The Old Man in the Corner

lly; then he took up his beloved bit of string and deliberately untied every

reasoning which I followed myself, and which will inevitably lea

have been acquainted with Smethurst, since he was fully apprised of the latter's arrival in England by two letters. Now it was clear to me from the first that no one could have written those two letters except Smethurst. You will argue that those

suggest

alive, and visited the Torriani Hotel, where already he was known, and where he conveniently left a pocket-book behind, so that there should be n

on't mean?" ga

How did Sir Arthur Inglewood, or rather his client, know that William Kershaw had on those two memorable occasions visited the hotel, and t

ed, "the usual m

ppens to know of the whereabouts, etc. etc'. Had the landlord of that hotel heard of the disappearance of Kershaw through the usual channels,

you don

n of her husband's handwriting. Why? Because the police, clever as you say they are, never started on

the place where a bully and a coward would decoy an unsuspecting stranger, murder him first, then rob him of his valuables, his papers, his very identity, and leave him there to rot. The body was found in a disused barge which

was the body of Francis Smethurst, and

he. He shaved up to his very eyebrows! No wonder that even his wife did not recognize him across the court; and remember she never saw much of

what he had himself shaved off. Making up to look like himself! Splendid! Then leaving the pocket-book behind! He! he! he! Kershaw was not murdered! Of course n

wopence for his glass of milk and his bun. Soon he disappeared through the shop, whilst she still found herself hopelessly bewildered, with a number of snap-shot photographs before