"Well, and what next?"

"Well," said the lawyer, fidgeting in his chair, "to make a long story
short, the thumb-print has been identified as that of Mr. Reuben
Hornby."

"Ha!" exclaimed Thorndyke. "The plot thickens with a vengeance. I had
better jot down a few notes before you proceed any further."

He took from a drawer a small paper-covered notebook, on the cover of
which he wrote "Reuben Hornby," and then, laying the book open on a
blotting-pad, which he rested on his knee, he made a few brief notes.

"Now," he said, when he had finished, "with reference to this
thumb-print. There is no doubt, I suppose, as to the identification?"

"None whatever," replied Mr. Lawley. "The Scotland Yard people, of
course, took possession of the paper, which was handed to the director
of the finger-print department for examination and comparison with those
in their collection. The report of the experts is that the thumb-print
does not agree with any of the thumb-prints of criminals in their
possession; that it is a very peculiar one, inasmuch as the
ridge-pattern on the bulb of the thumb--which is a remarkably distinct
and characteristic one--is crossed by the scar of a deep cut, rendering
identification easy and infallible; that it agrees in every respect with
the thumb-print of Mr. Reuben Hornby, and is, in fact, his thumb-print
beyond any possible doubt."

"Is there any possibility," asked Thorndyke, "that the paper bearing the