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exception of the cook, his ā€˜appointerā€™ was the last person who saw him before his disappearance. There may be some quite simple explanation, though Iā€™m dashed if I can think of one for the moment. Hang it all, a man doesnā€™t come in and go to bed and walk away again ā€˜mid nodings onā€™ in the middle of the night.ā€

ā€œHe may have been disguised.ā€

ā€œI thought of thatā€”in fact, it seems the only possible explanation. But itā€™s deuced odd, Wimsey. An important city man, on the eve of an important transaction, without a word of warning to anybody, slips off in the middle of the night, disguised down to his skin, leaving behind his watch, purse, cheque-book, andā€”most mysterious and important of allā€”his spectacles, without which he canā€™t see a step, as he is extremely short-sighted. Heā€”ā€

ā€œThat is important,ā€ interrupted Wimsey. ā€œYou are sure he didnā€™t take a second pair?ā€

ā€œHis man vouches for it that he had only two pairs, one of which was found on his dressing-table, and the other in the drawer where it is always kept.ā€

Lord Peter whistled.

ā€œYouā€™ve got me there, Parker. Even if heā€™d gone out to commit suicide heā€™d have taken those.ā€

ā€œSo youā€™d thinkā€”or the suicide would have happened the first time he started to cross the road. However, I didnā€™t overlook the possibility. Iā€™ve got particulars of all todayā€™s street accidents, and I can lay my hand on my heart and say that none of them is Sir Reuben. Besides, he took his latchkey with him, which looks as though heā€™d meant to come back.ā€

ā€œHave you seen the men he dined with?ā€

ā€œI found two of them at the club. They said that he seemed in the best of health and spirits, spoke of looking forward to joining Lady Levy later onā€”perhaps at Christmasā€”and referred with great satisfaction to this morningā€™s business transaction, in which one of themā€”a man called Anderson of Wyndhamā€™sā€”was himself concerned.ā€

ā€œThen up till about nine oā€™clock, anyhow, he had no apparent intention or expectation of disappearing.ā€

ā€œNoneā€”unless he was a most consummate actor. Whatever happened to change his mind must have happened either at the mysterious appointment which he kept after dinner, or while he was in bed between midnight and 5.30 a.m.ā€

ā€œWell, Bunter,ā€ said Lord Peter, ā€œwhat do you make of it?ā€

ā€œNot in my department, my lord. Except that it is odd that a gentleman who was too flurried or unwell to fold his clothes as usual should remember to clean his teeth and put his boots out. Those are two things that quite frequently get overlooked, my lord.ā€

ā€œIf you mean anything personal, Bunter,ā€ said Lord Peter, ā€œI can only say that I think the speech an unworthy one. Itā€™s a sweet little problem, Parker mine. Look here, I donā€™t want to butt in, but I should dearly love to see that bedroom tomorrow. ā€™Tis not that I mistrust thee, dear, but I should uncommonly like to see it. Say me not nayā€”take another drop of brandy and a Villar Villar, but say not, say not nay!ā€

ā€œOf course you can come and see itā€”youā€™ll probably find lots of things Iā€™ve overlooked,ā€ said the other, equably, accepting the proffered hospitality.

ā€œParker, acushla, youā€™re an honour to Scotland Yard. I look at you, and Sugg appears a myth, a fable, an idiot-boy, spawned in a moonlight hour by some fantastic poetā€™s brain. Sugg is too perfect to be possible. What does he make of the body, by the way?ā€

ā€œSugg says,ā€ replied Parker, with precision, ā€œthat the body died from a blow on the back of the neck. The doctor told him that. He says itā€™s been dead a day or two. The doctor told him that, too. He says itā€™s the body of a well-to-do Hebrew of about fifty. Anybody could have told him that. He says itā€™s ridiculous to suppose it came in through the window without anybody knowing anything about it. He says it probably walked in through the front door and was murdered by the household. Heā€™s arrested the girl because sheā€™s short and frail-looking and quite unequal to downing a tall and sturdy Semite with a poker. Heā€™d arrest Thipps, only Thipps was away in Manchester all yesterday and the day before and didnā€™t come back till late last nightā€”in fact, he wanted to arrest him till I reminded him that if the body had been a day or two dead, little Thipps couldnā€™t have done him in at 10.30 last night. But heā€™ll arrest him tomorrow as an accessoryā€”and the old lady with the knitting, too, I shouldnā€™t wonder.ā€

ā€œWell, Iā€™m glad the little man has so much of an alibi,ā€ said Lord Peter, ā€œthough if youā€™re only glueing your faith to cadaveric lividity, rigidity, and all the other quiddities, you must be prepared to have some sceptical beast of a prosecuting counsel walk slap-bang through the medical evidence. Remember Impey Biggs defending in that Chelsea tea-shop affair? Six bloominā€™ medicos contradictinā€™ each other in the box, anā€™ old Impey elocutinā€™ abnormal cases from Glaister and Dixon Mann till the eyes of the jury reeled in their heads! ā€˜Are you prepared to swear, Dr. Thingumtight, that the onset of rigor mortis indicates the hour of death without the possibility of error?ā€™ ā€˜So far as my experience goes, in the majority of cases,ā€™ says the doctor, all stiff. ā€˜Ah!ā€™ says Biggs, ā€˜but this is a Court of Justice, Doctor, not a Parliamentary election. We canā€™t get on without a minority report. The law, Dr. Thingumtight, respects the rights of the minority, alive or dead.ā€™ Some ass laughs, and old Biggs sticks his chest out and gets impressive. ā€˜Gentlemen, this is no laughing matter. My clientā€”an upright and honourable gentlemanā€”is being tried for his lifeā€”for his life, gentlemenā€”and it is the business of the prosecution to show his guiltā€”if they canā€”without a shadow of doubt. Now, Dr. Thingumtight, I ask you again, can you solemnly swear, without the least shadow of doubt,ā€”probable, possible shadow of doubtā€”that this unhappy woman met her death neither sooner nor later than Thursday evening? A probable opinion? Gentlemen, we are not Jesuits, we are straightforward Englishmen. You cannot ask a British-born jury to convict any man on the authority of a probable opinion.ā€™ Hum of applause.ā€

ā€œBiggsā€™s man was guilty all the same,ā€ said Parker.

ā€œOf course he was. But he was acquitted all the same, anā€™ what youā€™ve just said is libel.ā€ Wimsey walked over to the bookshelf and took down a volume of Medical Jurisprudence. ā€œā€˜Rigor mortisā€”can only be stated in a very general wayā€”many factors determine the result.ā€™ Cautious brute. ā€˜On the average, however, stiffening will have begunā€”neck and jawā€”5 to 6 hours after deathā€™ā€”mā€™mā€”ā€˜in all likelihood have passed off in the bulk of cases by the end of 36 hours. Under certain circumstances, however, it may appear unusually early, or be retarded unusually long!ā€™ Helpful, ainā€™t it, Parker? ā€˜Brown-SĆ©quard states ... 3Ā½ minutes after death.... In certain cases not until lapse of 16 hours after death ... present as long as 21 days thereafter.ā€™ Lord! ā€˜Modifying factorsā€”ageā€”muscular stateā€”or febrile diseasesā€”or where temperature of environment is highā€™ā€”and so on and so onā€”any bloominā€™ thing. Never mind. You can run the argument for what itā€™s worth to Sugg. He wonā€™t know any better.ā€ He tossed the book away. ā€œCome back to facts. What did you make of the body?ā€

ā€œWell,ā€ said the detective, ā€œnot very muchā€”I was puzzledā€”frankly. I should say he had been a rich man, but self-made, and that his good fortune had come to him fairly recently.ā€

ā€œAh, you noticed the calluses on the handsā€”I thought you wouldnā€™t miss that.ā€

ā€œBoth his feet were badly blisteredā€”he had been wearing tight shoes.ā€

ā€œWalking a long way in them, too,ā€ said Lord Peter, ā€œto get such blisters as that. Didnā€™t that strike you as odd, in a person evidently well off?ā€

ā€œWell, I donā€™t know. The blisters were two or three days old. He might have got stuck in the suburbs one night, perhapsā€”last train gone and no taxiā€”and had to walk home.ā€

ā€œPossibly.ā€

ā€œThere were some little red marks all over his back and one leg I couldnā€™t quite account for.ā€

ā€œI saw them.ā€

ā€œWhat did you make of them?ā€

ā€œIā€™ll tell you afterwards. Go on.ā€

ā€œHe was very long-sightedā€”oddly long-sighted for a man in the prime of life; the glasses were like a very old manā€™s. By the way, they had a very beautiful and remarkable chain of flat links chased with a pattern. It struck me he might be traced through it.ā€

ā€œIā€™ve just put an advertisement in the Times about it,ā€ said Lord Peter. ā€œGo on.ā€

ā€œHe had had the glasses some timeā€”they had been mended twice.ā€

ā€œBeautiful, Parker, beautiful. Did you realize the importance of that?ā€

ā€œNot specially, Iā€™m afraidā€”why?ā€

ā€œNever mindā€”go on.ā€

ā€œHe was probably a sullen, ill-tempered manā€”his nails were filed down to the quick as though he habitually bit them, and his fingers were bitten as well. He smoked quantities of cigarettes without a holder. He was particular about his personal appearance.ā€

ā€œDid you examine the room at all? I didnā€™t get a chance.ā€

ā€œI couldnā€™t find much in the way of footprints. Sugg & Co. had tramped all over the place, to say nothing of little Thipps and the maid, but I noticed a very indefinite patch just behind the head of the bath, as though something damp might have stood there. You could hardly call it a print.ā€

ā€œIt rained hard all last night, of course.ā€

ā€œYes; did you notice that the soot on the window-sill was vaguely marked?ā€

ā€œI did,ā€ said Wimsey, ā€œand I examined it hard with this little fellow, but I could make nothing of it except that something or other had rested on the sill.ā€ He drew out his monocle and handed it to Parker.

ā€œMy word, thatā€™s a powerful lens.ā€

ā€œIt is,ā€ said Wimsey, ā€œand jolly useful when you want to take a good squint at somethinā€™ and look like a bally fool all the time. Only it donā€™t do to wear it permanentlyā€”if people see you full-face they say: ā€˜Dear me! how weak the sight of that eye must be!ā€™ Still, itā€™s useful.ā€

ā€œSugg and I explored the ground at the back of the building,ā€ went on Parker, ā€œbut there wasnā€™t a trace.ā€

ā€œThatā€™s interestinā€™. Did you try the roof?ā€

ā€œNo.ā€

ā€œWeā€™ll go over it tomorrow. The gutterā€™s only a couple of feet off the top of the window. I measured it with my stickā€”the gentleman-scoutā€™s vade-mecum, I call itā€”itā€™s marked off in inches. Uncommonly handy companion at times. Thereā€™s a sword inside and a compass in the head. Got it made specially. Anything more?ā€

ā€œAfraid not. Letā€™s hear your version, Wimsey.ā€

ā€œWell, I think youā€™ve got most of the points. There are just one or two little contradictions. For instance, hereā€™s a man wears expensive gold-rimmed pince-nez and has had them long enough to be mended twice. Yet his teeth are not merely discoloured, but badly decayed and look as if heā€™d never cleaned them in his life. There are four molars missing on one side and three on the other and one front tooth broken right across. Heā€™s a man careful of his personal appearance, as witness his hair and his hands. What do you say to that?ā€

ā€œOh, these self-made men of low origin donā€™t think much about teeth, and are terrified of dentists.ā€

ā€œTrue; but one of the molars has a broken edge so rough that it had made a sore place on the tongue. Nothingā€™s more painful. Dā€™you mean to tell me a man would put up with that if he could afford to get the tooth filed?ā€

ā€œWell, people are queer. Iā€™ve known servants endure agonies rather than step over a dentistā€™s doormat. How did you see that, Wimsey?ā€

ā€œHad a look inside; electric torch,ā€ said Lord Peter. ā€œHandy little gadget. Looks like a matchbox. Wellā€”I daresay itā€™s all right, but I just draw your attention to it. Second point: Gentleman with hair smellinā€™ of Parma violet

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