. Then, after an
interval, I asked:

"Would it be possible for me to help in any way in this investigation
of yours?"

"That is exactly what I have been asking myself," replied Thorndyke.
"It would be right and proper that you should, and I think you might."

"How?" I asked eagerly.

"I can't say offhand; but Jervis will be going away for his holiday
almost at once--in fact, he will go off actual duty to-night. There is
very little doing; the long vacation is close upon us, and I can do
without him. But if you would care to come down here and take his
place, you would be very useful to me; and if there should be anything
to be done in the Bellinghams' case, I am sure you would make up in
enthusiasm for any deficiency in experience."

"I couldn't really take Jervis's place," said I, "but if you would let
me help you in any way it would be a great kindness. I would rather
clean your boots than be out of it altogether."

"Very well. Let us leave it that you come here as soon as Barnard has
done with you. You can have Jervis's room, which he doesn't often use
nowadays, and you will be more happy here than elsewhere, I know. I
may as well give you my latch-key now. I have a duplicate upstairs,
and you understand that my chambers are yours too from this moment."

He handed me the latch-key and I thanked him warmly from my heart, for
I felt sure that the suggestion was made, not for any use that I should
be to him, but for my own peace of mind. I had hardly finished
speaking when a quick step on the paved walk caught my ear.

"Here is Jervis," said Thorndyke. "We will let him know that there is
a locum tenens ready to step into his shoes when he wants to be off."
He flashed the lantern across the path, and a few moments later his
junior stepped up briskly with a bundle of newspapers tucked under his
arm.

It struck me that Jervis looked at me a little queerly when he
recognized me in the dim light; also he was a trifle constrained in his
manner, as if my presence were an embarrassment. He listened to
Thorndyke's announcement of our newly made arrangement without much
enthusiasm and with none of his customary facetious comments. And
again I noticed a quick glance at me, half curious, half uneasy, and
wholly puzzling to me.

"That's all right," he said when Thorndyke had explained the situation.
"I daresay you'll find Berkeley as useful as me, and, in any case,
he'll be better here than staying on with B