The Mystery of 31 New Inn

by R. Austin Freeman

  Chapter X

  The Hunter Hunted

  The omnibus of those days was a leisurely vehicle. Its ordinary pace wasa rather sluggish trot, and in a thickly populated thoroughfare itsspeed was further reduced by frequent stoppages. Bearing these facts inmind, I gave an occasional backward glance as we jogged northward,though my attention soon began to wander from the rather remotepossibility of pursuit to the incidents of our late exploration.

  It had not been difficult to see that Thorndyke was very well pleasedwith the results of our search, but excepting the letter--whichundoubtedly opened up a channel for further inquiry and possibleidentification--I could not perceive that any of the traces that we hadfound justified his satisfaction. There were the spectacles, forinstance. They were almost certainly the pair worn by Mr. Graves. Butwhat then? It was exceedingly improbable that we should be able todiscover the maker of them, and if we were, it was still more improbablethat he would be able to give us any information that would help us.Spectacle-makers are not usually on confidential terms with theircustomers.

  As to the other objects, I could make nothing of them. The little sticksof reed evidently had some use that was known to Thorndyke andfurnished, by inference, some kind of information about Weiss, Graves,or Mrs. Schallibaum. But I had never seen anything like them before andthey conveyed nothing whatever to me. Then the bottle that had seemed sosignificant to Thorndyke was to me quite uninforming. It did, indeed,suggest that some member of the household might be connected with thestage, but it gave no hint as to which one. Certainly that person wasnot Mr. Weiss, whose appearance was as remote from that of an actor ascould well be imagined. At any rate, the bottle and its label gave me nomore useful hint than it might be worth while to call on Mr. Fox andmake inquiries; and something told me very emphatically that this wasnot what it had conveyed to Thorndyke.

  These reflections occupied me until the omnibus, having rumbled overLondon Bridge and up King William Street, joined the converging streamsof traffic at the Mansion House. Here I got down and changed to anomnibus bound for Kensington; on which I travelled westward pleasantlyenough, looking down into the teeming streets and whiling away the timeby meditating upon the very agreeable afternoon that I promised myself,and considering how far my new arrangement with Thorndyke would justifyme in entering into certain domestic engagements of a highly interestingkind.

  What might have happened under other circumstances it is impossible totell and useless to speculate; the fact is that my journey ended in adisappointment. I arrived, all agog, at the familiar house in EndsleyGardens only to be told by a sympathetic housemaid that the family wasout; that Mrs. Hornby had gone into the country and would not be homeuntil night, and--which mattered a good deal more to me--that her niece,Miss Juliet Gibson, had accompanied her.

  Now a man who drops into lunch without announcing his intention orpreviously ascertaining those of his friends has no right to quarrelwith fate if he finds an empty house. Thus philosophically I reflectedas I turned away from the house in profound discontent, demanding of theuniverse in general why Mrs. Hornby need have perversely chosen my firstfree day to go gadding into the country, and above all, why she mustneeds spirit away the fair Juliet. This was the crowning misfortune (forI could have endured the absence of the elder lady with commendablefortitude), and since I could not immediately return to the Temple itleft me a mere waif and stray for the time being.

  Instinct--of the kind that manifests itself especially about oneo'clock in the afternoon--impelled me in the direction of Brompton Road,and finally landed me at a table in a large restaurant apparentlyadjusted to the needs of ladies who had come from a distance to engagein the feminine sport of shopping. Here, while waiting for my lunch, Isat idly scanning the morning paper and wondering what I should do withthe rest of the day; and presently it chanced that my eye caught theannouncement of a matinee at the theatre in Sloane Square. It was quitea long time since I had been at a theatre, and, as the play--lightcomedy--seemed likely to satisfy my not very critical taste, I decidedto devote the afternoon to reviving my acquaintance with the drama.Accordingly as soon as my lunch was finished, I walked down the BromptonRoad, stepped on to an omnibus, and was duly deposited at the door ofthe theatre. A couple of minutes later I found myself occupying anexcellent seat in the second row of the pit, oblivious alike of myrecent disappointment and of Thorndyke's words of warning.

  I am not an enthusiastic play-goer. To dramatic performances I amdisposed to assign nothing further than the modest function offurnishing entertainment. I do not go to a theatre to be instructed orto have my moral outlook elevated. But, by way of compensation, I am notdifficult to please. To a simple play, adjusted to my primitive taste, Ican bring a certain bucolic appreciation that enables me to extract fromthe performance the maximum of enjoyment; and when, on this occasion,the final curtain fell and the audience rose, I rescued my hat from itsinsecure resting-place and turned to go with the feeling that I hadspent a highly agreeable afternoon.

  Emerging from the theatre, borne on the outgoing stream, I presentlyfound myself opposite the door of a tea-shop. Instinct--the five o'clockinstinct this time--guided me in; for we are creatures of habit,especially of the tea habit. The unoccupied table to which I drifted wasin a shady corner not very far from the pay-desk; and here I had beenseated less than a minute when a lady passed me on her way to thefarther table. The glimpse that I caught of her as she approached--itwas but a glimpse, since she passed behind me--showed that she wasdressed in black, that she wore a beaded veil and hat, and in additionto the glass of milk and the bun that she carried, she was encumbered byan umbrella and a small basket, apparently containing some kind ofneedlework. I must confess that I gave her very little attention at thetime, being occupied in anxious speculation as to how long it would bebefore the fact of my presence would impinge on the consciousness of thewaitress.

  The exact time by the clock on the wall was three minutes and a quarter,at the expiration of which an anaemic young woman sauntered up to thetable and bestowed on me a glance of sullen interrogation, as if mutelydemanding what the devil I wanted. I humbly requested that I might beprovided with a pot of tea; whereupon she turned on her heel (which wasa good deal worn down on the offside) and reported my conduct to a ladybehind a marble-topped counter.

  It seemed that the counter lady took a lenient view of the case, for inless than four minutes the waitress returned and gloomily deposited onthe table before me a tea-pot, a milk-jug, a cup and saucer, a jug ofhot water, and a small pool of milk. Then she once more departed indudgeon.

  I had just given the tea in the pot a preliminary stir and was about topour out the first cup when I felt some one bump lightly against mychair and heard something rattle on the floor. I turned quickly andperceived the lady, whom I had seen enter, stooping just behind mychair. It seemed that having finished her frugal meal she was on her wayout when she had dropped the little basket that I had noticed hangingfrom her wrist; which basket had promptly disgorged its entire contentson the floor.

  Now every one must have noticed the demon of agility that seems to enterinto an inanimate object when it is dropped, and the apparentlyintelligent malice with which it discovers, and rolls into, the mostinaccessible places. Here was a case in point. This particular baskethad contained materials for Oriental bead-work; and no sooner had itreached the floor than each item of its contents appeared to becomepossessed of a separate and particular devil impelling it to travel atheadlong speed to some remote and unapproachable corner as distant aspossible from its fellows.

  As the only man--and almost the only person--near, the duty ofsalvage-agent manifestly devolved upon me; and down I went, accordingly,on my hands and knees, regardless of a nearly new pair of trousers, togrope under tables, chairs and settles in reach of the scatteredtreasure. A ball of the thick thread or twine I recovered from a darkand dirty corner after a brief interview with the sharp corner of asettle, and a multitude of the large beads with which this infernalindustry
is carried on I gathered from all parts of the compass, comingforth at length (quadrupedally) with a double handful of thetreasure-trove and a very lively appreciation of the resistant qualitiesof a cast-iron table-stand when applied to the human cranium.

  The owner of the lost and found property was greatly distressed by theaccident and the trouble it had caused me; in fact she was quiteneedlessly agitated about it. The hand which held the basket into whichI poured the rescued trash trembled visibly, and the brief glance that Ibestowed on her as she murmured her thanks and apologies--with a veryslight foreign accent--showed me that she was excessively pale. Thatmuch I could see plainly in spite of the rather dim light in this partof the shop and the beaded veil that covered her face; and I could alsosee that she was a rather remarkable looking woman, with a great mass ofharsh, black hair and very broad black eyebrows that nearly met aboveher nose and contrasted strikingly with the dead white of her skin. But,of course, I did not look at her intently. Having returned her propertyand received her acknowledgments, I resumed my seat and left her to goon her way.

  I had once more grasped the handle of the tea-pot when I made a rathercurious discovery. At the bottom of the tea-cup lay a single lump ofsugar. To the majority of persons it would have meant nothing. Theywould have assumed that they had dropped it in and forgotten it andwould have proceeded to pour out the tea. But it happened that, at thistime, I did not take sugar in my tea; whence it followed that the lumphad not been put in by me. Assuming, therefore, that it had beencarelessly dropped in by the waitress, I turned it out on the table,filled the cup, added the milk, and took a tentative draught to test thetemperature.

  The cup was yet at my lips when I chanced to look into the mirror thatfaced my table. Of course it reflected the part of the shop that wasbehind me, including the cashier's desk; at which the owner of thebasket now stood paying for her refreshment. Between her and me was agas chandelier which cast its light on my back but full on her face; andher veil notwithstanding, I could see that she was looking at mesteadily; was, in fact, watching me intently and with a very curiousexpression--an expression of expectancy mingled with alarm. But this wasnot all. As I returned her intent look--which I could do unobserved,since my face, reflected in the mirror, was in deep shadow--I suddenlyperceived that that steady gaze engaged her right eye only; the othereye was looking sharply towards her left shoulder. In short, she had adivergent squint of the left eye.

  I put down my cup with a thrill of amazement and a sudden surging up ofsuspicion and alarm. An instant's reflection reminded me that when shehad spoken to me a few moments before, both her eyes had looked intomine without the slightest trace of a squint. My thoughts flew back tothe lump of sugar, to the unguarded milk-jug and the draught of tea thatI had already swallowed; and, hardly knowing what I intended, I startedto my feet and turned to confront her. But as I rose, she snatched upher change and darted from the shop. Through the glass door, I saw herspring on to the foot-board of a passing hansom and give the driver somedirection. I saw the man whip up his horse, and, by the time I reachedthe door, the cab was moving off swiftly towards Sloane Street.

  I stood irresolute. I had not paid and could not run out of the shopwithout making a fuss, and my hat and stick were still on the railopposite my seat. The woman ought to be followed, but I had no fancy forthe task. If the tea that I had swallowed was innocuous, no harm wasdone and I was rid of my pursuer. So far as I was concerned, theincident was closed. I went back to my seat, and picking up the lump ofsugar which still lay on the table where I had dropped it, put itcarefully in my pocket. But my appetite for tea was satisfied for thepresent. Moreover it was hardly advisable to stay in the shop lest somefresh spy should come to see how I fared. Accordingly I obtained mycheck, handed it in at the cashier's desk and took my departure.

  All this time, it will be observed, I had been taking it for grantedthat the lady in black had followed me from Kensington to this shop;that, in fact, she was none other than Mrs. Schallibaum. And, indeed,the circumstances had rendered the conclusion inevitable. In the veryinstant when I had perceived the displacement of the left eye, completerecognition had come upon me. When I had stood facing the woman, thebrief glance at her face had conveyed to me something dimly reminiscentof which I had been but half conscious and had instantly forgotten. Butthe sight of that characteristic squint had at once revived andexplained it. That the woman was Mrs. Schallibaum I now felt no doubtwhatever.

  Nevertheless, the whole affair was profoundly mysterious. As to thechange in the woman's appearance, there was little in that. The coarse,black hair might be her own, dyed, or it might be a wig. The eyebrowswere made-up; it was a simple enough proceeding and made still moresimple by the beaded veil. But how did she come to be there at all? Howdid she happen to be made-up in this fashion at this particular time?And, above all, how came she to be provided with a lump of what I hadlittle doubt was poisoned sugar?

  I turned over the events of the day, and the more I considered them theless comprehensible they appeared. No one had followed the omnibuseither on foot or in a vehicle, as far as I could see; and I had kept acareful look-out, not only at starting but for some considerable timeafter. Yet, all the time, Mrs. Schallibaum must have been following.But how? If she had known that I was intending to travel by the omnibusshe might have gone to meet it and entered before I did. But she couldnot have known: and moreover she did not meet the omnibus, for wewatched its approach from some considerable distance. I consideredwhether she might not have been concealed in the house and overheard memention my destination to Thorndyke. But this failed to explain themystery, since I had mentioned no address beyond "Kensington." I had,indeed, mentioned the name of Mrs. Hornby, but the supposition that myfriends might be known by name to Mrs. Schallibaum, or even that shemight have looked the name up in the directory, presented a probabilitytoo remote to be worth entertaining.

  But, if I reached no satisfactory conclusion, my cogitations had oneuseful effect; they occupied my mind to the exclusion of thatunfortunate draught of tea. Not that I had been seriously uneasy afterthe first shock. The quantity that I had swallowed was not large--thetea being hotter than I cared for--and I remembered that, when I hadthrown out the lump of sugar, I had turned the cup upside down on thetable; so there could have been nothing solid left in it. And the lumpof sugar was in itself reassuring, for it certainly would not have beenused in conjunction with any less conspicuous but more incriminatingform of poison. That lump of sugar was now in my pocket, reserved forcareful examination at my leisure; and I reflected with a faint grinthat it would be a little disconcerting if it should turn out tocontain nothing but sugar after all.

  On leaving the tea-shop, I walked up Sloane Street with the intention ofdoing what I ought to have done earlier in the day. I was going to makeperfectly sure that no spy was dogging my footsteps. But for myridiculous confidence I could have done so quite easily before going toEndsley Gardens; and now, made wiser by a startling experience, Iproceeded with systematic care. It was still broad daylight--for thelamps in the tea-shop had been rendered necessary only by the faultyconstruction of the premises and the dullness of the afternoon--and inan open space I could see far enough for complete safety. Arriving atthe top of Sloane Street, I crossed Knightsbridge, and, entering HydePark, struck out towards the Serpentine. Passing along the easternshore, I entered one of the long paths that lead towards the Marble Archand strode along it at such a pace as would make it necessary for anypursuer to hurry in order to keep me in sight. Half-way across the greatstretch of turf, I halted for a few moments and noted the few people whowere coming in my direction. Then I turned sharply to the left andheaded straight for the Victoria Gate, but again, half-way, I turned offamong a clump of trees, and, standing behind the trunk of one of them,took a fresh survey of the people who were moving along the paths. Allwere at a considerable distance and none appeared to be coming my way.

  I now moved cautiously from one tree to another and passed through thewooded region to the
south, crossed the Serpentine bridge at a rapidwalk and hurrying along the south shore left the Park by Apsley House.From hence I walked at the same rapid pace along Piccadilly, insinuatingmyself among the crowd with the skill born of long acquaintance with theLondon streets, crossed amidst the seething traffic at the Circus,darted up Windmill Street and began to zigzag amongst the narrow streetsand courts of Soho. Crossing the Seven Dials and Drury Lane I passedthrough the multitudinous back-streets and alleys that then filled thearea south of Lincoln's Inn, came out by Newcastle Street, HolywellStreet and Half-Moon Alley into the Strand, which I crossed immediately,ultimately entering the Temple by Devereux Court.

  Even then I did not relax my precautions. From one court to another Ipassed quickly, loitering in those dark entries and unexpected passagesthat are known to so few but the regular Templars, and coming out intothe open only at the last where the wide passage of King's Bench Walkadmits of no evasion. Half-way up the stairs, I stood for some time inthe shadow, watching the approaches from the staircase window; and when,at length, I felt satisfied that I had taken every precaution that waspossible, I inserted my key and let myself into our chambers.

  Thorndyke had already arrived, and, as I entered, he rose to greet mewith an expression of evident relief.

  "I am glad to see you, Jervis," he said. "I have been rather anxiousabout you."

  "Why?" I asked.

  "For several reasons. One is that you are the sole danger that threatensthese people--as far as they know. Another is that we made a mostridiculous mistake. We overlooked a fact that ought to have struck usinstantly. But how have you fared?"

  "Better than I deserved. That good lady stuck to me like a burr--atleast I believe she did."

  "I have no doubt she did. We have been caught napping finely, Jervis."

  "How?"

  "We'll go into that presently. Let us hear about your adventures first."

  I gave him a full account of my movements from the time when we partedto that of my arrival home, omitting no incident that I was able toremember and, as far as I could, reconstituting my exceedingly devioushomeward route.

  "Your retreat was masterly," he remarked with a broad smile. "I shouldthink that it would have utterly defeated any pursuer; and the only pityis that it was probably wasted on the desert air. Your pursuer had bythat time become a fugitive. But you were wise to take theseprecautions, for, of course, Weiss might have followed you."

  "But I thought he was in Hamburg?"

  "Did you? You are a very confiding young gentleman, for a buddingmedical jurist. Of course we don't know that he is not; but the factthat he has given Hamburg as his present whereabouts establishes astrong presumption that he is somewhere else. I only hope that he hasnot located you, and, from what you tell me of your later methods, Ifancy that you would have shaken him off even if he had started tofollow you from the tea-shop."

  "I hope so too. But how did that woman manage to stick to me in thatway? What was the mistake we made?"

  Thorndyke laughed grimly. "It was a perfectly asinine mistake, Jervis.You started up Kennington Park Road on a leisurely, jog-trottingomnibus, and neither you nor I remembered what there is underneathKennington Park Road."

  "Underneath!" I exclaimed, completely puzzled for the moment. Then,suddenly realizing what he meant, "Of course!" I exclaimed. "Idiot thatI am! You mean the electric railway?"

  "Yes. That explains everything. Mrs. Schallibaum must have watched usfrom some shop and quietly followed us up the lane. There were a goodmany women about and several were walking in our direction. There wasnothing to distinguish her from the others unless you had recognizedher, which you would hardly have been able to do if she had worn a veiland kept at a fair distance. At least I think not."

  "No," I agreed, "I certainly should not. I had only seen her in ahalf-dark room. In outdoor clothes and with a veil, I should never havebeen able to identify her without very close inspection. Besides therewas the disguise or make-up."

  "Not at that time. She would hardly come disguised to her own house,for it might have led to her being challenged and asked who she was. Ithink we may take it that there was no actual disguise, although shewould probably wear a shady hat and a veil; which would have preventedeither of us from picking her out from the other women in the street."

  "And what do you think happened next?"

  "I think that she simply walked past us--probably on the other side ofthe road--as we stood waiting for the omnibus, and turned up KenningtonPark Road. She probably guessed that we were waiting for the omnibus andwalked up the road in the direction in which it was going. Presently theomnibus would pass her, and there were you in full view on top keeping avigilant look-out in the wrong direction. Then she would quicken herpace a little and in a minute or two would arrive at the KenningtonStation of the South London Railway. In a minute or two more she wouldbe in one of the electric trains whirling along under the street onwhich your omnibus was crawling. She would get out at the BoroughStation, or she might take a more risky chance and go on to theMonument; but in any case she would wait for your omnibus, hail it andget inside. I suppose you took up some passengers on the way?"

  "Oh dear, yes. We were stopping every two or three minutes to take up orset down passengers; and most of them were women."

  "Very well; then we may take it that when you arrived at the MansionHouse, Mrs. Schallibaum was one of your inside passengers. It was arather quaint situation, I think."

  "Yes, confound her! What a couple of noodles she must have thought us!"

  "No doubt. And that is the one consoling feature in the case. She willhave taken us for a pair of absolute greenhorns. But to continue. Ofcourse she travelled in your omnibus to Kensington--you ought to havegone inside on both occasions, so that you could see every one whoentered and examine the inside passengers; she will have followed you toEndsley Gardens and probably noted the house you went to. Thence shewill have followed you to the restaurant and may even have lunchedthere."

  "It is quite possible," said I. "There were two rooms and they werefilled principally with women."

  "Then she will have followed you to Sloane Street, and, as you persistedin riding outside, she could easily take an inside place in youromnibus. As to the theatre, she must have taken it as a veritable giftof the gods; an arrangement made by you for her special convenience."

  "Why?"

  "My dear fellow! consider. She had only to follow you in and see yousafely into your seat and there you were, left till called for. Shecould then go home, make up for her part; draw out a plan of action,with the help, perhaps, of Mr. Weiss, provide herself with the necessarymeans and appliances and, at the appointed time, call and collect you."

  "That is assuming a good deal," I objected. "It is assuming, forinstance, that she lives within a moderate distance of Sloane Square.Otherwise it would have been impossible."

  "Exactly. That is why I assume it. You don't suppose that she goes abouthabitually with lumps of prepared sugar in her pocket. And if not, thenshe must have got that lump from somewhere. Then the beads suggest acarefully prepared plan, and, as I said just now, she can hardly havebeen made-up when she met us in Kennington Lane. From all of which itseems likely that her present abode is not very far from Sloane Square."

  "At any rate," said I, "it was taking a considerable risk. I might haveleft the theatre before she came back."

  "Yes," Thorndyke agreed. "But it is like a woman to take chances. A manwould probably have stuck to you when once he had got you off yourguard. But she was ready to take chances. She chanced the railway, andit came off; she chanced your remaining in the theatre, and that cameoff too. She calculated on the probability of your getting tea when youcame out, and she hit it off again. And then she took one chance toomany; she assumed that you probably took sugar in your tea, and she waswrong."

  "We are taking it for granted that the sugar was prepared," I remarked.

  "Yes. Our explanation is entirely hypothetical and may be entirelywrong. Bu
t it all hangs together, and if we find any poisonous matter inthe sugar, it will be reasonable to assume that we are right. The sugaris the Experimentum Crucis. If you will hand it over to me, we will goup to the laboratory and make a preliminary test or two."

  I took the lump of sugar from my pocket and gave it to him, and hecarried it to the gas-burner, by the light of which he examined it witha lens.

  "I don't see any foreign crystals on the surface," said he; "but we hadbetter make a solution and go to work systematically. If it contains anypoison we may assume that it will be some alkaloid, though I will testfor arsenic too. But a man of Weiss's type would almost certainly use analkaloid, on account of its smaller bulk and more ready solubility. Youought not to have carried this loose in your pocket. For legal purposesthat would seriously interfere with its value as evidence. Bodies thatare suspected of containing poison should be carefully isolated andpreserved from contact with anything that might lead to doubt in theanalysis. It doesn't matter much to us, as this analysis is only for ourown information and we can satisfy ourselves as to the state of yourpocket. But bear the rule in mind another time."

  We now ascended to the laboratory, where Thorndyke proceeded at once todissolve the lump of sugar in a measured quantity of distilled water bythe aid of gentle heat.

  "Before we add any acid," said he, "or introduce any fresh matter, wewill adopt the simple preliminary measure of tasting the solution. Thesugar is a disturbing factor, but some of the alkaloids and mostmineral poisons excepting arsenic have a very characteristic taste."

  He dipped a glass rod in the warm solution and applied it gingerly tohis tongue.

  "Ha!" he exclaimed, as he carefully wiped his mouth with hishandkerchief, "simple methods are often very valuable. There isn't muchdoubt as to what is in that sugar. Let me recommend my learned brotherto try the flavour. But be careful. A little of this will go a longway."

  He took a fresh rod from the rack, and, dipping it in the solution,handed it to me. I cautiously applied it to the tip of my tongue and wasimmediately aware of a peculiar tingling sensation accompanied by afeeling of numbness.

  "Well," said Thorndyke; "what is it?"

  "Aconite," I replied without hesitation.

  "Yes," he agreed; "aconite it is, or more probably aconitine. And that,I think, gives us all the information we want. We need not trouble nowto make a complete analysis, though I shall have a quantitativeexamination made later. You note the intensity of the taste and you seewhat the strength of the solution is. Evidently that lump of sugarcontained a very large dose of the poison. If the sugar had beendissolved in your tea, the quantity that you drank would have containedenough aconitine to lay you out within a few minutes; which wouldaccount for Mrs. Schallibaum's anxiety to get clear of the premises. Shesaw you drink from the cup, but I imagine she had not seen you turn thesugar out."

  "No, I should say not, to judge by her expression. She lookedterrified. She is not as hardened as her rascally companion."

  "Which is fortunate for you, Jervis. If she had not been in such afluster, she would have waited until you had poured out your tea, whichwas what she probably meant to do, or have dropped the sugar into themilk-jug. In either case you would have got a poisonous dose before younoticed anything amiss."

  "They are a pretty pair, Thorndyke," I exclaimed. "A human life seems tobe no more to them than the life of a fly or a beetle."

  "No; that is so. They are typical poisoners of the worst kind; of theintelligent, cautious, resourceful kind. They are a standing menace tosociety. As long as they are at large, human lives are in danger, and itis our business to see that they do not remain at large a moment longerthan is unavoidable. And that brings us to another point. You had betterkeep indoors for the next few days."

  "Oh, nonsense," I protested. "I can take care of myself."

  "I won't dispute that," said Thorndyke, "although I might. But thematter is of vital importance and we can't be too careful. Yours is theonly evidence that could convict these people. They know that and willstick at nothing to get rid of you--for by this time they will almostcertainly have ascertained that the tea-shop plan has failed. Now yourlife is of some value to you and to another person whom I could mention;but apart from that, you are the indispensable instrument for riddingsociety of these dangerous vermin. Moreover, if you were seen abroad andconnected with these chambers, they would get the information that theircase was really being investigated in a businesslike manner. If Weisshas not already left the country he would do so immediately, and if hehas, Mrs. Schallibaum would join him at once, and we might never be ableto lay hands on them. You must stay indoors, out of sight, and you hadbetter write to Miss Gibson and ask her to warn the servants to give noinformation about you to anyone."

  "And how long," I asked, "am I to be held on parole?"

  "Not long, I think. We have a very promising start. If I have any luck,I shall be able to collect all the evidence I want in about a week. Butthere is an element of chance in some of it which prevents me fromgiving a date. And it is just possible that I may have started on afalse track. But that I shall be able to tell you better in a day ortwo."

  "And I suppose," I said gloomily, "I shall be out of the huntaltogether?"

  "Not at all," he replied. "You have got the Blackmore case to attend to.I shall hand you over all the documents and get you to make an orderlydigest of the evidence. You will then have all the facts and can workout the case for yourself. Also I shall ask you to help Polton in somelittle operations which are designed to throw light into dark places andwhich you will find both entertaining and instructive."

  "Supposing Mrs. Hornby should propose to call and take tea with us inthe gardens?" I suggested.

  "And bring Miss Gibson with her?" Thorndyke added dryly. "No, Jervis, itwould never do. You must make that quite clear to her. It is moreprobable than not that Mrs. Schallibaum made a careful note of the housein Endsley Gardens, and as that would be the one place actually known toher, she and Weiss--if he is in England--would almost certainly keep awatch on it. If they should succeed in connecting that house with thesechambers, a few inquiries would show them the exact state of the case.No; we must keep them in the dark if we possibly can. We have shown toomuch of our hand already. It is hard on you, but it cannot be helped."

  "Oh, don't think I am complaining," I exclaimed. "If it is a matter ofbusiness, I am as keen as you are. I thought at first that you weremerely considering the safety of my vile body. When shall I start on myjob?"

  "To-morrow morning. I shall give you my notes on the Blackmore case andthe copies of the will and the depositions, from which you had betterdraw up a digest of the evidence with remarks as to the conclusions thatit suggests. Then there are our gleanings from New Inn to be looked overand considered; and with regard to this case, we have the fragments of apair of spectacles which had better be put together into a rather moreintelligible form in case we have to produce them in evidence. That willkeep you occupied for a day or two, together with some workappertaining to other cases. And now let us dismiss professional topics.You have not dined and neither have I, but I dare say Polton has madearrangements for some sort of meal. We will go down and see."

  We descended to the lower floor, where Thorndyke's anticipations werejustified by a neatly laid table to which Polton was giving thefinishing touches.