got away. However, I took a chance. I remembered that the Southampton
+express was due to start about this time, and I took a short cut across
+the lines and made for the platform that it starts from. Just as Badger
+and I got to the end, about thirty yards from the rear of the train, we
+saw a man and a woman running in front of us. Then the guard blew his
+whistle and the train began to move. The man and the woman managed to
+scramble into one of the rear compartments and Badger and I raced up the
+platform like mad. A porter tried to head us off, but Badger capsized
+him and we both sprinted harder than ever, and just hopped on the
+foot-board of the guard's van as the train began to get up speed. The
+guard couldn't risk putting us off, so he had to let us into his van,
+which suited us exactly, as we could watch the train on both sides from
+the look-out. And we did watch, I can tell you; for our friend in front
+had seen us. His head was out of the window as we climbed on to the
+foot-board.
+</p>
+<p>
+"However, nothing happened until we stopped at Southampton West. There,
+I need not say, we lost no time in hopping out, for we naturally
+expected our friends to make a rush for the exit. But they didn't.
+Badger watched the platform, and I kept a look-out to see that they
+didn't slip away across the line from the off-side. But still there was
+no sign of them. Then I walked up the train to the compartment which I
+had seen them enter. And there they were, apparently fast asleep in the
+corner by the off-side window, the man leaning back with his mouth open
+and the woman resting against him with her head on his shoulder. She
+gave me quite a turn when I went in to look at them, for she had her
+eyes half-closed and seemed to be looking round at me with a most
+horrible expression; but I found afterwards that the peculiar appearance
+of looking round was due to the cast in her eye."
+</p>
+<p>
+"They were dead, I suppose?" said Thorndyke.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, sir. Stone dead; and I found these on the floor of the carriage."
+</p>
+<p>
+He held up two tiny yellow glass tubes, each labelled "Hypodermic
+tabloids. Aconitine Nitrate gr. 1/640."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Ha!" exclaimed Thorndyke, "this fellow was well up in alkaloidal
+poisons, it seems; and they appear to have gone about prepared for
+emergencies. These tubes each contained twenty tabloids, a thirty-second
+of a grain altogether, so we may assume that about twelve times the
+medicinal dose was swallowed. Death must have occurred in a few minutes,
+and a merciful death too."
+</p>
+<p>
+"A more merciful death than they deserved," exclaimed Stephen, "when one
+thinks of the misery and suffering that they inflicted on poor old uncle
+Jeffrey. I would sooner have had them hanged."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It's better as it is, sir," said Miller. "There is no need, now, to
+raise any questions in detail at the inquest. The publicity of a trial
+for murder would have been very unpleasant for you. I wish Dr. Jervis
+had given the tip to me instead of to that confounded,
+over-cautious&mdash;but there, I mustn't run down my brother officers: and
+it's easy to be wise after the event.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Good night, gentlemen. I suppose this accident disposes of your
+business as far as the will is concerned?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I suppose it does," agreed Mr. Winwood. "But I shall enter a caveat,
+all the same."
+</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<center>
+THE END
+</center>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Mystery of 31 New Inn, by R. Austin Freeman
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+Project Gutenberg's The Mystery of 31 New Inn, by R. Austin Freeman
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Mystery of 31 New Inn
+
+Author: R. Austin Freeman
+
+Release Date: April 28, 2004 [EBook #12187]
+Last updated: February 3, 2011
+Last updated: November 25, 1012
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MYSTERY OF 31 NEW INN ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Steven desJardins and Distributed Proofreaders
+
+
+
+
+
+THE MYSTERY OF 31 NEW INN
+
+BY R. AUSTIN FREEMAN
+
+Author of "The Red Thumb Mark,"
+"The Eye of Osiris," etc.
+
+
+
+
+TO MY FRIEND
+
+BERNARD E. BISHOP
+
+
+
+
+Preface
+
+
+Commenting upon one of my earlier novels, in respect of which I had
+claimed to have been careful to adhere to common probabilities and to
+have made use only of really practicable methods of investigation, a
+critic remarked that this was of no consequence whatever, so long as the
+story was amusing.
+
+Few people, I imagine, will agree with him. To most readers, and
+certainly to the kind of reader for whom an author is willing to take
+trouble, complete realism in respect of incidents and methods is an
+essential factor in maintaining the interest of a detective story. Hence
+it may be worth while to mention that Thorndyke's method of producing
+the track chart, described in Chapters II and III, has been actually
+used in practice. It is a modification of one devised by me many years
+ago when I was crossing Ashanti to the city of Bontuku, the whereabouts
+of which in the far interior was then only vaguely known. My
+instructions were to fix the positions of all towns, villages, rivers
+and mountains as accurately as possible; but finding ordinary methods of
+surveying impracticable in the dense forest which covers the whole
+region, I adopted this simple and apparently rude method, checking the
+distances whenever possible by astronomical observation.
+
+The resulting route-map was surprisingly accurate, as shown by the
+agreement of the outward and homeward tracks, It was published by the
+Royal Geographical Society, and incorporated in the map of this region
+compiled by the Intelligence Branch of the War Office, and it formed the
+basis of the map which accompanied my volume of <i>Travels in Ashanti and
+Jaman</i>. So that Thorndyke's plan must be taken as quite a practicable
+one.
+
+New Inn, the background of this story, and one of the last surviving
+inns of Chancery, has recently passed away after upwards of four
+centuries of newness. Even now, however, a few of the old, dismantled
+houses (including perhaps, the mysterious 31) may be seen from the
+Strand peeping over the iron roof of the skating rink which has
+displaced the picturesque hall, the pension-room and the garden. The
+postern gate, too, in Houghton Street still remains, though the arch is
+bricked up inside. Passing it lately, I made the rough sketch which
+appears on next page, and which shows all that is left of this pleasant
+old London backwater.
+
+R. A. F.
+
+GRAVESEND
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: New Inn]
+
+
+
+
+Contents
+
+
+CHAPTER.
+
+   I  THE MYSTERIOUS PATIENT
+  II  THORNDYKE DEVISES A SCHEME
+ III  "A CHIEL'S AMANG YE TAKIN' NOTES"
+  IV  THE OFFICIAL VIEW
+   V  JEFFREY BLACKMORE'S WILL
+  VI  JEFFREY BLACKMORE, DECEASED
+ VII  THE CUNEIFORM INSCRIPTION
+VIII THE TRACK CHART
+  IX  THE HOUSE OF MYSTERY
+   X  THE HUNTER HUNTED
+  XI  THE BLACKMORE CASE REVIEWED
+ XII  THE PORTRAIT
+XIII  THE STATEMENT OF SAMUEL WILKINS
+ XIV  THORNDYKE LAYS THE MINE
+  XV  THORNDYKE EXPLODES THE MINE
+ XVI  AN EXPOSITION AND A TRAGEDY
+
+
+
+
+Chapter I
+
+The Mysterious Patient
+
+
+As I look back through the years of my association with John Thorndyke,
+I am able to recall a wealth of adventures and strange experiences such
+as falls to the lot of very few men who pass their lives within hearing
+of Big Ben. Many of these experiences I have already placed on record;
+but it now occurs to me that I have hitherto left unrecorded one that
+is, perhaps, the most astonishing and incredible of the whole series; an
+adventure, too, that has for me the added interest that it inaugurated
+my permanent association with my learned and talented friend, and marked
+the close of a rather unhappy and unprosperous period of my life.
+
+Memory, retracing the journey through the passing years to the
+starting-point of those strange events, lands me in a shabby little
+ground-floor room in a house near the Walworth end of Lower Kennington
+Lane. A couple of framed diplomas on the wall, a card of Snellen's
+test-types and a stethoscope lying on the writing-table, proclaim it a
+doctor's consulting-room; and my own position in the round-backed chair
+at the said table, proclaims me the practitioner in charge.
+
+It was nearly nine o'clock. The noisy little clock on the mantelpiece
+announced the fact, and, by its frantic ticking, seemed as anxious as I
+to get the consultation hours over. I glanced wistfully at my
+mud-splashed boots and wondered if I might yet venture to assume the
+slippers that peeped coyly from under the shabby sofa. I even allowed my
+thoughts to wander to the pipe that reposed in my coat pocket. Another
+minute and I could turn down the surgery gas and shut the outer door.
+The fussy little clock gave a sort of preliminary cough or hiccup, as if
+it should say: "Ahem! ladies and gentlemen, I am about to strike." And
+at that moment, the bottle-boy opened the door and, thrusting in his
+head, uttered the one word: "Gentleman."
+
+Extreme economy of words is apt to result in ambiguity. But I
+understood. In Kennington Lane, the race of mere men and women appeared
+to be extinct. They were all gentlemen--unless they were ladies or
+children--even as the Liberian army was said to consist entirely of
+generals. Sweeps, labourers, milkmen, costermongers--all were
+impartially invested by the democratic bottle-boy with the rank and
+title of <i>armigeri</i>. The present nobleman appeared to favour the
+aristocratic recreation of driving a cab or job-master's carriage, and,
+as he entered the room, he touched his hat, closed the door somewhat
+carefully, and then, without remark, handed me a note which bore the
+superscription "Dr. Stillbury."
+
+"You understand," I said, as I prepared to open the envelope, "that I
+am not Dr. Stillbury. He is away at present and I am looking after his
+patients."
+
+"It doesn't signify," the man replied. "You'll do as well."
+
+On this, I opened the envelope and read the note, which was quite brief,
+and, at first sight, in no way remarkable.
+
+"DEAR SIR," it ran, "Would you kindly come and see a friend of mine who
+is staying with me? The bearer of this will give you further particulars
+and convey you to the house. Yours truly, H. WEISS."
+
+There was no address on the paper and no date, and the writer was
+unknown to me.
+
+"This note," I said, "refers to some further particulars. What are
+they?"
+
+The messenger passed his hand over his hair with a gesture of
+embarrassment. "It's a ridicklus affair," he said, with a contemptuous
+laugh. "If I had been Mr. Weiss, I wouldn't have had nothing to do with
+it. The sick gentleman, Mr. Graves, is one of them people what can't
+abear doctors. He's been ailing now for a week or two, but nothing would
+induce him to see a doctor. Mr. Weiss did everything he could to
+persuade him, but it was no go. He wouldn't. However, it seems Mr. Weiss
+threatened to send for a medical man on his own account, because, you
+see, he was getting a bit nervous; and then Mr. Graves gave way. But
+only on one condition. He said the doctor was to come from a distance
+and was not to be told who he was or where he lived or anything about
+him; and he made Mr. Weiss promise to keep to that condition before he'd
+let him send. So Mr. Weiss promised, and, of course, he's got to keep
+his word."
+
+"But," I said, with a smile, "you've just told me his name--if his name
+really is Graves."
+
+"You can form your own opinion on that," said the coachman.
+
+"And," I added, "as to not being told where he lives, I can see that for
+myself. I'm not blind, you know."
+
+"We'll take the risk of what you see," the man replied. "The question
+is, will you take the job on?"
+
+Yes; that was the question, and I considered it for some time before
+replying. We medical men are pretty familiar with the kind of person who
+"can't abear doctors," and we like to have as little to do with him as
+possible. He is a thankless and unsatisfactory patient. Intercourse with
+him is unpleasant, he gives a great deal of trouble and responds badly
+to treatment. If this had been my own practice, I should have declined
+the case off-hand. But it was not my practice. I was only a deputy. I
+could not lightly refuse work which would yield a profit to my
+principal, unpleasant though it might be.
+
+As I turned the matter over in my mind, I half unconsciously scrutinized
+my visitor--somewhat to his embarrassment--and I liked his appearance
+as little as I liked his mission. He kept his station near the door,
+where the light was dim--for the illumination was concentrated on the
+table and the patient's chair--but I could see that he had a somewhat
+sly, unprepossessing face and a greasy, red moustache that seemed out of
+character with his rather perfunctory livery; though this was mere
+prejudice. He wore a wig, too--not that there was anything discreditable
+in that--and the thumb-nail of the hand that held his hat bore
+disfiguring traces of some injury--which, again, though unsightly, in no
+wise reflected on his moral character. Lastly, he watched me keenly with
+a mixture of anxiety and sly complacency that I found distinctly
+unpleasant. In a general way, he impressed me disagreeably. I did not
+like the look of him at all; but nevertheless I decided to undertake the
+case.
+
+"I suppose," I answered, at length, "it is no affair of mine who the
+patient is or where he lives. But how do you propose to manage the
+business? Am I to be led to the house blindfolded, like the visitor to
+the bandit's cave?"
+
+The man grinned slightly and looked very decidedly relieved.
+
+"No, sir," he answered; "we ain't going to blindfold you. I've got a
+carriage outside. I don't think you'll see much out of that."
+
+"Very well," I rejoined, opening the door to let him out, "I'll be with
+you in a minute. I suppose you can't give me any idea as to what is the
+matter with the patient?"
+
+"No, sir, I can't," he replied; and he went out to see to the carriage.
+
+I slipped into a bag an assortment of emergency drugs and a few
+diagnostic instruments, turned down the gas and passed out through the
+surgery. The carriage was standing at the kerb, guarded by the coachman
+and watched with deep interest by the bottle-boy. I viewed it with
+mingled curiosity and disfavour. It was a kind of large brougham, such
+as is used by some commercial travellers, the usual glass windows being
+replaced by wooden shutters intended to conceal the piles of
+sample-boxes, and the doors capable of being locked from outside with a
+railway key.
+
+As I emerged from the house, the coachman unlocked the door and held it
+open.
+
+"How long will the journey take?" I asked, pausing with my foot on the
+step.
+
+The coachman considered a moment or two and replied:
+
+"It took me, I should say, nigh upon half an hour to get here."
+
+This was pleasant hearing. A half an hour each way and a half an hour at
+the patient's house. At that rate it would be half-past ten before I was
+home again, and then it was quite probable that I should find some other
+untimely messenger waiting on the doorstep. With a muttered anathema on
+the unknown Mr. Graves and the unrestful life of a locum tenens, I
+stepped into the uninviting vehicle. Instantly the coachman slammed the
+door and turned the key, leaving me in total darkness.
+
+One comfort was left to me; my pipe was in my pocket. I made shift to
+load it in the dark, and, having lit it with a wax match, took the
+opportunity to inspect the interior of my prison. It was a shabby
+affair. The moth-eaten state of the blue cloth cushions seemed to
+suggest that it had been long out of regular use; the oil-cloth
+floor-covering was worn into holes; ordinary internal fittings there
+were none. But the appearances suggested that the crazy vehicle had been
+prepared with considerable forethought for its present use. The inside
+handles of the doors had apparently been removed; the wooden shutters
+were permanently fixed in their places; and a paper label, stuck on the
+transom below each window, had a suspicious appearance of having been
+put there to cover the painted name and address of the job-master or
+livery-stable keeper who had originally owned the carriage.
+
+These observations gave me abundant food for reflection. This Mr. Weiss
+must be an excessively conscientious man if he had considered that his
+promise to Mr. Graves committed him to such extraordinary precautions.
+Evidently no mere following of the letter of the law was enough to
+satisfy his sensitive conscience. Unless he had reasons for sharing Mr.
+Graves's unreasonable desire for secrecy--for one could not suppose that
+these measures of concealment had been taken by the patient himself.
+
+The further suggestions that evolved themselves from this consideration
+were a little disquieting. Whither was I being carried and for what
+purpose? The idea that I was bound for some den of thieves where I
+might be robbed and possibly murdered, I dismissed with a smile. Thieves
+do not make elaborately concerted plans to rob poor devils like me.
+Poverty has its compensations in that respect. But there were other
+possibilities. Imagination backed by experience had no difficulty in
+conjuring up a number of situations in which a medical man might be
+called upon, with or without coercion, either to witness or actively to
+participate in the commission of some unlawful act.
+
+Reflections of this kind occupied me pretty actively if not very
+agreeably during this strange journey. And the monotony was relieved,
+too, by other distractions. I was, for example, greatly interested to
+notice how, when one sense is in abeyance, the other senses rouse into a
+compensating intensity of perception. I sat smoking my pipe in darkness
+which was absolute save for the dim glow from the smouldering tobacco in
+the bowl, and seemed to be cut off from all knowledge of the world
+without. But yet I was not. The vibrations of the carriage, with its
+hard springs and iron-tired wheels, registered accurately and plainly
+the character of the roadway. The harsh rattle of granite setts, the
+soft bumpiness of macadam, the smooth rumble of wood-pavement, the
+jarring and swerving of crossed tram-lines; all were easily recognizable
+and together sketched the general features of the neighbourhood through
+which I was passing. And the sense of hearing filled in the details. Now
+the hoot of a tug's whistle told of proximity to the river. A sudden
+and brief hollow reverberation announced the passage under a railway
+arch (which, by the way, happened several times during the journey);
+and, when I heard the familiar whistle of a railway-guard followed by
+the quick snorts of a skidding locomotive, I had as clear a picture of a
+heavy passenger-train moving out of a station as if I had seen it in
+broad daylight.
+
+I had just finished my pipe and knocked out the ashes on the heel of my
+boot, when the carriage slowed down and entered a covered way--as I
+could tell by the hollow echoes. Then I distinguished the clang of heavy
+wooden gates closed behind me, and a moment or two later the carriage
+door was unlocked and opened. I stepped out blinking into a covered
+passage paved with cobbles and apparently leading down to a mews; but it
+was all in darkness, and I had no time to make any detailed
+observations, as the carriage had drawn up opposite a side door which
+was open and in which stood a woman holding a lighted candle.
+
+"Is that the doctor?" she asked, speaking with a rather pronounced
+German accent and shading the candle with her hand as she peered at me.
+
+I answered in the affirmative, and she then exclaimed:
+
+"I am glad you have come. Mr. Weiss will be so relieved. Come in,
+please."
+
+I followed her across a dark passage into a dark room, where she set the
+candle down on a chest of drawers and turned to depart. At the door,
+however, she paused and looked back.
+
+"It is not a very nice room to ask you into," she said. "We are very
+untidy just now, but you must excuse us. We have had so much anxiety
+about poor Mr. Graves."
+
+"He has been ill some time, then?"
+
+"Yes. Some little time. At intervals, you know. Sometimes better,
+sometimes not so well."
+
+As she spoke, she gradually backed out into the passage but did not go
+away at once. I accordingly pursued my inquiries.
+
+"He has not been seen by any doctor, has he?"
+
+"No," she answered, "he has always refused to see a doctor. That has
+been a great trouble to us. Mr. Weiss has been very anxious about him.
+He will be so glad to hear that you have come. I had better go and tell
+him. Perhaps you will kindly sit down until he is able to come to you,"
+and with this she departed on her mission.
+
+It struck me as a little odd that, considering his anxiety and the
+apparent urgency of the case, Mr. Weiss should not have been waiting to
+receive me. And when several minutes elapsed without his appearing, the
+oddness of the circumstance impressed me still more. Having no desire,
+after the journey in the carriage, to sit down, I whiled away the time
+by an inspection of the room. And a very curious room it was; bare,
+dirty, neglected and, apparently, unused. A faded carpet had been flung
+untidily on the floor. A small, shabby table stood in the middle of the
+room; and beyond this, three horsehair-covered chairs and a chest of
+drawers formed the entire set of furniture. No pictures hung on the
+mouldy walls, no curtains covered the shuttered windows, and the dark
+drapery of cobwebs that hung from the ceiling to commemorate a long and
+illustrious dynasty of spiders hinted at months of neglect and disuse.
+
+The chest of drawers--an incongruous article of furniture for what
+seemed to be a dining-room--as being the nearest and best lighted object
+received most of my attention. It was a fine old chest of nearly black
+mahogany, very battered and in the last stage of decay, but originally a
+piece of some pretensions. Regretful of its fallen estate, I looked it
+over with some interest and had just observed on its lower corner a
+little label bearing the printed inscription "Lot 201" when I heard
+footsteps descending the stairs. A moment later the door opened and a
+shadowy figure appeared standing close by the threshold.
+
+"Good evening, doctor," said the stranger, in a deep, quiet voice and
+with a distinct, though not strong, German accent. "I must apologize for
+keeping you waiting."
+
+I acknowledged the apology somewhat stiffly and asked: "You are Mr.
+Weiss, I presume?"
+
+"Yes, I am Mr. Weiss. It is very good of you to come so far and so late
+at night and to make no objection to the absurd conditions that my poor
+friend has imposed."
+
+"Not at all," I replied. "It is my business to go when and where I am
+wanted, and it is not my business to inquire into the private affairs of
+my patients."
+
+"That is very true, sir," he agreed cordially, "and I am much obliged
+to you for taking that very proper view of the case. I pointed that out
+to my friend, but he is not a very reasonable man. He is very secretive
+and rather suspicious by nature."
+
+"So I inferred. And as to his condition; is he seriously ill?"
+
+"Ah," said Mr. Weiss, "that is what I want you to tell me. I am very
+much puzzled about him."
+
+"But what is the nature of his illness? What does he complain of?"
+
+"He makes very few complaints of any kind although he is obviously ill.
+But the fact is that he is hardly ever more than half awake. He lies in
+a kind of dreamy stupor from morning to night."
+
+This struck me as excessively strange and by no means in agreement with
+the patient's energetic refusal to see a doctor.
+
+"But," I asked, "does he never rouse completely?"
+
+"Oh, yes," Mr. Weiss answered quickly; "he rouses from time to time and
+is then quite rational, and, as you may have gathered, rather obstinate.
+That is the peculiar and puzzling feature in the case; this alternation
+between a state of stupor and an almost normal and healthy condition.
+But perhaps you had better see him and judge for yourself. He had a
+rather severe attack just now. Follow me, please. The stairs are rather
+dark."
+
+The stairs were very dark, and I noticed that they were without any
+covering of carpet, or even oil-cloth, so that our footsteps resounded
+dismally as if we were in an empty house. I stumbled up after my guide,
+feeling my way by the hand-rail, and on the first floor followed him
+into a room similar in size to the one below and very barely furnished,
+though less squalid than the other. A single candle at the farther end
+threw its feeble light on a figure in the bed, leaving the rest of the
+room in a dim twilight.
+
+As Mr. Weiss tiptoed into the chamber, a woman--the one who had spoken
+to me below--rose from a chair by the bedside and quietly left the room
+by a second door. My conductor halted, and looking fixedly at the figure
+in the bed, called out:
+
+"Philip! Philip! Here is the doctor come to see you."
+
+He paused for a moment or two, and, receiving no answer, said: "He seems
+to be dozing as usual. Will you go and see what you can make of him?"
+
+I stepped forward to the bedside, leaving Mr. Weiss at the end of the
+room near the door by which we had entered, where he remained, slowly
+and noiselessly pacing backwards and forwards in the semi-obscurity. By
+the light of the candle I saw an elderly man with good features and a
+refined, intelligent and even attractive face, but dreadfully emaciated,
+bloodless and sallow. He lay quite motionless except for the scarcely
+perceptible rise and fall of his chest; his eyes were nearly closed, his
+features relaxed, and, though he was not actually asleep, he seemed to
+be in a dreamy, somnolent, lethargic state, as if under the influence of
+some narcotic.
+
+I watched him for a minute or so, timing his slow breathing by my
+watch, and then suddenly and sharply addressed him by name; but the only
+response was a slight lifting of the eyelids, which, after a brief,
+drowsy glance at me, slowly subsided to their former position.
+
+I now proceeded to make a physical examination. First, I felt his pulse,
+grasping his wrist with intentional brusqueness in the hope of rousing
+him from his stupor. The beats were slow, feeble and slightly irregular,
+giving clear evidence, if any were needed, of his generally lowered
+vitality. I listened carefully to his heart, the sounds of which were
+very distinct through the thin walls of his emaciated chest, but found
+nothing abnormal beyond the feebleness and uncertainty of its action.
+Then I turned my attention to his eyes, which I examined closely with
+the aid of the candle and my ophthalmoscope lens, raising the lids
+somewhat roughly so as to expose the whole of the irises. He submitted
+without resistance to my rather ungentle handling of these sensitive
+structures, and showed no signs of discomfort even when I brought the
+candle-flame to within a couple of inches of his eyes.
+
+But this extraordinary tolerance of light was easily explained by closer
+examination; for the pupils were contracted to such an extreme degree
+that only the very minutest point of black was visible at the centre of
+the grey iris. Nor was this the only abnormal peculiarity of the sick
+man's eyes. As he lay on his back, the right iris sagged down slightly
+towards its centre, showing a distinctly concave surface; and, when I
+contrived to produce a slight but quick movement of the eyeball, a
+perceptible undulatory movement could be detected. The patient had, in
+fact, what is known as a tremulous iris, a condition that is seen in
+cases where the crystalline lens has been extracted for the cure of
+cataract, or where it has become accidentally displaced, leaving the
+iris unsupported. In the present case, the complete condition of the
+iris made it clear that the ordinary extraction operation had not been
+performed, nor was I able, on the closest inspection with the aid of my
+lens, to find any trace of the less common "needle operation." The
+inference was that the patient had suffered from the accident known as
+"dislocation of the lens"; and this led to the further inference that he
+was almost or completely blind in the right eye.
+
+This conclusion was, indeed, to some extent negatived by a deep
+indentation on the bridge of the nose, evidently produced by spectacles,
+and by marks which I looked for and found behind the ears, corresponding
+to the hooks or "curl sides" of the glasses. For those spectacles which
+are fitted with curl sides to hook over the ears are usually intended to
+be worn habitually, and this agreed with the indentation on the nose;
+which was deeper than would have been accounted for by the merely
+occasional use of spectacles for reading. But if only one eye was
+useful, a single eye-glass would have answered the purpose; not that
+there was any weight in this objection, for a single eye-glass worn
+constantly would be much less convenient than a pair of hook-sided
+spectacles.
+
+As to the nature of the patient's illness, only one opinion seemed
+possible. It was a clear and typical case of opium or morphine
+poisoning. To this conclusion all his symptoms seemed to point with
+absolute certainty. The coated tongue, which he protruded slowly and
+tremulously in response to a command bawled in his ear; his yellow skin
+and ghastly expression; his contracted pupils and the stupor from which
+he could hardly be roused by the roughest handling and which yet did not
+amount to actual insensibility; all these formed a distinct and coherent
+group of symptoms, not only pointing plainly to the nature of the drug,
+but also suggesting a very formidable dose.
+
+But this conclusion in its turn raised a very awkward and difficult
+question. If a large--a poisonous--dose of the drug had been taken, how,
+and by whom had that dose been administered? The closest scrutiny of
+the patient's arms and legs failed to reveal a single mark such as would
+be made by a hypodermic needle. This man was clearly no common
+morphinomaniac; and in the absence of the usual sprinkling of
+needlemarks, there was nothing to show or suggest whether the drug had
+been taken voluntarily by the patient himself or administered by someone
+else.
+
+And then there remained the possibility that I might, after all, be
+mistaken in my diagnosis. I felt pretty confident. But the wise man
+always holds a doubt in reserve. And, in the present case, having regard
+to the obviously serious condition of the patient, such a doubt was
+eminently disturbing. Indeed, as I pocketed my stethoscope and took a
+last look at the motionless, silent figure, I realized that my position
+was one of extraordinary difficulty and perplexity. On the one hand my
+suspicions--aroused, naturally enough, by the very unusual circumstances
+that surrounded my visit--inclined me to extreme reticence; while, on
+the other, it was evidently my duty to give any information that might
+prove serviceable to the patient.
+
+As I turned away from the bed Mr. Weiss stopped his slow pacing to and
+fro and faced me. The feeble light of the candle now fell on him, and I
+saw him distinctly for the first time. He did not impress me favourably.
+He was a thick-set, round-shouldered man, a typical fair German with
+tow-coloured hair, greased and brushed down smoothly, a large, ragged,
+sandy beard and coarse, sketchy features. His nose was large and thick
+with a bulbous end, and inclined to a reddish purple, a tint which
+extended to the adjacent parts of his face as if the colour had run. His
+eyebrows were large and beetling, overhanging deep-set eyes, and he wore
+a pair of spectacles which gave him a somewhat owlish expression. His
+exterior was unprepossessing, and I was in a state of mind that rendered
+me easily receptive of an unfavourable impression.
+
+"Well," he said, "what do you make of him?" I hesitated, still perplexed
+by the conflicting necessities of caution and frankness, but at length
+replied:
+
+"I think rather badly of him, Mr. Weiss. He is in a very low state."
+
+"Yes, I can see that. But have you come to any decision as to the nature
+of his illness?"
+
+There was a tone of anxiety and suppressed eagerness in the question
+which, while it was natural enough in the circumstances, by no means
+allayed my suspicions, but rather influenced me on the side of caution.
+
+"I cannot give a very definite opinion at present," I replied guardedly.
+"The symptoms are rather obscure and might very well indicate several
+different conditions. They might be due to congestion of the brain, and,
+if no other explanation were possible, I should incline to that view.
+The alternative is some narcotic poison, such as opium or morphia."
+
+"But that is quite impossible. There is no such drug in the house, and
+as he never leaves his room now, he could not get any from outside."
+
+"What about the servants?" I asked.
+
+"There are no servants excepting my housekeeper, and she is absolutely
+trustworthy."
+
+"He might have some store of the drug that you are not aware of. Is he
+left alone much?"
+
+"Very seldom indeed. I spend as much time with him as I can, and when I
+am not able to be in the room, Mrs Schallibaum, my housekeeper, sits
+with him."
+
+"Is he often as drowsy as he is now?"
+
+"Oh, very often; in fact, I should say that is his usual condition. He
+rouses up now and again, and then he is quite lucid and natural for,
+perhaps, an hour or so; but presently he becomes drowsy again and doses
+off, and remains asleep, or half asleep, for hours on end. Do you know
+of any disease that takes people in that way?"
+
+"No," I answered. "The symptoms are not exactly like those of any
+disease that is known to me. But they are much very like those of opium
+poisoning."
+
+"But, my dear sir," Mr. Weiss retorted impatiently, "since it is clearly
+impossible that it can be opium poisoning, it must be something else.
+Now, what else can it be? You were speaking of congestion of the brain."
+
+"Yes. But the objection to that is the very complete recovery that seems
+to take place in the intervals."
+
+"I would not say very complete," said Mr. Weiss. "The recovery is rather
+comparative. He is lucid and fairly natural in his manner, but he is
+still dull and lethargic. He does not, for instance, show any desire to
+go out, or even to leave his room."
+
+I pondered uncomfortably on these rather contradictory statements.
+Clearly Mr. Weiss did not mean to entertain the theory of opium
+poisoning; which was natural enough if he had no knowledge of the drug
+having been used. But still--
+
+"I suppose," said Mr. Weiss, "you have experience of sleeping sickness?"
+
+The suggestion startled me. I had not. Very few people had. At that time
+practically nothing was known about the disease. It was a mere
+pathological curiosity, almost unheard of excepting by a few
+practitioners in remote parts of Africa, and hardly referred to in the
+text-books. Its connection with the trypanosome-bearing insects was as
+yet unsuspected, and, to me, its symptoms were absolutely unknown.
+
+"No, I have not," I replied. "The disease is nothing more than a name to
+me. But why do you ask? Has Mr. Graves been abroad?"
+
+"Yes. He has been travelling for the last three or four years, and I
+know that he spent some time recently in West Africa, where this disease
+occurs. In fact, it was from him that I first heard about it."
+
+This was a new fact. It shook my confidence in my diagnosis very
+considerably, and inclined me to reconsider my suspicions. If Mr. Weiss
+was lying to me, he now had me at a decided disadvantage.
+
+"What do you think?" he asked. "Is it possible that this can be sleeping
+sickness?"
+
+"I should not like to say that it is impossible," I replied. "The
+disease is practically unknown to me. I have never practised out of
+England and have had no occasion to study it. Until I have looked the
+subject up, I should not be in a position to give an opinion. Of course,
+if I could see Mr. Graves in one of what we may call his 'lucid
+intervals' I should be able to form a better idea. Do you think that
+could be managed?"
+
+"It might. I see the importance of it and will certainly do my best; but
+he is a difficult man; a very difficult man. I sincerely hope it is not
+sleeping sickness."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because--as I understood from him--that disease is invariably fatal,
+sooner or later. There seem to be no cure. Do you think you will be able
+to decide when you see him again?"
+
+"I hope so," I replied. "I shall look up the authorities and see exactly
+what the symptoms are--that is, so far as they are known; but my
+impression is that there is very little information available."
+
+"And in the meantime?"
+
+"We will give him some medicine and attend to his general condition, and
+you had better let me see him again as soon as possible." I was about to
+say that the effect of the medicine itself might throw some light on the
+patient's condition, but, as I proposed to treat him for morphine
+poisoning, I thought it wiser to keep this item of information to
+myself. Accordingly, I confined myself to a few general directions as to
+the care of the patient, to which Mr. Weiss listened attentively. "And,"
+I concluded, "we must not lose sight of the opium question. You had
+better search the room carefully and keep a close watch on the patient,
+especially during his intervals of wakefulness."
+
+"Very well, doctor," Mr. Weiss replied, "I will do all that you tell me
+and I will send for you again as soon as possible, if you do not object
+to poor Graves's ridiculous conditions. And now, if you will allow me to
+pay your fee, I will go and order the carriage while you are writing the
+prescription."
+
+"There is no need for a prescription," I said. "I will make up some
+medicine and give it to the coachman."
+
+Mr. Weiss seemed inclined to demur to this arrangement, but I had my own
+reasons for insisting on it. Modern prescriptions are not difficult to
+read, and I did not wish Mr. Weiss to know what treatment the patient
+was having.
+
+As soon as I was left alone, I returned to the bedside and once more
+looked down at the impassive figure. And as I looked, my suspicions
+revived. It was very like morphine poisoning; and, if it was morphine,
+it was no common, medicinal dose that had been given. I opened my bag
+and took out my hypodermic case from which I extracted a little tube of
+atropine tabloids. Shaking out into my hand a couple of the tiny discs,
+I drew down the patient's under-lip and slipped the little tablets under
+his tongue. Then I quickly replaced the tube and dropped the case into
+my bag; and I had hardly done so when the door opened softly and the
+housekeeper entered the room.
+
+"How do you find Mr. Graves?" she asked in what I thought a very
+unnecessarily low tone, considering the patient's lethargic state.
+
+"He seems to be very ill," I answered.
+
+"So!" she rejoined, and added: "I am sorry to hear that. We have been
+anxious about him."
+
+She seated herself on the chair by the bedside, and, shading the candle
+from the patient's face--and her own, too--produced from a bag that hung
+from her waist a half-finished stocking and began to knit silently and
+with the skill characteristic of the German housewife. I looked at her
+attentively (though she was so much in the shadow that I could see her
+but indistinctly) and somehow her appearance prepossessed me as little
+as did that of the other members of the household. Yet she was not an
+ill-looking woman. She had an excellent figure, and the air of a person
+of good social position; her features were good enough and her
+colouring, although a little unusual, was not unpleasant. Like Mr.
+Weiss, she had very fair hair, greased, parted in the middle and brushed
+down as smoothly as the painted hair of a Dutch doll. She appeared to
+have no eyebrows at all--owing, no doubt, to the light colour of the
+hair--and the doll-like character was emphasized by her eyes, which were
+either brown or dark grey, I could not see which. A further peculiarity
+consisted in a "habit spasm," such as one often sees in nervous
+children; a periodical quick jerk of the head, as if a cap-string or
+dangling lock were being shaken off the cheek. Her age I judged to be
+about thirty-five.
+
+The carriage, which one might have expected to be waiting, seemed to
+take some time in getting ready. I sat, with growing impatience,
+listening to the sick man's soft breathing and the click of the
+housekeeper's knitting-needles. I wanted to get home, not only for my
+own sake; the patient's condition made it highly desirable that the
+remedies should be given as quickly as possible. But the minutes dragged
+on, and I was on the point of expostulating when a bell rang on the
+landing.
+
+"The carriage is ready," said Mrs. Schallibaum. "Let me light you down
+the stairs."
+
+She rose, and, taking the candle, preceded me to the head of the stairs,
+where she stood holding the light over the baluster-rail as I descended
+and crossed the passage to the open side door. The carriage was drawn up
+in the covered way as I could see by the faint glimmer of the distant
+candle; which also enabled me dimly to discern the coachman standing
+close by in the shadow. I looked round, rather expecting to see Mr.
+Weiss, but, as he made no appearance, I entered the carriage. The door
+was immediately banged to and locked, and I then heard the heavy bolts
+of the gates withdrawn and the loud creaking of hinges. The carriage
+moved out slowly and stopped; the gates slammed to behind me; I felt the
+lurch as the coachman climbed to his seat and we started forward.
+
+My reflections during the return journey were the reverse of agreeable.
+I could not rid myself of the conviction that I was being involved in
+some very suspicious proceedings. It was possible, of course, that this
+feeling was due to the strange secrecy that surrounded my connection
+with this case; that, had I made my visit under ordinary conditions, I
+might have found in the patient's symptoms nothing to excite suspicion
+or alarm. It might be so, but that consideration did not comfort me.
+
+Then, my diagnosis might be wrong. It might be that this was, in
+reality, a case of some brain affection accompanied by compression, such
+as slow haemorrhage, abscess, tumour or simple congestion. These cases
+were very difficult at times. But the appearances in this one did not
+consistently agree with the symptoms accompanying any of these
+conditions. As to sleeping sickness, it was, perhaps a more hopeful
+suggestion, but I could not decide for or against it until I had more
+knowledge; and against this view was the weighty fact that the symptoms
+did exactly agree with the theory of morphine poisoning.
+
+But even so, there was no conclusive evidence of any criminal act. The
+patient might be a confirmed opium-eater, and the symptoms heightened by
+deliberate deception. The cunning of these unfortunates is proverbial
+and is only equalled by their secretiveness and mendacity. It would be
+quite possible for this man to feign profound stupor so long as he was
+watched, and then, when left alone for a few minutes, to nip out of bed
+and help himself from some secret store of the drug. This would be quite
+in character with his objection to seeing a doctor and his desire for
+secrecy. But still, I did not believe it to be the true explanation. In
+spite of all the various alternative possibilities, my suspicions came
+back to Mr. Weiss and the strange, taciturn woman, and refused to budge.
+
+For all the circumstances of the case were suspicious. The elaborate
+preparations implied by the state of the carriage in which I was
+travelling; the make-shift appearance of the house; the absence of
+ordinary domestic servants, although a coachman was kept; the evident
+desire of Mr. Weiss and the woman to avoid thorough inspection of their
+persons; and, above all, the fact that the former had told me a
+deliberate lie. For he had lied, beyond all doubt. His statement as to
+the almost continuous stupor was absolutely irreconcilable with his
+other statement as to the patient's wilfulness and obstinacy and even
+more irreconcilable with the deep and comparatively fresh marks of the
+spectacles on the patient's nose. That man had certainly worn spectacles
+within twenty-four hours, which he would hardly have done if he had been
+in a state bordering on coma.
+
+My reflections were interrupted by the stopping of the carriage. The
+door was unlocked and thrown open, and I emerged from my dark and stuffy
+prison opposite my own house.
+
+"I will let you have the medicine in a minute or two," I said to the
+coachman; and, as I let myself in with my latch-key, my mind came back
+swiftly from the general circumstances of the case to the very critical
+condition of the patient. Already I was regretting that I had not taken
+more energetic measures to rouse him and restore his flagging vitality;
+for it would be a terrible thing if he should take a turn for the worse
+and die before the coachman returned with the remedies. Spurred on by
+this alarming thought, I made up the medicines quickly and carried the
+hastily wrapped bottles out to the man, whom I found standing by the
+horse's head.
+
+"Get back as quickly as you can," I said, "and tell Mr. Weiss to lose no
+time in giving the patient the draught in the small bottle. The
+directions are on the labels."
+
+The coachman took the packages from me without reply, climbed to his
+seat, touched the horse with his whip and drove off at a rapid pace
+towards Newington Butts.
+
+The little clock in the consulting-room showed that it was close on
+eleven; time for a tired G.P. to be thinking of bed. But I was not
+sleepy. Over my frugal supper I found myself taking up anew the thread
+of my meditations, and afterwards, as I smoked my last pipe by the
+expiring surgery fire, the strange and sinister features of the case
+continued to obtrude themselves on my notice. I looked up Stillbury's
+little reference library for information on the subject of sleeping
+sickness, but learned no more than that it was "a rare and obscure
+disease of which very little was known at present." I read up morphine
+poisoning and was only further confirmed in the belief that my diagnosis
+was correct; which would have been more satisfactory if the
+circumstances had been different.
+
+For the interest of the case was not merely academic. I was in a
+position of great difficulty and responsibility and had to decide on a
+course of action. What ought I to do? Should I maintain the professional
+secrecy to which I was tacitly committed, or ought I to convey a hint to
+the police?
+
+Suddenly, and with a singular feeling of relief, I bethought myself of
+my old friend and fellow-student, John Thorndyke, now an eminent
+authority on Medical Jurisprudence. I had been associated with him
+temporarily in one case as his assistant, and had then been deeply
+impressed by his versatile learning, his acuteness and his marvellous
+resourcefulness. Thorndyke was a barrister in extensive practice, and so
+would be able to tell me at once what was my duty from a legal point of
+view; and, as he was also a doctor of medicine, he would understand the
+exigencies of medical practice. If I could find time to call at the
+Temple and lay the case before him, all my doubts and difficulties would
+be resolved.
+
+Anxiously, I opened my visiting-list to see what kind of day's work was
+in store for me on the morrow. It was not a heavy day, even allowing for
+one or two extra calls in the morning, but yet I was doubtful whether it
+would allow of my going so far from my district, until my eye caught,
+near the foot of the page, the name of Burton. Now Mr. Burton lived in
+one of the old houses on the east side of Bouverie Street, less than
+five minutes' walk from Thorndyke's chambers in King's Bench Walk; and
+he was, moreover, a "chronic" who could safely be left for the last.
+When I had done with Mr. Burton I could look in on my friend with a very
+good chance of catching him on his return from the hospital. I could
+allow myself time for quite a long chat with him, and, by taking a
+hansom, still get back in good time for the evening's work.
+
+This was a great comfort. At the prospect of sharing my responsibilities
+with a friend on whose judgment I could so entirely rely, my
+embarrassments seemed to drop from me in a moment. Having entered the
+engagement in my visiting-list, I rose, in greatly improved spirits, and
+knocked out my pipe just as the little clock banged out impatiently the
+hour of midnight.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter II
+
+Thorndyke Devises a Scheme
+
+
+As I entered the Temple by the Tudor Street gate the aspect of the place
+smote my senses with an air of agreeable familiarity. Here had I spent
+many a delightful hour when working with Thorndyke at the remarkable
+Hornby case, which the newspapers had called "The Case of the Red Thumb
+Mark"; and here had I met the romance of my life, the story whereof is
+told elsewhere. The place was thus endeared to me by pleasant
+recollections of a happy past, and its associations suggested hopes of
+happiness yet to come and in the not too far distant future.
+
+My brisk tattoo on the little brass knocker brought to the door no less
+a person than Thorndyke himself; and the warmth of his greeting made me
+at once proud and ashamed. For I had not only been an absentee; I had
+been a very poor correspondent.
+
+"The prodigal has returned, Polton," he exclaimed, looking into the
+room. "Here is Dr. Jervis."
+
+I followed him into the room and found Polton--his confidential servant,
+laboratory assistant, artificer and general "familiar"--setting out the
+tea-tray on a small table. The little man shook hands cordially with me,
+and his face crinkled up into the sort of smile that one might expect to
+see on a benevolent walnut.
+
+"We've often talked about you, sir," said he. "The doctor was wondering
+only yesterday when you were coming back to us."
+
+As I was not "coming back to them" quite in the sense intended I felt a
+little guilty, but reserved my confidences for Thorndyke's ear and
+replied in polite generalities. Then Polton fetched the tea-pot from the
+laboratory, made up the fire and departed, and Thorndyke and I subsided,
+as of old, into our respective arm-chairs.
+
+"And whence do you spring from in this unexpected fashion?" my colleague
+asked. "You look as if you had been making professional visits."
+
+"I have. The base of operations is in Lower Kennington Lane."
+
+"Ah! Then you are 'back once more on the old trail'?"
+
+"Yes," I answered, with a laugh, "'the old trail, the long trail, the
+trail that is always new.'"
+
+"And leads nowhere," Thorndyke added grimly.
+
+I laughed again; not very heartily, for there was an uncomfortable
+element of truth in my friend's remark, to which my own experience bore
+only too complete testimony. The medical practitioner whose lack of
+means forces him to subsist by taking temporary charge of other men's
+practices is apt to find that the passing years bring him little but
+grey hairs and a wealth of disagreeable experience.
+
+"You will have to drop it, Jervis; you will, indeed," Thorndyke resumed
+after a pause. "This casual employment is preposterous for a man of your
+class and professional attainments. Besides, are you not engaged to be
+married and to a most charming girl?"
+
+"Yes, I know. I have been a fool. But I will really amend my ways. If
+necessary, I will pocket my pride and let Juliet advance the money to
+buy a practice."
+
+"That," said Thorndyke, "is a very proper resolution. Pride and reserve
+between people who are going to be husband and wife, is an absurdity.
+But why buy a practice? Have you forgotten my proposal?"
+
+"I should be an ungrateful brute if I had."
+
+"Very well. I repeat it now. Come to me as my junior, read for the Bar
+and work with me, and, with your abilities, you will have a chance of
+something like a career. I want you, Jervis," he added, earnestly. "I
+must have a junior, with my increasing practice, and you are the junior
+I want. We are old and tried friends; we have worked together; we like
+and trust one another, and you are the best man for the job that I know.
+Come; I am not going to take a refusal. This is an ultimatum."
+
+"And what is the alternative?" I asked with a smile at his eagerness.
+
+"There isn't any. You are going to say yes."
+
+"I believe I am," I answered, not without emotion; "and I am more
+rejoiced at your offer and more grateful than I can tell you. But we
+must leave the final arrangements for our next meeting--in a week or so,
+I hope--for I have to be back in an hour, and I want to consult you on
+a matter of some importance."
+
+"Very well," said Thorndyke; "we will leave the formal agreement for
+consideration at our next meeting. What is it that you want my opinion
+on?"
+
+"The fact is," I said, "I am in a rather awkward dilemma, and I want you
+to tell me what you think I ought to do."
+
+Thorndyke paused in the act of refilling my cup and glanced at me with
+unmistakable anxiety.
+
+"Nothing of an unpleasant nature, I hope," said he.
+
+"No, no; nothing of that kind," I answered with a smile as I interpreted
+the euphemism; for "something unpleasant," in the case of a young and
+reasonably presentable medical man is ordinarily the equivalent of
+trouble with the female of his species. "It is nothing that concerns me
+personally at all," I continued; "it is a question of professional
+responsibility. But I had better give you an account of the affair in a
+complete narrative, as I know that you like to have your data in a
+regular and consecutive order."
+
+Thereupon I proceeded to relate the history of my visit to the
+mysterious Mr. Graves, not omitting any single circumstance or detail
+that I could recollect.
+
+Thorndyke listened from the very beginning of my story with the closest
+attention. His face was the most impassive that I have ever seen;
+ordinarily as inscrutable as a bronze mask; but to me, who knew him
+intimately, there was a certain something--a change of colour, perhaps,
+or an additional sparkle of the eye--that told me when his curious
+passion for investigation was fully aroused. And now, as I told him of
+that weird journey and the strange, secret house to which it had brought
+me, I could see that it offered a problem after his very heart. During
+the whole of my narration he sat as motionless as a statue, evidently
+committing the whole story to memory, detail by detail; and even when I
+had finished he remained for an appreciable time without moving or
+speaking.
+
+At length he looked up at me. "This is a very extraordinary affair,
+Jervis," he said.
+
+"Very," I agreed; "and the question that is agitating me is, what is to
+be done?"
+
+"Yes," he said, meditatively, "that is the question; and an uncommonly
+difficult question it is. It really involves the settlement of the
+antecedent question: What is it that is happening at that house?"
+
+"What do you think is happening at that house?" I asked.
+
+"We must go slow, Jervis," he replied. "We must carefully separate the
+legal tissues from the medical, and avoid confusing what we know with
+what we suspect. Now, with reference to the medical aspects of the case.
+The first question that confronts us is that of sleeping sickness, or
+negro-lethargy as it is sometimes called; and here we are in a
+difficulty. We have not enough knowledge. Neither of us, I take it, has
+ever seen a case, and the extant descriptions are inadequate. From what
+I know of the disease, its symptoms agree with those in your case in
+respect of the alleged moroseness and in the gradually increasing
+periods of lethargy alternating with periods of apparent recovery. On
+the other hand, the disease is said to be confined to negroes; but that
+probably means only that negroes alone have hitherto been exposed to the
+conditions that produce it. A more important fact is that, as far as I
+know, extreme contraction of the pupils is not a symptom of sleeping
+sickness. To sum up, the probabilities are against sleeping sickness,
+but with our insufficient knowledge, we cannot definitely exclude it."
+
+"You think that it may really be sleeping sickness?"
+
+"No; personally I do not entertain that theory for a moment. But I am
+considering the evidence apart from our opinions on the subject. We have
+to accept it as a conceivable hypothesis that it may be sleeping
+sickness because we cannot positively prove that it is not. That is all.
+But when we come to the hypothesis of morphine poisoning, the case is
+different. The symptoms agree with those of morphine poisoning in every
+respect. There is no exception or disagreement whatever. The common
+sense of the matter is therefore that we adopt morphine poisoning as our
+working diagnosis; which is what you seem to have done."
+
+"Yes. For purposes of treatment."
+
+"Exactly. For medical purposes you adopted the more probable view and
+dismissed the less probable. That was the reasonable thing to do. But
+for legal purposes you must entertain both possibilities; for the
+hypothesis of poisoning involves serious legal issues, whereas the
+hypothesis of disease involves no legal issues at all."
+
+"That doesn't sound very helpful," I remarked.
+
+"It indicates the necessity for caution," he retorted.
+
+"Yes, I see that. But what is your own opinion of the case?"
+
+"Well," he said, "let us consider the facts in order. Here is a man who,
+we assume, is under the influence of a poisonous dose of morphine. The
+question is, did he take that dose himself or was it administered to him
+by some other person? If he took it himself, with what object did he
+take it? The history that was given to you seems completely to exclude
+the idea of suicide. But the patient's condition seems equally to
+exclude the idea of morphinomania. Your opium-eater does not reduce
+himself to a state of coma. He usually keeps well within the limits of
+the tolerance that has been established. The conclusion that emerges is,
+I think, that the drug was administered by some other person; and the
+most likely person seems to be Mr. Weiss."
+
+"Isn't morphine a very unusual poison?"
+
+"Very; and most inconvenient except in a single, fatal dose, by reason
+of the rapidity with which tolerance of the drug is established. But we
+must not forget that slow morphine poisoning might be eminently
+suitable in certain cases. The manner in which it enfeebles the will,
+confuses the judgment and debilitates the body might make it very useful
+to a poisoner whose aim was to get some instrument or document executed,
+such as a will, deed or assignment. And death could be produced
+afterwards by other means. You see the important bearing of this?"
+
+"You mean in respect of a death certificate?"
+
+"Yes. Suppose Mr. Weiss to have given a large dose of morphine. He then
+sends for you and throws out a suggestion of sleeping sickness. If you
+accept the suggestion he is pretty safe. He can repeat the process until
+he kills his victim and then get a certificate from you which will cover
+the murder. It was quite an ingenious scheme--which, by the way, is
+characteristic of intricate crimes; your subtle criminal often plans his
+crime like a genius, but he generally executes it like a fool--as this
+man seems to have done, if we are not doing him an injustice."
+
+"How has he acted like a fool?"
+
+"In several respects. In the first place, he should have chosen his
+doctor. A good, brisk, confident man who 'knows his own mind' is the
+sort of person who would have suited him; a man who would have jumped at
+a diagnosis and stuck to it; or else an ignorant weakling of alcoholic
+tendencies. It was shockingly bad luck to run against a cautious
+scientific practitioner like my learned friend. Then, of course, all
+this secrecy was sheer tomfoolery, exactly calculated to put a careful
+man on his guard; as it has actually done. If Mr. Weiss is really a
+criminal, he has mismanaged his affairs badly."
+
+"And you apparently think that he is a criminal?"
+
+"I suspect him deeply. But I should like to ask you one or two questions
+about him. You say he spoke with a German accent. What command of
+English had he? Was his vocabulary good? Did he use any German idioms?"
+
+"No. I should say that his English was perfect, and I noticed that his
+phrases were quite well chosen even for an Englishman."
+
+"Did he seem to you 'made up' in any way; disguised, I mean?"
+
+"I couldn't say. The light was so very feeble."
+
+"You couldn't see the colour of his eyes, for instance?"
+
+"No. I think they were grey, but I couldn't be sure."
+
+"And as to the coachman. He wore a wig, you said. Could you see the
+colour of his eyes? Or any peculiarity by which you could recognize
+him?"
+
+"He had a malformed thumb-nail on his right hand. That is all I can say
+about him."
+
+"He didn't strike you as resembling Weiss in any way; in voice or
+features?"
+
+"Not at all; and he spoke, as I told you, with a distinct Scotch
+accent."
+
+"The reason I ask is that if Weiss is attempting to poison this man, the
+coachman is almost certain to be a confederate and might be a relative.
+You had better examine him closely if you get another chance."
+
+"I will. And that brings me back to the question, What am I to do? Ought
+I to report the case to the police?"
+
+"I am inclined to think not. You have hardly enough facts. Of course, if
+Mr. Weiss has administered poison 'unlawfully and maliciously' he has
+committed a felony, and is liable under the Consolidation Acts of 1861
+to ten years' penal servitude. But I do not see how you could swear an
+information. You don't know that he administered the poison--if poison
+has really been administered--and you cannot give any reliable name or
+any address whatever. Then there is the question of sleeping sickness.
+You reject it for medical purposes, but you could not swear, in a court
+of law, that this is not a case of sleeping sickness."
+
+"No," I admitted, "I could not."
+
+"Then I think the police would decline to move in the matter, and you
+might find that you had raised a scandal in Dr. Stillbury's practice to
+no purpose."
+
+"So you think I had better do nothing in the matter?"
+
+"For the present. It is, of course, a medical man's duty to assist
+justice in any way that is possible. But a doctor is not a detective; he
+should not go out of his way to assume police functions. He should keep
+his eyes and ears open, and, though, in general, he should keep his own
+counsel, it is his duty to note very carefully anything that seems to
+him likely to bear on any important legal issues. It is not his
+business officiously to initiate criminal inquiries, but it is
+emphatically his business to be ready, if called upon, to assist justice
+with information that his special knowledge and opportunities have
+rendered accessible to him. You see the bearing of this?"
+
+"You mean that I should note down what I have seen and heard and say
+nothing about it until I am asked."
+
+"Yes; if nothing further happens. But if you should be sent for again, I
+think it is your duty to make further observations with a view, if
+necessary, to informing the police. It may be, for instance, of vital
+importance to identify the house, and it is your duty to secure the
+means of doing so."
+
+"But, my dear Thorndyke," I expostulated, "I have told you how I was
+conveyed to the house. Now, will you kindly explain to me how a man,
+boxed up in a pitch-dark carriage, is going to identify any place to
+which he may be carried?"
+
+"The problem doesn't appear to me to present any serious difficulties,"
+he replied.
+
+"Doesn't it?" said I. "To me it looks like a pretty solid impossibility.
+But what do you suggest? Should I break out of the house and run away up
+the street? Or should I bore a hole through the shutter of the carriage
+and peep out?"
+
+Thorndyke smiled indulgently. "The methods proposed by my learned friend
+display a certain crudity inappropriate to the character of a man of
+science; to say nothing of the disadvantage of letting the enemy into
+our counsels. No, no, Jervis; we can do something better than that.
+Just excuse me for a minute while I run up to the laboratory."
+
+He hurried away to Polton's sanctum on the upper floor, leaving me to
+speculate on the method by which he proposed that a man should be
+enabled, as Sam Weller would express it, "to see through a flight of
+stairs and a deal door"; or, what was equally opaque, the wooden
+shutters of a closed carriage.
+
+"Now," he said, when he returned a couple of minutes later with a small,
+paper-covered notebook in his hand, "I have set Polton to work on a
+little appliance that will, I think, solve our difficulty, and I will
+show you how I propose that you should make your observations. First of
+all, we have to rule the pages of this book into columns."
+
+He sat down at the table and began methodically to rule the pages each
+into three columns, two quite narrow and one broad. The process occupied
+some time, during which I sat and watched with impatient curiosity the
+unhurried, precise movements of Thorndyke's pencil, all agog to hear the
+promised explanation. He was just finishing the last page when there
+came a gentle tap at the door, and Polton entered with a satisfied smile
+on his dry, shrewd-looking face and a small board in his hand.
+
+"Will this do, sir?" he asked.
+
+As he spoke he handed the little board to Thorndyke, who looked at it
+and passed it to me.
+
+"The very thing, Polton," my friend replied. "Where did you find it?
+It's of no use for you to pretend that you've made it in about two
+minutes and a half."
+
+Polton smiled one of his queer crinkly smiles, and remarking that "it
+didn't take much making," departed much gratified by the compliment.
+
+"What a wonderful old fellow that is, Jervis," Thorndyke observed as his
+factotum retired. "He took in the idea instantly and seems to have
+produced the finished article by magic, as the conjurers bring forth
+rabbits and bowls of goldfish at a moment's notice. I suppose you see
+what your <i>modus operandi</i> is to be?"
+
+I had gathered a clue from the little appliance--a plate of white
+fret-wood about seven inches by five, to one corner of which a
+pocket-compass had been fixed with shellac--but was not quite clear as
+to the details of the method.
+
+"You can read a compass pretty quickly, I think?" Thorndyke said.
+
+"Of course I can. Used we not to sail a yacht together when we were
+students?"
+
+"To be sure we did; and we will again before we die. And now as to your
+method of locating this house. Here is a pocket reading-lamp which you
+can hook on the carriage lining. This notebook can be fixed to the board
+with an india-rubber band--thus. You observe that the thoughtful Polton
+has stuck a piece of thread on the glass of the compass to serve as a
+lubber's line. This is how you will proceed. As soon as you are locked
+in the carriage, light your lamp--better have a book with you in case
+the light is noticed--take out your watch and put the board on your
+knee, keeping its long side exactly in a line with the axis of the
+carriage. Then enter in one narrow column of your notebook the time, in
+the other the direction shown by the compass, and in the broad column
+any particulars, including the number of steps the horse makes in a
+minute. Like this."
+
+He took a loose sheet of paper and made one or two sample entries on it
+in pencil, thus--
+
+  "9.40.  S.E.    Start from home.
+   9.41   S.W.    Granite setts.
+   9.43.  S.W.    Wood pavement. Hoofs 104.
+   9.47.  W. by S Granite crossing. Macadam--
+
+and so on. Note every change of direction, with the time; and whenever
+you hear or feel anything from outside, note it, with the time and
+direction; and don't forget to note any variations in the horse's pace.
+You follow the process?"
+
+"Perfectly. But do you think the method is accurate enough to fix the
+position of a house? Remember, this is only a pocket-compass with no
+dial, and it will jump frightfully. And the mode of estimating distance
+is very rough."
+
+"That is all perfectly true," Thorndyke answered. "But you are
+overlooking certain important facts. The track-chart that you will
+produce can be checked by other data. The house, for instance, has a
+covered way by which you could identify it if you knew approximately
+where to look for it. Then you must remember that your carriage is not
+travelling over a featureless plain. It is passing through streets which
+have a determined position and direction and which are accurately
+represented on the ordnance map. I think, Jervis, that, in spite of the
+apparent roughness of the method, if you make your observations
+carefully, we shall have no trouble in narrowing down the inquiry to a
+quite small area. If we get the chance, that is to say."
+
+"Yes, if we do. I am doubtful whether Mr. Weiss will require my services
+again, but I sincerely hope he will. It would be rare sport to locate
+his secret burrow, all unsuspected. But now I must really be off."
+
+"Good-bye, then," said Thorndyke, slipping a well-sharpened pencil
+through the rubber band that fixed the notebook to the board. "Let me
+know how the adventure progresses--if it progresses at all--and
+remember, I hold your promise to come and see me again quite soon in any
+case."
+
+He handed me the board and the lamp, and, when I had slipped them into
+my pocket, we shook hands and I hurried away, a little uneasy at having
+left my charge so long.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter III
+
+"A Chiel's Amang Ye Takin' Notes"
+
+
+The attitude of the suspicious man tends to generate in others the kind
+of conduct that seems to justify his suspicions. In most of us there
+lurks a certain strain of mischief which trustfulness disarms but
+distrust encourages. The inexperienced kitten which approaches us
+confidingly with arched back and upright tail, soliciting caresses,
+generally receives the gentle treatment that it expects; whereas the
+worldly-wise tom-cat, who, in response to friendly advances, scampers
+away and grins at us suspiciously from the fancied security of an
+adjacent wall, impels us to accelerate his retreat with a well-directed
+clod.
+
+Now the proceedings of Mr. H. Weiss resembled those of the tom-cat
+aforesaid and invited an analogous reply. To a responsible professional
+man his extraordinary precautions were at once an affront and a
+challenge. Apart from graver considerations, I found myself dwelling
+with unholy pleasure on the prospect of locating the secret hiding-place
+from which he seemed to grin at me with such complacent defiance; and I
+lost no time and spared no trouble in preparing myself for the
+adventure. The very hansom which bore me from the Temple to Kennington
+Lane was utilized for a preliminary test of Thorndyke's little
+apparatus. During the whole of that brief journey I watched the compass
+closely, noted the feel and sound of the road-material and timed the
+trotting of the horse. And the result was quite encouraging. It is true
+that the compass-needle oscillated wildly to the vibration of the cab,
+but still its oscillations took place around a definite point which was
+the average direction, and it was evident to me that the data it
+furnished were very fairly reliable. I felt very little doubt, after the
+preliminary trial, as to my being able to produce a moderately
+intelligible track-chart if only I should get an opportunity to exercise
+my skill.
+
+But it looked as if I should not. Mr. Weiss's promise to send for me
+again soon was not fulfilled. Three days passed and still he made no
+sign. I began to fear that I had been too outspoken; that the shuttered
+carriage had gone forth to seek some more confiding and easy-going
+practitioner, and that our elaborate preparations had been made in vain.
+When the fourth day drew towards a close and still no summons had come,
+I was disposed reluctantly to write the case off as a lost opportunity.
+
+And at that moment, in the midst of my regrets, the bottle-boy thrust an
+uncomely head in at the door. His voice was coarse, his accent was
+hideous, and his grammatical construction beneath contempt; but I
+forgave him all when I gathered the import of his message.
+
+"Mr. Weiss's carriage is waiting, and he says will you come as quickly
+as you can because he's took very bad to-night."
+
+I sprang from my chair and hastily collected the necessaries for the
+journey. The little board and the lamp I put in my overcoat pocket; I
+overhauled the emergency bag and added to its usual contents a bottle of
+permanganate of potassium which I thought I might require. Then I tucked
+the evening paper under my arm and went out.
+
+The coachman, who was standing at the horse's head as I emerged, touched
+his hat and came forward to open the door.
+
+"I have fortified myself for the long drive, you see," I remarked,
+exhibiting the newspaper as I stepped into the carriage.
+
+"But you can't read in the dark," said he.
+
+"No, but I have provided myself with a lamp," I replied, producing it
+and striking a match.
+
+He watched me as I lit the lamp and hooked it on the back cushion, and
+observed:
+
+"I suppose you found it rather a dull ride last time. It's a longish
+way. They might have fitted the carriage with an inside lamp. But we
+shall have to make it a quicker passage to-night. Governor says Mr.
+Graves is uncommon bad."
+
+With this he slammed the door and locked it. I drew the board from my
+pocket, laid it on my knee, glanced at my watch, and, as the coachman
+climbed to his seat, I made the first entry in the little book.
+
+"8.58. W. by S. Start from home. Horse 13 hands."
+
+The first move of the carriage on starting was to turn round as if
+heading for Newington Butts, and the second entry accordingly read:
+
+"8.58.30. E. by N."
+
+But this direction was not maintained long. Very soon we turned south
+and then west and then south again. I sat with my eyes riveted on the
+compass, following with some difficulty its rapid changes. The needle
+swung to and fro incessantly but always within a definite arc, the
+centre of which was the true direction. But this direction varied from
+minute to minute in the most astonishing manner. West, south, east,
+north, the carriage turned, "boxing" the compass until I lost all count
+of direction. It was an amazing performance. Considering that the man
+was driving against time on a mission of life and death urgency, his
+carelessness as to direction was astounding. The tortuousness of the
+route must have made the journey twice as long as it need have been
+with a little more careful selection. At least so it appeared to me,
+though, naturally, I was not in a position to offer an authoritative
+criticism.
+
+As far as I could judge, we followed the same route as before. Once I
+heard a tug's whistle and knew that we were near the river, and we
+passed the railway station, apparently at the same time as on the
+previous occasion, for I heard a passenger train start and assumed that
+it was the same train. We crossed quite a number of thoroughfares with
+tram-lines--I had no idea there were so many--and it was a revelation to
+me to find how numerous the railway arches were in this part of London
+and how continually the nature of the road-metal varied.
+
+It was by no means a dull journey this time. The incessant changes of
+direction and variations in the character of the road kept me most
+uncommonly busy; for I had hardly time to scribble down one entry before
+the compass-needle would swing round sharply, showing that we had once
+more turned a corner; and I was quite taken by surprise when the
+carriage slowed down and turned into the covered way. Very hastily I
+scribbled down the final entry ("9.24. S.E. In covered way"), and having
+closed the book and slipped it and the board into my pocket, had just
+opened out the newspaper when the carriage door was unlocked and opened,
+whereupon I unhooked and blew out the lamp and pocketed that too,
+reflecting that it might be useful later.
+
+As on the last occasion, Mrs. Schallibaum stood in the open doorway with
+a lighted candle. But she was a good deal less self-possessed this time.
+In fact she looked rather wild and terrified. Even by the candle-light
+I could see that she was very pale and she seemed unable to keep still.
+As she gave me the few necessary words of explanation, she fidgeted
+incessantly and her hands and feet were in constant movement.
+
+"You had better come up with me at once," she said. "Mr. Graves is much
+worse to-night. We will wait not for Mr. Weiss."
+
+Without waiting for a reply she quickly ascended the stairs and I
+followed. The room was in much the same condition as before. But the
+patient was not. As soon as I entered the room, a soft, rhythmical
+gurgle from the bed gave me a very clear warning of danger. I stepped
+forward quickly and looked down at the prostrate figure, and the warning
+gathered emphasis. The sick man's ghastly face was yet more ghastly; his
+eyes were more sunken, his skin more livid; "his nose was as sharp as a
+pen," and if he did not "babble of green fields" it was because he
+seemed to be beyond even that. If it had been a case of disease, I
+should have said at once that he was dying. He had all the appearance of
+a man <i>in articulo mortis</i>. Even as it was, feeling convinced that the
+case was one of morphine poisoning, I was far from confident that I
+should be able to draw him back from the extreme edge of vitality on
+which he trembled so insecurely.
+
+"He is very ill? He is dying?"
+
+It was Mrs. Schallibaum's voice; very low, but eager and intense. I
+turned, with my finger on the patient's wrist, and looked into the face
+of the most thoroughly scared woman I have ever seen. She made no
+attempt now to avoid the light, but looked me squarely in the face, and
+I noticed, half-unconsciously, that her eyes were brown and had a
+curious strained expression.
+
+"Yes," I answered, "he is very ill. He is in great danger."
+
+She still stared at me fixedly for some seconds. And then a very odd
+thing occurred. Suddenly she squinted--squinted horribly; not with the
+familiar convergent squint which burlesque artists imitate, but with
+external or divergent squint of extreme near sight or unequal vision.
+The effect was quite startling. One moment both her eyes were looking
+straight into mine; the next, one of them rolled round until it looked
+out of the uttermost corner, leaving the other gazing steadily forward.
+
+She was evidently conscious of the change, for she turned her head away
+quickly and reddened somewhat. But it was no time for thoughts of
+personal appearance.
+
+"You can save him, doctor! You will not let him die! He must not be
+allowed to die!"
+
+She spoke with as much passion as if he had been the dearest friend that
+she had in the world, which I suspected was far from being the case. But
+her manifest terror had its uses.
+
+"If anything is to be done to save him," I said, "it must be done
+quickly. I will give him some medicine at once, and meanwhile you must
+make some strong coffee."
+
+"Coffee!" she exclaimed. "But we have none in the house. Will not tea
+do, if I make it very strong?"
+
+"No, it will not. I must have coffee; and I must have it quickly."
+
+"Then I suppose I must go and get some. But it is late. The shops will
+be shut. And I don't like leaving Mr. Graves."
+
+"Can't you send the coachman?" I asked.
+
+She shook her head impatiently. "No, that is no use. I must wait until
+Mr. Weiss comes."
+
+"That won't do," I said, sharply. "He will slip through our fingers
+while you are waiting. You must go and get that coffee at once and bring
+it to me as soon as it is ready. And I want a tumbler and some water."
+
+She brought me a water-bottle and glass from the wash-stand and then,
+with a groan of despair, hurried from the room.
+
+I lost no time in applying the remedies that I had to hand. Shaking out
+into the tumbler a few crystals of potassium permanganate, I filled it
+up with water and approached the patient. His stupor was profound. I
+shook him as roughly as was safe in his depressed condition, but
+elicited no resistance or responsive movement. As it seemed very
+doubtful whether he was capable of swallowing, I dared not take the risk
+of pouring the liquid into his mouth for fear of suffocating him. A
+stomach-tube would have solved the difficulty, but, of course, I had not
+one with me. I had, however, a mouth-speculum which also acted as a gag,
+and, having propped the patient's mouth open with this, I hastily
+slipped off one of the rubber tubes from my stethoscope and inserted
+into one end of it a vulcanite ear-speculum to serve as a funnel. Then,
+introducing the other end of the tube into the gullet as far as its
+length would permit, I cautiously poured a small quantity of the
+permanganate solution into the extemporized funnel. To my great relief a
+movement of the throat showed that the swallowing reflex still existed,
+and, thus encouraged, I poured down the tube as much of the fluid as I
+thought it wise to administer at one time.
+
+The dose of permanganate that I had given was enough to neutralize any
+reasonable quantity of the poison that might yet remain in the stomach.
+I had next to deal with that portion of the drug which had already been
+absorbed and was exercising its poisonous effects. Taking my hypodermic
+case from my bag, I prepared in the syringe a full dose of atropine
+sulphate, which I injected forthwith into the unconscious man's arm. And
+that was all that I could do, so far as remedies were concerned, until
+the coffee arrived.
+
+I cleaned and put away the syringe, washed the tube, and then, returning
+to the bedside, endeavoured to rouse the patient from his profound
+lethargy. But great care was necessary. A little injudicious roughness
+of handling, and that thready, flickering pulse might stop for ever; and
+yet it was almost certain that if he were not speedily aroused, his
+stupor would gradually deepen until it shaded off imperceptibly into
+death. I went to work very cautiously, moving his limbs about, flicking
+his face and chest with the corner of a wet towel, tickling the soles
+of his feet, and otherwise applying stimuli that were strong without
+being violent.
+
+So occupied was I with my efforts to resuscitate my mysterious patient
+that I did not notice the opening of the door, and it was with something
+of a start that, happening to glance round, I perceived at the farther
+end of the room the shadowy figure of a man relieved by two spots of
+light reflected from his spectacles. How long he had been watching me I
+cannot say, but, when he saw that I had observed him, he came
+forward--though not very far--and I saw that he was Mr. Weiss.
+
+"I am afraid," he said, "that you do not find my friend so well
+to-night?"
+
+"So well!" I exclaimed. "I don't find him well at all. I am exceedingly
+anxious about him."
+
+"You don't--er--anticipate anything of a--er--anything serious, I hope?"
+
+"There is no need to anticipate," said I. "It is already about as
+serious as it can be. I think he might die at any moment."
+
+"Good God!" he gasped. "You horrify me!"
+
+He was not exaggerating. In his agitation, he stepped forward into the
+lighter part of the room, and I could see that his face was pale to
+ghastliness--except his nose and the adjacent red patches on his cheeks,
+which stood out in grotesquely hideous contrast. Presently, however, he
+recovered a little and said:
+
+"I really think--at least I hope--that you take an unnecessarily serious
+view of his condition. He has been like this before, you know."
+
+I felt pretty certain that he had not, but there was no use in
+discussing the question. I therefore replied, as I continued my efforts
+to rouse the patient:
+
+"That may or may not be. But in any case there comes a last time; and it
+may have come now."
+
+"I hope not," he said; "although I understand that these cases always
+end fatally sooner or later."
+
+"What cases?" I asked.
+
+"I was referring to sleeping sickness; but perhaps you have formed some
+other opinion as to the nature of this dreadful complaint."
+
+I hesitated for a moment, and he continued: "As to your suggestion that
+his symptoms might be due to drugs, I think we may consider that as
+disposed of. He has been watched, practically without cessation since
+you came last, and, moreover, I have myself turned out the room and
+examined the bed and have not found a trace of any drug. Have you gone
+into the question of sleeping sickness?"
+
+I looked at the man narrowly before answering, and distrusted him more
+than ever. But this was no time for reticence. My concern was with the
+patient and his present needs. After all, I was, as Thorndyke had said,
+a doctor, not a detective, and the circumstances called for
+straightforward speech and action on my part.
+
+"I have considered that question," I said, "and have come to a perfectly
+definite conclusion. His symptoms are not those of sleeping sickness.
+They are in my opinion undoubtedly due to morphine poisoning."
+
+"But my dear sir!" he exclaimed, "the thing is impossible! Haven't I
+just told you that he has been watched continuously?"
+
+"I can only judge by the appearances that I find," I answered; and,
+seeing that he was about to offer fresh objections, I continued: "Don't
+let us waste precious time in discussion, or Mr. Graves may be dead
+before we have reached a conclusion. If you will hurry them up about the
+coffee that I asked for some time ago, I will take the other necessary
+measures, and perhaps we may manage to pull him round."
+
+The rather brutal decision of my manner evidently daunted him. It must
+have been plain to him that I was not prepared to accept any explanation
+of the unconscious man's condition other than that of morphine
+poisoning; whence the inference was pretty plain that the alternatives
+were recovery or an inquest. Replying stiffly that I "must do as I
+thought best," he hurried from the room, leaving me to continue my
+efforts without further interruption.
+
+For some time these efforts seemed to make no impression. The man lay as
+still and impassive as a corpse excepting for the slow, shallow and
+rather irregular breathing with its ominous accompanying rattle. But
+presently, by imperceptible degrees, signs of returning life began to
+make their appearance. A sharp slap on the cheek with the wet towel
+produced a sensible flicker of the eyelids; a similar slap on the chest
+was followed by a slight gasp. A pencil, drawn over the sole of the
+foot, occasioned a visible shrinking movement, and, on looking once
+more at the eyes, I detected a slight change that told me that the
+atropine was beginning to take effect.
+
+This was very encouraging, and, so far, quite satisfactory, though it
+would have been premature to rejoice. I kept the patient carefully
+covered and maintained the process of gentle irritation, moving his
+limbs and shoulders, brushing his hair and generally bombarding his
+deadened senses with small but repeated stimuli. And under this
+treatment, the improvement continued so far that on my bawling a
+question into his ear he actually opened his eyes for an instant, though
+in another moment, the lids had sunk back into their former position.
+
+Soon after this, Mr. Weiss re-entered the room, followed by Mrs.
+Schallibaum, who carried a small tray, on which were a jug of coffee, a
+jug of milk, a cup and saucer and a sugar basin.
+
+"How do you find him now?" Mr. Weiss asked anxiously.
+
+"I am glad to say that there is a distinct improvement," I replied. "But
+we must persevere. He is by no means out of the wood yet."
+
+I examined the coffee, which looked black and strong and had a very
+reassuring smell, and, pouring out half a cupful, approached the bed.
+
+"Now, Mr. Graves," I shouted, "we want you to drink some of this."
+
+The flaccid eyelids lifted for an instant but there was no other
+response. I gently opened the unresisting mouth and ladled in a couple
+of spoonfuls of coffee, which were immediately swallowed; whereupon I
+repeated the proceeding and continued at short intervals until the cup
+was empty. The effect of the new remedy soon became apparent. He began
+to mumble and mutter obscurely in response to the questions that I
+bellowed at him, and once or twice he opened his eyes and looked
+dreamily into my face. Then I sat him up and made him drink some coffee
+from the cup, and, all the time, kept up a running fire of questions,
+which made up in volume of sound for what they lacked of relevancy.
+
+Of these proceedings Mr. Weiss and his housekeeper were highly
+interested spectators, and the former, contrary to his usual practice,
+came quite close up to the bed, to get a better view.
+
+"It is really a most remarkable thing," he said, "but it almost looks as
+if you were right, after all. He is certainly much better. But tell me,
+would this treatment produce a similar improvement if the symptoms were
+due to disease?"
+
+"No," I answered, "it certainly would not."
+
+"Then that seems to settle it. But it is a most mysterious affair. Can
+you suggest any way in which he can have concealed a store of the drug?"
+
+I stood up and looked him straight in the face; it was the first chance
+I had had of inspecting him by any but the feeblest light, and I looked
+at him very attentively. Now, it is a curious fact--though one that most
+persons must have observed--that there sometimes occurs a considerable
+interval between the reception of a visual impression and its complete
+transfer to the consciousness. A thing may be seen, as it were,
+unconsciously, and the impression consigned, apparently, to instant
+oblivion; and yet the picture may be subsequently revived by memory with
+such completeness that its details can be studied as though the object
+were still actually visible.
+
+Something of this kind must have happened to me now. Preoccupied as I
+was, by the condition of the patient, the professional habit of rapid
+and close observation caused me to direct a searching glance at the man
+before me. It was only a brief glance--for Mr. Weiss, perhaps
+embarrassed by my keen regard of him, almost immediately withdrew into
+the shadow--and my attention seemed principally to be occupied by the
+odd contrast between the pallor of his face and the redness of his nose
+and by the peculiar stiff, bristly character of his eyebrows. But there
+was another fact, and a very curious one, that was observed by me
+subconsciously and instantly forgotten, to be revived later when I
+reflected on the events of the night. It was this:
+
+As Mr. Weiss stood, with his head slightly turned, I was able to look
+through one glass of his spectacles at the wall beyond. On the wall was
+a framed print; and the edge of the frame, seen through the
+spectacle-glass, appeared quite unaltered and free from distortion,
+magnification or reduction, as if seen through plain window-glass; and
+yet the reflections of the candle-flame in the spectacles showed the
+flame upside down, proving conclusively that the glasses were concave on
+one surface at least. The strange phenomenon was visible only for a
+moment or two, and as it passed out of my sight it passed also out of my
+mind.
+
+"No," I said, replying to the last question; "I can think of no way in
+which he could have effectually hidden a store of morphine. Judging by
+the symptoms, he has taken a large dose, and, if he has been in the
+habit of consuming large quantities, his stock would be pretty bulky. I
+can offer no suggestion whatever."
+
+"I suppose you consider him quite out of danger now?"
+
+"Oh, not at all. I think we can pull him round if we persevere, but he
+must not be allowed to sink back into a state of coma. We must keep him
+on the move until the effects of the drug have really passed off. If you
+will put him into his dressing-gown we will walk him up and down the
+room for a while."
+
+"But is that safe?" Mr. Weiss asked anxiously.
+
+"Quite safe," I answered. "I will watch his pulse carefully. The danger
+is in the possibility, or rather certainty, of a relapse if he is not
+kept moving."
+
+With obvious unwillingness and disapproval, Mr. Weiss produced a
+dressing-gown and together we invested the patient in it. Then we
+dragged him, very limp, but not entirely unresisting, out of bed and
+stood him on his feet. He opened his eyes and blinked owlishly first at
+one and then at the other of us, and mumbled a few unintelligible words
+of protest; regardless of which, we thrust his feet into slippers and
+endeavoured to make him walk. At first he seemed unable to stand, and we
+had to support him by his arms as we urged him forward; but presently
+his trailing legs began to make definite walking movements, and, after
+one or two turns up and down the room, he was not only able partly to
+support his weight, but showed evidence of reviving consciousness in
+more energetic protests.
+
+At this point Mr. Weiss astonished me by transferring the arm that he
+held to the housekeeper.
+
+"If you will excuse me, doctor," said he, "I will go now and attend to
+some rather important business that I have had to leave unfinished. Mrs.
+Schallibaum will be able to give you all the assistance that you
+require, and will order the carriage when you think it safe to leave the
+patient. In case I should not see you again I will say 'good night.' I
+hope you won't think me very unceremonious."
+
+He shook hands with me and went out of the room, leaving me, as I have
+said, profoundly astonished that he should consider any business of more
+moment than the condition of his friend, whose life, even now, was but
+hanging by a thread. However, it was really no concern of mine. I could
+do without him, and the resuscitation of this unfortunate half-dead man
+gave me occupation enough to engross my whole attention.
+
+The melancholy progress up and down the room re-commenced, and with it
+the mumbled protests from the patient. As we walked, and especially as
+we turned, I caught frequent glimpses of the housekeeper's face. But it
+was nearly always in profile. She appeared to avoid looking me in the
+face, though she did so once or twice; and on each of these occasions
+her eyes were directed at me in a normal manner without any sign of a
+squint. Nevertheless, I had the impression that when her face was turned
+away from me she squinted. The "swivel eye"--the left--was towards me as
+she held the patient's right arm, and it was almost continuously turned
+in my direction, whereas I felt convinced that she was really looking
+straight before her, though, of course, her right eye was invisible to
+me. It struck me, even at the time, as an odd affair, but I was too much
+concerned about my charge to give it much consideration.
+
+Meanwhile the patient continued to revive apace. And the more he
+revived, the more energetically did he protest against this wearisome
+perambulation. But he was evidently a polite gentleman, for, muddled as
+his faculties were, he managed to clothe his objections in courteous and
+even gracious forms of speech singularly out of agreement with the
+character that Mr. Weiss had given him.
+
+"I thangyou," he mumbled thickly. "Ver' good take s'much trouble. Think
+I will lie down now." He looked wistfully at the bed, but I wheeled him
+about and marched him once more down the room. He submitted
+unresistingly, but as we again approached the bed he reopened the
+matter.
+
+"S'quite s'fficient, thang you. Gebback to bed now. Much 'bliged frall
+your kindness"--here I turned him round--"no, really; m'feeling rather
+tired. Sh'like to lie down now, f'you'd be s'good."
+
+"You must walk about a little longer, Mr. Graves," I said. "It would be
+very bad for you to go to sleep again."
+
+He looked at me with a curious, dull surprise, and reflected awhile as
+if in some perplexity. Then he looked at me again and said:
+
+"Thing, sir, you are mistake--mistaken me--mist--"
+
+Here Mrs. Schallibaum interrupted sharply:
+
+"The doctor thinks it's good for you to walk about. You've been sleeping
+too much. He doesn't want you to sleep any more just now."
+
+"Don't wanter sleep; wanter lie down," said the patient.
+
+"But you mustn't lie down for a little while. You must walk about for a
+few minutes more. And you'd better not talk. Just walk up and down."
+
+"There's no harm in his talking," said I; "in fact it's good for him. It
+will help to keep him awake."
+
+"I should think it would tire him," said Mrs. Schallibaum; "and it
+worries me to hear him asking to lie down when we can't let him."
+
+She spoke sharply and in an unnecessarily high tone so that the patient
+could not fail to hear. Apparently he took in the very broad hint
+contained in the concluding sentence, for he trudged wearily and
+unsteadily up and down the room for some time without speaking, though
+he continued to look at me from time to time as if something in my
+appearance puzzled him exceedingly. At length his intolerable longing
+for repose overcame his politeness and he returned to the attack.
+
+"Surely v' walked enough now. Feeling very tired. Am really. Would you
+be s'kind 's t'let me lie down few minutes?"
+
+"Don't you think he might lie down for a little while?" Mrs. Schallibaum
+asked.
+
+I felt his pulse, and decided that he was really becoming fatigued, and
+that it would be wiser not to overdo the exercise while he was so weak.
+Accordingly, I consented to his returning to bed, and turned him round
+in that direction; whereupon he tottered gleefully towards his
+resting-place like a tired horse heading for its stable.
+
+As soon as he was tucked in, I gave him a full cup of coffee, which he
+drank with some avidity as if thirsty. Then I sat down by the bedside,
+and, with a view to keeping him awake, began once more to ply him with
+questions.
+
+"Does your head ache, Mr. Graves?" I asked.
+
+"The doctor says 'does your head ache?'" Mrs. Schallibaum squalled, so
+loudly that the patient started perceptibly.
+
+"I heard him, m'dear girl," he answered with a faint smile. "Not deaf
+you know. Yes. Head aches a good deal. But I thing this gennleman
+mistakes--"
+
+"He says you are to keep awake. You mustn't go to sleep again, and you
+are not to close your eyes."
+
+"All ri' Pol'n. Keep'm open," and he proceeded forthwith to shut them
+with an air of infinite peacefulness. I grasped his hand and shook it
+gently, on which he opened his eyes and looked at me sleepily. The
+housekeeper stroked his head, keeping her face half-turned from me--as
+she had done almost constantly, to conceal the squinting eye, as I
+assumed--and said:
+
+"Need we keep you any longer, doctor? It is getting very late and you
+have a long way to go."
+
+I looked doubtfully at the patient. I was loath to leave him,
+distrusting these people as I did. But I had my work to do on the
+morrow, with, perhaps, a night call or two in the interval, and the
+endurance even of a general practitioner has its limits.
+
+"I think I heard the carriage some time ago," Mrs. Schallibaum added.
+
+I rose hesitatingly and looked at my watch. It had turned half-past
+eleven.
+
+"You understand," I said in a low voice, "that the danger is not over?
+If he is left now he will fall asleep, and in all human probability will
+never wake. You clearly understand that?"
+
+"Yes, quite clearly. I promise you he shall not be allowed to fall
+asleep again."
+
+As she spoke, she looked me full in the face for a few moments, and I
+noted that her eyes had a perfectly normal appearance, without any trace
+whatever of a squint.
+
+"Very well," I said. "On that understanding I will go now; and I shall
+hope to find our friend quite recovered at my next visit."
+
+I turned to the patient, who was already dozing, and shook his hand
+heartily.
+
+"Good-bye, Mr. Graves!" I said. "I am sorry to have to disturb your
+repose so much; but you must keep awake, you know. Won't do to go to
+sleep."
+
+"Ver' well," he replied drowsily. "Sorry t' give you all this trouble.
+L' keep awake. But I think you're mistak'n--"
+
+"He says it's very important that you shouldn't go to sleep, and that I
+am to see that you don't. Do you understand?"
+
+"Yes, I un'stan'. But why does this gennlem'n--?"
+
+"Now it's of no use for you to ask a lot of questions," Mrs. Schallibaum
+said playfully; "we'll talk to you to-morrow. Good night, doctor. I'll
+light you down the stairs, but I won't come down with you, or the
+patient will be falling asleep again."
+
+Taking this definite dismissal, I retired, followed by a dreamily
+surprised glance from the sick man. The housekeeper held the candle over
+the balusters until I reached the bottom of the stairs, when I perceived
+through the open door along the passage a glimmer of light from the
+carriage lamps. The coachman was standing just outside, faintly
+illuminated by the very dim lamplight, and as I stepped into the
+carriage he remarked in his Scotch dialect that I "seemed to have been
+makin' a nicht of it." He did not wait for any reply--none being in fact
+needed--but shut the door and locked it.
+
+I lit my little pocket-lamp and hung it on the back cushion. I even drew
+the board and notebook from my pocket. But it seemed rather unnecessary
+to take a fresh set of notes, and, to tell the truth, I rather shirked
+the labour, tired as I was after my late exertions; besides, I wanted
+to think over the events of the evening, while they were fresh in my
+memory. Accordingly I put away the notebook, filled and lighted my pipe,
+and settled myself to review the incidents attending my second visit to
+this rather uncanny house.
+
+Considered in leisurely retrospect, that visit offered quite a number of
+problems that called for elucidation. There was the patient's condition,
+for instance. Any doubt as to the cause of his symptoms was set at rest
+by the effect of the antidotes. Mr. Graves was certainly under the
+influence of morphine, and the only doubtful question was how he had
+become so. That he had taken the poison himself was incredible. No
+morphinomaniac would take such a knock-down dose. It was practically
+certain that the poison had been administered by someone else, and, on
+Mr. Weiss's own showing, there was no one but himself and the
+housekeeper who could have administered it. And to this conclusion all
+the other very queer circumstances pointed.
+
+What were these circumstances? They were, as I have said, numerous,
+though many of them seemed trivial. To begin with, Mr. Weiss's habit of
+appearing some time after my arrival and disappearing some time before
+my departure was decidedly odd. But still more odd was his sudden
+departure this evening on what looked like a mere pretext. That
+departure coincided in time with the sick man's recovery of the power of
+speech. Could it be that Mr. Weiss was afraid that the half-conscious
+man might say something compromising to him in my presence? It looked
+rather like it. And yet he had gone away and left me with the patient
+and the housekeeper.
+
+But when I came to think about it I remembered that Mrs. Schallibaum had
+shown some anxiety to prevent the patient from talking. She had
+interrupted him more than once, and had on two occasions broken in when
+he seemed to be about to ask me some question. I was "mistaken" about
+something. What was that something that he wanted to tell me?
+
+It had struck me as singular that there should be no coffee in the
+house, but a sufficiency of tea. Germans are not usually tea-drinkers
+and they do take coffee. But perhaps there was nothing in this. Rather
+more remarkable was the invisibility of the coachman. Why could he not
+be sent to fetch the coffee, and why did not he, rather than the
+housekeeper, come to take the place of Mr. Weiss when the latter had to
+go away.
+
+There were other points, too. I recalled the word that sounded like
+"Pol'n," which Mr. Graves had used in speaking to the housekeeper.
+Apparently it was a Christian name of some kind; but why did Mr. Graves
+call the woman by her Christian name when Mr. Weiss addressed her
+formally as Mrs. Schallibaum? And, as to the woman herself: what was the
+meaning of that curious disappearing squint? Physically it presented no
+mystery. The woman had an ordinary divergent squint, and, like many
+people, who suffer from this displacement, could, by a strong muscular
+effort, bring the eyes temporarily into their normal parallel position.
+I had detected the displacement when she had tried to maintain the
+effort too long, and the muscular control had given way. But why had she
+done it? Was it only feminine vanity--mere sensitiveness respecting a
+slight personal disfigurement? It might be so; or there might be some
+further motive. It was impossible to say.
+
+Turning this question over, I suddenly remembered the peculiarity of Mr.
+Weiss's spectacles. And here I met with a real poser. I had certainly
+seen through those spectacles as clearly as if they had been plain
+window-glass; and they had certainly given an inverted reflection of the
+candle-flame like that thrown from the surface of a concave lens. Now
+they obviously could not be both flat and concave; but yet they had the
+properties peculiar to both flatness and concavity. And there was a
+further difficulty. If I could see objects unaltered through them, so
+could Mr. Weiss. But the function of spectacles is to alter the
+appearances of objects, by magnification, reduction or compensating
+distortion. If they leave the appearances unchanged they are useless. I
+could make nothing of it. After puzzling over it for quite a long time,
+I had to give it up; which I did the less unwillingly inasmuch as the
+construction of Mr. Weiss's spectacles had no apparent bearing on the
+case.
+
+On arriving home, I looked anxiously at the message-book, and was
+relieved to find that there were no further visits to be made. Having
+made up a mixture for Mr. Graves and handed it to the coachman, I raked
+the ashes of the surgery fire together and sat down to smoke a final
+pipe while I reflected once more on the singular and suspicious case in
+which I had become involved. But fatigue soon put an end to my
+meditations; and having come to the conclusion that the circumstances
+demanded a further consultation with Thorndyke, I turned down the gas to
+a microscopic blue spark and betook myself to bed.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter IV
+
+The Official View
+
+
+I rose on the following morning still possessed by the determination to
+make some oportunity during the day to call on Thorndyke and take his
+advice on the now urgent question as to what I was to do. I use the word
+"urgent" advisedly; for the incidents of the preceding evening had left
+me with the firm conviction that poison was being administered for some
+purpose to my mysterious patient, and that no time must be lost if his
+life was to be saved. Last night he had escaped only by the narrowest
+margin--assuming him to be still alive--and it was only my unexpectedly
+firm attitude that had compelled Mr. Weiss to agree to restorative
+measures.
+
+That I should be sent for again I had not the slightest expectation. If
+what I so strongly suspected was true, Weiss would call in some other
+doctor, in the hope of better luck, and it was imperative that he
+should be stopped before it was too late. This was my view, but I meant
+to have Thorndyke's opinion, and act under his direction, but
+
+
+  "The best laid plans of mice and men
+   Gang aft agley."
+
+When I came downstairs and took a preliminary glance at the rough
+memorandum-book, kept by the bottle-boy, or, in his absence, by the
+housemaid, I stood aghast. The morning's entries looked already like a
+sample page of the Post Office directory. The new calls alone were more
+than equal to an ordinary day's work, and the routine visits remained to
+be added. Gloomily wondering whether the Black Death had made a sudden
+reappearance in England, I hurried to the dining-room and made a hasty
+breakfast, interrupted at intervals by the apparition of the bottle-boy
+to announce new messages.
+
+The first two or three visits solved the mystery. An epidemic of
+influenza had descended on the neighbourhood, and I was getting not only
+our own normal work but a certain amount of overflow from other
+practices. Further, it appeared that a strike in the building trade had
+been followed immediately by a widespread failure of health among the
+bricklayers who were members of a certain benefit club; which accounted
+for the remarkable suddenness of the outbreak.
+
+Of course, my contemplated visit to Thorndyke was out of the question. I
+should have to act on my own responsibility. But in the hurry and rush
+and anxiety of the work--for some of the cases were severe and even
+critical--I had no opportunity to consider any course of action, nor
+time to carry it out. Even with the aid of a hansom which I chartered,
+as Stillbury kept no carriage, I had not finished my last visit until
+near on midnight, and was then so spent with fatigue that I fell asleep
+over my postponed supper.
+
+As the next day opened with a further increase of work, I sent a
+telegram to Dr. Stillbury at Hastings, whither he had gone, like a wise
+man, to recruit after a slight illness. I asked for authority to engage
+an assistant, but the reply informed me that Stillbury himself was on
+his way to town; and to my relief, when I dropped in at the surgery for
+a cup of tea, I found him rubbing his hands over the open day-book.
+
+"It's an ill wind that blows nobody good," he remarked cheerfully as we
+shook hands. "This will pay the expenses of my holiday, including you.
+By the way, you are not anxious to be off, I suppose?"
+
+As a matter of fact, I was; for I had decided to accept Thorndyke's
+offer, and was now eager to take up my duties with him. But it would
+have been shabby to leave Stillbury to battle alone with this rush of
+work or to seek the services of a strange assistant.
+
+"I should like to get off as soon as you can spare me," I replied, "but
+I'm not going to leave you in the lurch."
+
+"That's a good fellow," said Stillbury. "I knew you wouldn't. Let us
+have some tea and divide up the work. Anything of interest going?"
+
+There were one or two unusual cases on the list, and, as we marked off
+our respective patients, I gave him the histories in brief synopsis. And
+then I opened the subject of my mysterious experiences at the house of
+Mr. Weiss.
+
+"There's another affair that I want to tell you about; rather an
+unpleasant business."
+
+"Oh, dear!" exclaimed Stillbury. He put down his cup and regarded me
+with quite painful anxiety.
+
+"It looks to me like an undoubted case of criminal poisoning," I
+continued.
+
+Stillbury's face cleared instantly. "Oh, I'm glad it's nothing more than
+that," he said with an air of relief. "I was afraid, it was some
+confounded woman. There's always that danger, you know, when a locum is
+young and happens--if I may say so, Jervis--to be a good-looking fellow.
+Let us hear about this case."
+
+I gave him a condensed narrative of my connection with the mysterious
+patient, omitting any reference to Thorndyke, and passing lightly over
+my efforts to fix the position of the house, and wound up with the
+remark that the facts ought certainly to be communicated to the police.
+
+"Yes," he admitted reluctantly, "I suppose you're right. Deuced
+unpleasant though. Police cases don't do a practice any good. They waste
+a lot of time, too; keep you hanging about to give evidence. Still, you
+are quite right. We can't stand by and see the poor devil poisoned
+without making some effort. But I don't believe the police will do
+anything in the matter."
+
+"Don't you really?"
+
+"No, I don't. They like to have things pretty well cut and dried before
+they act. A prosecution is an expensive affair, so they don't care to
+prosecute unless they are fairly sure of a conviction. If they fail they
+get hauled over the coals."
+
+"But don't you think they would get a conviction in this case?"
+
+"Not on your evidence, Jervis. They might pick up something fresh, but,
+if they didn't they would fail. You haven't got enough hard-baked facts
+to upset a capable defence. Still, that isn't our affair. You want to
+put the responsibility on the police and I entirely agree with you."
+
+"There ought not to be any delay," said I.
+
+"There needn't be. I shall look in on Mrs. Wackford and you have to see
+the Rummel children; we shall pass the station on our way. Why shouldn't
+we drop in and see the inspector or superintendent?"
+
+The suggestion met my views exactly. As soon as we had finished tea, we
+set forth, and in about ten minutes found ourselves in the bare and
+forbidding office attached to the station.
+
+The presiding officer descended from a high stool, and, carefully laying
+down his pen, shook hands cordially.
+
+"And what can I do for you gentlemen?" he asked, with an affable smile.
+
+Stillbury proceeded to open our business.
+
+"My friend here, Dr. Jervis, who has very kindly been looking after my
+work for a week or two, has had a most remarkable experience, and he
+wants to tell you about it."
+
+"Something in my line of business?" the officer inquired.
+
+"That," said I, "is for you to judge. I think it is, but you may think
+otherwise"; and hereupon, without further preamble, I plunged into the
+history of the case, giving him a condensed statement similar to that
+which I had already made to Stillbury.
+
+He listened with close attention, jotting down from time to time a brief
+note on a sheet of paper; and, when I had finished, he wrote out in a
+black-covered notebook a short precis of my statement.
+
+"I have written down here," he said, "the substance of what you have
+told me. I will read the deposition over to you, and, if it is correct,
+I will ask you to sign it."
+
+He did so, and, when I had signed the document, I asked him what was
+likely to be done in the matter.
+
+"I am afraid," he replied, "that we can't take any active measures. You
+have put us on our guard and we shall keep our eyes open. But I think
+that is all we can do, unless we hear something further."
+
+"But," I exclaimed, "don't you think that it is a very suspicious
+affair?"
+
+"I do," he replied. "A very fishy business indeed, and you were quite
+right to come and tell us about it."
+
+"It seems a pity not to take some measures," I said. "While you are
+waiting to hear something further, they may give the poor wretch a fresh
+dose and kill him."
+
+"In which case we should hear something further, unless some fool of a
+doctor were to give a death certificate."
+
+"But that is very unsatisfactory. The man ought not to be allowed to
+die."
+
+"I quite agree with you, sir. But we've no evidence that he is going to
+die. His friends sent for you, and you treated him skilfully and left
+him in a fair way to recovery. That's all that we really know about it.
+Yes, I know," the officer continued as I made signs of disagreement,
+"you think that a crime is possibly going to be committed and that we
+ought to prevent it. But you overrate our powers. We can only act on
+evidence that a crime has actually been committed or is actually being
+attempted. Now we have no such evidence. Look at your statement, and
+tell me what you can swear to."
+
+"I think I could swear that Mr. Graves had taken a poisonous dose of
+morphine."
+
+"And who gave him that poisonous dose?"
+
+"I very strongly suspect--"
+
+"That's no good, sir," interrupted the officer. "Suspicion isn't
+evidence. We should want you to swear an information and give us enough
+facts to make out a <i>prima facie</i> case against some definite person. And
+you couldn't do it. Your information amounts to this: that a certain
+person has taken a poisonous dose of morphine and apparently recovered.
+That's all. You can't swear that the names given to you are real names,
+and you can't give us any address or even any locality."
+
+"I took some compass bearings in the carriage," I said. "You could
+locate the house, I think, without much difficulty."
+
+The officer smiled faintly and fixed an abstracted gaze on the clock.
+
+"<i>You</i> could, sir," he replied. "I have no doubt whatever that <i>you</i>
+could. <i>I</i> couldn't. But, in any case, we haven't enough to go upon. If
+you learn anything fresh, I hope you will let me know; and I am very
+much obliged to you for taking so much trouble in the matter. Good
+evening sir. Good evening, Dr. Stillbury."
+
+He shook hands with us both genially, and, accepting perforce this very
+polite but unmistakable dismissal, we took our departure.
+
+Outside the station, Stillbury heaved a comfortable sigh. He was
+evidently relieved to find that no upheavals were to take place in his
+domain.
+
+"I thought that would be their attitude," he said, "and they are quite
+right, you know. The function of law is to prevent crime, it is true;
+but prophylaxis in the sense in which we understand it is not possible
+in legal practice."
+
+I assented without enthusiasm. It was disappointing to find that no
+precautionary measures were to be taken. However, I had done all that I
+could in the matter. No further responsibility lay upon me, and, as it
+was practically certain that I had seen and heard the last of Mr. Graves
+and his mysterious household, I dismissed the case from my mind. At the
+next corner Stillbury and I parted to go our respective ways; and my
+attention was soon transferred from the romance of crime to the
+realities of epidemic influenza.
+
+The plethora of work in Dr. Stillbury's practice continued longer than I
+had bargained for. Day after day went by and still found me tramping the
+dingy streets of Kennington or scrambling up and down narrow stairways;
+turning in at night dead tired, or turning out half awake to the hideous
+jangle of the night bell.
+
+It was very provoking. For months I had resisted Thorndyke's persuasion
+to give up general practice and join him. Not from lack of inclination,
+but from a deep suspicion that he was thinking of my wants rather than
+his own; that his was a charitable rather than a business proposal. Now
+that I knew this not to be the case, I was impatient to join him; and,
+as I trudged through the dreary thoroughfares of this superannuated
+suburb, with its once rustic villas and its faded gardens, my thoughts
+would turn enviously to the quiet dignity of the Temple and my friend's
+chambers in King's Bench Walk.
+
+The closed carriage appeared no more; nor did any whisper either of good
+or evil reach me in connection with the mysterious house from which it
+had come. Mr. Graves had apparently gone out of my life for ever.
+
+But if he had gone out of my life, he had not gone out of my memory.
+Often, as I walked my rounds, would the picture of that dimly-lit room
+rise unbidden. Often would I find myself looking once more into that
+ghastly face, so worn, so wasted and haggard, and yet so far from
+repellent. All the incidents of that last night would reconstitute
+themselves with a vividness that showed the intensity of the impression
+that they had made at the time. I would have gladly forgotten the whole
+affair, for every incident of it was fraught with discomfort. But it
+clung to my memory; it haunted me; and ever as it returned it bore with
+it the disquieting questions: Was Mr. Graves still alive? And, if he was
+not, was there really nothing which could have been done to save him?
+
+Nearly a month passed before the practice began to show signs of
+returning to its normal condition. Then the daily lists became more and
+more contracted and the day's work proportionately shorter. And thus the
+term of my servitude came to an end. One evening, as we were writing up
+the day-book, Stillbury remarked:
+
+"I almost think, Jervis, I could manage by myself now. I know you are
+only staying on for my sake."
+
+"I am staying on to finish my engagement, but I shan't be sorry to clear
+out if you can do without me."
+
+"I think I can. When would you like to be off?"
+
+"As soon as possible. Say to-morrow morning, after I have made a few
+visits and transferred the patients to you."
+
+"Very well," said Stillbury. "Then I will give you your cheque and
+settle up everything to-night, so that you shall be free to go off when
+you like to-morrow morning."
+
+Thus ended my connection with Kennington Lane. On the following day at
+about noon, I found myself strolling across Waterloo Bridge with the
+sensations of a newly liberated convict and a cheque for twenty-five
+guineas in my pocket. My luggage was to follow when I sent for it. Now,
+unhampered even by a hand-bag, I joyfully descended the steps at the
+north end of the bridge and headed for King's Bench Walk by way of the
+Embankment and Middle Temple Lane.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter V
+
+Jeffrey Blackmore's Will
+
+
+My arrival at Thorndyke's chambers was not unexpected, having been
+heralded by a premonitory post-card. The "oak" was open and an
+application of the little brass knocker of the inner door immediately
+produced my colleague himself and a very hearty welcome.
+
+"At last," said Thorndyke, "you have come forth from the house of
+bondage. I began to think that you had taken up your abode in Kennington
+for good."
+
+"I was beginning, myself, to wonder when I should escape. But here I am;
+and I may say at once that I am ready to shake the dust of general
+practice off my feet for ever--that is, if you are still willing to have
+me as your assistant."
+
+"Willing!" exclaimed Thorndyke, "Barkis himself was not more willing
+than I. You will be invaluable to me. Let us settle the terms of our
+comradeship forthwith, and to-morrow we will take measures to enter you
+as a student of the Inner Temple. Shall we have our talk in the open air
+and the spring sunshine?"
+
+I agreed readily to this proposal, for it was a bright, sunny day and
+warm for the time of year--the beginning of April. We descended to the
+Walk and thence slowly made our way to the quiet court behind the
+church, where poor old Oliver Goldsmith lies, as he would surely have
+wished to lie, in the midst of all that had been dear to him in his
+chequered life. I need not record the matter of our conversation. To
+Thorndyke's proposals I had no objections to offer but my own
+unworthiness and his excessive liberality. A few minutes saw our
+covenants fully agreed upon, and when Thorndyke had noted the points on
+a slip of paper, signed and dated it and handed it to me, the business
+was at an end.
+
+"There," my colleague said with a smile as he put away his pocket-book,
+"if people would only settle their affairs in that way, a good part of
+the occupation of lawyers would be gone. Brevity is the soul of wit; and
+the fear of simplicity is the beginning of litigation."
+
+"And now," I said, "I propose that we go and feed. I will invite you to
+lunch to celebrate our contract."
+
+"My learned junior is premature," he replied. "I had already arranged a
+little festivity--or rather had modified one that was already arranged.
+You remember Mr. Marchmont, the solicitor?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"He called this morning to ask me to lunch with him and a new client at
+the 'Cheshire Cheese.' I accepted and notified him that I should bring
+you."
+
+"Why the 'Cheshire Cheese'?" I asked.
+
+"Why not? Marchmont's reasons for the selection were, first, that his
+client has never seen an old-fashioned London tavern, and second, that
+this is Wednesday and he, Marchmont, has a gluttonous affection for a
+really fine beef-steak pudding. You don't object, I hope?"
+
+"Oh, not at all. In fact, now that you mention it, my own sensations
+incline me to sympathize with Marchmont. I breakfasted rather early."
+
+"Then come," said Thorndyke. "The assignation is for one o'clock, and,
+if we walk slowly, we shall just hit it off."
+
+We sauntered up Inner Temple Lane, and, crossing Fleet Street, headed
+sedately for the tavern. As we entered the quaint old-world dining-room,
+Thorndyke looked round and a gentleman, who was seated with a companion
+at a table in one of the little boxes or compartments, rose and saluted
+us.
+
+"Let me introduce you to my friend Mr. Stephen Blackmore," he said as we
+approached. Then, turning to his companion, he introduced us by our
+respective names.
+
+"I engaged this box," he continued, "so that we might be private if we
+wished to have a little preliminary chat; not that beef-steak pudding is
+a great help to conversation. But when people have a certain business
+in view, their talk is sure to drift towards it, sooner or later."
+
+Thorndyke and I sat down opposite the lawyer and his client, and we
+mutually inspected one another. Marchmont I already knew; an elderly,
+professional-looking man, a typical solicitor of the old school;
+fresh-faced, precise, rather irascible, and conveying a not unpleasant
+impression of taking a reasonable interest in his diet. The other man
+was quite young, not more than five-and-twenty, and was a fine
+athletic-looking fellow with a healthy, out-of-door complexion and an
+intelligent and highly prepossessing face. I took a liking to him at the
+first glance, and so, I saw, did Thorndyke.
+
+"You two gentlemen," said Blackmore, addressing us, "seem to be quite
+old acquaintances. I have heard so much about you from my friend, Reuben
+Hornby."
+
+"Ah!" exclaimed Marchmont, "that was a queer case--'The Case of the Red
+Thumb Mark,' as the papers called it. It was an eye-opener to
+old-fashioned lawyers like myself. We've had scientific witnesses
+before--and bullied 'em properly, by Jove! when they wouldn't give the
+evidence that we wanted. But the scientific lawyer is something new. His
+appearance in court made us all sit up, I can assure you."
+
+"I hope we shall make you sit up again," said Thorndyke.
+
+"You won't this time," said Marchmont. "The issues in this case of my
+friend Blackmore's are purely legal; or rather, there are no issues at
+all. There is nothing in dispute. I tried to prevent Blackmore from
+consulting you, but he wouldn't listen to reason. Here! Waiter! How much
+longer are we to be waiters? We shall die of old age before we get our
+victuals!"
+
+The waiter smiled apologetically. "Yessir!" said he. "Coming now, sir."
+And at this very moment there was borne into the room a Gargantuan
+pudding in a great bucket of a basin, which being placed on a
+three-legged stool was forthwith attacked ferociously by the
+white-clothed, white-capped carver. We watched the process--as did every
+one present--with an interest not entirely gluttonous, for it added a
+pleasant touch to the picturesque old room, with its sanded floor, its
+homely, pew-like boxes, its high-backed settles and the friendly
+portrait of the "great lexicographer" that beamed down on us from the
+wall.
+
+"This is a very different affair from your great, glittering modern
+restaurant," Mr. Marchmont remarked.
+
+"It is indeed," said Blackmore, "and if this is the way in which our
+ancestors lived, it would seem that they had a better idea of comfort
+than we have."
+
+There was a short pause, during which Mr. Marchmont glared hungrily at
+the pudding; then Thorndyke said:
+
+"So you refused to listen to reason, Mr. Blackmore?"
+
+"Yes. You see, Mr. Marchmont and his partner had gone into the matter
+and decided that there was nothing to be done. Then I happened to
+mention the affair to Reuben Hornby, and he urged me to ask your advice
+on the case."
+
+"Like his impudence," growled Marchmont, "to meddle with my client."
+
+"On which," continued Blackmore, "I spoke to Mr. Marchmont and he agreed
+that it was worth while to take your opinion on the case, though he
+warned me to cherish no hopes, as the affair was not really within your
+specialty."
+
+"So you understand," said Marchmont, "that we expect nothing. This is
+quite a forlorn hope. We are taking your opinion as a mere formality, to
+be able to say that we have left nothing untried."
+
+"That is an encouraging start," Thorndyke remarked. "It leaves me
+unembarrassed by the possibility of failure. But meanwhile you are
+arousing in me a devouring curiosity as to the nature of the case. Is it
+highly confidential? Because if not, I would mention that Jervis has now
+joined me as my permanent colleague."
+
+"It isn't confidential at all," said Marchmont. "The public are in full
+possession of the facts, and we should be only too happy to put them in
+still fuller possession, through the medium of the Probate Court, if we
+could find a reasonable pretext. But we can't."
+
+Here the waiter charged our table with the fussy rapidity of the
+overdue.
+
+"Sorry to keep you waiting, sir. Rather early, sir. Wouldn't like it
+underdone, sir."
+
+Marchmont inspected his plate critically and remarked:
+
+"I sometimes suspect these oysters of being mussels; and I'll swear the
+larks are sparrows."
+
+"Let us hope so," said Thorndyke. "The lark is better employed 'at
+Heaven's gate singing' than garnishing a beef-steak pudding. But you
+were telling us about your case."
+
+"So I was. Well it's just a matter of--ale or claret? Oh, claret, I
+know. You despise the good old British John Barleycorn."
+
+"He that drinks beer thinks beer," retorted Thorndyke. "But you were
+saying that it is just a matter of--?"
+
+"A matter of a perverse testator and an ill-drawn will. A peculiarly
+irritating case, too, because the defective will replaces a perfectly
+sound one, and the intentions of the testator were--er--were--excellent
+ale, this. A little heady, perhaps, but sound. Better than your sour
+French wine, Thorndyke--were--er--were quite obvious. What he evidently
+desired was--mustard? Better have some mustard. No? Well, well! Even a
+Frenchman would take mustard. You can have no appreciation of flavour,
+Thorndyke, if you take your victuals in that crude, unseasoned state.
+And, talking of flavour, do you suppose that there is really any
+difference between that of a lark and that of a sparrow?"
+
+Thorndyke smiled grimly. "I should suppose," said he, "that they were
+indistinguishable; but the question could easily be put to the test of
+experiment."
+
+"That is true," agreed Marchmont, "and it would really be worth trying,
+for, as you say, sparrows are more easily obtainable than larks. But,
+about this will. I was saying--er--now, what was I saying?"
+
+"I understood you to say," replied Thorndyke, "that the intentions of
+the testator were in some way connected with mustard. Isn't that so,
+Jervis?"
+
+"That was what I gathered," said I.
+
+Marchmont gazed at us for a moment with a surprised expression and then,
+laughing good-humouredly, fortified himself with a draught of ale.
+
+"The moral of which is," Thorndyke added, "that testamentary
+dispositions should not be mixed up with beef-steak pudding."
+
+"I believe you're right, Thorndyke," said the unabashed solicitor.
+"Business is business and eating is eating. We had better talk over our
+case in my office or your chambers after lunch."
+
+"Yes," said Thorndyke, "come over to the Temple with me and I will give
+you a cup of coffee to clear your brain. Are there any documents?"
+
+"I have all the papers here in my bag," replied Marchmont; and the
+conversation--such conversation as is possible "when beards wag all"
+over the festive board--drifted into other channels.
+
+As soon as the meal was finished and the reckoning paid, we trooped out
+of Wine Office Court, and, insinuating ourselves through the line of
+empty hansoms that, in those days, crawled in a continuous procession
+on either side of Fleet Street, betook ourselves by way of Mitre Court
+to King's Bench Walk. There, when the coffee had been requisitioned and
+our chairs drawn up around the fire, Mr. Marchmont unloaded from his bag
+a portentous bundle of papers, and we addressed ourselves to the
+business in hand.
+
+"Now," said Marchmont, "let me repeat what I said before. Legally
+speaking, we have no case--not the ghost of one. But my client wished to
+take your opinion, and I agreed on the bare chance that you might detect
+some point that we had overlooked. I don't think you will, for we have
+gone into the case very thoroughly, but still, there is the
+infinitesimal chance and we may as well take it. Would you like to read
+the two wills, or shall I first explain the circumstances?"
+
+"I think," replied Thorndyke, "a narrative of the events in the order of
+their occurrence would be most helpful. I should like to know as much as
+possible about the testator before I examine the documents."
+
+"Very well," said Marchmont. "Then I will begin with a recital of the
+circumstances, which, briefly stated, are these: My client, Stephen
+Blackmore, is the son of Mr. Edward Blackmore, deceased. Edward
+Blackmore had two brothers who survived him, John, the elder, and
+Jeffrey, the younger. Jeffrey is the testator in this case.
+
+"Some two years ago, Jeffrey Blackmore executed a will by which he made
+his nephew Stephen his executor and sole legatee; and a few months later
+he added a codicil giving two hundred and fifty pounds to his brother
+John."
+
+"What was the value of the estate?" Thorndyke asked.
+
+"About three thousand five hundred pounds, all invested in Consols. The
+testator had a pension from the Foreign Office, on which he lived,
+leaving his capital untouched. Soon after having made his will, he left
+the rooms in Jermyn Street, where he had lived for some years, stored
+his furniture and went to Florence. From thence he moved on to Rome and
+then to Venice and other places in Italy, and so continued to travel
+about until the end of last September, when it appears that he returned
+to England, for at the beginning of October he took a set of chambers in
+New Inn, which he furnished with some of the things from his old rooms.
+As far as we can make out, he never communicated with any of his
+friends, excepting his brother, and the fact of his being in residence
+at New Inn or of his being in England at all became known to them only
+when he died."
+
+"Was this quite in accordance with his ordinary habits?" Thorndyke
+asked.
+
+"I should say not quite," Blackmore answered. "My uncle was a studious,
+solitary man, but he was not formerly a recluse. He was not much of a
+correspondent but he kept up some sort of communication with his
+friends. He used, for instance, to write to me sometimes, and, when I
+came down from Cambridge for the vacations, he had me to stay with him
+at his rooms."
+
+"Is there anything known that accounts for the change in his habits?"
+
+"Yes, there is," replied Marchmont. "We shall come to that presently. To
+proceed with the narrative: On the fifteenth of last March he was found
+dead in his chambers, and a more recent will was then discovered, dated
+the twelfth of November of last year. Now no change had taken place in
+the circumstances of the testator to account for the new will, nor was
+there any appreciable alteration in the disposition of the property. As
+far as we can make out, the new will was drawn with the idea of stating
+the intentions of the testator with greater exactness and for the sake
+of doing away with the codicil. The entire property, with the exception
+of two hundred and fifty pounds, was, as before, bequeathed to Stephen,
+but the separate items were specified, and the testator's brother, John
+Blackmore, was named as the executor and residuary legatee."
+
+"I see," said Thorndyke. "So that your client's interest in the will
+would appear to be practically unaffected by the change."
+
+"Yes. There it is," exclaimed the lawyer, slapping the table to add
+emphasis to his words. "That is the pity of it! If people who have no
+knowledge of law would only refrain from tinkering at their wills, what
+a world of trouble would be saved!"
+
+"Oh, come!" said Thorndyke. "It is not for a lawyer to say that."
+
+"No, I suppose not," Marchmont agreed. "Only, you see, we like the
+muddle to be made by the other side. But, in this case, the muddle is on
+our side. The change, as you say, seems to leave our friend Stephen's
+interests unaffected. That is, of course, what poor Jeffrey Blackmore
+thought. But he was mistaken. The effect of the change is absolutely
+disastrous."
+
+"Indeed!"
+
+"Yes. As I have said, no alteration in the testator's circumstances had
+taken place at the time the new will was executed. <i>But</i> only two days
+before his death, his sister, Mrs. Edmund Wilson, died; and on her will
+being proved it appeared that she had bequeathed to him her entire
+personalty, estimated at about thirty thousand pounds."
+
+"Heigho!" exclaimed Thorndyke. "What an unfortunate affair!"
+
+"You are right," said Mr. Marchmont; "it was a disaster. By the original
+will this great sum would have accrued to our friend Mr. Stephen,
+whereas now, of course, it goes to the residuary legatee, Mr. John
+Blackmore. And what makes it even more exasperating is the fact that
+this is obviously not in accordance with the wishes and intentions of
+Mr. Jeffrey, who clearly desired his nephew to inherit his property."
+
+"Yes," said Thorndyke; "I think you are justified in assuming that. But
+do you know whether Mr. Jeffrey was aware of his sister's intentions?"
+
+"We think not. Her will was executed as recently as the third of
+September last, and it seems that there had been no communication
+between her and Mr. Jeffrey since that date. Besides, if you consider
+Mr. Jeffrey's actions, you will see that they suggest no knowledge or
+expectation of this very important bequest. A man does not make
+elaborate dispositions in regard to three thousand pounds and then leave
+a sum of thirty thousand to be disposed of casually as the residue of
+the estate."
+
+"No," Thorndyke agreed. "And, as you have said, the manifest intention
+of the testator was to leave the bulk of his property to Mr. Stephen. So
+we may take it as virtually certain that Mr. Jeffrey had no knowledge of
+the fact that he was a beneficiary under his sister's will."
+
+"Yes," said Mr. Marchmont, "I think we may take that as nearly certain."
+
+"With reference to the second will," said Thorndyke, "I suppose there is
+no need to ask whether the document itself has been examined; I mean as
+to its being a genuine document and perfectly regular?"
+
+Mr. Marchmont shook his head sadly.
+
+"No," he said, "I am sorry to say that there can be no possible doubt as
+to the authenticity and regularity of the document. The circumstances
+under which it was executed establish its genuineness beyond any
+question."
+
+"What were those circumstances?" Thorndyke asked.
+
+"They were these: On the morning of the twelfth of November last, Mr.
+Jeffrey came to the porter's lodge with a document in his hand. 'This,'
+he said, 'is my will. I want you to witness my signature. Would you mind
+doing so, and can you find another respectable person to act as the
+second witness?' Now it happened that a nephew of the porter's, a
+painter by trade, was at work in the Inn. The porter went out and
+fetched him into the lodge and the two men agreed to witness the
+signature. 'You had better read the will,' said Mr. Jeffrey. 'It is not
+actually necessary, but it is an additional safeguard and there is
+nothing of a private nature in the document.' The two men accordingly
+read the document, and, when Mr. Jeffrey had signed it in their
+presence, they affixed their signatures; and I may add that the painter
+left the recognizable impressions of three greasy fingers."
+
+"And these witnesses have been examined?"
+
+"Yes. They have both sworn to the document and to their own signatures,
+and the painter recognized his finger-marks."
+
+"That," said Thorndyke, "seems to dispose pretty effectually of any
+question as to the genuineness of the will; and if, as I gather, Mr.
+Jeffrey came to the lodge alone, the question of undue influence is
+disposed of too."
+
+"Yes," said Mr. Marchmont. "I think we must pass the will as absolutely
+flawless."
+
+"It strikes me as rather odd," said Thorndyke, "that Jeffrey should have
+known so little about his sister's intentions. Can you explain it, Mr.
+Blackmore?"
+
+"I don't think that it is very remarkable," Stephen replied. "I knew
+very little of my aunt's affairs and I don't think my uncle Jeffrey knew
+much more, for he was under the impression that she had only a life
+interest in her husband's property. And he may have been right. It is
+not clear what money this was that she left to my uncle. She was a very
+taciturn woman and made few confidences to anyone."
+
+"So that it is possible," said Thorndyke, "that she, herself, may have
+acquired this money recently by some bequest?"
+
+"It is quite possible," Stephen answered.
+
+"She died, I understand," said Thorndyke, glancing at the notes that he
+had jotted down, "two days before Mr. Jeffrey. What date would that be?"
+
+"Jeffrey died on the fourteenth of March," said Marchmont.
+
+"So that Mrs. Wilson died on the twelfth of March?"
+
+"That is so," Marchmont replied; and Thorndyke then asked:
+
+"Did she die suddenly?"
+
+"No," replied Stephen; "she died of cancer. I understand that it was
+cancer of the stomach."
+
+"Do you happen to know," Thorndyke asked, "what sort of relations
+existed between Jeffrey and his brother John?"
+
+"At one time," said Stephen, "I know they were not very cordial; but the
+breach may have been made up later, though I don't know that it actually
+was."
+
+"I ask the question," said Thorndyke, "because, as I dare say you have
+noticed, there is, in the first will, some hint of improved relations.
+As it was originally drawn that will makes Mr. Stephen the sole legatee.
+Then, a little later, a codicil is added in favour of John, showing that
+Jeffrey had felt the necessity of making some recognition of his
+brother. This seems to point to some change in the relations, and the
+question arises: if such a change did actually occur, was it the
+beginning of a new and further improving state of feeling between the
+two brothers? Have you any facts bearing on that question?"
+
+Marchmont pursed up his lips with the air of a man considering an
+unwelcome suggestion, and, after a few moments of reflection, answered:
+
+"I think we must say 'yes' to that. There is the undeniable fact that,
+of all Jeffrey's friends, John Blackmore was the only one who knew that
+he was living in New Inn."
+
+"Oh, John knew that, did he?"
+
+"Yes, he certainly did; for it came out in the evidence that he had
+called on Jeffrey at his chambers more than once. There is no denying
+that. But, mark you!" Mr. Marchmont added emphatically, "that does not
+cover the inconsistency of the will. There is nothing in the second will
+to suggest that Jeffrey intended materially to increase the bequest to
+his brother."
+
+"I quite agree with you, Marchmont. I think that is a perfectly sound
+position. You have, I suppose, fully considered the question as to
+whether it would be possible to set aside the second will on the ground
+that it fails to carry out the evident wishes and intentions of the
+testator?"
+
+"Yes. My partner, Winwood, and I went into that question very carefully,
+and we also took counsel's opinion--Sir Horace Barnaby--and he was of
+the same opinion as ourselves; that the court would certainly uphold the
+will."
+
+"I think that would be my own view," said Thorndyke, "especially after
+what you have told me. Do I understand that John Blackmore was the only
+person who knew that Jeffrey was in residence at New Inn?"
+
+"The only one of his private friends. His bankers knew and so did the
+officials from whom he drew his pension."
+
+"Of course he would have to notify his bankers of his change of
+address."
+
+"Yes, of course. And a propos of the bank, I may mention that the
+manager tells me that, of late, they had noticed a slight change in the
+character of Jeffrey's signature--I think you will see the reason of the
+change when you hear the rest of his story. It was very trifling; not
+more than commonly occurs when a man begins to grow old, especially if
+there is some failure of eyesight."
+
+"Was Mr. Jeffrey's eyesight failing?" asked Thorndyke.
+
+"Yes, it was, undoubtedly," said Stephen. "He was practically blind in
+one eye and, in the very last letter that I ever had from him, he
+mentioned that there were signs of commencing cataract in the other."
+
+"You spoke of his pension. He continued to draw that regularly?"
+
+"Yes; he drew his allowance every month, or rather, his bankers drew it
+for him. They had been accustomed to do so when he was abroad, and the
+authorities seem to have allowed the practice to continue."
+
+Thorndyke reflected a while, running his eye over the notes on the slips
+of paper in his hand, and Marchmont surveyed him with a malicious smile.
+Presently the latter remarked:
+
+"Methinks the learned counsel is floored."
+
+Thorndyke laughed. "It seems to me," he retorted, "that your proceedings
+are rather like those of the amiable individual who offered the bear a
+flint pebble, that he might crack it and extract the kernel. Your
+confounded will seems to offer no soft spot on which one could commence
+an attack. But we won't give up. We seem to have sucked the will dry.
+Let us now have a few facts respecting the parties concerned in it; and,
+as Jeffrey is the central figure, let us begin with him and the tragedy
+at New Inn that formed the starting-point of all this trouble."
+
+
+
+
+Chapter VI
+
+Jeffrey Blackmore, Deceased
+
+
+Having made the above proposition, Thorndyke placed a fresh slip of
+paper on the blotting pad on his knee and looked inquiringly at Mr.
+Marchmont; who, in his turn, sighed and looked at the bundle of
+documents on the table.
+
+"What do you want to know?" he asked a little wearily.
+
+"Everything," replied Thorndyke. "You have hinted at circumstances that
+would account for a change in Jeffrey's habits and that would explain an
+alteration in the character of his signature. Let us have those
+circumstances. And, if I might venture on a suggestion, it would be that
+we take the events in the order in which they occurred or in which they
+became known."
+
+"That's the worst of you, Thorndyke," Marchmont grumbled. "When a case
+has been squeezed out to the last drop, in a legal sense, you want to
+begin all over again with the family history of every one concerned and
+a list of his effects and household furniture. But I suppose you will
+have to be humoured; and I imagine that the best way in which to give
+you the information you want will be to recite the circumstances
+surrounding the death of Jeffrey Blackmore. Will that suit you?"
+
+"Perfectly," replied Thorndyke; and thereupon Marchmont began:
+
+"The death of Jeffrey Blackmore was discovered at about eleven o'clock
+in the morning of the fifteenth of March. It seems that a builder's man
+was ascending a ladder to examine a gutter on number 31, New Inn, when,
+on passing a second-floor window that was open at the top, he looked in
+and perceived a gentleman lying on a bed. The gentleman was fully
+clothed and had apparently lain down on the bed to rest; at least so the
+builder thought at the time, for he was merely passing the window on
+his way up, and, very properly, did not make a minute examination. But
+when, some ten minutes later, he came down and saw that the gentleman
+was still in the same position, he looked at him more attentively; and
+this is what he noticed--but perhaps we had better have it in his own
+words as he told the story at the inquest.
+
+"'When I came to look at the gentleman a bit more closely, it struck me
+that he looked rather queer. His face looked very white, or rather pale
+yellow, like parchment, and his mouth was open. He did not seem to be
+breathing. On the bed by his side was a brass object of some kind--I
+could not make out what it was--and he seemed to be holding some small
+metal object in his hand. I thought it rather a queer affair, so, when I
+came down I went across to the lodge and told the porter about it. The
+porter came out across the square with me and I showed him the window.
+Then he told me to go up the stairs to Mr. Blackmore's chambers on the
+second pair and knock and keep on knocking until I got an answer. I went
+up and knocked and kept on knocking as loud as I could, but, though I
+fetched everybody out of all the other chambers in the house, I couldn't
+get any answer from Mr. Blackmore. So I went downstairs again and then
+Mr. Walker, the porter, sent me for a policeman.
+
+"'I went out and met a policeman just by Dane's Inn and told him about
+the affair, and he came back with me. He and the porter consulted
+together, and then they told me to go up the ladder and get in at the
+window and open the door of the chambers from the inside. So I went up;
+and as soon as I got in at the window I saw that the gentleman was dead.
+I went through the other room and opened the outer door and let in the
+porter and the policeman.'
+
+"That," said Mr. Marchmont, laying down the paper containing the
+depositions, "is the way in which poor Jeffrey Blackmore's death came to
+be discovered.
+
+"The constable reported to his inspector and the inspector sent for the
+divisional surgeon, whom he accompanied to New Inn. I need not go into
+the evidence given by the police officers, as the surgeon saw all that
+they saw and his statement covers everything that is known about
+Jeffrey's death. This is what he says, after describing how he was sent
+for and arrived at the Inn:
+
+"'In the bedroom I found the body of a man between fifty and sixty years
+of age, which has since been identified in my presence as that of Mr.
+Jeffrey Blackmore. It was fully dressed and wore boots on which was a
+moderate amount of dry mud. It was lying on its back on the bed, which
+did not appear to have been slept in, and showed no sign of any struggle
+or disturbance. The right hand loosely grasped a hypodermic syringe
+containing a few drops of clear liquid which I have since analysed and
+found to be a concentrated solution of strophanthin.
+
+"'On the bed, close to the left side of the body, was a brass opium-pipe
+of a pattern which I believe is made in China. The bowl of the pipe
+contained a small quantity of charcoal, and a fragment of opium
+together with some ash, and there was on the bed a little ash which
+appeared to have dropped from the bowl when the pipe fell or was laid
+down. On the mantelshelf in the bedroom I found a small glass-stoppered
+jar containing about an ounce of solid opium, and another, larger jar
+containing wood charcoal broken up into small fragments. Also a bowl
+containing a quantity of ash with fragments of half-burned charcoal and
+a few minute particles of charred opium. By the side of the bowl were a
+knife, a kind of awl or pricker and a very small pair of tongs, which I
+believe to have been used for carrying a piece of lighted charcoal to
+the pipe.
+
+"'On the dressing-table were two glass tubes labelled "Hypodermic
+Tabloids: Strophanthin 1/500 grain," and a minute glass mortar and
+pestle, of which the former contained a few crystals which have since
+been analysed by me and found to be strophanthin.
+
+"'On examining the body, I found that it had been dead about twelve
+hours. There were no marks of violence or any abnormal condition
+excepting a single puncture in the right thigh, apparently made by the
+needle of the hypodermic syringe. The puncture was deep and vertical in
+direction as if the needle had been driven in through the clothing.
+
+"'I made a post-mortem examination of the body and found that death was
+due to poisoning by strophanthin, which appeared to have been injected
+into the thigh. The two tubes which I found on the dressing-table would
+each have contained, if full, twenty tabloids, each tabloid
+representing one five-hundredth of a grain of strophanthin. Assuming
+that the whole of this quantity was injected the amount taken would be
+forty five-hundredths, or about one twelfth of a grain. The ordinary
+medicinal dose of strophanthin is one five-hundredth of a grain.
+
+"'I also found in the body appreciable traces of morphine--the principal
+alkaloid of opium--from which I infer that the deceased was a confirmed
+opium-smoker. This inference was supported by the general condition of
+the body, which was ill-nourished and emaciated and presented all the
+appearances usually met with in the bodies of persons addicted to the
+habitual use of opium.'
+
+"That is the evidence of the surgeon. He was recalled later, as we shall
+see, but, meanwhile, I think you will agree with me that the facts
+testified to by him fully account, not only for the change in Jeffrey's
+habits--his solitary and secretive mode of life--but also for the
+alteration in his handwriting."
+
+"Yes," agreed Thorndyke, "that seems to be so. By the way, what did the
+change in the handwriting amount to?"
+
+"Very little," replied Marchmont. "It was hardly perceptible. Just a
+slight loss of firmness and distinctness; such a trifling change as you
+would expect to find in the handwriting of a man who had taken to drink
+or drugs, or anything that might impair the steadiness of his hand. I
+should not have noticed it, myself, but, of course, the people at the
+bank are experts, constantly scrutinizing signatures and scrutinizing
+them with a very critical eye."
+
+"Is there any other evidence that bears on the case?" Thorndyke asked.
+
+Marchmont turned over the bundle of papers and smiled grimly.
+
+"My dear Thorndyke," he said, "none of this evidence has the slightest
+bearing on the case. It is all perfectly irrelevant as far as the will
+is concerned. But I know your little peculiarities and I am indulging
+you, as you see, to the top of your bent. The next evidence is that of
+the chief porter, a very worthy and intelligent man named Walker. This
+is what he says, after the usual preliminaries.
+
+"'I have viewed the body which forms the subject of this inquiry. It is
+that of Mr. Jeffrey Blackmore, the tenant of a set of chambers on the
+second floor of number thirty-one, New Inn. I have known the deceased
+nearly six months, and during that time have seen and conversed with him
+frequently. He took the chambers on the second of last October and came
+into residence at once. Tenants at New Inn have to furnish two
+references. The references that the deceased gave were his bankers and
+his brother, Mr. John Blackmore. I may say that the deceased was very
+well known to me. He was a quiet, pleasant-mannered gentleman, and it
+was his habit to drop in occasionally at the lodge and have a chat with
+me. I went into his chambers with him once or twice on some small
+matters of business and I noticed that there were always a number of
+books and papers on the table. I understood from him that he spent most
+of his time indoors engaged in study and writing. I know very little
+about his way of living. He had no laundress to look after his rooms, so
+I suppose he did his own house-work and cooking; but he told me that he
+took most of his meals outside, at restaurants or his club.
+
+"'Deceased impressed me as a rather melancholy, low-spirited gentleman.
+He was very much troubled about his eyesight and mentioned the matter to
+me on several occasions. He told me that he was practically blind in one
+eye and that the sight of the other was failing rapidly. He said that
+this afflicted him greatly, because his only pleasure in life was in the
+reading of books, and that if he could not read he should not wish to
+live. On another occasion he said that "to a blind man life was not
+worth living."
+
+"'On the twelfth of last November he came to the lodge with a paper in
+his hand which he said was his will'--But I needn't read that," said
+Marchmont, turning over the leaf, "I've told you how the will was signed
+and witnessed. We will pass on to the day of poor Jeffrey's death.
+
+"'On the fourteenth of March,' the porter says, 'at about half-past six
+in the evening, the deceased came to the Inn in a four-wheeled cab. That
+was the day of the great fog. I do not know if there was anyone in the
+cab with the deceased, but I think not, because he came to the lodge
+just before eight o'clock and had a little talk with me. He said that
+he had been overtaken by the fog and could not see at all. He was quite
+blind and had been obliged to ask a stranger to call a cab for him as he
+could not find his way through the streets. He then gave me a cheque for
+the rent. I reminded him that the rent was not due until the
+twenty-fifth, but he said he wished to pay it now. He also gave me some
+money to pay one or two small bills that were owing to some of the
+tradespeople--a milk-man, a baker and a stationer.
+
+"'This struck me as very strange, because he had always managed his
+business and paid the tradespeople himself. He told me that the fog had
+irritated his eye so that he could hardly read, and he was afraid he
+should soon be quite blind. He was very depressed; so much so that I
+felt quite uneasy about him. When he left the lodge, he went back across
+the square as if returning to his chambers. There was then no gate open
+excepting the main gate where the lodge is situated. That was the last
+time that I saw the deceased alive.'"
+
+Mr. Marchmont laid the paper on the table. "That is the porter's
+evidence. The remaining depositions are those of Noble, the night
+porter, John Blackmore and our friend here, Mr. Stephen. The night
+porter had not much to tell. This is the substance of his evidence:
+
+"'I have viewed the body of the deceased and identify it as that of Mr.
+Jeffrey Blackmore. I knew the deceased well by sight and occasionally
+had a few words with him. I know nothing of his habits excepting that he
+used to sit up rather late. It is one of my duties to go round the Inn
+at night and call out the hours until one o'clock in the morning. When
+calling out "one o'clock" I often saw a light in the sitting-room of the
+deceased's chambers. On the night of the fourteenth instant, the light
+was burning until past one o'clock, but it was in the bedroom. The light
+in the sitting-room was out by ten o'clock.'
+
+"We now come to John Blackmore's evidence. He says:
+
+"'I have viewed the body of the deceased and recognize it as that of my
+brother Jeffrey. I last saw him alive on the twenty-third of February,
+when I called at his chambers. He then seemed in a very despondent state
+of mind and told me that his eyesight was fast failing. I was aware that
+he occasionally smoked opium, but I did not know that it was a confirmed
+habit. I urged him, on several occasions, to abandon the practice. I
+have no reason to believe that his affairs were in any way embarrassed
+or that he had any reason for making away with himself other than his
+failing eyesight; but, having regard to his state of mind when I last
+saw him, I am not surprised at what has happened.'
+
+"That is the substance of John Blackmore's evidence, and, as to Mr.
+Stephen, his statement merely sets forth the fact that he had identified
+the body as that of his uncle Jeffrey. And now I think you have all the
+facts. Is there anything more that you want to ask me before I go, for I
+must really run away now?"
+
+"I should like," said Thorndyke, "to know a little more about the
+parties concerned in this affair. But perhaps Mr. Stephen can give me
+the information."
+
+"I expect he can," said Marchmont; "at any rate, he knows more about
+them than I do; so I will be off. If you should happen to think of any
+way," he continued, with a sly smile, "of upsetting that will, just let
+me know, and I will lose no time in entering a caveat. Good-bye! Don't
+trouble to let me out."
+
+As soon as he was gone, Thorndyke turned to Stephen Blackmore.
+
+"I am going," he said, "to ask you a few questions which may appear
+rather trifling, but you must remember that my methods of inquiry
+concern themselves with persons and things rather than with documents.
+For instance, I have not gathered very completely what sort of person
+your uncle Jeffrey was. Could you tell me a little more about him?"
+
+"What shall I tell you?" Stephen asked with a slightly embarrassed air.
+
+"Well, begin with his personal appearance."
+
+"That is rather difficult to describe," said Stephen. "He was a
+medium-sized man and about five feet seven--fair, slightly grey,
+clean-shaved, rather spare and slight, had grey eyes, wore spectacles
+and stooped a little as he walked. He was quiet and gentle in manner,
+rather yielding and irresolute in character, and his health was not at
+all robust though he had no infirmity or disease excepting his bad
+eyesight. His age was about fifty-five."
+
+"How came he to be a civil-service pensioner at fifty-five?" asked
+Thorndyke.
+
+"Oh, that was through an accident. He had a nasty fall from a horse,
+and, being a rather nervous man, the shock was very severe. For some
+time after he was a complete wreck. But the failure of his eyesight was
+the actual cause of his retirement. It seems that the fall damaged his
+eyes in some way; in fact he practically lost the sight of one--the
+right--from that moment; and, as that had been his good eye, the
+accident left his vision very much impaired. So that he was at first
+given sick leave and then allowed to retire on a pension."
+
+Thorndyke noted these particulars and then said:
+
+"Your uncle has been more than once referred to as a man of studious
+habits. Does that mean that he pursued any particular branch of
+learning?"
+
+"Yes. He was an enthusiastic Oriental scholar. His official duties had
+taken him at one time to Yokohama and Tokio and at another to Bagdad,
+and while at those places he gave a good deal of attention to the
+languages, literature and arts of the countries. He was also greatly
+interested in Babylonian and Assyrian archaeology, and I believe he
+assisted for some time in the excavations at Birs Nimroud."
+
+"Indeed!" said Thorndyke. "This is very interesting. I had no idea that
+he was a man of such considerable attainments. The facts mentioned by
+Mr. Marchmont would hardly have led one to think of him as what he seems
+to have been: a scholar of some distinction."
+
+"I don't know that Mr. Marchmont realized the fact himself," said
+Stephen; "or that he would have considered it of any moment if he had.
+Nor, as far as that goes, do I. But, of course, I have no experience of
+legal matters."
+
+"You can never tell beforehand," said Thorndyke, "what facts may turn
+out to be of moment, so that it is best to collect all you can get. By
+the way, were you aware that your uncle was an opium-smoker?"
+
+"No, I was not. I knew that he had an opium-pipe which he brought with
+him when he came home from Japan; but I thought it was only a curio. I
+remember him telling me that he once tried a few puffs at an opium-pipe
+and found it rather pleasant, though it gave him a headache. But I had
+no idea he had contracted the habit; in fact, I may say that I was
+utterly astonished when the fact came out at the inquest."
+
+Thorndyke made a note of this answer, too, and said:
+
+"I think that is all I have to ask you about your uncle Jeffrey. And now
+as to Mr. John Blackmore. What sort of man is he?"
+
+"I am afraid I can't tell you very much about him. Until I saw him at
+the inquest, I had not met him since I was a boy. But he is a very
+different kind of man from Uncle Jeffrey; different in appearance and
+different in character."
+
+"You would say that the two brothers were physically quite unlike,
+then?"
+
+"Well," said Stephen, "I don't know that I ought to say that. Perhaps I
+am exaggerating the difference. I am thinking of Uncle Jeffrey as he was
+when I saw him last and of uncle John as he appeared at the inquest.
+They were very different then. Jeffrey was thin, pale, clean shaven,
+wore spectacles and walked with a stoop. John is a shade taller, a shade
+greyer, has good eyesight, a healthy, florid complexion, a brisk,
+upright carriage, is distinctly stout and wears a beard and moustache
+which are black and only very slightly streaked with grey. To me they
+looked as unlike as two men could, though their features were really of
+the same type; indeed, I have heard it said that, as young men, they
+were rather alike, and they both resembled their mother. But there is no
+doubt as to their difference in character. Jeffrey was quiet, serious
+and studious, whereas John rather inclined to what is called a fast
+life; he used to frequent race meetings, and, I think, gambled a good
+deal at times."
+
+"What is his profession?"
+
+"That would be difficult to tell; he has so many; he is so very
+versatile. I believe he began life as an articled pupil in the
+laboratory of a large brewery, but he soon left that and went on the
+stage. He seems to have remained in 'the profession' for some years,
+touring about this country and making occasional visits to America. The
+life seemed to suit him and I believe he was decidedly successful as an
+actor. But suddenly he left the stage and blossomed out in connection
+with a bucket-shop in London."
+
+"And what is he doing now?"
+
+"At the inquest he described himself as a stockbroker, so I presume he
+is still connected with the bucket-shop."
+
+Thorndyke rose, and taking down from the reference shelves a list of
+members of the Stock Exchange, turned over the leaves.
+
+"Yes," he said, replacing the volume, "he must be an outside broker. His
+name is not in the list of members of 'the House.' From what you tell
+me, it is easy to understand that there should have been no great
+intimacy between the two brothers, without assuming any kind of
+ill-feeling. They simply had very little in common. Do you know of
+anything more?"
+
+"No. I have never heard of any actual quarrel or disagreement. My
+impression that they did not get on very well may have been, I think,
+due to the terms of the will, especially the first will. And they
+certainly did not seek one another's society."
+
+"That is not very conclusive," said Thorndyke. "As to the will, a
+thrifty man is not usually much inclined to bequeath his savings to a
+gentleman who may probably employ them in a merry little flutter on the
+turf or the Stock Exchange. And then there was yourself; clearly a more
+suitable subject for a legacy, as your life is all before you. But this
+is mere speculation and the matter is not of much importance, as far as
+we can see. And now, tell me what John Blackmore's relations were with
+Mrs. Wilson. I gather that she left the bulk of her property to Jeffrey,
+her younger brother. Is that so?"
+
+"Yes. She left nothing to John. The fact is that they were hardly on
+speaking terms. I believe John had treated her rather badly, or, at any
+rate, she thought he had. Mr. Wilson, her late husband, dropped some
+money over an investment in connection with the bucket-shop that I spoke
+of, and I think she suspected John of having let him in. She may have
+been mistaken, but you know what ladies are when they get an idea into
+their heads."
+
+"Did you know your aunt well?"
+
+"No; very slightly. She lived down in Devonshire and saw very little of
+any of us. She was a taciturn, strong-minded woman; quite unlike her
+brothers. She seems to have resembled her father's family."
+
+"You might give me her full name."
+
+"Julia Elizabeth Wilson. Her husband's name was Edmund Wilson."
+
+"Thank you. There is just one more point. What has happened to your
+uncle's chambers in New Inn since his death?"
+
+"They have remained shut up. As all his effects were left to me, I have
+taken over the tenancy for the present to avoid having them disturbed. I
+thought of keeping them for my own use, but I don't think I could live
+in them after what I have seen."
+
+"You have inspected them, then?"
+
+"Yes; I have just looked through them. I went there on the day of the
+inquest."
+
+"Now tell me: as you looked through those rooms, what kind of impression
+did they convey to you as to your uncle's habits and mode of life?"
+
+Stephen smiled apologetically. "I am afraid," said he, "that they did
+not convey any particular impression in that respect. I looked into the
+sitting-room and saw all his old familiar household gods, and then I
+went into the bedroom and saw the impression on the bed where his corpse
+had lain; and that gave me such a sensation of horror that I came away
+at once."
+
+"But the appearance of the rooms must have conveyed something to your
+mind," Thorndyke urged.
+
+"I am afraid it did not. You see, I have not your analytical eye. But
+perhaps you would like to look through them yourself? If you would, pray
+do so. They are my chambers now."
+
+"I think I should like to glance round them," Thorndyke replied.
+
+"Very well," said Stephen. "I will give you my card now, and I will look
+in at the lodge presently and tell the porter to hand you the key
+whenever you like to look over the rooms."
+
+He took a card from his case, and, having written a few lines on it,
+handed it to Thorndyke.
+
+"It is very good of you," he said, "to take so much trouble. Like Mr.
+Marchmont, I have no expectation of any result from your efforts, but I
+am very grateful to you, all the same, for going into the case so
+thoroughly. I suppose you don't see any possibility of upsetting that
+will--if I may ask the question?"
+
+"At present," replied Thorndyke, "I do not. But until I have carefully
+weighed every fact connected with the case--whether it seems to have any
+bearing or not--I shall refrain from expressing, or even entertaining,
+an opinion either way."
+
+Stephen Blackmore now took his leave; and Thorndyke, having collected
+the papers containing his notes, neatly punched a couple of holes in
+their margins and inserted them into a small file, which he slipped into
+his pocket.
+
+"That," said he, "is the nucleus of the body of data on which our
+investigations must be based; and I very much fear that it will not
+receive any great additions. What do you think, Jervis?"
+
+"The case looks about as hopeless as a case could look," I replied.
+
+"That is what I think," said he; "and for that reason I am more than
+ordinarily keen on making something of it. I have not much more hope
+than Marchmont has; but I shall squeeze the case as dry as a bone before
+I let go. What are you going to do? I have to attend a meeting of the
+board of directors of the Griffin Life Office."
+
+"Shall I walk down with you?"
+
+"It is very good of you to offer, Jervis, but I think I will go alone. I
+want to run over these notes and get the facts of the case arranged in
+my mind. When I have done that, I shall be ready to pick up new matter.
+Knowledge is of no use unless it is actually in your mind, so that it
+can be produced at a moment's notice. So you had better get a book and
+your pipe and spend a quiet hour by the fire while I assimilate the
+miscellaneous mental feast that we have just enjoyed. And you might do a
+little rumination yourself."
+
+With this, Thorndyke took his departure; and I, adopting his advice,
+drew my chair closer to the fire and filled my pipe. But I did not
+discover any inclination to read. The curious history that I had just
+heard, and Thorndyke's evident determination to elucidate it further,
+disposed me to meditation. Moreover, as his subordinate, it was my
+business to occupy myself with his affairs. Wherefore, having stirred
+the fire and got my pipe well alight, I abandoned myself to the renewed
+consideration of the facts relating to Jeffrey Blackmore's will.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter VII
+
+The Cuneiform Inscription
+
+
+The surprise which Thorndyke's proceedings usually occasioned,
+especially to lawyers, was principally due, I think, to my friend's
+habit of viewing occurrences from an unusual standpoint. He did not look
+at things quite as other men looked at them. He had no prejudices and he
+knew no conventions. When other men were cocksure, Thorndyke was
+doubtful. When other men despaired, he entertained hopes; and thus it
+happened that he would often undertake cases that had been rejected
+contemptuously by experienced lawyers, and, what is more, would bring
+them to a successful issue.
+
+Thus it had been in the only other case in which I had been personally
+associated with him--the so-called "Red Thumb Mark" case. There he was
+presented with an apparent impossibility; but he had given it careful
+consideration. Then, from the category of the impossible he had brought
+it to that of the possible; from the merely possible to the actually
+probable; from the probable to the certain; and in the end had won the
+case triumphantly.
+
+Was it conceivable that he could make anything of the present case? He
+had not declined it. He had certainly entertained it and was probably
+thinking it over at this moment. Yet could anything be more impossible?
+Here was the case of a man making his own will, probably writing it out
+himself, bringing it voluntarily to a certain place and executing it in
+the presence of competent witnesses. There was no suggestion of any
+compulsion or even influence or persuasion. The testator was admittedly
+sane and responsible; and if the will did not give effect to his
+wishes--which, however, could not be proved--that was due to his own
+carelessness in drafting the will and not to any unusual circumstances.
+And the problem--which Thorndyke seemed to be considering--was how to
+set aside that will.
+
+I reviewed the statements that I had heard, but turn them about as I
+would, I could get nothing out of them but confirmation of Mr.
+Marchmont's estimate of the case. One fact that I had noted with some
+curiosity I again considered; that was Thorndyke's evident desire to
+inspect Jeffrey Blackmore's chambers. He had, it is true, shown no
+eagerness, but I had seen at the time that the questions which he put to
+Stephen were put, not with any expectation of eliciting information but
+for the purpose of getting an opportunity to look over the rooms
+himself.
+
+I was still cogitating on the subject when my colleague returned,
+followed by the watchful Polton with the tea-tray, and I attacked him
+forthwith.
+
+"Well, Thorndyke," I said, "I have been thinking about this Blackmore
+case while you have been gadding about."
+
+"And may I take it that the problem is solved?"
+
+"No, I'm hanged if you may. I can make nothing of it."
+
+"Then you are in much the same position as I am."
+
+"But, if you can make nothing of it, why did you undertake it?"
+
+"I only undertook to think about it," said Thorndyke. "I never reject a
+case off-hand unless it is obviously fishy. It is surprising how
+difficulties, and even impossibilities, dwindle if you look at them
+attentively. My experience has taught me that the most unlikely case is,
+at least, worth thinking over."
+
+"By the way, why do you want to look over Jeffrey's chambers? What do
+you expect to find there?"
+
+"I have no expectations at all. I am simply looking for stray facts."
+
+"And all those questions that you asked Stephen Blackmore; had you
+nothing in your mind--no definite purpose?"
+
+"No purpose beyond getting to know as much about the case as I can."
+
+"But," I exclaimed, "do you mean that you are going to examine those
+rooms without any definite object at all?"
+
+"I wouldn't say that," replied Thorndyke. "This is a legal case. Let me
+put an analogous medical case as being more within your present sphere.
+Supposing that a man should consult you, say, about a progressive loss
+of weight. He can give no explanation. He has no pain, no discomfort, no
+symptoms of any kind; in short, he feels perfectly well in every
+respect; <i>but</i> he is losing weight continuously. What would you do?"
+
+"I should overhaul him thoroughly," I answered.
+
+"Why? What would you expect to find?"
+
+"I don't know that I should start by expecting to find anything in
+particular. But I should overhaul him organ by organ and function by
+function, and if I could find nothing abnormal I should have to give it
+up."
+
+"Exactly," said Thorndyke. "And that is just my position and my line of
+action. Here is a case which is perfectly regular and straightforward
+excepting in one respect. It has a single abnormal feature. And for that
+abnormality there is nothing to account.
+
+"Jeffrey Blackmore made a will. It was a well-drawn will and it
+apparently gave full effect to his intentions. Then he revoked that will
+and made another. No change had occurred in his circumstances or in his
+intentions. The provisions of the new will were believed by him to be
+identical with those of the old one. The new will differed from the old
+one only in having a defect in the drafting from which the first will
+was free, and of which he must have been unaware. Now why did he revoke
+the first will and replace it with another which he believed to be
+identical in its provisions? There is no answer to that question. It is
+an abnormal feature in the case. There must be some explanation of that
+abnormality and it is my business to discover it. But the facts in my
+possession yield no such explanation. Therefore it is my purpose to
+search for new facts which may give me a starting-point for an
+investigation."
+
+This exposition of Thorndyke's proposed conduct of the case, reasonable
+as it was, did not impress me as very convincing. I found myself coming
+back to Marchmont's position, that there was really nothing in dispute.
+But other matters claimed our attention at the moment, and it was not
+until after dinner that my colleague reverted to the subject.
+
+"How should you like to take a turn round to New Inn this evening?" he
+asked.
+
+"I should have thought," said I, "that it would be better to go by
+daylight. Those old chambers are not usually very well illuminated."
+
+"That is well thought of," said Thorndyke. "We had better take a lamp
+with us. Let us go up to the laboratory and get one from Polton."
+
+"There is no need to do that," said I. "The pocket-lamp that you lent me
+is in my overcoat pocket. I put it there to return it to you."
+
+"Did you have occasion to use it?" he asked.
+
+"Yes. I paid another visit to the mysterious house and carried out your
+plan. I must tell you about it later."
+
+"Do. I shall be keenly interested to hear all about your adventures. Is
+there plenty of candle left in the lamp?"
+
+"Oh yes. I only used it for about an hour."
+
+"Then let us be off," said Thorndyke; and we accordingly set forth on
+our quest; and, as we went, I reflected once more on the apparent
+vagueness of our proceedings. Presently I reopened the subject with
+Thorndyke.
+
+"I can't imagine," said I, "that you have absolutely nothing in view.
+That you are going to this place with no defined purpose whatever."
+
+"I did not say exactly that," replied Thorndyke. "I said that I was not
+going to look for any particular thing or fact. I am going in the hope
+that I may observe something that may start a new train of speculation.
+But that is not all. You know that an investigation follows a certain
+logical course. It begins with the observation of the conspicuous facts.
+We have done that. The facts were supplied by Marchmont. The next stage
+is to propose to oneself one or more provisional explanations or
+hypotheses. We have done that, too--or, at least I have, and I suppose
+you have."
+
+"I haven't," said I. "There is Jeffrey's will, but why he should have
+made the change I cannot form the foggiest idea. But I should like to
+hear your provisional theories on the subject."
+
+"You won't hear them at present. They are mere wild conjectures. But to
+resume: what do we do next?"
+
+"Go to New Inn and rake over the deceased gentleman's apartments."
+
+Thorndyke smilingly ignored my answer and continued--
+
+"We examine each explanation in turn and see what follows from it;
+whether it agrees with all the facts and leads to the discovery of new
+ones, or, on the other hand, disagrees with some facts or leads us to an
+absurdity. Let us take a simple example.
+
+"Suppose we find scattered over a field a number of largish masses of
+stone, which are entirely different in character from the rocks found in
+the neighbourhood. The question arises, how did those stones get into
+that field? Three explanations are proposed. One: that they are the
+products of former volcanic action; two: that they were brought from a
+distance by human agency; three: that they were carried thither from
+some distant country by icebergs. Now each of those explanations
+involves certain consequences. If the stones are volcanic, then they
+were once in a state of fusion. But we find that they are unaltered
+limestone and contain fossils. Then they are not volcanic. If they were
+borne by icebergs, then they were once part of a glacier and some of
+them will probably show the flat surfaces with parallel scratches which
+are found on glacier-borne stones. We examine them and find the
+characteristic scratched surfaces. Then they have probably been brought
+to this place by icebergs. But this does not exclude human agency, for
+they might have been brought by men to this place from some other where
+the icebergs had deposited them. A further comparison with other facts
+would be needed.
+
+"So we proceed in cases like this present one. Of the facts that are
+known to us we invent certain explanations. From each of those
+explanations we deduce consequences; and if those consequences agree
+with new facts, they confirm the explanation, whereas if they disagree
+they tend to disprove it. But here we are at our destination."
+
+We turned out of Wych Street into the arched passage leading into New
+Inn, and, halting at the half-door of the lodge, perceived a stout,
+purple-faced man crouching over the fire, coughing violently. He held up
+his hand to intimate that he was fully occupied for the moment, and we
+accordingly waited for his paroxysm to subside. At length he turned
+towards us, wiping his eyes, and inquired our business.
+
+"Mr. Stephen Blackmore," said Thorndyke, "has given me permission to
+look over his chambers. He said that he would mention the matter to
+you."
+
+"So he has, sir," said the porter; "but he has just taken the key
+himself to go to the chambers. If you walk across the Inn you'll find
+him there; it's on the farther side; number thirty-one, second floor."
+
+We made our way across to the house indicated, the ground floor of which
+was occupied by a solicitor's offices and was distinguished by a
+good-sized brass plate. Although it had now been dark some time there
+was no light on the lower stairs, but we encountered on the first-floor
+landing a man who had just lit the lamp there. Thorndyke halted to
+address him.
+
+"Can you tell me who occupies the chambers on the third floor?"
+
+"The third floor has been empty about three months," was the reply.
+
+"We are going up to look at the chambers on the second floor," said
+Thorndyke. "Are they pretty quiet?"
+
+"Quiet!" exclaimed the man. "Lord bless you the place is like a cemetery
+for the deaf and dumb. There's the solicitors on the ground floor and
+the architects on the first floor. They both clear out about six, and
+when they're gone the house is as empty as a blown hegg. I don't wonder
+poor Mr. Blackmore made away with his-self. Livin' up there all alone,
+it must have been like Robinson Crusoe without no man Friday and not
+even a blooming goat to talk to. Quiet! It's quiet enough, if that's
+what you want. Wouldn't be no good to <i>me</i>."
+
+With a contemptuous shake of the head, he turned and retired down the
+next flight, and, as the echoes of his footsteps died away we resumed
+our ascent.
+
+"So it would appear," Thorndyke commented, "that when Jeffrey Blackmore
+came home that last evening, the house was empty."
+
+Arrived on the second-floor landing, we were confronted by a
+solid-looking door on the lintel of which the deceased man's name was
+painted in white lettering which still looked new and fresh. Thorndyke
+knocked at the door, which was at once opened by Stephen Blackmore.
+
+"I haven't wasted any time before taking advantage of your permission,
+you see," my colleague said as we entered.
+
+"No, indeed," said Stephen; "you are very prompt. I have been rather
+wondering what kind of information you expect to gather from an
+inspection of these rooms."
+
+Thorndyke smiled genially, amused, no doubt, by the similarity of
+Stephen's remarks to those of mine which he had so recently criticized.
+
+"A man of science, Mr. Blackmore," he said, "expects nothing. He
+collects facts and keeps an open mind. As to me, I am a mere legal
+Autolycus, a snapper-up of unconsidered trifles of evidence. When I have
+accumulated a few facts, I arrange them, compare them and think about
+them. Sometimes the comparison yields new matter and sometimes it
+doesn't; but in any case, believe me, it is a capital error to decide
+beforehand what data are to be sought for."
+
+"Yes, I suppose that is so," said Stephen; "though, to me, it almost
+looks as if Mr. Marchmont was right; that there is nothing to
+investigate."
+
+"You should have thought of that before you consulted me," laughed
+Thorndyke. "As it is, I am engaged to look into the case and I shall do
+so; and, as I have said, I shall keep an open mind until I have all the
+facts in my possession."
+
+He glanced round the sitting-room, which we had now entered, and
+continued:
+
+"These are fine, dignified old rooms. It seems a sin to have covered up
+all this oak panelling and that carved cornice and mantel with paint.
+Think what it must have been like when the beautiful figured wood was
+exposed."
+
+"It would be very dark," Stephen observed.
+
+"Yes," Thorndyke agreed, "and I suppose we care more for light and less
+for beauty than our ancestors did. But now, tell me; looking round these
+rooms, do they convey to you a similar impression to that which the old
+rooms did? Have they the same general character?"
+
+"Not quite, I think. Of course the rooms in Jermyn Street were in a
+different kind of house, but beyond that, I seem to feel a certain
+difference; which is rather odd, seeing that the furniture is the same.
+But the old rooms were more cosy, more homelike. I find something rather
+bare and cheerless, I was almost going to say squalid, in the look of
+these chambers."
+
+"That is rather what I should have expected," said Thorndyke. "The opium
+habit alters a man's character profoundly; and, somehow, apart from the
+mere furnishing, a room reflects in some subtle way, but very
+distinctly, the personality of its occupant, especially when that
+occupant lives a solitary life. Do you see any evidences of the
+activities that used to occupy your uncle?"
+
+"Not very much," replied Stephen. "But the place may not be quite as he
+left it. I found one or two of his books on the table and put them back
+in the shelves, but I found no manuscript or notes such as he used to
+make. I noticed, too, that his ink-slab which he used to keep so
+scrupulously clean is covered with dry smears and that the stick of ink
+is all cracked at the end, as if he had not used it for months. It seems
+to point to a great change in his habits."
+
+"What used he to do with Chinese ink?" Thorndyke asked.
+
+"He corresponded with some of his native friends in Japan, and he used
+to write in the Japanese character even if they understood English. That
+was what he chiefly used the Chinese ink for. But he also used to copy
+the inscriptions from these things." Here Stephen lifted from the
+mantelpiece what looked like a fossil Bath bun, but was actually a clay
+tablet covered with minute indented writing.
+
+"Your uncle could read the cuneiform character, then?"
+
+"Yes; he was something of an expert. These tablets are, I believe,
+leases and other legal documents from Eridu and other Babylonian cities.
+He used to copy the inscriptions in the cuneiform writing and then
+translate them into English. But I mustn't stay here any longer as I
+have an engagement for this evening. I just dropped in to get these two
+volumes--<i>Thornton's History of Babylonia</i>, which he once advised me to
+read. Shall I give you the key? You'd better have it and leave it with
+the porter as you go out."
+
+He shook hands with us and we walked out with him to the landing and
+stood watching him as he ran down the stairs. Glancing at Thorndyke by
+the light of the gas lamp on the landing, I thought I detected in his
+impassive face that almost imperceptible change of expression to which I
+have already alluded as indicating pleasure or satisfaction.
+
+"You are looking quite pleased with yourself," I remarked.
+
+"I am not displeased," he replied calmly. "Autolycus has picked up a few
+crumbs; very small ones, but still crumbs. No doubt his learned junior
+has picked up a few likewise?"
+
+I shook my head--and inwardly suspected it of being rather a thick head.
+
+"I did not perceive anything in the least degree significant in what
+Stephen was telling you," said I. "It was all very interesting, but it
+did not seem to have any bearing on his uncle's will."
+
+"I was not referring only to what Stephen has told us, although that
+was, as you say, very interesting. While he was talking I was looking
+about the room, and I have seen a very strange thing. Let me show it to
+you."
+
+He linked his arm in mine and, walking me back into the room, halted
+opposite the fire-place.
+
+"There," said he, "look at that. It is a most remarkable object."
+
+[Illustration: THE INVERTED INSCRIPTION.]
+
+I followed the direction of his gaze and saw an oblong frame enclosing a
+large photograph of an inscription in the weird and cabalistic
+arrow-head character. I looked at it in silence for some seconds and
+then, somewhat disappointed, remarked:
+
+"I don't see anything very remarkable in it, under the circumstances. In
+any ordinary room it would be, I admit; but Stephen has just told us
+that his uncle was something of an expert in cuneiform writing."
+
+"Exactly," said Thorndyke. "That is my point. That is what makes it so
+remarkable."
+
+"I don't follow you at all," said I. "That a man should hang upon his
+wall an inscription that is legible to him does not seem to me at all
+out of the way. It would be much more singular if he should hang up an
+inscription that he could <i>not</i> read."
+
+"No doubt," replied Thorndyke. "But you will agree with me that it would
+be still more singular if a man should hang upon his wall an inscription
+that he <i>could</i> read--and hang it upside down."
+
+I stared at Thorndyke in amazement.
+
+"Do you mean to tell me," I exclaimed, "that that photograph is really
+upside down?"
+
+"I do indeed," he replied.
+
+"But how do you know? Have we here yet another Oriental scholar?"
+
+Thorndyke chuckled. "Some fool," he replied, "has said that 'a little
+knowledge is a dangerous thing.' Compared with much knowledge, it may
+be; but it is a vast deal better than no knowledge. Here is a case in
+point. I have read with very keen interest the wonderful history of the
+decipherment of the cuneiform writing, and I happen to recollect one or
+two of the main facts that seemed to me to be worth remembering. This
+particular inscription is in the Persian cuneiform, a much more simple
+and open form of the script than the Babylonian or Assyrian; in fact, I
+suspect that this is the famous inscription from the gateway at
+Persepolis--the first to be deciphered; which would account for its
+presence here in a frame. Now this script consists, as you see, of two
+kinds of characters; the small, solid, acutely pointed characters which
+are known as wedges, and the larger, more obtuse characters, somewhat
+like our government broad arrows, and called arrow-heads. The names are
+rather unfortunate, as both forms are wedge-like and both resemble
+arrow-heads. The script reads from left to right, like our own writing,
+and unlike that of the Semitic peoples and the primitive Greeks; and the
+rule for the placing of the characters is that all the 'wedges' point to
+the right or downwards and the arrow-head forms are open towards the
+right. But if you look at this photograph you will see that all the
+wedges point upwards to the left and that the arrow-head characters are
+open towards the left. Obviously the photograph is upside down."
+
+"But," I exclaimed, "this is really most mysterious. What do you suppose
+can be the explanation?"
+
+"I think," replied Thorndyke, "that we may perhaps get a suggestion from
+the back of the frame. Let us see."
+
+He disengaged the frame from the two nails on which it hung, and,
+turning it round, glanced at the back; which he then presented for my
+inspection. A label on the backing paper bore the words, "J. Budge,
+Frame-maker and Gilder, 16, Gt. Anne Street, W.C."
+
+"Well?" I said, when I had read the label without gathering from it
+anything fresh.
+
+"The label, you observe, is the right way up as it hangs on the wall."
+
+"So it is," I rejoined hastily, a little annoyed that I had not been
+quicker to observe so obvious a fact. "I see your point. You mean that
+the frame-maker hung the thing upside down and Jeffrey never noticed the
+mistake?"
+
+"That is a perfectly sound explanation," said Thorndyke. "But I think
+there is something more. You will notice that the label is an old one;
+it must have been on some years, to judge by its dingy appearance,
+whereas the two mirror-plates look to me comparatively new. But we can
+soon put that matter to the test, for the label was evidently stuck on
+when the frame was new, and if the plates were screwed on at the same
+time, the wood that they cover will be clean and new-looking."
+
+He drew from his pocket a "combination" knife containing, among other
+implements, a screw-driver, with which he carefully extracted the screws
+from one of the little brass plates by which the frame had been
+suspended from the nails.
+
+"You see," he said, when he had removed the plate and carried the
+photograph over to the gasjet, "the wood covered by the plate is as
+dirty and time-stained as the rest of the frame. The plates have been
+put on recently."
+
+"And what are we to infer from that?"
+
+"Well, since there are no other marks of plates or rings upon the
+frame, we may safely infer that the photograph was never hung up until
+it came to these rooms."
+
+"Yes, I suppose we may. But what then? What inference does that lead
+to?"
+
+Thorndyke reflected for a few moments and I continued:
+
+"It is evident that this photograph suggests more to you than it does to
+me. I should like to hear your exposition of its bearing on the case, if
+it has any."
+
+"Whether or no it has any real bearing on the case," Thorndyke answered,
+"it is impossible for me to say at this stage. I told you that I had
+proposed to myself one or two hypotheses to account for and explain
+Jeffrey Blackmore's will, and I may say that the curious misplacement of
+this photograph fits more than one of them. I won't say more than that,
+because I think it would be profitable to you to work at this case
+independently. You have all the facts that I have and you shall have a
+copy of my notes of Marchmont's statement of the case. With this
+material you ought to be able to reach some conclusion. Of course
+neither of us may be able to make anything of the case--it doesn't look
+very hopeful at present--but whatever happens, we can compare notes
+after the event and you will be the richer by so much experience of
+actual investigation. But I will start you off with one hint, which is
+this: that neither you nor Marchmont seem to appreciate in the least the
+very extraordinary nature of the facts that he communicated to us."
+
+"I thought Marchmont seemed pretty much alive to the fact that it was a
+very queer will."
+
+"So he did," agreed Thorndyke. "But that is not quite what I mean. The
+whole set of circumstances, taken together and in relation to one
+another, impressed me as most remarkable; and that is why I am giving so
+much attention to what looks at first sight like such a very unpromising
+case. Copy out my notes, Jervis, and examine the facts critically. I
+think you will see what I mean. And now let us proceed."
+
+He replaced the brass plate and having reinserted the screws, hung up
+the frame, and proceeded to browse slowly round the room, stopping now
+and again to inspect the Japanese colour-prints and framed photographs
+of buildings and other objects of archaeological interest that formed
+the only attempts at wall-decoration. To one of the former he drew my
+attention.
+
+"These things are of some value," he remarked. "Here is one by
+Utamaro--that little circle with the mark over it is his signature--and
+you notice that the paper is becoming spotted in places with mildew. The
+fact is worth noting in more than one connection."
+
+I accordingly made a mental note and the perambulation continued.
+
+"You observe that Jeffrey used a gas-stove, instead of a coal fire, no
+doubt to economize work, but perhaps for other reasons. Presumably he
+cooked by gas, too; let us see."
+
+We wandered into the little cupboard-like kitchen and glanced round. A
+ring-burner on a shelf, a kettle, a frying-pan and a few pieces of
+crockery were its sole appointments. Apparently the porter was correct
+in his statement as to Jeffrey's habits.
+
+Returning to the sitting-room, Thorndyke resumed his inspection, pulling
+out the table drawers, peering inquisitively into cupboards and
+bestowing a passing glance on each of the comparatively few objects that
+the comfortless room contained.
+
+"I have never seen a more characterless apartment," was his final
+comment. "There is nothing that seems to suggest any kind of habitual
+activity on the part of the occupant. Let us look at the bedroom."
+
+We passed through into the chamber of tragic memories, and, when
+Thorndyke had lit the gas, we stood awhile looking about us in silence.
+It was a bare, comfortless room, dirty, neglected and squalid. The bed
+appeared not to have been remade since the catastrophe, for an
+indentation still marked the place where the corpse had lain, and even a
+slight powdering of ash could still be seen on the shabby counterpane.
+It looked to me a typical opium-smoker's bedroom.
+
+"Well," Thorndyke remarked at length, "there is character enough
+here--of a kind. Jeffrey Blackmore would seem to have been a man of few
+needs. One could hardly imagine a bedroom in which less attention seemed
+to have been given to the comfort of the occupant."
+
+He looked about him keenly and continued: "The syringe and the rest of
+the lethal appliances and material have been taken away, I see.
+Probably the analyst did not return them. But there are the opium-pipe
+and the jar and the ash-bowl, and I presume those are the clothes that
+the undertakers removed from the body. Shall we look them over?"
+
+He took up the clothes which lay, roughly folded, on a chair and held
+them up, garment by garment.
+
+"These are evidently the trousers," he remarked, spreading them out on
+the bed. "Here is a little white spot on the middle of the thigh which
+looks like a patch of small crystals from a drop of the solution. Just
+light the lamp, Jervis, and let us examine it with a lens."
+
+I lit the lamp, and when we had examined the spot minutely and
+identified it as a mass of minute crystals, Thorndyke asked:
+
+"What do you make of those creases? You see there is one on each leg."
+
+"It looks as if the trousers had been turned up. But if they have been
+they must have been turned up about seven inches. Poor Jeffrey couldn't
+have had much regard for appearances, for they would have been right
+above his socks. But perhaps the creases were made in undressing the
+body."
+
+"That is possible," said Thorndyke: "though I don't quite see how it
+would have happened. I notice that his pockets seem to have been
+emptied--no, wait; here is something in the waistcoat pocket."
+
+He drew out a shabby, pigskin card-case and a stump of lead pencil, at
+which latter he looked with what seemed to me much more interest than
+was deserved by so commonplace an object.
+
+"The cards, you observe," said he, "are printed from type, not from a
+plate. I would note that fact. And tell me what you make of that."
+
+He handed me the pencil, which I examined with concentrated attention,
+helping myself even with the lamp and my pocket lens. But even with
+these aids I failed to discover anything unusual in its appearance.
+Thorndyke watched me with a mischievous smile, and, when I had finished,
+inquired:
+
+"Well; what is it?"
+
+"Confound you!" I exclaimed. "It's a pencil. Any fool can see that, and
+this particular fool can't see any more. It's a wretched stump of a
+pencil, villainously cut to an abominably bad point. It is coloured dark
+red on the outside and was stamped with some name that began with
+C--O--Co-operative Stores, perhaps."
+
+"Now, my dear Jervis," Thorndyke protested, "don't begin by confusing
+speculation with fact. The letters which remain are C--O. Note that fact
+and find out what pencils there are which have inscriptions beginning
+with those letters. I am not going to help you, because you can easily
+do this for yourself. And it will be good discipline even if the fact
+turns out to mean nothing."
+
+At this moment he stepped back suddenly, and, looking down at the floor,
+said:
+
+"Give me the lamp, Jervis, I've trodden on something that felt like
+glass."
+
+I brought the lamp to the place where he had been standing, close by
+the bed, and we both knelt on the floor, throwing the light of the lamp
+on the bare and dusty boards. Under the bed, just within reach of the
+foot of a person standing close by, was a little patch of fragments of
+glass. Thorndyke produced a piece of paper from his pocket and
+delicately swept the little fragments on to it, remarking:
+
+"By the look of things, I am not the first person who has trodden on
+that object, whatever it is. Do you mind holding the lamp while I
+inspect the remains?"
+
+I took the lamp and held it over the paper while he examined the little
+heap of glass through his lens.
+
+"Well," I asked. "What have you found?"
+
+"That is what I am asking myself," he replied. "As far as I can judge by
+the appearance of these fragments, they appear to be portions of a small
+watch-glass. I wish there were some larger pieces."
+
+"Perhaps there are," said I. "Let us look about the floor under the
+bed."
+
+We resumed our groping about the dirty floor, throwing the light of the
+lamp on one spot after another. Presently, as we moved the lamp about,
+its light fell on a small glass bead, which I instantly picked up and
+exhibited to Thorndyke.
+
+"Is this of any interest to you?" I asked.
+
+Thorndyke took the bead and examined it curiously.
+
+"It is certainly," he said, "a very odd thing to find in the bedroom of
+an old bachelor like Jeffrey, especially as we know that he employed no
+woman to look after his rooms. Of course, it may be a relic of the last
+tenant. Let us see if there are any more."
+
+We renewed our search, crawling under the bed and throwing the light of
+the lamp in all directions over the floor. The result was the discovery
+of three more beads, one entire bugle and the crushed remains of
+another, which had apparently been trodden on. All of these, including
+the fragments of the bugle that had been crushed, Thorndyke placed
+carefully on the paper, which he laid on the dressing-table the more
+conveniently to examine our find.
+
+"I am sorry," said he, "that there are no more fragments of the
+watch-glass, or whatever it was. The broken pieces were evidently picked
+up, with the exception of the one that I trod on, which was an isolated
+fragment that had been overlooked. As to the beads, judging by their
+number and the position in which we found some of them--that crushed
+bugle, for instance--they must have been dropped during Jeffrey's
+tenancy and probably quite recently."
+
+"What sort of garment do you suppose they came from?" I asked.
+
+"They may have been part of a beaded veil or the trimming of a dress,
+but the grouping rather suggests to me a tag of bead fringe. The colour
+is rather unusual."
+
+"I thought they looked like black beads."
+
+"So they do by this light, but I think that by daylight we shall find
+them to be a dark, reddish-brown. You can see the colour now if you look
+at the smaller fragments of the one that is crushed."
+
+He handed me his lens, and, when I had verified his statement, he
+produced from his pocket a small tin box with a closely-fitting lid in
+which he deposited the paper, having first folded it up into a small
+parcel.
+
+"We will put the pencil in too," said he; and, as he returned the box to
+his pocket he added: "you had better get one of these little boxes from
+Polton. It is often useful to have a safe receptacle for small and
+fragile articles."
+
+He folded up and replaced the dead man's clothes as we had found them.
+Then, observing a pair of shoes standing by the wall, he picked them up
+and looked them over thoughtfully, paying special attention to the backs
+of the soles and the fronts of the heels.
+
+"I suppose we may take it," said he, "that these are the shoes that poor
+Jeffrey wore on the night of his death. At any rate there seem to be no
+others. He seems to have been a fairly clean walker. The streets were
+shockingly dirty that day, as I remember most distinctly. Do you see any
+slippers? I haven't noticed any."
+
+He opened and peeped into a cupboard in which an overcoat surmounted by
+a felt hat hung from a peg like an attenuated suicide; he looked in all
+the corners and into the sitting-room, but no slippers were to be seen.
+
+"Our friend seems to have had surprisingly little regard for comfort,"
+Thorndyke remarked. "Think of spending the winter evenings in damp boots
+by a gas fire!"
+
+"Perhaps the opium-pipe compensated," said I; "or he may have gone to
+bed early."
+
+"But he did not. The night porter used to see the light in his rooms at
+one o'clock in the morning. In the sitting-room, too, you remember. But
+he seems to have been in the habit of reading in bed--or perhaps
+smoking--for here is a candlestick with the remains of a whole dynasty
+of candles in it. As there is gas in the room, he couldn't have wanted
+the candle to undress by. He used stearine candles, too; not the common
+paraffin variety. I wonder why he went to that expense."
+
+"Perhaps the smell of the paraffin candle spoiled the aroma of the
+opium," I suggested; to which Thorndyke made no reply but continued his
+inspection of the room, pulling out the drawer of the washstand--which
+contained a single, worn-out nail-brush--and even picking up and
+examining the dry and cracked cake of soap in the dish.
+
+"He seems to have had a fair amount of clothing," said Thorndyke, who
+was now going through the chest of drawers, "though, by the look of it,
+he didn't change very often, and the shirts have a rather yellow and
+faded appearance. I wonder how he managed about his washing. Why, here
+are a couple of pairs of boots in the drawer with his clothes! And here
+is his stock of candles. Quite a large box--though nearly empty now--of
+stearine candles, six to the pound."
+
+He closed the drawer and cast another inquiring look round the room.
+
+"I think we have seen all now, Jervis," he said, "unless there is
+anything more that you would like to look into?"
+
+"No," I replied. "I have seen all that I wanted to see and more than I
+am able to attach any meaning to. So we may as well go."
+
+I blew out the lamp and put it in my overcoat pocket, and, when we had
+turned out the gas in both rooms, we took our departure.
+
+As we approached the lodge, we found our stout friend in the act of
+retiring in favour of the night porter. Thorndyke handed him the key of
+the chambers, and, after a few sympathetic inquiries, about his
+health--which was obviously very indifferent--said:
+
+"Let me see; you were one of the witnesses to Mr. Blackmore's will, I
+think?"
+
+"I was, sir," replied the porter.
+
+"And I believe you read the document through before you witnessed the
+signature?"
+
+"I did, sir."
+
+"Did you read it aloud?"
+
+"Aloud, sir! Lor' bless you, no, sir! Why should I? The other witness
+read it, and, of course, Mr. Blackmore knew what was in it, seeing that
+it was in his own handwriting. What should I want to read it aloud for?"
+
+"No, of course you wouldn't want to. By the way, I have been wondering
+how Mr. Blackmore managed about his washing."
+
+The porter evidently regarded this question with some disfavour, for he
+replied only with an interrogative grunt. It was, in fact, rather an odd
+question.
+
+"Did you get it done for him," Thorndyke pursued.
+
+"No, certainly not, sir. He got it done for himself. The laundry people
+used to deliver the basket here at the lodge, and Mr. Blackmore used to
+take it in with him when he happened to be passing."
+
+"It was not delivered at his chambers, then?"
+
+"No, sir. Mr. Blackmore was a very studious gentleman and he didn't like
+to be disturbed. A studious gentleman would naturally not like to be
+disturbed."
+
+Thorndyke cordially agreed with these very proper sentiments and finally
+wished the porter "good night." We passed out through the gateway into
+Wych Street, and, turning our faces eastward towards the Temple, set
+forth in silence, each thinking his own thoughts. What Thorndyke's were
+I cannot tell, though I have no doubt that he was busily engaged in
+piecing together all that he had seen and heard and considering its
+possible application to the case in hand.
+
+As to me, my mind was in a whirl of confusion. All this searching and
+examining seemed to be the mere flogging of a dead horse. The will was
+obviously a perfectly valid and regular will and there was an end of the
+matter. At least, so it seemed to me. But clearly that was not
+Thorndyke's view. His investigations were certainly not purposeless;
+and, as I walked by his side trying to conceive some purpose in his
+actions, I only became more and more mystified as I recalled them one
+by one, and perhaps most of all by the cryptic questions that I had just
+heard him address to the equally mystified porter.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter VIII
+
+The Track Chart
+
+
+As Thorndyke and I arrived at the main gateway of the Temple and he
+swung round into the narrow lane, it was suddenly borne in on me that I
+had made no arrangements for the night. Events had followed one another
+so continuously and each had been so engrossing that I had lost sight of
+what I may call my domestic affairs.
+
+"We seem to be heading for your chambers, Thorndyke," I ventured to
+remark. "It is a little late to think of it, but I have not yet settled
+where I am to put up to-night."
+
+"My dear fellow," he replied, "you are going to put up in your own
+bedroom which has been waiting in readiness for you ever since you left
+it. Polton went up and inspected it as soon as you arrived. I take it
+that you will consider my chambers yours until such time as you may join
+the benedictine majority and set up a home for yourself."
+
+"That is very handsome of you," said I. "You didn't mention that the
+billet you offered was a resident appointment."
+
+"Rooms and commons included," said Thorndyke; and when I protested that
+I should at least contribute to the costs of living he impatiently
+waved the suggestion away. We were still arguing the question when we
+reached our chambers--as I will now call them--and a diversion was
+occasioned by my taking the lamp from my pocket and placing it on the
+table.
+
+"Ah," my colleague remarked, "that is a little reminder. We will put it
+on the mantelpiece for Polton to collect and you shall give me a full
+account of your further adventures in the wilds of Kennington. That was
+a very odd affair. I have often wondered how it ended."
+
+He drew our two arm-chairs up to the fire, put on some more coal, placed
+the tobacco jar on the table exactly equidistant from the two chairs,
+and settled himself with the air of a man who is anticipating an
+agreeable entertainment.
+
+I filled my pipe, and, taking up the thread of the story where I had
+broken off on the last occasion, began to outline my later experiences.
+But he brought me up short.
+
+"Don't be sketchy, Jervis. To be sketchy is to be vague. Detail, my
+child, detail is the soul of induction. Let us have all the facts. We
+can sort them out afterwards."
+
+I began afresh in a vein of the extremest circumstantiality. With
+deliberate malice I loaded a prolix narrative with every triviality that
+a fairly retentive memory could rake out of the half-forgotten past. I
+cudgelled my brains for irrelevant incidents. I described with the
+minutest accuracy things that had not the faintest significance. I drew
+a vivid picture of the carriage inside and out; I painted a lifelike
+portrait of the horse, even going into particulars of the harness--which
+I was surprised to find that I had noticed. I described the furniture of
+the dining-room and the cobwebs that had hung from the ceiling; the
+auction-ticket on the chest of drawers, the rickety table and the
+melancholy chairs. I gave the number per minute of the patient's
+respirations and the exact quantity of coffee consumed on each occasion,
+with an exhaustive description of the cup from which it was taken; and I
+left no personal details unconsidered, from the patient's finger-nails
+to the roseate pimples on Mr. Weiss's nose.
+
+But my tactics of studied prolixity were a complete failure. The attempt
+to fatigue Thorndyke's brain with superabundant detail was like trying
+to surfeit a pelican with whitebait. He consumed it all with calm
+enjoyment and asked for more; and when, at last, I did really begin to
+think that I had bored him a little, he staggered me by reading over his
+notes and starting a brisk cross-examination to elicit fresh facts! And
+the most surprising thing of all was that when I had finished I seemed
+to know a great deal more about the case than I had ever known before.
+
+"It was a very remarkable affair," he observed, when the
+cross-examination was over--leaving me somewhat in the condition of a
+cider-apple that has just been removed from a hydraulic press--"a very
+suspicious affair with a highly unsatisfactory end. I am not sure that I
+entirely agree with your police officer. Nor do I fancy that some of my
+acquaintances at Scotland Yard would have agreed with him."
+
+"Do you think I ought to have taken any further measures?" I asked
+uneasily.
+
+"No; I don't see how you could. You did all that was possible under the
+circumstances. You gave information, which is all that a private
+individual can do, especially if he is an overworked general
+practitioner. But still, an actual crime is the affair of every good
+citizen. I think we ought to take some action."
+
+"You think there really was a crime, then?"
+
+"What else can one think? What do you think about it yourself?"
+
+"I don't like to think about it at all. The recollection of that
+corpse-like figure in that gloomy bedroom has haunted me ever since I
+left the house. What do you suppose has happened?"
+
+Thorndyke did not answer for a few seconds. At length he said gravely:
+
+"I am afraid, Jervis, that the answer to that question can be given in
+one word."
+
+"Murder?" I asked with a slight shudder.
+
+He nodded, and we were both silent for a while.
+
+"The probability," he resumed after a pause, "that Mr. Graves is alive
+at this moment seems to me infinitesimal. There was evidently a
+conspiracy to murder him, and the deliberate, persistent manner in which
+that object was being pursued points to a very strong and definite
+motive. Then the tactics adopted point to considerable forethought and
+judgment. They are not the tactics of a fool or an ignoramus. We may
+criticize the closed carriage as a tactical mistake, calculated to
+arouse suspicion, but we have to weigh it against its alternative."
+
+"What is that?"
+
+"Well, consider the circumstances. Suppose Weiss had called you in in
+the ordinary way. You would still have detected the use of poison. But
+now you could have located your man and made inquiries about him in the
+neighbourhood. You would probably have given the police a hint and they
+would almost certainly have taken action, as they would have had the
+means of identifying the parties. The result would have been fatal to
+Weiss. The closed carriage invited suspicion, but it was a great
+safeguard. Weiss's method's were not so unsound after all. He is a
+cautious man, but cunning and very persistent. And he could be bold on
+occasion. The use of the blinded carriage was a decidedly audacious
+proceeding. I should put him down as a gambler of a very discreet,
+courageous and resourceful type."
+
+"Which all leads to the probability that he has pursued his scheme and
+brought it to a successful issue."
+
+"I am afraid it does. But--have you got your notes of the
+compass-bearings?"
+
+"The book is in my overcoat pocket with the board. I will fetch them."
+
+I went into the office, where our coats hung, and brought back the
+notebook with the little board to which it was still attached by the
+rubber band. Thorndyke took them from me, and, opening the book, ran
+his eye quickly down one page after another. Suddenly he glanced at the
+clock.
+
+"It is a little late to begin," said he, "but these notes look rather
+alluring. I am inclined to plot them out at once. I fancy, from their
+appearance, that they will enable us to locate the house without much
+difficulty. But don't let me keep you up if you are tired. I can work
+them out by myself."
+
+"You won't do anything of the kind," I exclaimed. "I am as keen on
+plotting them as you are, and, besides, I want to see how it is done. It
+seems to be a rather useful accomplishment."
+
+"It is," said Thorndyke. "In our work, the ability to make a rough but
+reliable sketch survey is often of great value. Have you ever looked
+over these notes?"
+
+"No. I put the book away when I came in and have never looked at it
+since."
+
+"It is a quaint document. You seem to be rich in railway bridges in
+those parts, and the route was certainly none of the most direct, as you
+noticed at the time. However, we will plot it out and then we shall see
+exactly what it looks like and whither it leads us."
+
+He retired to the laboratory and presently returned with a T-square, a
+military protractor, a pair of dividers and a large drawing-board on
+which was pinned a sheet of cartridge paper.
+
+"Now," said he, seating himself at the table with the board before him,
+"as to the method. You started from a known position and you arrived at
+a place the position of which is at present unknown. We shall fix the
+position of that spot by applying two factors, the distance that you
+travelled and the direction in which you were moving. The direction is
+given by the compass; and, as the horse seems to have kept up a
+remarkably even pace, we can take time as representing distance. You
+seem to have been travelling at about eight miles an hour, that is,
+roughly, a seventh of a mile in one minute. So if, on our chart, we take
+one inch as representing one minute, we shall be working with a scale of
+about seven inches to the mile."
+
+"That doesn't sound very exact as to distance," I objected.
+
+"It isn't. But that doesn't matter much. We have certain landmarks, such
+as these railway arches that you have noted, by which the actual
+distance can be settled after the route is plotted. You had better read
+out the entries, and, opposite each, write a number for reference, so
+that we need not confuse the chart by writing details on it. I shall
+start near the middle of the board, as neither you nor I seem to have
+the slightest notion what your general direction was."
+
+I laid the open notebook before me and read out the first entry:
+
+"'Eight fifty-eight. West by South. Start from home. Horse thirteen
+hands.'"
+
+"You turned round at once, I understand," said Thorndyke, "so we draw no
+line in that direction. The next is--?"
+
+"'Eight fifty-eight minutes, thirty seconds, East by North'; and the
+next is 'Eight fifty-nine, North-east.'"
+
+"Then you travelled east by north about a fifteenth of a mile and we
+shall put down half an inch on the chart. Then you turned north-east.
+How long did you go on?"
+
+"Exactly a minute. The next entry is 'Nine. West north-west.'"
+
+"Then you travelled about the seventh of a mile in a north-easterly
+direction and we draw a line an inch long at an angle of forty-five
+degrees to the right of the north and south line. From the end of that
+we carry a line at an angle of fifty-six and a quarter degrees to the
+left of the north and south line, and so on. The method is perfectly
+simple, you see."
+
+"Perfectly; I quite understand it now."
+
+I went back to my chair and continued to read out the entries from the
+notebook while Thorndyke laid off the lines of direction with the
+protractor, taking out the distances with the dividers from a scale of
+equal parts on the back of the instrument. As the work proceeded, I
+noticed, from time to time, a smile of quiet amusement spread over my
+colleague's keen, attentive face, and at each new reference to a railway
+bridge he chuckled softly.
+
+"What, again!" he laughed, as I recorded the passage of the fifth or
+sixth bridge. "It's like a game of croquet. Go on. What is the next?"
+
+I went on reading out the notes until I came to the final one:
+
+"'Nine twenty-four. South-east. In covered way. Stop. Wooden gates
+closed.'"
+
+Thorndyke ruled off the last line, remarking: "Then your covered way is
+on the south side of a street which bears north-east. So we complete our
+chart. Just look at your route, Jervis."
+
+He held up the board with a quizzical smile and I stared in astonishment
+at the chart. The single line, which represented the route of the
+carriage, zigzagged in the most amazing manner, turning, re-turning and
+crossing itself repeatedly, evidently passing more than once down the
+same thoroughfares and terminating at a comparatively short distance
+from its commencement.
+
+"Why!" I exclaimed, the "rascal must have lived quite near to
+Stillbury's house!"
+
+Thorndyke measured with the dividers the distance between the starting
+and arriving points of the route and took it off from the scale.
+
+"Five-eighths of a mile, roughly," he said. "You could have walked it in
+less than ten minutes. And now let us get out the ordnance map and see
+if we can give to each of those marvellously erratic lines 'a local
+habitation and a name.'"
+
+He spread the map out on the table and placed our chart by its side.
+
+"I think," said he, "you started from Lower Kennington Lane?"
+
+"Yes, from this point," I replied, indicating the spot with a pencil.
+
+"Then," said Thorndyke, "if we swing the chart round twenty degrees to
+correct the deviation of the compass, we can compare it with the
+ordnance map."
+
+He set off with the protractor an angle of twenty degrees from the
+north and south line and turned the chart round to that extent. After
+closely scrutinizing the map and the chart and comparing the one with
+the other, he said:
+
+"By mere inspection it seems fairly easy to identify the thoroughfares
+that correspond to the lines of the chart. Take the part that is near
+your destination. At nine twenty-one you passed under a bridge, going
+westward. That would seem to be Glasshouse Street. Then you turned
+south, apparently along the Albert Embankment, where you heard the tug's
+whistle. Then you heard a passenger train start on your left; that would
+be Vauxhall Station. Next you turned round due east and passed under a
+large railway bridge, which suggests the bridge that carries the Station
+over Upper Kennington Lane. If that is so, your house should be on the
+south side of Upper Kennington Lane, some three hundred yards from the
+bridge. But we may as well test our inferences by one or two
+measurements."
+
+"How can you do that if you don't know the exact scale of the chart?"
+
+"I will show you," said Thorndyke. "We shall establish the true scale
+and that will form part of the proof."
+
+He rapidly constructed on the upper blank part of the paper, a
+proportional diagram consisting of two intersecting lines with a single
+cross-line.
+
+"This long line," he explained, "is the distance from Stillbury's house
+to the Vauxhall railway bridge as it appears on the chart; the shorter
+cross-line is the same distance taken from the ordnance map. If our
+inference is correct and the chart is reasonably accurate, all the other
+distances will show a similar proportion. Let us try some of them. Take
+the distance from Vauxhall bridge to the Glasshouse Street bridge."
+
+[Illustration: The Track Chart, showing the route followed by Weiss's
+carriage.
+
+A.--Starting-point in Lower Kennington Lane.
+
+B.--Position of Mr. Weiss's house. The dotted lines connecting the
+bridges indicate probable railway lines.]
+
+He made the two measurements carefully, and, as the point of the
+dividers came down almost precisely in the correct place on the diagram,
+he looked up at me.
+
+"Considering the roughness of the method by which the chart was made, I
+think that is pretty conclusive, though, if you look at the various
+arches that you passed under and see how nearly they appear to follow
+the position of the South-Western Railway line, you hardly need further
+proof. But I will take a few more proportional measurements for the
+satisfaction of proving the case by scientific methods before we proceed
+to verify our conclusions by a visit to the spot."
+
+He took off one or two more distances, and on comparing them with the
+proportional distances on the ordnance map, found them in every case as
+nearly correct as could be expected.
+
+"Yes," said Thorndyke, laying down the dividers, "I think we have
+narrowed down the locality of Mr. Weiss's house to a few yards in a
+known street. We shall get further help from your note of nine
+twenty-three thirty, which records a patch of newly laid macadam
+extending up to the house."
+
+"That new macadam will be pretty well smoothed down by now," I objected.
+
+"Not so very completely," answered Thorndyke. "It is only a little over
+a month ago, and there has been very little wet weather since. It may be
+smooth, but it will be easily distinguishable from the old."
+
+"And do I understand that you propose to go and explore the
+neighbourhood?"
+
+"Undoubtedly I do. That is to say, I intend to convert the locality of
+this house into a definite address; which, I think, will now be
+perfectly easy, unless we should have the bad luck to find more than one
+covered way. Even then, the difficulty would be trifling."
+
+"And when you have ascertained where Mr. Weiss lives? What then?"
+
+"That will depend on circumstances. I think we shall probably call at
+Scotland Yard and have a little talk with our friend Mr. Superintendent
+Miller; unless, for any reason, it seems better to look into the case
+ourselves."
+
+"When is this voyage of exploration to take place?"
+
+Thorndyke considered this question, and, taking out his pocket-book,
+glanced through his engagements.
+
+"It seems to me," he said, "that to-morrow is a fairly free day. We
+could take the morning without neglecting other business. I suggest that
+we start immediately after breakfast. How will that suit my learned
+friend?"
+
+"My time is yours," I replied; "and if you choose to waste it on matters
+that don't concern you, that's your affair."
+
+"Then we will consider the arrangement to stand for to-morrow morning,
+or rather, for this morning, as I see that it is past twelve."
+
+With this Thorndyke gathered up the chart and instruments and we
+separated for the night.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter IX
+
+The House of Mystery
+
+
+Half-past nine on the following morning found us spinning along the
+Albert Embankment in a hansom to the pleasant tinkle of the horse's
+bell. Thorndyke appeared to be in high spirits, though the full
+enjoyment of the matutinal pipe precluded fluent conversation. As a
+precaution, he had put my notebook in his pocket before starting, and
+once or twice he took it out and looked over its pages; but he made no
+reference to the object of our quest, and the few remarks that he
+uttered would have indicated that his thoughts were occupied with other
+matters.
+
+Arrived at Vauxhall Station, we alighted and forthwith made our way to
+the bridge that spans Upper Kennington Lane near its junction with
+Harleyford Road.
+
+"Here is our starting point," said Thorndyke. "From this place to the
+house is about three hundred yards--say four hundred and twenty
+paces--and at about two hundred paces we ought to reach our patch of new
+road-metal. Now, are you ready? If we keep step we shall average our
+stride."
+
+We started together at a good pace, stepping out with military
+regularity and counting aloud as we went. As we told out the hundred and
+ninety-fourth pace I observed Thorndyke nod towards the roadway a little
+ahead, and, looking at it attentively as we approached, it was easy to
+see by the regularity of surface and lighter colour, that it had
+recently been re-metalled.
+
+Having counted out the four hundred and twenty paces, we halted, and
+Thorndyke turned to me with a smile of triumph.
+
+"Not a bad estimate, Jervis," said he. "That will be your house if I am
+not much mistaken. There is no other mews or private roadway in sight."
+
+He pointed to a narrow turning some dozen yards ahead, apparently the
+entrance to a mews or yard and closed by a pair of massive wooden gates.
+
+"Yes," I answered, "there can be no doubt that this is the place; but,
+by Jove!" I added, as we drew nearer, "the nest is empty! Do you see?"
+
+I pointed to a bill that was stuck on the gate, bearing, as I could see
+at this distance, the inscription "To Let."
+
+"Here is a new and startling, if not altogether unexpected,
+development," said Thorndyke, as we stood gazing at the bill; which set
+forth that "these premises, including stabling and workshops," were "to
+be let on lease or otherwise," and referred inquiries to Messrs. Ryebody
+Brothers, house-agents and valuers, Upper Kennington Lane. "The question
+is, should we make a few inquiries of the agent, or should we get the
+keys and have a look at the inside of the house? I am inclined to do
+both, and the latter first, if Messrs. Ryebody Brothers will trust us
+with the keys."
+
+We proceeded up the lane to the address given, and, entering the
+office, Thorndyke made his request--somewhat to the surprise of the
+clerk; for Thorndyke was not quite the kind of person whom one naturally
+associates with stabling and workshops. However, there was no
+difficulty, but as the clerk sorted out the keys from a bunch hanging
+from a hook, he remarked:
+
+"I expect you will find the place in a rather dirty and neglected
+condition. The house has not been cleaned yet; it is just as it was left
+when the brokers took away the furniture."
+
+"Was the last tenant sold up, then?" Thorndyke asked.
+
+"Oh, no. He had to leave rather unexpectedly to take up some business in
+Germany."
+
+"I hope he paid his rent," said Thorndyke.
+
+"Oh, yes. Trust us for that. But I should say that Mr. Weiss--that was
+his name--was a man of some means. He seemed to have plenty of money,
+though he always paid in notes. I don't fancy he had a banking account
+in this country. He hadn't been here more than about six or seven months
+and I imagine he didn't know many people in England, as he paid us a
+cash deposit in lieu of references when he first came."
+
+"I think you said his name was Weiss. It wouldn't be H. Weiss by any
+chance?"
+
+"I believe it was. But I can soon tell you." He opened a drawer and
+consulted what looked like a book of receipt forms. "Yes; H Weiss. Do
+you know him, sir?"
+
+"I knew a Mr. H. Weiss some years ago. He came from Bremen, I
+remember."
+
+"This Mr. Weiss has gone back to Hamburg," the clerk observed.
+
+"Ah," said Thorndyke, "then it would seem not to be the same. My
+acquaintance was a fair man with a beard and a decidedly red nose and he
+wore spectacles."
+
+"That's the man. You've described him exactly," said the clerk, who was
+apparently rather easily satisfied in the matter of description.
+
+"Dear me," said Thorndyke; "what a small world it is. Do you happen to
+have a note of his address in Hamburg?"
+
+"I haven't," the clerk replied. "You see we've done with him, having got
+the rent, though the house is not actually surrendered yet. Mr Weiss's
+housekeeper still has the front-door key. She doesn't start for Hamburg
+for a week or so, and meanwhile she keeps the key so that she can call
+every day and see if there are any letters."
+
+"Indeed," said Thorndyke. "I wonder if he still has the same
+housekeeper."
+
+"This lady is a German," replied the clerk, "with a regular jaw-twisting
+name. Sounded like Shallybang."
+
+"Schallibaum. That is the lady. A fair woman with hardly any eyebrows
+and a pronounced cast in the left eye."
+
+"Now that's very curious, sir," said the clerk. "It's the same name, and
+this is a fair woman with remarkably thin eyebrows, I remember, now that
+you mention it. But it can't be the same person. I have only seen her a
+few times and then only just for a minute or so; but I'm quite certain
+she had no cast in her eye. So, you see, sir, she can't be the same
+person. You can dye your hair or you can wear a wig or you can paint
+your face; but a squint is a squint. There's no faking a swivel eye."
+
+Thorndyke laughed softly. "I suppose not; unless, perhaps, some one
+might invent an adjustable glass eye. Are these the keys?"
+
+"Yes, sir. The large one belongs to the wicket in the front gate. The
+other is the latch-key belonging to the side door. Mrs. Shallybang has
+the key of the front door."
+
+"Thank you," said Thorndyke. He took the keys, to which a wooden label
+was attached, and we made our way back towards the house of mystery,
+discussing the clerk's statements as we went.
+
+"A very communicable young gentleman, that," Thorndyke remarked. "He
+seemed quite pleased to relieve the monotony of office work with a
+little conversation. And I am sure I was very delighted to indulge him."
+
+"He hadn't much to tell, all the same," said I.
+
+Thorndyke looked at me in surprise. "I don't know what you would have,
+Jervis, unless you expect casual strangers to present you with a
+ready-made body of evidence, fully classified, with all the inferences
+and implications stated. It seemed to me that he was a highly
+instructive young man."
+
+"What did you learn from him?" I asked.
+
+"Oh, come, Jervis," he protested; "is that a fair question, under our
+present arrangement? However, I will mention a few points. We learn that
+about six or seven months ago, Mr. H. Weiss dropped from the clouds into
+Kennington Lane and that he has now ascended from Kennington Lane into
+the clouds. That is a useful piece of information. Then we learn that
+Mrs. Schallibaum has remained in England; which might be of little
+importance if it were not for a very interesting corollary that it
+suggests."
+
+"What is that?"
+
+"I must leave you to consider the facts at your leisure; but you will
+have noticed the ostensible reason for her remaining behind. She is
+engaged in puttying up the one gaping joint in their armour. One of them
+has been indiscreet enough to give this address to some
+correspondent--probably a foreign correspondent. Now, as they obviously
+wish to leave no tracks, they cannot give their new address to the Post
+Office to have their letters forwarded, and, on the other hand, a letter
+left in the box might establish such a connection as would enable them
+to be traced. Moreover, the letter might be of a kind that they would
+not wish to fall into the wrong hands. They would not have given this
+address excepting under some peculiar circumstances."
+
+"No, I should think not, if they took this house for the express purpose
+of committing a crime in it."
+
+"Exactly. And then there is one other fact that you may have gathered
+from our young friend's remarks."
+
+"What is that?"
+
+"That a controllable squint is a very valuable asset to a person who
+wishes to avoid identification."
+
+"Yes, I did note that. The fellow seemed to think that it was absolutely
+conclusive."
+
+"And so would most people; especially in the case of a squint of that
+kind. We can all squint towards our noses, but no normal person can turn
+his eyes away from one another. My impression is that the presence or
+absence, as the case might be, of a divergent squint would be accepted
+as absolute disproof of identity. But here we are."
+
+He inserted the key into the wicket of the large gate, and, when we had
+stepped through into the covered way, he locked it from the inside.
+
+"Why have you locked us in?" I asked, seeing that the wicket had a
+latch.
+
+"Because," he replied, "if we now hear any one on the premises we shall
+know who it is. Only one person besides ourselves has a key."
+
+His reply startled me somewhat. I stopped and looked at him.
+
+"That is a quaint situation, Thorndyke. I hadn't thought of it. Why she
+may actually come to the house while we are here; in fact, she may be in
+the house at this moment."
+
+"I hope not," said he. "We don't particularly want Mr. Weiss to be put
+on his guard, for I take it, he is a pretty wide-awake gentleman under
+any circumstances. If she does come, we had better keep out of sight. I
+think we will look over the house first. That is of the most interest to
+us. If the lady does happen to come while we are here, she may stay to
+show us over the place and keep an eye on us. So we will leave the
+stables to the last."
+
+We walked down the entry to the side door at which I had been admitted
+by Mrs. Schallibaum on the occasion of my previous visits. Thorndyke
+inserted the latch-key, and, as soon as we were inside, shut the door
+and walked quickly through into the hall, whither I followed him. He
+made straight for the front door, where, having slipped up the catch of
+the lock, he began very attentively to examine the letter-box. It was a
+somewhat massive wooden box, fitted with a lock of good quality and
+furnished with a wire grille through which one could inspect the
+interior.
+
+"We are in luck, Jervis," Thorndyke remarked. "Our visit has been most
+happily timed. There is a letter in the box."
+
+"Well," I said, "we can't get it out; and if we could, it would be
+hardly justifiable."
+
+"I don't know," he replied, "that I am prepared to assent off-hand to
+either of those propositions; but I would rather not tamper with another
+person's letter, even if that person should happen to be a murderer.
+Perhaps we can get the information we want from the outside of the
+envelope."
+
+He produced from his pocket a little electric lamp fitted with a
+bull's-eye, and, pressing the button, threw a beam of light in through
+the grille. The letter was lying on the bottom of the box face upwards,
+so that the address could easily be read.
+
+"Herrn Dr. H. Weiss," Thorndyke read aloud. "German stamp, postmark
+apparently Darmstadt. You notice that the 'Herrn Dr.' is printed and the
+rest written. What do you make of that?"
+
+"I don't quite know. Do you think he is really a medical man?"
+
+"Perhaps we had better finish our investigation, in case we are
+disturbed, and discuss the bearings of the facts afterwards. The name of
+the sender may be on the flap of the envelope. If it is not, I shall
+pick the lock and take out the letter. Have you got a probe about you?"
+
+"Yes; by force of habit I am still carrying my pocket case."
+
+I took the little case from my pocket and extracting from it a jointed
+probe of thickish silver wire, screwed the two halves together and
+handed the completed instrument to Thorndyke; who passed the slender rod
+through the grille and adroitly turned the letter over.
+
+"Ha!" he exclaimed with deep satisfaction, as the light fell on the
+reverse of the envelope, "we are saved from the necessity of theft--or
+rather, unauthorized borrowing--'Johann Schnitzler, Darmstadt.' That is
+all that we actually want. The German police can do the rest if
+necessary."
+
+He handed me back my probe, pocketed his lamp, released the catch of the
+lock on the door, and turned away along the dark, musty-smelling hall.
+
+"Do you happen to know the name of Johann Schnitzler?" he asked.
+
+I replied that I had no recollection of ever having heard the name
+before.
+
+"Neither have I," said he; "but I think we may form a pretty shrewd
+guess as to his avocation. As you saw, the words 'Herrn Dr.' were
+printed on the envelope, leaving the rest of the address to be written
+by hand. The plain inference is that he is a person who habitually
+addresses letters to medical men, and as the style of the envelope and
+the lettering--which is printed, not embossed--is commercial, we may
+assume that he is engaged in some sort of trade. Now, what is a likely
+trade?"
+
+"He might be an instrument maker or a drug manufacturer; more probably
+the latter, as there is an extensive drug and chemical industry in
+Germany, and as Mr. Weiss seemed to have more use for drugs than
+instruments."
+
+"Yes, I think you are right; but we will look him up when we get home.
+And now we had better take a glance at the bedroom; that is, if you can
+remember which room it was."
+
+"It was on the first floor," said I, "and the door by which I entered
+was just at the head of the stairs."
+
+We ascended the two flights, and, as we reached the landing, I halted.
+
+"This was the door," I said, and was about to turn the handle when
+Thorndyke caught me by the arm.
+
+"One moment, Jervis," said he. "What do you make of this?"
+
+He pointed to a spot near the bottom of the door where, on close
+inspection, four good-sized screw-holes were distinguishable. They had
+been neatly stopped with putty and covered with knotting, and were so
+nearly the colour of the grained and varnished woodwork as to be hardly
+visible.
+
+"Evidently," I answered, "there has been a bolt there, though it seems a
+queer place to fix one."
+
+"Not at all," replied Thorndyke. "If you look up you will see that there
+was another at the top of the door, and, as the lock is in the middle,
+they must have been highly effective. But there are one or two other
+points that strike one. First, you will notice that the bolts have been
+fixed on quite recently, for the paint that they covered is of the same
+grimy tint as that on the rest of the door. Next, they have been taken
+off, which, seeing that they could hardly have been worth the trouble of
+removal, seems to suggest that the person who fixed them considered that
+their presence might appear remarkable, while the screw-holes, which
+have been so skilfully and carefully stopped, would be less conspicuous.
+
+"Then, they are on the outside of the door--an unusual situation for
+bedroom bolts--and were of considerable size. They were long and thick."
+
+"I can see, by the position of the screw-holes, that they were long; but
+how do you arrive at their thickness?"
+
+"By the size of the counter-holes in the jamb of the door. These holes
+have been very carefully filled with wooden plugs covered with knotting;
+but you can make out their diameter, which is that of the bolts, and
+which is decidedly out of proportion for an ordinary bedroom door. Let
+me show you a light."
+
+He flashed his lamp into the dark corner, and I was able to see
+distinctly the portentously large holes into which the bolts had fitted,
+and also to note the remarkable neatness with which they had been
+plugged.
+
+"There was a second door, I remember," said I. "Let us see if that was
+guarded in a similar manner."
+
+We strode through the empty room, awakening dismal echoes as we trod the
+bare boards, and flung open the other door. At top and bottom, similar
+groups of screw-holes showed that this also had been made secure, and
+that these bolts had been of the same very substantial character as the
+others.
+
+Thorndyke turned away from the door with a slight frown.
+
+"If we had any doubts," said he, "as to what has been going on in this
+house, these traces of massive fastenings would be almost enough to
+settle them."
+
+"They might have been there before Weiss came," I suggested. "He only
+came about seven months ago and there is no date on the screw-holes."
+
+"That is quite true. But when, with their recent fixture, you couple the
+facts that they have been removed, that very careful measures have been
+taken to obliterate the traces of their presence, and that they would
+have been indispensable for the commission of the crime that we are
+almost certain was being committed here, it looks like an excess of
+caution to seek other explanations."
+
+"But," I objected, "if the man, Graves, was really imprisoned, could not
+he have smashed the window and called for help?"
+
+"The window looks out on the yard, as you see; but I expect it was
+secured too."
+
+He drew the massive, old-fashioned shutters out of their recess and
+closed them.
+
+"Yes, here we are." He pointed to four groups of screw-holes at the
+corners of the shutters, and, once more producing his lamp, narrowly
+examined the insides of the recesses into which the shutters folded.
+
+"The nature of the fastening is quite evident," said he. "An iron bar
+passed right across at the top and bottom and was secured by a staple
+and padlock. You can see the mark the bar made in the recess when the
+shutters were folded. When these bars were fixed and padlocked and the
+bolts were shot, this room was as secure, for a prisoner unprovided with
+tools, as a cell in Newgate."
+
+We looked at one another for awhile without speaking; and I fancy that
+if Mr. H. Weiss could have seen our faces he might have thought it
+desirable to seek some retreat even more remote than Hamburg.
+
+"It was a diabolical affair, Jervis," Thorndyke said at length, in an
+ominously quiet and even gentle tone. "A sordid, callous, cold-blooded
+crime of a type that is to me utterly unforgivable and incapable of
+extenuation. Of course, it may have failed. Mr. Graves may even now be
+alive. I shall make it my very especial business to ascertain whether he
+is or not. And if he is not, I shall take it to myself as a sacred duty
+to lay my hand on the man who has compassed his death."
+
+I looked at Thorndyke with something akin to awe. In the quiet
+unemotional tone of his voice, in his unruffled manner and the stony
+calm of his face, there was something much more impressive, more
+fateful, than there could have been in the fiercest threats or the most
+passionate denunciations. I felt that in those softly spoken words he
+had pronounced the doom of the fugitive villain.
+
+He turned away from the window and glanced round the empty room. It
+seemed that our discovery of the fastenings had exhausted the
+information that it had to offer.
+
+"It is a thousand pities," I remarked, "that we were unable to look
+round before they moved out the furniture. We might have found some clue
+to the scoundrel's identity."
+
+"Yes," replied Thorndyke; "there isn't much information to be gathered
+here, I am afraid. I see they have swept up the small litter from the
+floor and poked it under the grate. We will turn that over, as there
+seems to be nothing else, and then look at the other rooms."
+
+He raked out the little heap of rubbish with his stick and spread it out
+on the hearth. It certainly looked unpromising enough, being just such a
+rubbish heap as may be swept up in any untidy room during a move. But
+Thorndyke went through it systematically, examining each item
+attentively, even to the local tradesmen's bills and empty paper bags,
+before laying them aside. Another rake of his stick scattered the bulky
+masses of crumpled paper and brought into view an object which he picked
+up with some eagerness. It was a portion of a pair of spectacles, which
+had apparently been trodden on, for the side-bar was twisted and bent
+and the glass was shattered into fragments.
+
+"This ought to give us a hint," said he. "It will probably have belonged
+either to Weiss or Graves, as Mrs. Schallibaum apparently did not wear
+glasses. Let us see if we can find the remainder."
+
+We both groped carefully with our sticks amongst the rubbish, spreading
+it out on the hearth and removing the numerous pieces of crumpled paper.
+Our search was rewarded by the discovery of the second eye-piece of the
+spectacles, of which the glass was badly cracked but less shattered than
+the other. I also picked up two tiny sticks at which Thorndyke looked
+with deep interest before laying them on the mantelshelf.
+
+"We will consider them presently," said he. "Let us finish with the
+spectacles first. You see that the left eye-glass is a concave
+cylindrical lens of some sort. We can make out that much from the
+fragments that remain, and we can measure the curvature when we get them
+home, although that will be easier if we can collect some more fragments
+and stick them together. The right eye is plain glass; that is quite
+evident. Then these will have belonged to your patient, Jervis. You said
+that the tremulous iris was in the right eye, I think?"
+
+"Yes," I replied. "These will be his spectacles, without doubt."
+
+"They are peculiar frames," he continued. "If they were made in this
+country, we might be able to discover the maker. But we must collect as
+many fragments of glass as we can."
+
+Once more we searched amongst the rubbish and succeeded, eventually, in
+recovering some seven or eight small fragments of the broken
+spectacle-glasses, which Thorndyke laid on the mantelshelf beside the
+little sticks.
+
+"By the way, Thorndyke," I said, taking up the latter to examine them
+afresh, "what are these things? Can you make anything of them?"
+
+He looked at them thoughtfully for a few moments and then replied:
+
+"I don't think I will tell you what they are. You should find that out
+for yourself, and it will be well worth your while to do so. They are
+rather suggestive objects under the circumstances. But notice their
+peculiarities carefully. Both are portions of some smooth, stout reed.
+There is a long, thin stick--about six inches long--and a thicker piece
+only three inches in length. The longer piece has a little scrap of red
+paper stuck on at the end; apparently a portion of a label of some kind
+with an ornamental border. The other end of the stick has been broken
+off. The shorter, stouter stick has had its central cavity artificially
+enlarged so that it fits over the other to form a cap or sheath. Make a
+careful note of those facts and try to think what they probably mean;
+what would be the most likely use for an object of this kind. When you
+have ascertained that, you will have learned something new about this
+case. And now, to resume our investigations. Here is a very suggestive
+thing." He picked up a small, wide-mouthed bottle and, holding it up for
+my inspection, continued: "Observe the fly sticking to the inside, and
+the name on the label, 'Fox, Russell Street, Covent Garden.'"
+
+"I don't know Mr. Fox."
+
+"Then I will inform you that he is a dealer in the materials for
+'make-up,' theatrical or otherwise, and will leave you to consider the
+bearing of this bottle on our present investigation. There doesn't seem
+to be anything else of interest in this El Dorado excepting that screw,
+which you notice is about the size of those with which the bolts were
+fastened on the doors. I don't think it is worth while to unstop any of
+the holes to try it; we should learn nothing fresh."
+
+He rose, and, having kicked the discarded rubbish back under the grate,
+gathered up his gleanings from the mantelpiece, carefully bestowing the
+spectacles and the fragments of glass in the tin box that he appeared
+always to carry in his pocket, and wrapping the larger objects in his
+handkerchief.
+
+"A poor collection," was his comment, as he returned the box and
+handkerchief to his pocket, "and yet not so poor as I had feared.
+Perhaps, if we question them closely enough, these unconsidered trifles
+may be made to tell us something worth learning after all. Shall we go
+into the other room?"
+
+We passed out on to the landing and into the front room, where, guided
+by experience, we made straight for the fire-place. But the little heap
+of rubbish there contained nothing that even Thorndyke's inquisitive eye
+could view with interest. We wandered disconsolately round the room,
+peering into the empty cupboards and scanning the floor and the corners
+by the skirting, without discovering a single object or relic of the
+late occupants. In the course of my perambulations I halted by the
+window and was looking down into the street when Thorndyke called to me
+sharply:
+
+"Come away from the window, Jervis! Have you forgotten that Mrs.
+Schallibaum may be in the neighbourhood at this moment?"
+
+As a matter of fact I had entirely forgotten the matter, nor did it now
+strike me as anything but the remotest of possibilities. I replied to
+that effect.
+
+"I don't agree with you," Thorndyke rejoined. "We have heard that she
+comes here to look for letters. Probably she comes every day, or even
+oftener. There is a good deal at stake, remember, and they cannot feel
+quite as secure as they would wish. Weiss must have seen what view you
+took of the case and must have had some uneasy moments thinking of what
+you might do. In fact, we may take it that the fear of you drove them
+out of the neighbourhood, and that they are mighty anxious to get that
+letter and cut the last link that binds them to this house."
+
+"I suppose that is so," I agreed; "and if the lady should happen to pass
+this way and should see me at the window and recognize me, she would
+certainly smell a rat."
+
+"A rat!" exclaimed Thorndyke. "She would smell a whole pack of foxes,
+and Mr. H. Weiss would be more on his guard than ever. Let us have a
+look at the other rooms; there is nothing here."
+
+We went up to the next floor and found traces of recent occupation in
+one room only. The garrets had evidently been unused, and the kitchen
+and ground-floor rooms offered nothing that appeared to Thorndyke worth
+noting. Then we went out by the side door and down the covered way into
+the yard at the back. The workshops were fastened with rusty padlocks
+that looked as if they had not been disturbed for months. The stables
+were empty and had been tentatively cleaned out, the coach-house was
+vacant, and presented no traces of recent use excepting a half-bald
+spoke-brush. We returned up the covered way and I was about to close the
+side door, which Thorndyke had left ajar, when he stopped me.
+
+"We'll have another look at the hall before we go," said he; and,
+walking softly before me, he made his way to the front door, where,
+producing his lamp, he threw a beam of light into the letter-box.
+
+"Any more letters?" I asked.
+
+"Any more!" he repeated. "Look for yourself."
+
+I stooped and peered through the grille into the lighted interior; and
+then I uttered an exclamation.
+
+The box was empty.
+
+Thorndyke regarded me with a grim smile. "We have been caught on the
+hop, Jervis, I suspect," said he.
+
+"It is queer," I replied. "I didn't hear any sound of the opening or
+closing of the door; did you?"
+
+"No; I didn't hear any sound; which makes me suspect that she did. She
+would have heard our voices and she is probably keeping a sharp look-out
+at this very moment. I wonder if she saw you at the window. But whether
+she did or not, we must go very warily. Neither of us must return to the
+Temple direct, and we had better separate when we have returned the keys
+and I will watch you out of sight and see if anyone is following you.
+What are you going to do?"
+
+"If you don't want me, I shall run over to Kensington and drop in to
+lunch at the Hornbys'. I said I would call as soon as I had an hour or
+so free."
+
+"Very well. Do so; and keep a look-out in case you are followed. I have
+to go down to Guildford this afternoon. Under the circumstances, I shall
+not go back home, but send Polton a telegram and take a train at
+Vauxhall and change at some small station where I can watch the
+platform. Be as careful as you can. Remember that what you have to
+avoid is being followed to any place where you are known, and, above
+all, revealing your connection with number Five A, King's Bench Walk."
+
+Having thus considered our immediate movements, we emerged together from
+the wicket, and locking it behind us, walked quickly to the
+house-agents', where an opportune office-boy received the keys without
+remark. As we came out of the office, I halted irresolutely and we both
+looked up and down the lane.
+
+"There is no suspicious looking person in sight at present," Thorndyke
+said, and then asked: "Which way do you think of going?"
+
+"It seems to me," I replied, "that my best plan would be to take a cab
+or an omnibus so as to get out of the neighbourhood as quickly as
+possible. If I go through Ravensden Street into Kennington Park Road, I
+can pick up an omnibus that will take me to the Mansion House, where I
+can change for Kensington. I shall go on the top so that I can keep a
+look-out for any other omnibus or cab that may be following."
+
+"Yes," said Thorndyke, "that seems a good plan. I will walk with you and
+see that you get a fair start."
+
+We walked briskly along the lane and through Ravensden Street to the
+Kennington Park Road. An omnibus was approaching from the south at a
+steady jog-trot and we halted at the corner to wait for it. Several
+people passed us in different directions, but none seemed to take any
+particular notice of us, though we observed them rather narrowly,
+especially the women. Then the omnibus crawled up. I sprang on the
+foot-board and ascended to the roof, where I seated myself and surveyed
+the prospect to the rear. No one else got on the omnibus--which had not
+stopped--and no cab or other passenger vehicle was in sight. I continued
+to watch Thorndyke as he stood sentinel at the corner, and noted that no
+one appeared to be making any effort to overtake the omnibus. Presently
+my colleague waved his hand to me and turned back towards Vauxhall, and
+I, having satisfied myself once more that no pursuing cab or hurrying
+foot-passenger was in sight, decided that our precautions had been
+unnecessary and settled myself in a rather more comfortable position.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter X
+
+The Hunter Hunted
+
+
+The omnibus of those days was a leisurely vehicle. Its ordinary pace was
+a rather sluggish trot, and in a thickly populated thoroughfare its
+speed was further reduced by frequent stoppages. Bearing these facts in
+mind, I gave an occasional backward glance as we jogged northward,
+though my attention soon began to wander from the rather remote
+possibility of pursuit to the incidents of our late exploration.
+
+It had not been difficult to see that Thorndyke was very well pleased
+with the results of our search, but excepting the letter--which
+undoubtedly opened up a channel for further inquiry and possible
+identification--I could not perceive that any of the traces that we had
+found justified his satisfaction. There were the spectacles, for
+instance. They were almost certainly the pair worn by Mr. Graves. But
+what then? It was exceedingly improbable that we should be able to
+discover the maker of them, and if we were, it was still more improbable
+that he would be able to give us any information that would help us.
+Spectacle-makers are not usually on confidential terms with their
+customers.
+
+As to the other objects, I could make nothing of them. The little sticks
+of reed evidently had some use that was known to Thorndyke and
+furnished, by inference, some kind of information about Weiss, Graves,
+or Mrs. Schallibaum. But I had never seen anything like them before and
+they conveyed nothing whatever to me. Then the bottle that had seemed so
+significant to Thorndyke was to me quite uninforming. It did, indeed,
+suggest that some member of the household might be connected with the
+stage, but it gave no hint as to which one. Certainly that person was
+not Mr. Weiss, whose appearance was as remote from that of an actor as
+could well be imagined. At any rate, the bottle and its label gave me no
+more useful hint than it might be worth while to call on Mr. Fox and
+make inquiries; and something told me very emphatically that this was
+not what it had conveyed to Thorndyke.
+
+These reflections occupied me until the omnibus, having rumbled over
+London Bridge and up King William Street, joined the converging streams
+of traffic at the Mansion House. Here I got down and changed to an
+omnibus bound for Kensington; on which I travelled westward pleasantly
+enough, looking down into the teeming streets and whiling away the time
+by meditating upon the very agreeable afternoon that I promised myself,
+and considering how far my new arrangement with Thorndyke would justify
+me in entering into certain domestic engagements of a highly interesting
+kind.
+
+What might have happened under other circumstances it is impossible to
+tell and useless to speculate; the fact is that my journey ended in a
+disappointment. I arrived, all agog, at the familiar house in Endsley
+Gardens only to be told by a sympathetic housemaid that the family was
+out; that Mrs. Hornby had gone into the country and would not be home
+until night, and--which mattered a good deal more to me--that her niece,
+Miss Juliet Gibson, had accompanied her.
+
+Now a man who drops into lunch without announcing his intention or
+previously ascertaining those of his friends has no right to quarrel
+with fate if he finds an empty house. Thus philosophically I reflected
+as I turned away from the house in profound discontent, demanding of the
+universe in general why Mrs. Hornby need have perversely chosen my first
+free day to go gadding into the country, and above all, why she must
+needs spirit away the fair Juliet. This was the crowning misfortune (for
+I could have endured the absence of the elder lady with commendable
+fortitude), and since I could not immediately return to the Temple it
+left me a mere waif and stray for the time being.
+
+Instinct--of the kind that manifests itself especially about one
+o'clock in the afternoon--impelled me in the direction of Brompton Road,
+and finally landed me at a table in a large restaurant apparently
+adjusted to the needs of ladies who had come from a distance to engage
+in the feminine sport of shopping. Here, while waiting for my lunch, I
+sat idly scanning the morning paper and wondering what I should do with
+the rest of the day; and presently it chanced that my eye caught the
+announcement of a matinee at the theatre in Sloane Square. It was quite
+a long time since I had been at a theatre, and, as the play--light
+comedy--seemed likely to satisfy my not very critical taste, I decided
+to devote the afternoon to reviving my acquaintance with the drama.
+Accordingly as soon as my lunch was finished, I walked down the Brompton
+Road, stepped on to an omnibus, and was duly deposited at the door of
+the theatre. A couple of minutes later I found myself occupying an
+excellent seat in the second row of the pit, oblivious alike of my
+recent disappointment and of Thorndyke's words of warning.
+
+I am not an enthusiastic play-goer. To dramatic performances I am
+disposed to assign nothing further than the modest function of
+furnishing entertainment. I do not go to a theatre to be instructed or
+to have my moral outlook elevated. But, by way of compensation, I am not
+difficult to please. To a simple play, adjusted to my primitive taste, I
+can bring a certain bucolic appreciation that enables me to extract from
+the performance the maximum of enjoyment; and when, on this occasion,
+the final curtain fell and the audience rose, I rescued my hat from its
+insecure resting-place and turned to go with the feeling that I had
+spent a highly agreeable afternoon.
+
+Emerging from the theatre, borne on the outgoing stream, I presently
+found myself opposite the door of a tea-shop. Instinct--the five o'clock
+instinct this time--guided me in; for we are creatures of habit,
+especially of the tea habit. The unoccupied table to which I drifted was
+in a shady corner not very far from the pay-desk; and here I had been
+seated less than a minute when a lady passed me on her way to the
+farther table. The glimpse that I caught of her as she approached--it
+was but a glimpse, since she passed behind me--showed that she was
+dressed in black, that she wore a beaded veil and hat, and in addition
+to the glass of milk and the bun that she carried, she was encumbered by
+an umbrella and a small basket, apparently containing some kind of
+needlework. I must confess that I gave her very little attention at the
+time, being occupied in anxious speculation as to how long it would be
+before the fact of my presence would impinge on the consciousness of the
+waitress.
+
+The exact time by the clock on the wall was three minutes and a quarter,
+at the expiration of which an anaemic young woman sauntered up to the
+table and bestowed on me a glance of sullen interrogation, as if mutely
+demanding what the devil I wanted. I humbly requested that I might be
+provided with a pot of tea; whereupon she turned on her heel (which was
+a good deal worn down on the offside) and reported my conduct to a lady
+behind a marble-topped counter.
+
+It seemed that the counter lady took a lenient view of the case, for in
+less than four minutes the waitress returned and gloomily deposited on
+the table before me a tea-pot, a milk-jug, a cup and saucer, a jug of
+hot water, and a small pool of milk. Then she once more departed in
+dudgeon.
+
+I had just given the tea in the pot a preliminary stir and was about to
+pour out the first cup when I felt some one bump lightly against my
+chair and heard something rattle on the floor. I turned quickly and
+perceived the lady, whom I had seen enter, stooping just behind my
+chair. It seemed that having finished her frugal meal she was on her way
+out when she had dropped the little basket that I had noticed hanging
+from her wrist; which basket had promptly disgorged its entire contents
+on the floor.
+
+Now every one must have noticed the demon of agility that seems to enter
+into an inanimate object when it is dropped, and the apparently
+intelligent malice with which it discovers, and rolls into, the most
+inaccessible places. Here was a case in point. This particular basket
+had contained materials for Oriental bead-work; and no sooner had it
+reached the floor than each item of its contents appeared to become
+possessed of a separate and particular devil impelling it to travel at
+headlong speed to some remote and unapproachable corner as distant as
+possible from its fellows.
+
+As the only man--and almost the only person--near, the duty of
+salvage-agent manifestly devolved upon me; and down I went, accordingly,
+on my hands and knees, regardless of a nearly new pair of trousers, to
+grope under tables, chairs and settles in reach of the scattered
+treasure. A ball of the thick thread or twine I recovered from a dark
+and dirty corner after a brief interview with the sharp corner of a
+settle, and a multitude of the large beads with which this infernal
+industry is carried on I gathered from all parts of the compass, coming
+forth at length (quadrupedally) with a double handful of the
+treasure-trove and a very lively appreciation of the resistant qualities
+of a cast-iron table-stand when applied to the human cranium.
+
+The owner of the lost and found property was greatly distressed by the
+accident and the trouble it had caused me; in fact she was quite
+needlessly agitated about it. The hand which held the basket into which
+I poured the rescued trash trembled visibly, and the brief glance that I
+bestowed on her as she murmured her thanks and apologies--with a very
+slight foreign accent--showed me that she was excessively pale. That
+much I could see plainly in spite of the rather dim light in this part
+of the shop and the beaded veil that covered her face; and I could also
+see that she was a rather remarkable looking woman, with a great mass of
+harsh, black hair and very broad black eyebrows that nearly met above
+her nose and contrasted strikingly with the dead white of her skin. But,
+of course, I did not look at her intently. Having returned her property
+and received her acknowledgments, I resumed my seat and left her to go
+on her way.
+
+I had once more grasped the handle of the tea-pot when I made a rather
+curious discovery. At the bottom of the tea-cup lay a single lump of
+sugar. To the majority of persons it would have meant nothing. They
+would have assumed that they had dropped it in and forgotten it and
+would have proceeded to pour out the tea. But it happened that, at this
+time, I did not take sugar in my tea; whence it followed that the lump
+had not been put in by me. Assuming, therefore, that it had been
+carelessly dropped in by the waitress, I turned it out on the table,
+filled the cup, added the milk, and took a tentative draught to test the
+temperature.
+
+The cup was yet at my lips when I chanced to look into the mirror that
+faced my table. Of course it reflected the part of the shop that was
+behind me, including the cashier's desk; at which the owner of the
+basket now stood paying for her refreshment. Between her and me was a
+gas chandelier which cast its light on my back but full on her face; and
+her veil notwithstanding, I could see that she was looking at me
+steadily; was, in fact, watching me intently and with a very curious
+expression--an expression of expectancy mingled with alarm. But this was
+not all. As I returned her intent look--which I could do unobserved,
+since my face, reflected in the mirror, was in deep shadow--I suddenly
+perceived that that steady gaze engaged her right eye only; the other
+eye was looking sharply towards her left shoulder. In short, she had a
+divergent squint of the left eye.
+
+I put down my cup with a thrill of amazement and a sudden surging up of
+suspicion and alarm. An instant's reflection reminded me that when she
+had spoken to me a few moments before, both her eyes had looked into
+mine without the slightest trace of a squint. My thoughts flew back to
+the lump of sugar, to the unguarded milk-jug and the draught of tea that
+I had already swallowed; and, hardly knowing what I intended, I started
+to my feet and turned to confront her. But as I rose, she snatched up
+her change and darted from the shop. Through the glass door, I saw her
+spring on to the foot-board of a passing hansom and give the driver some
+direction. I saw the man whip up his horse, and, by the time I reached
+the door, the cab was moving off swiftly towards Sloane Street.
+
+I stood irresolute. I had not paid and could not run out of the shop
+without making a fuss, and my hat and stick were still on the rail
+opposite my seat. The woman ought to be followed, but I had no fancy for
+the task. If the tea that I had swallowed was innocuous, no harm was
+done and I was rid of my pursuer. So far as I was concerned, the
+incident was closed. I went back to my seat, and picking up the lump of
+sugar which still lay on the table where I had dropped it, put it
+carefully in my pocket. But my appetite for tea was satisfied for the
+present. Moreover it was hardly advisable to stay in the shop lest some
+fresh spy should come to see how I fared. Accordingly I obtained my
+check, handed it in at the cashier's desk and took my departure.
+
+All this time, it will be observed, I had been taking it for granted
+that the lady in black had followed me from Kensington to this shop;
+that, in fact, she was none other than Mrs. Schallibaum. And, indeed,
+the circumstances had rendered the conclusion inevitable. In the very
+instant when I had perceived the displacement of the left eye, complete
+recognition had come upon me. When I had stood facing the woman, the
+brief glance at her face had conveyed to me something dimly reminiscent
+of which I had been but half conscious and had instantly forgotten. But
+the sight of that characteristic squint had at once revived and
+explained it. That the woman was Mrs. Schallibaum I now felt no doubt
+whatever.
+
+Nevertheless, the whole affair was profoundly mysterious. As to the
+change in the woman's appearance, there was little in that. The coarse,
+black hair might be her own, dyed, or it might be a wig. The eyebrows
+were made-up; it was a simple enough proceeding and made still more
+simple by the beaded veil. But how did she come to be there at all? How
+did she happen to be made-up in this fashion at this particular time?
+And, above all, how came she to be provided with a lump of what I had
+little doubt was poisoned sugar?
+
+I turned over the events of the day, and the more I considered them the
+less comprehensible they appeared. No one had followed the omnibus
+either on foot or in a vehicle, as far as I could see; and I had kept a
+careful look-out, not only at starting but for some considerable time
+after. Yet, all the time, Mrs. Schallibaum must have been following.
+But how? If she had known that I was intending to travel by the omnibus
+she might have gone to meet it and entered before I did. But she could
+not have known: and moreover she did not meet the omnibus, for we
+watched its approach from some considerable distance. I considered
+whether she might not have been concealed in the house and overheard me
+mention my destination to Thorndyke. But this failed to explain the
+mystery, since I had mentioned no address beyond "Kensington." I had,
+indeed, mentioned the name of Mrs. Hornby, but the supposition that my
+friends might be known by name to Mrs. Schallibaum, or even that she
+might have looked the name up in the directory, presented a probability
+too remote to be worth entertaining.
+
+But, if I reached no satisfactory conclusion, my cogitations had one
+useful effect; they occupied my mind to the exclusion of that
+unfortunate draught of tea. Not that I had been seriously uneasy after
+the first shock. The quantity that I had swallowed was not large--the
+tea being hotter than I cared for--and I remembered that, when I had
+thrown out the lump of sugar, I had turned the cup upside down on the
+table; so there could have been nothing solid left in it. And the lump
+of sugar was in itself reassuring, for it certainly would not have been
+used in conjunction with any less conspicuous but more incriminating
+form of poison. That lump of sugar was now in my pocket, reserved for
+careful examination at my leisure; and I reflected with a faint grin
+that it would be a little disconcerting if it should turn out to
+contain nothing but sugar after all.
+
+On leaving the tea-shop, I walked up Sloane Street with the intention of
+doing what I ought to have done earlier in the day. I was going to make
+perfectly sure that no spy was dogging my footsteps. But for my
+ridiculous confidence I could have done so quite easily before going to
+Endsley Gardens; and now, made wiser by a startling experience, I
+proceeded with systematic care. It was still broad daylight--for the
+lamps in the tea-shop had been rendered necessary only by the faulty
+construction of the premises and the dullness of the afternoon--and in
+an open space I could see far enough for complete safety. Arriving at
+the top of Sloane Street, I crossed Knightsbridge, and, entering Hyde
+Park, struck out towards the Serpentine. Passing along the eastern
+shore, I entered one of the long paths that lead towards the Marble Arch
+and strode along it at such a pace as would make it necessary for any
+pursuer to hurry in order to keep me in sight. Half-way across the great
+stretch of turf, I halted for a few moments and noted the few people who
+were coming in my direction. Then I turned sharply to the left and
+headed straight for the Victoria Gate, but again, half-way, I turned off
+among a clump of trees, and, standing behind the trunk of one of them,
+took a fresh survey of the people who were moving along the paths. All
+were at a considerable distance and none appeared to be coming my way.
+
+I now moved cautiously from one tree to another and passed through the
+wooded region to the south, crossed the Serpentine bridge at a rapid
+walk and hurrying along the south shore left the Park by Apsley House.
+From hence I walked at the same rapid pace along Piccadilly, insinuating
+myself among the crowd with the skill born of long acquaintance with the
+London streets, crossed amidst the seething traffic at the Circus,
+darted up Windmill Street and began to zigzag amongst the narrow streets
+and courts of Soho. Crossing the Seven Dials and Drury Lane I passed
+through the multitudinous back-streets and alleys that then filled the
+area south of Lincoln's Inn, came out by Newcastle Street, Holywell
+Street and Half-Moon Alley into the Strand, which I crossed immediately,
+ultimately entering the Temple by Devereux Court.
+
+Even then I did not relax my precautions. From one court to another I
+passed quickly, loitering in those dark entries and unexpected passages
+that are known to so few but the regular Templars, and coming out into
+the open only at the last where the wide passage of King's Bench Walk
+admits of no evasion. Half-way up the stairs, I stood for some time in
+the shadow, watching the approaches from the staircase window; and when,
+at length, I felt satisfied that I had taken every precaution that was
+possible, I inserted my key and let myself into our chambers.
+
+Thorndyke had already arrived, and, as I entered, he rose to greet me
+with an expression of evident relief.
+
+"I am glad to see you, Jervis," he said. "I have been rather anxious
+about you."
+
+"Why?" I asked.
+
+"For several reasons. One is that you are the sole danger that threatens
+these people--as far as they know. Another is that we made a most
+ridiculous mistake. We overlooked a fact that ought to have struck us
+instantly. But how have you fared?"
+
+"Better than I deserved. That good lady stuck to me like a burr--at
+least I believe she did."
+
+"I have no doubt she did. We have been caught napping finely, Jervis."
+
+"How?"
+
+"We'll go into that presently. Let us hear about your adventures first."
+
+I gave him a full account of my movements from the time when we parted
+to that of my arrival home, omitting no incident that I was able to
+remember and, as far as I could, reconstituting my exceedingly devious
+homeward route.
+
+"Your retreat was masterly," he remarked with a broad smile. "I should
+think that it would have utterly defeated any pursuer; and the only pity
+is that it was probably wasted on the desert air. Your pursuer had by
+that time become a fugitive. But you were wise to take these
+precautions, for, of course, Weiss might have followed you."
+
+"But I thought he was in Hamburg?"
+
+"Did you? You are a very confiding young gentleman, for a budding
+medical jurist. Of course we don't know that he is not; but the fact
+that he has given Hamburg as his present whereabouts establishes a
+strong presumption that he is somewhere else. I only hope that he has
+not located you, and, from what you tell me of your later methods, I
+fancy that you would have shaken him off even if he had started to
+follow you from the tea-shop."
+
+"I hope so too. But how did that woman manage to stick to me in that
+way? What was the mistake we made?"
+
+Thorndyke laughed grimly. "It was a perfectly asinine mistake, Jervis.
+You started up Kennington Park Road on a leisurely, jog-trotting
+omnibus, and neither you nor I remembered what there is underneath
+Kennington Park Road."
+
+"Underneath!" I exclaimed, completely puzzled for the moment. Then,
+suddenly realizing what he meant, "Of course!" I exclaimed. "Idiot that
+I am! You mean the electric railway?"
+
+"Yes. That explains everything. Mrs. Schallibaum must have watched us
+from some shop and quietly followed us up the lane. There were a good
+many women about and several were walking in our direction. There was
+nothing to distinguish her from the others unless you had recognized
+her, which you would hardly have been able to do if she had worn a veil
+and kept at a fair distance. At least I think not."
+
+"No," I agreed, "I certainly should not. I had only seen her in a
+half-dark room. In outdoor clothes and with a veil, I should never have
+been able to identify her without very close inspection. Besides there
+was the disguise or make-up."
+
+"Not at that time. She would hardly come disguised to her own house,
+for it might have led to her being challenged and asked who she was. I
+think we may take it that there was no actual disguise, although she
+would probably wear a shady hat and a veil; which would have prevented
+either of us from picking her out from the other women in the street."
+
+"And what do you think happened next?"
+
+"I think that she simply walked past us--probably on the other side of
+the road--as we stood waiting for the omnibus, and turned up Kennington
+Park Road. She probably guessed that we were waiting for the omnibus and
+walked up the road in the direction in which it was going. Presently the
+omnibus would pass her, and there were you in full view on top keeping a
+vigilant look-out in the wrong direction. Then she would quicken her
+pace a little and in a minute or two would arrive at the Kennington
+Station of the South London Railway. In a minute or two more she would
+be in one of the electric trains whirling along under the street on
+which your omnibus was crawling. She would get out at the Borough
+Station, or she might take a more risky chance and go on to the
+Monument; but in any case she would wait for your omnibus, hail it and
+get inside. I suppose you took up some passengers on the way?"
+
+"Oh dear, yes. We were stopping every two or three minutes to take up or
+set down passengers; and most of them were women."
+
+"Very well; then we may take it that when you arrived at the Mansion
+House, Mrs. Schallibaum was one of your inside passengers. It was a
+rather quaint situation, I think."
+
+"Yes, confound her! What a couple of noodles she must have thought us!"
+
+"No doubt. And that is the one consoling feature in the case. She will
+have taken us for a pair of absolute greenhorns. But to continue. Of
+course she travelled in your omnibus to Kensington--you ought to have
+gone inside on both occasions, so that you could see every one who
+entered and examine the inside passengers; she will have followed you to
+Endsley Gardens and probably noted the house you went to. Thence she
+will have followed you to the restaurant and may even have lunched
+there."
+
+"It is quite possible," said I. "There were two rooms and they were
+filled principally with women."
+
+"Then she will have followed you to Sloane Street, and, as you persisted
+in riding outside, she could easily take an inside place in your
+omnibus. As to the theatre, she must have taken it as a veritable gift
+of the gods; an arrangement made by you for her special convenience."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"My dear fellow! consider. She had only to follow you in and see you
+safely into your seat and there you were, left till called for. She
+could then go home, make up for her part; draw out a plan of action,
+with the help, perhaps, of Mr. Weiss, provide herself with the necessary
+means and appliances and, at the appointed time, call and collect you."
+
+"That is assuming a good deal," I objected. "It is assuming, for
+instance, that she lives within a moderate distance of Sloane Square.
+Otherwise it would have been impossible."
+
+"Exactly. That is why I assume it. You don't suppose that she goes about
+habitually with lumps of prepared sugar in her pocket. And if not, then
+she must have got that lump from somewhere. Then the beads suggest a
+carefully prepared plan, and, as I said just now, she can hardly have
+been made-up when she met us in Kennington Lane. From all of which it
+seems likely that her present abode is not very far from Sloane Square."
+
+"At any rate," said I, "it was taking a considerable risk. I might have
+left the theatre before she came back."
+
+"Yes," Thorndyke agreed. "But it is like a woman to take chances. A man
+would probably have stuck to you when once he had got you off your
+guard. But she was ready to take chances. She chanced the railway, and
+it came off; she chanced your remaining in the theatre, and that came
+off too. She calculated on the probability of your getting tea when you
+came out, and she hit it off again. And then she took one chance too
+many; she assumed that you probably took sugar in your tea, and she was
+wrong."
+
+"We are taking it for granted that the sugar was prepared," I remarked.
+
+"Yes. Our explanation is entirely hypothetical and may be entirely
+wrong. But it all hangs together, and if we find any poisonous matter in
+the sugar, it will be reasonable to assume that we are right. The sugar
+is the Experimentum Crucis. If you will hand it over to me, we will go
+up to the laboratory and make a preliminary test or two."
+
+I took the lump of sugar from my pocket and gave it to him, and he
+carried it to the gas-burner, by the light of which he examined it with
+a lens.
+
+"I don't see any foreign crystals on the surface," said he; "but we had
+better make a solution and go to work systematically. If it contains any
+poison we may assume that it will be some alkaloid, though I will test
+for arsenic too. But a man of Weiss's type would almost certainly use an
+alkaloid, on account of its smaller bulk and more ready solubility. You
+ought not to have carried this loose in your pocket. For legal purposes
+that would seriously interfere with its value as evidence. Bodies that
+are suspected of containing poison should be carefully isolated and
+preserved from contact with anything that might lead to doubt in the
+analysis. It doesn't matter much to us, as this analysis is only for our
+own information and we can satisfy ourselves as to the state of your
+pocket. But bear the rule in mind another time."
+
+We now ascended to the laboratory, where Thorndyke proceeded at once to
+dissolve the lump of sugar in a measured quantity of distilled water by
+the aid of gentle heat.
+
+"Before we add any acid," said he, "or introduce any fresh matter, we
+will adopt the simple preliminary measure of tasting the solution. The
+sugar is a disturbing factor, but some of the alkaloids and most
+mineral poisons excepting arsenic have a very characteristic taste."
+
+He dipped a glass rod in the warm solution and applied it gingerly to
+his tongue.
+
+"Ha!" he exclaimed, as he carefully wiped his mouth with his
+handkerchief, "simple methods are often very valuable. There isn't much
+doubt as to what is in that sugar. Let me recommend my learned brother
+to try the flavour. But be careful. A little of this will go a long
+way."
+
+He took a fresh rod from the rack, and, dipping it in the solution,
+handed it to me. I cautiously applied it to the tip of my tongue and was
+immediately aware of a peculiar tingling sensation accompanied by a
+feeling of numbness.
+
+"Well," said Thorndyke; "what is it?"
+
+"Aconite," I replied without hesitation.
+
+"Yes," he agreed; "aconite it is, or more probably aconitine. And that,
+I think, gives us all the information we want. We need not trouble now
+to make a complete analysis, though I shall have a quantitative
+examination made later. You note the intensity of the taste and you see
+what the strength of the solution is. Evidently that lump of sugar
+contained a very large dose of the poison. If the sugar had been
+dissolved in your tea, the quantity that you drank would have contained
+enough aconitine to lay you out within a few minutes; which would
+account for Mrs. Schallibaum's anxiety to get clear of the premises. She
+saw you drink from the cup, but I imagine she had not seen you turn the
+sugar out."
+
+"No, I should say not, to judge by her expression. She looked
+terrified. She is not as hardened as her rascally companion."
+
+"Which is fortunate for you, Jervis. If she had not been in such a
+fluster, she would have waited until you had poured out your tea, which
+was what she probably meant to do, or have dropped the sugar into the
+milk-jug. In either case you would have got a poisonous dose before you
+noticed anything amiss."
+
+"They are a pretty pair, Thorndyke," I exclaimed. "A human life seems to
+be no more to them than the life of a fly or a beetle."
+
+"No; that is so. They are typical poisoners of the worst kind; of the
+intelligent, cautious, resourceful kind. They are a standing menace to
+society. As long as they are at large, human lives are in danger, and it
+is our business to see that they do not remain at large a moment longer
+than is unavoidable. And that brings us to another point. You had better
+keep indoors for the next few days."
+
+"Oh, nonsense," I protested. "I can take care of myself."
+
+"I won't dispute that," said Thorndyke, "although I might. But the
+matter is of vital importance and we can't be too careful. Yours is the
+only evidence that could convict these people. They know that and will
+stick at nothing to get rid of you--for by this time they will almost
+certainly have ascertained that the tea-shop plan has failed. Now your
+life is of some value to you and to another person whom I could mention;
+but apart from that, you are the indispensable instrument for ridding
+society of these dangerous vermin. Moreover, if you were seen abroad and
+connected with these chambers, they would get the information that their
+case was really being investigated in a businesslike manner. If Weiss
+has not already left the country he would do so immediately, and if he
+has, Mrs. Schallibaum would join him at once, and we might never be able
+to lay hands on them. You must stay indoors, out of sight, and you had
+better write to Miss Gibson and ask her to warn the servants to give no
+information about you to anyone."
+
+"And how long," I asked, "am I to be held on parole?"
+
+"Not long, I think. We have a very promising start. If I have any luck,
+I shall be able to collect all the evidence I want in about a week. But
+there is an element of chance in some of it which prevents me from
+giving a date. And it is just possible that I may have started on a
+false track. But that I shall be able to tell you better in a day or
+two."
+
+"And I suppose," I said gloomily, "I shall be out of the hunt
+altogether?"
+
+"Not at all," he replied. "You have got the Blackmore case to attend to.
+I shall hand you over all the documents and get you to make an orderly
+digest of the evidence. You will then have all the facts and can work
+out the case for yourself. Also I shall ask you to help Polton in some
+little operations which are designed to throw light into dark places and
+which you will find both entertaining and instructive."
+
+"Supposing Mrs. Hornby should propose to call and take tea with us in
+the gardens?" I suggested.
+
+"And bring Miss Gibson with her?" Thorndyke added dryly. "No, Jervis, it
+would never do. You must make that quite clear to her. It is more
+probable than not that Mrs. Schallibaum made a careful note of the house
+in Endsley Gardens, and as that would be the one place actually known to
+her, she and Weiss--if he is in England--would almost certainly keep a
+watch on it. If they should succeed in connecting that house with these
+chambers, a few inquiries would show them the exact state of the case.
+No; we must keep them in the dark if we possibly can. We have shown too
+much of our hand already. It is hard on you, but it cannot be helped."
+
+"Oh, don't think I am complaining," I exclaimed. "If it is a matter of
+business, I am as keen as you are. I thought at first that you were
+merely considering the safety of my vile body. When shall I start on my
+job?"
+
+"To-morrow morning. I shall give you my notes on the Blackmore case and
+the copies of the will and the depositions, from which you had better
+draw up a digest of the evidence with remarks as to the conclusions that
+it suggests. Then there are our gleanings from New Inn to be looked over
+and considered; and with regard to this case, we have the fragments of a
+pair of spectacles which had better be put together into a rather more
+intelligible form in case we have to produce them in evidence. That will
+keep you occupied for a day or two, together with some work
+appertaining to other cases. And now let us dismiss professional topics.
+You have not dined and neither have I, but I dare say Polton has made
+arrangements for some sort of meal. We will go down and see."
+
+We descended to the lower floor, where Thorndyke's anticipations were
+justified by a neatly laid table to which Polton was giving the
+finishing touches.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XI
+
+The Blackmore Case Reviewed
+
+
+One of the conditions of medical practice is the capability of
+transferring one's attention at a moment's notice from one set of
+circumstances to another equally important but entirely unrelated. At
+each visit on his round, the practitioner finds himself concerned with a
+particular, self-contained group of phenomena which he must consider at
+the moment with the utmost concentration, but which he must instantly
+dismiss from his mind as he moves on to the next case. It is a difficult
+habit to acquire; for an important, distressing or obscure case is apt
+to take possession of the consciousness and hinder the exercise of
+attention that succeeding cases demand; but experience shows the faculty
+to be indispensable, and the practitioner learns in time to forget
+everything but the patient with whose condition he is occupied at the
+moment.
+
+My first morning's work on the Blackmore case showed me that the same
+faculty is demanded in legal practice; and it also showed me that I had
+yet to acquire it. For, as I looked over the depositions and the copy of
+the will, memories of the mysterious house in Kennington Lane
+continually intruded into my reflections, and the figure of Mrs.
+Schallibaum, white-faced, terrified, expectant, haunted me continually.
+
+In truth, my interest in the Blackmore case was little more than
+academic, whereas in the Kennington case I was one of the parties and
+was personally concerned. To me, John Blackmore was but a name, Jeffrey
+but a shadowy figure to which I could assign no definite personality,
+and Stephen himself but a casual stranger. Mr. Graves, on the other
+hand, was a real person. I had seen him amidst the tragic circumstances
+that had probably heralded his death, and had brought away with me, not
+only a lively recollection of him, but a feeling of profound pity and
+concern as to his fate. The villain Weiss, too, and the terrible woman
+who aided, abetted and, perhaps, even directed him, lived in my memory
+as vivid and dreadful realities. Although I had uttered no hint to
+Thorndyke, I lamented inwardly that I had not been given some work--if
+there was any to do--connected with this case, in which I was so deeply
+interested, rather than with the dry, purely legal and utterly
+bewildering case of Jeffrey Blackmore's will.
+
+Nevertheless, I stuck loyally to my task. I read through the depositions
+and the will--without getting a single glimmer of fresh light on the
+case--and I made a careful digest of all the facts. I compared my
+digest with Thorndyke's notes--of which I also made a copy--and found
+that, brief as they were, they contained several matters that I had
+overlooked. I also drew up a brief account of our visit to New Inn, with
+a list of the objects that we had observed or collected. And then I
+addressed myself to the second part of my task, the statement of my
+conclusions from the facts set forth.
+
+It was only when I came to make the attempt that I realized how
+completely I was at sea. In spite of Thorndyke's recommendation to study
+Marchmont's statement as it was summarized in those notes which I had
+copied, and of his hint that I should find in that statement something
+highly significant, I was borne irresistibly to one conclusion, and one
+only--and the wrong one at that, as I suspected: that Jeffrey
+Blackmore's will was a perfectly regular, sound and valid document.
+
+I tried to attack the validity of the will from various directions, and
+failed every time. As to its genuineness, that was obviously not in
+question. There seemed to me only two conceivable respects in which any
+objection could be raised, viz. the competency of Jeffrey to execute a
+will and the possibility of undue influence having been brought to bear
+on him.
+
+With reference to the first, there was the undoubted fact that Jeffrey
+was addicted to the opium habit, and this might, under some
+circumstances, interfere with a testator's competency to make a will.
+But had any such circumstances existed in this case? Had the drug habit
+produced such mental changes in the deceased as would destroy or weaken
+his judgment? There was not a particle of evidence in favour of any such
+belief. Up to the very end he had managed his own affairs, and, if his
+habits of life had undergone a change, they were still the habits of a
+perfectly sane and responsible man.
+
+The question of undue influence was more difficult. If it applied to any
+person in particular, that person could be none other than John
+Blackmore. Now it was an undoubted fact that, of all Jeffrey's
+acquaintance, his brother John was the only one who knew that he was in
+residence at New Inn. Moreover John had visited him there more than
+once. It was therefore possible that influence might have been brought
+to bear on the deceased. But there was no evidence that it had. The fact
+that the deceased man's only brother should be the one person who knew
+where he was living was not a remarkable one, and it had been
+satisfactorily explained by the necessity of Jeffrey's finding a
+reference on applying for the chambers. And against the theory of undue
+influence was the fact that the testator had voluntarily brought his
+will to the lodge and executed it in the presence of entirely
+disinterested witnesses.
+
+In the end I had to give up the problem in despair, and, abandoning the
+documents, turned my attention to the facts elicited by our visit to New
+Inn.
+
+What had we learned from our exploration? It was clear that Thorndyke
+had picked up some facts that had appeared to him important. But
+important in what respect? The only possible issue that could be raised
+was the validity or otherwise of Jeffrey Blackmore's will; and since the
+validity of that will was supported by positive evidence of the most
+incontestable kind, it seemed that nothing that we had observed could
+have any real bearing on the case at all.
+
+But this, of course, could not be. Thorndyke was no dreamer nor was he
+addicted to wild speculation. If the facts observed by us seemed to him
+to be relevant to the case, I was prepared to assume that they were
+relevant, although I could not see their connection with it. And, on
+this assumption, I proceeded to examine them afresh.
+
+Now, whatever Thorndyke might have observed on his own account, I had
+brought away from the dead man's chambers only a single fact; and a very
+extraordinary fact it was. The cuneiform inscription was upside down.
+That was the sum of the evidence that I had collected; and the question
+was, What did it prove? To Thorndyke it conveyed some deep significance.
+What could that significance be?
+
+The inverted position was not a mere temporary accident, as it might
+have been if the frame had been stood on a shelf or support. It was hung
+on the wall, and the plates screwed on the frame showed that its
+position was permanent and that it had never hung in any other. That it
+could have been hung up by Jeffrey himself was clearly inconceivable.
+But allowing that it had been fixed in its present position by some
+workman when the new tenant moved in, the fact remained that there it
+had hung, presumably for months, and that Jeffrey Blackmore, with his
+expert knowledge of the cuneiform character, had never noticed that it
+was upside down; or, if he had noticed it, that he had never taken the
+trouble to have it altered.
+
+What could this mean? If he had noticed the error but had not troubled
+to correct it, that would point to a very singular state of mind, an
+inertness and indifference remarkable even in an opium-smoker. But
+assuming such a state of mind, I could not see that it had any bearing
+on the will, excepting that it was rather inconsistent with the tendency
+to make fussy and needless alterations which the testator had actually
+shown. On the other hand, if he had not noticed the inverted position of
+the photograph he must have been nearly blind or quite idiotic; for the
+photograph was over two feet long and the characters large enough to be
+read easily by a person of ordinary eyesight at a distance of forty or
+fifty feet. Now he obviously was not in a state of dementia, whereas his
+eyesight was admittedly bad; and it seemed to me that the only
+conclusion deducible from the photograph was that it furnished a measure
+of the badness of the deceased man's vision--that it proved him to have
+been verging on total blindness.
+
+But there was nothing startling new in this. He had, himself, declared
+that he was fast losing his sight. And again, what was the bearing of
+his partial blindness on the will? A totally blind man cannot draw up
+his will at all. But if he has eyesight sufficient to enable him to
+write out and sign a will, mere defective vision will not lead him to
+muddle the provisions. Yet something of this kind seemed to be in
+Thorndyke's mind, for now I recalled the question that he had put to the
+porter: "When you read the will over in Mr. Blackmore's presence, did
+you read it aloud?" That question could have but one significance. It
+implied a doubt as to whether the testator was fully aware of the exact
+nature of the document that he was signing. Yet, if he was able to write
+and sign it, surely he was able also to read it through, to say nothing
+of the fact that, unless he was demented, he must have remembered what
+he had written.
+
+Thus, once more, my reasoning only led me into a blind alley at the end
+of which was the will, regular and valid and fulfilling all the
+requirements that the law imposed. Once again I had to confess myself
+beaten and in full agreement with Mr. Marchmont that "there was no
+case"; that "there was nothing in dispute." Nevertheless, I carefully
+fixed in the pocket file that Thorndyke had given me the copy that I had
+made of his notes, together with the notes on our visit to New Inn, and
+the few and unsatisfactory conclusions at which I had arrived; and this
+brought me to the end of my first morning in my new capacity.
+
+"And how," Thorndyke asked as we sat at lunch, "has my learned friend
+progressed? Does he propose that we advise Mr. Marchmont to enter a
+caveat?"
+
+"I've read all the documents and boiled all the evidence down to a stiff
+jelly; and I am in a worse fog than ever."
+
+"There seems to be a slight mixture of metaphors in my learned friend's
+remarks. But never mind the fog, Jervis. There is a certain virtue in
+fog. It serves, like a picture frame, to surround the essential with a
+neutral zone that separates it from the irrelevant."
+
+"That is a very profound observation, Thorndyke," I remarked ironically.
+
+"I was just thinking so myself," he rejoined.
+
+"And if you could contrive to explain what it means--"
+
+"Oh, but that is unreasonable. When one throws off a subtly philosophic
+obiter dictum one looks to the discerning critic to supply the meaning.
+By the way, I am going to introduce you to the gentle art of photography
+this afternoon. I am getting the loan of all the cheques that were drawn
+by Jeffrey Blackmore during his residence at New Inn--there are only
+twenty-three of them, all told--and I am going to photograph them."
+
+"I shouldn't have thought the bank people would have let them go out of
+their possession."
+
+"They are not going to. One of the partners, a Mr. Britton, is bringing
+them here himself and will be present while the photographs are being
+taken; so they will not go out of his custody. But, all the same, it is
+a great concession, and I should not have obtained it but for the fact
+that I have done a good deal of work for the bank and that Mr. Britton
+is more or less a personal friend."
+
+"By the way, how comes it that the cheques are at the bank? Why were
+they not returned to Jeffrey with the pass-book in the usual way?"
+
+"I understand from Britton," replied Thorndyke, "that all Jeffrey's
+cheques were retained by the bank at his request. When he was travelling
+he used to leave his investment securities and other valuable documents
+in his bankers' custody, and, as he has never applied to have them
+returned, the bankers still have them and are retaining them until the
+will is proved, when they will, of course, hand over everything to the
+executors."
+
+"What is the object of photographing these cheques?" I asked.
+
+"There are several objects. First, since a good photograph is
+practically as good as the original, when we have the photographs we
+practically have the cheques for reference. Then, since a photograph can
+be duplicated indefinitely, it is possible to perform experiments on it
+which involve its destruction; which would, of course, be impossible in
+the case of original cheques."
+
+"But the ultimate object, I mean. What are you going to prove?"
+
+"You are incorrigible, Jervis," he exclaimed. "How should I know what I
+am going to prove? This is an investigation. If I knew the result
+beforehand, I shouldn't want to perform the experiment."
+
+He looked at his watch, and, as we rose from the table, he said:
+
+"If we have finished, we had better go up to the laboratory and see that
+the apparatus is ready. Mr. Britton is a busy man, and, as he is doing
+us a great service, we mustn't keep him waiting when he comes."
+
+We ascended to the laboratory, where Polton was already busy inspecting
+the massively built copying camera which--with the long, steel guides on
+which the easel or copy-holder travelled--took up the whole length of
+the room on the side opposite to that occupied by the chemical bench. As
+I was to be inducted into the photographic art, I looked at it with more
+attention than I had ever done before.
+
+"We've made some improvements since you were here last, sir," said
+Polton, who was delicately lubricating the steel guides. "We've fitted
+these steel runners instead of the blackleaded wooden ones that we used
+to have. And we've made two scales instead of one. Hallo! That's the
+downstairs bell. Shall I go sir?"
+
+"Perhaps you'd better," said Thorndyke. "It may not be Mr. Britton, and
+I don't want to be caught and delayed just now."
+
+However, it was Mr. Britton; a breezy alert-looking middle-aged man, who
+came in escorted by Polton and shook our hands cordially, having been
+previously warned of my presence. He carried a small but solid hand-bag,
+to which he clung tenaciously up to the very moment when its contents
+were required for use.
+
+"So that is the camera," said he, running an inquisitive eye over the
+instrument. "Very fine one, too; I am a bit of a photographer myself.
+What is that graduation on the side-bar?"
+
+"Those are the scales," replied Thorndyke, "that shows the degree of
+magnification or reduction. The pointer is fixed to the easel and
+travels with it, of course, showing the exact size of the photograph.
+When the pointer is opposite 0 the photograph will be identical in size
+with the object photographed; when it points to, say, x 6, the
+photograph will be six times as long as the object, or magnified
+thirty-six times superficially, whereas if the pointer is at / 6, the
+photograph will be a sixth of the length of the object, or one
+thirty-sixth superficial."
+
+"Why are there two scales?" Mr. Britton asked.
+
+"There is a separate scale for each of the two lenses that we
+principally use. For great magnification or reduction a lens of
+comparatively short focus must be used, but, as a long-focus lens gives
+a more perfect image, we use one of very long focus--thirty-six
+inches--for copying the same size or for slight magnification or
+reduction."
+
+"Are you going to magnify these cheques?" Mr. Britton asked.
+
+"Not in the first place," replied Thorndyke. "For convenience and speed
+I am going to photograph them half-size, so that six cheques will go on
+one whole plate. Afterwards we can enlarge from the negatives as much as
+we like. But we should probably enlarge only the signatures in any
+case."
+
+The precious bag was now opened and the twenty-three cheques brought out
+and laid on the bench in a consecutive series in the order of their
+dates. They were then fixed by tapes--to avoid making pin-holes in
+them--in batches of six to small drawing boards, each batch being so
+arranged that the signatures were towards the middle. The first board
+was clamped to the easel, the latter was slid along its guides until
+the pointer stood at / 2 on the long-focus scale and Thorndyke proceeded
+to focus the camera with the aid of a little microscope that Polton had
+made for the purpose. When Mr. Britton and I had inspected the
+exquisitely sharp image on the focusing-screen through the microscope,
+Polton introduced the plate and made the first exposure, carrying the
+dark-slide off to develop the plate while the next batch of cheques was
+being fixed in position.
+
+In his photographic technique, as in everything else, Polton followed as
+closely as he could the methods of his principal and instructor; methods
+characterized by that unhurried precision that leads to perfect
+accomplishment. When the first negative was brought forth, dripping,
+from the dark-room, it was without spot or stain, scratch or pin-hole;
+uniform in colour and of exactly the required density. The six cheques
+shown on it--ridiculously small in appearance, though only reduced to
+half-length--looked as clear and sharp as fine etchings; though, to be
+sure, my opportunity for examining them was rather limited, for Polton
+was uncommonly careful to keep the wet plate out of reach and so safe
+from injury.
+
+"Well," said Mr. Britton, when, at the end of the seance, he returned
+his treasures to the bag, "you have now got twenty-three of our cheques,
+to all intents and purposes. I hope you are not going to make any
+unlawful use of them--must tell our cashiers to keep a bright look-out;
+and"--here he lowered his voice impressively and addressed himself to
+me and Polton--"you understand that this is a private matter between Dr.
+Thorndyke and me. Of course, as Mr. Blackmore is dead, there is no
+reason why his cheques should not be photographed for legal purposes;
+but we don't want it talked about; nor, I think, does Dr. Thorndyke."
+
+"Certainly not," Thorndyke agreed emphatically; "but you need not be
+uneasy, Mr. Britton. We are very uncommunicative people in this
+establishment."
+
+As my colleague and I escorted our visitor down the stairs, he returned
+to the subject of the cheques.
+
+"I don't understand what you want them for," he remarked. "There is no
+question turning on signatures in the case of Blackmore deceased, is
+there?"
+
+"I should say not," Thorndyke replied rather evasively.
+
+"I should say very decidedly not," said Mr. Britton, "if I understood
+Marchmont aright. And, even if there were, let me tell you, these
+signatures that you have got wouldn't help you. I have looked them over
+very closely--and I have seen a few signatures in my time, you know.
+Marchmont asked me to glance over them as a matter of form, but I don't
+believe in matters of form; I examined them very carefully. There is an
+appreciable amount of variation; a very appreciable amount. <i>But</i> under
+the variation one can trace the personal character (which is what
+matters); the subtle, indescribable quality that makes it recognizable
+to the expert eye as Jeffrey Blackmore's writing. You understand me.
+There is such a quality, which remains when the coarser characteristics
+vary; just as a man may grow old, or fat, or bald, or may take to drink,
+and become quite changed; and yet, through it all, he preserves a
+certain something which makes him recognizable as a member of a
+particular family. Well, I find that quality in all those signatures,
+and so will you, if you have had enough experience of handwriting. I
+thought it best to mention it in case you might be giving yourself
+unnecessary trouble."
+
+"It is very good of you," said Thorndyke, "and I need not say that the
+information is of great value, coming from such a highly expert source.
+As a matter of fact, your hint will be of great value to me."
+
+He shook hands with Mr. Britton, and, as the latter disappeared down the
+stairs, he turned into the sitting-room and remarked:
+
+"There is a very weighty and significant observation, Jervis. I advise
+you to consider it attentively in all its bearings."
+
+"You mean the fact that these signatures are undoubtedly genuine?"
+
+"I meant, rather, the very interesting general truth that is contained
+in Britton's statement; that physiognomy is not a mere matter of facial
+character. A man carries his personal trademark, not in his face only,
+but in his nervous system and muscles--giving rise to characteristic
+movements and gait; in his larynx--producing an individual voice; and
+even in his mouth, as shown by individual peculiarities of speech and
+accent. And the individual nervous system, by means of these
+characteristic movements, transfers its peculiarities to inanimate
+objects that are the products of such movements; as we see in pictures,
+in carving, in musical execution and in handwriting. No one has ever
+painted quite like Reynolds or Romney; no one has ever played exactly
+like Liszt or Paganini; the pictures or the sounds produced by them,
+were, so to speak, an extension of the physiognomy of the artist. And so
+with handwriting. A particular specimen is the product of a particular
+set of motor centres in an individual brain."
+
+"These are very interesting considerations, Thorndyke," I remarked; "but
+I don't quite see their present application. Do you mean them to bear in
+any special way on the Blackmore case?"
+
+"I think they do bear on it very directly. I thought so while Mr.
+Britton was making his very illuminating remarks."
+
+"I don't see how. In fact I cannot see why you are going into the
+question of the signatures at all. The signature on the will is
+admittedly genuine, and that seems to me to dispose of the whole
+affair."
+
+"My dear Jervis," said he, "you and Marchmont are allowing yourselves to
+be obsessed by a particular fact--a very striking and weighty fact, I
+will admit, but still, only an isolated fact. Jeffrey Blackmore executed
+his will in a regular manner, complying with all the necessary
+formalities and conditions. In the face of that single circumstance you
+and Marchmont would 'chuck up the sponge,' as the old pugilists
+expressed it. Now that is a great mistake. You should never allow
+yourself to be bullied and browbeaten by a single fact."
+
+"But, my dear Thorndyke!" I protested, "this fact seems to be final. It
+covers all possibilities---unless you can suggest any other that would
+cancel it."
+
+"I could suggest a dozen," he replied. "Let us take an instance.
+Supposing Jeffrey executed this will for a wager; that he immediately
+revoked it and made a fresh will, that he placed the latter in the
+custody of some person and that that person has suppressed it."
+
+"Surely you do not make this suggestion seriously!" I exclaimed.
+
+"Certainly I do not," he replied with a smile. "I merely give it as an
+instance to show that your final and absolute fact is really only
+conditional on there being no other fact that cancels it."
+
+"Do you think he might have made a third will?"
+
+"It is obviously possible. A man who makes two wills may make three or
+more; but I may say that I see no present reason for assuming the
+existence of another will. What I want to impress on you is the
+necessity of considering all the facts instead of bumping heavily
+against the most conspicuous one and forgetting all the rest. By the
+way, here is a little problem for you. What was the object of which
+these are the parts?"
+
+He pushed across the table a little cardboard box, having first removed
+the lid. In it were a number of very small pieces of broken glass, some
+of which had been cemented together by their edges.
+
+"These, I suppose," said I, looking with considerable curiosity at the
+little collection, "are the pieces of glass that we picked up in poor
+Blackmore's bedroom?"
+
+"Yes. You see that Polton has been endeavouring to reconstitute the
+object, whatever it was; but he has not been very successful, for the
+fragments were too small and irregular and the collection too
+incomplete. However, here is a specimen, built up of six small pieces,
+which exhibits the general character of the object fairly well."
+
+He picked out the little irregularly shaped object and handed it to me;
+and I could not but admire the neatness with which Polton had joined the
+tiny fragments together.
+
+I took the little "restoration," and, holding it up before my eyes,
+moved it to and fro as I looked through it at the window.
+
+"It was not a lens," I pronounced eventually.
+
+"No," Thorndyke agreed, "it was not a lens."
+
+"And so cannot have been a spectacle-glass. But the surface was
+curved--one side convex and the other concave--and the little piece that
+remains of the original edge seems to have been ground to fit a bezel or
+frame. I should say that these are portions of a watch-glass."
+
+"That is Polton's opinion," said Thorndyke, "and I think you are both
+wrong."
+
+"What do you say to the glass of a miniature or locket?"
+
+"That is rather more probable, but it is not my view."
+
+"What do you think it is?" I asked. But Thorndyke was not to be drawn.
+
+"I am submitting the problem for solution by my learned friend," he
+replied with an exasperating smile, and then added: "I don't say that
+you and Polton are wrong; only that I don't agree with you. Perhaps you
+had better make a note of the properties of this object, and consider it
+at your leisure when you are ruminating on the other data referring to
+the Blackmore case."
+
+"My ruminations," I said, "always lead me back to the same point."
+
+"But you mustn't let them," he replied. "Shuffle your data about. Invent
+hypotheses. Never mind if they seem rather wild. Don't put them aside on
+that account. Take the first hypothesis that you can invent and test it
+thoroughly with your facts. You will probably have to reject it, but you
+will be certain to have learned something new. Then try again with a
+fresh one. You remember what I told you of my methods when I began this
+branch of practice and had plenty of time on my hands?"
+
+"I am not sure that I do."
+
+"Well, I used to occupy my leisure in constructing imaginary cases,
+mostly criminal, for the purpose of study and for the acquirement of
+experience. For instance, I would devise an ingenious fraud and would
+plan it in detail, taking every precaution that I could think of against
+failure or detection, considering, and elaborately providing for, every
+imaginable contingency. For the time being, my entire attention was
+concentrated on it, making it as perfect and secure and undetectable as
+I could with the knowledge and ingenuity at my command. I behaved
+exactly as if I were proposing actually to carry it out, and my life or
+liberty depended on its success--excepting that I made full notes of
+every detail of the scheme. Then when my plans were as complete as I
+could make them, and I could think of no way in which to improve them, I
+changed sides and considered the case from the standpoint of detection.
+I analysed the case, I picked out its inherent and unavoidable
+weaknesses, and, especially, I noted the respects in which a fraudulent
+proceeding of a particular kind differed from the <i>bona fide</i> proceeding
+that it simulated. The exercise was invaluable to me. I acquired as much
+experience from those imaginary cases as I should from real ones, and in
+addition, I learned a method which is the one that I practise to this
+day."
+
+"Do you mean that you still invent imaginary cases as mental exercises?"
+
+"No; I mean that, when I have a problem of any intricacy, I invent a
+case which fits the facts and the assumed motives of one of the parties.
+Then I work at that case until I find whether it leads to elucidation or
+to some fundamental disagreement. In the latter case I reject it and
+begin the process over again."
+
+"Doesn't that method sometimes involve a good deal of wasted time and
+energy?" I asked.
+
+"No; because each time that you fail to establish a given case, you
+exclude a particular explanation of the facts and narrow down the field
+of inquiry. By repeating the process, you are bound, in the end, to
+arrive at an imaginary case which fits all the facts. Then your
+imaginary case is the real case and the problem is solved. Let me
+recommend you to give the method a trial."
+
+I promised to do so, though with no very lively expectations as to the
+result, and with this, the subject was allowed, for the present, to
+drop.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XII
+
+The Portrait
+
+
+The state of mind which Thorndyke had advised me to cultivate was one
+that did not come easily. However much I endeavoured to shuffle the
+facts of the Blackmore case, there was one which inevitably turned up on
+the top of the pack. The circumstances surrounding the execution of
+Jeffrey Blackmore's will intruded into all my cogitations on the subject
+with hopeless persistency. That scene in the porter's lodge was to me
+what King Charles's head was to poor Mr. Dick. In the midst of my
+praiseworthy efforts to construct some intelligible scheme of the case,
+it would make its appearance and reduce my mind to instant chaos.
+
+For the next few days, Thorndyke was very much occupied with one or two
+civil cases, which kept him in court during the whole of the sitting;
+and when he came home, he seemed indisposed to talk on professional
+topics. Meanwhile, Polton worked steadily at the photographs of the
+signatures, and, with a view to gaining experience, I assisted him and
+watched his methods.
+
+In the present case, the signatures were enlarged from their original
+dimensions--rather less than an inch and a half in length--to a length
+of four and a half inches; which rendered all the little peculiarities
+of the handwriting surprisingly distinct and conspicuous. Each signature
+was eventually mounted on a slip of card bearing a number and the date
+of the cheque from which it was taken, so that it was possible to place
+any two signatures together for comparison. I looked over the whole
+series and very carefully compared those which showed any differences,
+but without discovering anything more than might have been expected in
+view of Mr. Britton's statement. There were some trifling variations,
+but they were all very much alike, and no one could doubt, on looking at
+them, that they were all written by the same hand.
+
+As this, however, was apparently not in dispute, it furnished no new
+information. Thorndyke's object--for I felt certain that he had
+something definite in his mind--must be to test something apart from the
+genuineness of the signatures. But what could that something be? I dared
+not ask him, for questions of that kind were anathema, so there was
+nothing for it but to lie low and see what he would do with the
+photographs.
+
+The whole series was finished on the fourth morning after my adventure
+at Sloane Square, and the pack of cards was duly delivered by Polton
+when he brought in the breakfast tray. Thorndyke took up the pack
+somewhat with the air of a whist player, and, as he ran through them, I
+noticed that the number had increased from twenty-three to twenty-four.
+
+"The additional one," Thorndyke explained, "is the signature to the
+first will, which was in Marchmont's possession. I have added it to the
+collection as it carries us back to an earlier date. The signature of
+the second will presumably resembles those of the cheques drawn about
+the same date. But that is not material, or, if it should become so, we
+could claim to examine the second will."
+
+He laid the cards out on the table in the order of their dates and
+slowly ran his eye down the series. I watched him closely and ventured
+presently to ask:
+
+"Do you agree with Mr. Britton as to the general identity of character
+in the whole set of signatures?"
+
+"Yes," he replied. "I should certainly have put them down as being all
+the signatures of one person. The variations are very slight. The later
+signatures are a little stiffer, a little more shaky and indistinct, and
+the B's and k's are both appreciably different from those in the earlier
+ones. But there is another fact which emerges when the whole series is
+seen together, and it is so striking and significant a fact, that I am
+astonished at its not having been remarked on by Mr. Britton."
+
+"Indeed!" said I, stooping to examine the photographs with fresh
+interest; "what is that?"
+
+"It is a very simple fact and very obvious, but yet, as I have said,
+very significant. Look carefully at number one, which is the signature
+of the first will, dated three years ago, and compare it with number
+three, dated the eighteenth of September last year."
+
+"They look to me identical," said I, after a careful comparison.
+
+"So they do to me," said Thorndyke. "Neither of them shows the change
+that occurred later. But if you look at number two, dated the sixteenth
+of September, you will see that it is in the later style. So is number
+four, dated the twenty-third of September; but numbers five and six,
+both at the beginning of October, are in the earlier style, like the
+signature of the will. Thereafter all the signatures are in the new
+style; but, if you compare number two, dated the sixteenth of September
+with number twenty-four, dated the fourteenth of March of this year--the
+day of Jeffrey's death--you see that they exhibit no difference. Both
+are in the 'later style,' but the last shows no greater change than the
+first. Don't you consider these facts very striking and significant?"
+
+I reflected a few moments, trying to make out the deep significance to
+which Thorndyke was directing my attention--and not succeeding very
+triumphantly.
+
+"You mean," I said, "that the occasional reversions to the earlier form
+convey some material suggestion?"
+
+"Yes; but more than that. What we learn from an inspection of this
+series is this: that there was a change in the character of the
+signature; a very slight change, but quite recognizable. Now that change
+was not gradual or insidious nor was it progressive. It occurred at a
+certain definite time. At first there were one or two reversions to the
+earlier form, but after number six the new style continued to the end;
+and you notice that it continued without any increase in the change and
+without any variation. There are no intermediate forms. Some of the
+signatures are in the 'old style' and some in the 'new,' but there are
+none that are half and half. So that, to repeat: We have here two types
+of signature, very much alike, but distinguishable. They alternate, but
+do not merge into one another to produce intermediate forms. The change
+occurs abruptly, but shows no tendency to increase as time goes on; it
+is not a progressive change. What do you make of that, Jervis?"
+
+"It is very remarkable," I said, poring over the cards to verify
+Thorndyke's statements. "I don't quite know what to make of it. If the
+circumstances admitted of the idea of forgery, one would suspect the
+genuineness of some of the signatures. But they don't--at any rate, in
+the case of the later will, to say nothing of Mr. Britton's opinion on
+the signatures."
+
+"Still," said Thorndyke, "there must be some explanation of the change
+in the character of the signatures, and that explanation cannot be the
+failing eyesight of the writer; for that is a gradually progressive and
+continuous condition, whereas the change in the writing is abrupt and
+intermittent."
+
+I considered Thorndyke's remark for a few moments; and then a
+light--though not a very brilliant one--seemed to break on me.
+
+"I think I see what you are driving at," said I. "You mean that the
+change in the writing must be associated with some new condition
+affecting the writer, and that that condition existed intermittently?"
+
+Thorndyke nodded approvingly, and I continued:
+
+"The only intermittent condition that we know of is the effect of opium.
+So that we might consider the clearer signatures to have been made when
+Jeffrey was in his normal state, and the less distinct ones after a bout
+of opium-smoking."
+
+"That is perfectly sound reasoning," said Thorndyke. "What further
+conclusion does it lead to?"
+
+"It suggests that the opium habit had been only recently acquired, since
+the change was noticed only about the time he went to live at New Inn;
+and, since the change in the writing is at first intermittent and then
+continuous, we may infer that the opium-smoking was at first occasional
+and later became a a confirmed habit."
+
+"Quite a reasonable conclusion and very clearly stated," said Thorndyke.
+"I don't say that I entirely agree with you, or that you have exhausted
+the information that these signatures offer. But you have started in the
+right direction."
+
+"I may be on the right road," I said gloomily; "but I am stuck fast in
+one place and I see no chance of getting any farther."
+
+"But you have a quantity of data," said Thorndyke. "You have all the
+facts that I had to start with, from which I constructed the hypothesis
+that I am now busily engaged in verifying. I have a few more data now,
+for 'as money makes money' so knowledge begets knowledge, and I put my
+original capital out to interest. Shall we tabulate the facts that are
+in our joint possession and see what they suggest?"
+
+I grasped eagerly at the offer, though I had conned over my notes again
+and again.
+
+Thorndyke produced a slip of paper from a drawer, and, uncapping his
+fountain-pen, proceeded to write down the leading facts, reading each
+aloud as soon as it was written.
+
+"1. The second will was unnecessary since it contained no new matter,
+expressed no new intentions and met no new conditions, and the first
+will was quite clear and efficient.
+
+"2. The evident intention of the testator was to leave the bulk of his
+property to Stephen Blackmore.
+
+"3. The second will did not, under existing circumstances, give effect
+to this intention, whereas the first will did.
+
+"4. The signature of the second will differs slightly from that of the
+first, and also from what had hitherto been the testator's ordinary
+signature.
+
+"And now we come to a very curious group of dates, which I will advise
+you to consider with great attention.
+
+"5. Mrs. Wilson made her will at the beginning of September last year,
+without acquainting Jeffrey Blackmore, who seems to have been unaware of
+the existence of this will.
+
+"6. His own second will was dated the twelfth of November of last year.
+
+"7. Mrs. Wilson died of cancer on the twelfth of March this present
+year.
+
+"8. Jeffrey Blackmore was last seen alive on the fourteenth of March.
+
+"9. His body was discovered on the fifteenth of March.
+
+"10. The change in the character of his signature began about September
+last year and became permanent after the middle of October.
+
+"You will find that collection of facts repay careful study, Jervis,
+especially when considered in relation to the further data:
+
+"11. That we found in Blackmore's chambers a framed inscription of large
+size, hung upside down, together with what appeared to be the remains of
+a watch-glass and a box of stearine candles and some other objects."
+
+He passed the paper to me and I pored over it intently, focusing my
+attention on the various items with all the power of my will. But,
+struggle as I would, no general conclusion could be made to emerge from
+the mass of apparently disconnected facts.
+
+"Well?" Thorndyke said presently, after watching with grave interest my
+unavailing efforts; "what do you make of it?"
+
+"Nothing!" I exclaimed desperately, slapping the paper down on the
+table. "Of course, I can see that there are some queer coincidences. But
+how do they bear on the case? I understand that you want to upset this
+will; which we know to have been signed without compulsion or even
+suggestion in the presence of two respectable men, who have sworn to the
+identity of the document. That is your object, I believe?"
+
+"Certainly it is."
+
+"Then I am hanged if I see how you are going to do it. Not, I should
+say, by offering a group of vague coincidences that would muddle any
+brain but your own."
+
+Thorndyke chuckled softly but pursued the subject no farther.
+
+"Put that paper in your file with your other notes," he said, "and think
+it over at your leisure. And now I want a little help from you. Have you
+a good memory for faces?"
+
+"Fairly good, I think. Why?"
+
+"Because I have a photograph of a man whom I think you may have met.
+Just look at it and tell me if you remember the face."
+
+He drew a cabinet size photograph from an envelope that had come by the
+morning's post and handed it to me.
+
+"I have certainly seen this face somewhere," said I, taking the portrait
+over to the window to examine it more thoroughly, "but I can't, at the
+moment, remember where."
+
+"Try," said Thorndyke. "If you have seen the face before, you should be
+able to recall the person."
+
+I looked intently at the photograph, and the more I looked, the more
+familiar did the face appear. Suddenly the identity of the man flashed
+into my mind and I exclaimed in astonishment:
+
+"It can't be that poor creature at Kennington, Mr. Graves?"
+
+"I think it can," replied Thorndyke, "and I think it is. But could you
+swear to the identity in a court of law?"
+
+"It is my firm conviction that the photograph is that of Mr. Graves. I
+would swear to that."
+
+"No man ought to swear to more," said Thorndyke. "Identification is
+always a matter of opinion or belief. The man who will swear
+unconditionally to identity from memory only is a man whose evidence
+should be discredited. I think your sworn testimony would be
+sufficient."
+
+It is needless to say that the production of this photograph filled me
+with amazement and curiosity as to how Thorndyke had obtained it. But,
+as he replaced it impassively in its envelope without volunteering any
+explanation, I felt that I could not question him directly.
+Nevertheless, I ventured to approach the subject in an indirect manner.
+
+"Did you get any information from those Darmstadt people?" I asked.
+
+"Schnitzler? Yes. I learned, through the medium of an official
+acquaintance, that Dr. H. Weiss was a stranger to them; that they knew
+nothing about him excepting that he had ordered from them, and been
+supplied with, a hundred grammes of pure hydrochlorate of morphine."
+
+"All at once?"
+
+"No. In separate parcels of twenty-five grammes each."
+
+"Is that all you know about Weiss?"
+
+"It is all that I actually know; but it is not all that I suspect--on
+very substantial grounds. By the way, what did you think of the
+coachman?"
+
+"I don't know that I thought very much about him. Why?"
+
+"You never suspected that he and Weiss were one and the same person?"
+
+"No. How could they be? They weren't in the least alike. And one was a
+Scotchman and the other a German. But perhaps you know that they were
+the same?"
+
+"I only know what you have told me. But considering that you never saw
+them together, that the coachman was never available for messages or
+assistance when Weiss was with you; that Weiss always made his
+appearance some time after you arrived, and disappeared some time before
+you left; it has seemed to me that they might have been the same
+person."
+
+"I should say it was impossible. They were so very different in
+appearance. But supposing that they were the same; would the fact be of
+any importance?"
+
+"It would mean that we could save ourselves the trouble of looking for
+the coachman. And it would suggest some inferences, which will occur to
+you if you think the matter over. But being only a speculative opinion,
+at present, it would not be safe to infer very much from it."
+
+"You have rather taken me by surprise," I remarked. "It seems that you
+have been working at this Kennington case, and working pretty actively I
+imagine, whereas I supposed that your entire attention was taken up by
+the Blackmore affair."
+
+"It doesn't do," he replied, "to allow one's entire attention to be
+taken up by any one case. I have half a dozen others--minor cases,
+mostly--to which I am attending at this moment. Did you think I was
+proposing to keep you under lock and key indefinitely?"
+
+"Well, no. But I thought the Kennington case would have to wait its
+turn. And I had no idea that you were in possession of enough facts to
+enable you to get any farther with it."
+
+"But you knew all the very striking facts of the case, and you saw the
+further evidence that we extracted from the empty house."
+
+"Do you mean those things that we picked out from the rubbish under the
+grate?"
+
+"Yes. You saw those curious little pieces of reed and the pair of
+spectacles. They are lying in the top drawer of that cabinet at this
+moment, and I should recommend you to have another look at them. To me
+they are most instructive. The pieces of reed offered an extremely
+valuable suggestion, and the spectacles enabled me to test that
+suggestion and turn it into actual information."
+
+"Unfortunately," said I, "the pieces of reed convey nothing to me. I
+don't know what they are or of what they have formed a part."
+
+"I think," he replied, "that if you examine them with due consideration,
+you will find their use pretty obvious. Have a good look at them and the
+spectacles too. Think over all that you know of that mysterious group of
+people who lived in that house, and see if you cannot form some coherent
+theory of their actions. Think, also, if we have not some information in
+our possession by which we might be able to identify some of them, and
+infer the identity of the others. You will have a quiet day, as I shall
+not be home until the evening; set yourself this task. I assure you that
+you have the material for identifying--or rather for testing the
+identity of--at least one of those persons. Go over your material
+systematically, and let me know in the evening what further
+investigations you would propose."
+
+"Very well," said I. "It shall be done according to your word. I will
+addle my brain afresh with the affair of Mr. Weiss and his patient, and
+let the Blackmore case rip."
+
+"There is no need to do that. You have a whole day before you. An hour's
+really close consideration of the Kennington case ought to show you what
+your next move should be, and then you could devote yourself to the
+consideration of Jeffrey Blackmore's will."
+
+With this final piece of advice, Thorndyke collected the papers for his
+day's work, and, having deposited them in his brief bag, took his
+departure, leaving me to my meditations.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XIII
+
+The Statement of Samuel Wilkins
+
+
+As soon as I was alone, I commenced my investigations with a rather
+desperate hope of eliciting some startling and unsuspected facts. I
+opened the drawer and taking from it the two pieces of reed and the
+shattered remains of the spectacles, laid them on the table. The repairs
+that Thorndyke had contemplated in the case of the spectacles, had not
+been made. Apparently they had not been necessary. The battered wreck
+that lay before me, just as we had found it, had evidently furnished the
+necessary information; for, since Thorndyke was in possession of a
+portrait of Mr. Graves, it was clear that he had succeeded in
+identifying him so far as to get into communication with some one who
+had known him intimately.
+
+The circumstance should have been encouraging. But somehow it was not.
+What was possible to Thorndyke was, theoretically, possible to me--or to
+anyone else. But the possibility did not realize itself in practice.
+There was the personal equation. Thorndyke's brain was not an ordinary
+brain. Facts of which his mind instantly perceived the relation remained
+to other people unconnected and without meaning. His powers of
+observation and rapid inference were almost incredible, as I had noticed
+again and again, and always with undiminished wonder. He seemed to take
+in everything at a single glance and in an instant to appreciate the
+meaning of everything that he had seen.
+
+Here was a case in point. I had myself seen all that he had seen, and,
+indeed, much more; for I had looked on the very people and witnessed
+their actions, whereas he had never set eyes on any of them. I had
+examined the little handful of rubbish that he had gathered up so
+carefully, and would have flung it back under the grate without a qualm.
+Not a glimmer of light had I perceived in the cloud of mystery, nor even
+a hint of the direction in which to seek enlightenment. And yet
+Thorndyke had, in some incomprehensible manner, contrived to piece
+together facts that I had probably not even observed, and that so
+completely that he had already, in these few days, narrowed down the
+field of inquiry to quite a small area.
+
+From these reflections I returned to the objects on the table. The
+spectacles, as things of which I had some expert knowledge, were not so
+profound a mystery to me. A pair of spectacles might easily afford good
+evidence for identification; that I perceived clearly enough. Not a
+ready-made pair, picked up casually at a shop, but a pair constructed by
+a skilled optician to remedy a particular defect of vision and to fit a
+particular face. And such were the spectacles before me. The build of
+the frames was peculiar; the existence of a cylindrical lens--which I
+could easily make out from the remaining fragments--showed that one
+glass had been cut to a prescribed shape and almost certainly ground to
+a particular formula, and also that the distance between centres must
+have been carefully secured. Hence these spectacles had an individual
+character. But it was manifestly impossible to inquire of all the
+spectacle-makers in Europe--for the glasses were not necessarily made in
+England. As confirmation the spectacles might be valuable; as a
+starting-point they were of no use at all.
+
+From the spectacles I turned to the pieces of reed. These were what had
+given Thorndyke his start. Would they give me a leading hint too? I
+looked at them and wondered what it was that they had told Thorndyke.
+The little fragment of the red paper label had a dark-brown or thin
+black border ornamented with a fret-pattern, and on it I detected a
+couple of tiny points of gold like the dust from leaf-gilding. But I
+learned nothing from that. Then the shorter piece of reed was
+artificially hollowed to fit on the longer piece. Apparently it formed a
+protective sheath or cap. But what did it protect? Presumably a point or
+edge of some kind. Could this be a pocket-knife of any sort, such as a
+small stencil-knife? No; the material was too fragile for a
+knife-handle. It could not be an etching-needle for the same reason; and
+it was not a surgical appliance--at least it was not like any surgical
+instrument that was known to me.
+
+I turned it over and over and cudgelled my brains; and then I had a
+brilliant idea. Was it a reed pen of which the point had been broken
+off? I knew that reed pens were still in use by draughtsmen of
+decorative leanings with an affection for the "fat line." Could any of
+our friends be draughtsmen? This seemed the most probable solution of
+the difficulty, and the more I thought about it the more likely it
+seemed. Draughtsmen usually sign their work intelligibly, and even when
+they use a device instead of a signature their identity is easily
+traceable. Could it be that Mr. Graves, for instance, was an
+illustrator, and that Thorndyke had established his identity by looking
+through the works of all the well-known thick-line draughtsmen?
+
+This problem occupied me for the rest of the day. My explanation did not
+seem quite to fit Thorndyke's description of his methods; but I could
+think of no other. I turned it over during my solitary lunch; I
+meditated on it with the aid of several pipes in the afternoon; and
+having refreshed my brain with a cup of tea, I went forth to walk in the
+Temple gardens--which I was permitted to do without breaking my
+parole--to think it out afresh.
+
+The result was disappointing. I was basing my reasoning on the
+assumption that the pieces of reed were parts of a particular appliance,
+appertaining to a particular craft; whereas they might be the remains of
+something quite different, appertaining to a totally different craft or
+to no craft at all. And in no case did they point to any known
+individual or indicate any but the vaguest kind of search. After pacing
+the pleasant walks for upwards of two hours, I at length turned back
+towards our chambers, where I arrived as the lamp-lighter was just
+finishing his round.
+
+My fruitless speculations had left me somewhat irritable. The lighted
+windows that I had noticed as I approached had given me the impression
+that Thorndyke had returned. I had intended to press him for a little
+further information. When, therefore, I let myself into our chambers and
+found, instead of my colleague, a total stranger--and only a back view
+at that--I was disappointed and annoyed.
+
+The stranger was seated by the table, reading a large document that
+looked like a lease. He made no movement when I entered, but when I
+crossed the room and wished him "Good evening," he half rose and bowed
+silently. It was then that I first saw his face, and a mighty start he
+gave me. For one moment I actually thought he was Mr. Weiss, so close
+was the resemblance, but immediately I perceived that he was a much
+smaller man.
+
+I sat down nearly opposite and stole an occasional furtive glance at
+him. The resemblance to Weiss was really remarkable. The same flaxen
+hair, the same ragged beard and a similar red nose, with the patches of
+<i>acne rosacea</i> spreading to the adjacent cheeks. He wore spectacles,
+too, through which he took a quick glance at me now and again, returning
+immediately to his document.
+
+After some moments of rather embarrassing silence, I ventured to remark
+that it was a mild evening; to which he assented with a sort of Scotch
+"Hm--hm" and nodded slowly. Then came another interval of silence,
+during which I speculated on the possibility of his being a relative of
+Mr. Weiss and wondered what the deuce he was doing in our chambers.
+
+"Have you an appointment with Dr. Thorndyke?" I asked, at length.
+
+He bowed solemnly, and by way of reply--in the affirmative, as I
+assumed--emitted another "hm--hm."
+
+I looked at him sharply, a little nettled by his lack of manners;
+whereupon he opened out the lease so that it screened his face, and as I
+glanced at the back of the document, I was astonished to observe that it
+was shaking rapidly.
+
+The fellow was actually laughing! What he found in my simple question to
+cause him so much amusement I was totally unable to imagine. But there
+it was. The tremulous movements of the document left me in no possible
+doubt that he was for some reason convulsed with laughter.
+
+It was extremely mysterious. Also, it was rather embarrassing. I took
+out my pocket file and began to look over my notes. Then the document
+was lowered and I was able to get another look at the stranger's face.
+He was really extraordinarily like Weiss. The shaggy eyebrows, throwing
+the eye-sockets into shadow, gave him, in conjunction with the
+spectacles, the same owlish, solemn expression that I had noticed in my
+Kennington acquaintance; and which, by the way, was singularly out of
+character with the frivolous behaviour that I had just witnessed.
+
+From time to time as I looked at him, he caught my eye and instantly
+averted his own, turning rather red. Apparently he was a shy, nervous
+man, which might account for his giggling; for I have noticed that shy
+or nervous people have a habit of smiling inopportunely and even
+giggling when embarrassed by meeting an over-steady eye. And it seemed
+my own eye had this disconcerting quality, for even as I looked at him,
+the document suddenly went up again and began to shake violently.
+
+I stood it for a minute or two, but, finding the situation intolerably
+embarrassing, I rose, and brusquely excusing myself, went up to the
+laboratory to look for Polton and inquire at what time Thorndyke was
+expected home. To my surprise, however, on entering, I discovered
+Thorndyke himself just finishing the mounting of a microscopical
+specimen.
+
+"Did you know that there is some one below waiting to see you?" I asked.
+
+"Is it anyone you know?" he inquired.
+
+"No," I answered. "It is a red-nosed, sniggering fool in spectacles. He
+has got a lease or a deed or some other sort of document which he has
+been using to play a sort of idiotic game of Peep-Bo! I couldn't stand
+him, so I came up here."
+
+Thorndyke laughed heartily at my description of his client.
+
+"What are you laughing at?" I asked sourly; at which he laughed yet more
+heartily and added to the aggravation by wiping his eyes.
+
+"Our friend seems to have put you out," he remarked.
+
+"He put me out literally. If I had stayed much longer I should have
+punched his head."
+
+"In that case," said Thorndyke, "I am glad you didn't stay. But come
+down and let me introduce you."
+
+"No, thank you. I've had enough of him for the present."
+
+"But I have a very special reason for wishing to introduce you. I think
+you will get some information from him that will interest you very much;
+and you needn't quarrel with a man for being of a cheerful disposition."
+
+"Cheerful be hanged!" I exclaimed. "I don't call a man cheerful because
+he behaves like a gibbering idiot."
+
+To this Thorndyke made no reply but a broad and appreciative smile, and
+we descended to the lower floor. As we entered the room, the stranger
+rose, and, glancing in an embarrassed way from one of us to the other,
+suddenly broke out into an undeniable snigger. I looked at him sternly,
+and Thorndyke, quite unmoved by his indecorous behaviour, said in a
+grave voice:
+
+"Let me introduce you, Jervis; though I think you have met this
+gentleman before."
+
+"I think not," I said stiffly.
+
+"Oh yes, you have, sir," interposed the stranger; and, as he spoke, I
+started; for the voice was uncommonly like the familiar voice of Polton.
+
+I looked at the speaker with sudden suspicion. And now I could see that
+the flaxen hair was a wig; that the beard had a decidedly artificial
+look, and that the eyes that beamed through the spectacles were
+remarkably like the eyes of our factotum. But the blotchy face, the
+bulbous nose and the shaggy, overhanging eyebrows were alien features
+that I could not reconcile with the personality of our refined and
+aristocratic-looking little assistant.
+
+"Is this a practical joke?" I asked.
+
+"No," replied Thorndyke; "it is a demonstration. When we were talking
+this morning it appeared to me that you did not realize the extent to
+which it is possible to conceal identity under suitable conditions of
+light. So I arranged, with Polton's rather reluctant assistance, to give
+you ocular evidence. The conditions are not favourable--which makes the
+demonstration more convincing. This is a very well-lighted room and
+Polton is a very poor actor; in spite of which it has been possible for
+you to sit opposite him for several minutes and look at him, I have no
+doubt, very attentively, without discovering his identity. If the room
+had been lighted only with a candle, and Polton had been equal to the
+task of supporting his make-up with an appropriate voice and manner, the
+deception would have been perfect."
+
+"I can see that he has a wig on, quite plainly," said I.
+
+"Yes; but you would not in a dimly lighted room. On the other hand, if
+Polton were to walk down Fleet Street at mid-day in this condition, the
+make-up would be conspicuously evident to any moderately observant
+passer-by. The secret of making up consists in a careful adjustment to
+the conditions of light and distance in which the make-up is to be seen.
+That in use on the stage would look ridiculous in an ordinary room; that
+which would serve in an artificially lighted room would look ridiculous
+out of doors by daylight."
+
+"Is any effective make-up possible out of doors in ordinary daylight?" I
+asked.
+
+"Oh, yes," replied Thorndyke. "But it must be on a totally different
+scale from that of the stage. A wig, and especially a beard or
+moustache, must be joined up at the edges with hair actually stuck on
+the skin with transparent cement and carefully trimmed with scissors.
+The same applies to eyebrows; and alterations in the colour of the skin
+must be carried out much more subtly. Polton's nose has been built up
+with a small covering of toupee-paste, the pimples on the cheeks
+produced with little particles of the same material; and the general
+tinting has been done with grease-paint with a very light scumble of
+powder colour to take off some of the shine. This would be possible in
+outdoor make-up, but it would have to be done with the greatest care and
+delicacy; in fact, with what the art-critics call 'reticence.' A very
+little make-up is sufficient and too much is fatal. You would be
+surprised to see how little paste is required to alter the shape of the
+nose and the entire character of the face."
+
+At this moment there came a loud knock at the door; a single, solid dab
+of the knocker which Polton seemed to recognize, for he ejaculated:
+
+"Good lord, sir! That'll be Wilkins, the cabman! I'd forgotten all
+about him. Whatever's to be done?"
+
+He stared at us in ludicrous horror for a moment or two, and then,
+snatching off his wig, beard and spectacles, poked them into a cupboard.
+But his appearance was now too much even for Thorndyke--who hastily got
+behind him--for he had now resumed his ordinary personality--but with a
+very material difference.
+
+"Oh, it's nothing to laugh at, sir," he exclaimed indignantly as I
+crammed my handkerchief into my mouth. "Somebody's got to let him in, or
+he'll go away."
+
+"Yes; and that won't do," said Thorndyke. "But don't worry, Polton. You
+can step into the office. I'll open the door."
+
+Polton's presence of mind, however, seemed to have entirely forsaken
+him, for he only hovered irresolutely in the wake of his principal. As
+the door opened, a thick and husky voice inquired:
+
+"Gent of the name of Polton live here?"
+
+"Yes, quite right," said Thorndyke. "Come in. Your name is Wilkins, I
+think?"
+
+"That's me, sir," said the voice; and in response to Thorndyke's
+invitation, a typical "growler" cabman of the old school, complete even
+to imbricated cape and dangling badge, stalked into the room, and
+glancing round with a mixture of embarrassment and defiance, suddenly
+fixed on Polton's nose a look of devouring curiosity.
+
+"Here you are, then," Polton remarked nervously.
+
+"Yus," replied the cabman in a slightly hostile tone. "Here I am. What
+am I wanted to do? And where's this here Mr. Polton?"
+
+"I am Mr. Polton," replied our abashed assistant.
+
+"Well, it's the other Mr. Polton what I want," said the cabman, with his
+eyes still riveted on the olfactory prominence.
+
+"There isn't any other Mr. Polton," our subordinate replied irritably.
+"I am the--er--person who spoke to you in the shelter."
+
+"Are you though?" said the manifestly incredulous cabby. "I shouldn't
+have thought it; but you ought to know. What do you want me to do?"
+
+"We want you," said Thorndyke, "to answer one or two questions. And the
+first one is, Are you a teetotaller?"
+
+The question being illustrated by the production of a decanter, the
+cabman's dignity relaxed somewhat.
+
+"I ain't bigoted," said he.
+
+"Then sit down and mix yourself a glass of grog. Soda or plain water?"
+
+"May as well have all the extries," replied the cabman, sitting down and
+grasping the decanter with the air of a man who means business. "Per'aps
+you wouldn't mind squirtin' out the soda, sir, bein' more used to it."
+
+While these preliminaries were being arranged, Polton silently slipped
+out of the room, and when our visitor had fortified himself with a gulp
+of the uncommonly stiff mixture, the examination began.
+
+"Your name, I think, is Wilkins?" said Thorndyke.
+
+"That's me, sir. Samuel Wilkins is my name."
+
+"And your occupation?"
+
+"Is a very tryin' one and not paid for as it deserves. I drives a cab,
+sir; a four-wheeled cab is what I drives; and a very poor job it is."
+
+"Do you happen to remember a very foggy day about a month ago?"
+
+"Do I not, sir! A regler sneezer that was! Wednesday, the fourteenth of
+March. I remember the date because my benefit society came down on me
+for arrears that morning."
+
+"Will you tell us what happened to you between six and seven in the
+evening of that day?"
+
+"I will, sir," replied the cabman, emptying his tumbler by way of
+bracing himself up for the effort. "A little before six I was waiting on
+the arrival side of the Great Northern Station, King's Cross, when I see
+a gentleman and a lady coming out. The gentleman he looks up and down
+and then he sees me and walks up to the cab and opens the door and helps
+the lady in. Then he says to me: 'Do you know New Inn?' he says. That's
+what he says to me what was born and brought up in White Horse Alley,
+Drury Lane.
+
+"'Get inside,' says I.
+
+"'Well,' says he, 'you drive in through the gate in Wych Street,' he
+says, as if he expected me to go in by Houghton Street and down the
+steps, 'and then,' he says, 'you drive nearly to the end and you'll see
+a house with a large brass plate at the corner of the doorway. That's
+where we want to be set down,' he says, and with that he nips in and
+pulls up the windows and off we goes.
+
+"It took us a full half-hour to get to New Inn through the fog, for I
+had to get down and lead the horse part of the way. As I drove in under
+the archway, I saw it was half-past six by the clock in the porter's
+lodge. I drove down nearly to the end of the inn and drew up opposite a
+house where there was a big brass plate by the doorway. It was number
+thirty-one. Then the gent crawls out and hands me five bob--two
+'arf-crowns--and then he helps the lady out, and away they waddles to
+the doorway and I see them start up the stairs very slow--regler
+Pilgrim's Progress. And that was the last I see of 'em."
+
+Thorndyke wrote down the cabman's statement verbatim together with his
+own questions, and then asked:
+
+"Can you give us any description of the gentleman?"
+
+"The gent," said Wilkins, was a very respectable-looking gent, though he
+did look as if he'd had a drop of something short, and small blame to
+him on a day like that. But he was all there, and he knew what was the
+proper fare for a foggy evening, which is more than some of 'em do. He
+was a elderly gent, about sixty, and he wore spectacles, but he didn't
+seem to be able to see much through 'em. He was a funny 'un to look at;
+as round in the back as a turtle and he walked with his head stuck
+forward like a goose."
+
+"What made you think he had been drinking?"
+
+"Well, he wasn't as steady as he might have been on his pins. But he
+wasn't drunk, you know. Only a bit wobbly on the plates."
+
+"And the lady; what was she like?"
+
+"I couldn't see much of her because her head was wrapped up in a sort of
+woollen veil. But I should say she wasn't a chicken. Might have been
+about the same age as the gent, but I couldn't swear to that. She seemed
+a trifle rickety on the pins too; in fact they were a rum-looking
+couple. I watched 'em tottering across the pavement and up the stairs,
+hanging on to each other, him peering through his blinkers and she
+trying to see through her veil, and I thought it was a jolly good job
+they'd got a nice sound cab and a steady driver to bring 'em safe home."
+
+"How was the lady dressed?"
+
+"Can't rightly say, not being a hexpert. Her head was done up in this
+here veil like a pudden in a cloth and she had a small hat on. She had a
+dark brown mantle with a fringe of beads round it and a black dress; and
+I noticed when she got into the cab at the station that one of her
+stockings looked like the bellows of a concertina. That's all I can tell
+you."
+
+Thorndyke wrote down the last answer, and, having read the entire
+statement aloud, handed the pen to our visitor.
+
+"If that is all correct," he said, "I will ask you to sign your name at
+the bottom."
+
+"Do you want me to swear a affidavy that it's all true?" asked Wilkins.
+
+"No, thank you," replied Thorndyke. "We may have to call you to give
+evidence in court, and then you'll be sworn; and you'll also be paid for
+your attendance. For the present I want you to keep your own counsel and
+say nothing to anybody about having been here. We have to make some
+other inquiries and we don't want the affair talked about."
+
+"I see, sir," said Wilkins, as he laboriously traced his signature at
+the foot of the statement; "you don't want the other parties for to ogle
+your lay. All right, sir; you can depend on me. I'm fly, I am."
+
+"Thank you, Wilkins," said Thorndyke. "And now what are we to give you
+for your trouble in coming here?"
+
+"I'll leave the fare to you, sir. You know what the information's worth;
+but I should think 'arf a thick-un wouldn't hurt you."
+
+Thorndyke laid on the table a couple of sovereigns, at the sight of
+which the cabman's eyes glistened.
+
+"We have your address, Wilkins," said he. "If we want you as a witness
+we shall let you know, and if not, there will be another two pounds for
+you at the end of a fortnight, provided you have not let this little
+interview leak out."
+
+Wilkins gathered up the spoils gleefully. "You can trust me, sir," said
+he, "for to keep my mouth shut. I knows which side my bread's buttered.
+Good night, gentlemen all."
+
+With this comprehensive salute he moved towards the door and let
+himself out.
+
+"Well, Jervis; what do you think of it?" Thorndyke asked, as the
+cabman's footsteps faded away in a creaky diminuendo.
+
+"I don't know what to think. This woman is a new factor in the case and
+I don't know how to place her."
+
+"Not entirely new," said Thorndyke. "You have not forgotten those beads
+that we found in Jeffrey's bedroom, have you?"
+
+"No, I had not forgotten them, but I did not see that they told us much
+excepting that some woman had apparently been in his bedroom at some
+time."
+
+"That, I think, is all that they did tell us. But now they tell us that
+a particular woman was in his bedroom at a particular time, which is a
+good deal more significant."
+
+"Yes. It almost looks as if she must have been there when he made away
+with himself."
+
+"It does, very much."
+
+"By the way, you were right about the colours of those beads, and also
+about the way they were used."
+
+"As to their use, that was a mere guess; but it has turned out to be
+correct. It was well that we found the beads, for, small as is the
+amount of information they give, it is still enough to carry us a stage
+further."
+
+"How so?"
+
+"I mean that the cabman's evidence tells us only that this woman entered
+the house. The beads tell us that she was in the bedroom; which, as you
+say, seems to connect her to some extent with Jeffrey's death. Not
+necessarily, of course. It is only a suggestion; but a rather strong
+suggestion under the peculiar circumstances."
+
+"Even so," said I, "this new fact seems to me so far from clearing up
+the mystery, only to add to it a fresh element of still deeper mystery.
+The porter's evidence at the inquest could leave no doubt that Jeffrey
+contemplated suicide, and his preparations pointedly suggest this
+particular night as the time selected by him for doing away with
+himself. Is not that so?"
+
+"Certainly. The porter's evidence was very clear on that point."
+
+"Then I don't see where this woman comes in. It is obvious that her
+presence at the inn, and especially in the bedroom, on this occasion and
+in these strange, secret circumstances, has a rather sinister look; but
+yet I do not see in what way she could have been connected with the
+tragedy. Perhaps, after all, she has nothing to do with it. You remember
+that Jeffrey went to the lodge about eight o'clock, to pay his rent, and
+chatted for some time with the porter. That looks as if the lady had
+already left."
+
+"Yes," said Thorndyke. "But, on the other hand, Jeffrey's remarks to the
+porter with reference to the cab do not quite agree with the account
+that we have just heard from Wilkins. Which suggests--as does Wilkins's
+account generally--some secrecy as to the lady's visit to his chambers."
+
+"Do you know who the woman was?" I asked.
+
+"No, I don't know," he replied. "I have a rather strong suspicion that I
+can identify her, but I am waiting for some further facts."
+
+"Is your suspicion founded on some new matter that you have discovered,
+or is it deducible from facts that are known to me?"
+
+"I think," he replied, "that you know practically all that I know,
+although I have, in one instance, turned a very strong suspicion into a
+certainty by further inquiries. But I think you ought to be able to form
+some idea as to who this lady probably was."
+
+"But no woman has been mentioned in the case at all."
+
+"No; but I think you should be able to give this lady a name,
+notwithstanding."
+
+"Should I? Then I begin to suspect that I am not cut out for
+medico-legal practice, for I don't see the faintest glimmer of a
+suggestion."
+
+Thorndyke smiled benevolently. "Don't be discouraged, Jervis," said he.
+"I expect that when you first began to go round the wards, you doubted
+whether you were cut out for medical practice. I did. For special work
+one needs special knowledge and an acquired faculty for making use of
+it. What does a second year's student make of a small thoracic aneurysm?
+He knows the anatomy of the chest; he begins to know the normal heart
+sounds and areas of dullness; but he cannot yet fit his various items of
+knowledge together. Then comes the experienced physician and perhaps
+makes a complete diagnosis without any examination at all, merely from
+hearing the patient speak or cough. He has the same facts as the
+student, but he has acquired the faculty of instantly connecting an
+abnormality of function with its correleated anatomical change. It is a
+matter of experience. And, with your previous training, you will soon
+acquire the faculty. Try to observe everything. Let nothing escape you.
+And try constantly to find some connection between facts and events that
+seem to be unconnected. That is my advice to you; and with that we will
+put away the Blackmore case for the present and consider our day's work
+at an end."
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XIV
+
+Thorndyke Lays the Mine
+
+
+The information supplied by Mr. Samuel Wilkins, so far from dispelling
+the cloud of mystery that hung over the Blackmore case, only enveloped
+it in deeper obscurity, so far as I was concerned. The new problem that
+Thorndyke offered for solution was a tougher one than any of the others.
+He proposed that I should identify and give a name to this mysterious
+woman. But how could I? No woman, excepting Mrs. Wilson, had been
+mentioned in connection with the case. This new <i>dramatis persona</i> had
+appeared suddenly from nowhere and straightway vanished without leaving
+a trace, excepting the two or three beads that we had picked up in
+Jeffrey's room.
+
+Nor was it in the least clear what part, if any, she had played in the
+tragedy. The facts still pointed as plainly to suicide as before her
+appearance. Jeffrey's repeated hints as to his intentions, and the very
+significant preparations that he had made, were enough to negative any
+idea of foul play. And yet the woman's presence in the chambers at that
+time, the secret manner of her arrival and her precautions against
+recognition, strongly suggested some kind of complicity in the dreadful
+event that followed.
+
+But what complicity is possible in the case of suicide? The woman might
+have furnished him with the syringe and the poison, but it would not
+have been necessary for her to go to his chambers for that purpose.
+Vague ideas of persuasion and hypnotic suggestion floated through my
+brain; but the explanations did not fit the case and the hypnotic
+suggestion of crime is not very convincing to the medical mind. Then I
+thought of blackmail in connection with some disgraceful secret; but
+though this was a more hopeful suggestion, it was not very probable,
+considering Jeffrey's age and character.
+
+And all these speculations failed to throw the faintest light on the
+main question: "Who was this woman?"
+
+A couple of days passed, during which Thorndyke made no further
+reference to the case. He was, most of the time, away from home, though
+how he was engaged I had no idea. What was rather more unusual was that
+Polton seemed to have deserted the laboratory and taken to outdoor
+pursuits. I assumed that he had seized the opportunity of leaving me in
+charge, and I dimly surmised that he was acting as Thorndyke's private
+inquiry agent, as he seemed to have done in the case of Samuel Wilkins.
+
+On the evening of the second day Thorndyke came home in obviously good
+spirits, and his first proceedings aroused my expectant curiosity. He
+went to a cupboard and brought forth a box of Trichinopoly cheroots. Now
+the Trichinopoly cheroot was Thorndyke's one dissipation, to be enjoyed
+only on rare and specially festive occasions; which, in practice, meant
+those occasions on which he had scored some important point or solved
+some unusually tough problem. Wherefore I watched him with lively
+interest.
+
+"It's a pity that the 'Trichy' is such a poisonous beast," he remarked,
+taking up one of the cheroots and sniffing at it delicately. "There is
+no other cigar like it, to a really abandoned smoker." He laid the cigar
+back in the box and continued: "I think I shall treat myself to one
+after dinner to celebrate the occasion."
+
+"What occasion?" I asked.
+
+"The completion of the Blackmore case. I am just going to write to
+Marchmont advising him to enter a caveat."
+
+"Do you mean to say that you have discovered a flaw in the will, after
+all?"
+
+"A flaw!" he exclaimed. "My dear Jervis, that second will is a forgery."
+
+I stared at him in amazement; for his assertion sounded like nothing
+more or less than arrant nonsense.
+
+"But the thing is impossible, Thorndyke," I said. "Not only did the
+witnesses recognize their own signatures and the painter's greasy
+finger-marks, but they had both read the will and remembered its
+contents."
+
+"Yes; that is the interesting feature in the case. It is a very pretty
+problem. I shall give you a last chance to solve it. To-morrow evening
+we shall have to give a full explanation, so you have another
+twenty-four hours in which to think it over. And, meanwhile, I am going
+to take you to my club to dine. I think we shall be pretty safe there
+from Mrs. Schallibaum."
+
+He sat down and wrote a letter, which was apparently quite a short one,
+and having addressed and stamped it, prepared to go out.
+
+"Come," said he, "let us away to 'the gay and festive scenes and halls
+of dazzling light.' We will lay the mine in the Fleet Street pillar box.
+I should like to be in Marchmont's office when it explodes."
+
+"I expect, for that matter," said I, "that the explosion will be felt
+pretty distinctly in these chambers."
+
+"I expect so, too," replied Thorndyke; "and that reminds me that I shall
+be out all day to-morrow, so, if Marchmont calls, you must do all that
+you can to persuade him to come round after dinner and bring Stephen
+Blackmore, if possible. I am anxious to have Stephen here, as he will be
+able to give us some further information and confirm certain matters of
+fact."
+
+I promised to exercise my utmost powers of persuasion on Mr. Marchmont
+which I should certainly have done on my own account, being now on the
+very tiptoe of curiosity to hear Thorndyke's explanation of the
+unthinkable conclusion at which he had arrived--and the subject dropped
+completely; nor could I, during the rest of the evening, induce my
+colleague to reopen it even in the most indirect or allusive manner.
+
+Our explanations in respect of Mr. Marchmont were fully realized; for,
+on the following morning, within an hour of Thorndyke's departure from
+our chambers, the knocker was plied with more than usual emphasis, and,
+on my opening the door, I discovered the solicitor in company with a
+somewhat older gentleman. Mr. Marchmont appeared somewhat out of humour,
+while his companion was obviously in a state of extreme irritation.
+
+"How d'you do, Dr. Jervis?" said Marchmont as he entered at my
+invitation. "Your friend, I suppose, is not in just now?"
+
+"No; and he will not be returning until the evening."
+
+"Hm; I'm sorry. We wished to see him rather particularly. This is my
+partner, Mr. Winwood."
+
+The latter gentleman bowed stiffly and Marchmont continued:
+
+"We have had a letter from Dr. Thorndyke, and it is, I may say, a rather
+curious letter; in fact, a very singular letter indeed."
+
+"It is the letter of a madman!" growled Mr. Winwood.
+
+"No, no, Winwood; nothing of the kind. Control yourself, I beg you. But
+really, the letter is rather incomprehensible. It relates to the will of
+the late Jeffrey Blackmore--you know the main facts of the case; and we
+cannot reconcile it with those facts."
+
+"This is the letter," exclaimed Mr. Winwood, dragging the document from
+his wallet and slapping it down on the table. "If you are acquainted
+with the case, sir, just read that, and let us hear what <i>you</i> think."
+
+I took up the letter and read aloud:
+
+"JEFFREY BLACKMORE, DECD.
+
+"DEAR MR. MARCHMONT,--
+
+"I have gone into this case with great care and have now no doubt that
+the second will is a forgery. Criminal proceedings will, I think, be
+inevitable, but meanwhile it would be wise to enter a caveat.
+
+"If you could look in at my chambers to-morrow evening we could talk the
+case over; and I should be glad if you could bring Mr. Stephen
+Blackmore; whose personal knowledge of the events and the parties
+concerned would be of great assistance in clearing up obscure details.
+
+"I am,
+
+"Yours sincerely,
+
+"JOHN EVELYN THORNDYKE
+
+"C.F. MARCHMONT, ESQ."
+
+"Well!" exclaimed Mr. Winwood, glaring ferociously at me, "what do you
+think of the learned counsel's opinion?"
+
+"I knew that Thorndyke was writing to you to this effect," I replied,
+"but I must frankly confess that I can make nothing of it. Have you
+acted on his advice?"
+
+"Certainly not!" shouted the irascible lawyer. "Do you suppose that we
+wish to make ourselves the laughing-stock of the courts? The thing is
+impossible--ridiculously impossible!"
+
+"It can't be that, you know," I said, a little stiffly, for I was
+somewhat nettled by Mr. Winwood's manner, "or Thorndyke would not have
+written this letter. The conclusion looks as impossible to me as it does
+to you; but I have complete confidence in Thorndyke. If he says that the
+will is a forgery, I have no doubt that it is a forgery."
+
+"But how the deuce can it be?" roared Winwood. "You know the
+circumstances under which the will was executed."
+
+"Yes; but so does Thorndyke. And he is not a man who overlooks important
+facts. It is useless to argue with me. I am in a complete fog about the
+case myself. You had better come in this evening and talk it over with
+him as he suggests."
+
+"It is very inconvenient," grumbled Mr. Winwood. "We shall have to dine
+in town."
+
+"Yes," said Marchmont, "but it is the only thing to be done. As Dr.
+Jervis says, we must take it that Thorndyke has something solid to base
+his opinion on. He doesn't make elementary mistakes. And, of course, if
+what he says is correct, Mr. Stephen's position is totally changed."
+
+"Bah!" exclaimed Winwood, "he has found a mare's nest, I tell you.
+Still, I agree that the explanation should be worth hearing."
+
+"You mustn't mind Winwood," said Marchmont, in an apologetic undertone;
+"he's a peppery old fellow with a rough tongue, but he doesn't mean any
+harm." Which statement Winwood assented to--or dissented from; for it
+was impossible to say which--by a prolonged growl.
+
+"We shall expect you then," I said, "about eight to-night, and you will
+try to bring Mr. Stephen with you?"
+
+"Yes," replied Marchmont; "I think we can promise that he shall come
+with us. I have sent him a telegram asking him to attend."
+
+With this the two lawyers took their departure, leaving me to meditate
+upon my colleague's astonishing statement; which I did, considerably to
+the prejudice of other employment. That Thorndyke would be able to
+justify the opinion that he had given, I had no doubt whatever; but yet
+there was no denying that his proposition was what Mr. Dick Swiveller
+would call "a staggerer."
+
+When Thorndyke returned, I informed him of the visit of our two friends,
+and acquainted him with the sentiments that they had expressed; whereat
+he smiled with quiet amusement.
+
+"I thought," he remarked, "that letter would bring Marchmont to our door
+before long. As to Winwood, I have never met him, but I gather that he
+is one of those people whom you 'mustn't mind.' In a general way, I
+object to people who tacitly claim exemption from the ordinary rules of
+conduct that are held to be binding on their fellows. But, as he
+promises to give us what the variety artists call 'an extra turn,' we
+will make the best of him and give him a run for his money."
+
+Here Thorndyke smiled mischievously--I understood the meaning of that
+smile later in the evening--and asked: "What do you think of the affair
+yourself?"
+
+"I have given it up," I answered. "To my paralysed brain, the Blackmore
+case is like an endless algebraical problem propounded by an insane
+mathematician."
+
+Thorndyke laughed at my comparison, which I flatter myself was a rather
+apt one.
+
+"Come and dine," said he, "and let us crack a bottle, that our hearts
+may not turn to water under the frown of the disdainful Winwood. I think
+the old 'Bell' in Holborn will meet our present requirements better than
+the club. There is something jovial and roystering about an ancient
+tavern; but we must keep a sharp lookout for Mrs. Schallibaum."
+
+Thereupon we set forth; and, after a week's close imprisonment, I once
+more looked upon the friendly London streets, the cheerfully lighted
+shop windows and the multitudes of companionable strangers who moved
+unceasingly along the pavements.
+
+
+
+Chapter XV
+
+Thorndyke Explodes the Mine
+
+
+We had not been back in our chambers more than a few minutes when the
+little brass knocker on the inner door rattled out its summons.
+Thorndyke himself opened the door, and, finding our three expected
+visitors on the threshold, he admitted them and closed the "oak."
+
+"We have accepted your invitation, you see," said Marchmont, whose
+manner was now a little flurried and uneasy. "This is my partner, Mr.
+Winwood; you haven't met before, I think. Well, we thought we should
+like to hear some further particulars from you, as we could not quite
+understand your letter."
+
+"My conclusion, I suppose," said Thorndyke, "was a little unexpected?"
+
+"It was more than that, sir," exclaimed Winwood. "It was absolutely
+irreconcilable either with the facts of the case or with common physical
+possibilities."
+
+"At the first glance," Thorndyke agreed, "it would probably have that
+appearance."
+
+"It has that appearance still to me." said Winwood, growing suddenly red
+and wrathful, "and I may say that I speak as a solicitor who was
+practising in the law when you were an infant in arms. You tell us, sir,
+that this will is a forgery; this will, which was executed in broad
+daylight in the presence of two unimpeachable witnesses who have sworn,
+not only to their signatures and the contents of the document, but to
+their very finger-marks on the paper. Are those finger-marks forgeries,
+too? Have you examined and tested them?"
+
+"I have not," replied Thorndyke. "The fact is they are of no interest to
+me, as I am not disputing the witnesses' signatures."
+
+At this, Mr. Winwood fairly danced with irritation.
+
+"Marchmont!" he exclaimed fiercely, "you know this good gentleman, I
+believe. Tell me, is he addicted to practical jokes?"
+
+"Now, my dear Winwood," groaned Marchmont, "I pray you--I beg you to
+control yourself. No doubt--"
+
+"But confound it!" roared Winwood, "you have, yourself, heard him say
+that the will is a forgery, but that he doesn't dispute the signatures;
+which," concluded Winwood, banging his fist down on the table, "is
+damned nonsense."
+
+"May I suggest," interposed Stephen Blackmore, "that we came here to
+receive Dr. Thorndyke's explanation of his letter. Perhaps it would be
+better to postpone any comments until we have heard it."
+
+"Undoubtedly, undoubtedly," said Marchmont. "Let me entreat you,
+Winwood, to listen patiently and refrain from interruption until we have
+heard our learned friend's exposition of the case."
+
+"Oh, very well," Winwood replied sulkily; "I'll say no more."
+
+He sank into a chair with the manner of a man who shuts himself up and
+turns the key; and so remained--excepting when the internal pressure
+approached bursting-point--throughout the subsequent proceedings,
+silent, stony and impassive, like a seated statue of Obstinacy.
+
+"I take it," said Marchmont, "that you have some new facts that are not
+in our possession?"
+
+"Yes," replied Thorndyke; "we have some new facts, and we have made some
+new use of the old ones. But how shall I lay the case before you? Shall
+I state my theory of the sequence of events and furnish the verification
+afterwards? Or shall I retrace the actual course of my investigations
+and give you the facts in the order in which I obtained them myself,
+with the inferences from them?"
+
+"I almost think," said Mr. Marchmont, "that it would be better if you
+would put us in possession of the new facts. Then, if the conclusions
+that follow from them are not sufficiently obvious, we could hear the
+argument. What do you say, Winwood?"
+
+Mr. Winwood roused himself for an instant, barked out the one word
+"Facts," and shut himself up again with a snap.
+
+"You would like to have the new facts by themselves?" said Thorndyke.
+
+"If you please. The facts only, in the first place, at any rate."
+
+"Very well," said Thorndyke; and here I caught his eye with a
+mischievous twinkle in it that I understood perfectly; for I had most of
+the facts myself and realized how much these two lawyers were likely to
+extract from them. Winwood was going to "have a run for his money," as
+Thorndyke had promised.
+
+My colleague, having placed on the table by his side a small cardboard
+box and the sheets of notes from his file, glanced quickly at Mr.
+Winwood and began:
+
+"The first important new facts came into my possession on the day on
+which you introduced the case to me. In the evening, after you left, I
+availed myself of Mr. Stephen's kind invitation to look over his uncle's
+chambers in New Inn. I wished to do so in order to ascertain, if
+possible, what had been the habits of the deceased during his residence
+there. When I arrived with Dr. Jervis, Mr. Stephen was in the chambers,
+and I learned from him that his uncle was an Oriental scholar of some
+position and that he had a very thorough acquaintance with the cuneiform
+writing. Now, while I was talking with Mr. Stephen I made a very curious
+discovery. On the wall over the fire-place hung a large framed
+photograph of an ancient Persian inscription in the cuneiform character;
+and that photograph was upside down."
+
+"Upside down!" exclaimed Stephen. "But that is really very odd."
+
+"Very odd indeed," agreed Thorndyke, "and very suggestive. The way in
+which it came to be inverted is pretty obvious and also rather
+suggestive. The photograph had evidently been in the frame some years
+but had apparently never been hung up before."
+
+"It had not," said Stephen, "though I don't know how you arrived at the
+fact. It used to stand on the mantelpiece in his old rooms in Jermyn
+Street."
+
+"Well," continued Thorndyke, "the frame-maker had pasted his label on
+the back of the frame, and as this label hung the right way up, it
+appeared as if the person who fixed the photograph on the wall had
+adopted it as a guide."
+
+"It is very extraordinary," said Stephen. "I should have thought the
+person who hung it would have asked Uncle Jeffrey which was the right
+way up; and I can't imagine how on earth it could have hung all those
+months without his noticing it. He must have been practically blind."
+
+Here Marchmont, who had been thinking hard, with knitted brows, suddenly
+brightened up.
+
+"I see your point," said he. "You mean that if Jeffrey was as blind as
+that, it would have been possible for some person to substitute a false
+will, which he might sign without noticing the substitution."
+
+"That wouldn't make the will a forgery," growled Winwood. "If Jeffrey
+signed it, it was Jeffrey's will. You could contest it if you could
+prove the fraud. But he said: 'This is my will,' and the two witnesses
+read it and have identified it."
+
+"Did they read it aloud?" asked Stephen.
+
+"No, they did not," replied Thorndyke.
+
+"Can you prove substitution?" asked Marchmont.
+
+"I haven't asserted it," answered Thorndyke, "My position is that the
+will is a forgery."
+
+"But it is not," said Winwood.
+
+"We won't argue it now," said Thorndyke. "I ask you to note the fact
+that the inscription was upside down. I also observed on the walls of
+the chambers some valuable Japanese colour-prints on which were recent
+damp-spots. I noted that the sitting-room had a gas-stove and that the
+kitchen contained practically no stores or remains of food and hardly
+any traces of even the simplest cooking. In the bedroom I found a large
+box that had contained a considerable stock of hard stearine candles,
+six to the pound, and that was now nearly empty. I examined the clothing
+of the deceased. On the soles of the boots I observed dried mud, which
+was unlike that on my own and Jervis's boots, from the gravelly square
+of the inn. I noted a crease on each leg of the deceased man's trousers
+as if they had been turned up half-way to the knee; and in the waistcoat
+pocket I found the stump of a 'Contango' pencil. On the floor of the
+bedroom, I found a portion of an oval glass somewhat like that of a
+watch or locket, but ground at the edge to a double bevel. Dr. Jervis
+and I also found one or two beads and a bugle, all of dark brown glass."
+
+Here Thorndyke paused, and Marchmont, who had been gazing at him with
+growing amazement, said nervously:
+
+"Er--yes. Very interesting. These observations of yours--er--are--"
+
+"Are all the observations that I made at New Inn."
+
+The two lawyers looked at one another and Stephen Blackmore stared
+fixedly at a spot on the hearth-rug. Then Mr. Winwood's face contorted
+itself into a sour, lopsided smile.
+
+"You might have observed a good many other things, sir," said he, "if
+you had looked. If you had examined the doors, you would have noted that
+they had hinges and were covered with paint; and, if you had looked up
+the chimney you might have noted that it was black inside."
+
+"Now, now, Winwood," protested Marchmont in an agony of uneasiness as to
+what his partner might say next, "I must really beg you--er--to refrain
+from--what Mr. Winwood means, Dr. Thorndyke, is that--er--we do not
+quite perceive the relevancy of these--ah--observations of yours."
+
+"Probably not," said Thorndyke, "but you will perceive their relevancy
+later. For the present, I will ask you to note the facts and bear them
+in mind, so that you may be able to follow the argument when we come to
+that.
+
+"The next set of data I acquired on the same evening, when Dr. Jervis
+gave me a detailed account of a very strange adventure that befell him.
+I need not burden you with all the details, but I will give you the
+substance of his story."
+
+He then proceeded to recount the incidents connected with my visits to
+Mr. Graves, dwelling on the personal peculiarities of the parties
+concerned and especially of the patient, and not even forgetting the
+very singular spectacles worn by Mr. Weiss. He also explained briefly
+the construction of the chart, presenting the latter for the inspection
+of his hearers. To this recital our three visitors listened in utter
+bewilderment, as, indeed did I also; for I could not conceive in what
+way my adventures could possibly be related to the affairs of the late
+Mr. Blackmore. This was manifestly the view taken by Mr. Marchmont, for,
+during a pause in which the chart was handed to him, he remarked
+somewhat stiffly:
+
+"I am assuming, Dr. Thorndyke, that the curious story you are telling us
+has some relevance to the matter in which we are interested."
+
+"You are quite correct in your assumption," replied Thorndyke. "The
+story is very relevant indeed, as you will presently be convinced."
+
+"Thank you," said Marchmont, sinking back once more into his chair with
+a sigh of resignation.
+
+"A few days ago," pursued Thorndyke, "Dr. Jervis and I located, with the
+aid of this chart, the house to which he had been called. We found that
+the late tenant had left somewhat hurriedly and that the house was to
+let; and, as no other kind of investigation was possible, we obtained
+the keys and made an exploration of the premises."
+
+Here he gave a brief account of our visit and the conditions that we
+observed, and was proceeding to furnish a list of the articles that we
+had found under the grate, when Mr. Winwood started from his chair.
+
+"Really, sir!" he exclaimed, "this is too much! Have I come here, at
+great personal inconvenience, to hear you read the inventory of a
+dust-heap?"
+
+Thorndyke smiled benevolently and caught my eye, once more, with a gleam
+of amusement.
+
+"Sit down, Mr. Winwood," he said quietly. "You came here to learn the
+facts of the case, and I am giving them to you. Please don't interrupt
+needlessly and waste time."
+
+Winwood stared at him ferociously for several seconds; then, somewhat
+disconcerted by the unruffled calm of his manner, he uttered a snort of
+defiance, sat down heavily and shut himself up again.
+
+"We will now," Thorndyke continued, with unmoved serenity, "consider
+these relics in more detail, and we will begin with this pair of
+spectacles. They belonged to a person who was near-sighted and
+astigmatic in the left eye and almost certainly blind in the right. Such
+a description agrees entirely with Dr. Jervis's account of the sick
+man."
+
+He paused for the moment, and then, as no one made any comment,
+proceeded:
+
+"We next come to these little pieces of reed, which you, Mr. Stephen,
+will probably recognize as the remains of a Japanese brush, such as is
+used for writing in Chinese ink or for making small drawings."
+
+Again he paused, as though expecting some remark from his listeners; but
+no one spoke, and he continued:
+
+"Then there is this bottle with the theatrical wig-maker's label on it,
+which once contained cement such as is used for fixing on false beards,
+moustaches or eyebrows."
+
+He paused once more and looked round expectantly at his audience, none
+of whom, however, volunteered any remark.
+
+"Do none of these objects that I have described and shown you, seem to
+have any significance for us?" he asked, in a tone of some surprise.
+
+"They convey nothing to me," said Mr. Marchmont, glancing at his
+partner, who shook his head like a restive horse.
+
+"Nor to you, Mr. Stephen?"
+
+"No," replied Stephen. "Under the existing circumstances they convey no
+reasonable suggestion to me."
+
+Thorndyke hesitated as if he were half inclined to say something more;
+then, with a slight shrug, he turned over his notes and resumed:
+
+"The next group of new facts is concerned with the signatures of the
+recent cheques. We have photographed them and placed them together for
+the purpose of comparison and analysis."
+
+"I am not prepared to question the signatures." said Winwood. "We have
+had a highly expert opinion, which would override ours in a court of law
+even if we differed from it; which I think we do not."
+
+"Yes," said Marchmont; "that is so. I think we must accept the
+signatures, especially as that of the will has been proved, beyond any
+question" to be authentic."
+
+"Very well," agreed Thorndyke; "we will pass over the signatures. Then
+we have some further evidence in regard to the spectacles, which serves
+to verify our conclusions respecting them."
+
+"Perhaps," said Marchmont, "we might pass over that, too, as we do not
+seem to have reached any conclusions."
+
+"As you please," said Thorndyke. "It is important, but we can reserve it
+for verification. The next item will interest you more, I think. It is
+the signed and witnessed statement of Samuel Wilkins, the driver of the
+cab in which the deceased came home to the inn on the evening of his
+death."
+
+My colleague was right. An actual document, signed by a tangible
+witness, who could be put in the box and sworn, brought both lawyers to
+a state of attention; and when Thorndyke read out the cabman's evidence,
+their attention soon quickened into undisguised astonishment.
+
+"But this is a most mysterious affair," exclaimed Marchmont. "Who could
+this woman have been, and what could she have been doing in Jeffrey's
+chambers at this time? Can you throw any light on it, Mr. Stephen?"
+
+"No, indeed I can't," replied Stephen. "It is a complete mystery to me.
+My uncle Jeffrey was a confirmed old bachelor, and, although he did not
+dislike women, he was far from partial to their society, wrapped up as
+he was in his favourite studies. To the best of my belief, he had not a
+single female friend. He was not on intimate terms even with his sister,
+Mrs. Wilson."
+
+"Very remarkable," mused Marchmont; "most remarkable. But, perhaps, you
+can tell us, Dr. Thorndyke, who this woman was?"
+
+"I think," replied Thorndyke, "that the next item of evidence will
+enable you to form an opinion for yourselves. I only obtained it
+yesterday, and, as it made my case quite complete, I wrote off to you
+immediately. It is the statement of Joseph Ridley, another cabman, and
+unfortunately, a rather dull, unobservant fellow, unlike Wilkins. He has
+not much to tell us, but what little he has is highly instructive. Here
+is the statement, signed by the deponent and witnessed by me:
+
+"'My name is Joseph Ridley. I am the driver of a four-wheeled cab. On
+the fourteenth of March, the day of the great fog, I was waiting at
+Vauxhall Station, where I had just set down a fare. About five o'clock a
+lady came and told me to drive over to Upper Kennington Lane to take up
+a passenger. She was a middle-sized woman. I could not tell what her age
+was, or what she was like, because her head was wrapped up in a sort of
+knitted, woollen veil to keep out the fog. I did not notice how she was
+dressed. She got into the cab and I led the horse over to Upper
+Kennington Lane and a little way up the lane, until the lady tapped at
+the front window for me to stop.
+
+"'She got out of the cab and told me to wait. Then she went away and
+disappeared in the fog. Presently a lady and gentleman came from the
+direction in which she had gone. The lady looked like the same lady, but
+I won't answer to that. Her head was wrapped up in the same kind of veil
+or shawl, and I noticed that she had on a dark coloured mantle with
+bead fringe on it.
+
+"'The gentleman was clean shaved and wore spectacles, and he stooped a
+good deal. I can't say whether his sight was good or bad. He helped the
+lady into the cab and told me to drive to the Great Northern Station,
+King's Cross. Then he got in himself and I drove off. I got to the
+station about a quarter to six and the lady and gentleman got out. The
+gentleman paid my fare and they both went into the station. I did not
+notice anything unusual about either of them. Directly after they had
+gone, I got a fresh fare and drove away.'
+
+"That," Thorndyke concluded, "is Joseph Ridley's statement; and I think
+it will enable you to give a meaning to the other facts that I have
+offered for your consideration."
+
+"I am not so sure about that," said Marchmont. "It is all exceedingly
+mysterious. Your suggestion is, of course, that the woman who came to
+New Inn in the cab was Mrs. Schallibaum!"
+
+"Not at all," replied Thorndyke. "My suggestion is that the woman was
+Jeffrey Blackmore."
+
+There was deathly silence for a few moments. We were all absolutely
+thunderstruck, and sat gaping at Thorndyke in speechless-astonishment.
+Then--Mr. Winwood fairly bounced out of his chair.
+
+"But--my--good--sir!" he screeched. "Jeffrey Blackmore was with her at
+the time!"
+
+"Naturally," replied Thorndyke, "my suggestion implies that the person
+who was with her was not Jeffrey Blackmore."
+
+"But he was!" bawled Winwood. "The porter saw him!"
+
+"The porter saw a person whom he believed to be Jeffrey Blackmore. I
+suggest that the porter's belief was erroneous."
+
+"Well," snapped Winwood, "perhaps you can prove that it was. I don't see
+how you are going to; but perhaps you can."
+
+He subsided once more into his chair and glared defiantly at Thorndyke.
+
+"You seemed," said Stephen, "to suggest some connection between the sick
+man, Graves, and my uncle. I noted it at the time, but put it aside as
+impossible. Was I right. Did you mean to suggest any connection?"
+
+"I suggest something more than a connection. I suggest identity. My
+position is that the sick man, Graves, was your uncle."
+
+"From Dr. Jervis's description," said Stephen, "this man must have been
+very like my uncle. Both were blind in the right eye and had very poor
+vision with the left; and my uncle certainly used brushes of the kind
+that you have shown us, when writing in the Japanese character, for I
+have watched him and admired his skill; but--"
+
+"But," said Marchmont, "there is the insuperable objection that, at the
+very time when this man was lying sick in Kennington Lane, Mr. Jeffrey
+was living at New Inn."
+
+"What evidence is there of that?" asked Thorndyke.
+
+"Evidence!" Marchmont exclaimed impatiently. "Why, my dear sir--"
+
+He paused suddenly, and, leaning forward, regarded Thorndyke with a new
+and rather startled expression.
+
+"You mean to suggest--" he began.
+
+"I suggest that Jeffrey Blackmore never lived at New Inn at all."
+
+For the moment, Marchmont seemed absolutely paralysed by astonishment.
+
+"This is an amazing proposition!" he exclaimed, at length. "Yet the
+thing is certainly not impossible, for, now that you recall the fact, I
+realize that no one who had known him previously--excepting his brother,
+John--ever saw him at the inn. The question of identity was never
+raised."
+
+"Excepting," said Mr. Winwood, "in regard to the body; which was
+certainly that of Jeffrey Blackmore."
+
+"Yes, yes. Of course," said Marchmont. "I had forgotten that for the
+moment. The body was identified beyond doubt. You don't dispute the
+identity of the body, do you?"
+
+"Certainly not," replied Thorndyke.
+
+Here Mr. Winwood grasped his hair with both hands and stuck his elbows
+on his knees, while Marchmont drew forth a large handkerchief and mopped
+his forehead. Stephen Blackmore looked from one to the other
+expectantly, and finally said:
+
+"If I might make a suggestion, it would be that, as Dr. Thorndyke has
+shown us the pieces now of the puzzle, he should be so kind as to put
+them together for our information."
+
+"Yes," agreed Marchmont, "that will be the best plan. Let us have the
+argument, Doctor, and any additional evidence that you possess."
+
+"The argument," said Thorndyke, "will be a rather long one, as the data
+are so numerous, and there are some points in verification on which I
+shall have to dwell in some detail. We will have some coffee to clear
+our brains, and then I will bespeak your patience for what may seem like
+a rather prolix demonstration."
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XVI
+
+An Exposition and a Tragedy
+
+
+"You may have wondered," Thorndyke commenced, when he had poured out the
+coffee and handed round the cups, "what induced me to undertake the
+minute investigation of so apparently simple and straightforward a case.
+Perhaps I had better explain that first and let you see what was the
+real starting-point of the inquiry.
+
+"When you, Mr. Marchmont and Mr. Stephen, introduced the case to me, I
+made a very brief precis of the facts as you presented them, and of
+these there were one or two which immediately attracted my attention. In
+the first place, there was the will. It was a very strange will. It was
+perfectly unnecessary. It contained no new matter; it expressed no
+changed intentions; it met no new circumstances, as known to the
+testator. In short it was not really a new will at all, but merely a
+repetition of the first one, drafted in different and less suitable
+language. It differed only in introducing a certain ambiguity from which
+the original was free. It created the possibility that, in certain
+circumstances, not known to or anticipated by the testator, John
+Blackmore might become the principal beneficiary, contrary to the
+obvious wishes of the testator.
+
+"The next point that impressed me was the manner of Mrs. Wilson's death.
+She died of cancer. Now people do not die suddenly and unexpectedly of
+cancer. This terrible disease stands almost alone in that it marks out
+its victim months in advance. A person who has an incurable cancer is a
+person whose death may be predicted with certainty and its date fixed
+within comparatively narrow limits.
+
+"And now observe the remarkable series of coincidences that are brought
+into light when we consider this peculiarity of the disease. Mrs. Wilson
+died on the twelfth of March of this present year. Mr. Jeffrey's second
+will was signed on the twelfth of November of last year; at a time, that
+is to say, when the existence of cancer must have been known to Mrs.
+Wilson's doctor, and might have been known to any of her relatives who
+chose to inquire after her.
+
+"Then you will observe that the remarkable change in Mr. Jeffrey's
+habits coincides in the most singular way with the same events. The
+cancer must have been detectable as early as September of last year;
+about the time, in fact, at which Mrs. Wilson made her will. Mr. Jeffrey
+went to the inn at the beginning of October. From that time his habits
+were totally changed, and I can demonstrate to you that a change--not a
+gradual, but an abrupt change--took place in the character of his
+signature.
+
+"In short, the whole of this peculiar set of circumstances--the change
+in Jeffrey's habits, the change in his signature, and the execution of
+his strange will--came into existence about the time when Mrs. Wilson
+was first known to be suffering from cancer.
+
+"This struck me as a very suggestive fact.
+
+"Then there is the extraordinarily opportune date of Mr. Jeffrey's
+death. Mrs. Wilson died on the twelfth of March. Mr. Jeffrey was found
+dead on the fifteenth of March, having apparently died on the
+fourteenth, on which day he was seen alive. If he had died only three
+days sooner, he would have predeceased Mrs. Wilson, and her property
+would never have devolved on him at all; while, if he had lived only a
+day or two longer, he would have learned of her death and would
+certainly have made a new will or codicil in his nephew's favour.
+
+"Circumstances, therefore, conspired in the most singular manner in
+favour of John Blackmore.
+
+"But there is yet another coincidence. Jeffrey's body was found, by the
+merest chance, the day after his death. But it might have remained
+undiscovered for weeks, or even months; and if it had, it would have
+been impossible to fix the date of his death. Then Mrs. Wilson's next
+of kin would certainly have contested John Blackmore's claim--and
+probably with success--on the ground that Jeffrey died before Mrs.
+Wilson. But all this uncertainty is provided for by the circumstance
+that Mr. Jeffrey paid his rent personally--and prematurely--to the
+porter on the fourteenth of March, thus establishing beyond question the
+fact that he was alive on that date; and yet further, in case the
+porter's memory should be untrustworthy or his statement doubted,
+Jeffrey furnished a signed and dated document--the cheque--which could
+be produced in a court to furnish incontestable proof of survival.
+
+"To sum up this part of the evidence. Here was a will which enabled John
+Blackmore to inherit the fortune of a man who, almost certainly, had no
+intention of bequeathing it to him. The wording of that will seemed to
+be adjusted to the peculiarities of Mrs. Wilson's disease; and the death
+of the testator occurred under a peculiar set of circumstances which
+seemed to be exactly adjusted to the wording of the will. Or, to put it
+in another way: the wording of the will and the time, the manner and the
+circumstances of the testator's death, all seemed to be precisely
+adjusted to the fact that the approximate date of Mrs. Wilson's death
+was known some months before it occurred.
+
+"Now you must admit that this compound group of coincidences, all
+conspiring to a single end--the enrichment of John Blackmore--has a very
+singular appearance. Coincidences are common enough in real life; but
+we cannot accept too many at a time. My feeling was that there were too
+many in this case and that I could not accept them without searching
+inquiry."
+
+Thorndyke paused, and Mr. Marchmont, who had listened with close
+attention, nodded, as he glanced at his silent partner.
+
+"You have stated the case with remarkable clearness," he said; "and I am
+free to confess that some of the points that you have raised had escaped
+my notice."
+
+"My first idea," Thorndyke resumed, "was that John Blackmore, taking
+advantage of the mental enfeeblement produced by the opium habit, had
+dictated this will to Jeffrey, It was then that I sought permission to
+inspect Jeffrey's chambers; to learn what I could about him and to see
+for myself whether they presented the dirty and disorderly appearance
+characteristic of the regular opium-smoker's den. But when, during a
+walk into the City, I thought over the case, it seemed to me that this
+explanation hardly met the facts. Then I endeavoured to think of some
+other explanation; and looking over my notes I observed two points that
+seemed worth considering. One was that neither of the witnesses to the
+will was really acquainted with Jeffrey Blackmore; both being strangers
+who had accepted his identity on his own statement. The other was that
+no one who had previously known him, with the single exception of his
+brother John, had ever seen Jeffrey at the inn.
+
+"What was the import of these two facts? Probably they had none. But
+still they suggested the desirability of considering the question: Was
+the person who signed the will really Jeffrey Blackmore? The contrary
+supposition--that some one had personated Jeffrey and forged his
+signature to a false will--seemed wildly improbable, especially in view
+of the identification of the body; but it involved no actual
+impossibility; and it offered a complete explanation of the, otherwise
+inexplicable, coincidences that I have mentioned.
+
+"I did not, however, for a moment, think that this was the true
+explanation, but I resolved to bear it in mind, to test it when the
+opportunity arose, and consider it by the light of any fresh facts that
+I might acquire.
+
+"The new facts came sooner than I had expected. That same evening I went
+with Dr. Jervis to New Inn and found Mr. Stephen in the chambers. By him
+I was informed that Jeffrey was a learned Orientalist, with a quite
+expert knowledge of the cuneiform writing; and even as he was telling me
+this, I looked over his shoulder and saw a cuneiform inscription hanging
+on the wall upside down.
+
+"Now, of this there could be only one reasonable explanation.
+Disregarding the fact that no one would screw the suspension plates on a
+frame without ascertaining which was the right way up, and assuming it
+to be hung up inverted, it was impossible that the misplacement could
+have been overlooked by Jeffrey. He was not blind, though his sight was
+defective. The frame was thirty inches long and the individual
+characters nearly an inch in length--about the size of the D 18 letters
+of Snellen's test-types, which can be read by a person of ordinary sight
+at a distance of fifty-five feet. There was, I repeat, only one
+reasonable explanation; which was that the person who had inhabited
+those chambers was not Jeffrey Blackmore.
+
+"This conclusion received considerable support from a fact which I
+observed later, but mention in this place. On examining the soles of the
+shoes taken from the dead man's feet, I found only the ordinary mud of
+the streets. There was no trace of the peculiar gravelly mud that
+adhered to my own boots and Jervis's, and which came from the square of
+the inn. Yet the porter distinctly stated that the deceased, after
+paying the rent, walked back towards his chambers across the square; the
+mud of which should, therefore, have been conspicuous on his shoes.
+
+"Thus, in a moment, a wildly speculative hypothesis had assumed a high
+degree of probability.
+
+"When Mr. Stephen was gone, Jervis and I looked over the chambers
+thoroughly; and then another curious fact came to light. On the wall
+were a number of fine Japanese colour-prints, all of which showed recent
+damp-spots. Now, apart from the consideration that Jeffrey, who had been
+at the trouble and expense of collecting these valuable prints, would
+hardly have allowed them to rot on his walls, there arose the question:
+How came they to be damp? There was a gas stove in the room, and a gas
+stove has at least the virtue of preserving a dry atmosphere. It was
+winter weather, when the stove would naturally be pretty constantly
+alight. How came the walls to be so damp? The answer seemed to be that
+the stove had not been constantly alight, but had been lighted only
+occasionally. This suggestion was borne out by a further examination of
+the rooms. In the kitchen there were practically no stores and hardly
+any arrangements even for simple bachelor cooking; the bedroom offered
+the same suggestion; the soap in the wash-stand was shrivelled and
+cracked; there was no cast-off linen, and the shirts in the drawers,
+though clean, had the peculiar yellowish, faded appearance that linen
+acquires when long out of use. In short, the rooms had the appearance of
+not having been lived in at all, but only visited at intervals.
+
+"Against this view, however, was the statement of the night porter that
+he had often seen a light in Jeffrey's sitting-room at one o'clock in
+the morning, with the apparent implication that it was then turned out.
+Now a light may be left in an empty room, but its extinction implies the
+presence of some person to extinguish it; unless some automatic device
+be adopted for putting it out at a given time. Such a device--the alarm
+movement of a clock, for instance, with a suitable attachment--is a
+simple enough matter, but my search of the rooms failed to discover
+anything of the kind. However, when looking over the drawers in the
+bedroom, I came upon a large box that had held a considerable quantity
+of hard stearine candles. There were only a few left, but a flat
+candlestick with numerous wick-ends in its socket accounted for the
+remainder.
+
+"These candles seemed to dispose of the difficulty. They were not
+necessary for ordinary lighting, since gas was laid on in all three
+rooms. For what purpose, then, were they used, and in such considerable
+quantities? I subsequently obtained some of the same brand--Price's
+stearine candles, six to the pound--and experimented with them. Each
+candle was seven and a quarter inches in length, not counting the cone
+at the top, and I found that they burned in still air at the rate of a
+fraction over one inch in an hour. We may say that one of these candles
+would burn in still air a little over six hours. It would thus be
+possible for the person who inhabited these rooms to go away at seven
+o'clock in the evening and leave a light which would burn until past one
+in the morning and then extinguish itself. This, of course, was only
+surmise, but it destroyed the significance of the night porter's
+statement.
+
+"But, if the person who inhabited these chambers was not Jeffrey, who
+was he?
+
+"The answer to that question seemed plain enough. There was only one
+person who had a strong motive for perpetrating a fraud of this kind,
+and there was only one person to whom it was possible. If this person
+was not Jeffrey, he must have been very like Jeffrey; sufficiently like
+for the body of the one to be mistaken for the body of the other. For
+the production of Jeffrey's body was an essential part of the plan and
+must have been contemplated from the first. But the only person who
+fulfills the conditions is John Blackmore.
+
+"We have learned from Mr. Stephen that John and Jeffrey, though very
+different in appearance in later years, were much alike as young men.
+But when two brothers who are much alike as young men, become unlike in
+later life, we shall find that the unlikeness is produced by superficial
+differences and that the essential likeness remains. Thus, in the
+present case, Jeffrey was clean shaved, had bad eyesight, wore
+spectacles and stooped as he walked; John wore a beard and moustache,
+had good eyesight, did not wear spectacles and had a brisk gait and
+upright carriage. But supposing John to shave off his beard and
+moustache, to put on spectacles and to stoop in his walk, these
+conspicuous but superficial differences would vanish and the original
+likeness reappear.
+
+"There is another consideration. John had been an actor and was an actor
+of some experience. Now, any person can, with some care and practice,
+make up a disguise; the great difficulty is to support that disguise by
+a suitable manner and voice. But to an experienced actor this difficulty
+does not exist. To him, personation is easy; and, moreover, an actor is
+precisely the person to whom the idea of disguise and impersonation
+would occur.
+
+"There is a small item bearing on this point, so small as to be hardly
+worth calling evidence, but just worth noting. In the pocket of the
+waistcoat taken from the body of Jeffrey I found the stump of a
+'Contango' pencil; a pencil that is sold for the use of stock dealers
+and brokers. Now John was an outside broker and might very probably have
+used such a pencil, whereas Jeffrey had no connection with the stock
+markets and there is no reason why he should have possessed a pencil of
+this kind. But the fact is merely suggestive; it has no evidential
+value.
+
+"A more important inference is to be drawn from the collected
+signatures. I have remarked that the change in the signature occurred
+abruptly, with one or two alterations of manner, last September, and
+that there are two distinct forms with no intermediate varieties. This
+is, in itself, remarkable and suspicious. But a remark made by Mr.
+Britton furnishes a really valuable piece of evidence on the point we
+are now considering. He admitted that the character of the signature had
+undergone a change, but observed that the change did not affect the
+individual or personal character of the writing. This is very important;
+for handwriting is, as it were, an extension of the personality of the
+writer. And just as a man to some extent snares his personality with his
+near blood-relations in the form of family resemblances, so his
+handwriting often shows a subtle likeness to that of his near relatives.
+You must have noticed, as I have, how commonly the handwriting of one
+brother resembles that of another, and in just this peculiar and subtle
+way. The inference, then, from Mr. Britton's statement is, that if the
+signature of the will was forged, it was probably forged by a relative
+of the deceased. But the only relative in question is his brother John.
+
+"All the facts, therefore, pointed to John Blackmore as the person who
+occupied these chambers, and I accordingly adopted that view as a
+working hypothesis."
+
+"But this was all pure speculation," objected Mr. Winwood.
+
+"Not speculation," said Thorndyke. "Hypothesis. It was ordinary
+inductive reasoning such as we employ in scientific research. I started
+with the purely tentative hypothesis that the person who signed the will
+was not Jeffrey Blackmore. I assumed this; and I may say that I did not
+believe it at the time, but merely adopted it as a proposition that was
+worth testing. I accordingly tested it, 'Yes?' or 'No?' with each new
+fact; but as each new fact said 'Yes,' and no fact said definitely 'No,'
+its probability increased rapidly by a sort of geometrical progression.
+The probabilities multiplied into one another. It is a perfectly sound
+method, for one knows that if a hypothesis be true, it will lead one,
+sooner or later, to a crucial fact by which its truth can be
+demonstrated.
+
+"To resume our argument. We have now set up the proposition that John
+Blackmore was the tenant of New Inn and that he was personating Jeffrey.
+Let us reason from this and see what it leads to.
+
+"If the tenant of New Inn was John, then Jeffrey must be elsewhere,
+since his concealment at the inn was clearly impossible. But he could
+not have been far away, for he had to be producible at short notice
+whenever the death of Mrs. Wilson should make the production of his
+body necessary. But if he was producible, his person must have been in
+the possession or control of John. He could not have been at large, for
+that would have involved the danger of his being seen and recognized. He
+could not have been in any institution or place where he would be in
+contact with strangers. Then he must be in some sort of confinement. But
+it is difficult to keep an adult in confinement in an ordinary house.
+Such a proceeding would involve great risk of discovery and the use of
+violence which would leave traces on the body, to be observed and
+commented on at the inquest. What alternative method could be suggested?
+
+"The most obvious method is that of keeping the prisoner in such a state
+of debility as would confine him to his bed. But such debility could be
+produced by only starvation, unsuitable food, or chronic poisoning. Of
+these alternatives, poisoning is much more exact, more calculable in its
+effect and more under control. The probabilities, then, were in favour
+of chronic poisoning.
+
+"Having reached this stage, I recalled a singular case which Jervis had
+mentioned to me and which seemed to illustrate this method. On our
+return home I asked him for further particulars, and he then gave me a
+very detailed description of the patient and the circumstances. The
+upshot was rather startling. I had looked on his case as merely
+illustrative, and wished to study it for the sake of the suggestions
+that it might offer. But when I had heard his account, I began to
+suspect that there was something more than mere parallelism of method.
+It began to look as if his patient, Mr. Graves, might actually be
+Jeffrey Blackmore.
+
+"The coincidences were remarkable. The general appearance of the patient
+tallied completely with Mr. Stephen's description of his uncle Jeffrey.
+The patient had a tremulous iris in his right eye and had clearly
+suffered from dislocation of the crystalline lens. But from Mr.
+Stephen's account of his uncle's sudden loss of sight in the right eye
+after a fall, I judged that Jeffrey had also suffered from dislocation
+of the lens and therefore had a tremulous iris in the right eye. The
+patient, Graves, evidently had defective vision in his left eye, as
+proved by the marks made behind his ears by the hooked side-bars of his
+spectacles; for it is only on spectacles that are intended for constant
+use that we find hooked side-bars. But Jeffrey had defective vision in
+his left eye and wore spectacles constantly. Lastly, the patient Graves
+was suffering from chronic morphine poisoning, and morphine was found in
+the body of Jeffrey.
+
+"Once more, it appeared to me that there were too many coincidences.
+
+"The question as to whether Graves and Jeffrey were identical admitted
+of fairly easy disproof; for if Graves was still alive, he could not be
+Jeffrey. It was an important question and I resolved to test it without
+delay. That night, Jervis and I plotted out the chart, and on the
+following morning we located the house. But it was empty and to let.
+The birds had flown, and we failed to discover whither they had gone.
+
+"However, we entered the house and explored. I have told you about the
+massive bolts and fastenings that we found on the bedroom doors and
+window, showing that the room had been used as a prison. I have told you
+of the objects that we picked out of the dust-heap under the grate. Of
+the obvious suggestion offered by the Japanese brush and the bottle of
+'spirit gum' or cement, I need not speak now; but I must trouble you
+with some details concerning the broken spectacles. For here we had come
+upon the crucial fact to which, as I have said, all sound inductive
+reasoning brings one sooner or later.
+
+"The spectacles were of a rather peculiar pattern. The frames were of
+the type invented by Mr. Stopford of Moorfields and known by his name.
+The right eye-piece was fitted with plain glass, as is usual in the case
+of a blind, or useless, eye. It was very much shattered, but its
+character was obvious. The glass of the left eye was much thicker and
+fortunately less damaged, so that I was able accurately to test its
+refraction.
+
+"When I reached home, I laid the pieces of the spectacles together,
+measured the frames very carefully, tested the left eye-glass, and wrote
+down a full description such as would have been given by the surgeon to
+the spectacle-maker. Here it is, and I will ask you to note it
+carefully.
+
+"'Spectacles for constant use. Steel frame, Stopford's pattern, curl
+sides, broad bridge with gold lining. Distance between centres, 6.2
+centimetres; extreme length of side-bars, 13.3 centimetres.
+
+"'Right eye plain glass.
+
+"'Left eye -5.75 D. spherical
+            -------------------
+           -3.25 D. cylindrical axis 35 deg..'
+
+"The spectacles, you see, were of a very distinctive character and
+seemed to offer a good chance of identification. Stopford's frames are,
+I believe, made by only one firm of opticians in London, Parry & Cuxton
+of Regent Street. I therefore wrote to Mr. Cuxton, who knows me, asking
+him if he had supplied spectacles to the late Jeffrey Blackmore,
+Esq.--here is a copy of my letter--and if so, whether he would mind
+letting me have a full description of them, together with the name of
+the oculist who prescribed them.
+
+"He replied in this letter, which is pinned to the copy of mine, that,
+about four years ago, he supplied a pair of glasses to Mr. Jeffrey
+Blackmore, and described them thus: 'The spectacles were for constant
+use and had steel frames of Stopford's pattern with curl sides, the
+length of the side-bars including the curled ends being 13.3 cm. The
+bridge was broad with a gold lining-plate, shaped as shown by the
+enclosed tracing from the diagram on the prescription. Distance between
+centres 6.2 cm.
+
+"'Right eye plain glass.
+
+"'Left eye -5.75 D. spherical
+            -------------------
+           -3.25 D. cylindrical, axis 35 deg..'
+
+"'The spectacles were prescribed by Mr. Hindley of Wimpole Street.'
+
+"You see that Mr. Cuxton's description is identical with mine. However,
+for further confirmation, I wrote to Mr. Hindley, asking certain
+questions, to which he replied thus:
+
+"'You are quite right. Mr. Jeffrey Blackmore had a tremulous iris in his
+right eye (which was practically blind), due to dislocation of the lens.
+The pupils were rather large; certainly not contracted.'
+
+"Here, then, we have three important facts. One is that the spectacles
+found by us at Kennington Lane were undoubtedly Jeffrey's; for it is as
+unlikely that there exists another pair of spectacles exactly identical
+with those as that there exists another face exactly like Jeffrey's
+face. The second fact is that the description of Jeffrey tallies
+completely with that of the sick man, Graves, as given by Dr. Jervis;
+and the third is that when Jeffrey was seen by Mr. Hindley, there was no
+sign of his being addicted to the taking of morphine. The first and
+second facts, you will agree, constitute complete identification."
+
+"Yes," said Marchmont; "I think we must admit the identification as
+being quite conclusive, though the evidence is of a kind that is more
+striking to the medical than to the legal mind."
+
+"You will not have that complaint to make against the next item of
+evidence," said Thorndyke. "It is after the lawyer's own heart, as you
+shall hear. A few days ago I wrote to Mr. Stephen asking him if he
+possessed a recent photograph of his uncle Jeffrey. He had one, and he
+sent it to me by return. This portrait I showed to Dr. Jervis and asked
+him if he had ever seen the person it represented. After examining it
+attentively, without any hint whatever from me, he identified it as the
+portrait of the sick man, Graves."
+
+"Indeed!" exclaimed Marchmont. "This is most important. Are you prepared
+to swear to the identity, Dr. Jervis?"
+
+"I have not the slightest doubt," I replied, "that the portrait is that
+of Mr. Graves."
+
+"Excellent!" said Marchmont, rubbing his hands gleefully; "this will be
+much more convincing to a jury. Pray go on, Dr. Thorndyke."
+
+"That," said Thorndyke, "completes the first part of my investigation.
+We had now reached a definite, demonstrable fact; and that fact, as you
+see, disposed at once of the main question--the genuineness of the will.
+For if the man at Kennington Lane was Jeffrey Blackmore, then the man at
+New Inn was not. But it was the latter who had signed the will.
+Therefore the will was not signed by Jeffrey Blackmore; that is to say,
+it was a forgery. The case was complete for the purposes of the civil
+proceedings; the rest of my investigations had reference to the criminal
+prosecution that was inevitable. Shall I proceed, or is your interest
+confined to the will?"
+
+"Hang the will!" exclaimed Stephen. "I want to hear how you propose to
+lay hands on the villain who murdered poor old uncle Jeffrey--for I
+suppose he did murder him?"
+
+"I think there is no doubt of it," replied Thorndyke.
+
+"Then," said Marchmont, "we will hear the rest of the argument, if you
+please."
+
+"Very well," said Thorndyke. "As the evidence stands, we have proved
+that Jeffrey Blackmore was a prisoner in the house in Kennington Lane
+and that some one was personating him at New Inn. That some one, we have
+seen, was, in all probability, John Blackmore. We now have to consider
+the man Weiss. Who was he? and can we connect him in any way with New
+Inn?
+
+"We may note in passing that Weiss and the coachman were apparently one
+and the same person. They were never seen together. When Weiss was
+present, the coachman was not available even for so urgent a service as
+the obtaining of an antidote to the poison. Weiss always appeared some
+time after Jervis's arrival and disappeared some time before his
+departure, in each case sufficiently long to allow of a change of
+disguise. But we need not labour the point, as it is not of primary
+importance.
+
+"To return to Weiss. He was clearly heavily disguised, as we see by his
+unwillingness to show himself even by the light of a candle. But there
+is an item of positive evidence on this point which is important from
+having other bearings. It is furnished by the spectacles worn by Weiss,
+of which you have heard Jervis's description. These spectacles had very
+peculiar optical properties. When you looked <i>through</i> them they had the
+properties of plain glass; when you looked <i>at</i> them they had the
+appearance of lenses. But only one kind of glass possesses these
+properties; namely, that which, like an ordinary watch-glass, has
+curved, parallel surfaces. But for what purpose could a person wear
+'watch-glass' spectacles? Clearly, not to assist his vision. The only
+alternative is disguise.
+
+"The properties of these spectacles introduce a very curious and
+interesting feature into the case. To the majority of persons, the
+wearing of spectacles for the purpose of disguise or personation, seems
+a perfectly simple and easy proceeding. But, to a person of normal
+eyesight, it is nothing of the kind. For, if he wears spectacles suited
+for long sight he cannot see distinctly through them at all; while, if
+he wears concave, or near sight, glasses, the effort to see through them
+produces such strain and fatigue that his eyes become disabled
+altogether. On the stage the difficulty is met by using spectacles of
+plain window-glass, but in real life this would hardly do; the
+'property' spectacles would be detected at once and give rise to
+suspicion.
+
+"The personator is therefore in this dilemma: if he wears actual
+spectacles, he cannot see through them; if he wears sham spectacles of
+plain glass, his disguise will probably be detected. There is only one
+way out of the difficulty, and that not a very satisfactory one; but Mr.
+Weiss seems to have adopted it in lieu of a better. It is that of using
+watch-glass spectacles such as I have described.
+
+"Now, what do we learn from these very peculiar glasses? In the first
+place they confirm our opinion that Weiss was wearing a disguise. But,
+for use in a room so very dimly lighted, the ordinary stage spectacles
+would have answered quite well. The second inference is, then, that
+these spectacles were prepared to be worn under more trying conditions
+of light--out of doors, for instance. The third inference is that Weiss
+was a man with normal eyesight; for otherwise he could have worn real
+spectacles suited to the state of his vision.
+
+"These are inferences by the way, to which we may return. But these
+glasses furnish a much more important suggestion. On the floor of the
+bedroom at New Inn I found some fragments of glass which had been
+trodden on. By joining one or two of them together, we have been able to
+make out the general character of the object of which they formed parts.
+My assistant--who was formerly a watch-maker--judged that object to be
+the thin crystal glass of a lady's watch, and this, I think, was
+Jervis's opinion. But the small part which remains of the original edge
+furnishes proof in two respects that this was not a watch-glass. In the
+first place, on taking a careful tracing of this piece of the edge, I
+found that its curve was part of an ellipse; but watch-glasses,
+nowadays, are invariably circular. In the second place, watch-glasses
+are ground on the edge to a single bevel to snap into the bezel or
+frame; but the edge of this object was ground to a double bevel, like
+the edge of a spectacle-glass, which fits into a groove in the frame and
+is held by the side-bar screw. The inevitable inference was that this
+was a spectacle-glass. But, if so, it was part of a pair of spectacles
+identical in properties with those worn by Mr. Weiss.
+
+"The importance of this conclusion emerges when we consider the
+exceptional character of Mr. Weiss's spectacles. They were not merely
+peculiar or remarkable; they were probably unique. It is exceedingly
+likely that there is not in the entire world another similar pair of
+spectacles. Whence the finding of these fragments of glass in the
+bedroom establishes a considerable probability that Mr. Weiss was, at
+some time, in the chambers at New Inn.
+
+"And now let us gather up the threads of this part of the argument. We
+are inquiring into the identity of the man Weiss. Who was he?
+
+"In the first place, we find him committing a secret crime from which
+John Blackmore alone will benefit. This suggests the <i>prima-facie</i>
+probability that he was John Blackmore.
+
+"Then we find that he was a man of normal eyesight who was wearing
+spectacles for the purpose of disguise. But the tenant of New Inn, whom
+we have seen to be, almost certainly, John Blackmore--and whom we will,
+for the present, assume to have been John Blackmore--was a man with
+normal eyesight who wore spectacles for disguise.
+
+"John Blackmore did not reside at New Inn, but at some place within
+easy reach of it. But Weiss resided at a place within easy reach of New
+Inn.
+
+"John Blackmore must have had possession and control of the person of
+Jeffrey. But Weiss had possession and control of the person of Jeffrey.
+
+"Weiss wore spectacles of a certain peculiar and probably unique
+character. But portions of such spectacles were found in the chambers at
+New Inn.
+
+"The overwhelming probability, therefore, is that Weiss and the tenant
+of New Inn were one and the same person; and that that person was John
+Blackmore."
+
+"That," said Mr. Winwood, "is a very plausible argument. But, you
+observe, sir, that it contains an undistributed middle term."
+
+Thorndyke smiled genially. I think he forgave Winwood everything for
+that remark.
+
+"You are quite right, sir," he said. "It does. And, for that reason, the
+demonstration is not absolute. But we must not forget, what logicians
+seem occasionally to overlook: that the 'undistributed middle,' while it
+interferes with absolute proof, may be quite consistent with a degree of
+probability that approaches very near to certainty. Both the Bertillon
+system and the English fingerprint system involve a process of reasoning
+in which the middle term is undistributed. But the great probabilities
+are accepted in practice as equivalent to certainties."
+
+Mr. Winwood grunted a grudging assent, and Thorndyke resumed:
+
+"We have now furnished fairly conclusive evidence on three heads: we
+have proved that the sick man, Graves, was Jeffrey Blackmore; that the
+tenant of New Inn was John Blackmore; and that the man Weiss was also
+John Blackmore. We now have to prove that John and Jeffrey were together
+in the chambers at New Inn on the night of Jeffrey's death.
+
+"We know that two persons, and two persons only, came from Kennington
+Lane to New Inn. But one of those persons was the tenant of New
+Inn--that is, John Blackmore. Who was the other? Jeffrey is known by us
+to have been at Kennington Lane. His body was found on the following
+morning in the room at New Inn. No third person is known to have come
+from Kennington Lane; no third person is known to have arrived at New
+Inn. The inference, by exclusion, is that the second person--the
+woman--was Jeffrey.
+
+"Again; Jeffrey had to be brought from Kennington to the inn by John.
+But John was personating Jeffrey and was made up to resemble him very
+closely. If Jeffrey were undisguised the two men would be almost exactly
+alike; which would be very noticeable in any case and suspicious after
+the death of one of them. Therefore Jeffrey would have to be disguised
+in some way; and what disguise could be simpler and more effective than
+the one that I suggest was used?
+
+"Again; it was unavoidable that some one--the cabman--should know that
+Jeffrey was not alone when he came to the inn that night. If the fact
+had leaked out and it had become known that a man had accompanied him to
+his chambers, some suspicion might have arisen, and that suspicion would
+have pointed to John, who was directly interested in his brother's
+death. But if it had transpired that Jeffrey was accompanied by a woman,
+there would have been less suspicion, and that suspicion would not have
+pointed to John Blackmore.
+
+"Thus all the general probabilities are in favour of the hypothesis that
+this woman was Jeffrey Blackmore. There is, however, an item of positive
+evidence that strongly supports this view. When I examined the clothing
+of the deceased, I found on the trousers a horizontal crease on each leg
+as if the trousers had been turned up half-way to the knees. This
+appearance is quite understandable if we suppose that the trousers were
+worn under a skirt and were turned up so that they should not be
+accidentally seen. Otherwise it is quite incomprehensible."
+
+"Is it not rather strange," said Marchmont, "that Jeffrey should have
+allowed himself to be dressed up in this remarkable manner?"
+
+"I think not," replied Thorndyke. "There is no reason to suppose that he
+knew how he was dressed. You have heard Jervis's description of his
+condition; that of a mere automaton. You know that without his
+spectacles he was practically blind, and that he could not have worn
+them since we found them at the house in Kennington Lane. Probably his
+head was wrapped up in the veil, and the skirt and mantle put on
+afterwards; but, in any case, his condition rendered him practically
+devoid of will power. That is all the evidence I have to prove that the
+unknown woman was Jeffrey. It is not conclusive but it is convincing
+enough for our purpose, seeing that the case against John Blackmore does
+not depend upon it."
+
+"Your case against him is on the charge of murder, I presume?" said
+Stephen.
+
+"Undoubtedly. And you will notice that the statements made by the
+supposed Jeffrey to the porter, hinting at suicide, are now important
+evidence. By the light of what we know, the announcement of intended
+suicide becomes the announcement of intended murder. It conclusively
+disproves what it was intended to prove; that Jeffrey died by his own
+hand."
+
+"Yes, I see that," said Stephen, and then after a pause he asked: "Did
+you identify Mrs. Schallibaum? You have told us nothing about her."
+
+"I have considered her as being outside the case as far as I am
+concerned," replied Thorndyke. "She was an accessory; my business was
+with the principal. But, of course, she will be swept up in the net. The
+evidence that convicts John Blackmore will convict her. I have not
+troubled about her identity. If John Blackmore is married, she is
+probably his wife. Do you happen to know if he is married?"
+
+"Yes; but Mrs. John Blackmore is not much like Mrs. Schallibaum,
+excepting that she has a cast in the left eye. She is a dark woman with
+very heavy eyebrows."
+
+"That is to say that she differs from Mrs. Schallibaum in those
+peculiarities that can be artificially changed and resembles her in the
+one feature that is unchangeable. Do you know if her Christian name
+happens to be Pauline?"
+
+"Yes, it is. She was a Miss Pauline Hagenbeck, a member of an American
+theatrical company. What made you ask?"
+
+"The name which Jervis heard poor Jeffrey struggling to pronounce seemed
+to me to resemble Pauline more than any other name."
+
+"There is one little point that strikes me," said Marchmont. "Is it not
+rather remarkable that the porter should have noticed no difference
+between the body of Jeffrey and the living man whom he knew by sight,
+and who must, after all, have been distinctly different in appearance?"
+
+"I am glad you raised that question," Thorndyke replied, "for that very
+difficulty presented itself to me at the beginning of the case. But on
+thinking it over, I decided that it was an imaginary difficulty,
+assuming, as we do, that there was a good deal of resemblance between
+the two men. Put yourself in the porter's place and follow his mental
+processes. He is informed that a dead man is lying on the bed in Mr.
+Blackmore's rooms. Naturally, he assumes that the dead man is Mr.
+Blackmore--who, by the way, had hinted at suicide only the night before.
+With this idea he enters the chambers and sees a man a good deal like
+Mr. Blackmore and wearing Mr. Blackmore's clothes, lying on Mr.
+Blackmore's bed. The idea that the body could be that of some other
+person has never entered his mind. If he notes any difference of
+appearance he will put that down to the effects of death; for every one
+knows that a man dead looks somewhat different from the same man alive.
+I take it as evidence of great acuteness on the part of John Blackmore
+that he should have calculated so cleverly, not only the mental process
+of the porter, but the erroneous reasoning which every one would base on
+the porter's conclusions. For, since the body was actually Jeffrey's,
+and was identified by the porter as that of his tenant, it has been
+assumed by every one that no question was possible as to the identity of
+Jeffrey Blackmore and the tenant of New Inn."
+
+There was a brief silence, and then Marchmont asked:
+
+"May we take it that we have now heard all the evidence?"
+
+"Yes," replied Thorndyke. "That is my case."
+
+"Have you given information to the police?" Stephen asked eagerly.
+
+"Yes. As soon as I had obtained the statement of the cabman, Ridley, and
+felt that I had enough evidence to secure a conviction, I called at
+Scotland Yard and had an interview with the Assistant Commissioner. The
+case is in the hands of Superintendent Miller of the Criminal
+Investigation Department, a most acute and energetic officer. I have
+been expecting to hear that the warrant has been executed, for Mr.
+Miller is usually very punctilious in keeping me informed of the
+progress of the cases to which I introduce him. We shall hear to-morrow,
+no doubt."
+
+"And, for the present," said Marchmont, "the case seems to have passed
+out of our hands."
+
+"I shall enter a caveat, all the same," said Mr. Winwood.
+
+"That doesn't seem very necessary," Marchmont objected. "The evidence
+that we have heard is amply sufficient to ensure a conviction and there
+will be plenty more when the police go into the case. And a conviction
+on the charges of forgery and murder would, of course, invalidate the
+second will."
+
+"I shall enter a caveat, all the same," repeated Mr. Winwood.
+
+As the two partners showed a disposition to become heated over this
+question, Thorndyke suggested that they might discuss it at leisure by
+the light of subsequent events. Acting on this hint--for it was now
+close upon midnight--our visitors prepared to depart; and were, in fact,
+just making their way towards the door when the bell rang. Thorndyke
+flung open the door, and, as he recognized his visitor, greeted him with
+evident satisfaction.
+
+"Ha! Mr. Miller; we were just speaking of you. These gentlemen are Mr.
+Stephen Blackmore and his solicitors, Mr. Marchmont and Mr. Winwood. You
+know Dr. Jervis, I think."
+
+The officer bowed to our friends and remarked:
+
+"I am just in time, it seems. A few minutes more and I should have
+missed these gentlemen. I don't know what you'll think of my news."
+
+"You haven't let that villain escape, I hope," Stephen exclaimed.
+
+"Well," said the Superintendent, "he is out of my hands and yours too;
+and so is the woman. Perhaps I had better tell you what has happened."
+
+"If you would be so kind," said Thorndyke, motioning the officer to a
+chair.
+
+The superintendent seated himself with the manner of a man who has had a
+long and strenuous day, and forthwith began his story.
+
+"As soon as we had your information, we procured a warrant for the
+arrest of both parties, and then I went straight to their flat with
+Inspector Badger and a sergeant. There we learned from the attendant
+that they were away from home and were not expected back until to-day
+about noon. We kept a watch on the premises, and this morning, about the
+time appointed, a man and a woman, answering to the description, arrived
+at the flat. We followed them in and saw them enter the lift, and we
+were going to get into the lift too, when the man pulled the rope, and
+away they went. There was nothing for us to do but run up the stairs,
+which we did as fast as we could race; but they got to their landing
+first, and we were only just in time to see them nip in and shut the
+door. However, it seemed that we had them safe enough, for there was no
+dropping out of the windows at that height; so we sent the sergeant to
+get a locksmith to pick the lock or force the door, while we kept on
+ringing the bell.
+
+"About three minutes after the sergeant left, I happened to look out of
+the landing window and saw a hansom pull up opposite the flats. I put my
+head out of the window, and, hang me if I didn't see our two friends
+getting into the cab. It seems that there was a small lift inside the
+flat communicating with the kitchen, and they had slipped down it one at
+a time.
+
+"Well, of course, we raced down the stairs like acrobats, but by the
+time we got to the bottom the cab was off with a fine start. We ran out
+into Victoria Street, and there we could see it half-way down the street
+and going like a chariot race. We managed to pick up another hansom and
+told the cabby to keep the other one in sight, and away we went like the
+very deuce; along Victoria Street and Broad Sanctuary, across Parliament
+Square, over Westminster Bridge and along York Road; we kept the other
+beggar in sight, but we couldn't gain an inch on him. Then we turned
+into Waterloo Station, and, as we were driving up the slope we met
+another hansom coming down; and when the cabby kissed his hand and
+smiled at us, we guessed that he was the sportsman we had been
+following.
+
+"But there was no time to ask questions. It is an awkward station with a
+lot of different exits, and it looked a good deal as if our quarry had
+got away. However, I took a chance. I remembered that the Southampton
+express was due to start about this time, and I took a short cut across
+the lines and made for the platform that it starts from. Just as Badger
+and I got to the end, about thirty yards from the rear of the train, we
+saw a man and a woman running in front of us. Then the guard blew his
+whistle and the train began to move. The man and the woman managed to
+scramble into one of the rear compartments and Badger and I raced up the
+platform like mad. A porter tried to head us off, but Badger capsized
+him and we both sprinted harder than ever, and just hopped on the
+foot-board of the guard's van as the train began to get up speed. The
+guard couldn't risk putting us off, so he had to let us into his van,
+which suited us exactly, as we could watch the train on both sides from
+the look-out. And we did watch, I can tell you; for our friend in front
+had seen us. His head was out of the window as we climbed on to the
+foot-board.
+
+"However, nothing happened until we stopped at Southampton West. There,
+I need not say, we lost no time in hopping out, for we naturally
+expected our friends to make a rush for the exit. But they didn't.
+Badger watched the platform, and I kept a look-out to see that they
+didn't slip away across the line from the off-side. But still there was
+no sign of them. Then I walked up the train to the compartment which I
+had seen them enter. And there they were, apparently fast asleep in the
+corner by the off-side window, the man leaning back with his mouth open
+and the woman resting against him with her head on his shoulder. She
+gave me quite a turn when I went in to look at them, for she had her
+eyes half-closed and seemed to be looking round at me with a most
+horrible expression; but I found afterwards that the peculiar appearance
+of looking round was due to the cast in her eye."
+
+"They were dead, I suppose?" said Thorndyke.
+
+"Yes, sir. Stone dead; and I found these on the floor of the carriage."
+
+He held up two tiny yellow glass tubes, each labelled "Hypodermic
+tabloids. Aconitine Nitrate gr. 1/640."
+
+"Ha!" exclaimed Thorndyke, "this fellow was well up in alkaloidal
+poisons, it seems; and they appear to have gone about prepared for
+emergencies. These tubes each contained twenty tabloids, a thirty-second
+of a grain altogether, so we may assume that about twelve times the
+medicinal dose was swallowed. Death must have occurred in a few minutes,
+and a merciful death too."
+
+"A more merciful death than they deserved," exclaimed Stephen, "when one
+thinks of the misery and suffering that they inflicted on poor old uncle
+Jeffrey. I would sooner have had them hanged."
+
+"It's better as it is, sir," said Miller. "There is no need, now, to
+raise any questions in detail at the inquest. The publicity of a trial
+for murder would have been very unpleasant for you. I wish Dr. Jervis
+had given the tip to me instead of to that confounded,
+over-cautious--but there, I mustn't run down my brother officers: and
+it's easy to be wise after the event.
+
+"Good night, gentlemen. I suppose this accident disposes of your
+business as far as the will is concerned?"
+
+"I suppose it does," agreed Mr. Winwood. "But I shall enter a caveat,
+all the same."
+
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Mystery of 31 New Inn, by R. Austin Freeman
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