Thorndyke would have thought of it if it had been allowable
for me to repeat it. Obviously it was not, however, and I could only
give my own impressions.

"He doesn't strike me as that," I said; "but of course, one never knows.
Personally, he impressed me rather favorably, which is more than the
other man did."

"What other man?" asked Thorndyke.

"There was another man in the case, wasn't there? I forget his name. I
saw him at the house and didn't much like the look of him. I suspect
he's putting some sort of pressure on Bellingham."

"Berkeley knows more about this than he's telling us," said Jervis. "Let
us look up the report and see who this stranger is." He took down from a
shelf a large volume of newspaper cuttings and laid it on the table.

"You see," said he, as he ran his finger down the index. "Thorndyke
files all the cases that are likely to come to something, and I know he
had expectations regarding this one. I fancy he had some ghoulish hope
that the missing gentleman's head might turn up in somebody's dust-bin.
Here we are; the other man's name is Hurst. He is apparently a cousin,
and it was at his house the missing man was last seen alive."

"So you think Mr. Hurst is moving in the matter?" said Thorndyke, when he
had glanced over the report.

"That is my impression," I replied, "though I really know nothing about
it."

"Well," said Thorndyke, "if you should learn what is being done and
should have permission to speak of it, I shall be very interested to hear
how the case progresses and if an unofficial opinion on any point would
be of service, I think there would be no harm in giving it."

"It would certainly be of great value if the other parties are taking
professional advice," I said; and then, after a pause, I asked: "Have you
given this case much consideration?"

Thorndyke reflected. "No," he said, "I can't say that I have. I turned
it over rather carefully when the report first appeared, and I have
speculated on it occasionally since. It is my habit, as Jervis was
telling you, to utilize odd moments of leisure (such as a railway
journey, for instance) by constructing theories to account for the facts
of such obscure cases as have come to my notice. It is a useful habit, I
think, for, apart from the mental exercise and experience that one gains
from it, an appreciable portion of these cases ultimately comes into my
hands, and then the previous consideration of them is so much