so vividly (patience, my dear lady, patience), when we take
the hairless head together with the tone common in senile anger,
I should think we may deduce some advance in years. Nevertheless,
he was probably vigorous, and he was almost certainly tall.
I might rely in some degree on the story of his previous appearance
at the window, as a tall man in a silk hat, but I think I have
more exact indication. This wineglass has been smashed all over the place,
but one of its splinters lies on the high bracket beside the mantelpiece.
No such fragment could have fallen there if the vessel had been smashed
in the hand of a comparatively short man like Mr Todhunter."

"By the way," said Father Brown, "might it not be as well
to untie Mr Todhunter?"

"Our lesson from the drinking-vessels does not end here,"
proceeded the specialist. "I may say at once that it is possible
that the man Glass was bald or nervous through dissipation rather than age.
Mr Todhunter, as has been remarked, is a quiet thrifty gentleman,
essentially an abstainer. These cards and wine-cups are no part
of his normal habit; they have been produced for a particular companion.
But, as it happens, we may go farther. Mr Todhunter may or may not
possess this wine-service, but there is no appearance of his
possessing any wine. What, then, were these vessels to contain?
I would at once suggest some brandy or whisky, perhaps of a luxurious sort,
from a flask in the pocket of Mr Glass. We have thus something like
a picture of the man, or at least of the type: tall, elderly, fashionable,
but somewhat frayed, certainly fond of play and strong waters,
perhaps rather too fond of them. Mr Glass is a gentleman not unknown
on the fringes of society."