woman should be, nor one who exercised so great a charm over me. Her
strength and dignity, her softness and dependency, to say nothing of her
beauty, fitted her with the necessary weapons for my complete and utter
subjugation. And utterly subjugated I was--there was no use in denying
the fact, even though I realised already that the time would presently
come when she would want me no more and there would remain no remedy for
me but to go away and try to forget her.

But was I acting as a man of honour? To this I felt I could fairly
answer "yes," for I was but doing my duty, and could hardly act
differently if I wished to. Besides, I was jeopardising no one's
happiness but my own, and a man may do as he pleases with his own
happiness. No; even Thorndyke could not accuse me of dishonourable
conduct.

Presently my thoughts took a fresh turn and I began to reflect upon what
I had heard concerning Mr. Hornby. Here was a startling development,
indeed, and I wondered what difference it would make in Thorndyke's
hypothesis of the crime. What his theory was I had never been able to
guess, but as I walked along through the thickening fog I tried to fit
this new fact into our collection of data and determine its bearings and
significance.

In this, for a time, I failed utterly. The red thumb-mark filled my
field of vision to the exclusion of all else. To me, as to everyone else
but Thorndyke, this fact was final and pointed to a conclusion that was
unanswerable. But as I turned the story of the crime over and over,
there came to me presently an idea that set in motion a new and very
startling train of thought.