eories is probably the correct one."

"It's no use your trying to pump him, Berkeley," said Jervis. "He is
fitted with an information-valve that opens inwards. You can pour in as
much as you like, but you can't get any out."

Thorndyke chuckled. "My learned friend is, in the main, correct," he
said. "You see, I may be called upon any day to advise on this case, in
which event I should feel remarkably foolish if I had already expounded
my views in detail. But I should like to hear what you and Jervis make
of the case as reported in the newspapers."

"There now," exclaimed Jervis, "what did I tell you? He wants to suck
our brains."

"As far as my brain is concerned," I said, "the process of suction isn't
likely to yield much except a vacuum, so I will resign in favour of you.
You are a full-blown lawyer, whereas I am only a simple G.P."

Jervis filled his pipe with deliberate care and lighted it. Then,
blowing a slender stream of smoke into the air, he said:

"If you want to know what I make of the case from that report, I can
tell you in one word--nothing. Every road seems to end in a cul-de-sac."

"Oh, come!" said Thorndyke, "this is mere laziness. Berkeley wants to
witness a display of your forensic wisdom. A learned counsel may be in
a fog--he very often is--but he doesn't state the fact baldly; he wraps
it up in a decent verbal disguise. Tell us how you arrive at your
conclusion. Show us that you have really weighed the facts."

"Very well," said Jervis, "I will give you a masterly analysis of the
case--leading to nothing." He continued to puff at his pipe for a time
with slight embarrassment, as I thought--and I fully sympathised with
him. Finally he blew a little cloud and commenced:

"The position appears to be this: Here is a man who is seen to enter a
certain house, who is shown into a certain room and shut in. He is not
seen to come out, and yet, when the room is next entered, it is found to
be empty; and that man is never seen again, alive or dead. That is a
pretty tough beginning.

"Now, it is evident that one of three things must have happened. Either
he must have remained in that room, or at least in that house, alive; or
he must have died, naturally or otherwise, and his body have been
concealed; or he must have left the house unobserved. Let us take the
first case. This affair happened nearly two years ago. Now, he couldn't
have remained alive in the house for two years. He would have been
noti