rather favourably, 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 is 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 respecting 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 that 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 my 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 utilise 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 proportion of these cases ultimately come into
my hands, and then the previous consideration of them is so much time
gained."

"Have you formed any theory to account for the facts in this case?" I
asked.

"Yes; I have several theories, one of which I especially favour, and I
am waiting with great interest such new facts as may indicate to me
which of these th