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Title: Mr. Polton Explains
Author: Freeman, R. Austin [Richard Austin] (1862-1943)
Date of first publication: 1940
Edition used as base for this ebook:
   London: Hodder and Stoughton, May 1950
   ["Fourth impression"]
Date first posted: 15 December 2019
Date last updated: 15 December 2019
Project Gutenberg Canada ebook #1636

This ebook was produced by
Delphine Lettau, Mark Akrigg, Jen Haines
& the Online Distributed Proofreading Canada Team
at http://www.pgdpcanada.net


PUBLISHER'S NOTE

Italics in the original printed edition are indicated _thus_.

Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected.

As part of the conversion of the book to its new digital
format, we have made certain minor adjustments in its layout.






MR. POLTON EXPLAINS

by R. Austin Freeman





    TO LIEUT.-COM. RUPERT T. GOULD R.N. (Rtd.)

    the distinguished horologist, this story of a simple
    clockmaker is dedicated by his old friend, the author





TABLE OF CONTENTS


    PART I. THE ANTECEDENTS

    Introductory Observations by Mr. Polton
    I. The Young Horologist
    II. The Pickpocket's Leavings
    III. Out of the Nest
    IV. The Innocent Accessory
    V. Mr. Parrish
    VI. Fickle Fortune
    VII. Introduces a Key and a Calendar
    VIII. Mr. Parrish Remembers
    IX. Storm and Sunshine


    PART II. THE CASE OF MOXDALE DECEASED
    (_Narrated by Christopher Jervis, M.D._)

    X. Fire!
    XI. The Ruins
    XII. Light on the Mystery
    XIII. The Facts and the Verdict
    XIV. A Visit from Inspector Blandy
    XV. Polton on the War Path
    XVI. Polton Astonishes the Inspector
    XVII. Further Surprises
    XVIII. Thorndyke Administers a Shock
    XIX. The Evidence Reviewed




    _The characters in this book are entirely imaginary_
    _and have no relation to any living person_





PART I
THE ANTECEDENTS




INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS BY MR. POLTON


Friends of Dr. Thorndyke who happen to have heard of me as his servant
and technical assistant may be rather surprised to see me making my
appearance in the character of an author. I am rather surprised, myself;
and I don't mind admitting that of all the tools that I have ever used,
the one that is in my hand at the present moment is the least familiar
and the most unmanageable. But mere lack of skill shall not discourage
me. The infallible method, as I have found by experience, of learning
how to do anything is to do it, and keep on doing it until it becomes
easy. Use is second nature, as a copy-book once informed me.

But I feel that some explanation is necessary. The writing of this
record is not my own idea. I am acting on instructions; and the way in
which the matter arose was this. My master, the Doctor, was commissioned
to investigate the case of Cecil Moxdale deceased, and a very queer case
it was. So queer that, as the Doctor assures me, he would never have
been able to come to a definite conclusion but for one little fact that
I was able to supply. I think he exaggerates my importance and that he
would have found it out for himself. Still, that one little fact did
certainly throw a new light on the case, so, when the time came for the
record of it to be written, both the Doctor himself, and Dr. Jervis
decided that I was the proper person to set forth the circumstances that
made the final discovery possible.

That was all very well, but the question was, What were the
circumstances and when did they begin? And I could find no answer; for
as soon as I thought that I had found the beginning of the train of
circumstances, I saw that it would never have happened if something had
not happened before it. And so it went on. Every event in my life was
the result of some other event, and, tracing them back one after the
other, I came to the conclusion that the beginning of the train of
circumstances was also the beginning of me. For, obviously, if I had
never been born, the experiences that I have to record could never have
happened. I pointed this out to the Doctor, and he agreed that my being
born was undoubtedly a contributory circumstance, and suggested that
perhaps I had better begin with that. But, on reflection, I saw that
this was impossible; for, although being born is undeniably a personal
experience, it is, oddly enough, one which we have to take on hearsay
and which it would therefore be improper to include in one's personal
recollections.

Besides, although this history seems to be all about me, it is really an
introduction to the case of Cecil Moxdale deceased; and my little
contribution to the solving of that mystery was principally a matter of
technical knowledge. There were some other matters; but my connection
with the case arose out of my being a clock-maker. Accordingly, in these
recollections, I shall sort out the incidents of my life, and keep, as
far as possible, to those which present me in that character.

There is a surprising amount of wisdom to be gathered from copy-books.
From one I learned that the boy is father to the man, and from another,
to much the same effect, that the poet is born, not made. As there were
twenty lines to the page, I had to repeat this twenty times, which was
more than it merited. For the thing is obvious enough, and, after all,
there is nothing in it. Poets are not peculiar in this respect. The
truth applies to all other kinds of persons, including fools and even
clock-makers; that is, if they are real clock-makers and not just common
men with no natural aptitude who have drifted into the trade by chance.

Now, I was born a clock-maker. It may sound odd, but such, I am
convinced, is the fact. As far back as I can remember, clocks have
always had an attraction for me quite different from that of any other
kind of things. In later years my interests have widened, but I have
still remained faithful to my old love. A clock (by which I mean a
mechanical time-keeper of any kind) still seems to me the most wonderful
and admirable of the works of man. Indeed, it seems something more: as
if it were a living creature with a personality and a soul of its own,
rather than a mere machine.

Thus I may say that by these beautiful creations my life has been shaped
from the very beginning. Looking down the vista of years, I seem to see
at the end of it the old Dutch clock that used to hang on the wall of
our kitchen. That clock, and certain dealings with it on a particular
and well-remembered day, which I shall mention presently, seem to mark
the real starting-point of my journey through life. This may be a mere
sentimental delusion, but it doesn't appear so to me. In memory, I can
still see the pleasant painted face, changing in expression from hour to
hour, and hear the measured tick that never changed at all; and to me,
they are the face and the voice of an old and beloved friend.

Of my first meeting with that clock I have no recollection, for it was
there when my Aunt Gollidge brought me to her home, a little orphan of
three. But in that curious hazy beginning of memory when the events of
our childhood come back to us in detached scenes like the pictures of a
magic lantern, the old clock is the one distinct object; and as memories
become more connected, I can see myself sitting in the little chair that
Uncle Gollidge had made for me, looking up at the clock with an interest
and pleasure that were never exhausted. I suppose that to a child any
inanimate thing which moves of its own accord is an object of wonder,
especially if its movements appear to have a definite purpose.

But of explanations I have given enough and of apologies I shall give
none; for if the story of my doings should appear to the reader as
little worth as it does to me, he has but to pass over it and turn to
the case to which it forms the introduction.




CHAPTER I
THE YOUNG HOROLOGIST


"Drat that clock!" exclaimed my Aunt Judy. "Saturday night, too. Of
course, it would choose Saturday night to stop."

She looked up malevolently at the stolid face and the motionless
pendulum that hung straight down like a plumb-bob, and then, as she
hopped up on a chair to lift the clock off its nail, she continued:

"Get me the bellows, Nat."

I extricated myself with some difficulty from the little armchair. For
dear Uncle Gollidge had overlooked the fact that boys grow and chairs do
not, so that it was now a rather tight fit with a tendency to become,
like a snail's shell, a permanent attachment. The separation
accomplished, I took the bellows from the hook beside the fireplace and
went to my aunt's assistance; she having, in her quick, brisk way,
unhooked the pendulum and opened the little side doors of the case. Then
I held the clock steady on the table while she plied the bellows with
the energy of a village blacksmith, blowing out a most encouraging cloud
of dust through the farther door-opening.

"We will see what that will do," said she, slapping the little doors to,
fastening the catches and hooking on the pendulum. Once more she sprang
up on the chair, replaced the clock on its nail, gave the pendulum a
persuasive pat, and descended.

"What is the time by your watch, Dad?" she asked.

Old Mr. Gollidge paused in the story that he was telling and looked at
her with mild reproach. A great story-teller was old Mr. Gollidge (he
had been a ship's carpenter), but Aunt Judy had a way of treating his
interminable yarns as mere negligible sounds like the ticking of a clock
or the dripping of a leaky tap, and she now repeated her question;
whereupon the old gentleman, having contributed to a large spittoon at
his side, stuck his pipe in his mouth and hauled a bloated silver watch
from the depths of his pocket as if he were hoisting out cargo from the
lower hold.

"Watch seems to say," he announced, after looking at it with slight
surprise, "as it's a quarter past six."

"Six!" shrieked Aunt Judy. "Why, I heard the church clock strike seven a
full half-hour ago."

"Then," said the old gentleman, "'twould seem to be about three bells,
say half-past seven. Watch must have stopped."

He confirmed the diagnosis by applying it to his ear, and then, having
fished up from another pocket an old-fashioned bronze, crank-shaped key,
opened the front glass of the watch, which had the winding-hole in the
dial like a clock, inserted the key and proceeded to wind as if he were
playing a little barrel-organ.

"Half-past seven, you say," said he, transferring the key to the centre
square preparatory to setting the hands.

Aunt Judy looked up at the clock, which was still sluggishly wagging its
pendulum but uttering no tick, and shook her head impatiently.

"It's no use guessing," said she, "We shall want to know the time in the
morning. If you put on your slipper, Nat, you can run round and have a
look at Mr. Abraham's clock. It isn't far to go."

The necessity for putting on my slipper arose from a blister on my heel
which had kept me a bootless prisoner in the house. I began cautiously
to insinuate my foot into the slipper and had nearly completed the
operation when Aunt Judy suddenly interposed.

"Listen," said she; and as we all froze into immobility, the silence was
broken by the church clock striking eight. Then old Mr. Gollidge
deliberately set the hands of his watch, put it to his ear to make sure
that it was going, and lowered it into his pocket; and Aunt Judy,
mounting the chair, set the clock to time, gave the pendulum a final
pat, and hopped down.

"We'll give it another chance," she remarked, optimistically; but I knew
that her optimism was unfounded when I listened for the tick and
listened in vain; and, sure enough, the oscillations of the pendulum
slowly died away until it hung down as motionless as the weight.

In the ensuing silence, old Mr. Gollidge took up the thread of his
narrative.

"And then the boy comes up from the cuddy and says he seemed to hear a
lot of water washin' about down below. So the mate he tells me for to
sound the well, which I did; and, of course, I found there was a foot or
two of water in it. There always was. Reg'ler old basket, that ship was.
Always a-drainin' in, a-drainin' in, and the pumps a-goin' something
crool."

"Ought to have had a windmill," said Uncle Gollidge, taking a very black
clay pipe from his mouth and expectorating skilfully between the bars of
the grate, "same as what the Dutchmen do in the Baltic timber trade."

The old gentleman shook his head. "Windmills is all right," said he, "if
you've got a cargo of soft timber what'll float anyway. But they won't
keep a leaky ship dry. Besides----"

"Now, Nat," said Aunt Judy, hooking a Dutch oven on the bar of the
grate, "bring your chair over and keep an eye on the black pudding; and
you, Sam, just mind where you're spitting."

Uncle Sam, who rather plumed himself on his marksmanship, replied with a
scornful grunt; I rose to my feet (the chair rising with me) and took up
my station opposite the Dutch oven, the back flap of which I lifted to
make an interested inspection of the slices of black pudding
(longitudinal sections, as the Doctor would say) which were already
beginning to perspire greasily, in the heat. Meanwhile, Aunt Judy
whisked about the kitchen (also the general sitting-room) busily making
ready for the morrow, and old Mr. Gollidge droned on tirelessly like the
brook that goes on for ever.

Of the morrow's doings I must say a few words, since they formed a
milestone marking the first stage of my earthly pilgrimage. It had been
arranged that the four of us should spend the Sunday with Aunt Judy's
younger sister, a Mrs. Budgen, who lived with her husband in the country
out Finchley way. But my unfortunate blistered heel put me out of the
party, much to my regret, for these excursions were the bright spots in
my rather drab existence. Aunt Budgen was a kindly soul who gave us the
warmest of welcomes, as did her husband, a rather taciturn dairy-farmer.
Then there was the glorious drive out of London on the front seat of the
Finchley omnibus with its smart, white-hatted driver and the third horse
stepping out gaily in front with jingling harness and swaying
swingle-bar.

But the greatest delight of these visits was the meeting with my sister,
Maggie, who had been adopted by Aunt Budgen at the time when Aunt Judy
had taken me. These were the only occasions on which we met, and it was
a joy to us both to ramble in the meadows, to call on the cows in the
shippon, or to sit together on the brink of the big pond and watch the
incredible creatures that moved about in its depths.

However, there were to be compensations. Aunt Judy expounded them to me
as I superintended the black pudding, turning the Dutch oven when
necessary to brown the opposite sides.

"I'm leaving you three pork sausages; they're rather small ones, but you
are rather a small boy; and there are some cold potatoes which you can
cut into slices and fry with the sausages, and mind you don't set the
chimney on fire. Then there is a baked raisin pudding--you can hot that
up in the oven--and a whole jar of raspberry jam. You can take as much
of that as you like, so long as you don't make yourself ill; and I've
left the key in the book-cupboard, but you must wash your hands before
you take any of the books out. I am sorry you can't come with us, and
Maggie will be disappointed, too; but I think you'll be able to make
yourself happy. I know you don't mind being alone a bit."

Aunt Judy was right. I was a rather solitary boy; a little given to
day-dreaming and, consequently, partial to my own society. But she
prophesied better than she knew. Not only was I able to make myself
happy in my solitude; but that Sunday stands out as one of the
red-letter days of my life.

To be sure, the day opened rather cheerlessly. As I stood on the
doorstep with my single boot and bandaged foot, watching the departure,
I was sensible of a pang of keen disappointment and of something
approaching loneliness. I followed the receding figures wistfully with
my eyes as they walked away down the street in their holiday attire,
Aunt Judy gorgeous in her silk dress and gaily-flowered bonnet and the
two men in stiff black broadcloth and tall hats, to which old Mr.
Gollidge's fine, silver-topped malacca gave an added glory. At the
corner Aunt Judy paused to wave her hand to me; then she followed the
other two and was lost to view.

I turned back sadly into the house, which, when I had shut the door,
seemed dark and gloomy, and made my way to the kitchen. In view of the
early start to catch the omnibus, I had volunteered to wash up the
breakfast things, and I now proceeded to get this job off my hands; but
as I dabbled at the big bowl in the scullery sink, my thoughts still
followed the holiday-makers. I saw them mounting the omnibus (it started
from St. Martin's Church), and visualized its pea-green body with the
blessed word "Finchley" in big gold letters. I saw the driver gather up
the reins and the conductor spring up to the monkey-board; and then away
the omnibus rattled, and my thoughts went on ahead to the sweet
countryside and to Maggie, waiting for me at the stile, and waiting in
vain. That was the most grievous part of the affair, and it wrung my
heart to think of it; indeed, if it had not been beneath the dignity of
a young man of nine to shed tears, I think I should have wept.

When I had finished with the crockery, put the plates in the rack and
hung the cups on their hooks, I tidied up the sink and then drifted
through into the kitchen, where I looked about me vaguely, still feeling
rather miserable and unsettled. From the kitchen I wandered into the
parlour, or "best room", where I unlocked the book cupboard and ran my
eye along the shelves. But their contents had no attractions for me. I
didn't want books; I wanted to run in the fields with Maggie and look on
all the things that were so novel and strange to a London boy. So I shut
the cupboard and went back to the kitchen, where, once more, I looked
about me, wondering what I should do to pass the time. It was too early
to think of frying the sausages, and, besides, I was not hungry, having
eaten a substantial breakfast.

It was at this moment that my wandering glance lighted on the clock.
There it hung, stolid-faced, silent, and motionless. What, I wondered,
could be the matter with it? Often enough before had it stopped, but
Aunt Judy's treatment with the bellows had always set it ticking again.
Now the bellows seemed to have lost their magic and the clock would have
to have something different done to it.

But what? Could it be just a matter of old age? Clocks, I realized, grow
old like men; and, thinking of old Mr. Gollidge, I realized also that
old age is not a condition that can be cured. But I was loth to accept
this view and to believe that it had "stopped short, never to go again",
like Grandfather's Clock in the song.

I drew up a high chair, and, mounting it, looked up earnestly at the
familiar face. It was a pleasant old clock, comely and even beautiful in
its homely way, reflecting the simple, honest outlook of the Black
Forest peasants who had made it; the wooden dial painted white with a
circle of fine bold hour-figures ("chapters" they call them in the
trade), a bunch of roses painted on the arch above the dial, and each of
the four corner-spaces, or spandrels, decorated with a sprig of flowers,
all done quite skilfully and with the unerring good taste of the
primitive artist.

From inspection I proceeded to experiment. A gentle pat at the pendulum
set it swinging, but brought no sound of life from within; but when I
turned the minute-hand, as I had seen Aunt Judy do, while the pendulum
still swung, a faint tick was audible; halting and intermittent, but
still a tick. So the clock was not dead. Then I tried a gentle pull at
the chain which bore the weight, whereupon the tick became quite loud
and regular, and went on for some seconds after I ceased to pull, when
it once more died away. But now I had a clue to the mystery. The weight
was not heavy enough to keep the clock going; but since the weight had
not changed, the trouble must be something inside the clock, obstructing
its movements. It couldn't be dust because Aunt Judy had blown it out
thoroughly. Then what could it be?

As I pondered this problem I was assailed by a great temptation. Often
had I yearned to look into the clock and see what its mysterious "works"
were really like, but beyond a furtive peep when the bellows were being
plied, I had never had an opportunity. Now, here was a perfect
opportunity. Aunt Judy, no doubt, would have disapproved, but she need
never know; and, in any case, the clock wouldn't go, so there could be
no harm. Thus reasoning, I unhooked the weight from the chain and set it
down on the chair, and then, not without difficulty, reached up, lifted
the clock off its nail, and, descending cautiously with my prize, laid
it tenderly on the table.

I began by opening the little side doors and the lifting them bodily off
the brass hooks that served as hinges. Now I could see how to take off
the pendulum, and, when I had done this, I carried the clock to the
small table by the window, drew up a chair, and, seating myself,
proceeded to study the interior at my ease. Not that there was much to
study in its simple, artless mechanism. Unlike most of these "Dutch"
clocks, it had no alarum (or perhaps this had been removed), and the
actual "train" consisted of no more than three wheels and two pinions.
Nothing more perfect for the instruction of the beginner could be
imagined. There were, it is true, some mysterious wheels just behind the
dial in a compartment by themselves and evidently connected with the
hands, but these I disregarded for the moment, concentrating my
attention on what I recognized as the clock, proper.

It was here that my natural mechanical aptitude showed itself, for by
the time that I had studied the train in all its parts, considering each
wheel in connection with the pinion to which it was geared, I had begun
to grasp the principle on which the whole thing worked. The next
proceeding was to elucidate the matter by experiment. If you want to
know what effects a wheel produces when it turns, the obvious thing is
to turn the wheel and see what happens. This I proceeded to do,
beginning with the top wheel, as the most accessible, and turning it
very gently with my finger. The result was extremely interesting. Of
course, the next wheel turned slowly in the opposite direction, but, at
the same time, the wire pendulum-crutch wagged rapidly to and fro.

This was quite a discovery. Now I understood what kept the pendulum
swinging and what was the cause of the tick; but, more than this, I now
had a clear idea as to the function of the pendulum as the regulator of
the whole movement. As to the rest of the mechanism, there was little to
discover. I had already noticed the ratchet and pawl connected with the
pulley, and now, when I drew the chain through, the reason why it moved
freely in the one direction and was held immovable in the other was
perfectly obvious; and this made clear the action of the weight in
driving the clock.

There remained the group of wheels in the narrow space behind the dial.
From their position they were less easy to examine, but when I turned
the minute-hand and set them in motion, their action was quite easy to
follow. There were three wheels and one small pinion, and when I moved
the hand round they all turned. But not in the same direction. One wheel
and the pinion turned in the opposite direction to the hand, while the
other two wheels, a large one and a much smaller one, turned with the
hand; and as the large one moved very slowly, being driven by the little
pinion, whereas the small one turned at the same speed as the hand, I
concluded that the small wheel belonged to the minute-hand, while the
large wheel turned the hour-hand. And at this I had to leave it, since
the actual connections could not be ascertained without taking the clock
to pieces.

But now that I had arrived at a general understanding of the clock, the
original problem reappeared. Why wouldn't it go? I had ascertained that
it was structurally complete and undamaged. But yet when it was started
it refused to tick and the pendulum did nothing but wag passively and
presently cease to do even that. When it had stopped on previous
occasions, the bellows had set it going again. Evidently, then, the
cause of the stoppage had been dust. Could it be that dust had at last
accumulated beyond the powers of the bellows? The appearance of the
inside of the clock (and my own fingers) lent support to this view.
Wheels and case alike presented a dry griminess that seemed unfavourable
to easy running. Perhaps the clock simply wanted cleaning.

Reflecting on this, and on the difficulty of getting at the wheels in
the narrow space, it suddenly occurred to me that my tooth-brush would
be the very thing for the purpose. Instantly, I hopped off to my little
bedroom and was back in a few moments with this invaluable instrument in
my hand. Pausing only to make up the fire, which was nearly out, I fell
to work on the clock, scrubbing wheels and pinions and whatever the
brush would reach, with visible benefit to everything, excepting the
brush. When the worst of the grime had been removed, I blew out the
dislodged dust with the bellows and began to consider how I should test
the results of my efforts. There was no need to hang the clock on its
nail (and, indeed, I was not disposed to part with it so soon), but it
must be fixed up somehow so that the weight and the pendulum could hang
free. Eventually, I solved the problem by drawing the small table
towards the large one, leaving a space of about nine inches between
them, and bridging the space with a couple of narrow strips of wood from
a broken-up packing-case. On this bridge I seated the clock, with its
chain and the re-hung pendulum hanging down between the strips. Then I
hooked on the weight and set the pendulum swinging.

The result was disappointing, but yet my labour had not been all in
vain. Start of itself the clock would not, but a slight pull at the
chain elicited the longed-for tick, and thereafter for a full minute it
continued and I could see the scape wheel turning. But there was no
enthusiasm. The pendulum swung in a dead-alive fashion, its excursions
growing visibly shorter, until, at length, the ticking stopped and the
wheel ceased to turn.

It was very discouraging. As I watched the pendulum and saw its
movements slowly die away, I was sensible of a pang of keen
disappointment. But still I felt that I had begun to understand the
trouble and perhaps I might, by taking thought, hit upon some further
remedy. I got up from my chair and wandered restlessly round the room,
earnestly cogitating the problem. Something in the clock was resisting
the pull of the weight. Now, what could it be? Why had the wheels become
more difficult to turn?

So delightfully absorbed was I in seeking the solution of this mystery
that all else had faded out of my mind. Gone was all my depression and
loneliness. The Finchley omnibus was forgotten; Aunt Budgen was as if
she had never been; the green meadows and the pond, and even dear
Maggie, had passed clean out of my consciousness. The clock filled the
field of my mental vision and the only thing in the world that mattered
was the question, What was hindering the movement of its wheels?

Suddenly, in my peregrinations I received an illuminating hint. Stowed
away in the corner was Aunt Judy's sewing-machine. Now sewing-machines
and clocks are not very much alike, but they both have wheels; and it
was known to me that Aunt Judy had a little oil-can with which she used
to anoint the machine. Why did she do that? Obviously, to make the
wheels run more easily. But if the wheels of a sewing-machine needed
oil, why should not those of a clock? The analogy seemed a reasonable
one, and, in any case, there could be no harm in trying. Cautiously, and
not without some qualms of conscience, I lifted the cover of the
machine, and, having found the little, long-snouted oil-can, seized it
and bore it away with felonious glee.

My proceedings with that oil-can will hardly bear telling; they would
have brought tears to the eyes of a clock-maker. I treated my patient as
if it had been an express locomotive with an unlimited thirst for oil.
Impartially, I flooded every moving part, within and without: pallets,
wheel-teeth, pivots, arbors, the chain-pulley, the "motion wheels"
behind the dial, and the centres of the hands. I even oiled the pendulum
rod as well as the crutch that held it. When I had finished, the whole
interior of the clock seemed to have broken out into a greasy
perspiration, and even the woodwork was dark and shiny. But my
thoroughness had one advantage: if I oiled all the wrong places, I oiled
the right ones as well.

At length, when there was not a dry spot left anywhere, I put down the
oil-can, and "in trembling hope" proceeded to make a fresh trial; and
even now, after all these years, I can hardly record the incident
without emotion. A gentle push at the pendulum brought forth at once a
clear and resonant tick, and, looking in eagerly, I could see the scape
wheel turning with an air of purpose and the centre wheel below it
moving steadily in the opposite direction. And it was no flash in the
pan this time. The swing of the pendulum, instead of dying away as
before, grew in amplitude and liveliness to an extent almost beyond
belief. It seemed that, under the magical influence of the oil-can, the
old clock had renewed its youth.

To all of us, I suppose, there have come in the course of our lives
certain moments of joy which stand out as unique experiences. They never
come a second time; for though the circumstances may seem to recur, the
original ecstasy cannot be recaptured. Such a moment was this. As I sat
and gazed in rapture at the old clock, called back to vigorous life by
my efforts, I enjoyed the rare experience of perfect happiness. Many a
time since have I known a similar joy, the joy of complete achievement
(and there is no pleasure like it); but this was the first of its kind,
and, in its perfection, could never be repeated.

Presently, there broke in upon my ecstasy the sound of the church clock,
striking two. I could hardly believe it, so swiftly had the hours sped.
And yet certain sensations of which I suddenly became conscious
confirmed it. In short, I realized that I was ravenously hungry and that
my dinner had yet to be cooked. I set the hands of the clock to the
incredible time and rose to seek the frying-pan. But, hungry as I was, I
could not tear myself away from my darling, and in the end I compromised
by substituting the Dutch oven, which required less attention. Thus I
alternated between cookery and horology, clapping the pudding in the
large oven and then sitting down once more to watch the clock until an
incendiary sausage, bursting into flame with mighty sputterings,
recalled me suddenly to the culinary department.

My cookery was not equal to my horology, at least in its results; yet
never have I so thoroughly enjoyed a meal. Black and brittle the
sausages may have been and the potatoes sodden and greasy. It was no
matter. Hunger and happiness imparted a savour beyond the powers of the
most accomplished chef. With my eyes fixed adoringly on the clock (I had
"laid my place" where I could conveniently watch the movement as I fed),
I devoured the unprepossessing viands with a relish that a gourmet might
have envied.

Of the way in which the rest of the day was spent my recollection is
rather obscure. In the course of the afternoon I washed up the plates
and cleaned the Dutch oven so that Aunt Judy should be free when she
came home; but even as I worked at the scullery sink, I listened
delightedly to the tick of the clock, wafted to my ear through the open
doorway. Later, I made my tea and consumed it, to an _obbligato_
accompaniment of raspberry jam, seated beside the clock; and, when I was
satisfied unto repletion, I washed the tea-things (including the
tea-pot) and set them out tidily in their places on the dresser. That
occupied me until six o'clock, and left me with a full three hours to
wait before Aunt Judy should return.

Incredibly long hours they were, in strange contrast to the swift-footed
hours of the morning. With anxious eyes I watched the minute hand
creeping sluggishly from mark to mark. I even counted the ticks (and
found them ninety-six to the minute), and listened eagerly for the sound
of the church clock, at once relieved and disappointed to find that it
told the same tale. For now my mood had changed somewhat. The joy of
achievement became mingled with impatience for its revelation. I was all
agog to see Aunt Judy's astonishment when she found the clock going and
to hear what she would say. And now, in my mind's eye, the progress of
the Finchley omnibus began to present itself. I followed it from stage
to stage, crawling ever nearer and nearer to St. Martin's Church. With
conscious futility I went out, again and again, to look up the street
along which the revellers would approach, only to turn back for another
glance at the inexorable minute-hand.

At length, the sound of the church clock striking eight admonished me
that it was time to return the clock to its place on the wall. It was an
anxious business, for, even when I had unhooked the weight, it was
difficult for me, standing insecurely on the chair, to reach up to the
nail and find the hole in the back-plate through which it passed. But at
last, after much fumbling, with up-stretched arm and my heart in my
mouth, I felt the clock supported, and, having started the pendulum,
stepped down with a sigh of relief and hooked on the weight. Now, all
that remained to do was to put away the oil-can, wash my tooth-brush at
the scullery sink and take it back to my bedroom; and when I had done
this and lit the gas, I resumed my restless flittings between the
kitchen and the street door.

Nine o'clock had struck when, at long last, from my post on the
doorstep, I saw the home-comers turn the corner and advance up the
lamp-lighted street. Instantly, I darted back into the house to make
sure that the clock was still going, and then, returning, met them
almost on the threshold. Aunt Judy greeted me with a kindly smile and
evidently misinterpreted my eagerness for their return, for, as she
stooped to kiss me, she exclaimed:

"Poor old Nat! I'm afraid it has been a long, dull day for you, and we
were all sorry that you couldn't come. However, there is something to
make up for it. Uncle Alfred has sent you a shilling and Aunt Anne has
sent you some pears; and Maggie has sent you a beautiful pocket-knife.
She was dreadfully disappointed that she couldn't give it to you
herself, because she has been saving up her pocket-money for weeks to
buy it, and you will have to write her a nice letter to thank her."

Now this was all very gratifying, and when the big basket was placed on
the kitchen table and the treasures unloaded from it, I received the
gifts with proper acknowledgements. But they aroused no enthusiasm, not
even the pocket-knife, for I was bursting with impatience for someone to
notice the clock.

"You don't seem so particularly grateful and pleased," said Aunt Judy,
looking at me critically; and then, as I fidgetted about restlessly, she
exclaimed, "What's the matter with the boy? He's on wires!"

She gazed at me with surprise, and Uncle Sam and the old gentleman
turned to look at me curiously. And then, in the momentary silence, Aunt
Judy's quick ear caught the tick of the clock. She looked up at it and
then exclaimed:

"Why, the clock's going; going quite well, too. Did you start it, Nat?
But, of course, you must have done. How did you get it to go?"

With my guilty consciousness of the tooth-brush and the borrowed
oil-can, I was disposed to be evasive.

"Well, you see, Aunt Judy," I explained, "it was rather dirty inside, so
I just gave it a bit of a clean and put a little oil on the wheels.
That's all."

Aunt Judy smiled grimly, but asked no further questions.

"I suppose," said she, "I ought to scold you for meddling with the clock
without permission, but as you've made it go we'll say no more about
it."

"No," agreed old Mr. Gollidge, "I don't see as how you could scold the
boy for doing a useful bit of work. The job does him credit and shows
that he's got some sense; and sense is what gets a man on in life."

With this satisfactory conclusion to the adventure, I was free to enter
into the enjoyment of my newly-acquired wealth; and, having sampled the
edible portion of it and tested the knife on a stick of fire-wood, spent
the short remainder of the evening in rapturous contemplation of my new
treasures and the rejuvenated clock. I had never possessed a shilling
before, and now, as I examined Uncle Alfred's gift and polished it with
my handkerchief, visions of its immense potentialities floated vaguely
through my mind; and continued to haunt me, in company with the clock,
even when I had blown out my candle and snuggled down into my narrow
bed.




CHAPTER II
THE PICKPOCKET'S LEAVINGS


It was shortly after my eleventh birthday that I conceived a really
brilliant idea. It was generated by a card in the shop window of our
medical attendant, Dr. Pope (in those days, doctors practising in humble
neighbourhoods used to keep what were euphemistically described as "Open
Surgeries", but which were, in effect, druggists' shops), bearing the
laconic announcement, "Boy wanted." I looked at the card and debated
earnestly the exact connotation of the word "wanted". It was known to me
that some of my schoolfellows contrived to pick up certain pecuniary
trifles by delivering newspapers before school hours or doing small jobs
in the evenings. Was it possible that the boy wanted by Dr. Pope might
thus combine remunerative with scholastic industry? There could be no
harm in enquiring.

I entered, and, finding the Doctor secretly compounding medicine in a
sort of hiding-place at the end of the counter, proceeded to state my
case without preamble.

The Doctor put his head round the corner and surveyed me somewhat
disparagingly.

"You're a very small boy," he remarked.

"Yes, Sir," I admitted, "but I am very strong for my size."

He didn't appear much impressed by this, but proceeded to enquire:

"Did Mrs. Gollidge tell you to apply?"

"No, Sir," I replied, "it's my own idea. You see, Sir, I've been rather
an expense to Aunt Judy--Mrs. Gollidge, I mean--and I thought that if I
could earn a little money, it would be useful."

"A very proper idea, too," said the Doctor, apparently more impressed by
my explanation than by my strength. "Very well. Come round this evening
when you leave school. Come straight here, and you can have some tea,
and then you can take a basket of medicine and see how you get on with
it. I expect you will find it a bit heavy."

"It will get lighter as I go on, Sir," said I; on which the Doctor
smiled quite pleasantly, and, having admonished me to be punctual,
retired to his hiding-place, and I departed in triumph.

But the Doctor's prediction turned out to be only too correct; for when
I lifted the deep basket, stacked with bottles of medicine, I was rather
shocked by its weight and had to remind myself of my own prediction that
the weight would be a diminishing quantity. That was an encouraging
reflection. Moreover, there had been agreeable preliminaries in the form
of a Gargantuan tea, including a boiled egg and marmalade, provided by
Mrs. Stubbs, the Doctor's fat and jovial housekeeper. So I hooked the
basket boldly on my arm--and presently shifted it to the other one--and
set forth on my round, consulting the written list provided for me and
judiciously selecting the nearest addresses to visit first and thereby
lighten the basket for the more distant ones.

Still, there was no denying that it was heavy work for a small boy, and
when I had made a second round with a fresh consignment, I felt that I
had had enough for one day; and when I returned the empty basket, I was
relieved to learn that there was nothing more to deliver.

"Well," said the Doctor as I handed in the basket, "how did you get on?"

"All right, thank you, Sir," I replied, "but I think it would be easier
if I put rather less in the basket and made more journeys."

The Doctor smiled approvingly. "Yes," he agreed, "that's quite a
sensible idea. Give your legs a bit more to do and save your arms. Very
well; you think you can do the job?"

"I am sure I can, Sir, and I should like to."

"Good," said he. "The pay will be three and sixpence a week. That suit
you?"

It seemed to me an enormous sum, and I agreed gleefully; which closed
the transaction and sent me homewards rejoicing and almost oblivious of
my fatigue.

A further reward awaited me when I arrived home. Aunt Judy, it is true,
had professed disapproval of the arrangement as interfering with my
"schooling"; but the substantial hot supper seemed more truly to express
her sentiments. It recognized my new status as a working man and my
effort to pull my weight in the family boat.

The next day's work proved much less arduous, for I put my plan into
operation by sorting out the bottles into groups belonging to particular
localities, and thus contrived never to have the basket more than half
full. This brought the work well within my powers, so that the end of
the day found me no more than pleasantly tired; and the occupation was
not without its interest, to say nothing of the dignity of my position
as a wage-earner. But the full reward of my industry came when,
returning home on Saturday night, I was able to set down my three
shillings and sixpence on the kitchen table before Aunt Judy, who was
laying the supper. The little heap of silver coins, a florin, a
shilling, and a sixpence, made a quite impressive display of wealth. I
looked at it with proud satisfaction--and also with a certain wistful
curiosity as to whether any of that wealth might be coming my way. I had
faint hopes of the odd sixpence, and watched a little anxiously as Aunt
Judy spread out the heap with a considering air. Eventually, she picked
up the florin and the sixpence, and, pushing the shilling towards me,
suddenly put her arm round my neck and kissed me.

"You're a good boy, Nat," said she; and as she released me and dropped
the money in her pocket, I picked up my shilling and turned away to hide
the tears that had started to my eyes. Aunt Judy was not a demonstrative
woman; but, like many undemonstrative persons, could put a great deal of
meaning into a very few words. Half a dozen words and a kiss sweetened
my labours for many a day thereafter.

My peregrinations with the basket had, among other effects, that of
widening the range of my knowledge of the geography of London. In my
early days that knowledge was limited to the few streets that I
traversed on my way to and from school, to certain quiet backwaters in
which one could spin tops at one's convenience or play games without
undue interruption, and certain other quiet streets in which one was
likely to find the street entertainer: the acrobat, the juggler, the
fire-eater, or, best of all, the Punch and Judy show.

But now the range of my travels coincided with that of Dr. Pope's
practice and led me far beyond the limits of the familiar neighbourhood;
and quite pleasant these explorations were, for they brought me into new
streets with new shops in them which provided new entertainment. I think
shops were more interesting then than they are in these days of
mass-production and uniformity, particularly in an old-fashioned
neighbourhood where the crafts were still flourishing. A special
favourite was Wardour Street, with its picture-frame makers, its antique
shops filled with wonderful furniture and pictures and statuettes and
gorgeous clocks.

But the shop that always brought me to a halt was that of M. Chanot, the
violin-maker, which had, hanging on the door-jamb by way of a trade
sign, a gigantic bow (or fiddlestick, as I should have described it). It
was stupendous. As I gazed at it with the fascination that the juvenile
mind discovers in things gigantic or diminutive, my imagination strove
to picture the kind of fiddle that could be played with it and the kind
of Titan who could have held the fiddle. And then, as a foil to its
enormity, there hung in the window an infant violin, a "kit" such as
dancing-masters were wont to carry in the skirt pockets of their ample
frock-coats.

A few doors from M. Chanot's was the shop of a second-hand bookseller
which was also one of the attractions of the street; for it was from the
penny and twopenny boxes that my modest library was chiefly recruited.
On the present occasion, having paid my respects to the Lilliputian
fiddle and the Brobdingnagian bow, I passed on to see what treasures the
boxes had to offer. Naturally, I tried the penny box first as being more
adapted to my financial resources. But there was nothing in it which
specially attracted me; whereupon I turned my attention to the twopenny
box.

Now, if I were disposed to moralize, I might take this opportunity to
reflect on the momentous consequences which may emerge from the most
insignificant antecedents. For my casual rooting about in the twopenny
box started a train of events which profoundly influenced my life in two
respects, and in one so vitally that, but for the twopenny box, this
story could never have been written.

I had turned over nearly all the contents of the box when from the
lowest stratum I dredged up a shabby little volume the spine of which
bore in faded gold lettering the title, "Clocks and Locks; Denison." The
words instantly rivetted my attention. Shifting the basket to free both
my hands, I opened the book at random and was confronted by a beautiful
drawing of the interior of a common house-clock, clearly displaying the
whole mechanism. It was a wonderful drawing. With fascinated eyes I
pored over it, comparing it rapidly with the well-remembered Dutch clock
at home and noting new and unfamiliar features. Then I turned over the
leaves and discovered other drawings of movements and escapements on
which I gazed in rapture. I had never supposed that there was such a
book in the world.

Suddenly I was assailed by a horrible doubt. Had I got twopence? Here
was the chance of a lifetime; should I have to let it slip? Putting the
basket down on the ground, I searched feverishly through my pockets; but
search as I might even in the most unlikely pockets, the product
amounted to no more than a single penny. It was an awful predicament. I
had set my heart on that book, and the loss of it was a misfortune that
I shuddered to contemplate. Yet there was the grievous fact; the price
of the book was twopence and I had only a penny.

Revolving this appalling situation, I thought of a possible way out of
the difficulty. Leaving my basket on the pavement (a most reprehensible
thing to do; but no one wants to steal medicine, and there were only
three bottles left), I stepped into the shop with the book in my hand
and deferentially approached the bookseller, a stuffy-looking elderly
man.

"I want to buy this book, Sir," I explained, timorously, "but it is
twopence, and I have only got a penny. Will you keep it for me if I
leave the penny as a deposit? I hope you will, Sir. I very much want to
have the book."

He looked at me curiously, and, taking the little volume from me,
glanced at the title and then turned over the leaves.

"Clocks, hey," said he. "Know anything about clocks?"

"Not much, Sir," I replied, "but I should like to learn some more."

"Well," said he, "you'll know all about them when you have read that
book; but it is stiffish reading for a boy."

He handed it back to me, and I laid my penny on it and put it down on
the counter.

"I will try to call for it this evening, Sir," said I, "and pay the
other penny; and you'll take great care of it, Sir, won't you?"

My earnestness seemed to amuse him, but his smile was a kindly and
approving smile.

"You can take it away with you," said he, "and then you will make sure
of it."

Tears of joy and gratitude rose to my eyes, so that I had nearly taken
up the penny as well as the book. I thanked him shyly but warmly and,
picking up the precious volume, went out with it in my hand. But even
now I paused to take another look at my treasure before resuming charge
of the neglected basket. At length I bestowed the book in my pocket,
and, returning to my proper business, took up the basket and was about
to sort out the remaining three bottles when I made a most surprising
discovery. At the bottom of the basket, beside the bottles, lay a
leather wallet. I gazed at it in astonishment. Of course, it was not
mine, and I had not put it there, nor, I was certain, had it been there
when I went into the shop. Someone must have put it in during my short
absence. But why should anyone present me with a wallet? It could hardly
have been dropped into the basket by accident; but yet----

I picked it out and examined it curiously, noting that it had an elastic
band to keep it closed but that nevertheless it was open. Then I
ventured to inspect the inside, but, beyond a few stamps and a quantity
of papers, it seemed to contain nothing of interest to me. Besides, it
was not mine. I was still puzzling over it when I became aware of a
policeman approaching down the street in company with a short,
wrathful-looking elderly gentleman who appeared to be talking excitedly
while the constable listened with an air of resignation. Just as they
reached me, the gentleman caught sight of the wallet and immediately
rushed at me and snatched it out of my hand.

"Here you are, Constable," he exclaimed, "here is the stolen property
and here is the thief, taken red-handed."

"Red-handed be blowed," said the constable. "You said just now that you
saw the man run away, and you've led me a dance a-chasing him. You had
better see if there is anything missing.'"

But the wrathful gentleman had already seen that there was.

"Yes!" he roared, "there were three five-pound notes, and they're gone!
Stolen! Fifteen pounds! But I'll have satisfaction. I give this young
villain in charge. Perhaps he has the notes on him still. We'll have him
searched at the station."

"Now, now," said the constable, soothingly, "don't get excited, Sir.
Softly, softly, you catch the monkey. You said that you saw the man run
off."

"So I did; but, of course, this young rascal is a confederate, and I
give him in charge."

"Wait a minute, Sir. Let's hear what he's got to say. Now, young shaver,
tell us how you came by that pocket-book."

I described the circumstances, including my absence in the shop, and the
constable, having listened patiently, went in and verified my statement
by questioning the bookseller.

"There, Sir, you see," said he when he came out, "it's quite simple. The
pickpocket fished the notes out of your wallet and then, as he was
making off, he looked for some place where he could drop the empty case
out of sight, and there was this boy's basket with no one looking after
it, just the very place he wanted. So he dropped it in as he passed.
Wouldn't have done to drop it in the street where some one might have
seen it and run after him to give it back."

The angry gentleman shook his head. "I can't accept that," said he.
"It's only a guess, and an unlikely one at that."

"But," the constable protested, "it's what they always do: drop the
empty purses or pocket-books in a doorway or a dark corner or post them
in pillar-boxes--anywhere to get the incriminating stuff out of sight.
It's common sense."

But the gentleman was obdurate. "No, no," he persisted, "that won't do.
The common sense of it is that I found this boy with the stolen property
in his possession, and I insist on giving him in charge."

The constable was in a dilemma, but he was a sensible man and he made
the best of it.

"Well, Sir," he said, "if you insist, I suppose we must walk round to
the station and report the affair. But I can tell you that the inspector
won't take the charge."

"He'll have to," retorted the other, "when I have made my statement."

The constable looked at him sourly and then turned to me almost
apologetically.

"Well, sonny," said he, "you'll have to come along to the station and
see what the inspector has to say."

"Can't I deliver my medicines first?" I pleaded. "The people may be
wanting them, and there are only three bottles."

The policeman grinned but evidently appreciated my point of view, for he
replied, still half-apologetically:

"You're quite right, my lad, but I don't suppose they'll be any the
worse for a few minutes more without their physic, and the station is
quite handy. Come, now; step out."

But even now the irate gentleman was not satisfied.

"Aren't you going to hold him so that he doesn't escape?" he demanded.

Then, for the first time, the patient constable showed signs of temper.
"No, Sir," he replied, brusquely, "I am not going to drag a respectable
lad through the streets as if he had committed a crime when I know he
hasn't."

That settled the matter, and we walked on with the manner of a family
party. But it was an uncomfortable experience. To a boy of my age, a
police station is a rather alarming sort of place; and the fact that I
was going to be charged with a robbery was a little disturbing. However,
the constable's attitude was reassuring, and, as we traversed Great
Marlborough Street and at last entered the grim doorway, I was only
moderately nervous.

The proceedings were, as my constabulary friend had foreseen, quite
brief. The policeman made his concise report to the inspector, I
answered the few questions that the officer asked, and the gentleman
made his statement, incriminating me.

"Where did the robbery take place?" the inspector asked.

"In Berwick Street," was the reply. "I was leaning over a stall when I
felt myself touched, and then a man moved away quickly through the
crowd; and then I missed my wallet and gave chase."

"You were leaning over a stall," the inspector repeated. "Now, how on
earth did he get at your wallet?"

"It was in my coat-tail pocket," the gentleman explained.

"In your coat-tail pocket!" the inspector repeated, incredulously; "with
fifteen pounds in it, and you leaning over a stall in a crowded street!
Why, Sir, it was a free gift to a pickpocket."

"I suppose I can carry my wallet where I please," the other snapped.

"Certainly you can--at your own risk. Well, I can't accept the charge
against this boy. There is no evidence; in fact, there isn't even any
suspicion. It would be only wasting the magistrate's time. But I will
take the boy's name and address and make a few inquiries. And I will
take yours too and let you know if anything transpires."

He took my name and address (and my accuser made a note of them), and
that, so far as I was concerned, finished the business. I took up my
basket and went forth a free boy in company with my friend the
policeman. In Great Marlborough Street we parted, he to return to his
beat, and I to the remainder of my round of deliveries.

So ended an incident that had, at one time, looked quite threatening.
And yet it had not really ended. Perhaps no incident ever does truly
end. For every antecedent begets consequences. Coming events cast their
shadows before them; but those shadows usually remain invisible until
the events which have cast them have, themselves, come into view.
Indeed, it befalls thus almost from necessity; for how can a shadow be
identified otherwise than by comparison with the substance?

But I shall not here anticipate the later passages of my story. The
consequences will emerge in their proper place. I may, however, refer
briefly to the more immediate reactions, though these also had their
importance later. The little book which I had purchased (and paid for
the same evening) was a treatise on clocks and locks by that
incomparable master of horology and mechanism, Edmund Beckett Denison
(later to be known as Lord Grimthorpe). It was an invaluable book, and
it became my chiefest treasure. Carefully wrapped in a protective cover
of brown paper, the precious volume was henceforth my constant
companion. The abstruse mathematical sections I had regretfully to pass
over, but the descriptive parts were read and re-read until I could have
recited them from memory. Even the drawings of the Great Westminster
Clock, which had at first appeared so bewildering, became intelligible
by repeated study, and the intricacies of gravity escapements and
maintaining powers grew simple by familiarity.

Thus did the revered E. B. Denison add a new delight to my life. Not
only was every clock-maker's window a thing of beauty and a provider of
quiet pleasure, but an object so lowly as the lock of the scullery
door--detached by Uncle Sam and by me carefully dismembered--was made to
furnish an entertainment compared with which even the Punch and Judy
show paled into insignificance.




CHAPTER III
OUT OF THE NEST


A certain philosopher, whose name I cannot recall, has, I understand,
discovered that there are several different kinds of time. He is not
referring to those which are known to astronomers, such as sidereal mean
or apparent time, which differ only in terms of measurement, but to time
as it affects the young, the middle-aged and the old.

The discovery is not a new one. Shakespeare has told us that "Time
travels in divers paces with divers persons", and, for me, the poet's
statement is more to the point (and perhaps more true) than the
philosopher's. For I am thinking of one "who Time ambles withal", or
even "who he stands still withal"; to wit, myself in the capacity of Dr.
Pope's bottle-boy. That stage of my existence seemed, and still seems,
looking back on it, to have lasted for half a lifetime; whereas it
occupied, in actual fact, but a matter of months.

It came to an end when I was about thirteen, principally by my own act.
I had begun to feel that I was making unfair inroads on the family
resources, for, though the school that I attended was an inexpensive
one, it was not one of the cheapest. Aunt Judy had insisted that I
should have a decent education and not mix with boys below our own
class, and accordingly she had sent me to the school conducted by the
clergyman of our parish, the Reverend Stephen Page, which was attended
by the sons of the local shop-keepers and better-class working men. But
modest as the school fees were, their payment entailed some sacrifice;
for, though we were not poor, still Uncle Sam's earnings as a journeyman
cabinet-maker were only thirty shillings a week. Old Mr. Gollidge, who
did light jobs in a carpenter's shop, made a small contribution, and
there was half-a-crown a week from my wages; but, when all was said, it
was a tight fit and must have taxed Aunt Judy's powers of management
severely to maintain the standard of comfort in which we lived.

Moved by these considerations (and perhaps influenced by the monotonous
alternation of school and bottle-basket), I ventured to put the case to
Aunt Judy and was relieved to find that she took my suggestions
seriously and was obviously pleased with me for making them.

"There is something in what you say, Nat," she admitted. "But remember
that your schooling has got to last you for life. It's the foundation
that you've got to build on, and it would be bad economy to skimp that."

"Quite right," Uncle Sam chimed in. "You can't make a mahogany table out
of deal. Save on the material at the start and you spoil the job."

"Still," I urged, "a penny saved is a penny earned," at which Aunt Judy
laughed and gave me a playful pat on the head.

"You are a queer, old-fashioned boy, Nat," said she, "but perhaps you
are none the worse for that. Well, I'll see Mr. Page and ask him what he
thinks about it, and I shall do exactly what he advises. Will that
satisfy you?"

I agreed readily enough, having the profoundest respect and admiration
for my schoolmaster. For the Reverend Stephen Page, though he disdained
not to teach the sons of working men, was a distinguished man in his
way. He was a Master of Arts--though of what arts I never
discovered--and a Senior Wrangler. That is what was stated on the School
prospectus, so it must have been true; but I could never understand it,
for a less quarrelsome or contentious man you could not imagine. At any
rate, he was a most unmistakable gentleman, and, if he had taught us
nothing else, his example of good manners, courtesy and kindliness would
have been a liberal education in itself.

I was present at the interview, and very satisfactory I found it. Aunt
Judy stated the problem and Mr. Page listened sympathetically. Then he
pronounced judgement in terms that rather surprised me as coming from a
schoolmaster.

"Education and schooling, Mrs. Gollidge, are not quite the same thing.
When a boy leaves school to learn a trade, he is not ending his
education. Some might say that he is only beginning it. At any rate, the
knowledge and skill by which he will earn his living and maintain his
family when he has one, and be a useful member of society, is the really
indispensable knowledge. Our young friend has a good groundwork of what
simple folk call book-learning, and, if he wants to increase it, there
are books from which he can learn. Meanwhile, I don't think that he is
too young to begin the serious business of life."

That question, then, was settled, and the next one was how the beginning
was to be made. As a temporary measure, "while we were looking about",
Uncle Sam managed to plant me on his employer, Mr. Beeby, as workshop
boy at a salary of five shillings a week. So it came about that I made
my final round with the bottles, handed in the basket for the last time,
drew my wages and, on the following morning, set forth in company with
Uncle Sam _en route_ for Mr. Beeby's workshop in Broad Street. There was
only one occupant when we arrived: a round-shouldered, beetle-browed,
elderly man with rolled-up shirt-sleeves, a linen apron and a square
brown-paper cap such as workmen commonly wore in those days, who was
operating with a very small saw on a piece of wood that was clamped in
the bench-vice. He looked up as we entered and remarked:

"So this is the young shaver, is it? There ain't much of him. He'll have
to stand on six pennorth of coppers if he is going to work at a bench.
Never mind, youngster. You'll be a man before your mother," and with
this he returned to his work with intense concentration (I discovered,
presently, that he was cutting the pins of a set of dovetails), and
Uncle Sam, having provided me with a broom, set me to work at sweeping
up the shavings, picking up the little pieces of waste wood and putting
them into the large open box in which they were thriftily stored for use
in odd jobs. Then he took off his coat, rolled up his sleeves and put on
his apron and paper cap; in which costume he seemed to me to be invested
with a new dignity; and when he fell to work with a queer-looking,
lean-bodied plane on the edge of a slab of mahogany, miraculously
producing on it an elegant moulding, I felt that I had never properly
appreciated him. Presently the third member of the staff arrived, a
young journeyman named Will Foster. He had evidently heard of me, for he
saluted me with a friendly grin and a few words of welcome while he was
unrobing and getting into working trim. Then he, too, set to work with
an air of business on his particular job, the carcase of a small chest
of drawers; and I noticed that each of the three men was engaged on his
own piece of work, independently of the others. And this I learned later
was Mr. Beeby's rule, so far as it was practicable. "If a man carries
his own job right through," he once explained to me, "and does it well,
he gets all the credit; and if he does it badly, he takes all the
blame." It seemed a sensible rule. But that was an age of individualism.

I shall not follow in detail my experiences during the few months that I
spent in Mr. Beeby's workshop. My service there was but an interlude
between school and my real start in life. But it was a useful interlude,
and I have never regretted it. As I was not an apprentice, I received no
formal instruction. But little was needed when I had the opportunity of
watching three highly expert craftsmen and following their methods from
the preliminary sketch to the finished work; and I did, in fact, get a
good many useful tips besides the necessary instruction in my actual
duties.

As to these, they gradually extended as time went on from mere sweeping,
cleaning and tidying to more technical activities, but, from the first,
the glue-pots were definitely assigned to me. Once for all, the whole
art and mystery of the preparation and care of glue was imparted to me.
Every night I emptied and cleaned the glue-pots and put the fresh glue
in to soak, for Mr. Beeby would have nothing to do with stale glue; and
every morning, as soon as I arrived, I set the pots of fresh glue on the
workshop stove. Then, by degrees, I began to learn the use of tools; to
saw along a pencil line, to handle a chisel and a jack-plane (with the
aid of an improvised platform to bring my elbows to the bench level) and
to use the marking gauge and the try-square, so that, presently, I
became proficient enough to be given small, rough jobs of sawing and
planing to save the time of the skilled workmen.

It was all very interesting (what creative work is not?), and I was
happy enough in the workshop with its pleasant atmosphere of quiet,
unhurried industry. I liked to watch these three skilful craftsmen doing
difficult things with unconscious ease and a misleading appearance of
leisureliness, and I learned that this apparently effortless precision
was really the result of habitual concentration. The fact was expounded
to me by Mr. Beeby on an appropriate occasion.

"You've given yourself the trouble, my lad, of doing that twice over.
Now the way to work quickly is to work carefully. Attend to what you are
doing and see that you make no mistakes."

It was a valuable precept, which I have never forgotten and have always
tried to put into practice; indeed, I find myself, to this day,
profiting from Mr. Beeby's practical wisdom.

But though I was interested and happy in my work, my heart was not in
cabinet-making. Clocks and watches still held my affections, and, on
most evenings, the short interval between supper and bedtime was
occupied in reading and re-reading the books on horology that I
possessed. I now had a quite respectable little library; for my good
friend, Mr. Strutt, the Wardour Street bookseller, was wont to put aside
for me any works on the subject that came into his hands, and I suspect
that, in the matter of price, he frequently tempered the wind to the
shorn lamb.

Thus, though I went about my work contentedly, there lurked always at
the back of my mind the hope that some day a chance might present itself
for me to get a start on the career of a clock-maker. Apprenticeship was
not to be thought of, for the family resources were not equal to a
premium. But there might be other ways. Meanwhile, I tended the
glue-pots and cherished my dream in secret; and in due course, by very
indirect means, the dream became a reality.

The chance came, all unperceived at first, on a certain morning in the
sixth month of my servitude, when a burly, elderly man came into the
workshop carrying a brown-paper parcel. I recognized him instantly as
Mr. Abraham, the clock-maker, whose shop in Foubert's Place had been
familiar to me since my earliest childhood, and I cast an inquisitive
eye on the parcel as he unfastened it on the bench, watched impassively
by Mr. Beeby. To my disappointment, the unwrapping disclosed only an
empty clock-case, and a mighty shabby one at that. Still, even an empty
case had a faint horological flavour.

"Well," said Mr. Beeby, turning it over disparagingly, "it's a bit of a
wreck. Shockingly knocked about, and some fool has varnished it with a
brush. But it has been a fine case in its time, and it can be again.
What do you want us to do with it? Make it as good as new, I suppose."

"Better," replied Mr. Abraham with a persuasive smile.

"Now, you mustn't be unreasonable," said Beeby. "That case was made by a
first-class tradesman and no one could make it any better. No hurry for
it, I suppose? May as well let us take our time over it."

To this Mr. Abraham agreed, being a workman himself; and, after some
brief negotiations as to the cost of the repairs, he took his departure.
When he had gone, Mr. Beeby picked up the "wreck", and, exhibiting it to
Uncle Sam, remarked:

"It wants a lot of doing to it, but it will pay for a bit of careful
work. Care to take it on when you've finished that table?"

Uncle Sam took it on readily, having rather a liking for renovations of
good old work; and when he had clamped up some glued joints on his
table, fell to work forthwith on the case, dismembering it, as a
preliminary measure, with a thoroughness that rather horrified me, until
it seemed to be reduced to little more than a collection of fragments.
But I realized the necessity for the dismemberment when I saw him making
the repairs and restorations on the separated parts, unhampered by their
connections with the others.

I followed his proceedings from day to day with deep interest as the
work grew; first, when all the old varnish had been cleaned off, the
cutting away of damaged parts, then the artful insetting of new pieces
and their treatment with stain until from staring patches they became
indistinguishable from the old. So it went on, the battered old parts
growing newer and smarter every day with no visible trace of the
repairs, and, at last, when the fresh polish was hard, the separated
parts were put together and the transformation was complete. The shabby
old wreck had been changed into a brand-new case.

"Well, Sam," said Mr. Beeby, looking at it critically as its restorer
stood it on the newly finished table, "you've made a job of that. It's
good now for another hundred years. Ought to satisfy Abraham. Nat might
as well run round presently and let him know that it's finished."

"Why shouldn't he take it with him?" Uncle Sam suggested.

Mr. Beeby considered the suggestion and eventually, having admonished me
to carry the case carefully, adopted it. Accordingly, the case was
wrapped in one or two clean dusters and tied up with string, leaving the
gilt top handle exposed for convenience of carrying, and I went forth
all agog to see how Mr. Abraham would be impressed by Uncle Sam's
wizardry.

I found that gentleman seated at his counter writing on a card, and, as
the inscription was in large Roman capitals, my eye caught at a glance
the words, "Smart youth wanted". He rounded off the final D and then
looked up at me and enquired:

"You are Mr. Beeby's apprentice, aren't you? Is that the case?"

"This is the case, Sir," I replied, "but I am not an apprentice. I am
the workshop boy."

"Oh!" said he, "I thought you were an apprentice, as you were working at
the bench. Well, let's see what sort of a job they've made of the case.
Bring it in here."

He preceded me into a small room at the back of the shop which was
evidently the place where he worked, and here, having cleared a space on
a side bench, he took the case from me and untied the string. When the
removal of the dusters revealed the case in all its magnificence, he
regarded it with a chuckle of satisfaction.

"It looks a bit different from what it did when you saw it last, Sir," I
ventured to remark.

He seemed a little surprised, for he gave me a quick glance before
replying.

"You're right, my boy; I wouldn't have believed it possible. But there,
every man to his trade, and Mr. Beeby is a master of his."

"It was my uncle, Mr. Gollidge, that did the repairs, Sir," I informed
him, bearing in mind Mr. Beeby's rule that the doer of a good job should
have the credit. Again Mr. Abraham looked at me, curiously, as he
rejoined:

"Then your uncle is a proper tradesman and I take my hat off to him."

I thanked him for the compliment, the latter part of which was evidently
symbolical, as he was bareheaded, and then asked:

"Is that the clock that belongs to the case, Sir?" and I pointed to a
bracket clock with a handsome brass, silver-circled dial which stood on
a shelf, supported by a movement-holder.

"You're quite right," he replied. "That's the clock; all clean and
bright and ready for fixing. Would you like to see it in its case?
Because, if so, you may as well help me to put it in."

I agreed, joyfully, and as he released the movement from the holder, I
unlocked and opened the back door of the case and "stood by" for further
instructions, watching intently every stage of the procedure. There was
not much for me to do beyond steadying the case and fetching the screws
and the screwdriver; but I was learning how a bracket clock was fixed
into its case, and when, at last, the job was finished and the fine old
clock stood complete in all its beauty and dignity, I had the feeling
of, at least, having been a collaborator in the achievement.

It had been a great experience. But all the time, a strong under-current
of thought had been running at the back of my mind. "Smart youth
wanted." Was I a smart youth? Honest self-inspection compelled me to
admit that I was not. But perhaps the smartness was only a rhetorical
flourish, and in any case, it doesn't do to be too modest. Eventually I
plucked up courage to ask:

"Were you wanting a boy, Sir?"

"Yes," he replied. "Do you know of one who wants a job?"

"I was wondering, Sir, if I should be suitable."

"You!" he exclaimed. "But you've got a place. Aren't you satisfied with
it?"

"Oh, yes, Sir, I'm quite satisfied. Mr. Beeby is a very good master. But
I've always wanted to get into the clock trade."

He looked down at me with a broad smile. "My good boy," said he,
"cleaning a clock-maker's window and sweeping a clock-maker's floor
won't get you very far in the clock trade."

It sounded discouraging, but I was not put off. Experience had taught me
that there are boys and boys. As Dr. Pope's bottle boy I had learned
nothing and gained nothing but the weekly wage. As Mr. Beeby's workshop
boy I had learned the rudiments of cabinet-making and was learning more
every day.

"It would be a start, Sir, and I think I could make myself useful," I
protested.

"I daresay you could," said he (he had seen me working at the bench),
"and I would be willing to have you. But what about Mr. Beeby? If you
suit him, it wouldn't be right for me to take you away from him."

"Of course, I should have to stay with him until he had got another
boy."

"And there is your uncle. Do you think he would let you make the
change?"

"I don't think he would stand in my way, Sir. But I'll ask him."

"Very well," said he. "You put it to him, and I'll have a few words with
Mr. Beeby when I call to settle up."

"And you won't put that card in the window, Sir," I urged.

He smiled at my eagerness but was not displeased; indeed, it was evident
to me that he was well impressed and very willing to have me.

"No," he agreed, "I'll put that aside for the present."

Much relieved, I thanked him and took my leave; and as I wended homeward
to dinner I prepared myself, a little nervously, for the coming
conference.

But it went off more easily than I had expected. Uncle Sam, indeed, was
strongly opposed to the change ("just as the boy had got his foot in and
was beginning to learn the trade"), and he was disposed to enlarge on
the subject of rolling stones. But Aunt Judy was more understanding.

"I don't know, Sam," said she, "but what the boy's right. His heart is
set on clocks, and he'll be happier working among things that he likes
than going on with the cabinet-making. But I'm afraid Mr. Beeby won't be
pleased."

That was what I was afraid of. But here again my fears proved to be
unfounded. On the principle of grasping the nettle, I attacked him as
soon as we returned to the workshop after dinner; and certainly, as he
listened to my proposal with his great eyebrows lowered in a frown of
surprise, he seemed rather alarming, and I began to "look out for
squalls". But when I had finished my explanations, he addressed me so
kindly and in such a fatherly manner that I was quite taken aback and
almost regretful that I had thought of the change.

"Well, my son," said he, "I shall be sorry to lose you. If you had
stayed with me I would have given you your indentures free, because you
have got the makings of a good workman. But if the clock trade is your
fancy and you have a chance to get into it, you are wise to take that
chance. A tradesman's heart ought to be in his trade. You go to Mr.
Abraham and I'll give you a good character. And you needn't wait for me.
Take the job at once and get a start, but look us up now and again and
tell us how you are getting on."

I wanted to thank Mr. Beeby, but was too overcome to say much. However,
he understood. And now--such is human perversity--I suddenly discovered
an unsuspected charm in the workshop and an unwillingness to tear myself
away from it; and when "knocking-off time" came and I stowed my little
collection of tools in the rush basket to carry away, my eyes filled and
I said my last "good night" in an absurd, tremulous squeak.

Nevertheless, I took Mr. Abraham's shop in my homeward route and found
it still open; a fact which I noted with slight misgivings as suggestive
of rather long hours. As I entered, my prospective employer rose from
the little desk at the end of the counter and confronted me with a look
of enquiry; whereupon I informed him briefly of the recent developments
and explained that I was now a free boy.

"Very well," said he; "then I suppose you want the job. It's five
shillings a week and your tea--unless," he added as an afterthought,
"you'd rather run round and have it at home. Will that suit you?
Because, if it will, you can come to-morrow morning at half-past eight
and I will show you how to take down the shutters."

Thus, informally, were my feet set upon the road which I was to tread
all the days of my life; a road which was to lead me, through many a
stormy passage, to the promised land which is now my secure
abiding-place.




CHAPTER IV
THE INNOCENT ACCESSORY


The ancient custom of hanging out a distinctive shop sign still
struggles for existence in old-fashioned neighbourhoods. In ours there
were several examples. A ham-and-beef merchant proclaimed the nature of
his wares by a golden ham dangled above his shop front; a gold-beater
more appropriately exhibited a golden arm wielding a formidable mallet;
several barbers in different streets displayed the phlebotomist's pole
with its spiral hint of blood and bandages; and Mr. Abraham announced
the horologer's calling by a large clock projecting on a bracket above
his shop.

They all had their uses, but it seemed to me that Mr. Abraham's was most
to the point. For whereas the golden ham could do no more for you than
make your mouth water, leaving you to seek satisfaction within, and the
barber's offer to "let blood" was a pure fiction (at least, you hoped
that it was), Mr. Abraham's sign did actually make you a free gift of
the time of day. Moreover, for advertising purposes the clock was more
efficient. Ham and gold leaf supply only occasional needs; but time is a
commodity in constant demand. Its sign was a feature of the little
street observed by all wayfarers, and thus conferred distinction on the
small, antiquated shop that it surmounted.

At the door of that shop the tenant was often to be seen, looking up and
down the street with placid interest and something of a proprietary air;
and so I found him, refreshing himself with a pinch of snuff, when I
arrived at twenty-six minutes past eight on the morning after my
engagement. He received me with unexpected geniality, and, putting away
the tortoise-shell snuff-box and glancing up approvingly at the clock,
proceeded forthwith to introduce me to the art and mystery of taking
down the shutters, including the secret disposal of the padlock. The
rest of the daily procedure--the cleaning of the small-paned window, the
sweeping of the floor, and such dusting as was necessary--he indicated
in general terms, and, having shown me where the brooms and other
cleaning appliances were kept, retired to the little workshop which
communicated with the retail part of the premises, seated himself at the
bench, fixed his glass in his eye, and began some mysterious operations
on a watch. I observed him furtively in the intervals of my work, and
when I had finished, I entered the workshop for further instructions;
but by that time the watch had dissolved into a little heap of wheels
and plates which lay in a wooden bowl covered by a sort of glass
dish-cover, and that was the last that I saw of it. For it appeared
that, when not otherwise engaged, my duty was to sit on a stool behind
the counter and "mind the shop".

In that occupation, varied by an occasional errand, I spent the first
day; and mighty dull I found it after the life and activity of Mr.
Beeby's establishment, and profoundly was I relieved when, at half-past
eight, Mr. Abraham instructed me to put up the shutters under his
supervision. As I took my way home, yawning as I went, I almost wished
myself back at Beeby's.

But it was a false alarm. The intolerable dullness of that first day was
never repeated. On the following morning I took the precaution to
provide myself with a book, but it was not needed; for, while I was
cleaning the window, Mr. Abraham went forth, and presently returned with
an excessively dirty "grandfather" clock--without its case--which he
carried into the workshop and at once began to "take down" (_i.e._, to
take to pieces). As I had finished my work, I made bold to follow him
and hover around to watch the operation; and, as he did not seem to take
my presence amiss, but chatted in quite a friendly way as he worked, I
ventured to ask one or two questions, and meanwhile kept on the alert
for a chance to "get my foot in".

When he had finished the "taking down" and had put away the dismembered
remains of the movement in a drawer, leaving the two plates and the dial
on the bench, he proceeded to mix up a paste of rotten-stone and oil,
and then, taking up one of the plates, began to scrub it vigorously with
a sort of overgrown tooth-brush dipped in the mixture. I watched him
attentively for a minute or two, and then decided that my opportunity
had come.

"Wouldn't it save you time, Sir, if I were to clean the other plate?" I
asked.

He stopped scrubbing and looked at me in surprise.

"That's not a bad idea, Nat," he chuckled. "Why shouldn't you? Yes, get
a brush from the drawer. Watch me and do exactly as I do."

Gleefully, I fetched the brush and set to work, following his methods
closely and observing him from time to time as the work progressed. He
gave an eye to me now and again, but let me carry out the job
completely, even to the final polishing and the "pegging out" of the
pivot-holes with the little pointed sticks known as peg-wood. When I had
finished, he examined my work critically, testing one or two of the
pivot-holes with a clean peg, and finally, as he laid down the plate,
informed me that I had made quite a good job of it.

That night I went home in a very different frame of mind. No longer did
I yearn for Beeby's. I realized that I had had my chance and taken it. I
had got my foot in and was now free of the workshop. Other jobs would
come my way and they would not all be mere plate-cleaning. I should see
to that. And I did. Cautiously and by slow degrees I extended my offers
of help from plates to wheels and pinions, to the bushing of worn
pivot-holes and the polishing of pivots on the turns. And each time Mr.
Abraham viewed me with fresh surprise, evidently puzzled by my apparent
familiarity with the mechanism of clocks, and still more so by my
ability to make keys and repair locks, an art of which he knew nothing
at all.

Thus, the purpose that had been in my mind from the first was working
out according to plan. My knowledge of the structure and mechanism of
timekeepers was quite considerable. But it was only paper knowledge,
book-learning. It had to be supplemented by that other kind of knowledge
that can be acquired only by working at the bench, before I could hope
to become a clock-maker. The ambition to acquire it had drawn me hither
from Mr. Beeby's, and now the opportunity seemed to be before me.

In fact, my way was made unexpectedly easy, for Mr. Abraham's
inclinations marched with mine. Excellent workman as he was, skilful,
painstaking and scrupulously conscientious, he had no enthusiasm. As Mr.
Beeby would have said, his heart was not in his trade. He did not enjoy
his work, though he spared no pains in doing it well. But by nature and
temperament he was a dealer, a merchant, rather than a craftsman, and it
was his ability as a buyer that accounted for the bulk of his income.
Hence he was by no means unwilling for me to take over the more
laborious and less remunerative side of the business, in so far as I was
able, for thereby he was left with more free time to devote to its more
profitable aspects.

Exactly how he disposed of this free time I could never quite make out.
I got the impression that he had some other interests which he was now
free to pursue, having a deputy to carry on the mere retail part of the
business and attend to simple repairs. But however that may have been,
he began occasionally to absent himself from the shop, leaving me in
charge; and as time went on and he found that I managed quite well
without him, his absences grew more frequent and prolonged until they
occurred almost daily, excepting when there were important repairs on
hand. It seemed an anomalous arrangement, but there was really nothing
against it. He had instructed me in the simple routine of the business,
had explained the artless "secret price marks" on the stock, and
ascertained (I think from Beeby) that I was honest and trustworthy, and
if he was able to employ his free time more profitably, there was
nothing further to be said.

It was on the occasion of one of these absences that an incident
occurred which, simple as it appeared to be at the time, was later to
develop unexpected consequences. This was one of the days on which Mr.
Abraham went down into the land of Clerkenwell to make purchases of
material and stock. Experience had taught me that a visit to Clerkenwell
meant a day off; and, there being no repairs on hand, I made my
arrangements to pass the long, solitary day as agreeably as possible. It
happened that I had recently acquired an old lock of which the key was
missing; and I decided to pass the time pleasantly in making a key to
fit it. Accordingly, I selected from the stock of spare keys that I kept
in my cupboard a lever key the pipe of which would fit the drill-pin of
the lock, but of which the bit was too long to enter; and with this and
a small vice and one or two tools, I went out into the shop and prepared
to enjoy myself.

I had fixed the vice to the counter, taken off the front plate of the
lock (it was a good but simple lock with three levers), clamped the key
in the vice and was beginning to file off the excess length of the bit,
preparatory to cutting the steps, when a man entered the shop, and,
sauntering up to the counter, fixed an astonished eye on the key.

"Guvnor in?" he enquired.

I replied that he was not.

"Pity," he commented. "I've broke the glass of my watch. How long will
he be?"

"I don't think he will be back until the evening. But I can fit you a
new glass."

"Can you, though?" said he. "You seem to be a handy sort of bloke for
your size. How old are you?"

"Getting on for fourteen," I replied, holding out my hand for the watch
which he had produced from his pocket.

"Well, I'm blowed," said he; "fancy a blooming kid of fourteen running a
business like this."

I rather resented his description of me, but made no remark. Besides, it
was probably meant as a compliment, though unfortunately expressed. I
glanced at his watch, and, opening the drawer in which watch-glasses
were kept, selected one of the suitable size, tried it in the bezel
after removing the broken pieces, and snapped it in.

"Well, I'm sure!" he exclaimed as I returned the watch to him.
"Wonderful handy cove you are. How much?"

I suggested sixpence, whereupon he fished a handful of mixed coins out
of his pocket and began to sort them out. Finally he laid a sixpence on
the counter and once more fixed his eyes on the vice.

"What are you doing to that lock?" he asked.

"I am making a key to fit it," I replied.

"Are you, reely?" said he with an air of surprise. "Actooally making a
key? Re-markable handy bloke you are. Perhaps you could do a little job
for me. There is a box of mine what I can't get open. Something gone
wrong with the lock. Key goes in all right but it won't turn. Do you
think you could get it to open if I was to bring it along here?"

"I don't know until I have seen it," I replied. "But why not take it to
a locksmith?"

"I don't want a big job made of it," said he. "It's only a matter of
touching up the key, I expect. What time did you say the guvnor would be
back?"

"I don't expect him home until closing time. But he wouldn't have
anything to do with a locksmith's job, in any case."

"No matter," said he. "You'll do for me. I'll just cut round home and
fetch that box"; and with this he bustled out of the shop and turned
away towards Regent Street.

His home must have been farther off than he had seemed to suggest, for
it was nearly two hours later when he reappeared, carrying a brown-paper
parcel. I happened to see him turn into the street, for I had just
received a shop dial from our neighbour, the grocer, and had accompanied
him to the door, where he paused for a final message.

"Tell the governor that there isn't much the matter with it, only it
stops now and again, which is a nuisance."

He nodded and turned away, and at that moment the other customer arrived
with the unnecessary announcement that "here he was". He set the parcel
on the counter, and, having untied the string, opened the paper covering
just enough to expose the keyhole; by which I was able to see that the
box was covered with morocco leather and that the keyhole guard seemed
to be of silver. Producing a key from his pocket, he inserted it and
made a show of trying to turn it.

"You see?" said he. "It goes in all right, but it won't turn. Funny,
isn't it? Never served me that way before."

I tried the key and then took it out and looked at it, and, as a
preliminary measure, probed the barrel with a piece of wire. Then, as
the barrel was evidently clean, I tried the lock with the same piece of
wire. It was a ward lock, and the key was a warded key, but the wards of
the lock and those of the key were not the same. So the mystery was
solved; it was the wrong key.

"Well, now," my friend exclaimed, "that's very singler. I could have
swore it was the same key what I have always used, but I suppose you
know. What's to be done? Do you think you can make that key fit?"

Now, here was a very interesting problem. I had learned from the
incomparable Mr. Denison that the wards of a lock are merely
obstructions to prevent it from being opened with the wrong key, and
that, since the fore edge of the bit is the only acting part of such a
key, a wrong key can be turned into a right one by simply cutting away
the warded part and leaving the fore edge intact. I had never tried the
experiment; but here was an opportunity to put the matter to a test.

"I'll try, if you like," I replied--"that is, if you don't mind my
cutting the key about a little."

"Oh, the key is no good to me if it won't open the lock. I don't care
what you do to it."

With this, I set to work gleefully, first making a further exploration
of the lock with my wire and then carrying the key into the workshop,
where there was a fixed vice. There I attacked it with a hack-saw and a
file, and soon had the whole of the bit cut away excepting the top and
fore edge. All agog to see how it worked, I went back to the shop with a
small file in my hand in case any further touches should be necessary,
and, inserting the key, gave a gentle turn. It was at once evident that
there was now no resistance from the wards, but it did not turn freely.
So I withdrew it and filed away a fraction from the fore edge to reduce
the friction. The result was a complete success, for when I re-inserted
it and made another trial, it turned quite freely and I heard the lock
click.

My customer was delighted (and so was I). He turned the key backwards
and forwards several times and once opened the lid of the box; but only
half an inch--just enough to make sure that it cleared the lock. Then he
took out the key, put it in his pocket, and proceeded to replace the
paper cover and tie the string.

"Well," said he, "you are a regler master craftsman, you are. How much
have I got to pay?"

I suggested that the job was worth a shilling, to which he agreed.

"But who gets that shilling?" he enquired.

"Mr. Abraham, of course," I replied. "It's his shop."

"So it is," said he, "but you have done the job, so here's a bob for
yourself, and you've earned it."

He laid a couple of shillings on the counter, picked up his parcel and
went out, whistling gleefully.

Now, all this time, although my attention had been concentrated on the
matter in hand, I had been aware of something rather odd that was
happening outside the shop. My customer had certainly had no companion
when he arrived, for I had seen him enter the street alone. But yet he
seemed to have some kind of follower; for hardly had he entered the shop
when a man appeared, looking in at the window and seeming to keep a
watch on what was going on within. At first he did not attract my
attention--for a shop window is intended to be looked in at. But
presently he moved off, and then returned for another look; and while I
was working at the key in the workshop, I could see him on the opposite
side of the street, pretending to look in the shop windows there, but
evidently keeping our shop under observation.

I did not give him much attention while I was working at my job; but
when my customer departed, I went out to the shop door and watched him
as he retired down the street. He was still alone. But now, the
follower, who had been fidgeting up and down the pavement opposite, and
looking in at shop windows, turned and walked away down the street,
slowly and idly at first, but gradually increasing his pace as he went,
until he turned the corner quite quickly.

It was very queer; and, my curiosity being now fairly aroused, I darted
out of the shop and ran down the street, where, when I came to the
corner, I could see my customer striding quickly along King Street,
while the follower was "legging it" after him as hard as he could go.
What the end of it was I never saw, for the man with the parcel
disappeared round the corner of Argyll Place before the follower could
come up with him.

It was certainly a very odd affair. What could be the relations of these
two men? The follower could not have been a secret watcher, for there he
was, plainly in view of the other. I turned it over in my mind as I
walked back to the shop, and as I entered the transaction in the
day-book ("key repaired, 1/-") and dropped the two shillings into the
till, having some doubt as to my title to the "bob for myself". (But its
presence was detected by Mr. Abraham when we compared the till with the
day-book, and it was, after a brief discussion, restored to me.) Even
when I was making a tentative exploration of the shop dial and restoring
the vanished oil to its dry bearings and pallets, I still puzzled over
this mystery until, at last, I had to dismiss it as insoluble.

But it was not insoluble, though the solution was not to appear for many
weeks. Nor, when my customer disappeared round the corner, was he lost
to me for ever. In fact, he re-visited our premises less than a
fortnight after our first meeting, shambling into the shop just before
dinner-time and greeting me as before with the enquiry:

"Guvnor in?"

"No," I replied, "he has just been called out on business, but he will
be back in a few minutes." (He had, in fact, walked round, according to
his custom about this time, to inspect the window of the cook's shop in
Carnaby Street.) "Is there anything that I can do?"

"Don't think so," said he. "Something has gone wrong with my watch.
Won't go. I expect it is a job for the guvnor."

He brought out from his pocket a large gold watch, which he passed
across the counter to me. I noted that it was not the watch to which I
had fitted the glass and that it had a small bruise on the edge. Then I
stuck my eyeglass in my eye, and having opened, first the case and then
the dome, took a glance at the part of the movement that was visible.
That glance showed me that the balance-staff pivot was broken, which
accounted sufficiently for the watch's failure to go. But it showed me
something else--something that thrilled me to the marrow. This was no
ordinary watch. It was fitted with that curious contrivance that English
watchmakers call a "tourbillion"--a circular revolving carriage on which
the escapement is mounted, the purpose being the avoidance of position
errors. Now, I had never seen a tourbillion before, though I had read of
them as curiosities of advanced watch construction, and I was delighted
with this experience, and the more so when I read on the movement the
signature of the inventor of this mechanism, Breguet  Paris. So
absorbed was I with this mechanical wonder that I forgot the existence
of the customer until he, somewhat brusquely, drew my attention to it. I
apologized and briefly stated what was the matter with the watch.

"That don't mean nothing to me," he complained. "I want to know if
there's much wrong with it, and what it will cost to put it right."

I was trying to frame a discreet answer when the arrival of Mr. Abraham
relieved me of the necessity. I handed him the watch and my eyeglass and
stood by to hear his verdict.

"Fine watch," he commented. "French make. Seems to have been dropped.
One pivot broken; probably some others. Can't tell until I have taken it
down. I suppose you want it repaired."

"Not if it is going to be an expensive job," said the owner. "I don't
want it for use. I got a silver one what does for me. I bought this one
cheap, and I wish I hadn't now. Gave a cove a fiver for it."

"Then you got it very cheap," said Mr. Abraham.

"S'pose I did, but I'd like to get my money back all the same. That's
all I ask. Care to give me a fiver for it?"

Mr. Abraham's eyes glistened. All the immemorial Semitic passion for a
bargain shone in them. And well it might. Even I could tell that the
price asked was but a fraction of the real value. It was a tremendous
temptation for Mr. Abraham.

But, rather to my surprise, he resisted it. Wistfully, he looked at the
watch, and especially at the hall-mark, or its French equivalent, for
nearly a minute; then, with a visible pang of regret, he closed the case
and pushed the watch across the counter.

"I don't deal in second-hand watches," said he.

"Gor!" exclaimed our customer, "it ain't second hand for you. Do the
little repairs what are necessary, and it's a new watch. Don't be a mug,
Mister. It's the chance of a lifetime."

But Mr. Abraham shook his head and gave the watch a further push.

"Look here!" the other exclaimed, excitedly, "the thing's no good to me.
I'll take four pund ten. That's giving it away, that is. Gor! You ain't
going to refuse that! Well, say four pund. Four blooming jimmies! Why,
the case alone is worth more than double that."

Mr. Abraham broke out into a cold sweat. It was a frightful temptation,
for what the man said was literally true. But even this Mr. Abraham
resisted; and eventually the owner of this priceless timepiece,
realizing that "the deal was off", sulkily put it in his pocket and
slouched out without another word.

"Why didn't you buy it, Sir?" I asked. "It was a beautiful watch."

"So it was," he agreed, "and a splendid case--twenty-two carat gold; but
it was too cheap. I would have given him twice what he asked if I had
known how he came by it."

"You don't think he stole it, Sir, do you?" I asked.

"I suspect someone did," he replied, "but whether this gent was the
thief or only the receiver is not my affair."

It wasn't mine either; but as I recalled my former transaction with this
"gent" I was inclined to form a more definite opinion; and thereupon I
decided to keep my own counsel as to the details of that former
transaction. But circumstances compelled me to revise that decision when
the matter was reopened by someone who took a less impersonal view than
that of Mr. Abraham. That someone was a tall, military-looking man who
strode into our shop one evening about six weeks after the watch
incident. He made no secret of his business, for, as he stepped up to
the counter, he produced a card from his pocket and introduced himself
with the statement:

"You are Mr. David Abraham, I think. I am Detective Sergeant Pitts."

Mr. Abraham bowed graciously, and, disregarding the card, replied that
he was pleased to make the officer's acquaintance; whereupon the
sergeant grinned and remarked:

"You are more easily pleased than most of my clients."

Mr. Abraham smiled and regarded the officer with a wary eye.

"What can I have the pleasure of doing for you?" he asked.

"That's what I want to find out," said the sergeant. "I have information
that, on or about the thirteenth of May, you made a skeleton key for a
man named Alfred Coomey, alias John Smith. Is that correct?"

"No," Abraham replied, in a startled voice, "certainly not. I never made
a skeleton key in my life. Don't know how to, in fact."

The officer's manner became perceptibly more dry.

"My information," said he, "is that on the date mentioned, the said
Coomey, or Smith, brought a jewel-case to this shop and that you made a
skeleton key that opened it. You say that is not true."

"Wait a moment," said Abraham, turning to me with a look of relief;
"perhaps the sergeant is referring to the man you told me about who
brought a box here to have a key fitted when I was out. It would be
about that date."

The sergeant turned a suddenly interested eye on me and remarked:

"So this young shaver is the operator, is he? You'd better tell me all
about it; and first, what sort of box was it?"

"I couldn't see much of it, Sir, because it was wrapped in brown paper,
and he only opened it enough for me to get at the keyhole. But it was
about fifteen inches long by about nine broad, and it was covered with
green leather and the keyhole plate seemed to be silver. That is all
that I could see."

"And what about the key?"

"It was the wrong key, Sir. It went in all right, but it wouldn't turn.
So I cut away part of the bit so that it would go past the wards and
then it turned and opened the lock."

The sergeant regarded me with a grim smile.

"You seem to be a rather downy young bird," said he. "So you made him a
skeleton key, did you? Now, how did you come to know how to make a
skeleton key?"

I explained that I had read certain books on locks and had taken a good
deal of interest in the subject, a statement that Mr. Abraham was able
to confirm.

"Well," said the sergeant, "it's a useful accomplishment, but a bit
dangerous. Don't you be too handy with skeleton keys, or you may find
yourself taking a different sort of interest in locks and keys."

But here Mr. Abraham interposed with a protest.

"There's nothing to make a fuss about, Sergeant. The man brought his box
here to have a key fitted, and my lad fitted a key. There was nothing
incorrect or unlawful in that."

"No, no," the sergeant admitted, "I don't say that there was. It happens
that the box was not his, but, of course, the boy didn't know that. I
suppose you couldn't see what was in the box?"

"No, Sir. He only opened it about half an inch, just to see that it
would open."

The sergeant nodded. "And as to this man, Coomey; do you think you would
recognize him if you saw him again?"

"Yes, Sir, I am sure I should. But I don't know that I could recognize
the other man."

"The other man!" exclaimed the sergeant. "What other man?"

"The man who was waiting outside;" and here I described the curious
proceedings of Mr. Coomey's satellite and so much of his appearance as I
could remember.

"Ha!" said the sergeant, "that would be the footman who gave Coomey the
jewel-case. Followed him here to make sure that he didn't nip off with
it. Well, you'd know Coomey again, at any rate. What about you, Mr.
Abraham?"

"I couldn't recognize him, of course. I never saw him."

"You saw him later, you know, Sir, when he came in with the watch," I
reminded him.

"But you never told me----" Abraham began, with a bewildered stare at
me; but the sergeant broke in, brusquely:

"What's this about a watch, Mr. Abraham? You didn't mention that. Better
not hold anything back, you know."

"I am not holding anything back," Abraham protested. "I didn't know it
was the same man;" and here he proceeded to describe the affair in
detail and quite correctly, while the sergeant took down the particulars
in a large, funereal note-book.

"So you didn't feel inclined to invest," said he with a sly smile. "Must
have wrung your heart to let a bargain like that slip."

"It did," Abraham admitted, "but, you see, I didn't know where he had
got it."

"We can take it," said the sergeant, "that he got it out of that
jewel-case. What sort of watch was it? Could you recognize it?"

"I am not sure that I could. It was an old watch. French make, gold
case, engine-turned with a plain centre. No crest or initials."

"That's all you remember, is it? And what about you, young shaver? Would
you know it again?"

"I think I should, sir. It was a peculiar watch; made by Breguet of
Paris, and it had a tourbillion."

"Had a what!" exclaimed the sergeant. "Sounds like some sort of disease.
What does he mean?" he added, gazing at Mr. Abraham.

The latter gave a slightly confused description of the mechanism,
explaining that he had not noticed it, as he had been chiefly interested
in the case; whereupon the sergeant grinned and remarked that the
melting-pot value was what had also interested Mr. Coomey.

"Well," he concluded, shutting up his note-book, "that's all for the
present. I expect we shall want you to identify Coomey, and the other
man if you can; and when the case comes up for the adjourned hearing,
you will both have to come and give evidence. But I will let you know
about that later." With this and a nod to Mr. Abraham and a farewell
grin at me, he took his departure.

Neither to my employer nor myself was the prospect of visiting the
prison and the court at all alluring, especially as our simultaneous
absence would entail shutting up the shop; and it was a relief to us
both when the sergeant paid us a second, hurried visit to let us know
that, as the accused men had decided to plead guilty, our testimony
would not be required. So that disposed of the business so far as we
were concerned.




CHAPTER V
MR. PARRISH


It has been remarked, rather obviously, that it is an ill wind that
blows nobody good, and also that one man's meat is another man's poison.
The application of these samples of proverbial wisdom to this history is
in the respective effects of a severe attack of bronchitis upon Mr.
Abraham and me. The bronchitis was his, with all its attendant
disadvantages, an unmitigated evil, whereas to me it was the determining
factor of a beneficial change.

While he was confined to his bed, under the care of the elderly Jewess
who customarily "did for him", my daily procedure was, when I had shut
up the shop, to carry the contents of the till with the day-book to his
bedroom that he might compare them and check the day's takings; and it
was on one of these occasions, when he was beginning to mend, that the
change in my prospects came into view.

"I have been thinking about you, Nat," said he. "You're an industrious
lad, and you've done your duty by me since I've been ill, and I think I
ought to do something for you in return. Now, you're set on being a
clock-maker, but you can't get into the trade without serving an
apprenticeship in the regular way. Supposing I were willing to take you
on as my apprentice, how would you like that?"

I jumped at the offer, but suggested that there might be difficulties
about the premium.

"There wouldn't be any premium," said he. "I should give you your
indentures free and pay the lawyer's charges. Think it over, Nat, and
see what your uncle and aunt have to say about it."

It didn't require much thinking over on my part, nor, when I arrived
home in triumph and announced my good fortune, was there any difference
of opinion as to the practical issue, though the respective views were
differently expressed. Uncle Sam thought it "rather handsome of the old
chap" (Mr. Abraham was about fifty-five), but Aunt Judy was inclined to
sniff.

"He hasn't done badly all these months," said she, "with a competent
journeyman for five shillings a week; and he'd be pretty well up a tree
if Nat left him to get another job. Oh, he knows which side his bread's
buttered."

There may have been some truth in Aunt Judy's comment, but I thought
there was more wisdom in old Mr. Gollidge's contribution to the debate.

"It may be a good bargain for Mr. Abraham," said he, "but that don't
make it a worse bargain for Nat. It's best that both parties should be
suited."

In effect, it was agreed that the offer should be accepted; and when I
conveyed this decision to Mr. Abraham, the necessary arrangements were
carried through forthwith. The indentures were drawn up, on Mr.
Abraham's instructions, by his solicitor, a Mr. Cohen, who brought them
to the shop by appointment; and when they had been submitted to and
approved by Aunt Judy, they were duly signed by both parties on a small
piece of board laid on the invalid's bed, and I was then and there
formally bound apprentice for the term of seven years to "the said David
Abraham hereinafter called the Master", who, for his part, undertook to
instruct me in the art and mystery of clock-making. I need not recite
the terms of the indenture in detail, but I think Aunt Judy found them
unexpectedly liberal. To my surprise, I was to be given board and
lodging; I was to receive five shillings a week for the first year and
my wages were to increase by half-a-crown annually, so that in my last
year I should be receiving the full wage of a junior journeyman, or
improver.

These were great advantages; for henceforth not only would Aunt Judy be
relieved of the cost of maintaining me, but she would now have an
additional room to dispose of profitably. But beyond these material
benefits there were others that I appreciated even more. Now, as an
apprentice, I was entitled to instruction in that part of the "art and
mystery" which was concerned with the purchase of stock and material. It
is true that, at the time, I did not fully realize the glorious
possibilities contained in this provision. Only when, a week or so
later, Mr. Abraham (hereinafter called the Master) was sufficiently
recovered to descend to the shop, did they begin to dawn on me.

"We seem to be getting short of material," said he after an exploratory
browse round the workshop. "I am not well enough to go out yet, so
you'll have to run down to Clerkenwell and get the stuff. We'd better
draw up a list of what we want."

We made out the list together, and then "the Master" gave me the
addresses of the various dealers with full directions as to the route,
adding, as I prepared to set forth: "Don't be any longer than you can
help, Nat. I'm still feeling a bit shaky."

The truth of the latter statement was so evident that I felt morally
compelled to curtail my explorations to the utmost that was possible.
But it was a severe trial. For as I hurried along Clerkenwell Road I
found myself in a veritable Tom Tiddler's Ground. By sheer force of
will, I had to drag myself past those amazing shop windows that
displayed--better and more precious than gold and silver--all the
wonders of the clock-maker's art. I hardly dared to look at them. But
even the hasty glance that I stole as I hurried past gave me an
indelible picture of those unbelievable treasures that I can recall to
this day. I see them now, though the years have made familiar the
subjects of that first, ecstatic, impression: the entrancing tools and
gauges, bench-drills and wheel-cutters, the lovely little watchmaker's
lathe, fairer to me than the Rose of Sharon or the Lily of the Valley,
the polishing heads with their buffs and brushes, the assembled
movements, and the noble regulator with its quicksilver pendulum,
dealing with seconds as common clocks do with hours. I felt that I could
have spent eternity in that blessed street.

However, my actual business, though it was but with dealers in
"sundries", gave me the opportunity for more leisured observations.
Besides Clerkenwell Road, it carried me to St. John's Gate and
Clerkenwell Green; from which, at last, I tore myself away and set forth
at top speed towards Holborn to catch the omnibus for Regent Circus
(now, by the way, called Oxford Circus). But all the way, as my carriage
rumbled sleepily westward, the vision of those Aladdin caves floated
before my eyes and haunted me until I entered the little shop and
dismissed my master to his easy-chair in the sitting-room. Then I
unpacked my parcels, distributed their contents in the proper
receptacles, put away the precious price-lists that I had collected for
future study, and set about the ordinary business of the day.

I do not propose to follow in detail the course of my life as Mr.
Abraham's apprentice. There would, indeed, be little enough to record;
for the days and months slipped by unreckoned, spent with placid
contentment in the work which was a pleasure to do and a satisfaction
when done. But apart from the fact that there would be so little to
tell, the mere circumstances of my life are not the actual subject of
this history. Its purpose is, as I have explained, to trace the
antecedents of certain events which occurred many years later when I was
able to put my finger on the one crucial fact that was necessary to
disclose the nature and authorship of a very singular crime. With the
discovery of that crime, the foregoing chapters have had at least some
connection; and in what follows I shall confine myself to incidents that
were parts of the same train of causation.

Of these, the first was concerned with my uncle Sam. By birth he was a
Kentish man, and he had served his time in a small workshop at
Maidstone, conducted by a certain James Wright. When his apprenticeship
had come to an end, he had migrated to London; but he had always kept in
touch with his old master and paid him occasional visits. Now, about the
end of my third year, Mr. Wright, who was getting too old to carry on
alone, had offered to take him into partnership; and the offer being
obviously advantageous, Uncle Sam had accepted and forthwith made
preparations for the move.

It was a severe blow to me, and I think also to Aunt Judy. For though I
had taken up my abode with Mr. Abraham, hardly an evening had passed
which did not see me seated in the familiar kitchen (but not in my
original chair) facing the old Dutch clock and listening to old Mr.
Gollidge's interminable yarns. That kitchen had still been my home as it
had been since my infancy. I had still been a member, not only of the
family, but of the household, absent, like Uncle Sam, only during
working hours. But henceforth I should have no home--for Mr. Abraham's
house was a mere lodging; no family circle, and, worst of all, no Aunt
Judy.

It was a dismal prospect. With a sinking heart I watched the
preparations for the departure and counted the days as they slid past,
all too quickly; and when the last of the sands had run out and I stood
on the platform with my eyes fixed on the receding train, from a window
of which Aunt Judy's arm protruded, waving her damp handkerchief, I felt
as might have felt some marooned mariner following with despairing gaze
the hull of his ship sinking below the horizon. As the train disappeared
round a curve, I turned away and could have blubbered aloud; but I was
now a young man of sixteen, and a railway station is not a suitable
place for the display of the emotions.

But in the days that followed, my condition was very desolate and
lonely; and yet, as I can now see, viewing events with a retrospective
eye, this shattering misfortune was for my ultimate good. Indeed, it
yielded certain immediate benefits. For, casting about for some way of
disposing of the solitary evenings, I discovered an institution known as
the Working Men's College, then occupying a noble old house in Great
Ormond Street; whereby it came about that the homely kitchen was
replaced by austere but pleasant classrooms, and the voice of old Mr.
Gollidge recounting the mutiny on the _Mary Jane_ by those of friendly
young graduates explaining the principles of algebra and geometry, of
applied mechanics and machine-drawing.

The next incident, trivial as it will appear in the telling, had an even
more profound effect in the shaping of my destiny; indeed, but for that
trifling occurrence, this history could never have been written. So I
proceed without further apologies.

On a certain morning at the beginning of the fourth year of my
apprenticeship, my master and I were in the shop together reviewing the
stock when a rather irate-looking, elderly gentleman entered, and,
fixing a truculent eye on Mr. Abraham, demanded:

"Do you know anything about equatorial clocks?"

Now, I suspect that Mr. Abraham had never heard of an equatorial clock,
all his experience having been in the ordinary trade. But it would never
do to say so. Accordingly he temporized.

"Well, Sir, they don't, naturally, come my way very often. Were you
wanting to purchase one?"

"No, I wasn't, but I've got one that needs some slight repair or
adjustment. I am a maker of philosophical instruments and I have had an
equatorial sent to me for overhaul. But the clock won't budge; won't
start at all. Now, clocks are not philosophical instruments and I don't
pretend to know anything about 'em. Can you come round and see what's
the matter with the thing?"

This was, for me, a rather disturbing question. For our visitor was none
other than the gentleman who had accused me of having stolen his
pocket-book. I had recognized him at the first glance as he entered, and
had retired discreetly into the background lest he should recognize me.
But now I foresaw that I should be dragged forth into the light of day.
And so it befell.

"I am afraid," Mr. Abraham said, apologetically, "that I can't leave my
business just at the moment. But my assistant can come round with you
and see what is wrong with your equa--with your clock."

Our customer looked at me, disparagingly, and my heart sank. But either
I had changed more than I had supposed in the five years that had
elapsed, or the gentleman's eyesight was not very acute (it turned out
that he was distinctly near-sighted). At any rate, he showed no sign of
recognition, but merely replied gruffly:

"I don't want any boys monkeying about with that clock. Can't you come
yourself?"

"I am afraid I really can't. But my assistant is a perfectly competent
workman, and I take full responsibility for what he does."

The customer grunted and scowled at me.

"Very well," he said, with a very bad grace. "I hope he's better than he
looks. Can you come with me now?"

I replied that I could; and, having collected from the workshop the few
tools that I was likely to want, I went forth with him, keeping slightly
in the rear and as far as possible out of his field of view. But, to my
relief, he took no notice of me, trudging on doggedly and looking
straight before him.

We had not far to go, for, when we had passed half-way down a quiet
street in the neighbourhood of Oxford Market, he halted at a door
distinguished by a brass plate bearing the inscription, "W. Parrish,
Philosophical Instrument Maker", and, inserting a latch-key, admitted
himself and me. Still ignoring my existence, he walked down a long
passage ending in what looked like a garden door but which, when he
opened it, proved to be the entrance to a large workshop in which were a
lathe and several fitted benches, but, at the moment, no human occupants
other than ourselves.

"There," said he, addressing me for the first time, but still not
looking at me, "that's the clock. Just have a look at it, and mind you
don't do any damage. I've got a letter to write, but I'll be back in a
few minutes."

With this he took himself off, much to my satisfaction, and I proceeded
forthwith to make a preliminary inspection. The "patient" was a rather
large telescope mounted on a cast-iron equatorial stand. I had never
seen an equatorial before except in the form of a book-illustration, but
from this I was able easily to recognize the parts and also the clock,
which was perched on the iron base with its winding-handle within reach
of the observer. This handle I tried, but found it fully wound (it was a
spring-driven clock, fitted with governor balls and a fly, or fan), and
I then proceeded to take off the loose wooden case so as to expose the
movement. A leisurely inspection of this disclosed nothing structurally
amiss, but it had an appearance suggesting long disuse and was
desperately in need of cleaning.

Suspecting that the trouble was simply dirt and dry pivots, I produced
from my bag a little bottle of clock-oil and an oiler and delicately
applied a small drop of the lubricant to the empty and dry oil-sinks and
to every point that was exposed to friction. Then I gave the
ball-governor a cautious turn or two, whereupon my diagnosis was
immediately confirmed; for the governor, after a few sluggish
revolutions as the oil worked into the bearings, started off in earnest,
spinning cheerfully and in an obviously normal fashion.

This was highly satisfactory. But now my curiosity was aroused as to the
exact effect of the clock on the telescope. The former was geared by
means of a long spindle to the right ascension circle, and on this was a
little microscope mounted opposite the index. To the eyepiece of this
microscope I applied my eye, and was thrilled to observe the scale of
the circle creeping almost imperceptibly past the vernier. It was a
great experience. I had read of these things in the optical textbooks,
but here was this delightful mechanism made real and active before my
very eyes. I was positively entranced as I watched that slow, majestic
motion; in fact I was so preoccupied that I was unaware of Mr. Parrish's
re-entry until I heard his voice; when I sprang up with a guilty start.

"Well," he demanded, gruffly, "have you found out---- Oh, but I see you
have."

"Yes, Sir," I said, eagerly, "it's running quite well now, and the right
ascension circle is turning freely, though, of course, I haven't timed
it."

"Ho, you haven't, hey?" said he. "Hm. Seem to know all about it, young
fellow. What was the matter with the clock?"

"It only wanted a little adjustment," I replied, evasively, for I didn't
like to tell him that it was only a matter of oil. "But," I added, "it
really ought to be taken to pieces and thoroughly cleaned."

"Ha!" said he, "I'll let the owner do that. If it goes, that is all that
matters to me. You can tell your master to send me the bill."

He still spoke gruffly, but there was a subtle change in his manner.
Evidently, my rapid performance had impressed him, and I thought it best
to take the undeserved credit though I was secretly astonished that he,
a practical craftsman, had not been able to do the job himself.

But I had impressed him more than I realized at the time. In fact, he
had formed a ridiculously excessive estimate of my abilities, as I
discovered some weeks later when he brought a watch to our shop to be
cleaned and regulated, and stipulated that I should do the work myself
"and not let the old fellow meddle with it". I assured him that Mr.
Abraham (who was fortunately absent) was a really skilful watchmaker,
but he only grunted incredulously.

"I want the job done properly," he insisted, "and I want you to do it
yourself."

Evidently Mr. Abraham's evasions in the matter of equatorial clocks had
been noted and had made an unfavourable impression. It was
unreasonable--but Mr. Parrish was an unreasonable man--and, like most
unreasonable beliefs, it was unshakable. Nor did he make any secret of
his opinion when, on subsequent occasions during the next few months, he
brought in various little repairs and renovations and sometimes
interviewed my principal. For Mr. Parrish had no false delicacy--nor
very much of any other kind. But Mr. Abraham took no offence. He knew
(as Aunt Judy had observed) which side his bread was buttered; and as he
was coming more and more to rely on me, he was willing enough that my
merits should be recognized.

So, through those months, my relations with Mr. Parrish continued to
grow closer and my future to shape itself invisibly. Little did I guess
at the kind of grist that the Mills of God were grinding.




CHAPTER VI
FICKLE FORTUNE


"The best-laid plans of mice and men gang aft agley." The oft-quoted
words were only too apposite in their application to the plans laid by
poor Mr. Abraham for the future conduct of his own affairs and mine.
Gradually, as the years had passed, it had become understood between us
that, when the period of my apprenticeship should come to an end, I
should become his partner and he should subside into the partial
retirement suitable to his increasing age.

It was an excellent plan, advantageous to us both. To him it promised a
secure and restful old age, to me an assured livelihood, and we both
looked forward hopefully to the time, ever growing nearer, when it
should come into effect.

But, alas! it was never to be. Towards the end of my fourth year, his
old enemy, bronchitis, laid its hand on him and sent him, once more, to
his bedroom. But this was not the customary sub-acute attack. From the
first it was evident that it was something much more formidable. I could
see that for myself; and the doctor's grave looks and evasive answers to
my questions confirmed my fears. Nor was evasion possible for long. On
the fifth day of the illness, the ominous word "pneumonia" was spoken,
and Miriam Goldstein, Mr. Abraham's housekeeper, was directed to summon
the patient's relatives.

But, promptly as they responded to the call, they were too late for
anything more than whispered and tearful farewells. When they arrived,
with Mr. Cohen, the solicitor, and I conducted them up to the sick room,
my poor master was already blue-faced and comatose; and it was but a few
hours later, when they passed out through the shop with their
handkerchiefs to their eyes, that Mr. Cohen halted to say to me in a
husky undertone, "You can put up the shutters, Polton," and then hurried
away with the others.

I shall not dwell on the miserable days that followed, when I sat alone
in the darkened shop, vaguely meditating on this calamity, or creeping
silently up the stairs to steal a glance at the shrouded figure on the
bed. Of all the mourners, none was more sincere than I. Quiet and
undemonstrative as our friendship had been, a genuine affection had
grown up between my master and me. And not without reason. For Mr.
Abraham was not only a kindly man; he was a good man, just and fair in
all his dealings, scrupulously honest, truthful and punctual, and strict
in the discharge of his religious duties. I respected him deeply and he
knew it; and he knew that in me he had a faithful friend and a
dependable comrade. Our association had been of the happiest and we had
looked forward to many years of pleasant and friendly collaboration. And
now he was gone, and our plans had come to nought.

In those first days I gave little thought to my own concerns. It was my
first experience of death, and my mind was principally occupied by the
catastrophe itself, and by sorrow for the friend whom I had lost. But on
the day after the funeral I was suddenly made aware of the full extent
of the disaster as it affected me. The bearer--sympathetic enough--of
the ill tidings was Mr. Cohen, who had called to give me my
instructions.

"This is a bad look-out for you, Polton," said he. "Mr. Abraham ought to
have made some provision on your behalf, and I think he meant to. But it
was all so sudden. It doesn't do to put off making your will or drafting
a new one."

"Then, how do I stand, Sir?" I asked.

"The position is that your apprenticeship is dissolved by your master's
death, and I, as the executor, have to sell the business as a going
concern, according to the provisions of the will, which was made before
you were apprenticed. Of course, I shall keep you on, if you are
willing, to run the business until it is sold; perhaps the purchaser may
agree to take over your indentures or employ you as assistant.
Meanwhile, I will pay you a pound a week. Will that suit you?"

I agreed, gladly enough, and only hoped that the purchaser might not
make too prompt an appearance. But in this I was disappointed, for, at
the end of the third week, Mr. Cohen notified me that the business was
sold, and on the following day brought the new tenant to the premises; a
rather raffish middle-aged man who smelt strongly of beer and bore the
name of Stokes.

"I have explained matters to Mr. Stokes," said Mr. Cohen, "and have
asked him if he would care to take over your indentures; but I am sorry
to say that he is not prepared to. However, I leave you to talk the
matter over with him. Perhaps you can persuade him to change his mind.
Meanwhile, here are your wages up to the end of the week, and I wish you
good luck."

With this he departed, and I proceeded, forthwith, to try my powers of
persuasion on Mr. Stokes.

"It would pay you to take me on, Sir," I urged. "You'd get a very cheap
assistant. For, though I am only an apprentice, I have a good knowledge
of the trade. I could do all the repairs quite competently. I can take a
watch down and clean it; in fact, Mr. Abraham used to give me all the
watches to clean."

I thought that would impress him, but it didn't. It merely amused him.

"My good lad," he chuckled, "you are all behind the times. We don't take
watches down, nowadays, to clean 'em. We just take off the dial, wind
'em up, wrap 'em in a rag soaked in benzine, and put 'em in a tin box
and let 'em clean themselves."

I gazed at him in horror. "That doesn't seem a very good way, Sir," I
protested. "Mr. Abraham always took a watch down to clean it."

"Ha!" Mr. Stokes replied with a broad grin, "of course he would. That's
how they used to do 'em at Ur of the Chaldees when he was serving his
time. Hey? Haw haw! No, my lad. My wife and I can run this business.
You'll have to look elsewhere for a billet."

"And about my bedroom, Sir. Could you arrange to let me keep it for the
present? I don't mean for nothing, of course."

"You can have it for half-a-crown a week until you have found another
place. Will that do?"

I thanked him and accepted his offer; and that concluded our business,
except that I spent an hour or two showing him where the various things
were kept, and in stowing my tools and other possessions in my bedroom.
Then I addressed myself to the problem of finding a new employer; and
that very afternoon I betook myself to Clerkenwell and began a round of
all the dealers and clock-makers to whom I was known.

It was the first of many a weary pilgrimage, and its experiences were to
be repeated in them all. No one wanted a half-finished apprentice. My
Clerkenwell friends were all master craftsmen and they employed only
experienced journeymen, and the smaller tradesmen to whom the dealers
referred me were mostly able to conduct their modest establishments
without assistance. It was a miserable experience which, even now, I
look back on with discomfort. Every morning I set out, with dwindling
hope, to search unfamiliar streets for clock-makers' shops or to answer
obviously inapplicable advertisements in the trade journals; and every
evening I wended--not homewards, for I had no home--but to the
hospitable common room of the Working Men's College, where, for a few
pence, I could get a large cup of tea and a slab of buttered toast to
supplement the scanty scraps of food that I had allowed myself during
the day's wanderings. But presently even this was beyond my means, and I
must needs, for economy, buy myself a half-quartern "household" loaf to
devour in my cheerless bedroom to the accompaniment of a draught from
the water-jug.

In truth, my condition was becoming desperate. My tiny savings--little
more than a matter of shillings--were fast running out in spite of an
economy in food which kept me barely above the starvation level. For I
had to reserve the rent for my bedroom, that I might not be shelterless
as well as famished, so long as any fraction of my little hoard
remained. But as I counted the pitiful collection of shillings and
sixpences at the bottom of my money-box--soon they needed no counting--I
saw that even this was coming to an end and that I was faced by sheer
destitution. Now and again the idea of applying for help to Aunt Judy or
to Mr. Beeby drifted through my mind; but either from pride or obstinacy
or some more respectable motive, I always put it away from me. I suppose
that, in the end, I should have had to pocket my pride, or whatever it
was, and make the appeal; but it was ordained otherwise.

My capital had come down to four shillings and sixpence, which included
the rent for my bedroom due in five days' time, when I took a last
survey of my position. The end seemed to be fairly in sight. In five
days I should be penniless and starving, without even a night's shelter.
I had sought work in every likely and unlikely place and failed ever to
come within sight of it. Was there anything more to be done? Any
possibility of employment that I had overlooked? As I posed the question
again and again, I could find no answer but a hopeless negative. And
then, suddenly, I thought of Mr. Parrish. He at least knew that I was a
workman. Was it possible that he might find me something to do?

It was but a forlorn hope; for he was not a clock-maker, and of his
trade I knew nothing. Nevertheless, no sooner had the idea occurred to
me than I proceeded to give effect to it. Having smartened myself up as
well as I could, I set forth for Oxford Market as briskly as if I had a
regular appointment; and having the good luck to find him at home, put
my case to him as persuasively as I was able in a few words.

He listened to me with his usual frown of impatience, and, when I had
finished, replied in his customary gruff manner:

"But, my good lad, what do you expect of me? I am not a clock-maker and
you are not an instrument-maker. You'd be no use to me."

My heart sank, but I made one last, despairing effort.

"Couldn't you give me some odd jobs, Sir, such as filing and polishing,
to save the time of the skilled men? I shouldn't want much in the way of
wages."

He began to repeat his refusal, more gruffly than before. And then,
suddenly, he paused; and my heart thumped with almost agonized hope.

"I don't know," he said, slowly and with a considering air. "Perhaps I
might be able to find you a job. I've just lost one of my two workmen
and I'm rather short-handed at the moment. If you can use a file and
know how to polish brass, I might give you some of the rough work to do.
At any rate, I'll give you a trial and see what you can do. But I can't
pay you a workman's wages. You'll have to be satisfied with fifteen
shillings a week. Will that do for you?"

Would it do! It was beyond my wildest hopes. I could have fallen on his
neck and kissed his boots (not simultaneously, though I was fairly
supple in the joints in those days). Tremulously and gratefully, I
accepted his terms, and would have said more, but he cut me short.

"Very well. You can begin work to-morrow morning at nine, and you'll get
your wages when you knock off on Saturday. That's all. Off you go."

I wished him "good morning!" and off I went, in an ecstasy of joy and
relief, reflecting incredulously on my amazing good fortune. Fifteen
shillings a week! I could hardly believe that my ears had not deceived
me. It was a competence. It was positive affluence.

But it was prospective affluence. My actual possessions amounted to four
shillings and sixpence; but it was all my own, for the half-crown that
had been earmarked for rent was now available for food. Still, this was
Monday morning and wages were payable on Saturday night, so I should
have to manage on ninepence a day until then. Well, that was not so bad.
In those days, you could get a lot of food for ninepence if you weren't
too particular and knew where to go. At the cook's shop in Carnaby
Street where I used to buy Mr. Abraham's mid-day meal and my own, we
often fed sumptuously on sixpence apiece; and now the recollection of
those simple banquets sent me hurrying thither, spurred on by ravenous
hunger and watering at the mouth as imagination pictured that glorious,
steamy window.

As I turned into Great Marlborough Street, I encountered Mr. Cohen, just
emerging from the Police Court, where he did some practice as advocate.
He stopped to ask what I was doing; and, when I had announced my joyful
tidings, he went on to cross-examine me on my experiences of the last
few weeks, listening attentively to my account of them and looking at me
very earnestly.

"Well, Polton," he said, "you haven't been putting on a great deal of
flesh. How much money have you got?"

I told him, and he rapidly calculated the possibilities of expenditure.

"Ninepence a day. You won't fatten a lot on that. Where did you get the
money?"

"I used to put by a little every week when I was at work, Sir," I
explained; and I could see that my thrift commended itself to him. "Wise
lad," said he, in his dry, legal way. "The men who grow rich are the men
who spend less than they earn. Come and have a bit of dinner with me.
I'll pay," he added, as I hesitated.

I thanked him most sincerely, for I was famished, as I think he had
guessed, and together we crossed the road to a restaurant kept by a
Frenchman named Paragot. I had never been in it, but had sometimes
looked in with awe through the open doorway at the sybarites within,
seated at tables enclosed in pews and consuming unimaginable delicacies.
As we entered, Mr. Cohen paused for a few confidential words with the
proprietor's sprightly and handsome daughter, the purport of which I
guessed when the smiling damsel deposited our meal on the table and I
contrasted Mr. Cohen's modest helping with the Gargantuan pile of roast
beef, Yorkshire pudding and baked potatoes which fairly bulged over the
edge of my plate.

"Have a drop of porter," said Mr. Cohen. "Do you good once in a way;"
and, though I would sooner have had water, I thought it proper to
accept. But if the taste of the beer was disagreeable, the pleasant
pewter tankard in which it was served was a refreshment to the eye. And
I think it really did me good. At any rate, when we emerged into Great
Marlborough Street, I felt like a giant refreshed; which is something to
say for a young man of four feet eleven.

As we stood for a moment outside the restaurant, Mr. Cohen put his hand
in his pocket and produced a half sovereign.

"I'm going to lend you ten shillings, Polton," said he. "Better take it.
You may want it. You can pay me back a shilling a week. Pay at my
office. If I am not there, give it to my clerk and make him give you a
receipt. There you are. That's all right. Wish you luck in your new job.
So long."

With a flourish of the hand, he bustled off in the direction of the
Police Court, leaving me grasping the little gold coin and choking with
gratitude to this--I was going to say "Good Samaritan", but I suppose
that would be a rather left-handed compliment to an orthodox Jew with
the royal name of Cohen.

I spent a joyous afternoon rambling about the town and looking in shop
windows, and, as the evening closed in, I repaired to a coffee-shop in
Holborn and consumed a gigantic cup of tea and two thick slices of bread
and butter ("pint of tea and two doorsteps", in the vernacular). Then I
turned homeward, if I may use the expression in connection with a hired
bedroom, resolving to get a long night's rest so as to be fresh for the
beginning of my new labours in the morning.




CHAPTER VII
INTRODUCES A KEY AND A CALENDAR


When I entered the workshop which was to be the scene of my labours for
the next few months, I found in it two other occupants: an elderly
workman who was engaged at a lathe and a youth of about my own age who
was filing up some brass object that was fixed in a vice. They both
stopped work when I appeared, and looked at me with evident curiosity,
and both greeted me in their respective ways; the workman with a dry
"good morning", and the other with a most peculiar grin.

"You're the new hand, I suppose," the former suggested, adding, "I don't
know what sort of a hand you are. Can you file flat?"

I replied that I could, whereupon he produced a rough plate of brass and
handed it to me.

"There," said he, "that casting has got to be filed smooth and true and
then it's got to be polished. Let's see what you can do with it."

Evidently, he had no extravagant expectations as to my skill, for he
watched me critically as I put my tool-bag on the bench and selected a
suitable file from my collection (but I could see that he viewed the bag
with approval); and every few minutes he left his work to see how I was
getting on. Apparently, the results of his observations were reassuring,
for his visits gradually became less frequent, and finally he left me to
finish the job alone.

During that first day I saw Mr. Parrish only once, for he did his own
work in a small private workshop, which was always kept locked in his
absence, as it contained a very precious dividing machine, with which he
engraved the graduations on the scales of measuring instruments such as
theodolites and sextants. This, with some delicate finishing and
adjusting, was his province in the business, the larger, constructive
work being done by his workmen. But on this occasion he came into the
main workshop just before "knocking-off time" to hear the report on my
abilities.

"Well, Kennet," he demanded in his gruff way, "how has your new hand got
on? Any good?"

Mr. Kennet regarded me, appraisingly, and after a brief consideration,
replied:

"Yes, I think he'll do."

It was not extravagant praise; but Mr. Kennet was a man of few words.
That laconic verdict established me as a permanent member of the staff.

In the days that followed, a quiet friendliness grew up between us. Not
that Mr. Kennet was a specially prepossessing person. Outwardly a
grey-haired, shrivelled, weasel-faced little man, dry and taciturn in
manner and as emotionless as a potato, he had his kindly impulses,
though they seldom came to the surface. But he was a first-class
craftsman who knew his trade from A to Z, and measured the worth of
other men in terms of their knowledge and skill. The liking that, from
the first, he took to me, arose, I think, from his observation of my
interest in my work and my capacity for taking pains. At any rate, in
his undemonstrative way, he made me aware of his friendly sentiments,
principally by letting me into the mysteries and secrets of the trade
and giving me various useful tips from the storehouse of his experience.

My other companion in the workshop was the youth whom I have mentioned,
who was usually addressed and referred to as Gus, which I took to
represent Augustus. His surname was Haire, and I understood that he was
some kind of relation of Mr. Parrish's; apparently a nephew, as he
always spoke of Mr. Parrish as his uncle, though he addressed him as
"Sir." His position in the workshop appeared to be that of a pupil,
learning the business--as I gathered from him--with a view to
partnership and succession. He lived on the premises, though he
frequently went away for the week-ends to his home, which was at Malden
in Essex.

The mutual liking of Mr. Kennet and myself found no counterpart in the
case of Gus Haire. I took an instant distaste of him at our first
meeting; which is rather remarkable, since I am not in the least
addicted to taking sudden likes or dislikes. It may have been his teeth,
but I hope not; for it would be unpardonable to allow a mere physical
defect to influence one's judgment of a man's personal worth. But they
were certainly rather unpleasant teeth and most peculiar. I have never
seen anything like them, before or since. They were not decayed.
Apparently, they were quite sound and strong, but they were covered with
brown spots and mottlings which made them look like tortoise-shell. They
were also rather large and prominent; which was unfortunate, as Gus was
distinctly sensitive about them. Whence the remarkable grin which had so
impressed me when we first met. It was habitual with him, and it
startled me afresh every time. It began as a fine broad grin displaying
the entire outfit of tortoise-shell. Then suddenly, he became conscious
of his teeth, and in an instant the grin was gone. The effect was
extraordinary, and not by any means agreeable.

Still, as I have said, I hope it was not the teeth that prejudiced me
against him. There were other, and much better, reasons for my disliking
him. But these developed later. My initial distaste of him may have been
premonitory. In some unimaginable way, I seemed instinctively to have
recognized an enemy.

As to his hardly-concealed dislike of me, I took it to be merely
jealousy of Kennet's evident preference. For that thorough-going
craftsman had no use for Gus. The lad was lazy, inattentive, and a
superlatively bad workman; faults enough to damn him in Kennet's eyes.
But there were other matters, which will transpire in their proper
place.

In these early days I was haunted by constant anxiety as to the security
of my position. There was really not enough for me to do. Mr. Parrish
was getting on in years and some of his methods were rather obsolete.
Newer firms with more up-to-date plant were attracting orders that would
formerly have come to him, so that his business was not what it had
been. But even of the work that was being done I could, at first, take
but a small share. Later, when I had learned more of the trade, Kennet
was able to turn over to me a good deal of his own work, so that I
became, in effect, something like a competent journeyman. But in the
first few weeks I often found myself with nothing to do, and was
terrified lest Mr. Parrish should think that I was not earning my wage.

It was a dreadful thought. The idea of being set adrift once more to
tramp the streets, hungry and despairing, became a sort of permanent
nightmare. I worked with intense care and effort to learn my new trade
and felt myself making daily progress. But still "Black Care rode behind
the horseman". Something had to be done to fill up the hours of idleness
and make me seem to be worth my pay. But what?

I began by taking down the workshop clock and cleaning it. Then I took
off the lock of the workshop door, which had ceased to function, and
made it as good as new; which seemed at the time to be a fortunate move,
for, just as I was finishing it, Mr. Parrish came into the workshop and
stopped to watch my proceedings.

"Ha!" said he, "so you are a locksmith, too. That's lucky, because I
have got a job for you. The key of my writing-table has broken in the
lock and I can't get the drawer open. Come and see what you can do with
it."

I picked up my tool-bag and followed him to his workshop (which also
served as an office), where he showed me the closed drawer with the stem
of the broken key projecting about a quarter of an inch.

"There must be something wrong with the lock," said he, "for the key
wouldn't turn, and when I gave it an extra twist it broke off. Flaw in
the key, I expect."

I began by filing a small flat on the projecting stump, and then,
producing a little hand-vice from my bag, applied it to the stump and
screwed it up tight. With this I was able to turn the key a little
backwards and forwards, but there was evidently something amiss with the
lock, as it would turn no further. With my oiler, I insinuated a touch
of oil on to the bit of the key and as much of the levers as I could
reach and continued to turn the key to and fro, watched intently by Mr.
Parrish and Gus (who had left his work to come and look on). At last,
when I ventured to use a little more force, the resistance gave way and
the key made a complete turn with an audible click of the lock.

As I withdrew the key, Mr. Parrish pulled out the drawer, which, as I
saw, contained, among other things, a wooden bowl half-filled with a
most untidy collection of mixed money: shillings, half-crowns, coppers,
and at least two half-sovereigns. I looked with surprise at the
disorderly heap and thought how it would have shocked poor Mr. Abraham.

"Well," said Mr. Parrish, "what's to be done? Can you make a new key?"

"Yes, Sir," I replied, "or I could braze the old one together."

"No," he replied, "I've had enough of that key. And what about the
lock?"

"I shall have to take that off in any case, because the ironmonger won't
sell me a key-blank unless I show the lock. But it will have to be
repaired."

"Very well," he agreed. "Take it off and get the job done as quickly as
you can. I don't want to leave my cash-drawer unlocked."

I had the lock off in a few moments and took it away, with the broken
key, to the workshop, where I spent a pleasant half-hour taking it to
pieces, cleaning it, and doing the trifling repairs that it needed; and
all the time, Gus Haire watched me intently, following me about like a
dog and plying me with questions. I had never known him to be so
interested in anything. He even accompanied me to the ironmonger's and
looked on with concentrated attention while I selected the blank.
Apparently, locksmithing was more to his taste than the making of
philosophical instruments.

But the real tit-bit of the entertainment for him was the making of the
new key. His eyes fairly bulged as he followed the details of the
operation. I had in my bag a tin box containing a good-sized lump of
stiff moulding-wax, which latter I took out, and, laying it on the
bench, rolled it out flat with a file-handle. Then, on the flat surface,
I made two impressions of the broken key, one of the profile of the bit
and the other of the end, showing the hole in the "pipe"; and, having
got my pattern, I fell to work on the blank. First, I drilled out the
bore of the pipe, then I filed up the blank roughly to the dimensions
with the aid of callipers, and, when I had brought it to the approximate
size, I began carefully to shape the bit and cut out the "steps" for the
levers, testing the result from time to time by fitting it into the
impressions.

At length, when it appeared to fit both impressions perfectly, I tried
it in the lock and found that it entered easily and turned freely to and
fro, moving the bolt and levers without a trace of stiffness. Naturally,
I was quite pleased at having got it right at the first trial. But my
satisfaction was nothing compared with that of my watcher, who took the
lock from me and turned the key to and fro with as much delight as if he
had made it himself. Even Kennet, attracted by Gus's exclamations, left
his work (he was making a reflecting level--just a simple mirror with a
hole through it, mounted in a suspension frame) to come and see what it
was all about.

But Gus's curiosity seemed now to be satisfied, for, when I took the
lock and the new key to Mr. Parrish's workroom, he did not accompany me.
Apparently, he was not interested in the mere refixing of the lock;
whereas Mr. Parrish watched that operation with evident relief. When I
had finished, he tried the key several times, first with the drawer open
and then with it closed, finally locking the drawer and pocketing the
key with a grunt of satisfaction.

"Where's the broken key?" he demanded as I prepared to depart. "I'd
better have that."

I ran back to the workshop, where I found Gus back at his vice,
industriously filing something, and Kennet still busy with his level.
The latter looked round at me as I released the key from the hand-vice,
and I explained that I had forgotten to give the broken key to Mr.
Parrish. He nodded and still watched me as I retired with it in my hand
to return it to its owner; and when I came back to the workshop he put
down his level and strolled across to my bench, apparently to inspect
the slab of wax. I, also, inspected it, and saw at once that it was
smaller than when I had left it; and I had no doubt that the ingenious
Gus had "pinched" a portion of it for the purpose of making some private
experiments. But I made no remark; and, having obliterated the
key-impressions with my thumb, I peeled the wax off the bench, squeezed
it up into a lump, and put it into my bag. Whereupon Kennet went back to
his level without a word.

But my suspicions of Master Gus's depredations were confirmed a few days
later when, Kennet and I happening to be alone in the workshop, he came
close to me and asked, in a low tone:

"Did you miss any of that wax of yours the other day?"

"Yes, I did; and I'm afraid I suspected that Gus had helped himself to a
bit."

"You were right," said Kennet. "He cut a piece off and pocketed it. But
before he cut it off, he made two impressions of the key on it. I saw
him. He thought I didn't, because my back was turned to him. But I was
working on that level, and I was able to watch him in the mirror."

I didn't much like this, and said so.

"More don't I," said Kennet. "I haven't said anything about it, because
it ain't my concern. But it may be yours. So you keep a look-out. And
remember that I saw him do it."

With this and a significant nod he went back to the lathe and resumed
his work.

The hardly-veiled hint that "it might be my concern" was not very
comfortable to reflect on, but there was nothing to be done beyond
keeping my tool-bag locked and the key in my pocket, which I was careful
to do; and as the weeks passed, and nothing unusual happened, the affair
gradually faded out of my mind.

Meanwhile, conditions were steadily improving. I had now learned to use
the lathe and even to cut a quite respectable screw, and, as my
proficiency increased, and with it my value as a workman, I began to
feel my position more secure. And even when there was nothing for me to
do in the workshop, Mr. Parrish found me odd jobs about the house,
repairing locks, cleaning his watch, and attending to the various
clocks, so that I was still earning my modest wage. In this way I came
by a piece of work which interested me immensely at the time and which
had such curious consequences later that I venture to describe it in
some detail.

It was connected with a long-case, or "grandfather" clock, which stood
in Mr. Parrish's workroom a few feet from his writing-table. I suspect
that it had not been cleaned within the memory of man, and, naturally,
there came a time when dirt and dry pivots brought it to a standstill.
Even then, a touch of oil would probably have kept it going for a month
or two, but I made no such suggestion. I agreed emphatically with Mr.
Parrish's pronouncement that the clock needed a thorough overhaul.

"And while you've got it to pieces," he continued, "perhaps you could
manage to fit it with a calendar attachment. Do you think that would be
possible?"

I pointed out that it had a date disc, but he dismissed that with
contempt.

"Too small. Want a microscope to see it. No, no, I mean a proper
calendar with the day of the week and the day of the month in good bold
characters that I can read when I am sitting at the table. Can you do
that?"

I suggested that the striking work would be rather in the way, but he
interrupted:

"Never mind the striking work. I never use it. I hate a jangling noise
in my room. Take it off if it's in the way. But I should like a calendar
if you could manage it."

Of course, there was no difficulty. A modification of the ordinary
watch-calendar movement would have answered. But when I described it, he
raised objections.

"How long does it take to change?" he asked.

"About half an hour, I should think. It changes during the night."

"That's no use," said he. "The date changes in an instant, on the stroke
of midnight. A minute to twelve is, say, Monday; a minute after twelve
is Tuesday. That ought to be possible. You make a clock strike at the
right moment; why couldn't you do the same with a calendar? It must be
possible."

It probably was; but no calendar movement known to me would do it. I
should have to invent one on an entirely different principle if my
powers were equal to the task. It was certainly a problem; but the very
difficulty of it was an attraction, and in the end I promised to turn it
over in my mind, and meanwhile I proceeded to take the clock out of its
case and bear it away to the workshop. There, under the respectful
observation of Gus and Mr. Kennet, I quickly took it down and fell to
work on the cleaning operations; but the familiar routine hardly
occupied my attention. As I worked, my thoughts were busy with the
problem that I had to solve, and gradually my ideas began to take a
definite shape. I saw, at once, that the mechanism required must be in
the nature of an escapement; that is to say, that there must be a
constant drive and a periodical release. I must not burden the reader
with mechanical details, but it is necessary that I should give an
outline of the arrangement at which I arrived after much thought and a
few tentative pencil drawings.

Close to the top of the door of the case I cut two small windows, one to
show the date numbers and the other the days of the week. Below these
was a third window for the months, the names of which were painted in
white on a band of black linen which travelled on a pair of small
rollers. But these rollers were turned by hand and formed no part of the
mechanism. There was no use in complicating the arrangements for the
sake of a monthly change.

And now for the mechanism itself. The names of the days were painted in
white on a black drum, or roller, three inches in diameter, and the date
numbers were painted on an endless black ribbon which was carried by
another drum of the same thickness but narrower. This drum had at each
edge seven little pins, or pegs; and the ribbon had, along each edge, a
series of small eyelet holes which fitted loosely on the pins, so that,
as the drum turned, it carried the ribbon along for exactly the right
distance. Both drums were fixed friction-tight on a long spindle, which
also carried at its middle a star wheel with seven long, slender teeth,
and at its end a ratchet pulley over which ran a cord carrying the small
driving-weight. Thus the calendar movement had its own driving-power and
made no demands on that of the clock.

So much for the calendar itself; and now for its connection with the
clock. The mechanism "took off" from the hour-wheel which carries the
hour-hand and makes a complete turn in twelve hours, and which, in this
clock, had forty teeth. Below this, and gearing with it, I fixed another
wheel, which had eighty teeth, and consequently turned once in
twenty-four hours. I will call this "the day-wheel." On this wheel I
fixed, friction-tight, so that it could be moved round to adjust it,
what clock-makers call a "snail"; which is a flat disc cut to a spiral
shape, so that it looks like the profile of a snail's shell. Connecting
the snail with the calendar was a flat, thin steel bar (I actually made
it from the blade of a hack-saw) which I will call "the pallet-bar." It
moved on a pivot near its middle and had at its top end a small pin
which rested against the edge of the snail and was pressed against it by
a very weak spring. At its lower end it had an oblong opening with two
small ledges, or pallets, for the teeth of the star-wheel to rest on. I
hope I have made this fairly clear. And now let us see how it worked.

We will take the top end first. As the clock "went," it turned the snail
round slowly (half as fast as the hour-hand); and as the snail turned,
it gradually pushed the pin of the pallet-bar, which was resting against
it, farther and farther from its centre, until the end of the spiral was
reached. A little further turn and the pin dropped off the end of the
spiral ("the step") down towards the centre. Then the pushing-away
movement began again. Thus it will be seen that the rotation of the
snail (once in twenty-four hours) caused the top end of the pallet-bar
to move slowly outwards and then drop back with a jerk.

Now let us turn to the lower end of the pallet-bar. Here, as I have
said, was an oblong opening, interrupted by two little projecting
ledges, or pallets. Through this opening the star-wheel projected, one
of its seven teeth resting (usually) on the upper pallet, and held there
by the power of the little driving weight. As the snail turned and
pushed the top end of the pallet-bar outwards, the lower end moved in
the opposite direction, and the pallet slid along under the tooth of the
wheel. When the tooth reached the end of the upper pallet, it dropped
off on to the lower pallet and remained there for a few minutes. Then,
when the pin dropped into the step of the snail, the lower pallet was
suddenly withdrawn from under the tooth, which left the wheel free to
turn until the next tooth was stopped by the upper pallet. Thus the
wheel made the seventh of a revolution; but so, also, did the two drums
which were on the same spindle, with the result that a new day and date
number were brought to their respective windows; and the change occupied
less than a second.

The above is only a rough sketch of the mechanism, omitting the minor
mechanical details, and I hope it has not wearied the reader. To me, I
need not say, the work was a labour of love which kept me supremely
happy. But it also greatly added to my prestige in the workshop. Kennet
was deeply impressed by it, and Gus followed the construction with the
keenest interest and with a display of mechanical intelligence that
rather surprised me. Even Mr. Parrish looked into the workshop from time
to time and observed my progress with an approving grunt.

When the construction was finished, I brought the case into the workshop
and there set the clock up--at first without the dial--to make the final
adjustments. I set the snail to discharge at twelve noon, as midnight
was not practicable, and the three of us used to gather round the clock
as the appointed hour approached, for the gratification of seeing the
day and date change in an instant at the little windows. When the
adjustment was perfect, I stopped the clock at ten in the morning and we
carried it in triumph to its usual abiding place, where, when I had
tried the action to see that the tick was even, I once more stopped the
pendulum and would have left it to the care of its owner. But Mr.
Parrish insisted that I should come in in the evening and start it
myself, and further, that I should stay until midnight and see that the
date did actually change at the correct moment. To which I agreed very
readily; whereby I not only gained a supper that was a banquet compared
with my customary diet and had the satisfaction of seeing the date
change on the very stroke of midnight, but I received such commendations
from my usually undemonstrative employer that I began seriously to
consider the possibility of an increase in my wages in the not too
distant future.

But, alas! the future had something very different in store for me.




CHAPTER VIII
MR. PARRISH REMEMBERS


For a month or two after the agreeable episode just recounted, the
stream of my life flowed on tranquilly and perhaps rather monotonously.
But I was quite happy. My position in Mr. Parrish's establishment seemed
fairly settled and I had the feeling that my employer set some value on
me as a workman. Not, however, to the extent of increasing my salary,
though of this I still cherished hopes. But I did not dare to raise the
question; for at least I had an assured livelihood, if a rather meagre
one, and so great was my horror of being thrown out of employment that I
would have accepted the low wage indefinitely rather than risk my
security. So I worked on contentedly, poor as a church mouse, but always
hoping for better times.

But at last came the explosion which blew my security into atoms. It was
a disastrous affair and foolish, too; and what made it worse was that it
was my own hand that set the match to the gunpowder. Very vividly do I
recall the circumstances, though, at first, they seemed trivial enough.
A man from a tool-maker's had come into the workshop to inspect a new
slide-rest that his firm had fitted to the lathe. When he had examined
it and pronounced it satisfactory, he picked up the heavy bag that he
had brought and was turning towards the door when Mr. Parrish said:

"If you have got the account with you, I may as well settle up now."

The man produced the account from his pocket-book and handed it to Mr.
Parrish, who glanced at it and then, diving into his coat-tail pocket,
brought out a leather wallet (which I instantly recognized as an old
acquaintance) and, extracting from it a five-pound note, handed the
latter to the man in exchange for the receipt and a few shillings
change. As our visitor put away the note, Mr. Parrish said to me:

"Take Mr. Soames's bag, Polton, and carry it out to the cab."

I picked up the bag, which seemed to be filled with tool-makers'
samples, and conveyed it out to the waiting "growler", where I stowed it
on the front seat, and, waiting with the door open, saw Mr. Soames
safely into the vehicle and shut him in. Returning into the house, I
encountered Mr. Parrish, who was standing at the front door; and then it
was that some demon of mischief impelled me to an act of the most
perfectly asinine folly.

"I see, Sir," I said with a fatuous smirk, "that you still carry your
wallet in your coat-tail pocket."

He halted suddenly and stared at me with a strange, startled expression
that brought me to my senses with a jerk. But it was too late. I saw
that the fat was in the fire, though I didn't guess how much fat there
was or how big was the fire. After a prolonged stare, he commanded,
gruffly:

"Come into my room and tell me what you mean."

I followed him in, miserably, and when he had shut the door, I
explained:

"I was thinking, Sir, of what the inspector at the police station said
to you about carrying your wallet in your tail pocket. Don't you
remember, Sir?"

"Yes," he replied, glaring at me ferociously, "I remember. And I
remember you, too, now that you have reminded me. I always thought that
I had seen you before. So you are the young rascal who was found in
possession of the stolen property."

"But I didn't steal it, Sir," I pleaded.

"Ha!" said he. "So you said at the time. Very well. That will do for the
present."

I sneaked out of the room very crestfallen and apprehensive. "For the
present!" What did he mean by that? Was there more trouble to come? I
looked nervously in at the workshop, but as the other occupants had now
gone to dinner, I took myself off and repaired to an _-la-mode_ beef
shop in Oxford Market, where I fortified myself with a big basinful of
the steaming compound and "topped up" with a halfpennyworth of apples
from a stall in the market. Then I whiled away the remainder of the
dinner hour rambling about the streets, trying to interest myself in
shop windows, but unable to rid myself of the haunting dread of what
loomed in the immediate future.

At length, as the last minutes of the dinner hour ran out, I crept back
timorously, hoping to slink unnoticed along the passage to the workshop.
But even as I entered, my forebodings were realized. For there was my
employer, evidently waiting for me, and a glance at his face prepared me
for instant dismissal. He motioned to me silently to follow him into his
room, and I did so in the deepest dejection; but when I entered and
found a third person in the room, my dejection gave place to something
like terror. For that third person was Detective Sergeant Pitts.

He recognized me instantly, for he greeted me drily by name. Then,
characteristically, he came straight to the point.

"Mr. Parrish alleges that you have opened his cash drawer with a false
key and have, from time to time, taken certain monies from it. Now,
before you say anything, I must caution you that anything you may say
will be taken down in writing and may be used in evidence against you.
So be very careful. Do you wish to say anything?"

"Certainly I do," I replied, my indignation almost overcoming my alarm.
"I say that I have no false key, that I have never touched the drawer
except in Mr. Parrish's presence, and that I have never taken any money
whatsoever."

The sergeant made a note of my reply in a large black note-book and then
asked:

"Is it true that you made a key to fit this drawer?"

"Yes, for Mr. Parrish; and he has that key and the broken one from which
it was copied. I made no other key."

"How did you make that key? By measurements only, or did you make a
squeeze?"

"I made a squeeze from the broken key, and, as soon as the job was
finished, I destroyed it."

"That's what he says," exclaimed Mr. Parrish, "but it's a lie. He kept
the squeeze and made another key from it."

The sergeant cast a slightly impatient glance at him and remarked,
drily:

"We are taking his statement," and continued: "Now, Polton, Mr. Parrish
says that he marked some, or all, of the money in that drawer with a P.
scratched just behind the head. If you have got any money about you,
perhaps you would like to show it to us."

"Like, indeed!" exclaimed Mr. Parrish. "He'll have to be searched
whether he likes it or not."

The sergeant looked at him angrily, but, as I proceeded to turn out my
pockets and lay the contents on the table, he made no remark until Mr.
Parrish was about to pounce on the coins that I had laid down, when he
said, brusquely:

"Keep your hands off that money, Mr. Parrish. This is my affair."

Then he proceeded to examine the coins, one by one, laying them down
again in two separate groups. Having finished, he looked at me steadily
and said:

"Here, Polton, are five coins: three half-crowns and a shilling and a
sixpence. All the half-crowns are marked with a P. The other coins are
not marked. Can you explain how you came by those half-crowns?"

"Yes, Sir. I received them from Mr. Parrish when he paid me my wages
last Saturday. He gave me four half-crowns, two florins and a shilling;
and he took the money from that drawer."

The sergeant looked at Mr. Parrish. "Is that correct?" he asked.

"I paid him his wages--fifteen shillings--but I don't admit that those
are the coins I gave him."

"But," the sergeant persisted, "did you take the money from that
drawer?"

"Of course I did," snapped Parrish. "It's my petty-cash drawer."

"And did you examine the coins to see whether they were marked?"

"I expect I did, but I really don't remember."

"He did not," said I. "He just counted out the money and handed it to
me."

The sergeant gazed at my employer with an expression of bewilderment.

"Well, of all----" he began, and then stopped and began again: "But what
on earth was the use of marking the money and then paying it out in the
ordinary way?"

The question stumped Mr. Parrish for the moment. Then, having mumbled
something about "a simple precaution", he returned to the subject of the
squeeze and the key. But the sergeant cut him short.

"It's no use just making accusations without proof. You've got nothing
to go on. The marked money is all bunkum, and as to the key, you are
simply guessing. You've not made out any case at all."

"Oh, haven't I?" Parrish retorted. "What about that key and the lock
that he repaired and the stolen money? I am going to prosecute him, and
I call on you to arrest him now."

"I'm not going to arrest him," said the sergeant; "but if you still
intend to prosecute, you'd better come along and settle the matter with
the inspector at the station. You come, too, Polton, so that you can
answer any questions."

Thus did history repeat itself. Once more, after five years, did I
journey to the same forbidding destination in company with the same
accuser and the guardian of the law. When we arrived at the police
station and were about to enter, we nearly collided with a
smartly-dressed gentleman who was hurrying out, and whom I recognized as
my late benefactor, Mr. Cohen. He recognized me at the same moment and
stopped short with a look of surprise at the sergeant.

"Why, what's this, Polton?" he demanded. "What are you doing here?"

"He is accused by this gentleman," the sergeant explained, "of having
stolen money from a drawer by means of a false key."

"Bah!" exclaimed Mr. Cohen. "Nonsense. He is a most respectable lad. I
know him well and can vouch for his excellent character."

"You don't know him as well as I do," said Mr. Parrish, viciously.

Mr. Cohen turned on him a look of extreme disfavour and then addressed
the sergeant.

"If there is going to be a prosecution, Sergeant, I shall undertake the
defence. But I should like to have a few words with Polton and hear his
account of the affair before the charge is made."

To this Mr. Parrish was disposed to object, muttering something about
"collusion", but, as the inspector was engaged at the moment, the
sergeant thrust my adviser and me into a small, empty room and shut the
door. Then Mr. Cohen began to ply me with questions, and so skilfully
were they framed that in a few minutes he had elicited, not only the
immediate circumstances, but also the material antecedents, including
the incident of the wax squeeze and Mr. Kennet's observations with the
reflecting level. I had just finished my recital when the sergeant
opened the door and invited us to step into the inspector's office.

Police officers appear to have astonishing memories. The inspector was
the same one who had taken--or rather refused--the charge on my former
visit, and I gathered that not only was his recognition of accused and
accuser instantaneous, but that he even remembered the circumstances in
detail. His mention of the fact did not appear to encourage Mr. Parrish,
who began the statement of his case in a rather diffident tone; but he
soon warmed up, and finished upon a note of fierce denunciation. He made
no reference to the marked coins, but the sergeant supplied the
deficiency with a description of the incident to which the inspector
listened with an appreciative grin.

"It comes to this, then," that officer summed up. "You have missed
certain money from your cash-drawer and you suspect Polton of having
stolen it because he is able to make a key."

"And a very good reason, too," Mr. Parrish retorted, defiantly.

"You have no proof that he did actually make a key?"

"He must have done so, or he wouldn't have been able to steal the
money."

The inspector exchanged glances of intelligence with the sergeant and
then turned to my adviser.

"Now, Mr. Cohen, you say you are acting for the accused. You have heard
what Mr. Parrish has said. Is there any answer to the charge?"

"There is a most complete and conclusive answer," Mr. Cohen replied. "In
the first place I can prove that Polton destroyed the wax squeeze
immediately when he had finished the key. Further, I can prove that,
while Polton was absent, trying the key in the lock, some other person
abstracted a piece of the wax and made an impression on it with the
broken key. He thought he was unobserved, but he was mistaken. Someone
saw him take the wax and make the squeeze. Now, the person who made that
squeeze was a member of Mr. Parrish's household, and so would have had
access to Mr. Parrish's office in his absence."

"He wouldn't," Mr. Parrish interposed. "I always lock my office when I
go away from it."

"And when you are in it," the inspector asked, "where is the key?"

"In the door, of course," Mr. Parrish replied impatiently.

"On the outside, where anyone could take it out quietly, make a squeeze
and put it back. And somebody must have made a false key if the money
was really stolen. The drawer couldn't have been robbed when you were in
the office."

"That is exactly what I am saying," Mr. Parrish protested. "This young
rogue made two keys, one of the door and one of the cash-drawer."

The inspector took a deep breath and then looked at Mr. Cohen.

"You say, Mr. Cohen, that you can produce evidence. What sort of
evidence?"

"Absolutely conclusive evidence, Sir," Mr. Cohen replied. "The testimony
of an eye-witness who saw Polton destroy his squeeze and saw the other
person take a piece of the wax and make the impression. If this case
goes into court, I shall call that witness and he will disclose the
identity of that person. And then I presume that the police would take
action against that person."

"Certainly," replied the inspector. "If Mr. Parrish swears that money
was stolen from that drawer and you prove that some person, living in
the house, had made a squeeze of the drawer-key, we should, naturally,
charge that person with having committed the robbery. Can you swear, Mr.
Parrish, that the money was really stolen and give particulars of the
amounts?"

"Well," replied Mr. Parrish, mightily flustered by these new
developments, "to the best of my belief--but if there is going to be a
lot of fuss and scandal, perhaps I had better let the matter drop and
say no more about it."

"That won't do, Mr. Parrish," my champion said, sharply. "You have
accused a most respectable young man of a serious crime, and you have
actually planted marked money on him and pretended that he stole it.
Now, you have got, either to support that accusation--which you can't
do, because it is false--or withdraw the charge unconditionally and
acknowledge your mistake. If you do that, in writing, I am willing to
let the matter drop, as you express it. Otherwise, I shall take such
measures as may be necessary to establish my client's innocence."

The pretty obvious meaning of Mr. Cohen's threat was evidently
understood, for my crestfallen accuser turned in dismay to the inspector
with a mumbled request for advice; to which the officer replied,
briskly:

"Well. What's the difficulty? You've been guessing, and you've guessed
wrong. Why not do the fair thing and admit your mistake like a man?"

In the end, Mr. Parrish surrendered, though with a very bad grace; and
when Mr. Cohen had written out a short statement, he signed it, and
Sergeant Pitts attested the signature and Mr. Cohen bestowed the
document in his wallet; which brought the proceedings to an end. Mr.
Parrish departed in dudgeon; and I--when I had expressed my profound
gratitude to Mr. Cohen for his timely help--followed him, in
considerably better spirits than when I had arrived.

But as soon as I was outside the police station, the realities of my
position came back to me. The greater peril of the false charge and
possible conviction and imprisonment, I had escaped; but the other peril
still hung over me. I had now to return to my place of employment, but I
knew that there would be no more employment for me. Mr. Parrish was an
unreasonable, obstinate man, and evidently vindictive. No generous
regret for the false accusation could I expect, but rather an
exacerbation of his anger against me. He would never forgive the
humiliation that Mr. Cohen had inflicted on him.

My expectations were only too literally fulfilled. As I entered the
house, I found him waiting for me in the hall with a handful of silver
in his fist.

"Ha!" said he, "so you have had the impudence to come back. Well, I
don't want you here. I've done with you. Here are your week's wages, and
now you can take yourself off."

He handed me the money and pointed to the door, but I reminded him that
my tools were in the workshop and requested permission to go and fetch
them.

"Very well," said he, "you can take your tools, and I will come with you
to see that you don't take anything else."

He escorted me to the workshop, where, as we entered, Kennet looked at
us with undissembled curiosity, and Gus cast a furtive and rather
nervous glance over his shoulder. Both had evidently gathered that there
was trouble in the air.

"Now," said Mr. Parrish, "look sharp. Get your things together and clear
out."

As the order was given, in a tone of furious anger, Gus bent down over
his bench and Kennet turned to watch us with a scowl on his face that
suggested an inclination to take a hand in the proceedings. But if he
had had any such intention, he thought better of it, though he continued
to look at me, gloomily, as I packed my bag, until Mr. Parrish noticed
him and demanded, angrily:

"What are you staring at, Kennet? Mind your own business and get on with
your work."

"Polton got the sack?" asked Kennet.

"Yes, he has," was the gruff reply.

"What for?" Kennet demanded with equal gruffness.

"That's no affair of yours," Parrish replied. "You attend to your own
job."

"Well," said Kennet, "you are sending away a good workman, and I hope
he'll get a better billet next time. So long, mate;" and with this he
turned back sulkily to his lathe, while I, having now finished packing
my bag, said "good-bye" to him and was forthwith shepherded out of the
workshop.

As I took my way homeward--that is, towards Foubert's Place--I reflected
on the disastrous change in my condition that a few foolish words had
wrought. For I could not disguise from myself the fact that my position
was even worse than it had been when poor Mr. Abraham's death had sent
me adrift. Then, I had a reasonable explanation of my being out of work,
but now I should not dare to mention my last employer. I had been
dismissed on suspicion of theft. It was a false suspicion and its
falsity could be proved. But no stranger would go into that question.
The practical effect was the same as if I had been guilty. I should have
to evade any questions as to my last employment.

A review of my resources was not more encouraging. I had nine shillings
left from my last wages and the fifteen shillings that Mr. Parrish had
just paid me, added to which was a small store in my money-box that I
had managed to put by from week to week. I knew the amount exactly, and,
casting up the entire sum of my wealth, found that the total was two
pounds, three shillings and sixpence. On that I should have to subsist
and pay my rent until I should obtain some fresh employment; and the
ominous question as to how long it would last was one that I did not
dare to consider.

When I had put away my tool-bag in the cupboard and bestowed the bulk of
my money in the cash-box, I took a long drink from the water-jug to
serve in lieu of tea and set forth towards Clerkenwell to use what was
left of the day in taking up once more the too-familiar quest.




CHAPTER IX
STORM AND SUNSHINE


Over the events of the succeeding weeks I shall pass as lightly as
possible. There is no temptation to linger or dwell in detail on these
dismal recollections, which could be no more agreeable to read than to
relate. Nevertheless, it is necessary that I should give at least a
summary account of them, since they were directly connected with the
most important event of my life.

But it was a miserable time, repeating in an intensified form all the
distressing features of that wretched interregnum that followed Mr.
Abraham's death. For then I had at least begun my quest in hope, whereas
now something like despair haunted me from the very beginning. I knew
from the first how little chance I had of finding employment, especially
since I could not venture to name my last employer; but that difficulty
never arose, for no one ever entertained my application. The same old
obstacle presented itself every time: I was not a qualified journeyman,
but only a half-time apprentice.

Still I went on doggedly, day after day, trapesing the streets until I
think I must have visited nearly every clock-maker in London and a
number of optical-instrument makers as well; and as the days passed, I
looked forward with ever-growing terror to the inevitable future towards
which I was drifting. For my little store of money dwindled steadily.
From the first I had cut my food down to an irreducible minimum. Tea and
butter I never tasted; but even a loaf of bread with an occasional
portion of cheese, or a faggot or a polony, cost something; and there
was the rent to pay at the end of every week. Each night, as I counted
anxiously the shrinking remainder which stood between me and utter
destitution, I saw the end drawing ever nearer and nearer.

Meanwhile, my distress of mind must have been aggravated by my bodily
condition; for though the meagre scraps of food that I doled out to
myself with miserly thrift were actually enough to support life, I was
in a state of semi-starvation. The fact was obvious to me, not only from
the slack way in which my clothes began to hang about me, but from the
evident signs of bodily weakness. At first I had been able to tramp the
streets for hours at a time without resting, but now I must needs seek,
from time to time, some friendly doorstep or window-ledge to rest awhile
before resuming my fruitless journeyings.

Occasionally, as I wandered through the streets, realizing the
hopelessness of my quest, there passed through my mind vaguely the idea
of seeking help from some of my friends: from Mr. Beeby or Mr. Cohen, or
even Aunt Judy. But always I put it off as a desperate measure only to
be considered when everything else had failed; and Aunt Judy I think I
never considered at all. I had last written to her just after I had
finished the calendar: a buoyant, hopeful letter, conveying to her the
impression that a promising future was opening out to me, as I indeed
believed. She would be quite happy about me, and I could not bear to
think of the bitter disappointment and disillusionment that she would
suffer if I were to disclose the dreadful reality. Besides, she and
dear, honest Uncle Sam were but poor people, living decently, but with
never a penny to spare. How could I burden them with my failure? It was
not to be thought of.

But, in fact, as the time ran on, I seemed to become less capable of
thought. My alarm at the approaching catastrophe gave place to a dull,
fatalistic despair almost amounting to indifference. Even when I handed
Mr. Stokes my last half-crown for rent--in advance--and knew that
another week would see me without even a night's shelter, I seemed
unable clearly to envisage the position. There still remained an
uncounted handful of coppers. I was not yet penniless.

But there was something more in my condition than mere mental dulness.
At intervals I became aware of it myself. Not only did my thoughts tend
to ramble in a confused, dreamlike fashion, mingling objective realities
with things imagined; I was conscious of bodily sensations that made me
suspect the onset of definite illness: a constant, distressing headache,
with attacks of shivering (though the weather was warm) and a feeling as
if a stream of icy water were being sprayed on my back. And now the
gnawing hunger from which I had suffered gave place to an intense
repugnance to food. On principle, I invested the last but one of my
pence in a polony. But I could not eat it; and when I had ineffectively
nibbled at one end, I gave up the attempt and put it in my pocket for
future use. But I had a craving for a drink of tea, and my last penny
was spent at a coffee-shop, where I sat long and restfully in the
old-fashioned "pew" with a big mug of the steaming liquor before me.

That is my last connected recollection of this day. Whither I went after
leaving the coffee-shop I have no idea. Hour after hour I must have
wandered aimlessly through the streets, for the night had fallen when I
found myself sitting on the high step of a sheltered doorway with my
aching head supported by my hands. A light rain was pattering down on
the pavement, and no doubt it was to escape this that I had crept into
the doorway. But I do not remember. Indeed, my mind must have been in a
very confused state, for I seemed to wake up as from a dream or a spell
of unconsciousness when a light shone on me and a voice addressed me.

"Now, young fellow, you can't sit there. You must move on."

I raised my head and received the full glare of the lantern in my face,
which caused me instantly to close my eyes. There was a short pause, and
then the voice resumed, persuasively:

"Come, now, my lad, up you get."

With the aid of my hands on the step, I managed to rise a little way,
but then sank down again with my back against the door. There was
another pause, during which the policeman--now faintly visible--stooped
over me for a closer inspection. Then a second voice interposed:

"What's this? He can't be drunk, a kid like that."

"No, he isn't," the first officer replied. He grasped my wrist, gently,
in a very large hand, and exclaimed: "God! The boy's red-hot. Just feel
his wrist."

The other man did so and brought _his_ lantern to bear on me. Then they
both stood up and held a consultation of which I caught only a few stray
phrases such as, "Yes, Margaret's is nearest," and, finally, "All right.
Run along to the stand and fetch one. Four-wheeler, of course."

Here, one of the officers disappeared, and the other, leaning over me,
asked in a kindly tone what my name was and where I lived. I managed to
answer these questions, the replies to which the officer entered in a
book, but the effort finished me, and I dropped forward again with my
head in my hands. Presently a cab drew up opposite the doorway, and the
two officers lifted me gently and helped me into it, when I saw by the
light of its lamps that they were a sergeant and a constable. The latter
got in with me and slammed the door with a bang that seemed like the
blow of a hammer on my head, and the cab rattled away noisily, the jar
of its iron tyres on the granite setts shaking me most abominably.

Of that journey I have but the haziest recollection. I know that I
huddled in the corner with my teeth chattering, but I must have sunk
into a sort of stupor, for I can recall nothing more than a muddled,
dreamlike, consciousness of lights and people, of being lifted about and
generally discommoded, of having my clothes taken off, and, finally, of
being washed by a white-capped woman with a large sponge--a proceeding
that made my teeth chatter worse than ever.

Thenceforward time ceased to exist for me. I must have lain in a dull,
torpid condition with occasional intervals of more definite
consciousness. I was dimly aware that I was lying in a bed in a large,
light room in which there were other people, and which I recognized as a
hospital ward. But mostly my mind was a blank, conscious only of extreme
bodily discomfort and a dull headache that never left me a moment of
ease.

How long I continued in this state, indifferent to, and hardly conscious
of, my surroundings, but always restless, weary and suffering, I have no
idea (excepting from what I was told afterwards). Days and nights passed
uncounted and unperceived, and the memory of that period which remains
is that of a vague, interminable dream.

The awakening came, I think, somewhat suddenly. At any rate, I remember
a day when I, myself, was conscious of a change. The headache and the
restlessness had gone, and with them the muddled, confused state of
mind. I was now clearly aware of what was going on around me, though too
listless to take particular notice, lying still with my eyes closed or
half-closed, in a state of utter exhaustion, with a sensation of sinking
through the bed. Vaguely, the idea that I was dying presented itself,
but it merely floated through my mind without arousing any interest. The
effort even of thinking was beyond my powers.

In the afternoon of this day the physician made his periodical visit. I
was aware of droning voices and the tread of many feet as he and the
little crowd of students moved on from bed to bed, now passing farther
away and now coming nearer. Presently they reached my bed, and I opened
my eyes sleepily to look at them. The physician was a short, pink-faced
gentleman with upstanding silky white hair and bright blue eyes. At the
moment he was examining the chart and case-paper and discussing them
with a tall, handsome young man whom I recognized as one of the regular
disturbers of my peace. I took no note of what they were saying until he
handed the chart-board to a white-capped lady (another of the
disturbers) with the remark:

"Well, Sister, the temperature is beginning to remit, but he doesn't
seem to be getting any fatter."

"No, indeed," the sister replied. "He is an absolute skeleton, and he's
most dreadfully weak. But he seems quite sensible to-day."

"H'm. Yes," said the physician. Then, addressing the students, he
continued: "A rather difficult question arises. We are in a dilemma. If
we feed him too soon we may aggravate the disease and send his
temperature up; if we don't feed him soon enough we may--well, we may
feed him too late. And in this case there is the complication that the
patient was apparently in a state of semi-starvation when he was taken
ill; so he had no physiological capital to start with. Now, what are we
to do? Shall we take the opinion of the learned house physician?" He
smiled up at the tall young gentleman and continued: "You've had him
under observation, Thorndyke. Tell us what you'd do."

"I should take what seems to be the lesser risk," the house physician
replied, promptly, "and begin feeding him at once."

"There!" chuckled the physician. "The oracle has spoken, and I think we
agree. We usually do agree with Mr. Thorndyke; and when we don't, we're
usually wrong. Ha! ha! What? Very well, Thorndyke. He's your patient, so
you can carry out your own prescription."

With this, the procession moved on to the next bed; and I closed my eyes
and relapsed into my former state of dreamy half-consciousness. From
this, however, I was presently aroused by a light touch on my shoulder
and a feminine voice addressing me.

"Now, Number Six, wake up. I've brought you a little supper, and the
doctor says you are to take the whole of it."

I opened my eyes and looked sleepily at the speaker, a pleasant-faced,
middle-aged nurse who held in one hand a glass bowl, containing a
substance that looked like pomade, and in the other a spoon; and with
the latter she began to insinuate very small quantities of the pomade
into my mouth, smilingly ignoring my feeble efforts to resist. For
though the taste of the stuff was agreeable enough, I still had an
intense repugnance to food and only wanted to be left alone. But she was
very patient and very persistent, giving me little rests and then
rousing me up and coaxing me to make another effort. And so, I suppose,
the pomade was at last finished; but I don't know, for I must have
fallen asleep and must have slept several hours, since it was night when
I awoke and the ward was in semi-darkness. But the pomade had done its
work. The dreadful sinking feeling had nearly gone and I felt
sufficiently alive to look about me with a faintly-awakening interest;
which I continued to do until the night sister espied me and presently
bore down on me with a steaming bowl and a feeding cup.

"Well, Number Six," said she, "you've had quite a fine, long sleep, and
now you are going to have some nice, hot broth; and perhaps, when you
have taken it, you'll have another sleep." Which turned out to be the
case, for though I recall emptying the feeding-cup, I remember nothing
more until I awoke to find the sunlight streaming into the ward and the
nurse and Mr. Thorndyke standing beside my bed.

"This is better, Number Six," said the latter. "They tell me you have
been sleeping like a dormouse. How do you feel this morning?"

I replied in a ridiculous whisper that I felt much better; at which he
smiled, pleasantly, and remarked that it was the first time he had heard
my voice, "if you can call it a voice," he added. Then he felt my pulse,
took my temperature, and, having made a few notes on the case-paper,
departed with another smile and a friendly nod.

I need not follow my progress in detail. It was uninterrupted, though
very slow. By the end of the following week my temperature had settled
down and I was well on my way to recovery. But I was desperately weak
and wasted to a degree of emaciation that I should have supposed to be
impossible in a living man. However, this seemed to be a passing phase,
for now, so far from feeling any repugnance to food, I hailed the
appetizing little meals that were brought to me with voracious joy.

As my condition improved, Mr. Thorndyke's visits tended to grow longer.
When the routine business had been dispatched, he would linger for a
minute or two to exchange a few words with me (very few on my side and
mostly playful or facetious on his) before passing on to the next bed;
and whenever, during the day or night, he had occasion to pass through
the ward, if I were awake, he would always greet me, at least, with a
smile and a wave of the hand. Not that he specially singled me out for
these attentions, for every patient was made to feel that the house
physician was interested in him as a man and not merely as a "case."

Nevertheless, I think there was something about me that attracted his
attention in a particular way, for on several occasions I noticed him
looking me over in an appraising sort of fashion, and I thought that he
seemed especially interested in my hands. And apparently I was right, as
I learned one afternoon when, having finished his round, he came and sat
down on the chair by my bedside to talk to me. Presently he picked up my
right hand, and, holding it out before him, remarked:

"This is quite a lady-like hand, Polton" (he had dropped "Number Six");
"very delicate and soft. And yet it is a good, serviceable hand, and I
notice that you use it as if you were accustomed to do skilled work with
it. Perhaps I am wrong; but I have been wondering what your occupation
is. You are too small for any of the heavy trades."

"I am a clock-maker, Sir," I replied, "but I have put in some time at
cabinet-making and I have had a turn at making philosophical
instruments, such as levels and theodolites. But clock-making is my
proper trade."

"Then," said he, "Providence must have foreseen that you were going to
be a clock-maker and furnished you with exactly the right kind of hands.
But you seem to have had a very varied experience, considering your
age."

"I have, Sir, though it wasn't all of my own choosing. I had to take the
job that offered itself, and when no job offered, it was a case of
wearing out shoe-leather."

"Ha!" said he, "and I take it that you had been wearing out a good deal
of shoe-leather at the time when you were taken ill."

"Yes, Sir. I had been having a very bad time."

I suppose I spoke somewhat dismally, for it had suddenly dawned on me
that I should leave the hospital penniless and with worse prospects than
ever. He looked at me thoughtfully, and, after a short pause, asked:

"Why were you not able to get work?"

I considered the question and found it difficult to answer; and yet I
wanted to explain, for something told me that he would understand and
sympathize with my difficulties, and we all like to pour our troubles
into sympathetic ears.

"There were several reasons, Sir, but the principal one was that I
wasn't able to finish my apprenticeship. But it's rather a long story to
tell to a busy gentleman."

"I'm not a busy gentleman for the moment," said he with a smile. "I've
finished my work for the present; and I shall be a very interested
gentleman if you care to tell me the story. But perhaps you would rather
not recall those bad times."

"Oh, it isn't that, Sir. I should like to tell you if it wouldn't weary
you."

As he once more assured me of his interest in my adventures and
misadventures, I began, shyly and awkwardly, to sketch out the history
of my apprenticeship, with scrupulous care to keep it as short as
possible. But there was no need. Not only did he listen with lively
interest; but when I became unduly sketchy he interposed with questions
to elicit fuller details, so that, becoming more at my ease, I told the
little story of my life in a consecutive narrative, but still keeping to
the more significant incidents. The last, disastrous, episode, however,
I related at length--mentioning no names except that of Mr. Cohen--as it
seemed necessary to be circumstantial in order to make my innocence
perfectly clear; and I was glad that I did so, for my listener followed
that tragedy of errors with the closest attention.

"Well, Polton," he said when I had brought the narrative up to date,
"you have had only a short life, but it has been a pretty full one--a
little too full, at times. If experience makes men wise, you should be
bursting with wisdom. But I do hope you have taken in your full cargo of
that kind of experience."

He looked at his watch, and, as he rose, remarked that he must be
getting back to duty; and having thanked me for "my most interesting
story," walked quickly but silently out of the ward, leaving me with a
curious sense of relief at having unburdened myself of my troubles to a
confessor so kindly and sympathetic.

That, however, was not the last of our talks, for thenceforward he
adopted the habit of making me little visits, sitting on the chair by my
bedside and chatting to me quite familiarly without a trace of
patronage. It was evident that my story had greatly interested him, for
he occasionally put a question that showed a complete recollection of
all that I had told him. But more commonly he drew me out on the subject
of clocks and watches. He made me explain, with drawings, the
construction and mode of working of a gravity escapement and the
difference between a chronometer and a lever watch. Again, he was quite
curious on the subject of locks and keys and of instruments such as
theodolites, of which he had no experience; and though mechanism would
seem to be rather outside the province of a doctor, I found him very
quick in taking in mechanical ideas and quite keen on acquiring the
little items of technical knowledge that I was able to impart.

But these talks, so delightful to me, came to a rather sudden end, at
least for a time; for one afternoon, just as he was leaving me, he
announced:

"By the way, Polton, you will be handed over to a new house physician
to-morrow. My term of office has come to an end." Then, observing that I
looked rather crestfallen, he continued: "However, we shan't lose sight
of each other. I am taking charge of the museum and laboratory for a
week or two while the curator is away, and, as the laboratory opens on
the garden, where you will be taking the air when you can get about, I
shall be able to keep an eye on you."

This was some consolation for my loss, and something to look forward to,
and it begot in me a sudden eagerness to escape from bed and see what I
could do in the way of walking. Apparently, I couldn't do much; for when
the sister, in response to my entreaties, wrapped me in a dressing-gown,
and, with a nurse's aid, helped me to totter to the nearest armchair, I
sat down with alacrity, and, at the end of half an hour, was very glad
to be conducted back to bed.

It was not a very encouraging start, but I soon improved on it. In a few
days I was crawling about the ward unassisted, with frequent halts to
rest in the armchair; and by degrees the rests grew shorter and less
frequent, until I was able to pace up and down the ward quite briskly.
And at last came the joyful day when the nurse produced my clothes
(which appeared to have been cleaned since I last saw them) and helped
me to put them on; and, it being a warm, sunny morning, the sister
graciously acceded to my request that I might take a little turn in the
garden.

That was a red-letter day for me. Even now I recall with pleasure the
delightful feeling of novelty with which I took my journey downwards in
the lift, swathed in a dressing-gown over my clothes and fortified by a
light lunch (which I devoured, wolfishly), and the joy with which I
greeted the sunlit trees and flower-beds as the nurse conducted me along
a path and deposited me on a seat. But better still was the sight of a
tall figure emerging from the hospital and advancing with long strides
along the path. At the sight of him my heart leaped, and I watched him
anxiously lest he should take another path and pass without seeing me.
My eagerness surprised me a little at the time; and now, looking back, I
ask myself how it had come about that Mr. Thorndyke was to me so
immeasurably different from all other men. Was it some prophetic sense
which made me dimly aware of what was to be? Or could it be that I, an
insignificant, ignorant lad, had somehow instinctively divined the
intellectual and moral greatness of the man? I cannot tell. In a quiet,
undemonstrative way he had been gracious, kindly and sympathetic; but
beyond this there had seemed to be a sort of magnetism about him which
attracted me, so that to the natural respect and admiration with which I
regarded him was unaccountably added an actual personal devotion.

Long before he had drawn near, he saw me and came straight to my seat.

"Congratulations, Polton," he said, cheerfully, as he sat down beside
me. "This looks like the beginning of the end. But we mustn't be
impatient, you know. We must take things easily and not try to force the
pace."

He stayed with me about five minutes, chatting pleasantly, but
principally in a medical strain, advising me and explaining the dangers
and pitfalls of convalescence from a severe and exhausting illness. Then
he left me, to go about his business in the laboratory, and I followed
him with my eyes as he entered the doorway of a range of low buildings.
But in a few moments he reappeared, carrying a walking-stick, and,
coming up to my seat, handed the stick to me.

"Here is a third leg for you, Polton," said he; "a very useful aid when
the natural legs are weak and unsteady. You needn't return it. It is an
ancient derelict that has been in the laboratory as long as I have known
the place."

I thanked him, and, as he returned to the laboratory, I rose and took a
little walk to try the stick, and very helpful I found it; but even if I
had not, I should still have prized the simple ash staff for the sake of
the giver, as I have prized it ever since. For I have it to this day;
and the silver band that I put on it bears the date on which it was
given.

A few days later Mr. Thorndyke overtook me as I was hobbling along the
path with the aid of my "third leg."

"Why, Polton," he exclaimed, "you are getting quite active and strong. I
wonder if you would care to come and have a look at the laboratory."

I grasped eagerly at the offer, and we walked together to the building
and entered the open doorway--left open, I presumed when I was inside,
to let out some of the smell.

The premises consisted of the laboratory proper, a large room with a
single long bench and a great number of shelves occupied by stoppered
glass jars of all sizes, mostly filled with a clear liquid in which some
very queer-looking objects were suspended (one, I was thrilled to
observe, was a human hand). On the lower shelves were ranged great
covered earthenware pots which I suspected to be the source of the
curious, spirituous odour. Beyond the laboratory was a workroom
furnished with a lathe, two benches and several racks of tools.

When he had shown me round, Mr. Thorndyke seated me in a Windsor
armchair close to the bench where he was working at the cutting,
staining and mounting of microscopical sections for use in the medical
school. When I had been watching him for some time, he looked round at
me with a smile.

"I suspect, Polton," said he, "that you are itching to try your hand at
section-mounting. Now, aren't you?"

I had to confess that I was; whereupon he, most good-naturedly, provided
me with a glass bowl of water and a pile of watch-glasses and bade me go
ahead, which I did with the delight of a child with a new toy. Having
cut the sections on the microtome and floated them off into the bowl, I
carried out the other processes in as close imitation of his methods as
I could, until I had a dozen slides finished.

"Well, Polton," said he, "there isn't much mystery about it, you see.
But you are pretty quick at learning--quicker than some of the students
whom I have to teach."

He examined my slides with the microscope, and, to my joy, pronounced
them good enough to go in with the rest; and he was just beginning to
label them when I perceived, through the window, the nurse who had come
to shepherd the patients in to dinner. So, with infinite regret, I tore
myself away, but not until I had been rejoiced by an invitation to come
again on the morrow.

The days that followed were among the happiest of my life. Every
morning--and, later, every afternoon as well--I presented myself at the
laboratory and was greeted with a friendly welcome. I was allowed to
look on at, and even to help in, all kinds of curious, novel and
fascinating operations. I assisted in the making of a plaster cast of a
ricketty boy's deformed legs; in the injecting with carmine gelatine of
the blood-vessels of a kidney; and in the cutting and mounting of a
section of a tooth. Every day I had a new experience and learned
something fresh; and in addition was permitted and encouraged to execute
repairs in the workroom on various invalid instruments and appliances.
It was a delightful time. The days slipped past in a dream of tranquil
happiness.

I have said "the days," but I should rather have said the hours that I
spent in the laboratory. They were hours of happiness unalloyed. But
with my return to the ward came a reaction. Then I had to face the
realities of life, to realize that a dark cloud was rising, ever growing
darker and more threatening. For I was now convalescent; and this was a
hospital, not an almshouse. My illness was over and it was nearly time
for me to go. At any moment now I might get my discharge; and then--but
I did not dare to think of what lay before me when I should go forth
from the hospital door into the inhospitable streets.

At last the blow fell. I saw it coming when, instead of sending me out
to the garden, the sister bade me stay by my bed when the physician was
due to make his visit. So there I stood, watching the procession of
students moving slowly round the ward with the feelings of a condemned
man awaiting the approach of the executioner. Finally, it halted
opposite my bed. The physician looked at me critically, spoke a few
kindly words of congratulation, listened to the sister's report, and,
taking the chart-board from her, wrote a few words on the case paper,
returned the board to her and moved on to the next bed.

"When do I go out, Sister?" I asked, anxiously, as she replaced the
board on its peg. She evidently caught and understood the note of
anxiety, for she replied very gently, with a quick glance at my downcast
face, "The day after to-morrow," and turned away to rejoin the
procession.

So the brief interlude of comfort and happiness was over and once more I
must go forth to wander, a wretched Ishmaelite, through the cheerless
wilderness. What I should do when I found myself cast out into the
street, I had no idea. Nor did I try to form any coherent plan. The
utter hopelessness of my condition induced a sort of mental paralysis,
and I could only roam about the garden (whither I had strayed when
sentence had been pronounced) in a state of vague, chaotic misery. Even
the appetizing little supper was swallowed untasted, and, for the first
time since the dawn of my convalescence, my sleep was broken and
troubled.

On the following morning I presented myself as usual at the laboratory.
But its magic was gone. I pottered about in the workroom to finish a
repairing job that I had on hand, but even that could not distract me
from the thought that I was looking my last on this pleasant and
friendly place. Presently, Mr. Thorndyke came in to look at the
instrument that I was repairing--it was a rocking microtome--but soon
transferred his attention from the instrument to me.

"What's the matter, Polton?" he asked. "You are looking mighty glum.
Have you got your discharge?"

"Yes, Sir," I replied. "I am going out to-morrow."

"Ha!" said he, "and from what you have told me, I take it that you have
nowhere to go."

I admitted, gloomily, that this was the case.

"Very well," said he. "Now I have a little proposal that I want you to
consider. Come and sit down in the laboratory and I'll tell you about
it."

He sat me in a Windsor armchair, and, seating himself on the bench
stool, continued: "I am intending to set up in practice; not in an
ordinary medical practice, but in that branch of medicine that is
connected with the law and is concerned with expert medical and
scientific evidence. For the purposes of my practice I shall have to
have a laboratory, somewhat like this, with a workshop attached; and I
shall want an assistant to help me with the experimental work. That
assistant will have to be a skilled mechanic, capable of making any
special piece of apparatus that may be required, and generally handy and
adaptable. Now, from what you have told me and what I have seen for
myself, I judge that you would suit me perfectly. You have a working
knowledge of three crafts, and I have seen that you are skilful,
painstaking and quick to take an idea, so I should like to have you as
my assistant. I can't offer much of a salary at first, as I shall be
earning nothing, myself, for a time, but I could pay you a pound a week
to begin with, and, as I should provide you with food and a good, big
bed-sitting room, you could rub along until something better turned up.
What do you say?"

I didn't say anything. I was speechless with emotion, with the sudden
revulsion from black despair to almost delirious joy. My eyes filled and
a lump seemed to rise in my throat.

Mr. Thorndyke evidently saw how it was with me, and, by way of easing
the situation, he resumed: "There is one other point. Mine will be a
bachelor establishment. I want no servants; so that, if you come to me,
you would have to render a certain amount of personal and domestic
services. You would keep the little household in order and occasionally
prepare a meal. In fact, you would be in the position of my servant as
well as laboratory assistant. Would you object to that?"

Would I object! I could have fallen down that instant and kissed his
boots. What I did say was that I should be proud to be his servant and
only sorry that I was not more worthy of that honourable post.

"Then," said he, "the bargain is struck; and each of us must do his best
to make it a good bargain for the other."

He then proceeded to arrange the details of my assumption of office,
which included the transfer of five shillings "to chink in my pocket and
pay the cabman," and, when all was settled, I went forth, at his advice,
to take a final turn in the garden; which I did with a springy step and
at a pace that made the other patients stare.

As I entered the ward, the sister came up to me with a rather troubled
face.

"When you go out to-morrow, Number Six, what are you going to do? Have
you any home to go to?"

"Yes, Sister," I replied, triumphantly. "Mr. Thorndyke had just engaged
me as his servant."

"Oh, I am _so_ glad," she exclaimed. "I have been rather worried about
you. But I am quite happy now, for I know that you will have the very
best of masters."

She was a wise woman, was that sister.

I pass over the brief remainder of my stay in hospital. The hour of my
discharge, once dreaded, but now hailed with joy, came in the middle of
the forenoon; and, as my worldly goods were all on my person, no
preparations were necessary. I made the round of the ward to say
farewell to my fellow-patients, and, when the sister had given me a
hearty hand-shake (I should have liked to kiss her), I was conducted by
the nurse to the secretary's office and there formally discharged. Then,
pocketing my discharge ticket, I made my way to the main entrance and
presented myself at the porter's lodge.

"Ah!" said the porter when I had introduced myself, "so you are Mr.
Thorndyke's young man. Well, I've got to put you into a hansom and see
that you know where to go. Do you?"

"Yes," I answered, producing the card that my master had given me and
reading from it. "The address is 'Dr. John Thorndyke, 5A King's Bench
Walk, Inner Temple, London, E.C.'"

"That's right," said he; "and remember that he's _Doctor_ Thorndyke now.
We call him Mister because that's the custom when a gentleman is on the
junior staff, even if he is an M.D. Here's a hansom coming in, so we
shan't have to fetch one."

The cab came up the courtyard and discharged its passenger at the
entrance, when the porter hailed the driver, and, having hustled me into
the vehicle, sang out the address to which I was to be conveyed and
waved his hand to me as we drove off, and I returned his salutation by
raising my hat.

I enjoyed the journey amazingly, surveying the busy streets over the low
doors with a new pleasure and thinking how cheerful and friendly they
looked. I had never been in a hansom before and I suppose I never shall
again. For the hansom is gone; and we have lost the most luxurious and
convenient passenger vehicle ever devised by the wit of man.

That cabman knew his business. Londoner as I was, the intricacies of his
route bewildered me completely; and when he came to the surface, as it
were, in Chancery Lane, which I recognized, he almost immediately
finished me off by crossing Fleet Street and passing through a great
gateway into a narrow lane bordered by ancient timber houses. Half-way
down this lane he turned into another, at the entrance to which I read
the name, "Crown Office Row," and this ended in a great open square
surrounded by tall houses. Here I was startled by a voice above my head
demanding:

"You said Five A, didn't you?"

I looked up, and was astonished to behold a face looking down on me
through a square opening in the roof; but I promptly answered "Yes,"
whereupon the face vanished and I saw and heard a lid shut down, and a
few moments later the cab drew up opposite the portico of a house on the
eastern side of the square. I hopped out, and, having verified the
number, asked the cabman what there was to pay; to which he replied,
concisely, "Two bob," and, leaning down, held out his hand. It seemed a
lot of money, but, of course, he knew what his fare was, so, having
handed up the exact amount, I turned away and stepped into the entry, on
the jamb of which was painted: "First pair, Dr. John Thorndyke."

The exact meaning of this inscription was not quite clear to me, but as
the ground floor was assigned to another person, I decided to explore
the staircase; and having ascended to the first-floor landing, was
reassured by observing the name "Dr. Thorndyke" painted in white
lettering over a doorway, the massive, iron-bound door of which was
open, revealing an inner door garnished by a small and very tarnished
brass knocker. On this I struck a single modest rap, when the door was
opened by Dr. Thorndyke, himself.

"Come in, Polton," said he, smiling on me very kindly and shaking my
hand. "Come into your new home--which is my home, too; and I hope it
will be a happy one for us both. But it will be what we make it.
Perhaps, if your journey hasn't tired you, you would like me to show you
over the premises."

I said that I was not tired at all, so he led me forth at once and we
started to climb the stairs, of which there were four flights to the
third-floor landing.

"I have brought you to the top floor," said The Doctor, "to introduce
you to your own domain. The rest of the rooms you can explore at your
leisure. This is your bedroom."

He threw open a door, and when I looked in I was struck dumb with
astonishment and delight. It was beyond my wildest dreams--a fine,
spacious room with two windows, furnished in a style of which I had no
previous experience. A handsome carpet covered the floor, the bed
surpassed even the hospital beds, there were a wardrobe, a chest of
drawers, a set of bookshelves, a large table by one of the windows and a
small one beside the bed, a fine easy chair and two other chairs. It was
magnificent. I had thought that only noblemen lived in such rooms. And
yet it was a very picture of homely comfort.

I was struggling to express my gratitude when The Doctor hustled me down
to the second floor to inspect the future laboratory and workshop. At
present they were just large, empty rooms, but the kitchen was fully
furnished and in going order, with a gas-cooker and a dresser filled
with china, and the empty larder was ready for use.

"Now," said The Doctor, "I must run off to the hospital in a few
minutes, but there are one or two matters to settle. First, you will
want some money to fit yourself out with clothes. I will advance you ten
pounds for that purpose. Then, until we are settled down, you will have
to get your meals at restaurants. I will give you a couple of pounds for
those and any stores that you may lay in, and you will keep an account
and let me know when you want any more money. And remember that you are
a convalescent, and don't stint your diet. I think that is all for the
present except the latch-keys, which I had better give you now."

He laid the money and the two keys on the table, and was just turning to
go when it occurred to me to ask if I should get an evening meal
prepared for him. He looked at me with a smile of surprise and replied:

"You're a very enterprising convalescent, Polton, but you mustn't try to
do too much at first. No, thank you. I shall dine in the board-room
to-night and get home about half-past nine."

When he had gone, I went out, and, having taken a substantial lunch at a
restaurant near Temple Bar, proceeded to explore the neighbourhood with
a view to household stores. Eventually I found in Fetter Lane enough
suitable shops to enable me to get the kitchen and the larder provided
for a start, and, having made my purchases, hurried home to await the
delivery of the goods. Then I spent a delightful afternoon and evening
rambling about the house, planning the workshop, paying repeated visits
to my incomparable room, and inaugurating the kitchen by preparing
myself an enormous high tea; after which, becoming extremely sleepy, I
went down and paced up and down the Walk to keep myself awake.

When The Doctor came home I would have expounded my plans for the
arrangement of the workshop. But he cut me short with the admonition
that convalescents should be early birds, and sent me off to bed; where
I sank at once into a delicious slumber and slept until it was broad
daylight and a soft-toned bell informed me that it was seven o'clock.

This day is the last that I shall record; for it saw the final stage of
that wonderful transformation that changed the old Nathaniel Polton, the
wretched, friendless outcast, into the pampered favourite of Fortune.

When I had given The Doctor his breakfast (which he praised, warmly, but
begged me to remember in future that he was only one man) and seen him
launched on his way to the hospital, I consumed what he had left on the
dish--one fried egg and a gammon rasher--and, having tidied up The
Doctor's bedroom and my own, went forth to wind up the affairs of
Polton, the destitute, and inaugurate Polton, the opulent; to "ring out
the old and ring in the new". First, I visited a "gentlemen's
outfitters", where I purchased a ready-made suit of a sober and genteel
character (I heard the shopman whisper something about "medium boy's
size") and other garments appropriate to it, including clerical grey
socks, a pair of excellent shoes and a soft felt hat. The parcel being a
large and heavy one I bought a strong rug-strap with which to carry it,
and so was able, with an occasional rest, to convey it to Foubert's
Place, where I proposed to settle any arrears of rent that Mr. Stokes
might claim. However, he claimed none, having let my room when I failed
to return. But he had stored my property in an attic, from which he very
kindly assisted me to fetch it, so that I had, presently, the
satisfaction of seeing all my worldly goods piled up on the counter: the
tool-chest that I had made in Mr. Beeby's workshop, my whole collection
of clock-maker's tools, and my beloved books, including Mr. Denison's
invaluable monograph. When they were all assembled, I went out and
chartered a four-wheeled cab, in which I stowed them all--chest, tools,
books, and the enormous parcel from the outfitters. Then I bade Mr.
Stokes a fond farewell, gave the cabman the address (at which he seemed
surprised; and I am afraid that I _was_ a rather shabby little
ragamuffin) shut myself in the cab and started for home.

Home! I had not known the word since Aunt Judy and Uncle Sam had flitted
away out of my ken. But now, as the cab rattled over the stones until it
made my teeth chatter, I had before me the vision of that noble room in
the Temple which was my very own, to have and to hold in perpetuity, and
the gracious friend and master whose presence would have turned a hovel
into a mansion.

As soon as we arrived, I conveyed my goods--in relays--upstairs; and
when I had paid off the cabman, I proceeded to dispose of them. The
tools I deposited in the future workshop as the first instalment of its
furnishing, the books and parcel I carried up to my own apartment. And
there the final scene was enacted. When I had arranged my little library
lovingly in the bookshelves, I opened the parcel and laid out its
incredible contents on the bed. For a while I was so overcome by their
magnificence that I could only gloat over them in ecstasy. I had never
had such clothes before, and I felt almost shy at their splendour.
However, they were mine, and I was going to wear them; and so
reflecting, I proceeded boldly to divest myself of the threadbare,
frayed and faded habiliments that had served me so long until I had
stripped to the uttermost rag (and rag is the proper word). Then I
inducted myself cautiously into the new garments, finishing up (in some
discomfort) with a snowy and rather stiff collar, a silk neck-tie, and
the sober but elegant black coat.

For quite a long time I stood before the mirror in the wardrobe door
surveying, with something of amused surprise and a certain sense of
unreality, the trimly-dressed gentleman who confronted me. At length, I
turned away with a sigh of satisfaction, and, having carefully put away
the discarded clothing for use in the workshop, went down to await The
Doctor's return.

And here I think I had better stop, leaving Dr. Jervis to relate the
sequel. Gladly would I go on--having now got into my stride--to tell of
my happy companionship with my beloved master, and how he and I fitted
out the workshop, and then, working on our joiner's bench, gradually
furnished the laboratory with benches and shelves. But I had better not.
My tale is told; and now I must lay down my pen and hold my peace. Yet
still I love to look back on that wonderful morning in the hospital
laboratory when a few magical words banished in an instant the night of
my adversity and ushered in the dawn.

But it was not only the dawn; it was the sunrise. And the sun has never
set. A benevolent Joshua has ordained that I shall live the days of my
life in perpetual sunshine; and that Joshua's name is John Thorndyke.





PART II
THE CASE OF MOXDALE DECEASED
_Narrated by Christopher Jervis, M.D._




CHAPTER X
FIRE!


To an old Londoner, the aspect of the town in the small hours of the
morning, in "the middle watch" as those dark hours are called in the
language of the mariner, is not without its attractions. For however
much he may love his fellow-creatures, it is restful, at least for a
time, to take their society in infinitesimal doses, or even to dispense
with it entirely, and to take one's way through the empty and silent
streets free to pursue one's own thoughts undistracted by the din and
hurly-burly that prevail in the daylight hours.

Thus I reflected as I turned out of Marylebone Station at about
half-past two in the morning, and, crossing the wide, deserted road,
bore away south-east in the direction of the Temple. Through what side
streets I passed I cannot remember, and in fact never knew, for, in the
manner of the born-and-bred Londoner, I simply walked towards my
destination without consciously considering my route. And as I walked in
a silence on which my own footfalls made an almost startling impression,
I looked about me with something like curiosity and listened for the
occasional far-off sounds which told of some belated car or lorry
wending its solitary way through some distant street.

I was approaching the neighbourhood of Soho and passing through a narrow
street lined by old and rather squalid houses, all dark and silent, when
my ear caught a sound which, though faint and far-away, instantly
attracted my attention: the clang of a bell, not rung, but struck with a
hammer and repeating the single note in a quick succession of
strokes--the warning bell of a fire-engine. I listened with mild
interest--it was too far off to concern me--and compared the sound with
that of the fire-engines of my young days. It was more distinctive, but
less exciting. The bell gave its message plainly enough, but it lacked
that quality of urgency and speed that was conveyed by the rattle of
iron tyres on the stones and the sound of galloping horses.

Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. The sound was more distinct. Then the
engine must be coming my way; and even as I noted the fact, the clang of
another bell rang out from the opposite direction, and suddenly I became
aware of a faintly pungent smell in the air. Then, as I turned a corner,
I met a thin cloud of smoke that was drifting up the street and noticed
a glow in the sky over the house-tops; and presently, reaching another
corner, came into full view of the burning house, though it was still
some distance away, near the farther end of the street.

I watched it with some surprise as I walked quickly towards it, for
there seemed to be something unusual in its appearance. I had not seen
many burning houses but none that I had seen had looked quite like this
one. There was a furious intensity in the way that it flared up that
impressed me as abnormal. From the chimneys, flames shot up like the
jets from a gas-blowpipe, and the windows emitted tongues of fire that
looked as if they were being blown out by bellows. And the progress of
the fire was frightfully rapid, for even in the short time that it took
me to walk the length of the street there was an evident change. Glowing
spots began to appear in the roof, flames poured out of the attic
windows, and smoke and flame issued from the ground floor, which seemed
to be some kind of shop.

No crowd had yet collected, but just a handful of chance wayfarers like
myself and a few policemen, who stood a little distance away from the
house, looking on the scene of destruction and listening anxiously to
the sounds of the approaching engines, now quite near and coming from
several different directions.

"It's a devil of a blaze," I remarked to one of the constables. "What is
it? An oil-shop?"

"It's worse than that, Sir," he replied. "It's a film dealer's. The
whole place chock full of celluloid films. It's to be hoped that there
isn't anybody in the house, but I'm rather afraid there is. The
caretaker of the offices next door says that there is a gentleman who
has rooms on the first floor. Poor look-out for him if he is in there
now. He will be burned to a cinder by this time."

At this moment the first of the engines swung round the corner and swept
up to the house with noiseless speed, discharging its brass-helmeted
crew, who began immediately to prepare for action: opening the
water-plugs, rolling out lengths of hose, and starting the pumps. In a
minute or two, four other engines arrived, accompanied by a motor
fire-escape; but the latter, when its crew had glanced at the front of
the house, was trundled some distance up the street out of the way of
the engines. There was obviously no present use for it, nor did there
seem to be much left for the engines to do, for, almost at the moment
when the first jet of water was directed at the flaming window-space,
the roof fell in with a crash and a roar, a volume of flame and sparks
leaped up into the sky, and through the holes which had once been
windows an uninterrupted sheet of fire could be seen from the top of the
house to the bottom. Evidently, the roof, in its fall, had carried away
what had been left of the floors, and the house was now no more than an
empty shell with a mass of flaming debris at its base.

Whether the jets of water that were directed in through the window-holes
had any effect, or whether the highly inflammable material had by this
time all been burnt, I could not judge, but, after the fall of the roof,
the fire began almost suddenly to die down, and a good deal of the
firemen's attention became occupied by the adjoining house, which had
already suffered some injury from the fire and now seemed likely to
suffer more from the water. But in this I was not greatly interested,
and, as the more spectacular phase of the disaster seemed to have come
to an end, I extricated myself from the small crowd that had now
collected and resumed my progress towards the Temple and the
much-desired bed that awaited me there.

To a man who has turned in at past four o'clock in the morning,
competition with the lark is not practicable. It was getting on for
eleven when I emerged from my bedroom and descended the stairs towards
the breakfast-room, becoming agreeably conscious of a subtle aroma which
memory associated with bacon and coffee.

"I heard you getting up, Sir," said Polton with a last, satisfied glance
at the breakfast-table, "and I heard you come in last night, or rather
this morning, so I have cooked an extra rasher. You did make a night of
it, Sir."

"Yes," I admitted, "it was rather a late business, and what made me
still later was a house on fire somewhere near Soho which I stopped for
a while to watch. A most tremendous blaze. A policeman told me that it
was a celluloid film warehouse, so you can imagine how it flared up."

I produced this item of news designedly, knowing that it would be of
interest; for Polton, the most gentle and humane of men, had an almost
morbid love of the horrible and the tragic. As I spoke, his eyes
glistened, and he commented with a sort of ghoulish relish:

"Celluloid films! And a whole warehouse full of them, too! It must have
been a fine sight. I've never seen a house on fire--not properly on
fire; only just smoke and sparks. Was there a fire-escape?"

"Yes, but there was nothing for it to do. The house was like a furnace."

"But the people inside, Sir. Did they manage to get out in time?"

"It's not certain that there was anybody in the house. I heard something
about a gentleman who had rooms there, but there was no sign of him. It
is not certain that he was there, but if he was, he is there still. We
shall know when the firemen and salvage men are able to examine the
ruins."

"Ha!" said Polton, "there won't be much of him left. Where did you say
the place was, Sir?"

"I can't tell you the name of the street, but it was just off Old
Compton Street. You will probably see some notice of the fire in the
morning paper."

Thereupon, Polton turned away as if to go in search of the paper, but at
the door he paused and looked back at me.

"Speaking of burning houses, Sir," said he, "Mr. Stalker called about
half an hour ago. I told him how things were, so he said he would
probably look in again in an hour's time. If he does, will you see him
downstairs or shall I bring him up?"

"Oh, bring him up here. We don't make a stranger of Mr. Stalker."

"Yes, Sir. Perhaps he has come to see you about this very fire."

"He could hardly have got any particulars yet," said I. "Besides, fire
insurance is not in our line of business."

"No, Sir," Polton admitted; "but it may be about the gentleman who had
the rooms. A charred body might be in your line if they happen to know
that there is one among the ruins."

I did not think it very likely, for there had hardly been time to
ascertain whether the ruins did or did not contain any human remains.
Nevertheless, Polton's guess turned out to be right; for when Stalker
(having declined a cup of coffee and then explained, according to his
invariable custom, that he happened to be passing this way and thought
he might as well just look in) came to the point, it appeared that his
visit was concerned with the fire in Soho.

"But, my dear Stalker," I protested, "we don't know anything about
fires."

"I know," he replied with an affable smile. "The number of things that
you and Thorndyke don't know anything about would fill an encyclopdia.
Still, there are some things that you do know. Perhaps you have
forgotten that fire at Brattle's oil-shop, but I haven't. You spotted
something that the fire experts had overlooked."

"Thorndyke did. I didn't until he pointed it out."

"I don't care which of you spotted it," said he. "I only know that,
between you, you saved us two or three thousand pounds."

I remembered the case quite well, and the recollection of it seemed to
justify Stalker's attitude.

"What do you want us to do?" I asked.

"I want you just to keep an eye on the case. The question of
fire-raising will be dealt with by the Brigade men and the Salvage
Corps. They are experts and they have their own methods. You have
different methods and you bring a different sort of expert eye to bear
on the matter."

"I wonder," said I, "why you are so Nosey-Parkerish about this fire.
There hasn't been time for you to get any particulars."

"Indeed!" said he. "We don't all stay in bed until eleven o'clock. While
you were slumbering I was getting a report and making enquiries."

"Ha!" I retorted. "And while you were slumbering I was watching your
precious house burning; and I must say that it did you credit."

Here, in response to his look of surprise, I gave him a brief account of
my morning's adventure.

"Very well," said he when I had finished. "Then you know the facts and
you can understand my position. Here is a house, full of inflammable
material, which unaccountably bursts into flames at three o'clock in the
morning. That house was either unoccupied or had a single occupant who
was presumably in bed and asleep, as he apparently made no attempt to
escape."

I offered a vague suggestion of some failure of the electric
installation such as a short circuit or other accident, but he shook his
head.

"I know that such things are actually possible," said he, "but it
doesn't do to accept them too readily. A man who has been in this
business as long as I have acquires a sort of intuitive perception of
what is and what is not a normal case; and I have the feeling that there
is something a little queer about this fire. I had the same feeling
about that oil-shop case, which is why I asked Thorndyke to look into
it. And then there are rumours of a man who was sleeping in the house.
You heard those yourself. Now, if that man's body turns up in the
debris, there is the possibility of a further claim, as there was in the
oil-shop case."

"But, my dear Stalker!" I exclaimed, grinning in his face. "This is
foresight with a vengeance. This fire may have been an incendiary fire.
There may have been a man sleeping in the house and he may have got
burned to death; and that man may have insured his life in your Society.
How does that work out by the ordinary laws of chance. Pretty long odds,
I think."

"Not so long as you fancy," he replied. "Persons who lose their lives in
incendiary fires have a tendency to be insured. The connection between
the fire and the death may not be a chance connection. Still, I will
admit that, beyond a mere suspicion that there may be something wrong
about this fire, I have nothing to go on. I am asking you to watch the
case _ex abundantia cautel_, as you lawyers say. And the watching must
be done now while the evidence is available. It's no use waiting until
the ruins have been cleared away and the body--if there is one--buried."

"No," I agreed; "Thorndyke will be with you in that. I will give him
your instructions when I see him at lunch-time, and you can take it that
he won't lose any time in collecting the facts. But you had better give
us something in writing, as we shall have to get authority to inspect
the ruins and to examine the body if there is one to examine."

"Yes," said Stalker, "I'll do that now. I have some of our letter-paper
in my case."

He fished out a sheet, and, having written a formal request to Thorndyke
to make such investigations as might be necessary in the interests of
the Griffin Assurance Company, handed it to me and took his departure.
As his footsteps died away on the stairs, Polton emerged from the
adjacent laboratory and came in to clear away the breakfast-things. As
he put them together on the tray, he announced:

"I've read the account of the fire, Sir, in the paper, but there isn't
much more than you told me. Only the address--Billington Street, Soho."

"And now," said I, "you would like to go and have a look at it, I
suppose?"

"Well," he admitted, "it would be interesting after having heard about
it from you. But you see, Sir, there's lunch to be got ready. The Doctor
had his breakfast a bit earlier than you did, and not quite so much of
it."

"Never mind about lunch," said I. "William can see to that." (William, I
may explain, was a youth who had lately been introduced to assist Polton
and relieve him of his domestic duties; and a very capable understudy he
had proved. Nevertheless, Polton clung tenaciously to what he considered
his privilege of attending personally to "The Doctor's" wants, which, in
effect, included mine.) "You see, Polton," I added by way of overcoming
his scruples, "one of us ought to go, and I don't want to. But The
Doctor will want to make an inspection at the earliest possible moment
and he will want to know how soon that will be. At present, the ruins
can't have cooled down enough for a detailed inspection to be possible,
but you could find out from the man in charge how things are and when we
could make our visit. We shall want to see the place before it has been
considerably disturbed, and, if there are any human remains, we shall
want to know where the mortuary is."

On this Polton brightened up considerably. "Of course, Sir," said he,
"if I could be of any use, I should like to go; and I think William will
be able to manage, as it is only a cold lunch."

With this he retired, and a few minutes later I saw him from the window
hurrying along Crown Office Row, carefully dressed and carrying a fine,
silver-topped cane and looking more like a dignitary of the Church than
a skilled artificer.

When Thorndyke came in, I gave him an account of Stalker's visit as well
as of my own adventure.

"I don't quite see," I added, "what we can do for him or why he is in
such a twitter about this fire."

"No," he replied. "But Stalker is enormously impressed by our one or two
successes and is inclined to over-estimate our powers. Still, there seem
to be some suspicious features in the case, and I notice, on the
placards, a rumour that a man was burned to death in the fire. If that
is so, the affair will need looking into more narrowly. But we shall
hear more about that when Polton comes back."

We did. For when, just as we had finished lunch, our deputy returned, he
was able to give us all the news up to the latest developments. He had
been fortunate enough to meet Detective Sergeant Wills, who was watching
the case for the police, and had learned from him that a body had been
discovered among the debris, but that there was some mystery about its
identity, as the tenant of the rooms was known to be away from home on a
visit to Ireland. But it was not a mere matter of hearsay, for Polton
had actually seen the body brought out on a stretcher and had followed
it to the mortuary.

"You couldn't see what its condition was, I suppose?" said I.

"No, Sir," he replied, regretfully. "Unfortunately, it was covered up
with a waterproof sheet."

"And as to the state of the ruins; did you find out how soon an
examination of them will be possible?"

"Yes, Sir. I explained matters to the Fire Brigade officer and asked him
when you would be able to make your inspection. Of course, everything is
too hot to handle just now. They had the greatest difficulty in getting
at the corpse; but the officer thought that by to-morrow morning they
will be able to get to work, and he suggested that you might come along
in the forenoon."

"Yes," said Thorndyke, "that will do. We needn't be there very early, as
the heavier material--joists and beams and the debris of the roof--will
have to be cleared away before we shall be able to see anything. We had
better make our visit to the mortuary first. It is possible that we may
learn more from the body than from the ruins. At any rate, it is within
our province, which the ruins are not."

"Judging from what I saw," said I, "there will be mighty little for
anyone to learn from the ruins. When the roof fell, it seemed to go
right through to the basement."

"Will you want anything got ready, Sir?" Polton asked, a little
anxiously.

Thorndyke apparently noted the wistful tone, for he replied:

"I shall want you to come along with us, Polton; and you had better
bring a small camera with the adjustable stand. We shall probably want
photographs of the body, and it may be in an awkward position."

"Yes, Sir," said Polton. "I will bring the extension as well; and I will
put out the things that you are likely to want for your research-case."

With this, he retired in undissembled glee, leaving us to discuss our
arrangements.

"You will want authorities to examine the body and the ruins," said I.
"Shall I see to them? I have nothing special to do this afternoon."

"If you would, Jervis, it would be a great help," he replied. "I have
some work which I should like to finish up, so as to leave to-morrow
fairly free. We don't know how much time our examinations may take."

"No," said I, "especially as you seem to be taking the case quite
seriously."

"But, my dear fellow," said he, "we must. There may be nothing in it at
all, but, in any case, we have got to satisfy Stalker and do our duty as
medico-legal advisers to _The Griffin_."

With this he rose and went forth about his business, while I, having
taken possession of Stalker's letter, set out in quest of the necessary
authorities.




CHAPTER XI
THE RUINS


In the medico-legal mind the idea of horror, I suppose, hardly has a
place. It is not only that sensibilities tend to become dulled by
repeated impacts, but that the emotions are, as it were, insulated by
the concentration of attention on technical matters. Speaking, however,
dispassionately, I must admit that the body which had been disinterred
from the ruins of the burned house was about as horrible an object as I
had ever seen. Even the coroner's officer, whose emotional epidermis
might well have grown fairly tough, looked at that corpse with an
undisguised shudder, while as to Polton, he was positively appalled. As
he stood by the table and stared with bulging eyes at the dreadful
thing, I surmised that he was enjoying the thrill of his life. He was in
a very ecstasy of horror.

To both these observers, I think, Thorndyke's proceedings imparted an
added touch of gruesomeness; for my colleague--as I have hinted--saw in
that hideous object nothing but a technical problem, and he proceeded in
the most impassive and matter-of-fact way to examine it feature by
feature and note down his observations as if he were drawing up an
inventory. I need not enter into details as to its appearance. It will
easily be imagined that a body which had been exposed to such intense
heat that not only was most of its flesh reduced to mere animal
charcoal, but the very bones, in places, were incinerated to chalky
whiteness, was not a pleasant object to look on. But I think that what
most appalled both Polton and the officer was the strange posture that
it had assumed: a posture suggesting some sort of struggle or as if the
man had been writhing in agony or shrinking from a threatened attack.
The body and limbs were contorted in the strangest manner, the arms
crooked, the hands thrust forward, and the skeleton fingers bent like
hooks.

"Good Lord, Sir!" Polton whispered, "how the poor creature must have
suffered! And it almost looks as if someone had been holding him down."

"It really does," the coroner's officer agreed; "as if somebody was
attacking him and wouldn't let him escape."

"It does look rather horrid," I admitted, "but I don't think you need
worry too much about the position of the limbs. This contortion is
almost certainly due to shrinkage of the muscles after death as the heat
dried them. What do you think, Thorndyke?"

"Yes," he agreed. "It is not possible to draw any conclusions from the
posture of a body that has been burned to the extent that this has, and
burned so unequally. You notice that, whereas the feet are practically
incinerated, there are actually traces of the clothing on the chest;
apparently a suit of pyjamas, to judge by what is left of the buttons."

At this moment the door of the mortuary opened to admit a newcomer, in
whom we recognized a Dr. Robertson, the divisional surgeon and an old
acquaintance of us both.

"I see," he remarked, as Thorndyke laid down his tape measure to shake
hands, "that you are making your examination with your usual
thoroughness."

"Well," Thorndyke replied, "the relevant facts must be ascertained now
or never. They may be of no importance, but one can't tell that in
advance."

"Yes," said Robertson, "that is a sound principle. In this case, I don't
much think they are. I mean data in proof of identity, which are what
you seem to be collecting. The identity of this man seems to be
established by the known circumstances, though not so very clearly, I
must admit."

"That seems a little obscure," Thorndyke remarked. "Either the man's
identity is known, or it isn't."

The divisional surgeon smiled. "You are a devil for accuracy,
Thorndyke," said he, "but you are quite right. We aren't here to make
guesses. But the facts as to the identity appear to be pretty simple.
From the statement of Mr. Green, the lessee of the house, it seems that
the first-floor rooms were let to a man named Gustavus Haire, who lived
in them, and he was the only person resident in the house; so that, when
the business premises closed down for the day and the employees went
home, he had the place to himself."

"Then," said Thorndyke, "do we take it that this is the body of Mr.
Gustavus Haire?"

"No," replied Robertson, "that is where the obscurity comes in. Mr.
Haire has--fortunately for him--gone on a business visit to Dublin, but,
as Mr. Green informs us, during his absence he allowed a cousin of his,
a Mr. Cecil Moxdale, to occupy the rooms, or at least to use them to
sleep in to save the expense of an hotel. The difficulty is that Moxdale
was not known personally to Mr. Green, or to anybody else, for that
matter. At present, he is little more than a name. But, of course, Haire
will be able to give all the necessary particulars when he comes back
from Ireland."

"Yes," Thorndyke agreed, "but meanwhile there will be no harm in noting
the facts relevant to the question of identity. The man may have made a
will, or there may be other reasons for establishing proof of his
identity independently of Haire's statements. I have made notes of the
principal data, but I am not very happy about the measurements. The
contorted state of the body makes them a little uncertain. I suggest
that you and Jervis take a set of measurements each, independently, and
that we compare them afterwards."

Robertson grinned at me, but he took the tape measure without demur and
proceeded quite carefully to take the principal dimensions of the
contorted body and the twisted limbs, and, when he had finished, I
repeated the measurements, noting them down in my pocket-book. Then we
compared our respective findings--which were in substantial
agreement--and Thorndyke copied them all down in his note-book.

"When you came in, Robertson," said he, "we were discussing the posture
of the body, and we had concluded that the contortion was due to
shrinkage and had no significance. Do you agree?"

"I think so. It is not an unusual condition, and I don't see what
significance it could have. The cause of death is practically
established by the circumstances. But it certainly is a queer posture.
The head especially. The man looks as if he had been hanged."

"He does," Thorndyke agreed, "and I want you to take a careful look at
the neck. I noticed Jervis looking at it with a good deal of interest.
Has my learned friend formed any opinion?"

"The neck is certainly dislocated," I replied, "and the odontoid process
is broken. I noted that, but I put it down to the effects of shrinkage
of the neck muscles, and possibly to some disturbance when the body was
moved."

Robertson stooped over the body and examined the exposed neck-bones
narrowly, testing the head for mobility and finding it quite stiff and
rigid.

"Well," said he, "the neck is undoubtedly broken, but I am inclined to
agree with Jervis, excepting that, as the neck is perfectly rigid, I
don't think that the dislocation could have been produced by the moving
of the body. I should say that it is the result of shrinkage; in fact, I
don't see how else it could have been caused, having regard to the
circumstances in which the body was found."

Thorndyke looked dissatisfied. "It always seems to me," said he, "that
when one is examining a particular fact, it is best to forget the
circumstances; to consider the fact without prejudice and without
connection with anything else, and then, as a separate proceeding, to
relate it to the circumstances."

The divisional surgeon chuckled. "This," said he, "is what the Master
instils into his pupils. And quite right, too. It is sound doctrine. But
still, you know, we must be reasonable. When we find the body of a man
among the debris of a house which has been burned out, and the evidence
shows that the man was the only occupant of that house, it seems a
little pedantic to enquire elaborately whether he may not have died from
the effects of manual strangulation or homicidal hanging."

"My point," Thorndyke rejoined, as a parting shot, "is that our function
is to ascertain the objective facts, leaving their interpretation to the
coroner and his jury. Looking at that odontoid process, I find that the
appearance of the fragments where the break took place is more
consistent with the fracture having occurred during life than after
death and during the subsequent shrinkage. I admit that I do not see how
the fracture can have happened in the known--or assumed--circumstances,
and I further admit that the appearances are not at all decisive."

I took another careful look at the fractured bone and was disposed to
agree with Thorndyke; but I had also to agree with Robertson when he
closed the discussion with the remark:

"Well, Thorndyke, you may be right, but in any case the point seems to
be of only academic interest. The man was alone in the house, so he
couldn't have died from homicide; and I have never heard of anyone
committing suicide by dislocating his neck."

Nevertheless, he joined us in a very thorough examination of the body
for any other traces of injury (of which I need hardly say there were
none) and for any distinctive appearances which might help to determine
the identity in case the question should arise. I noticed him closely
examining the teeth, and as they had already attracted my attention, I
asked:

"What do you make of those teeth? Is that roughening and pitting of the
enamel due to the heat, or to some peculiarity of the teeth,
themselves?"

"Just what I was wondering," he replied. "I think it must be the result
of the fire, for I don't recognize it as a condition that I have ever
seen on living teeth. What do you think, Thorndyke?"

"I am in the same position as yourself," was the reply. "I don't
recognize the condition. It is not disease, for the teeth are quite
sound and strong. On the other hand, I don't quite understand how that
pitting could have been produced by the heat. So I have just noted the
appearance in case it should have any significance later."

"Well," said Robertson, "if Thorndyke is reduced to an open verdict, I
suppose we may follow suit," and with this we returned to the general
examination. When we had finished, he helped us to lift the stretcher,
on which the body had been left, from the table to the floor to enable
Polton to expose the photographs that Thorndyke required as records,
and, when these had been taken, our business at the mortuary was
finished.

"I suppose," said Robertson, "you are going to have a look at the ruins,
now. It seems a trifle off the medico-legal track, but you may possibly
pick up some information there. I take it that you are acting for the
insurance company?"

"Yes," replied Thorndyke, "on instructions. As you say, it seems rather
outside our province, as the company appears to be interested only in
the house. But they asked me to watch the case, and I am doing so."

"You are indeed," Robertson exclaimed. "All that elaborate examination
of the body seems to be completely irrelevant, if the question is only,
How did the house catch fire? You carry thoroughness to the verge of
fanaticism."

Thorndyke smiled. "Not fanaticism," said he; "merely experience, which
bids us gather the rosebuds while we may. The question of to-day is not
necessarily the question of to-morrow. At present we are concerned with
the house; but there was a dead body in it. A month hence that body may
be the problem, but by then it will be underground."

Robertson grinned at me. "'Twas ever thus," he chuckled. "You can't get
a rise out of Thorndyke--for the reason, I suppose, that he is always
right. Well, I wish you luck in your explorations and hope to meet you
both at the inquest."

With this, he took his departure, and, as Polton had now got his
apparatus packed up, we followed him and made our way to what the papers
described as "the Scene of the Conflagration".

It was a rather melancholy scene, with a tinge of squalor. The street
was still wet and muddy, but a small crowd stood patiently, regardless
of the puddles, staring up at the dismal shell with its scorched walls
and gaping windows--the windows that I had seen belch forth flames but
which now showed only the cold light of day. A rough hoarding had been
put up to enclose the ground floor, and at the wicket of this a Salvage
Corps officer stood on guard. To him Thorndyke addressed himself,
producing his authority to inspect the ruins.

"Well, Sir," said the officer, "you'll find it a rough job, with mighty
little to see and plenty to fall over. And it isn't over-safe. There's
some stuff overhead that may come down at any moment. Still, if you want
to look the place over, I can show you the way down."

"Your people, I suppose," said Thorndyke, "have made a pretty thorough
inspection. Has anything been discovered that throws any light on the
cause or origin of the fire?"

The officer shook his head. "No, Sir," he replied. "Not a trace. There
wouldn't be. The house was burned right out from the ground upwards. It
might have been lighted in a dozen places at once and there would be
nothing to show it. There isn't even part of a floor left. Do you think
it is worth while to take the risk of going down?"

"I think I should like to see what it looks like," said Thorndyke,
adding, with a glance at me, "but there is no need for you and Polton to
risk getting a brick or a chimney-pot on your heads."

Of course, I refused to be left out of the adventure, while, as to
Polton, wild horses would not have held him back.

"Very well, gentlemen," said the officer, "you know your own business,"
and with this he opened the wicket and let us through to the brink of a
yawning chasm which had once been the cellars. The remains of the
charred beams had been mostly hauled up out of the way, but the floor of
the cellars was still hidden by mountainous heaps of bricks, tiles,
masses of charred wood and all-pervading white ash, amidst which three
men in leather, brass-bound helmets were working with forks and shovels
and with their thickly-gloved hands, removing the larger debris such as
bricks, tiles, and fragments of boards and joists, while a couple of
large sieves stood ready for the more minute examination of the dust and
small residue.

We made our way cautiously down the ladder, becoming aware of a very
uncomfortable degree of warmth as we descended and noting the steam that
still rose from the wet rubbish. One of the men stopped his work to look
at us and offer a word of warning.

"You'd better be careful where you are treading," said he. "Some of this
stuff is still red underneath, and your boots aren't as thick as mine.
You'd do best to stay on the ladder. You can see all there is to see
from there, which isn't much. And mind you don't touch the walls with
your hands."

His advice seemed so reasonable that we adopted it, and seated ourselves
on the rungs of the ladder and looked about the dismal cavern as well as
we could through the clouds of dust and steam.

"I see," said Thorndyke, addressing the shadowy figure nearest to us,
"that you have a couple of sieves. Does that mean that you are going to
sift all the small stuff?"

"Yes," was the reply. "We are going to do this job a bit more thoroughly
than usual on account of the dead man who was found here. The police
want to find out all they can about him, and I think the insurance
people have been asking questions. You see, the dead man seems to have
been a stranger, and he hasn't been properly identified yet. And I think
that the tenant of the house isn't quite satisfied that everything was
according to Cocker."

"And I suppose," said Thorndyke, "that whatever is found will be kept
carefully and produced at the inquest?"

"Yes. Everything that is recovered will be kept for the police to see.
The larger stuff will be put into a box by itself, and the smaller
things which may be important for purposes of identification are to be
sifted out and put into a separate box so that they don't get mixed up
with the other things and lost sight of. But our instructions are that
nothing is to be thrown away until the police have seen it."

"Then," Thorndyke suggested, "I presume that some police officer is
watching the case. Do you happen to know who he is?"

"We got our instructions from a detective sergeant--name of Wills, I
think--but an inspector from Scotland Yard looked in for a few minutes
this morning; a very pleasant-spoken gentleman he was. Looked more like
a dissenting minister than a police officer."

"That sounds rather like Blandy," I remarked; and Thorndyke agreed that
the description seemed to fit our old acquaintance. And so it turned
out; for when, having finished our survey of the cellars, we retired up
the ladder and came out of the wicket, we found Sergeant Wills and
Inspector Blandy in conference with the officer who had admitted us. On
observing us, Blandy removed his hat with a flourish and made
demonstrations of joy.

"Well, now," he exclaimed, "this is very pleasant. Dr. Jervis, too, and
Mr. Polton _with_ photographic apparatus. Quite encouraging. No doubt
there will be some crumbs of expert information which a simple police
officer may pick up."

Thorndyke smiled a little wearily. Like me, he found Blandy's fulsome
manner rather tiresome. But he replied amiably enough:

"I am sure, Inspector, we shall try to be mutually helpful, as we always
do. But at present I suspect that we are in much the same position: just
observers waiting to see whether anything significant comes into sight."

"That is exactly my position," Blandy admitted. "Here is a rather
queer-looking fire and a dead man in the ruins. Nothing definitely
suspicious, but there are possibilities. There always are when you find
a dead body in a burned house. You have had a look at the ruins, Sir.
Did you find anything suggestive in them?"

"Nothing whatever," Thorndyke replied; "nor do I think anyone else will.
The most blatant evidences of fire-raising would have been obliterated
by such total destruction. But my inspection was merely formal. I have
no expert knowledge of fires, but, as I am watching the case for the
Griffin Company, I thought it best to view the ruins."

"Then," said Blandy with a slightly disappointed air, "you are
interested only in the house, not in the body?"

"Officially, that is so; but, as the body is a factor in the case, I
have made an examination of it, with Dr. Robertson, and if you want
copies of the photographs that Polton has just taken at the mortuary, I
will let you have them."

"But how good of you!" exclaimed Blandy. "Certainly, Doctor, I should
like to have them. You see," he added, "the fact that this dead man was
not the ordinary resident makes one want to know all about him and how
he came to be sleeping in that house. I shall be most grateful for the
photographs; and if there is anything that I can do----"

"There is," Thorndyke interrupted. "I learn that you are, very wisely,
making a thorough examination of the debris and passing the ashes
through a sieve."

"I am," said Blandy, "and what is more, the sergeant and I propose to
superintend the sifting. Nothing from a pin upwards will be thrown away
until it has been thoroughly examined. I suppose you would like to see
the things that we recover."

"Yes," replied Thorndyke, "when you have finished with them, you might
pass them on to me."

Blandy regarded Thorndyke with a benevolent and slightly foxy smile,
and, after a moment's pause, asked deferentially:

"Was there anything in particular that you had in your mind, Doctor? I
mean, any particular kind of article?"

"No," Thorndyke replied. "I am in the same position as you are. There
are all sorts of possibilities in the case. The body tells us
practically nothing, so we can only pick up any stray facts that may be
available, as you appear to be doing."

This brought the interview to an end. Blandy and the sergeant
disappeared through the wicket, and we went on our way homewards to see
what luck Polton would have with his photographs.




CHAPTER XII
LIGHT ON THE MYSTERY


For the reader of this narrative, the inquest on the body that had been
recovered from the burnt house will serve, as it did to me, to present
the known facts of the case in a coherent and related group--a condition
which had been made possible by the stable and mummified state of the
corpse. For, as the body was now virtually incorruptible, it had been
practicable to postpone the inquiry until the circumstances had been
investigated by the police and the principal facts ascertained, at least
sufficiently for the purpose of an inquest.

When we arrived, the preliminaries had just been completed; the jury,
having viewed the body, had taken their places and the coroner was about
to open the proceedings. I need not report his brief address, which
merely indicated the matters to be inquired into, but will proceed to
the evidence. The first witness was Mr. Henry Budge, and he deposed as
follows:--

"On the 19th of April, about a quarter to three in the morning, I
started with my neighbour, James Place, to walk home from the house of a
friend in Noel Street, where we had been spending the previous evening
playing cards. My way home to Macclesfield Street lay through Billington
Street, and Mr. Place walked that way with me. All the houses that we
passed were in darkness with the exception of one in Billington Street
in which we noticed a light showing through the Venetian blinds of two
of the windows. Mr. Place pointed them out to me, remarking that we were
not the only late birds. That would be about three o'clock."

"Was the light like ordinary lamp, or electric light?" the coroner
asked.

"No. It looked more like fire-light--rather red in colour and not very
bright. Only just enough to make the windows visible."

"Will you look at this photograph of the house, in which the windows are
marked with numbers, and tell us which were the ones that were lighted
up?"

The witness looked at the photograph and replied that the lighted
windows were those marked 8 and 9, adding that the one marked 7 seemed
to be quite dark.

"That," said the coroner, "is important as showing that the fire broke
out in the bed-sitting room on the first floor. Number seven is the
window of the store or workroom. Yes?"

"Well, we didn't take any particular notice. We just walked on until we
came to Little Pulteney Street, where Place lives, and there we stopped
at a corner talking about the evening's play. Presently, Place began to
sniff, and then I noticed a smell as if there was a chimney on fire. We
both crossed the road and looked up over the tops of the houses, and
then we could see smoke drifting across and we could just make out the
chimney that it seemed to be coming from. We watched it for a few
minutes, and then we saw some sparks rising and what looked like a
reddish glow on the smoke. That made us both think of the house with the
lighted window, and we started to walk back to have another look. By the
time we got into Billington Street we could see the chimney quite plain
with lots of sparks flying out of it, so we hurried along until we came
opposite the house, and then there was no mistake about it. All three
windows on the first floor were brightly lighted up, and in one of them
the Venetian blinds had caught; and now small flames began to show from
the top of the chimney. We consulted as to what we should do, and
decided that Place should run off and find a policeman while I tried to
knock up the people of the house. So Place ran off, and I crossed the
road to the front door of the house at the side of the shop."

"And did you make a considerable noise?"

"I am afraid I didn't. There was no proper knocker, only one of these
new things fixed to the letter-box. I struck that as hard as I could and
I pressed the electric bell, but I couldn't tell whether it sounded or
not. So I kept on with the silly little knocker."

"Did you hear any sounds of any kind from within the house?"

"Not a sign, though I listened at the letter-box."

"How long were you there alone?"

"Three or four minutes, I should think. Perhaps a little more. Then
Place came running back with a policeman, who told me to go on knocking
and ringing while he and Place roused up the people in the houses next
door. But by this time the house was fairly alight, flames coming out of
all three first-floor windows and a light beginning to show in the
windows of the floor above. And then it got too hot for me to stay at
the door, and I had to back away across the street."

"Yes," said the coroner, glancing at the jury, "I think the witness has
given us a very clear and vivid description of the way and the time at
which the fire broke out. The rest of the story can be taken up by other
witnesses when we have heard Mr. Place."

The evidence of James Place, given quite briefly, merely confirmed and
repeated that of Mr. Budge, with the addition of his description of his
meeting with the policeman. Then the latter, Edwin Pearson by name, was
called and, having been sworn, deposed that on the 19th of April at
about 3.14 a.m. he was accosted at the corner of Meard Street, Soho, by
the last witness, who informed him that there was a house on fire in
Billington Street. He immediately ran off with Place to the nearest fire
alarm and sent off the warning. That was at 3.16 a.m. by his watch. Then
he and the last witness hurried off to Billington Street, where they
found the house alight as Mr. Budge had described it, and had
endeavoured to rouse the inmates of the burning house and the two
adjoining houses, and were still doing so when the first of the engines
arrived. That would be about 3.24 a.m.

Here the narrative passed to the officer in charge of the engine which
had been the first on the scene; and, when he had been sworn, the
coroner remarked:

"You realize that this is an inquiry into the death of the man whose
body was found in the burnt house. The information that we want is that
which is relevant to that death. Otherwise, the burning of the house is
not specially our concern."

"I understand that," replied the witness--whose name had been given as
George Bell. "The principal fact bearing on the death of deceased is the
extraordinary rapidity with which the fire spread, which is accounted
for by the highly inflammable nature of the material that the house
contained. If deceased was asleep when the fire broke out, he might have
been suffocated by the fumes without waking up. A mass of burning
cellulose would give off volumes of poisonous gas."

"You have made an examination of the ruins. Did you find any evidence as
to how the fire started?"

"No. The ruins were carefully examined by me and by several other
officers, but no clue to the origin of the fire could be discovered by
any of us. There was nothing to go on. Apparently, the fire started in
the first-floor rooms, and it would have been there that the clues would
be found. But those rooms were completely destroyed. Even the floors had
been carried away by the fall of the roof, so that there was nothing
left to examine."

"Does it appear to you that there is anything abnormal about this fire?"

"No. All fires are, in a sense, abnormal. The only unusual feature in
this case is the great quantity of inflammable material in the house.
But the existence of that was known."

"You find nothing to suggest a suspicion of fire-raising? The time, for
instance, at which it broke out?"

"As to the time, there is nothing remarkable or unusual in that. The
beginning of a fire may be something which makes no show at first: a
heap of soot behind a stove or a spark on some material which will
smoulder but not burst into flame. It may go on smouldering for quite a
long time before it reaches some material that is really inflammable. A
spark on brown paper, for instance, might smoulder slowly for an hour or
more; then, if the glowing part spread and came into contact with a
celluloid film, there would be a burst of flame and the fire would be
started; and in such a house as this, the place might be well alight in
a matter of minutes."

"Then you have no suspicion of incendiarism?"

"No, there is nothing positive to suggest it. Of course, it can't be
excluded. There is simply no evidence either way."

"In what way might the fire have originated?"

The witness raised his eyebrows in mild protest, but he answered the
rather comprehensive question without comment.

"There are a good many possibilities. It might have been started by the
act of some person. That is possible in this case, as there was a person
in the house, but there is no evidence that he started the fire. Then
there is the electric wiring. Something might have occurred to occasion
a short circuit--a mouse or a cockroach connecting two wires. It is
extremely uncommon with modern wiring, and in this case, as the fuses
were destroyed, we can't tell whether it happened or not. And then there
is the possibility of spontaneous combustion. That does occur
occasionally. A heap of engineer's cotton waste soaked with oil will
sometimes start burning by itself. So will a big bin of sawdust or a
large mass of saltpetre. But none of these things are known to have been
in this house."

"As to human agency. Suppose this person had been smoking in bed?"

"Well, that is a dangerous habit; but, after all, it would be only
guess-work in this case. I have no evidence that the man was smoking in
bed. If there is such evidence, then the fire might have been started in
that way, though, even then, it would not be a certainty."

This concluded Mr. Bell's evidence, and, when he had been allowed to
retire, the coroner commented:

"As you will have observed, members of the jury, the expert evidence is
to the effect that the cause of the fire is unknown; that is to say that
none of the recognized signs of fire-raising were found. But possibly we
may get some light on the matter from consideration of the
circumstances. Perhaps we had better hear what Mr. Green can tell us
before we take the medical evidence."

Accordingly, Mr. Walter Green was called, and, having been sworn,
deposed:

"I am the lessee of the premises in which the fire occurred, and I
carried on in them the business of a dealer in films of all kinds: kine
films, X-ray films and the ordinary films for use in cameras. I do not
manufacture but I am the agent for several manufacturers; and I also
deal to some extent in projectors and cameras, both kine and ordinary. I
always kept a large stock of films. Some were kept in the ground-floor
shop for immediate sale, and the reserve stock was stored in the rooms
on the second and third floors."

"Were these films inflammable?"

"Nearly all of them were highly inflammable."

"Then this must have been a very dangerous house. Did you take any
special precautions against fire?"

"Yes. The store-rooms were always kept locked, and the rule was that
they were only to be entered by daylight and that no smoking was allowed
in them. We were naturally very careful."

"And were the premises insured?"

"Yes, both the building and the contents were fully insured. Of course,
the rate of insurance was high in view of the special risk."

"How many persons were ordinarily resident in the house?"

"Only one. Formerly the premises used to be left at night entirely
unoccupied, but, as there was more room than we needed, I decided to let
the first floor. I would sooner have let it for use as offices, but my
present tenant, Mr. Gustavus Haire, applied for it as a residential
flat, and I let it to him, and he has resided in it for the last six
months."

"Was he in residence at the time of the fire?"

"No. Fortunately for him, he was absent on a visit to Ireland at the
time. The gentleman who met his death in the fire was a relative of Mr.
Haire's to whom he had lent the flat while he was away."

"We will come to the question of deceased presently, but first we might
have a few particulars about Mr. Haire; as to his occupation, for
instance."

"I really don't know very much about him. He seems to be connected with
the film and camera trade, mostly, I think, as a traveller and agent for
some of the wholesale firms. But he does some sort of dealing on his own
account, and he seems to be something of a mechanic. He has done some
repairs on projectors for me, and once he mended up a gramophone motor
that I bought second hand. And he does a little manufacturing, if you
can call it by that name: he makes certain kinds of cements and
varnishes. I don't know exactly how much or what he does with them, but
I presume that he sells them, as I can't think of any use that he could
have for the quantities that he makes."

"Did he carry on this industry on your premises?"

"Yes, in the small room that adjoined the bedroom, which he also used as
a workroom for his mechanical jobs. There was a cupboard in it in which
he used to keep his stocks of varnish and the solvents for making
them--mostly acetone and amyl acetate."

"Aren't those solvents rather inflammable?"

"They are very inflammable; and the varnish is still worse, as the basis
is cellulose."

"You say that you don't know how much of this stuff he used to make in
that room. Haven't you any idea?"

"I can't suggest a quantity, but I know that he must have made a good
deal of it, because he used to buy some, at least, of his material from
me. It consisted mostly of worn-out or damaged films, and I have sold
him quite a lot from time to time. But I believe he had other sources of
supply."

"And you say he used to store all this inflammable material--the
celluloid, the solvents and the varnish--in that small room?"

"Yes; but I think that when the little room got full up, he used to
overflow into the bedroom--in fact, I know he did, for I saw a row of
bottles of varnish on the bedroom mantelpiece, one of them a Winchester
quart."

"Then you have been into Mr. Haire's rooms? Perhaps you could give us a
general idea as to their arrangement and what was in them."

"I have only been in them once or twice, and I didn't take very much
notice of them, as I just went in to talk over some matters which we had
been discussing. There were two rooms; a small one--that would have the
window marked 7 in the photograph. It was used as a workroom and partly
as a store for the cements and varnishes. It contained a smallish deal
table which had a vice fixed to it and served as a workbench. It was
littered with tools and bits of scrap of various kinds and there was a
gas-ring on a sheet of iron. Besides the table, there was a stool and a
good-sized cupboard, rather shallow and fitted with five or six shelves
which seemed to be filled principally with bottles.

"The other room was quite a fair size--about twenty feet long and twelve
feet wide. It was used as a bed-sitting room and was quite comfortably
furnished. The bed was at the end opposite window number 9, with the
dressing-table and washstand near it. At the other end was a mahogany
table, a small sideboard, a set of bookshelves, three single chairs, an
easy chair by the fireplace, and a grandfather clock against the wall in
the corner. There was some sort of carpet on the floor and a rug before
the fireplace. That is all I remember about the furniture of the room;
but what dwells in my memory is the appalling untidiness of the place.
The floor was littered with newspapers and magazines, the mantelpiece
and the sideboard were filled up with bottles and boxes and pipes and
all sorts of rubbish, and there were brown-paper parcels all over the
place: stacked along the walls and round the clock and even under the
bed."

"Do you know what was in those parcels?"

"I don't know, but I strongly suspect that they contained his stock of
films. I recognized one as a parcel that he had had from me."

The coroner looked at the witness with a frown of astonishment.

"It seems incredible," he exclaimed. "These rooms must have been even
more dangerous than the rest of the house."

"Much more," the witness agreed; "for, in the business premises, the
films were at least securely packed. We didn't keep them loose in paper
parcels."

"No. It is perfectly astonishing. This man, Haire, might as well have
been living and sleeping in a powder magazine. No wonder that the fire
started in his flat. The necessary conditions seem to have been perfect
for the start of a fire. But still we have no evidence as to what
actually started it. I suppose, Mr. Green, you have no suggestion to
offer on that question?"

"Of course, I have no certain knowledge, though I have a very definite
suspicion. But a suspicion is not evidence."

"No, but I suppose that you had something to go on. Let us hear what you
suspect and why you suspect it."

"My opinion is based on a conversation that I had with Mr. Haire shortly
before he went away. It occurred in a little restaurant in Wardour
Street where we both used to go for lunch. He was telling me about his
proposed visit to Dublin. He said he was not sure how long he might be
away, but he thought it would be as well for him to leave me his address
in case anyone should call on any matter that might seem urgent. So he
wrote down the address of the firm on whom he would be calling and gave
it to me, and I then said, jestingly, that, as there would be no one in
the house while he was away, I hoped he would deposit his jewellery and
plate and other valuable property in the bank before he left.

"He smiled and promised that he would, but then he remarked that, in
fact, the house would probably not be empty, as he had agreed to let a
cousin of his have the use of the rooms to sleep in while he was away. I
was not very pleased to hear this, and I remarked that I should not much
care to hand the keys of any rooms of mine to another person. He agreed
with me, and admitted that he would rather have avoided the arrangement;
'but,' he said, 'what could I do? The man is my cousin and quite a
decent fellow. He happens to be coming up to town just at the time when
I shall be away, and it will be a great convenience to him to have a
place where he can turn in and save the expense of an hotel. He may not
use the rooms after all, but if he does, I don't expect that you will
see much of him, as he will only be coming to the rooms to sleep. His
days will be occupied in various business calls. I must admit,' he
added, 'that I wish him at Halifax, but he asked me to let him have the
use of the rooms, and I didn't feel that I could refuse.'

"'Well,' I said, 'I should have refused. But he is your cousin, so I
suppose you know all about him.'

"'Oh, yes,' he replied; 'he is quite a responsible sort of man; and I
have cautioned him to be careful.'

"That struck me as a rather curious remark, so I said:

"'How do you mean? What did you caution him about?' and he replied:

"'Oh, I just cautioned him not to do himself too well in the matter of
drinks in the evening, and I made him promise not to smoke in bed.'

"'Does he usually smoke in bed?' I asked; and he replied:

"'I think he likes to take a book to bed with him and have a read and a
smoke before going to sleep. But he has promised solemnly that he
won't.'

"'Well,' I said, 'I hope he won't. It is a shockingly dangerous habit.
He might easily drop off to sleep and let his cigarette fall on the
bed-clothes.'

"'He doesn't smoke cigarettes in bed,' said Haire. 'He smokes a pipe;
his favourite is a big French clay bowl in the form of a death's head
with glass eyes and a cherry-wood stem. He loves that pipe. But you need
not worry; he has sworn not to smoke in bed.'

"I was not very happy about the affair, but I didn't like to make a
fuss. So I made no further objection."

"I think," said the coroner, "that you ought to have forbidden him to
lend the rooms. However, you didn't. Did you learn what this man's name
was?"

"Yes, I asked Mr. Haire, in case I should see the man and have occasion
to speak to him. His name was Moxdale--Cecil Moxdale."

"Then we may take it that the body which is the subject of this inquiry
is that of Cecil Moxdale. Did you ever see him?"

"I think I saw him once. That would be just before six in the evening of
the 14th of April. I was standing inside the doorway of my premises when
Mr. Haire passed with another man, whom I assumed to be Mr. Moxdale from
his resemblance to Mr. Haire. The two men went to the street door which
is the entrance to Mr. Haire's staircase and entered together."

"Could you give us any description of Moxdale?"

"He was a biggish man--about five feet nine or ten--with dark hair and a
rather full dark moustache. That is all I noticed. I only took a passing
glance at him."

"From what you said just now," the coroner suggested, "I suppose we may
assume that you connect the outbreak of the fire with this unfortunate
man?"

"I do," the witness replied. "I have no doubt that he lit up his pipe
notwithstanding his promise, and set his bed-clothes on fire. That would
account for everything, if you remember that there were a number of
parcels under the bed which were almost certainly filled with
inflammable films."

"Yes," the coroner agreed. "Of course, it is only a surmise, but it is
certainly a very probable one. And that, I suppose, Mr. Green, is all
that you have to tell us."

"Yes, Sir," was the reply, "that is about all I know of the case."

The coroner glanced at the jury and asked if there were any questions,
and, when the foreman replied that there were none, the witness was
allowed to retire when the depositions had been read and signed.

There was a short pause, during which the coroner glanced at the
depositions and, apparently, reflected on the last witness's evidence.

"I think," he said at length, "that, before going further into the
details of this deplorable affair, we had better hear what the doctors
have to tell us. It may seem, having regard to the circumstances in
which deceased met his death and the condition of the body, that the
taking of medical evidence is more or less of a formality; but, still,
it is necessary that we should have a definite statement as to the cause
of death. We will begin with the evidence of the divisional surgeon, Dr.
William Robertson."

As his name was mentioned, our colleague rose and stepped up to the
table, where the coroner's officer placed a chair for him.




CHAPTER XIII
THE FACTS AND THE VERDICT


"You have, I believe," said the coroner when the preliminary questions
had been answered, "made an examination of the body which is now lying
in the mortuary?"

"Yes, I examined that body very thoroughly. It appears to be that of a
strongly-built man about five feet ten inches in height. His age was
rather difficult to judge, and I cannot say more than that he was
apparently between forty and fifty, but even that is not a very reliable
estimate. The body had been exposed to such intense heat that the soft
tissues were completely carbonized, and, in some parts, entirely burned
away. Of the feet, for instance, there was nothing left but white
incinerated bone."

"The jury, when viewing the body, were greatly impressed by the strange
posture in which it lay. Do you attach any significance to that?"

"No. The distortion of the trunk and limbs was due to the shrinkage of
the soft parts under the effects of intense heat. Such distortion is not
unusual in bodies which have been burned."

"Can you make any statement as to the cause of death?"

"My examination disclosed nothing on which an opinion could be based.
The condition of the body was such as to obliterate any signs that there
might have been. I assume that deceased died from the effects of the
poisonous fumes given off by the burning celluloid--that he was, in
fact, suffocated. But that is not properly a medical opinion. There is,
however, one point which I ought to mention. The neck was dislocated and
the little bone called the odontoid process was broken."

"You mean, in effect," said the coroner, "that the neck was broken. But
surely a broken neck would seem to be a sufficient cause of death."

"It would be in ordinary circumstances; but in this case I think it is
to be explained by the shrinkage. My view is that the contraction of the
muscles and the soft structures generally displaced the bones and broke
off the odontoid process."

"Can you say, positively, that the dislocation was produced in that
way?"

"No. That is my opinion, but I may be wrong. Dr. Thorndyke, who examined
the body at the same time as I did, took a different view."

"We shall hear Dr. Thorndyke's views presently. But doesn't it seem to
you a rather important point?"

"No. There doesn't seem to me to be much in it. The man was alone in the
house and must, in any case, have met his death by accident. In the
circumstances, it doesn't seem to matter much what the exact, immediate
cause of death may have been."

The coroner looked a little dissatisfied with this answer, but he made
no comment, proceeding at once to the next point.

"You have given us a general description of the man. Did you discover
anything that would assist in establishing his identity?"

"Nothing beyond the measurements and the fact that he had a fairly good
set of natural teeth. The measurements and the general description would
be useful for identification if there were any known person with whom
they could be compared. They are not very specific characters, but if
there is any missing person who might be the deceased, they might settle
definitely whether this body could, or could not, be that of the missing
person."

"Yes," said the coroner, "but that is of more interest to the police
than to us. Is there anything further that you have to tell us?"

"No," replied the witness, "I think that is all that I have to say."

Thereupon, when the depositions had been read and signed the witness
retired and his place was taken by Thorndyke.

"You examined this body at the same time as Dr. Robertson, I think?" the
coroner suggested.

"Yes, we made the examination together, and we compared the results so
far as the measurements were concerned."

"You were, of course, unable to make any suggestion as to the identity
of deceased?"

"Yes. Identity is a matter of comparison, and there was no known person
with whom to compare the body. But I secured, and made notes of, all
available data for identification if they should be needed at any future
time."

"It was stated by the last witness that there was a dislocation of the
neck with a fracture of the odontoid process. Will you explain that to
the jury and give us your views as to its significance in this case?"

"The odontoid process is a small peg of bone which rises from the second
vertebra, or neck-bone, and forms a pivot on which the head turns. When
the neck is dislocated, the displacement usually occurs between the
first and the second vertebra, and then, in most cases, the odontoid
process is broken. In the case of deceased, the first and second
vertebrae were separated and the odontoid process was broken. That is to
say that deceased had a dislocated neck, or, as it is commonly
expressed, a broken neck."

"In your opinion, was the neck broken before or after death?"

"I should say that it was broken before death; that, in fact, the
dislocation of the neck was the immediate cause of death."

"Do you say positively that it was so?"

"No. I merely formed that opinion from consideration of the appearances
of the structures. The broken surfaces of the odontoid process had been
exposed to the fire for some appreciable time, which suggested that the
fracture had occurred before the shrinkage. And then it appeared to me
that the force required to break the process was greater than the
shrinkage would account for. Still, it is only an opinion. Dr. Robertson
attributed the fracture to the shrinkage, and he is as likely to be
right as I am."

"Supposing death to have been caused by the dislocation, what
significance would you attach to that circumstance?"

"None at all, if the facts are as stated. If the man was alone in the
house when the fire broke out, the exact cause of death would be a
matter of no importance."

"Can you suggest any way in which the neck might have been broken in the
circumstances which are believed to have existed?"

"There are many possible ways. For instance, if the man was asleep and
was suddenly aroused by the fire, he might have scrambled out of bed,
entangled the bed-clothes, and fallen on his head. Or again, he might
have escaped from the bedroom and fallen down the stairs. The body was
found in the cellar. There is no evidence as to where the man was when
death took place."

"At any rate, you do not consider the broken neck in any way
incompatible with accidental death?"

"Not in the least; and, as I said before, Dr. Robertson's explanation
may be the correct one, after all."

"Would you agree that, for the purposes of this inquiry, the question as
to which of you is right is of no importance?"

"According to my present knowledge and belief, I should say that it is
of no importance at all."

This was the sum of Thorndyke's evidence, and, when he had signed the
depositions and returned to his seat, the name of Inspector Blandy was
called; whereupon that officer advanced to the table and greeted the
coroner and the jury with his habitual benevolent smile. He polished off
the preliminaries with the readiness born of long experience and then,
having, by the coroner's invitation, seated himself, he awaited the
interrogation.

"I believe, Inspector," the coroner began, "that the police are making
certain investigations regarding the death of the man who is the subject
of this inquiry. Having heard the evidence of the other witnesses, can
you give us any additional facts?"

"Nothing very material," Blandy replied. "The inquiries which we are
making are simply precautionary. A dead man has been found in the ruins
of a burnt house, and we want to know who that man was and how he came
to be in that house, since he was admittedly not the tenant of the
premises. As far as our inquiries have gone, they have seemed to confirm
the statement of Mr. Green that the man was the one referred to by Mr.
Haire as Cecil Moxdale. But our inquiries are not yet complete."

"That," said the coroner, "is a general statement. Could you give us the
actual facts on which your conclusions are based?"

"The only facts bearing on the identity of deceased have been obtained
by an examination of various things found among the ashes of the burned
house. The search was made with the greatest care, particularly that for
the smaller objects which might have a more personal character. When the
larger objects had been removed, the fine ash was all passed through
sieves so that nothing should be overlooked. But everything that was
found has been preserved for further examination if it should be
necessary."

"You must have got a rather miscellaneous collection," the coroner
remarked. "Have you examined the whole lot?"

"No. We have concentrated on the small personal articles, and these seem
to have yielded all the information that we are likely to get, and have
practically settled the question of identity. We found, for instance, a
pair of cuff-links of steel, chromium plated, on which the initials C.M.
were engraved. We also found a clay pipe-bowl in the form of a death's
head which had once had glass eyes and still had the remains of the
glass fused in the eye-sockets. This had the initials C.M. scratched
deeply on the under-surface of the bowl."

"That was a very significant discovery," the coroner remarked, "having
regard to what Mr. Green told us. Yes?"

"There was also a stainless-steel plate which seemed to have belonged to
an attache-case or a suit-case and which had the initials C.M. engraved
on it, and a gold watch, of which the case was partly fused, but on
which we could plainly make out the initials G.H."

"G.H.," the coroner repeated. "That, then, would be Mr. Haire's watch.
Isn't that rather odd?"

"I think not, sir," replied Blandy. "These were Mr. Haire's rooms, and
they naturally contained articles belonging to him. Probably he locked
up this valuable watch before going on his travels."

"Did you find any other things belonging to him?"

"Nothing at all significant. There was a vice and some tools and the
remains of an eight-day clock which apparently belonged to him, and
there were some other articles that might have been his, but they were
mixed up with the remains of projectors and various things which had
probably come from the shop or the stores above. But the small personal
articles were the really important ones. I have brought those that I
mentioned for your inspection."

Here he produced from his attache-case a small glass-topped box in which
the links, the steel name-plate, the death's-head pipe-bowl, and the
half-fused gold watch were displayed on a bed of cotton wool, and handed
it to the coroner, who, when he had inspected it, passed it to the
foreman of the jury.

While the latter and his colleagues were poring over the box, the
coroner opened a fresh line of inquiry.

"Have you tried to get into touch with Mr. Haire?" he asked.

"Yes," was the reply, "and I am still trying, unsuccessfully up to the
present. The address that Mr. Haire gave to Mr. Green was that of Brady
& Co., a firm of retail dealers in photographic materials and
appliances. As soon as I got it from Mr. Green, I communicated with the
Dublin police, giving them the principal facts and asking them to find
Mr. Haire, if they could, and pass on to him the information about the
fire and also to find out from him who the man was whose body had been
found in the burnt house.

"The information that I have received from them is to the effect that
they called on Bradys about mid-day on the 19th, but Mr. Haire had
already left. They learned that he had made a business call on Bradys on
the morning of the 16th, having arrived in Dublin the previous night. He
called again on the 18th, and then said that he was going on to Cork,
and possibly from there to Belfast. In the interval, it seemed that he
had made several calls on firms engaged in the photographic trade, but
Bradys had the impression that he had left Dublin on the evening of the
18th.

"That is all that I have been able to discover so far, but there should
be no great difficulty in tracing Mr. Haire; and even if it should not
be possible, he will probably be returning from Ireland quite soon, and
then he will be able to give us all the particulars that we want about
this man, Cecil Moxdale--if that is his name."

"Yes," said the coroner, "but it will be too late for this inquiry.
However, there doesn't seem to be any great mystery about the affair.
The man's name was given to us by Mr. Green, and the identity seems to
be confirmed by the initials on the articles which were recovered from
the ruins; particularly the pipe, which had been described to us by Mr.
Green as belonging to Cecil Moxdale. We know practically nothing about
the man; but still we know enough for the purpose of this inquiry. It
might be expedient to adjourn the proceedings until fuller particulars
are available, but I hardly think it is necessary. I suppose, Inspector,
you have nothing further to tell us?"

"No, sir," replied Blandy. "I have told you all that I know about the
affair."

"Then," said the coroner, "that completes the evidence; and I think,
members of the jury, that there is enough to enable you to decide on
your verdict."

He paused for a moment, and then proceeded to read the depositions and
secure the signature, and, when this had been done and Blandy had
retired to his seat, he opened his brief summing up of the evidence.

"There is little that I need say to you, members of the jury," he began.
"You have heard the evidence, all of which has been quite simple and all
of which points plainly to the same conclusion. You have to answer four
questions: Who was deceased? and where, when, and by what means did he
come by his death?

"As to the first question, Who was he? The evidence that we have heard
tells us no more than that his name was Cecil Moxdale and that he was a
cousin of Mr. Gustavus Haire. That is not much, but, still, it
identifies him as a particular individual. As to the conclusiveness of
the evidence on this point, that is for you to judge. To me, the
identity seems to be quite clearly established.

"As to the time and place of his death, it is certain that it occurred
in the early morning on the 19th of April in the house known as 34,
Billington Street, Soho. But the question as to how he came by his death
is not quite so clear. There is some conflict of opinion on the part of
the two medical witnesses respecting the immediate cause of death. But
that need not trouble us; for they are agreed that, whatever might have
been the immediate cause of death, the ultimate cause--with which we are
concerned--was some accident arising out of the fire. There appears to
be no doubt that deceased was alone in the house at the time when the
fire broke out; and, that being so, his death could only have been due
to some misadventure for which no one other than himself could have been
responsible.

"There is, indeed, some evidence that he may, himself, have been
responsible both for the outbreak of the fire and for his own death.
There is a suggestion that he may, in spite of his promise to Mr. Haire,
have indulged in the dangerous practice of smoking in bed. But there is
no positive evidence that he did, and we must not form our conclusions
on guesses or inferences.

"That is all that I need say; and with that I shall leave you to
consider your verdict."

There was, as the coroner had justly remarked, very little to consider.
The facts seemed quite plain and the conclusion perfectly obvious. And
that was evidently the view of the jury, for they gave the matter but a
few minutes' consideration, and then returned the verdict to the effect
that "the deceased, Cecil Moxdale, had met his death by misadventure due
to the burning of the house in which he was sleeping."

"Yes," the coroner agreed, "that is the obvious conclusion. I shall
record a verdict of Death by Misadventure."

On this, the Court rose; and, after a few words with the coroner and
Robertson, Thorndyke and I, accompanied by Polton (who had been
specially invited to attend), took our departure and shaped a course for
King's Bench Walk.




CHAPTER XIV
A VISIT FROM INSPECTOR BLANDY


With the close of the inquest, our connection with the case of the burnt
house in Billington Street and Cecil Moxdale, deceased, seemed to have
come to an end. No points of doubt or interest had arisen, or seemed
likely to arise hereafter. We appeared to have heard the last of the
case, and, when Thorndyke's notes and Polton's photographs had been
filed, we wrote it off as finished with. At least, I did. But later
events suggested that Thorndyke had kept it in mind as a case in which
further developments were not entirely impossible.

My view of the case was apparently shared by Stalker; for when, being in
the City on other business, we dropped in at his office, he expressed
himself to that effect.

"An unsatisfactory affair from our point of view," he commented, "but
there was nothing that we could really boggle at. Of course, when an
entire insured stock is destroyed, you have to be wary. A trader who has
a redundant or obsolete or damaged stock can make a big profit by
burning the whole lot out and recovering the full value from the
insurance society. But there doesn't seem to be anything of that kind.
Green appears to be perfectly straight. He has given us every facility
for checking the value of the stock, and we find it all correct."

"I suppose," said I, "you couldn't have raised the question of
negligence in allowing a casual stranger to occupy a bedroom in his box
of fireworks. He knew that Moxdale wasn't a very safe tenant."

"There is no evidence," Thorndyke reminded me, "that Moxdale set fire to
the house. He probably did, but that is a mere guess on our part."

"Exactly," Stalker agreed, "and even if he did, he certainly did not do
it consciously or intentionally. And, by the way, speaking of this man
Moxdale, it happens, oddly enough, that his life was insured in this
office. So he has let us in for two payments."

"Anything considerable?" Thorndyke asked.

"No. Only a thousand."

"Have you paid the claim?"

"Not yet; in fact, no claim has been made up to the present, and it
isn't our business to hunt up the claimants. But we shall have to pay,
for I suppose that even you could not make out a case of suicide."

"No," Thorndyke admitted, "I think we can exclude suicide. At any rate,
there was nothing to suggest it. You accept the identity?"

"There doesn't seem to be much doubt," replied Stalker, "but the next of
kin, or whoever makes the claim, will have to confirm the statements of
Green and Haire. But I don't think there is anything in the question of
identity. Do you?"

"So far as I know, the question was fairly well settled at the inquest,
and I don't think it could be contested unless some positive evidence to
the contrary should be produced. But we have to bear in mind that the
identity was based on the statement of Walter Green and that his
evidence was hearsay evidence."

"Yes," said Stalker, "I will bear that in mind when the claim is put in,
if it ever is. If no claim is made, the question will not be of any
interest to me."

So that was the position. Stalker was not interested and, consequently,
we, as his agents, had no further interest in the case; and, so far as I
was concerned, it had passed into complete oblivion when my recollection
of it was revived by Thorndyke. It was at breakfast time a week or two
after our conversation with Stalker that my colleague, who was,
according to his habit, glancing over the legal notices in _The Times_,
looked up at me and remarked:

"Here is a coincidence in a small way. I don't remember having ever met
with the name of Moxdale until we attended the late inquest. It
certainly is not a common name."

"No," I agreed, "I don't think I ever heard it excepting in connection
with Cecil Moxdale deceased. But what is the coincidence?"

"Here is another Moxdale, also deceased," he replied, handing me the
paper and indicating the paragraph. It was an ordinary solicitor's
notice beginning, "Re. Harold Moxdale deceased who died on the 30th of
April 1936" and calling on creditors and others to make their claims by
a certain specified date; of no interest to me apart from the mere
coincidence of the name. Nor did Thorndyke make any further comment,
though I observed that he cut out the notice, and, having fixed it with
a dab of paste to a sheet of paper, added it to the collection of notes
forming the Moxdale dossier. Then, once more, the "case" seemed to have
sunk into oblivion.

But a few days later it was revived by no less a person than Inspector
Blandy; and the manner of its revival was characteristic of that
extremely politic gentleman. It was about half-past eight one evening
when, after an early dinner, Thorndyke, Polton and I were holding a sort
of committee meeting to review and re-classify the great collection of
microscope slides of hairs, fibres and other "comparison specimens"
which had accumulated in the course of years. We had just finished the
first of the new cabinets and were labelling the drawers when an
unfamiliar knock, of an almost apologetic softness, was executed on the
small brass knocker of the inner door.

"Confound it!" I exclaimed, impatiently. "We ought to have shut the oak.
Who the deuce can it be?"

The question was answered by Polton, who, as he opened the door and
peered out, stepped back and announced:

"Inspector Blandy."

We both stood up, and Thorndyke, with his customary suavity, advanced to
greet the visitor and offer him a chair.

"Pray, gentlemen," exclaimed Blandy, casting an inquisitive glance over
the collection on the table, "do not let me disturb you, though, to be
sure, I can see that I am disturbing you. But the disturbance need be
only of the briefest. I have come--very improperly, without an
appointment--merely to tender apologies and to make all too tardy
amends. When I have done that, I can go, and leave you to pursue your
investigations."

"They are not investigations," said Thorndyke. "We are just going over
our stock of test specimens and re-arranging them. But what do you mean
by apologies and reparations? We have no grievance against you."

"You are kind enough to say so," replied Blandy, "but I am,
nevertheless, a defaulter. I made a promise and have not kept it. _Mea
culpa._" He tapped his chest lightly with his knuckles and continued:
"When I had the pleasure of meeting you in the ruins of the burned house
I promised to let you have an opportunity of examining the various
objects that were retrieved from the debris. This evening, it suddenly
dawned on me that I never did so. I was horrified, and, in my impulsive
way, I hurried, without reflection, to seek your forgiveness and to make
such amends as were possible."

"I don't think, Blandy," said Thorndyke, "that the trifling omission
mattered. We seemed to have all the information that we wanted."

"So we did, but perhaps we were wrong. At any rate, I have now brought
the things for you to see, if they are still of any interest. It is
rather late, I must admit."

"Yes, by Jove!" I agreed. "It is the day after the fair. But what things
have you brought, and where are they?"

"The exhibits which you saw at the inquest, I have here in my
attache-case. If you would like me to leave them with you for
examination at your leisure, I can do so, but we shall want them back.
The other things are in a box in my car, and, as we have finished with
them, you can dispose of them as you please when you have examined them,
if you think the examination worth while."

"I take it," said Thorndyke, "that you have been through them pretty
thoroughly. Did you find anything in any way significant?"

The inspector regarded Thorndyke with his queer, benevolent smile as he
replied: "Not significant to me; but who knows what I may have
overlooked? I could not bring to bear on them either your intellect,
your encyclopdic knowledge, or your unrivalled means of research." Here
he waved his hand towards the table and seemed to bestow a silent
benediction on the microscopes and the trays of slides. "Perhaps," he
concluded, "these simple things might have for you some message which
they have withheld from me."

As I listened to Blandy's discourse, I found myself speculating on the
actual purpose of his visit. He could not have come to talk this
balderdash or to deliver the box of trash that he had brought with him.
What object, I wondered, lay behind his manoeuvres? Probably it would
transpire presently; but, meanwhile, I thought it as well to give him a
lead.

"It is very good of you, Blandy," said I, "to have brought us these
things to look at, but I don't quite see why you did it. Our interest in
the affair ended with the inquest, and I take it that yours did too. Or
didn't it?"

"It did not," he replied. "We were then making certain inquiries through
the Irish police, and we have not yet obtained the information that we
were seeking. The case is still incomplete."

"Do you mean," Thorndyke asked, "that Mr. Haire has not been able to
tell you all that you wanted to know?"

"We have not been able to get into touch with Mr. Haire; which is a
rather remarkable fact, and becomes still more remarkable as the time
passes and we get no news of him."

"In effect, then," said Thorndyke, "Mr. Haire has disappeared. Have you
taken any special measures to trace him?"

"We have taken such measures as were possible," replied Blandy. "But we
are in a difficult position. We have no reliable description of the man,
and, if we had, we could hardly proceed as if we were trying to trace a
'wanted' man. It is curious that he should not have turned up in his
usual places of resort, but there is nothing incriminating in the fact.
We have no reason to suppose that he is keeping out of sight. There is
nothing against him. No one could suspect him of having had any hand in
starting the fire, as he was not there and another man was. But still,
it is a little mysterious. It makes one wonder whether there could have
been something that we overlooked."

"Yes," Thorndyke agreed, "there does certainly seem to be something a
little queer about the affair. As I understand it, Haire went away with
the stated intention of making a short visit to Dublin. He was known to
have arrived there on a certain day and to have made two calls at a
business house. He is said to have announced his intention to go on to
Belfast, but it is not known whether he did, in fact, go there. Nothing
at all is known as to his movements after he had left the dealer's
premises. From that moment, no one, so far as we know, ever saw him
again. Isn't that the position?"

"That is the position exactly, Sir," replied Blandy, "and a very curious
position it is if we remember that Haire was a man engaged in business
in London and having a set of rooms there containing his household goods
and personal effects."

"Before the fire," I remarked. "There wasn't much left of either after
the flare up. He hadn't any home then to come back to."

"But, Sir," Blandy objected, "what reason is there for supposing that he
knew anything about the fire? He was somewhere in Ireland when it
happened. But a fire in a London by-street isn't likely to be reported
in the Irish papers."

"No," I admitted, "that is true; and it only makes the affair still more
queer."

There was a short silence. Then Thorndyke raised a fresh question.

"By the way, Inspector," said he, "there was a legal notice in _The
Times_ a few days ago referring to a certain Moxdale deceased. Did you
happen to observe it?"

"Yes, my attention was called to it by one of my colleagues, and, on the
chance that there might be some connection with the other Moxdale
deceased, I called on the solicitors to make a few enquiries. They are
quite a respectable firm--Horne, Croner, and Horne of Lincoln's Inn--and
they were as helpful as they could be, but they didn't know much about
the parties. The testator, Harold Moxdale, was an old gentleman,
practically a stranger to them, and the other parties were nothing more
than names. However, I learned that the principal beneficiary was the
testator's nephew, Cecil Moxdale, and that, if he had not had the
misfortune to be burned, he would have inherited a sum of about four
thousand pounds."

"It is possible," I suggested, "that it may not be the same Cecil
Moxdale. You say that they did not know anything about him. Did you try
to fix the identity?"

"It wasn't necessary," replied Blandy, "for the next beneficiary was
another nephew named Gustavus Haire; and as we knew that Haire and
Moxdale were cousins, that settled the identity."

As Blandy gave this explanation, his habitual smile became tinged with a
suggestion of foxiness, and I noticed that he was furtively watching
Thorndyke to see how he took it. But there was no need, for my colleague
made no secret of his interest.

"Did you learn whether these two bequests were in any way mutually
dependent?" he asked.

Blandy beamed on him almost affectionately. It was evident that
Thorndyke's "reactions" were those that had been desired.

"A very pertinent question, Sir," he replied. "Yes, the two bequests
were mutually contingent. The entire sum to be divided between the two
nephews was about six thousand pounds. Of this, four thousand went to
Cecil and two thousand to Gustavus. But it was provided that if either
of them should pre-decease the testator, the whole amount should go the
survivor."

"My word, Blandy!" I exclaimed. "This puts quite a new complexion on the
affair. As Harold Moxdale died, if I remember rightly, on the 30th of
April, and Cecil died on the 19th of the same month, it follows that the
fire in Billington Street was worth four thousand pounds to Mr. Gustavus
Haire. A decidedly illuminating fact."

Blandy turned his benign smile on me. "Do you find it illuminating,
Sir?" said he. "If you do, I wish you would reflect a few stray beams on
me."

Thorndyke chuckled, softly. "I am afraid, Jervis," said he, "that the
inspector is right. This new fact is profoundly interesting--even rather
startling. But it throws no light whatever on the problem."

"It establishes a motive," I retorted.

"But what is the use of that?" he demanded. "You, as a lawyer, know that
proof of a motive to do some act is no evidence, by itself, that the
person who had the motive did the act. Haire, as you imply, had a motive
for making away with Moxdale. But before you could even suggest that he
did actually make away with him, you would have to prove that he had the
opportunity and the intention; and even that would carry you no farther
than suspicion. To support a charge, there would have to be some
positive evidence that the act was committed."

"Exactly, Sir," said Blandy; "and the position is that we have not a
particle of evidence that Haire had any intention of murdering his
cousin, and there is clear evidence that he had no opportunity. When the
fire broke out, he was in Ireland and had been there five days. That is,
for practical purposes, an absolutely conclusive alibi."

"But," I persisted, "aren't there such things as time-fuses or other
timing appliances?"

Blandy shook his head. "Not in a case like this," he replied. "Of
course, we have considered that question, but there is nothing in it. In
the case of a man who wants to set fire to a lock-up shop or empty
premises, it is possible to use some such appliance--a time-fuse, or a
candle set on some inflammable material, or an alarm clock--to give him
time to show himself a few miles away and establish an alibi; and even
then the firemen usually spot it. But here you have a flat, with
somebody living in it, and the owner of that flat on the other side of
the Irish Channel, where he had arrived five days before the fire broke
out.

"No, Sir, I don't think Mr. Haire is under any suspicion of having
raised the fire. The thing is a physical impossibility. And I don't know
of any other respect in which he is under suspicion. It is odd that we
can't discover his whereabouts, but there is really nothing suspicious
in it. There is no reason why he should let anyone know where he is."

I did not contest this, though my feeling was that Haire was purposely
keeping out of sight, and I suspected that Blandy secretly took the same
view. But the inspector was such an exceedingly downy bird that it was
advisable not to say too much. However, I now understood--or thought I
did--why he had made this pretext to call on us; he was at a dead end
and hoped to interest Thorndyke in the case and thereby get a lead of
some kind. And now, having sprung his mine, he reverted to the
ostensible object of his visit.

"As to this salvage stuff," said he. "Would you like me to leave these
small things for you to look over?"

I expected Thorndyke to decline the offer, for there was no mystery
about the things, and they were no affair of ours in any case. But, to
my surprise, he accepted, and, having checked the list, signed the
receipt which Blandy had written out.

"And as to the stuff in the box; perhaps Mr. Polton might show my man
where to put it."

At this, Polton, who had been calmly examining and sorting the
test-slides during the discussion (to which I have no doubt he had given
close attention), rose and suggested that the box should be deposited in
the laboratory in the first place; and when Thorndyke had agreed, he
departed to superintend the removal.

"I am afraid," said Blandy, "that you will find nothing but rubbish in
that box. That, at least, is what it appeared like to me. But, having
studied some of your cases, I have been deeply impressed by your power
of extracting information from the most unpromising material, and it is
possible that these things may mean more to you than they do to me."

"It is not very likely," Thorndyke replied. "You appear to have
extracted from them all the information that one could expect. They have
conveyed to you the fact that Cecil Moxdale was apparently the occupant
of the rooms at the time of the fire, and that is probably all that they
had to tell."

"It is all they had to tell me," said Blandy, rising and picking up his
attache-case, "and it is not all that I want to know. There is still the
problem of how the fire started, and they throw no light on that at
all."

"You have got the clay pipe," I suggested. "Doesn't that tell the
story?"

He smiled at me with amiable reproach as he replied: "We don't want the
material for plausible guesses. We want facts, or at least a leading
hint of some kind, and I still have hopes that you may hit on something
suggestive."

"You are more optimistic than I am," replied Thorndyke; "but I shall
look over the material that you have brought, and, if it should yield
any facts that are not already known to you, I promise to let you have
them without delay."

Blandy brightened up appreciably at this, and, as he turned to depart,
he expressed his gratitude in characteristic terms.

"That, Sir, is most generous of you. It sends me on my way rejoicing in
the consciousness that my puny intelligence is to be reinforced by your
powerful intellect and your encyclopdic knowledge. I thank you,
gentlemen, for your kindly reception of an intruder and a disturber of
your erudite activities, and I wish you a very good evening."

With this, the inspector took his departure, leaving us both a little
overpowered by his magniloquence and me a little surprised by
Thorndyke's promise which had evoked it.




CHAPTER XV
POLTON ON THE WAR PATH


As the inspector's footsteps died away on the stairs, we looked at one
another and smiled.

"That was a fine peroration, even for Blandy," I remarked. "But haven't
you rather misled the poor man? He is evidently under the delusion that
he has harnessed you firmly to his chariot."

"I only promised to look over his salvage; which I am quite ready to do
for my own satisfaction."

"I don't quite see why. You are not likely to learn anything from it;
and even if you were, this affair is not our concern."

"I don't know that we can say that," he replied. "But we needn't argue
the point. I don't mind admitting that mere professional curiosity is a
sufficient motive to induce me to keep an eye on the case."

"Well, that would be good news for Blandy, for it is obvious that he is
completely stumped; and so am I, for that matter, assuming that there is
anything abnormal about the case. I don't feel convinced that there is."

"Exactly," said Thorndyke; "that is Blandy's difficulty. It is a very
odd and puzzling case. Taking the group of circumstances as a whole, it
seems impossible to accept it as perfectly normal; but yet, when one
examines the factors separately, there is not one of them at which one
can cavil."

"I am not sure that I follow that," said I. "Why can we not accept the
circumstances as normal? I should like to hear you state the case as it
presents itself to you."

"Well," he replied, "let us first take the facts as a whole. Here is a
house which, in some unknown way, catches fire in the small hours of the
morning. In the debris of that house is found the body of a man who has
apparently been burned to death."

"Yes," I agreed, with a grin, "the body certainly had that appearance."

"It transpires later," Thorndyke continued, disregarding my comment,
"that the death of that man, A, benefits another man, B, to the extent
of four thousand pounds. But the premises in which the fire occurred
belong to and are controlled by B; and they had been lent by B to A for
his occupation while B should be absent in Ireland. The event by which
the benefit accrues to B--the death of Harold Moxdale--has occurred
quite a short time after the fire. Finally, the tenant, B, who had
ostensibly gone away from his residence to make a short visit to
Ireland, has never returned to that residence or made any communication
to his landlord--has, in fact, disappeared."

"Blandy doesn't admit that Haire has disappeared," I objected.

"We mustn't take Blandy's statements too literally. In spite of his
disclaimers, it is evident that he is hot on the trail of Mr. Gustavus
Haire; and the fact is that, in the ordinary sense of the word, Haire
has disappeared. He has absented himself from his ordinary places of
resort, he has communicated with nobody, and he has left no traces by
which the police could discover his whereabouts.

"But now take the facts separately. The origin of the fire is a mystery,
but there is not a particle of evidence of incendiarism. The only person
who could have been suspected had been overseas several days before the
fire broke out."

"Do you consider that his absence at the time puts him quite outside the
picture? I mean, don't you think that the fire could have been started
by some sort of timing apparatus?"

"Theoretically, I have no doubt that it could. But it would have had to
be a rather elaborate apparatus. The common alarm clock would not have
served. But really the question seems to be of only academic interest
for two reasons. First, the fire experts were on the look-out for some
fire-raising appliance and found no trace of any; second, the presence
of Moxdale in the rooms seems to exclude the possibility of any such
appliance having been used, and, third, even the appliance that you are
postulating would not have served its purpose with anything like
calculable certainty."

"You mean that it might not have worked, after all?"

"No. What I mean is that it could not have been adjusted to the actual
purpose, which would have been to cause the death of the man. It would
have been useless to fire the house unless it were certain that the man
would be in it at the time and that he would not be able to escape. But
neither of these things could be foreseen with any degree of certainty.
No, Jervis, I think that, on our present knowledge, we must agree with
Blandy and the others that no suspicion of arson stands against Gustavus
Haire."

"That is what he says, but it is obvious that he does suspect Haire."

"I was speaking in terms of evidence," Thorndyke rejoined. "Blandy
admits that he has nothing against Haire and therefore cannot treat the
disappearance as a flight. If he met Haire, he couldn't detain him or
charge him with any unlawful act. But he feels--and I think quite
rightly--that Haire's disappearance is a mystery that needs to be
explained. Blandy, in fact, is impressed by the case as a whole; by the
appearance of a connected series of events with the suggestion of a
purpose behind it. He won't accept those events as normal events,
brought about merely by chance; but he sees no way of challenging them
so as to start an inquiry. That is why he came to us. He hopes that we
may be able to give him some kind of leading fact."

"And so you are proposing to go over the box of rubbish that he has
brought on the chance that you may find the leading fact among it?"

"I think we may as well look over it," he replied. "It is wildly
improbable that it will yield any information, but you never know. We
have, on more than one occasion, picked up a useful hint from a most
unlikely source. Shall we go up and see what sort of rubbish the box
contains?"

We ascended to the laboratory floor, where we found Polton looking with
undissembled distaste at a large packing-case filled to the brim with
miscellaneous oddments, mostly metallic, and all covered with a coating
of white ash.

"Looks as if Mr. Blandy has turned out a dustbin," Polton commented,
"and passed the contents on to us. A rare job it was getting it up the
stairs. Shall I put the whole of the stuff out on the bench?"

"You may as well," replied Thorndyke, "though I think Blandy might have
weeded some of it out. Door-handles and hinges are not likely to yield
much information."

Accordingly, we all set to work transferring the salvage to the large
bench, which Polton had tidily covered with newspaper, sorting it out to
some extent as we did so, and making a preliminary inspection. But it
was a hopeless-looking collection, for the little information that it
conveyed we possessed already. We knew about the tools from the little
workshop, the projectors and the remains of gramophones and
kinematograph cameras, and, as to the buttons, studs, keys, pen-knives,
and other small personal objects, they were quite characterless and
could tell us nothing.

Nevertheless, Thorndyke glanced at each item as he picked it out of its
dusty bed and laid it in its appointed place on the bench, and even
Polton began presently to develop an interest in the proceedings. But it
was evidently a merely professional interest, concerning itself
exclusively with the detached fragments of the gramophone motors and
other mechanical remains and particularly with the battered carcase of
the grandfather clock, and I strongly suspected that he was simply on
the look-out for usable bits of scrap. Voicing my suspicion, I
suggested:

"This ought to be quite a little windfall for you, Polton. A lot of this
clockwork seems to be quite sound--I mean as to the separate parts."

He laid down the clock (as tenderly as if it had been in going order)
and regarded me with a cunning and crinkly smile.

"It's an ill wind, Sir, that blows nobody good. My reserve stock of
gear-wheels and barrels and other spare parts will be all the richer for
Mr. Blandy's salvage. And you can't have too many spares; you never know
when one of them may be the very one that you want. But might I suggest
that, as this is a rather dirty job, you let me finish setting the
things out and come and look over them at your leisure in the morning,
when I have been through them with a dusting-brush."

As I found the business not only dirty but rather boresome--and in my
private opinion perfectly futile--I caught at the suggestion readily,
and Thorndyke and I then retired to the sitting-room to resume our
operations on the test-slides, after cleansing our hands.

"We seem to have been ejected," I remarked as we sat down to the table.
"Perhaps our presence hindered the collection of scrap."

Thorndyke smiled. "That is possible," said he. "But I thought that I
detected an awakening interest in the inspection. At any rate, it will
be as well to let him sort out the oddments before we go through them.
He is a good observer, and he might notice things that we should
overlook and draw our attention to them."

"You don't really expect to get any information out of that stuff, do
you?" I asked.

"No," he replied. "The inspection is little more than a formality,
principally to satisfy Blandy. Still, Jervis, we have our principles,
and one of them--and a very important one--is to examine everything, no
matter how insignificant. This won't be the first rubbish-heap that we
have inspected; and it may be that we shall learn something from it,
after all."

Thorndyke's suggestion of "an awakening interest" on Polton's part was
curiously confirmed on the following day and thereafter. For, whereas I
made my perfunctory inspection of the rubbish and
forthwith--literally--washed my hands of it, and even Thorndyke looked
it over with little enthusiasm, Polton seemed to give it a quite
extraordinary amount of attention. By degrees, he got all the mechanical
oddments sorted out into classified heaps, and once I found him with a
small sieve, carefully sifting the ash and dirt from the bottom of the
box. And his interest was not confined to the contents of that unclean
receptacle; for, having been shown the gold watch which the inspector
had left with us, he skilfully prised it open and examined its interior
through his eyeglass with the most intense concentration.

Moreover, I began to notice something new and unusual in his manner and
appearance: a suggestion of suppressed excitement and a something secret
and conspiratorial in his bearing. I mentioned the matter to Thorndyke,
but, needless to say, he had noticed it and was waiting calmly for the
explanation to transpire. We both suspected that Polton had made some
sort of discovery, and we both felt some surprise that he had not
communicated it at once.

And then, at last, came the disclosure; and a most astonishing one it
was. It occurred a few mornings after Blandy's visit, when Thorndyke and
I, happening to go up together to the laboratory, found our friend at
the bench, poring over one of the heaps of mechanical fragments with a
pair of watchmaker's tweezers in his hand.

"Well, Polton," I remarked, "I should think that you have squeezed the
inspector's treasures nearly dry."

He looked up at me with his queer, crinkly smile and replied:

"I am rather afraid that I have, Sir."

"And now, I suppose, you know all about it?"

"I wouldn't say that, Sir, but I know a good deal more than when I
started. But I don't know all that I want to know."

"Well," I said, "at any rate, you can tell us who set fire to that
house."

"Yes, Sir," he replied, "I think I can tell you that, without being too
positive."

I stared at him in astonishment, and so did Thorndyke. For Polton was no
jester, and, in any case, was much too well-mannered to let off jokes at
his principals.

"Then," said I, "tell us. Who do you say it was?"

"I say that it was Mr. Haire," he replied with quiet conviction.

"But, my dear Polton," I exclaimed. "Mr. Haire was in Dublin when the
fire broke out, and had been there five days. You heard the inspector
say that it was impossible to suspect him."

"It isn't impossible for me," said Polton. "He could have done it quite
well if he had the necessary means. And I am pretty sure that he had the
means."

"What means had he?" I demanded.

"Well, Sir," he replied, "he had an eight-day long-case clock."

Of course, we knew that. The clock had been mentioned at the inquest.
Nevertheless, Polton's simple statement impinged on me with a quite
startling effect, as if some entirely new fact had emerged. Apparently
it impressed Thorndyke in the same way, for he drew a stool up to the
bench and sat down beside our mysterious little friend.

"Now, Polton," said he, "there is something more than that. Tell us all
about it."

Polton crinkled nervously as he pondered the question.

"It is rather a long and complicated story," he said, at length. "But I
had better begin with the essential facts. This clock of Mr. Haire's was
not quite an ordinary clock. It had a calendar movement of a very
unusual kind, quite different from the simple date disc which most of
these old clocks have. I know all about that movement because it happens
that I invented it and fitted it to a clock; and I am practically
certain that this is the very clock.

"However, that doesn't matter for the moment, but I must tell you how I
came to make it and how it worked. In those days, I was half-way through
my time as apprentice, and I was doing some work for a gentleman who
made philosophical instruments--his name was Parrish. Now, Mr. Parrish
had a clock of this kind--what they call a 'grandfather' nowadays--and
it had the usual disc date in the dial. But that was no use to him
because he was rather near-sighted. What he wanted was a calendar that
would show the day of the week as well as the date, and in good big
characters that he could read when he was sitting at his writing-table;
and he asked me if I could make one. Well, of course, there was no
difficulty. The simple calendar work that is sometimes fitted to watches
would have done perfectly. But he wouldn't have it because it works
rather gradually. It takes a few minutes at least to make the change."

"But," said I, "surely that is of no consequence."

"Not the slightest, Sir. The change occurs in the night when nobody can
see it, and the correct date is shown in the morning. But Mr. Parrish
was a rather precise, pernicketty gentleman, and he insisted that the
change ought to be made in an instant at the very moment of midnight,
when the date does really change. So I had to set my wits to work to see
what could be done; and at last I managed to design a movement that
changed instantaneously.

"It was quite a simple affair. There was a long spindle, or arbor, on
which were two drums, one having the days of the week in half-inch
letters on it and the other carrying a ribbon with the thirty-one
numbers painted the same size. I need not go into full details, but I
must explain the action, because that is what matters in this case.
There was a twenty-four hour wheel--we will call it the day-wheel--which
took off from the hour-wheel, and this carried a snail which turned with
it."

"You don't mean an actual snail, I presume," said I.

"No, Sir. What clock-makers call a snail is a flat disc with the edge
cut out to a spiral shape, the shape of one of those flat water-snails.
Resting against the edge of the snail by means of a projecting pin was a
light steel bar with two pallets on it, and there was a seven-toothed
star-wheel with long, thin teeth, one of which was always resting on the
pallets. I may say that the whole movement excepting the day-wheel was
driven by a separate little weight, so as to save the power of the
clock.

"And now let me explain how it worked. The day-wheel, driven by the
clock, made a complete turn in twenty-four hours, and it carried the
snail round with it. But as the snail turned, its spiral edge gradually
pushed the pallet-bar away. A tooth of the star-wheel was resting on the
upper pallet; but when the snail had nearly completed its turn, it had
pushed the bar so far away that the tooth slipped off the upper pallet
on to the lower one--which was quite close underneath. Then the snail
turned a little more and the pin came to the end of the spiral--what we
call 'the step'--and slipped off, and the pallet-bar dropped back and
let the tooth of the star-wheel slip off the lower pallet. Then the
star-wheel began to turn until the next tooth was stopped by the upper
pallet; and so it made a seventh of a turn, and, as it carried the two
drums round with it, each of those made the seventh of a turn and
changed the date in less than a second. Is that clear, Sir?"

"Quite clear," replied Thorndyke (speaking for himself), "so far as the
mechanism goes, but not so clear as to your deductions from it. I can
see that this quite innocent calendar movement could be easily converted
into a fire-raising appliance. But you seem to suggest that it was
actually so converted. Have you any evidence that it was?"

"I have, Sir," replied Polton. "What I have described is the calendar
work just as I made it. There is no doubt about that, because when I
took off the copper dial, there was the day-wheel with the snail on it
still in place. Perhaps you noticed it."

"I did, but I thought it was part of some kind of striking-work."

"No, Sir. The striking-work had been removed to make room for the
calendar-work. Well, there was the day-wheel and the snail, and I have
found the pallet-bar and the star-wheel and some of the other parts, so
it is certain that the calendar movement was there. But there was
something else. Somebody had made an addition to it, for I found another
snail and another pallet-bar almost exactly like those of the calendar.
But there was this difference: the day-snail had marked on it twelve
lines, each denoting two hours; but this second snail had seven lines
marked on it, and those seven lines couldn't have meant anything but
seven days."

"That is a reasonable assumption," said Thorndyke.

"I think, Sir, that it is rather more than an assumption. If you
remember that the star-wheel and the spindle that carried the two drums
made one complete revolution in seven days, you will see that, if this
snail had been fixed on to the spindle, it would also have made a
revolution in seven days. But do you see what follows from that?"

"I don't," said I, "so you may as well explain."

"Well, the day-snail turned once a day and, at the end of its turn, it
suddenly let the pin drop into the step, released the star-wheel and
changed the date in an instant. But this second snail would take a week
to turn, and, at the end of the week, the pin would drop into the step,
and in an instant something would happen. The question is, what was it
that would have happened?"

"Yes," Thorndyke agreed, "that is the question, and first, can you think
of any normal and innocent purpose that the snail might have served?"

"No, Sir. I have considered that question, and I can't find any answer.
It couldn't have been anything connected with the calendar, because the
weeks aren't shown on a calendar. There's no need. When Sunday comes
round, you know that it is a week since last Sunday; and no one wants to
number the weeks."

"It is conceivable," I suggested, "that someone might have had some
reason for keeping count of the weeks, though it does seem unlikely. But
could this addition be connected with the phases of the moon? They are
sometimes shown on clocks."

"They are, usually, on these old clocks," replied Polton, "but this
movement would have been of no use for that purpose. The moon doesn't
jump from one phase to the next. It moves gradually; and the moon-disc
on a clock shows the changes from day to day. Besides, this snail would
have been unnecessary. A moon-disc could have been taken directly off
the spindle and moved forward one tooth at each change of date. No, Sir,
I can think of no use for that snail but to do some particular thing at
a given time on a given day. And that is precisely what I think it was
made for."

I could see that Thorndyke was deeply impressed by this statement, and
so was I. But there were one or two difficulties, and I proceeded to
point them out.

"You speak, Polton, of doing something at a given time on a given day.
But your calendar gave no choice of time. It changed on the stroke of
midnight. But this fire broke out at three o'clock in the morning."

"The calendar changed at midnight," replied Polton, "because it was set
to that time. But it could have been set to any other time. The snail
was not fixed immovably on the pivot. It was held fast by a set-screw,
but if you loosened the screw, you could turn the snail and set it to
discharge at any time you pleased."

"And what about the other snail?" Thorndyke asked.

"That was made in exactly the same way. It had a thick collet and a
small set-screw. So you see, Sir, the movement was easily controllable.
Supposing you wanted it to discharge at three o'clock in the morning in
five days' time; first you set the hands of the clock to three hours
after midnight, then you set the day-snail so that the step was just
opposite the pin, and you set the week-snail so that the pin was five
marks from the step. Then both the snails would be in the correct
position by the day-wheel, and at three in the morning on the fifth day
both snails would discharge together and whatever you had arranged to
happen at that time would happen to the moment. And you notice, Sir,
that until it did happen, there would be nothing unusual to be seen or
heard. To a stranger in the room, there would appear to be nothing but
an ordinary grandfather clock with a calendar--unless the little windows
for the calendar had been stopped up, as I expect they had been."

Here Thorndyke anticipated a question that I had been about to put; for
I had noticed that Polton had described the mechanism, but had not
produced the parts for our inspection, excepting the carcase of the
clock, which was on the bench.

"I understand that you have the two snails and pallet-bars?"

"Yes, Sir, and I can show them to you if you wish. But I have been
making a model to show how the mechanism worked, and I thought it best
for the purposes of evidence, to make it with the actual parts. It isn't
quite finished yet, but if you would like to see it----"

"No," replied Thorndyke, instantly realizing, with his invariable tact
and sympathy, that Polton wished to spring his creation on us complete,
"we will wait until the model is finished. But to what extent does it
consist of the actual parts?"

"As far as the calendar goes, Sir, almost entirely. The day-wheel was on
the clock-plate where you saw it. Then I found the snail and the spindle
with the star-wheel still fixed to it. That is practically the whole of
it excepting the wooden drums, which, of course, have gone.

"As to the week-mechanism, I have got the snail and the pallet-bar only.
There may not have been much else, as the week-snail could have been set
on the spindle and would then have turned with the star-wheel."

"There would have had to be a second star-wheel, I suppose," Thorndyke
suggested.

"Not necessarily, Sir. If it was required for only a single discharge, a
pivoted lever, or something that would drop right out when the pallet
released it, would do. I have found one or two wheels that might have
been used, but they may have come from the gramophone motors or the
projectors, so one can't be sure."

"Then," said I, "you can't say exactly what the week-mechanism was like,
or that your model will be a perfect reproduction of it?"

"No, Sir," he replied, regretfully. "But I don't think that really
matters. If I produce a model, made from the parts found in the ruins,
that would be capable of starting a fire, that will dispose of the
question of possibility."

"Yes," said Thorndyke, "I think we must admit that. When will your model
be ready for a demonstration?"

"I can promise to have it ready by to-morrow evening," was the reply.

"And would you be willing that Inspector Blandy should be present at the
demonstration?"

The answer was most emphatically in the affirmative; and the gratified
crinkle with which the permission was given suggested keen satisfaction
at the chance of giving the inspector a shock.

So the matter was left; and Thorndyke and I retired, leaving our
ingenious friend to a despairing search among the rubbish for yet
further traces of the sinister mechanism.




CHAPTER XVI
POLTON ASTONISHES THE INSPECTOR


Polton's revelation gave us both a good deal of material for thought,
and, naturally, thought generated discussion.

"How does Polton's discovery impress you?" I asked. "Is it a real one,
do you think, or is it possible that he has only found a mare's nest?"

"We must wait until we have seen the model," Thorndyke replied. "But I
attach great weight to his opinions for several reasons."

"As, for instance--?"

"Well, first there is Polton himself. He is a profound mechanician, with
the true mechanician's insight and imagination. He reads a certain
function into the machine which he has mentally reconstructed, and he is
probably right. Then there is the matter which we were discussing
recently: the puzzling, contradictory nature of the case. We agreed that
the whole group of events looks abnormal; that it suggests a connected
group of events, intentionally brought about, with an unlawful purpose
behind it, but there is not a particle of positive evidence connecting
anyone with those events in the character of agent. The crux of the
matter has been from the first the impossibility of connecting Haire
with the outbreak of the fire. His alibi seemed to be unchallengeable;
for not only was he far away, days before the fire broke out; not only
was there no trace of any fire-raising appliance; but the presence of
the other man in the rooms seemed to exclude the possibility of any such
appliance having been used.

"But if Polton's discovery turns out to be a real one, all these
difficulties disappear. The impossible has become possible and even
probable. It has become possible for Haire to have raised the fire while
he was hundreds of miles away; and the appliance used was so ordinary in
appearance that it would have passed unnoticed by the man who was living
in the rooms. If Polton is right, he has supplied the missing link which
brings the whole case together."

"You speak of probability," I objected. "Aren't you putting it too high?
At the most, Polton can prove that the mechanism could have been used
for fire-raising; but what is the evidence that it was actually so
used?"

"There is no direct evidence," Thorndyke admitted. "But consider all the
circumstances. The fire, itself, looked like the work of an incendiary,
and all the other facts supported that view. The fatal objection was the
apparent physical impossibility of the fire having been purposely
raised. But Polton's discovery--if we accept it provisionally--removes
the impossibility. Here is a mechanism which could have been used to
raise the fire, and for which no other use can be discovered. That, I
say, establishes a probability that it was so used; and that probability
would remain even if it could be proved that the mechanism had some
legitimate function."

"Perhaps you are right," said I. "At any rate, I think Blandy will agree
with you. Is he coming to the demonstration?"

"Yes. I notified him and invited him to come. I couldn't do less; and,
in fact, though I have no great love for the man, I respect his
abilities. He will be here punctually at eight o'clock to-night."

In effect, the inspector was more than punctual, for he turned up, in a
state of undisguised excitement, at half-past seven. I need not repeat
his adulatory greeting of my colleague nor the latter's disclaimer of
any merit in the matter. But I noted that he appeared to be genuinely
grateful for Thorndyke's help and much more frank and open in his manner
than he had usually been.

As the demonstration had been arranged for eight, we occupied the
interval by giving him a general outline of the mechanism while he
fortified himself with a glass of sherry (which Thorndyke had, in some
way, ascertained to be his particular weakness) and listened with
intense attention. At eight o'clock, exactly, by Polton's
newly-completed regulator, the creator of that incomparable time-keeper
appeared and announced that the model was ready for inspection, and we
all, thereupon, followed him up to the laboratory floor.

As we entered the big workroom, Blandy cast an inquisitive glance round
at the appliances and apparatus that filled the shelves and occupied the
benches; then he espied the model, and, approaching it, gazed at it with
devouring attention.

It was certainly an impressive object, and at the first glance I found
it a little confusing, and not exactly what I had expected; but as the
demonstration proceeded, these difficulties disappeared.

"Before I start the movement," Polton began, "I had better explain one
or two things. This is a demonstration model, and it differs in some
respects from the actual mechanism. That mechanism was attached to an
eight-day clock, and it moved once in twenty-four hours. This one moves
once in an abbreviated day of thirty seconds."

"Good gracious!" exclaimed Blandy. "How marvellous are the powers of the
horologist! But I am glad that it is only a temporary arrangement. At
that rate, we should all be old men in about twenty minutes."

"Well, Sir," said Polton, with an apologetic and crinkly smile, "you
wouldn't want to stand here for five days to see it work. But the
calendar movement is exactly the same as that in Mr. Haire's clock; in
fact, it is made from the actual parts that I found in your box,
excepting the two wooden drums and the ratchet pulley that carries the
cord and weight. Those I had to supply; but the spindle that carries the
drums, I found with the star-wheel on it.

"As we haven't got the clock, I have made a simple little clock to turn
the snail, like those that are used to turn an equatorial telescope. You
can ignore that. But the rest of the movement is driven by this little
weight, just as the original was. Then, as to the addition that someone
had made to the calendar, I have fixed the week-snail to the end of the
spindle. I don't suppose that is how it was done, but that doesn't
matter. This shows how the snail and pallet-bar worked, which is the
important point."

"And what is that contraption in the bowl?" asked Blandy.

"That," Polton replied a little evasively, "you can disregard for the
moment. It is a purely conjectural arrangement for starting the fire. I
don't suggest that it is like the one that was used. It is merely to
demonstrate the possibility."

"Exactly," said Blandy. "The possibility is the point that matters."

"Well," Polton continued, "that is all that I need explain. I have
fitted the little clock with a dial and one hand so that you can follow
the time, and, of course, the day of the week and the day of the month
are shown on the two drums. And now we can set it going. You see that
the day-drum shows Sunday and the date-drum shows the first, and the
hand on the dial shows just after three o'clock; so it has just turned
three o'clock on Sunday morning. And, if you look at the week-snail, you
will see that it is set to discharge on the fifth day--that is, at three
o'clock on Friday morning. And now here goes."

He pulled up the little weight by its cord and released some sort of
stop. Forthwith the little conical pendulum began to gyrate rapidly, and
the single hand to travel round the dial, while Polton watched it
ecstatically and chanted out the events as they occurred.

"Six a.m., nine a.m., twelve noon, three p.m., six p.m., nine p.m.,
midnight."

Here he paused with his eye on the dial, and we all watched expectantly
as the hand moved swiftly towards the figure three. As it approached
there was a soft click accompanied by a slight movement of the two
drums. Then the hand reached the figure and there was another click;
and, immediately, the two drums turned, and Sunday, the first, became
Monday, the second.

So the rather weird-looking machine went on. The little pendulum gyrated
madly, the hand moved rapidly round the dial, and at each alternate
three o'clock there came the soft click, and then the two drums moved
together and showed a new day. Meanwhile, Polton continued to chant out
his announcements--rather unnecessarily, as I thought, for the thing was
obvious enough.

"Tuesday, the third; Wednesday, the fourth; Thursday, the fifth, six
a.m., nine a.m., noon, three p.m., six p.m., nine p.m., midnight--now,
look out for Friday morning."

I think we were all as excited as he was, and we gazed at the dial with
the most intense expectancy as the hand approached the figure, and the
first warning click sounded. Then the hand reached the hour mark, and,
immediately, there was a double click, followed by a faint whirring
sound; and suddenly a cloud of white smoke shot up from the bowl and was
instantly followed by a sheet of flame.

"My word!" exclaimed Blandy, "there's no nonsense about that. Would you
mind showing us how that was done, Mr. Polton?"

"It was quite a simple and crude affair," Polton replied,
apologetically, "but, you see, I am not a chemist."

"The simpler, the better," said Blandy, "for it was quite effectual. I
wish you had shown it to us before you let it off."

"That's all right, Sir," said Polton. "I've got another ready to show
you, but I thought I would like you to see how it worked before I gave
you the details."

"Quite right, too, Polton," said I. "The conjurer should always do the
trick first, and not spoil the effect by giving the explanation in
advance. But we want to see how it was done, now."

With a crinkly smile of satisfaction, Polton went to a cupboard, from
which he brought out a second enamelled iron bowl, and, with the
greatest care, carried it across to the bench.

"It is quite a primitive arrangement, you see," said he. "I have just
put a few celluloid films in the bowl, and on the top one I have put a
ring of this powder, which is a mixture of loaf sugar and chlorate of
potash, both finely powdered and thoroughly stirred together. In the
middle of the ring is this little wide-mouthed bottle, containing a
small quantity of strong sulphuric acid. Now, as soon as any of the acid
touches the mixture, it will burst into flame; so all that is necessary
to start the fire is to capsize the bottle and spill the acid on the
chlorate mixture.

"You see how I did that. When the escapement discharged, it released
this small wheel, which was driven by a separate spring, and the wheel
then began to spin and wind up this thin cord, the other end of which
was attached to this spindle carrying this long wire lever. As soon as
the cord tightened up, it carried the lever across the bowl until it
struck the little bottle and knocked it over. You notice that I stood
the bottle inside an iron washer so that it couldn't slide, but must
fall over when it was struck."

"A most remarkable monument of human ingenuity," commented Blandy,
beaming benevolently on our gratified artificer. "I regard you, Mr.
Polton, with respectful astonishment as a worker of mechanical miracles.
Would it be possible to repeat the experiment for the benefit of the
less gifted observer?"

Polton was only too delighted to repeat his triumph. Removing the first
bowl, in which the fire had now died out, he replaced it with the second
one and then proceeded to wind up the separate spring.

"There is no need to set it to the exact day," said he, "as it is only
the ignition that you want to see. I will give you notice when it is
ready to discharge; and you had better not stand too close to the bowl
in case the acid should fly about. Now, there are two days to run; that
is one minute."

We gathered round the bowl as near as was safe, and I noticed with
interest the perfect simplicity of the arrangement and its infallible
efficiency--so characteristic of Polton. In a couple of minutes the
warning was given to "look out" and we all stepped back a pace. Then we
heard the double click, and the cord--actually bookbinder's
thread--which had fallen slack when the spring had been re-wound--began
to tighten. As soon as it was at full tension the spindle of the long
wire lever began to turn, carrying the latter at increasing speed
towards the bowl. Passing the rim, it skimmed across until it met the
bottle, and, giving it a little tap, neatly capsized it. Instantly, a
cloud of white smoke shot up; the powder disappeared and a tongue of
flame arose from the heap of films at the bottom of the bowl.

Blandy watched them with a smile of concentrated benevolence until the
flame had died out. Then he turned to Polton with a ceremonious bow.

"Sir," said he, "you are a benefactor to humanity, an unraveller of
criminal mysteries. I am infinitely obliged to you. Now I know how the
fire in Billington Street arose, and who is responsible for the lamented
death of the unfortunate gentleman whose body we found."

Polton received these tributes with his characteristic smile, but
entered a modest disclaimer.

"I don't suggest, Sir, that this is exactly the method that was used."

"No," said Blandy, "but that is of no consequence. You have demonstrated
the possibility and the existence of the means. That is enough for our
purposes. But as to the details; have you formed any opinion on the
methods by which the fire was communicated to the room from its
starting-point?"

"Yes, Sir," Polton replied; "I have considered the matter and thought
out a possible plan, which I feel sure must be more or less right. From
Mr. Green's evidence at the inquest we learned that the whole room was
littered with parcels filled with used films; and it appeared that these
parcels were stacked all round the walls, and even piled round the clock
and under the bed. It looked as if those parcels, stacked round and
apparently in contact, formed a sort of train from the clock round the
room to the heap under the bed.

"Now, I think that the means of communication was celluloid varnish. We
know that there was a lot of it about the room, including a row of
bottles on the mantlepiece. This varnish is extremely inflammable. If
some of it got spilt on the floor, alight, it would run about, carrying
the flame with it and lighting up the films as it went. I think that is
the way the fire was led away from the clock. You probably know, sir,
that the cases of these tall clocks are open at the bottom. The plinth
doesn't make a watertight contact with the floor; and, even if it did,
it would be easy to raise it an eighth of an inch with little wedges. My
idea is that the stuff for starting the fire was in the bottom of the
clock-case. It must have been; for we know that the mechanism was inside
the clock, and there couldn't have been anything showing outside. I
think that the bottom of the clock was filled with loose films, but
underneath them were two or three bottles of celluloid varnish, loosely
corked, and on top, the arrangement that you have just seen, or some
other.

"When the escapement tipped the bottle over--or started the fire in some
other way--the films would be set alight, and the flames would either
crack the varnish-bottles right away or heat the varnish and blow out
the corks. In any case, there would be lighted varnish running about
inside the clock, and it would soon run out under the plinth, stream
over the floor of the room and set fire to the parcels of films; and
when one parcel was set alight, the fire would spread from that to the
next, and so all over the room. That is my idea as to the general
arrangement. Of course, I may be quite wrong."

"I don't think you are, Polton," said Thorndyke, "at least in principle.
But, to come to details; wouldn't your suggested arrangement take up a
good deal of space? Wouldn't it interfere with the pendulum and the
weights?"

"I think there would be plenty of room, Sir," replied Polton. "Take the
pendulum first. Now, these tall-case clocks are usually about six feet
high, sometimes a little more. The pendulum is about forty-five inches
over all and suspended from near the top. That brings the rating-nut to
about twenty-four inches above the floor level--a clear two feet to
spare for the films and the apparatus. Then as to the weights; there was
only one weight, as the striking-gear had been taken away. It is a rule
that the weight ought not to touch the floor even when the clock is
quite run down. But supposing it did; there would be about four feet
from the bottom of the weight to the floor when the clock was fully
wound--and we can assume that it was fully wound when the firing
mechanism was started. As the fall per day would be not more than seven
inches, the weight would be thirteen inches from the floor at the end of
the fifth day, or at three a.m. on the fifth day, twenty inches.

"That leaves plenty of room in any case. But you have to remember that
the weight, falling straight down, occupies a space of not more than
four inches square. All round that space there would be the full two
feet or even more at the sides, keeping clear of the pendulum. I don't
think, Sir, that the question of space raises any difficulty."

"I agree with you, Polton," said Thorndyke. "You have disposed of my
objection completely. What do you say, Inspector?"

The inspector smiled benignly and shook his head.

"What can I say?" he asked. "I am rendered almost speechless by the
contemplation of such erudition, such insight, and such power of mental
synthesis. I feel a mere dilettante."

Thorndyke smiled appreciatively. "We are all gratified," said he, "by
your recognition of Mr. Polton's merits. But, compliments apart, how
does his scheme strike you?"

"It strikes me," replied Blandy, subsiding into a normal manner
(excepting his smile, which was of the kind that "won't come off"), "as
supplying an explanation that is not only plausible but is probably the
true explanation. Mr. Polton has shown that our belief that it was
impossible for Mr. Haire to have raised the fire was a mistaken belief,
that the raising of the fire was perfectly possible, that the means and
appliances necessary for raising it were there, and that those means and
appliances could have no other purpose. From which we are entitled to
infer that those means were so used, and that the fire was actually
raised, and was raised by Mr. Gustavus Haire."

"Yes," Thorndyke agreed, "I think that is the position; and with that we
retire, temporarily, at any rate, and the initiative passes to you. Mr.
Haire is a presumptive fire-raiser. But he is your Haire, and it is for
you to catch him, if you can."




CHAPTER XVII
FURTHER SURPRISES


The air of finality with which Thorndyke had, so to speak, handed the
baby back to Inspector Blandy might have been deceptive; but I don't
think it even deceived the inspector. Certainly it did not deceive me.
Never had I known Thorndyke to resign from an unsolved problem, and I
felt pretty certain that he was at least keeping this particular problem
in view, and, in his queer, secretive way, trying over the various
possible solutions in his mind.

This being so, I made no pretence of having dismissed the case, but took
every opportunity of discussing it, not only with Thorndyke but
especially with Polton, who was the actual fountain of information. And
there were, about this time, abundant opportunities for discussion, for
we were still engaged, in our spare time, in the great work of
re-arranging and weeding out our large collection of microscopical
slides for which Polton had recently made a new set of cabinets.
Naturally, that artist assisted us in sorting out the specimens, and it
was in the intervals of these activities that I endeavoured to fill in
the blanks of my knowledge of the case.

"I have been thinking," I remarked on one of these occasions, "of what
you told us, Polton, about that clock of Mr. Haire's. You are of opinion
that it is actually the clock to which you fitted the calendar for Mr.
Parrish. I don't know that it is a point of any importance, but I should
like to know what convinces you that this is the identical clock, and
not one which might have been copied from yours, or invented
independently."

"My principal reason for believing that it is the same clock is that it
is made from the same kind of oddments of material that I used. For
instance, I made the pallet-bar from an old hack-saw blade which I
happened to have by me. It was not specially suitable, and an ordinary
clock-maker would almost certainly have used a strip of brass. But the
pallet-bar of this clock has been made from a hack-saw blade."

He paused and seemed to reflect for a while. Then he continued:

"But there is another point; and the more I have thought about it the
more it has impressed me. Mr. Parrish had a nephew who lived with him
and worked as a pupil in the workshop; a lad of about my own age or a
little younger. Now this lad's name was Haire, and he was always called
Gus. I supposed at the time that Gus stood for Augustus, but when I
heard at the inquest the name of Gustavus Haire, I wondered if it might
happen to be the same person. You can't judge by a mere similarity of
names, since there are so many people of the same name. But when I saw
this clock, I thought at once of Gus Haire. For he was in the workshop
when I made the calendar, and he watched me as I was working on it and
got me to explain all about it; though the principle on which it worked
was obvious enough to any mechanic."

"Should you describe Gus Haire as a mechanic?" I asked.

"Yes, of a sort," Polton replied. "He was a poor workman, but he was
equal to a simple job like the making of this calendar, especially when
he had been shown; and certainly to the addition that had been made to
it."

"And what sort of fellow was he--morally, I mean?"

Polton took time to consider this question. At length he replied:

"It is not for me to judge any man's character, and I didn't know very
much about him. But I do know this as a fact: that on a certain occasion
when I was making a new key for Mr. Parrish's cash drawer to replace one
which was broken, Gus pinched a piece of my moulding wax and took a
squeeze of the broken key; and that, later, Mr. Parrish accused me of
having opened that drawer with a false key and taken money from it. Now,
I don't know that Gus made a false key and I don't know that any money
was actually stolen; but when a man takes a squeeze of the key of
another man's cash drawer, he lays himself open to a reasonable
suspicion of an unlawful intention."

"Yes, indeed," said I. "A decidedly fishy proceeding; and from what you
have just told us, it looks as if you were right--as if the clock were
the original clock and Mr. Gustavus Haire the original Gus, though it is
not quite clear how Mr. Parrish's clock came into his possession."

"I don't think, Sir," said he, "that it is difficult to imagine. Mr.
Parrish was his uncle, and, as he was an old man even then, he must be
dead long since. The clock must have gone to someone, and why not to his
nephew?"

"Yes," I agreed, "that is reasonable enough. However, we don't know for
certain, and, after all, I don't see that the identity of either the
clock or the man is of much importance. What do you think, Thorndyke?"

My colleague removed his eye from the microscope, and, laying the slide
in its tray, considered the question. At length he replied:

"The importance of the point depends on how much Polton remembers.
Blandy's difficulty at the moment is that he has no description of
Gustavus Haire sufficiently definite for purposes of identification.
Now, can we supply that deficiency? What do you say, Polton? Do you
think that if you were to meet Gus Haire after all these years you would
recognize him?"

"I think I should, Sir," was the reply. And then he added as an
afterthought: "I certainly should if he hadn't lost his teeth."

"His teeth!" I exclaimed. "Was there anything very distinctive about his
teeth?"

"Distinctive isn't the word, Sir," he replied. "They were most
extraordinary teeth. I have never seen anything like them. They looked
as if they were made of tortoise-shell."

"You don't mean that they were decayed?"

"Lord, no, Sir. They were sound enough; good strong teeth and rather
large. But they were such a queer colour. All mottled over with brown
spots. And those spots wouldn't come off. He tried all sorts of things
to get rid of them--Armenian bole, charcoal, even jeweller's red
stuff--but it was no use. Nothing would shift those spots."

"Well," I said, "if those teeth are still extant, they would be a
godsend to Blandy, for a written description would enable a stranger to
identify the man."

"I doubt if it would, Sir," Polton remarked with a significant smile.
"Gus was extremely sensitive about those teeth, and showed them as
little as possible when he talked or smiled. In those days he couldn't
produce much in the way of a moustache, but I expect he does now, and
I'll warrant he doesn't crop it too close."

"That is so," Thorndyke confirmed. "The only description of Haire that
the police have, as I understand, is that given by Mr. Green and that of
the man who interviewed Haire in Dublin. Green's description is very
vague and sketchy, while the Dublin man hardly remembered him at all
except by name, and that only because he had kept the card which Haire
had presented. But both of these men mentioned that Haire wore a full,
drooping moustache."

"Still," I persisted, "the teeth are a very distinctive feature, and it
would seem only fair to Blandy to give him the information."

"Perhaps it might be as well," Thorndyke agreed. Then, returning to the
subject of Polton's old acquaintance, he asked:

"You say that Gus lived with his uncle. Why was that? Was he an orphan?"

"Oh, no, Sir. Only his people lived in the country, not very far away,
for he used to go down and stay with them occasionally at week-ends. It
was somewhere in Essex. I have forgotten the name of the place, but it
was a small town near the river."

"It wouldn't be Maldon?" Thorndyke suggested.

"That's the place, Sir. Yes, I remember now." He stopped suddenly and,
gazing at his principal with an expression of astonishment, exclaimed:
"Now, I wonder, Sir, how you knew that he lived at Maldon."

Thorndyke chuckled. "But, my dear Polton, I didn't know. I was only
making a suggestion. Maldon happens to agree with your description."

Polton shook his head and crinkled sceptically. "It isn't the only
waterside town in Essex," he remarked, and added: "No, Sir. It's my
belief that you knew that he lived at Maldon, though how you knew I
can't imagine."

I was disposed to agree with Polton. There was something a little
suspicious in the way in which Thorndyke had dropped pat on the right
place. But further questions on my part elicited nothing but an
exasperating grin and the advice to me to turn the problem over in my
mind and consider any peculiarities that distinguished Maldon from other
Essex towns; advice that I acted upon at intervals during the next few
days with disappointingly negative results.

Nevertheless, Polton's conviction turned out to be justified. I realized
it when, one morning about a week later, I found Polton laying the
breakfast-table and placing the "catch" from the letter-box beside our
respective plates. As I entered the room, he looked at me with a most
portentous crinkle and pointed mysteriously to a small package which he
had just deposited by my colleague's plate. I stooped over it to examine
the typewritten address, but at first failed to discover anything
significant about it; then, suddenly, my eye caught the postmark, and I
understood. That package had been posted at Maldon.

"The Doctor is a most tantalizing person, Sir," Polton exclaimed. "I
don't mind admitting that I am bursting with curiosity as to what is in
that package. But I suppose we shall find out presently."

Once more he was right; in fact, the revelation came that very evening.
We were working our way through the great collection of test specimens,
examining and discussing each slide, when Thorndyke looked up from the
microscope and electrified Polton and me by saying:

"By the way, I have got a specimen of another kind that I should like to
take your opinion on. I'll show it to you."

He rose and stepped across the room to a cabinet, from which he took a
small cardboard box of the kind that dentists use for the packing of
dental plates. Opening this, he took from it the wax model of an upper
denture, complete with teeth, and laid it on the table.

There was a moment's silence as we both gazed at it in astonishment and
Thorndyke regarded us with a quizzical smile. Then Polton, whose eyes
seemed ready to drop out, exclaimed:

"God bless my soul! Why, they are Mr. Haire's teeth!"

Thorndyke nodded. "Good!" said he. "You recognize these teeth as being
similar to those of Gus Haire?"

"They aren't similar," said Polton; "they are identically the same. Of
course, I know that they can't actually be his teeth, but they are
absolutely the same in appearance: the same white, chalky patches, the
same brown stains, and the same little blackish-brown specks. I
recognized them in a moment, and I have never seen anything like them
before or since. Now, I wonder how you got hold of them."

"Yes," said I, "that is what I have been wondering. Perhaps the time has
come for the explanation of the mystery."

"There is not much mystery," he replied. "These teeth are examples of
the rare and curious condition known as "mottled teeth"; of which
perhaps the most striking feature is the very local distribution. It is
known in many different places, and has been studied very thoroughly in
the United States, but wherever it is met with it is confined to a quite
small area, though within that area it affects a very large proportion
of the inhabitants; so large that it is almost universal. Now, in this
country, the most typically endemic area is Maldon; and, naturally, when
Polton described Gus Haire's teeth and told us that Gus was a native of
Essex, I thought at once of Maldon."

"I wonder, Sir," said Polton, "what there is about Maldon that affects
people's teeth in this way. Has it been explained?"

"Yes," Thorndyke replied. "It has been found that wherever mottled teeth
occur, the water from springs and wells contains an abnormal amount of
fluorine, and the quantity of the fluorine seems to be directly related
to the intensity of the mottling. Mr. Ainsworth, whose admirable paper
in the British Dental Journal is the source of my information on the
subject, collected samples of water from various localities in Essex and
analysis of these confirmed the findings of the other investigators.
That from Maldon contained the very large amount of five parts per
million."

"And how did you get this specimen?" I asked.

"I got into touch with a dental surgeon who practises in Maldon and
explained what I wanted. He was most kind and helpful, and, as he has
taken an interest in mottled teeth and carefully preserved all his
extractions, he was able to supply me not only with this model to
produce in court if necessary, but with a few spare teeth for
experiments such as section-cutting."

"You seem to have taken a lot of trouble," I remarked, "but I don't
quite see why."

"It was just a matter of verification," he replied. "Polton's
description was clear enough for us as we know Polton; but for the
purposes of evidence, the actual identification on comparison is
infinitely preferable. Now we may say definitely that Gus Haire's teeth
were true mottled teeth; and if Gus Haire and Gustavus Haire are one and
the same person, as they appear to be, then we can say that Mr. Haire
has mottled teeth."

"But," I objected, "does it matter to us what his teeth are like?"

"Ah!" said he, "that remains to be seen. But if it should turn out that
it does matter, we have the fact."

"And are we going to pass the fact on to Blandy? It seems to be more his
concern than ours."

"I think," he replied, "that, as a matter of principle, we ought to,
though I agree with Polton that the information will not be of much
value to him. Perhaps we might invite him to drop in and see the
specimen and take Polton's depositions. Will you communicate with him?"

I undertook to convey the invitation; and when the specimen had been put
away in the cabinet, we dismissed the subject of mottled teeth and
returned to our task of revision.

But that invitation was never sent; for, on the following morning, the
inspector forestalled it by ringing us up on the telephone to ask for an
interview, he having, as he informed us, some new and important facts
which he would like to discuss with us. Accordingly, with Thorndyke's
concurrence, I made an appointment for that evening, which happened to
be free of other engagements.

It was natural that I should speculate with some interest on the nature
of the new facts that Blandy had acquired. I even attempted to discuss
the matter with Thorndyke, but he, I need not say, elected to postpone
discussion until we had heard the facts. Polton, on the other hand, was
in a twitter of curiosity, and I could see that he had made up his mind
by hook or by crook to be present at the interview; to which end, as the
hour of the appointment drew near, he first placed an easy-chair for the
inspector, flanked by a small table furnished with a decanter of sherry
and a box of cigarettes, and then covered the main table with a
portentous array of microscopes, slide-trays, and cabinets. Having made
these arrangements, he seated himself opposite a microscope and looked
at his watch; and I noticed thereafter that the watch got a good deal
more attention than the microscope.

At length, punctually to the minute, the inspector's modest rat-tat
sounded on the knocker, and Polton, as if actuated by a hidden spring,
shot up from his chair like a Jack-in-the-box and tripped across to the
door. Throwing it open, with a flourish, he announced "Inspector
Blandy"; whereupon Thorndyke and I rose to receive our guest, and,
having installed him in his chair, filled his glass and opened the
cigarette-box while Polton stole back to his seat and glued his eye to
the microscope.

My first glance at the inspector as he entered assured me that he
expected to spring a surprise on us. But I didn't intend to let him have
it all his own way. As he sipped his sherry and selected a cigarette
from the box, I anticipated his offensive and took the initiative.

"Well, Blandy, I suppose we may assume that you have caught your Haire?"

"I deprecate the word 'caught' as applied to Mr. Haire," he answered,
beaming on me, "but, in fact, we have not yet had the pleasure of
meeting him. It is difficult to trace a man of whom one has no definite
description."

"Ah!" said I, "that is where we are going to help you. We can produce
the magic touchstone which would identify the man instantly."

Here I took the denture-box from the table, where it had been placed in
readiness, and, having taken out the model, handed it to him. He
regarded it for a while with an indulgent smile and then looked
enquiringly at me.

"This is a very singular thing, Dr. Jervis," said he. "Apparently a
dentist's casting-model. But the teeth look like natural teeth."

"They look to me like deuced unnatural teeth," said I, "but, such as
they are, they happen to be an exact _facsimile_ of Mr. Haire's teeth."

Blandy was visibly impressed, and he examined the model with a new
interest.

"I am absolutely astounded," said he; "not so much at the strange
appearance of the teeth, though they are odd enough, as by your
apparently unbounded resources. May I ask how you made this
extraordinary discovery?"

Thorndyke gave him a brief account of the investigation which Polton
confirmed and amplified, to which he listened with respectful attention.

"Well," he commented, "it is a remarkable discovery and would be a
valuable one if the identity had to be proved. In the existing
circumstances it is not of much value, for Mr. Haire is known to wear a
moustache, and we may take it that his facial expression is not at all
like that of the Cheshire Cat. And you can't stop a stranger in the
street and ask him to show you his teeth."

He handed the model back to me, and, having refreshed himself with a sip
of wine, opened the subject of his visit.

"Speaking of identity, I have learned some new facts concerning the body
which was found in Mr. Haire's house. I got my information from a rather
unexpected source. Now, I wonder whether you can guess the name of my
informant."

Naturally, I could not, and, as Thorndyke refused to hazard a guess, the
inspector disclosed his secret with the air of a conjuror producing a
goldfish from a hat-box.

"My informant," said he, "is Mr. Cecil Moxdale."

"What!" I exclaimed, "the dead man!"

"The dead man," he repeated; "thereby refuting the common belief that
dead men tell no tales."

"This is most extraordinary," said I, "though, as a matter of fact, the
body was never really identified. But why did Moxdale not come forward
sooner?"

"It seems," replied Blandy, "that he was travelling in the South of
France at the time of the fire and, naturally, heard nothing about it.
He has only just returned, and, in fact, would not have come back so
soon but for the circumstance that he happened to see a copy of _The
Times_ in which the legal notice appeared in connection with his uncle's
death."

"Then I take it," said Thorndyke, "that he made his first appearance at
the solicitor's office."

"Exactly," replied Blandy; "and there he learned about his supposed
death, and the solicitors communicated with me. I had left them my
address and asked them to advise me in the case of any new
developments."

There was a short pause, during which we all considered this "new
development." Then Thorndyke commented:

"The reappearance of Moxdale furnishes conclusive negative evidence as
to the identity of the body. Could he give any positive evidence?"

"Nothing that you could call evidence," replied Blandy. "Of course, he
knows nothing. But he has done a bit of guessing; and there may be
something in what he says."

"As to the identity of the body?" Thorndyke asked.

"Yes. He thinks it possible that the dead man may have been a man named
O'Grady. The relations between Haire and O'Grady seem to have been
rather peculiar; intimate but not friendly. In fact, Haire appears to
have had an intense dislike for the other man, but yet they seem to have
associated pretty constantly, and Moxdale has a strong impression that
O'Grady used to "touch" Haire for a loan now and again, if they were
really loans. Moxdale suspects that they were not; in short, to put it
bluntly he suspects that Haire was being blackmailed by O'Grady."

"No details, I suppose?"

"No. It is only a suspicion. Moxdale doesn't know anything and he
doesn't want to say too much; naturally, as Haire is his cousin."

"But how does this bear on the identity of the body?"

"Doesn't it seem to you to have a bearing? The blackmailing, I mean, if
it can be established. Blackmailers have a way of dying rather
suddenly."

"But," I objected, "it hasn't been established. It is only a suspicion,
and a rather vague one at that."

"True," he admitted, "and very justly observed. Yet we may bear the
suspicion in mind, especially as we have a fact which, taken in
connection with that suspicion, has a very direct bearing on the
identity of the body. Moxdale tells me that O'Grady had an appointment
with Haire at his, Haire's, rooms in the forenoon of the fourteenth of
April; the very day on which Haire must have started for Dublin. He
knows this for a fact, as he heard O'Grady make the appointment. Now,
that appointment, at that place and on that date, strikes me as rather
significant."

"Apparently, Moxdale finds it significant, too," said I. "The suggestion
seems to be that Haire murdered O'Grady and went away, leaving his
corpse in the rooms."

"Moxdale didn't put it that way," said Blandy. "He suggested that
O'Grady might have had the use of the rooms while Haire was away. But
that is mere speculation, and he probably doesn't believe it, himself.
Your suggestion is the one that naturally occurs to us; and if it is
correct, we can understand why Haire is keeping out of sight. Don't you
think so?"

The question was addressed to Thorndyke with a persuasive smile. But my
colleague did not seem to be impressed.

"The figure of O'Grady," he said, "seems to be rather shadowy and
elusive, as, in fact, does the whole story. But perhaps Moxdale gave you
a more circumstantial account of the affair."

"No, he did not," replied Blandy. "But my talk with him was rather
hurried and incomplete. I dropped in on him without an appointment and
found him just starting out to keep an engagement, so I only had a few
minutes with him. But he voluntarily suggested a further meeting to go
into matters in more detail; and I then ventured to ask if he would
object to your being present at the interview, as you represent the
insurance people, and he had no objection at all.

"Now, how would you like me to bring him along here so that you could
hear his account in detail and put such questions as you might think
necessary to elucidate it? I should be glad if you would let me, as you
know so much about the case. What do you say?"

Thorndyke was evidently pleased at the proposal and made no secret of
the fact, for he replied:

"It is very good of you, Blandy, to make this suggestion. I shall be
delighted to meet Mr. Moxdale and see if we can clear up the mystery of
that body. Does your invitation include Jervis?"

"Of course it does," Blandy replied, heartily, "as he is a party to the
inquiry; and Mr. Polton, too, for that matter, seeing that he discovered
the crucial fact. But, you understand that Moxdale knows nothing about
that."

"No," said Thorndyke; "but if it should seem expedient for the purposes
of the examination to let him know that the fire was raised by Haire, do
you agree to my telling him?"

The inspector looked a little dubious.

"We don't want to make any unnecessary confidences," said he. "But,
still, I think I had better leave it to your discretion to tell him
anything that may help the inquiry."

Thorndyke thanked him for the concession, and, when one of two dates had
been agreed on for the interview, the inspector took his leave, wreathed
in smiles and evidently well satisfied with the evening's work.




CHAPTER XVIII
THORNDYKE ADMINISTERS A SHOCK


"I wonder, Sir," said Polton, as the hour approached for the arrival of
our two visitors, "how we had better arrange the room. Don't want it to
look too much like a committee meeting. But there's rather a lot of us
for a confidential talk."

"It isn't so particularly confidential," I replied. "If there are any
secrets to be revealed, they are not Moxdale's. He didn't pose as a dead
man. The deception was Haire's."

"That's true, Sir," Polton rejoined with evident relief. "Still, I think
I won't make myself too conspicuous, as he may regard me as an
outsider."

The plan that he adopted seemed to me to have exactly the opposite
effect to that intended, for, having arranged four chairs around the
fireplace with a couple of small tables for wine and cigars, he placed a
microscope and some trays of slides on the large table, drew up a chair
and prepared to look preoccupied.

At eight o'clock precisely our visitors arrived, and, as I admitted
them, I glanced with natural curiosity at "the deceased", and was
impressed rather favourably by his appearance. He was a good-looking
man, about five feet nine or ten in height, broad-shouldered, well
set-up, and apparently strong and athletic; with a pleasant, intelligent
face, neither dark nor fair, a closely-cropped dark moustache and clear
grey eyes. He greeted me with a friendly smile, but I could see that, in
spite of Polton's artful plans, he was a little taken aback by the size
of the party, and especially by the apparition of Polton, himself,
seated necromantically behind his microscope.

But Thorndyke soon put him at his ease, and, when the introductions had
been effected (including "Mr. Polton, our technical adviser"), we took
our seats and opened the proceedings with informal and slightly
frivolous conversation.

"We should seem to be quite old acquaintances, Mr. Moxdale," said
Thorndyke, "seeing that I have had the honour of testifying to a
coroner's jury as to the cause of your death. But that sort of
acquaintanceship is rather one-sided."

"Yes," Moxdale agreed, "it is a queer position. I come back to England
to find myself the late Mr. Moxdale and have to introduce myself as a
resurrected corpse. It is really quite embarrassing."

"It must be," Thorndyke agreed, "and not to you alone; for, since you
have resigned from the role of the deceased, you have put on us the
responsibility of finding a name for your understudy. But the inspector
tells us that you can give us some help in our search."

"Well," said Moxdale, "it is only a guess, and I may be all abroad. But
there was someone in that house when it was burned, and, as I was not
that someone, I naturally ask myself who he could have been. I happen to
know of one person who might have been there, and I don't know of any
other. That's the position. Perhaps there isn't much in it, after all."

"A vulgar saying," Blandy remarked, "has it that half a loaf is better
than no bread. A possible person is at least something to start on. But
we should like to know as much as we can about that person. What can you
tell us?"

"Ah!" said Moxdale, "there is the difficulty. I really know nothing
about Mr. O'Grady. He is little more than a name to me, and only a
surname at that. I can't even tell you his Christian name."

"That makes things a bit difficult," said Blandy, "seeing that we have
got to trace him and find out whether he is still in existence. But at
any rate, you have seen him and can tell us what he was like."

"Yes, I have seen him--once, as I told you--and my recollection of him
is that he was a strongly-built man about five feet nine or ten inches
high, medium complexion, grey eyes, dark hair and moustache and no
beard. When I saw him, he was wearing a black jacket, striped trousers,
grey overcoat, and a light-brown soft felt hat."

"That is quite a useful description," said Blandy, "for excluding the
wrong man, but not so useful for identifying the right one. It would
apply to a good many other men; and the clothes were not a permanent
feature. You told me about your meeting with him. Perhaps you wouldn't
mind repeating the account for Dr. Thorndyke's benefit."

"It was a chance meeting," said Moxdale. "I happened to be in the
neighbourhood of Soho one day about lunch-time and it occurred to me to
drop in at a restaurant that Haire had introduced me to; Moroni's in
Wardour Street. I walked down to the further end of the room and was
just looking for a vacant table when I caught sight of Haire, himself,
apparently lunching with a man who was a stranger to me. As Haire had
seen me, I went up to him and shook hands, and then, as I didn't know
his friend, was going off to another table when he said:

"'Don't go away, Cecil. Come and take a chair at this table and let me
introduce you to my friend, O'Grady. You've heard me speak of him and he
has heard me speak of you.'

"Accordingly, as O'Grady stood up and offered his hand, I shook it and
sat down at the table and ordered my lunch; and in the interval before
it arrived we chatted about nothing in particular, especially O'Grady,
who was very fluent and had a rather pleasant, taking manner. By the
time my food was brought, they had finished their lunch, and, having got
their bills from the waiter, settled up with him. Then O'Grady said:

"'Don't let me break up this merry party, but Time and Tide, you know--I
must be running away. I am glad to have had the pleasure of meeting you,
Moxdale, and turning a mere name into a person.'

"With this he got up and put on his overcoat and hat--I noticed the hat
particularly because it was rather a queer colour--and when he had
shaken hands with me, he said to Haire, just as he was turning to go:

"'Don't forget our little business on Thursday. I shall call for you at
eleven o'clock to the tick, and I shall bring the stuff with me. Better
make a note of the time. So long;' and with a smile and a wave of the
hand to me, he bustled away.

"When he had gone, I remarked to Haire that O'Grady seemed to be rather
a pleasant, taking sort of fellow. He smiled grimly and replied:

"'Yes, he is a plausible rascal, but if you should happen to meet him
again, I advise you to keep your pockets buttoned. He is remarkably
plausible.'

"I tried to get him to amplify this statement, but he didn't seem
disposed to pursue the subject and presently he looked at his watch and
then he, too, took his departure. That is the whole story, and there
isn't much in it excepting the date of the appointment. The Thursday
referred to would be the fourteenth of April, and that, I understand, is
the day on which Haire started for Dublin."

"You say, you understand," said Thorndyke. "Have you not seen the
account of the inquest?"

"No. But Mr. Horne, my solicitor, has given me a summary of it with all
the material facts, including my own untimely decease. But I needn't
have said I understand, because I happen to know."

"That Mr. Haire did start on that day?" Thorndyke queried.

"Yes. I actually saw him start."

"That is interesting," said Blandy. "Could you give us the particulars?"

"With pleasure," replied Moxdale. "It happened that on that day--or
rather that night--I was starting for the South of France. I had left my
luggage in the cloak-room at Victoria, earlier in the day, as I had some
calls to make, and when I had done all my business, I strolled to
Wardour Street and dropped in at Moroni's for a late dinner or supper.
And there I found Haire, who had just come in on the same errand. He was
taking the night train for Holyhead, and as I was travelling by the
night train to Folkestone, we both had plenty of time. So we made our
dinner last out and we dawdled over our coffee until it was past ten
o'clock. Then Haire, who had a heavy suit-case with him, said he thought
he would take a taxi across to Euston, so, when we had paid our bills,
we went out together to look for a cab. We found one disengaged in
Shaftesbury Avenue, and, when Haire had put his suit-case inside, he
called out 'Euston' to the driver, got in, said 'good-night' to me and
off he went."

"Did he say whether O'Grady had kept his appointment?" Thorndyke asked.

"He just mentioned that he had called. Nothing more; and of course I
asked no questions."

"You seemed to think," said Thorndyke, "that the body that was found
after the fire might be that of O'Grady. What made you think that?"

"Well, really," Moxdale replied, "I hardly know. It was just an idea,
suggested, I suppose, by the fact that O'Grady went to the rooms and I
didn't know of anybody else. I thought it possible that Haire might have
let him use the rooms while he was away, as O'Grady lives out of
town--somewhere Enfield way."

The inspector looked dissatisfied. "Seems rather vague," he remarked.
"You were telling me something about a suspicion of blackmailing. Could
you give us some particulars on that subject?"

"My dear Inspector," exclaimed Moxdale, "I haven't any particulars. It
was just a suspicion, which I probably ought not to have mentioned, as I
had nothing definite to go upon."

"Still," Blandy persisted, "you must have had some reasons. Is Haire a
man who could be blackmailed?"

"That I can't say. He isn't a pattern of all the virtues, but I know of
nothing that a blackmailer could fix on. And he is my cousin, you know.
I think what raised the suspicion was the peculiar relations between the
two men. They were a great deal together, but they were not really
friends. Haire seemed to me to dislike O'Grady intensely, and I gathered
from chance remarks that he let drop that O'Grady had got a good deal of
money out of him from time to time. In what way I never knew. It may
have been in the form of loans, but if not, it would rather look like
blackmail."

There was a short silence. Then Blandy, dropping his oily manner for
once, said, rather brusquely:

"Now, Mr. Moxdale, you have suggested that the burned body might have
been that of O'Grady. You have told us that O'Grady was in those rooms
on the fourteenth of April, and you have suggested that O'Grady was
blackmailing Haire. Now I put it to you that what you really suspect is
that, on that day, Haire made away with O'Grady and concealed his body
in the rooms."

Moxdale shook his head. "I never suspected anything of the kind.
Besides, the thing wasn't practicable. Is it likely that he would have
gone off to Ireland leaving the body in his rooms?"

"You are not forgetting the fire," Blandy reminded him.

"I don't see that the fire has anything to do with it. Haire couldn't
foresee that someone would set his rooms on fire at that particularly
opportune moment."

"But that is precisely what he did foresee," said Thorndyke. "That fire
was not an accident. It was carefully prepared and started by a timing
mechanism on a pre-arranged date. That mechanism was discovered and
reconstructed by our colleague, Mr. Polton."

The statement was, no doubt, a startling one, but its effect on Moxdale
was beyond what I should have expected. He could not have looked more
horrified if he had been accused of setting the mechanism himself.

"So you see," Thorndyke continued, "that Haire is definitely implicated;
and, in fact, the police are prepared to arrest him on charges connected
with both the fire and the body."

"Yes," said the inspector, "but the trouble is that we have no
photograph or any sufficient description by which to identify him."

"Speaking of identification," said Thorndyke, "we learn that his teeth
are rather peculiar in appearance. Can you tell us anything about them?"

Moxdale looked distinctly uncomfortable at this question, though I could
not imagine why. However, he answered, somewhat hesitatingly:

"Yes, they are rather queer-looking teeth; as if they were stained by
tobacco. But it isn't tobacco-staining, because I remember that they
were just the same when he was a boy."

Having given this answer, he looked from Blandy to Thorndyke, and, as
neither asked any further question, he remarked, cheerfully:

"Well, I think you have squeezed me pretty dry; unless there is
something else that you would like me to tell you."

There was a brief silence. Then Thorndyke said in a very quiet,
matter-of-fact tone:

"There is one other question, Mr. Moxdale. I have my own opinion on the
subject, but I should like to hear your statement. The question is, What
made you go to Dublin after you had killed Mr. Haire?"

A deathly silence followed the question. Moxdale was thunder-struck. But
so were we all. Blandy sat with dropped jaw, staring at Thorndyke, and
Polton's eyes seemed ready to start from their sockets. At length,
Moxdale, pale as a corpse, exclaimed in a husky voice:

"I don't understand you, Sir. I have told you that I saw Mr. Haire start
in a taxi for Euston."

"Yes," Thorndyke replied. "But at the moment when you saw Mr. Haire get
into the cab, his dead body was lying in his rooms."

Moxdale remained silent for some moments. He seemed completely
overwhelmed; and, watching him, I saw that abject terror was written in
every line of his face. But he made one more effort.

"I assure you, Sir," he said, almost in a whisper, "that you have made
some extraordinary mistake. The thing is monstrous. You are actually
accusing me of having murdered my cousin!"

"Not at all," replied Thorndyke. "I said nothing about murder. I
referred simply to the physical fact that you killed him. I did not
suggest that you killed him feloniously. I am not accusing you of a
crime. I merely affirm an act."

Moxdale looked puzzled and yet somewhat reassured by Thorndyke's answer.
But he was still evasive.

"It seems," said he, "that it is useless for me to repeat my denial."

"It is," Thorndyke agreed. "What I suggest is that you give us a plain
and truthful account of the whole affair."

Moxdale looked dubiously at the inspector and said in a
half-interrogative tone:

"If I am going to be charged with having compassed the death of my
cousin it seems to me that the less I say, the better."

The inspector, thus appealed to, suddenly recovered his self-possession,
even to the resumption of his smile; and I could not but admire the
quickness with which he had grasped the position.

"As a police officer," he said, "I am not permitted to advise you. I can
only say that if you choose to make a statement you can do so; but I
have to caution you that any statement that you may make will be taken
down in writing and may be used in evidence against you. That doesn't
sound very encouraging; but I may remind you that you are, at present,
not charged with any offence, and that a statement made voluntarily in
advance is more effective than the same statement made in answer to a
charge."

"And I," said Thorndyke, "not being a police officer, may go farther and
suggest that a statement may possibly obviate the necessity for any
charge at all. Now, come, Mr. Moxdale," he continued, persuasively,
taking from his pocket a foolscap envelope, "I will make you a proposal.
In this envelope is a signed statement by me setting forth briefly my
reconstruction, from evidence in my possession, of the circumstances of
Mr. Haire's death. I shall hand this envelope to the inspector. Then I
suggest that you give us a straightforward account of those
circumstances. When he has heard your account, the inspector will open
the envelope and read my statement. If our two statements agree, we may
take it that they are both true. If they disagree, we shall have to
examine the discrepancies. What do you say? I advise you, strongly, to
give us a perfectly frank statement."

The persuasive and even friendly tone in which Thorndyke spoke evidently
made a considerable impression on Moxdale, for he listened attentively
with a thoughtful eye on the speaker, and when Thorndyke had finished he
reflected awhile, still keeping his eyes fixed on my colleague's face.
At length, having made up his mind, he said, with something like an air
of relief:

"Very well, Sir, I will take your advice. I will give you a full and
true account of all that happened on that dreadful day, suppressing
nothing." He paused for a few moments to collect his thoughts and then
continued: "I think I should begin by telling you that my cousin stood
to gain four thousand pounds by my death if I should die before my
uncle, Harold Moxdale."

"We knew that," said Blandy.

"Ah! Well, then, there is another matter. I don't like to speak ill of
the dead, but the truth is that Haire was an unscrupulous rascal--a
downright bad man."

"We knew that, too," said Blandy, "when we learned that he had set fire
to the house."

"Then I need not dwell on it; but I may add that he had a deep grudge
against me for being the more favoured beneficiary of my uncle's will.
In fact, his jealousy had induced a really virulent hatred of me which
was apt to break out at times, though we usually preserved outwardly
decent relations.

"And now to come to the actual incident. I am the part proprietor of a
sort of international trade directory and I do a good deal of the
canvassing for advertisements, particularly in France. I live out at
Surbiton and only go to the office occasionally. Now, a few days before
the disaster--the eleventh of April, I think it was--I had a letter from
Haire telling me that he was making a business trip to Dublin to try to
arrange some agencies and suggesting that he should do some business for
me at the same time. I wasn't very keen, as I knew that I was not likely
to see any of the money that he might collect. However, I agreed, and
eventually arranged to meet him on the fourteenth, on which day I
proposed to start by a night train for the South of France. He suggested
that he should call for me at my office at half-past four, that we
should have some tea and then go to his rooms to talk things over.

"In due course, he turned up at the office; I finished my business, took
my bag, and went with him to some tea-rooms, where we had a leisurely
tea, and we then went on to his rooms, which we reached about ten
minutes to six. As we passed the entrance of the business premises, I
saw a man standing just inside, and he saw us, too, for he called out
'good evening' to Haire, who returned his greeting, addressing him as
Mr. Green; and it struck me that Mr. Green looked rather hard at me, as
if he thought he recognized me. Then Haire opened the street door with
his latch-key and conducted me up the stairs to the first-floor landing,
where he opened the door of his rooms with another latch-key, which
looked like a Yale.

"Now, all the time that I had been with Haire, and especially at the
tea-rooms, I had been aware of something rather queer in his manner; a
suggestion of suppressed excitement, and he seemed nervous and jumpy.
But when we got inside his rooms and he had shut the door, it grew much
more marked; so much so that I watched him rather closely, noticing that
he appeared restless and flustered, that there was a wild look in his
eyes and that his hands were trembling quite violently.

"I didn't like the look of him at all, and I don't mind admitting that I
began to get the wind up; for I couldn't forget that four thousand
pounds, and I knew that poor old Uncle Harold was in a bad way and might
die at any moment. But he was not dead yet. There was still time for me
to die before him. So I kept an eye on Haire and held myself in
readiness in case he really meant mischief.

"But he nearly had me, after all. He had given me a list of the Dublin
firms to look at, and, while I was reading it, he got behind me to look
over my shoulder. Suddenly, he made a quick move and I felt him slip a
noose of soft cord over my head. I was only just in time to thrust my
right hand up inside the noose when he pulled it tight. But, of course,
he couldn't strangle me while my hand was there, and, seeing that, he
made violent efforts to drag it away while I struggled for my life to
keep hold of the noose.

"It was a horrible business. Haire was like a madman. He tugged and
wrenched at the cord, he clawed at me with his free hand, he kicked me
and drove his knee into my back while I hung on for dear life to the
noose. By degrees I worked round until I faced him, and tried to grab
his arm with my left hand while he tugged with all his might at the
cord. Then we began to gyrate round the room in a kind of hideous waltz,
each pounding at the other with his free hand.

"At last, in the course of our gyrations, we collided with a chair, and
he fell backwards on the seat with me on top of him, his head
overhanging the seat and my left hand at his throat. When we fell, the
whole of my weight must have been on that left hand, for it slid under
his chin and thrust it violently upwards. And as his chin went up, I
felt and heard a faint click; his head fell loosely to one side, and, in
a moment, his grasp on the cord relaxed. For an instant or two his arms
and legs moved with a sort of twitching motion, then he lay quite still.

"Cautiously, I picked myself up and looked down at him. He was sprawling
limply across the chair, and a glance at his face told me that he was
dead. Evidently, the sudden drive of my left hand had broken his neck.

"Shaken as I was, I drew a deep breath of relief. It had been a near
thing. An instant's hesitation with my right hand and I should now have
been lying with blackening face and starting eyes and the fatal noose
secured tightly around my neck. It was a horrible thought. Only by a
hair's-breadth had I escaped. Still, I had escaped; and now I was free
of that peril for ever.

"But my relief was short-lived. Suddenly, I realized that, if I had
escaped one danger, I was faced by another. Haire was dead; but it was
my hand that had brought about his death. Who was to know that I had not
murdered him? Very soon, relief gave way to alarm, alarm to panic. What
was I to do for my own safety? My first impulse was to rush out and seek
a policeman; and that is what I ought to have done. But I dared not. As
I took off the noose and held it in my hand, it seemed to whisper a
terrible warning of what might yet befall me.

"Suppose I were just to steal away and say nothing to anyone of what had
happened. Haire lived alone. No one ever came to his rooms. It might be
months before the body should be discovered. Why not go away and know
nothing about it? But, no; that wouldn't do. Mr. Green had seen me enter
the rooms and perhaps he knew who I was. When the body was found, he
would remember that I had been with Haire the last time he was seen
alive.

"I sat down with my back to the corpse and thought hard, trying to
decide what I should do. But for a while I could think of no reasonable
plan. The figure of Mr. Green seemed to block every way of escape.
Suddenly, my wandering gaze lighted on the list of Dublin firms lying
where I had dropped it. I looked at it idly for a few moments; then, in
a flash, I saw a way of escape.

"Haire had intended--so he had told me--to start for Ireland that very
night. Well, he should start--by proxy. The people whom he was going to
call on were strangers, for he had never been in Dublin before. I would
make those calls for him, announcing myself by his name and presenting
his card. Thus Haire would make an appearance in Dublin, and that
appearance could be cited as evidence that he was alive on that day.
Then, when at some later date, his body should be found, it would be
beyond question that he must have died at some time after his return
from Ireland. My connection with his death would have disappeared and I
could snap my fingers at Mr. Green.

"As soon as the scheme was clear in my mind I set to work to execute it;
and as I worked, I thought out the details. First I stripped the corpse
and dressed it in the pyjamas from the bed. Then, having thrown the
bed-clothes into disorder, I placed the body half in the bed, half
outside, with the head bent sideways and resting on the floor. The
obvious suggestion would be that he had fallen out of bed and broken his
neck--a mere accident implicating nobody.

"When I had folded his clothes and put them away tidily on a chair, I
looked at my watch. It was barely twenty past six. The whole of this
horrid drama had been played out in less than half an hour. I sat down
to rest awhile--for it had been a strenuous affair while it lasted--and
looked about the room to see that I was leaving no traces, but there
were none, excepting my bag, and that I should take away with me. The
Venetian blinds were lowered--I had noticed that when we came in--and I
decided to leave them so, as that was probably how Haire was accustomed
to leave them when he went away. So I sat and thought out the rest of my
plan. The place was strangely quiet, for, by now Mr. Green and his
people had apparently shut up their premises and gone away, and there
was not a sound in the room save the solemn tick of the big clock in the
corner.

"Presently I rose and began, at my leisure, to complete my preparations.
There was no need for hurry. It was now only half-past six by the big
clock, and I knew that the Holyhead express did not leave Euston until
eight forty-five. I looked over an open bureau and took from it a few of
Haire's business cards and a little sheaf of his bill-heads. When I had
stowed these in my bag, I had finished; and as all was still quiet, I
picked up the bag, turned away with a last, shuddering glance at the
grotesque figure that sprawled over the side of the bed, let myself out
as silently as I could, and stole softly down the stairs.

"I need not follow the rest of my proceedings in detail. I caught my
train and duly arrived in Dublin about seven o'clock the next morning. I
went to a small private hotel--Connolly's--where I wrote in the
visitors' book, 'G. Haire, Billington Street, London', and when I had
washed and shaved and had breakfast, I went out and made the first of my
calls, Brady & Co., where I stayed quite a long time gossiping with the
manager. We didn't complete any definite transaction, but I left one of
Haire's cards with some particulars written on the back. I made two more
calls on that day, the 15th, and, during the next three days I visited
several other firms, always leaving one of Haire's cards. I stayed in
Dublin until the 18th, which I thought was long enough to give the
proper impression of a business tour, and, in the evening of that day,
just before closing time, I made a second call at Brady's, to impress
myself on the manager's memory. Then, having already settled up at the
hotel, I went straight to the station and caught the 7.50 train which
runs in connection with the Holyhead express. I arrived at Euston in the
early morning, about 5.15, and took a taxi straight across to Victoria,
where, after a wash and a leisurely breakfast, I caught the nine o'clock
Continental train, embarking at Folkestone about eleven.

"After that I followed my usual route and went about my ordinary
business, canvassing the Bordeaux district for renewals. But I didn't
complete the tour, for it happened that in an hotel at Bordeaux I came
across a rather out-of-date copy of _The Times_, and, glancing through
the legal notices, I was startled to see that of Horne, Cronin & Horne,
announcing the death of my uncle. As this was some weeks old, I thought
I had better pack up and start for home at once to get into touch with
the solicitors.

"But I had to go warily, for I didn't know what might have happened
while I had been abroad. Had Haire's body been discovered? And, if so,
what had been done about it? These were questions that would have to be
answered before I could safely present myself at Horne's office. I
thought about it during the journey and decided that the first thing to
do was to go and have a look at the house and see whether the Venetian
blinds were still down; and if they were not, to try to pick up some
information in the neighbourhood. So when I got to Victoria I put my bag
in the cloak-room and took a bus to Piccadilly Circus, from whence I
made my way to Billington Street. I walked cautiously down the street,
keeping a sharp look-out in case Mr. Green should be at his door, and
avoiding the appearance of looking for the house. But my precautions
were unnecessary, for, when I came to the place, behold! there was no
house there! Only some blackened walls, on which the housebreakers were
operating with picks.

"As I was standing gazing at the ruins, an idler approached me.

"'Proper old blaze, that was, Mister. Flared up like a tar barrel, it
did.'

"'Ah!' said I, 'then you actually saw the fire?'

"'Well, no,' said he, 'I didn't see it, myself, but I heard all about
it. I was on the coroner's jury.'

"'The coroner's jury!' I exclaimed. 'Then there were some lives lost?'

'Only one,' he replied; 'and the queer thing was that he wasn't the
proper tenant, but just a stranger what had had the rooms lent to him
for a few days. He was identified by a clay pipe what had his initials,
C.M., scratched on it.'

"'C.M.!' I gasped. 'What did those letters stand for?'

"'Cecil Moxdale was the poor chap's name; and it seemed that he had been
smoking that pipe in bed and set the bed-clothes alight. Probably a bit
squiffy, too.'

"Now, here was a pretty state of affairs. Mysterious, too. For the clay
pipe wasn't mine. I never smoke a pipe. But, obviously, my calculations
had been completely upset, and I was in a pretty tight place, for my
trip to Dublin had only introduced a fresh complication. I should have
to announce myself as alive, and then the fat would be in the fire. For
if the body wasn't mine, whose was it? If the dead man was Haire, then
who was the man in Dublin? And if the man in Dublin was Haire, then who
the deuce was the dead man? It was a regular facer.

"Of course, I could have maintained that I knew nothing about the
affair. But that wouldn't do; for there was that infernal Mr. Green. No,
I should have to make up some story that would fit the facts; and,
turning it over in my mind, I decided to invent an imaginary person and
let the police find him if they could. He must be virtually a stranger
to me, and he must be sufficiently like me to pass as the man whom Green
saw going into the rooms with Haire. So I invented Mr. O'Grady and told
a pretty vague story about him--but I needn't say any more. You know the
rest; and now, Inspector, what about that statement that you have?"

Blandy smiled benignly, and, opening the envelope, drew from it a single
sheet of paper; and when he had quickly glanced at its contents, he
positively beamed.

"Dr. Thorndyke's statement," said he, "is, in effect, a very brief
summary of your own."

"Well, let's have it," said Moxdale.

"You shall," said Blandy, and he proceeded, with unctuous relish, to
read the document.

"'Summary of the circumstances attending the death of Gustavus Haire as
suggested by evidence in my possession.

"'Haire had planned to murder Cecil Moxdale, presumably, to secure the
reversion of a bequest of four thousand pounds, and then, by means of a
certain mechanism, to start a fire in the rooms while he was absent in
Dublin. He prepared the rooms by filling them with inflammable material
and planted certain marked, uninflammable objects to enable Moxdale's
body to be identified. On the 14th of April, he set the mechanism to
discharge in the early morning of the 19th. At about six p.m. on the
14th he brought Moxdale to the rooms and attempted to murder him. But
the attempt failed; and in the struggle which ensued, Haire's neck
became dislocated. Then Moxdale, knowing that he had been seen to enter
the premises with Haire, and fearing that he would be accused of murder,
decided to go to Dublin and personate Haire to make it appear that Haire
was then alive. He started for Dublin in the evening of the 14th, and
remained there until the evening of the 18th, when he apparently
returned to England.'

"That is all that is material," Blandy concluded, "and, as your
statement is in complete agreement with Dr. Thorndyke's--which I have no
doubt is supported by conclusive evidence--I, personally, accept it as
true."

Moxdale drew a deep breath. "That is a blessed relief," he exclaimed.
"And now what is to be done? Are you going to arrest me?"

"No," replied Blandy, "certainly not. But I think you had better walk
back with me to Head Quarters and let us hear what the senior officers
propose. May I take your summary with me, Doctor?"

"By all means," Thorndyke replied; "and make it clear that I am ready to
produce the necessary evidence."

"I had taken that for granted, Doctor," said Blandy as he put the
envelope in his pocket. Then he rose to depart, and Moxdale stood up.

"I am thankful, Sir," said he, "that I took your advice, and eternally
grateful to you for having dissipated this nightmare. Now, I can look to
the future with some sort of confidence."

"Yes," Thorndyke agreed, "I don't think that you need feel any great
alarm; and I wish you an easy passage through any little difficulties
that may arise."

With this, Moxdale shook our hands all round, and, when the inspector
had done likewise, the two men moved towards the door, escorted by
Polton.




CHAPTER XIX
THE EVIDENCE REVIEWED


"A brilliant finish to a most remarkable case," I commented as our
visitors' footsteps died away upon the stairs, "and a most magnificent
piece of bluff on the part of my revered senior."

Thorndyke smiled and Polton looked shocked.

"I shall not contest your description, Jervis," said the former, "but,
in fact, the conclusion was practically a certainty."

"Probability," I corrected.

"In practice," said he, "we have to treat the highest degrees of
probability as certainties; and if you consider the evidence in this
case as a whole, I think you will agree that only one possible
conclusion emerged. The element of bluff was almost negligible."

"Probably you are right," I admitted. "You usually are, and you
certainly were in this case. But the evidence was so complex and
conflicting that I find it difficult to reconstitute it as a whole. It
would interest me very much to hear you sort it out into a tidily
arranged argument."

"It would interest me, too," said he, "to retrace our investigation and
observe the curious way in which the different items of evidence came to
light. Let us do so, taking the events in the order of their occurrence
and noting the tendency of the evidence to close in on the final
conclusion.

"This was a very singular case. The evidence did not transpire gradually
but emerged in a number of successive and perfectly distinct stages,
each stage being marked by the appearance of a new fact which reacted
immediately on our previous conclusions. There were seven stages, each
of which we will examine separately, noting how the argument stood at
the end of it.

"The first is the inquest, including the post mortem. Perhaps we had
better deal with the body first. There were only two points of interest,
the neck and the teeth. The dislocation of the neck appeared to me to
have occurred before death and I took it to be, most probably, the
immediate cause of death. As to the teeth, there was nothing very
striking in their appearance; just a little pitting of the enamel. But
from the arrangement of the little pits in irregular transverse lines,
corresponding roughly to the lines of growth, I did not believe them to
have been due to the heat but to have existed during life. I thought it
possible that deceased might have had mottled teeth which had been
bleached out in the fire; but, as I had never seen a case of mottled
teeth, I could not form a definite opinion. I just noted the facts and
satisfied myself that the pitting showed clearly in Polton's photograph
of the dead man's face.

"And now let us consider the body of evidence which was before us when
the inquest was finished and the inferences that it suggested. To
me--and also to Blandy--the appearances as a whole conveyed the idea of
deliberate arson; of a fire which had been arranged and started for a
definite purpose. And since the death of Cecil Moxdale seemed to be part
of the plan--if there was a plan--it was reasonable to suspect that this
was the purpose for which the fire was raised.

"What especially led me to suspect arson was the appearance of
preparation. The room, itself, crammed with highly inflammable material,
seemed to have been expressly prepared for a fire. But most suspicious
to me was the information given by Haire to Green. It seemed designed to
create in Green's mind (as it actually did) the fear that a fire might
occur. But more than this; it prepared him, if a fire should occur, to
decide at once upon the way in which it had been caused. Nor was that
all. Haire's statement even suggested to Green the possibility of a
fatal accident; and in the event of such a fatality occurring, it
provided Green in advance with the data for identifying any body that
should be found.

"Then there were the objects found in the ruins which confirmed Green's
identification. They were marked objects composed of highly refractory
material."

"They would have to be," I objected, "if they were found. All the
combustible objects would have been destroyed."

"True," he admitted. "But still it was a striking coincidence that these
imperishable objects should happen to bear the initials of a man whose
corpse was unrecognizable. The clay pipe was especially significant,
seeing that people do not usually incise their initials on their
pipe-bowls. But a clay pipe is, as nearly as possible, indestructible by
heat. No more perfect means of identification, in the case of a fire,
could be devised than a marked clay pipe. To me, these most opportune
relics offered a distinct suggestion of having been planted for the very
purpose which they served.

"But there is one observation to make before finishing with the positive
aspects of the case. It was assumed that the man who was in the house
when the fire broke out was a live man; and it was agreed that that live
man was Cecil Moxdale. Now, I did not accept, unreservedly, either of
these assumptions. To me, the appearances suggested that the man was
already dead when the fire started. As to the identity, the probability
seemed to be that the man was Moxdale; but I did not regard the fact as
having been established conclusively. I kept in my mind the possibility
of either a mistake or deliberate deception.

"And now, what conclusions emerged from these considerations? To me--and
to Blandy--they suggested a crime. My provisional hypothesis was that
Haire had made away with Moxdale and raised the fire to cover the
murder; that the crime had been carefully planned and prepared; and
that, for some reason, Haire was especially anxious that the body should
be identified as that of Cecil Moxdale. That, as I said, was the
positive aspect of the case. Now let us look at the negative.

"There were two facts that conflicted with my hypothesis. The first was
that when the fire broke out, Haire was in Dublin and had been there for
five days. That seemed to be an unanswerable alibi. There was no trace
of any sort of fire-raising apparatus known to the experts or the
police; indeed, no apparatus was known which would have been capable of
raising a fire after an interval of five days. The large and complicated
appliances used for the automatic lighting of street lamps do not come
into the problem; they would not have been available to Haire, and, in
fact, no trace of anything of the kind was found. Apparently, it was a
physical impossibility that the fire could have been started by Haire.

"The second objection to my hypothesis was in the nature of the injury.
A dislocation of the neck is, in my experience, invariably an accidental
injury. I have never heard of a homicidal case. Have you?"

"No," I answered; "and, in fact, if you wanted to dislocate a man's
neck, I don't quite know how you would go about it."

"Exactly," he agreed. "It is too difficult and uncertain a method for a
murderer to use. So that, in this case, if the broken neck was the cause
of death, the man would appear to have died from the effects of an
accident.

"Thus, the position at the end of the first stage was that, although the
case as a whole looked profoundly suspicious, there was not a particle
of positive evidence of either arson or murder.

"The second stage was introduced by the disappearance of Haire. This was
most mysterious. Why did Haire not return at the expected time? There
was no reason why he should not, even if my hypothesis were true. For if
he had raised a fire to cover a murder, his plan had succeeded to
perfection. The fire had been accepted as an accident, the body had been
identified, and the man's death had been attributed to misadventure. And
not only was there no reason why Haire should not have come home; there
was a very good reason why he should. For his absence tended to start
inquiries, and inquiries were precisely what he would have wished to
avoid. I could think of no explanation of his disappearance. There was a
suggestion that something had gone wrong; but there was no suggestion
whatever as to what it was. Nevertheless, the fact of the disappearance
tended to make the already suspicious group of events look even more
suspicious.

"The third stage was reached when we learned that Moxdale senior was
dead and heard of the provisions of his will. Then it appeared that
Haire stood to benefit to the extent of four thousand pounds by the
death of Cecil Moxdale. This, of course, did not, by itself, establish a
probability that Haire had murdered Moxdale; but if that probability had
already been suggested by other facts, this new fact increased it by
supplying a reasonable and adequate motive. At this stage, then, I
definitely suspected Haire of having murdered Moxdale, though still not
without some misgivings. For the apparently insuperable difficulty
remained. It seemed to be a physical impossibility that Haire could have
started the fire.

"Then came Polton's astonishing discovery; and immediately the position
was radically altered. Now, it was shown, not only that it was possible
for Haire to have started the fire, but that it was nearly certain that
he had done so. But this new fact reacted on all the others, giving them
an immensely increased evidential value. I had now very little doubt
that Haire had murdered Moxdale.

"But the mystery of Haire's disappearance remained. For he was all
unaware of Polton's discovery. To him, it should have seemed that all
had gone according to plan and that it was perfectly safe for him to
come back. Then why was he keeping out of sight? Why did he not return,
now that his uncle was dead and the stake for which he had played was
within his grasp? I turned this problem over and over in my mind. What
was keeping him away? Something had gone wrong. Something of which we
had no knowledge. What could it be?

"Once more, that dislocated neck presented itself for consideration. It
had always seemed to me an anomaly, out of character with the known
circumstances. How came Moxdale to have a broken neck? All the evidence
pointed to a murder, long premeditated, carefully planned, and
elaborately prepared. And yet the murdered man seemed to have died from
an accidental injury.

"Here another point recurred to me. The body had been identified as that
of Cecil Moxdale. But on what evidence? Simply on the hearsay evidence
of Green and the marked objects found in the ruins. Of actual
identification there had been none. The body probably was Moxdale's. The
known facts suggested that it was, but there was no direct proof.
Suppose, after all, that it were not. Then whose body could it be?
Evidently, it must be Haire's, for our picture contained only these two
figures. But this assumption involved an apparent impossibility; for, at
the time of the fire, Haire was in Dublin. But the impossibility
disappeared when we realized that again there had been no real
identification. The men whom Haire called upon in Dublin were strangers.
They knew him as Haire simply because he said that he was Haire and
presented Haire's card. He might, quite easily, have been some other
man, personating Haire. And if he were, that other person must have been
Moxdale.

"It seemed a far-fetched suggestion, but yet it fitted the facts
surprisingly well. It agreed, for instance, with the dislocated neck;
for if Haire had been killed, he had almost certainly been killed
accidentally. And it explained the disappearance of the Dublin 'Haire';
for Moxdale's object in personating Haire would have been to prove that
Haire had been alive after the 14th of April, when the two men had been
seen to enter Haire's premises together; and for this purpose it would
be necessary only for him to 'enter an appearance' at Dublin. When he
had done that, he would naturally return from Ireland to his ordinary
places of resort.

"Thus the fourth stage of the investigation left us with the virtual
certainty that Haire had raised the fire, the probability that he had
murdered Moxdale, but the possibility that the murder had failed and
that Haire had been killed accidentally in the struggle. There were two
alternatives, and we had no means of deciding which of them was the true
one.

"Then, once more, Polton came to our help with a decisive fact. Haire
had mottled teeth and was a native of Maldon. Instantly, as he spoke, I
recalled the teeth of the burned corpse and my surmise that they might
have been mottled teeth. At once, I got into communication with a dental
practitioner at Maldon, who, though I was a stranger to him, gave me
every possible assistance, including a wax denture of mottled teeth and
some spare teeth for experimental purposes. Those teeth I examined
minutely, comparing them with those of the body as shown in Polton's
enlarged photograph of the face; and, disregarding the brown stains,
which the fire had bleached out, the resemblance was perfect. I did, as
a matter of extra precaution, incinerate two of the spare teeth in a
crucible. But it was not necessary. The first comparison was quite
convincing. There was no doubt that the burnt body was that of a man who
had mottled teeth and very little doubt that it was Haire's body."

"But," I objected, "Moxdale might have had mottled teeth. He was Haire's
cousin."

"Yes," Thorndyke agreed, "there was that element of uncertainty. But
there was not much in it. The mere relationship was not significant, as
mottled teeth are not transmitted by heredity but are purely
environmental phenomena. But, of course, Moxdale might also have been
born and grown up at Maldon. Still, we had the definite fact that Haire
was known to have had mottled teeth and that the dead man had had teeth
of the same, very rare, kind. So this stage left us with the strong
probability that the body was Haire's, but the possibility that it might
be that of Moxdale.

"But at the next stage this question was settled by the reappearance of
Moxdale in the flesh. That established the identity of the body as a
definite fact. But it also established the identity of the personator.
For if the dead man was Haire, the live man at Dublin must have been
Moxdale. There appeared to be no alternative possibility.

"Nevertheless, Moxdale essayed to present us with one in the form of a
moderately plausible story. I don't know whether Blandy believed this
story. He professed to; but then Blandy is--Blandy. He was certainly
puzzled by it, as we can judge by his anxiety to bring Moxdale here that
we might question him, and we have to remember that he did not know what
we knew as to the identity of the body. For my part, I never entertained
that story for a moment. It sounded like fiction pure and simple; and a
striking feature of it was that no part of it admitted of verification.
The mysterious O'Grady was a mere shadow, of whom nothing was known and
nothing could be discovered, and the alleged blackmailing was not
supported by a single tangible fact. Moreover, O'Grady, the blackmailer,
did not fit the facts. The murder which had been so elaborately prepared
was, specifically, the murder of Cecil Moxdale. Not only was it Moxdale
whose identification was prepared for; the motive for the murder was
connected with Moxdale.

"However, it doesn't do to be too dogmatic. One had to accept the
infinitely remote possibility that the story might be true, at least in
parts. Accordingly I grasped at Blandy's suggestion that he should bring
Moxdale here and give us the opportunity to put the story to the test of
comparison with the known facts.

"We need not consider that interview in detail. It was an ingenious
story that Moxdale told, and he told it extremely well. But still, as he
went on, its fictional character became more and more pronounced and its
details more and more elusive. You probably noticed that when I asked
for a description of O'Grady, he gave an excellent one--which was an
exact description of himself. It had to be; for O'Grady must needs
correspond to Green's description of the man whom he saw with Haire, and
that description applied perfectly to Moxdale.

"I followed the narrative with the closest attention, waiting for some
definite discrepancy on which one could fasten. And at last it came.
Moxdale, unaware of what we knew, made the inevitable false step. In his
anxiety to prove that Haire was alive and had gone to Dublin, he gave a
circumstantial account of his having seen Haire into the taxi _en route_
for Euston at past ten o'clock at night. Now, we knew that Haire had
never gone to Dublin. Moreover we knew that, by ten o'clock, Haire had
been dead some hours; and we knew, also, that, by that time, the
personator must have been well on his way to Holyhead, since he appeared
in Dublin early the next morning.

"Here, then, was a definitely false statement. It disposed at once of
any possibility that the story might be true; and its effect was to make
it certain that the Dublin personator was Moxdale, himself. I was now in
a position to tax Moxdale with having killed Haire and carried out the
personation, and I did so with studied abruptness in order to force him
to make a statement. You see there was not very much bluff about it,
after all."

"No," I admitted. "It was not really bluff. I withdraw the expression. I
had not realized how complete the evidence was. But your question had a
grand dramatic effect."

"That, however, was not its object," said Thorndyke. "I was anxious, for
Moxdale's own sake, that he should make a true and straightforward
statement. For if he had stuck to his fictitious story, he would
certainly have been charged with having murdered Haire; and, as Blandy
very justly observed, a story told by an accused man from the
witness-box is much less convincing than the same story told voluntarily
before any charge has been made. Fortunately, Moxdale, being a sensible
fellow, realized this and took my advice."

"What do you suppose the police will do about it?" I asked.

"I don't see why they should do anything," he replied. "No crime has
been committed. A charge of manslaughter could not be sustained, since
Moxdale's action was purely defensive and the death was the result of an
accident."

"And what about the question of concealment of death?"

"There doesn't seem to be much in that. Moxdale did not conceal the
body; he merely tried to dissociate himself from it. He did not, it is
true, report the death as he ought to have done. That was rather
irregular and so was the personation. But I think that the police will
take the view that, in the absence of any criminal intention, there is
no need, on grounds of public policy, for them to take any action."

                 *        *        *        *        *

Thorndyke's forecast proved to be correct. The Assistant Commissioner
asked us for a complete statement of the evidence, and when this had
been supplied (including a demonstration by Polton) he decided that no
proceedings were called for. It was, however, necessary to amend the
finding of the coroner's jury, not only for the purposes of
registration, but for that of obtaining probate of Harold Moxdale's
will. Accordingly, Thorndyke issued a certificate of the death of
Gustavus Haire, and thereby put the finishing touch to one of the most
curious cases that had passed through our hands.


THE END






[End of Mr. Polton Explains, by R. Austin Freeman]
