therefore he was taken to gaol. At the end of two days his friends
contrived to obtain the necessary cash and he was released. He writes all
this to show how it was that he was entirely ignorant of the startling
events which had taken place in the Bates case. This man goes on to say
that on the night when Mr. Bates disappeared he was passing Portsmouth
Square on his way home from some public-house festivities. He was none
too sober, and has a hazy recollection of what he saw. He recollects
quite clearly, now that he has time to think the matter over, seeing a
cab standing at the corner of the Square within three doors of No. 75. At
the same time, a telegraph boy called at No. 75 with a message. It was at
this point that the narrator of the story stopped to light his pipe. It
was rather a windy evening, so that he used several matches in the
process. Anyway, he stood there long enough to see the telegraph boy
deliver his message to a gentleman who appeared to have great difficulty
in getting to the door. No sooner had the telegraph boy gone than the
gentleman crept slowly and painfully down the steps and walked in the
direction of the cab. Then somebody stepped from the cab and accosted the
cripple, who, beyond all question, was the mysterious Bates. The writer
of the letter says that he heard a sort of cry, then someone called out
something in a language that he was unable to understand. He rather
thinks it was Portuguese, because among his fellow workmen is a
Portuguese artisan, and the language sounded something like his."

"We are getting on," Gurdon said. "That little touch about the Portuguese
language clearly points to Fenwick."

"Of course, it does," Venner went on. "But that is not quite all. The
letter goes on to say that something like a struggle took place, after
which the cripple was bundled into the cab, which was driven away. It was
a four-wheeled cab, and the peculiarity about it was that it had india