ed, wishing I could have had a brief
interview with him.

"Lost to sight though to memory dear: he was off like a lamplighter. An
alcoholic apple-woman picked me up and escorted me back to the hospital.
It must have been a touching spectacle," he added, with a dry smile at
the recollection.

"And I suppose they kept you there for a time to recover?"

"Yes; I went into dry dock in the O. P. room, and then old Langdale
insisted on my lying down for an hour or so in case any symptoms of
concussion should appear. But I was only a trifle shaken and confused.
Still, it was a queer affair."

"You mean the man pushing you down in that way?"

"Yes; I can't make out how his foot got in front of mine."

"You don't think it was intentional, surely?" I said.

"No, of course not," he replied, but without much conviction, as it
seemed to me; and I was about to pursue the matter when Polton
reappeared, and my friend abruptly changed the subject.

After dinner I recounted my conversation with Walter Hornby, watching my
colleague's face with some eagerness to see what effect this new
information would produce on him. The result was, on the whole,
disappointing. He was interested, keenly interested, but showed no
symptoms of excitement.

"So John Hornby has been plunging in mines, eh?" he said, when I had
finished. "He ought to know better at his age. Did you learn how long he
had been in difficulties?"

"No. But it can hardly have been quite sudden and unforeseen."

"I should think not," Thorndyke agreed. "A sudden slump often proves
disastrous to the regular Stock Exchange gambler who is paying
differences on large quantities of unpaid-for stock. But it looks as if
Hornby had actually bought and paid for these mines, treating them as
investments rather than speculations, in which case the depreciation
would not have affected him in the same way. It would be interesting to
know for certain."

"It might have a considerable bearing on the present case, might it
not?"

"Undoubtedly," said Thorndyke. "It might bear on the case in more ways
than one. But you have some special point in your mind, I think."

"Yes. I was thinking that if these embarrassments had been growing up
gradually for some time, they might have already assumed an acute form
at the time of the robbery."

"That is well considered," said my colleague. "But what is the special
bearing on the case supposing it was so?"

"On the supposition," I replied, "th