nned murders appear
as I have said, to break down at this point. The almost insuperable
difficulty of getting rid of the human body is not appreciated until
the murderer suddenly finds himself face to face with it.

"In the case you are suggesting, the choice would seem to lie between
burial on the premises or dismemberment and dispersal of the fragments;
and either method would be pretty certain to lead to discovery."

"As illustrated by the remains of which you were speaking to Mr.
Bellingham," Jervis remarked.

"Exactly," Thorndyke answered, "though we could hardly imagine a
reasonably intelligent criminal adopting a watercress-bed as a hiding
place.

"No. That was certainly an error of judgment. By the way, I thought
it best to say nothing while you were talking to Bellingham, but I
noticed that, in discussing the possibility of those being the bones of
his brother, you made no comment on the absence of the third finger of
the left hand. I am sure you didn't overlook it, but isn't it a point
of some importance?"

"As to identification? Under the present circumstances, I think not.
If there were a man missing who had lost that finger it would, of
course, be an important fact. But I have not heard of any such man.
Or, again, if there were any evidence that the finger had been removed
before death, it would be highly important. But there is no such
evidence. It may have been cut off after death, and that is where the
real significance of its absence lies."

"I don't see quite what you mean," said Jervis.

"I mean that, if there is no report of any missing man who had lost
that particular finger, the probability is that the finger was removed
after death. And then arises the interesting question of motive. Why
should it have been removed? It could hardly have become detached
accidentally. What do you suggest?"

"Well," said Jervis, "it might have been a peculiar finger; a finger,
for instance, with some characteristic deformity such as an ankylosed
joint, which would be easy to identify."

"Yes; but that explanation introduces the same difficulty. No person
with a deformed or ankylosed finger has been reported as missing."

Jervis puckered up his brows, and looked at me.

"I'm hanged if I see any other explanation," he said. "Do you,
Berkeley?"

I shook my head.

"Don't forget which finger it is that is missing," said Thorndyke.
"The third finger of the left hand."

"Oh, I see!" said Jer