ather dull, unobservant fellow, unlike Wilkins. He has
not much to tell us, but what little he has is highly instructive. Here
is the statement, signed by the deponent and witnessed by me:

"'My name is Joseph Ridley. I am the driver of a four-wheeled cab. On
the fourteenth of March, the day of the great fog, I was waiting at
Vauxhall Station, where I had just set down a fare. About five o'clock a
lady came and told me to drive over to Upper Kennington Lane to take up
a passenger. She was a middle-sized woman. I could not tell what her age
was, or what she was like, because her head was wrapped up in a sort of
knitted, woollen veil to keep out the fog. I did not notice how she was
dressed. She got into the cab and I led the horse over to Upper
Kennington Lane and a little way up the lane, until the lady tapped at
the front, window for me to stop.

"'She got out of the cab and told me to wait. Then she went away and
disappeared in the fog. Presently a lady and gentleman came from the
direction in which she had gone. The lady looked like the same lady, but
I won't answer to that. Her head was wrapped up in the same kind of veil
or shawl, and I noticed that she had on a dark coloured mantle with
bead fringe on it.

"'The gentleman was clean shaved and wore spectacles, and he stooped a
good deal. I can't say whether his sight was good or bad. He helped the
lady into the cab and told me to drive to the Great Northern Station,
King's Cross. Then he got in himself and I drove off. I got to the
station about a quarter to six and the lady and gentleman got out. The
gentleman paid my fare and they both went into the station. I did not
notice anything unusual about either of them. Directly after they had
gone, I got a fresh fare and drove away.'

"That," Thorndyke concluded, "is Joseph Ridley's statement; and I think
it will enable you to give a meaning to the other facts that I have
offered for your consideration."

"I am not so sure about that," said Marchmont. "It is all exceedingly
mysterious. Your suggestion is, of course, that the woman who came to
New Inn in the cab was Mrs. Schallibaum!"

"Not at all," replied Thorndyke. "My suggestion is that the woman was
Jeffrey Blackmore."

There was deathly silence for a few moments. We were all absolutely
thunderstruck, and sat gaping at Thorndyke in speechless-astonishment.
Then--Mr. Winwood fairly bounced out of his chair.

"But--my--good--sir!" he screeched. "Jeffrey Blac