John Thorndykes Cases | Page 8

leading to unintentional mimicry).

"Yes, sir. He went hout soon after you, sir, on his bicycle. He had a
basket strapped on to it--leastways a hamper--and he borrowed a basin
and a kitchen-spoon from the cook."
I stared at the girl in astonishment. The ways of John Thorndyke were,
indeed, beyond all understanding.
"Well, let me have some dinner or supper at once," I said, "and I will
see what the sergeant wants."
The officer rose as I entered the surgery, and, laying his helmet on the
table, approached me with an air of secrecy and importance.
"Well, sir," said he, "the fat's in the fire. I've arrested Mr. Draper, and
I've got him locked up in the court-house. But I wish it had been
someone else."
"So does he, I expect," I remarked.
"You see, sir," continued the sergeant, "we all like Mr. Draper. He's
been among us a matter of seven years, and he's like one of ourselves.
However, what I've come about is this; it seems the gentleman who was
with you this evening is Dr. Thorndyke, the great expert. Now Mr.
Draper seems to have heard about him, as most of us have, and he is
very anxious for him to take up the defence. Do you think he would
consent?"
"I expect so," I answered, remembering Thorndyke's keen interest in
the case; "but I will ask him when he comes in."
"Thank you, sir," said the sergeant. "And perhaps you wouldn't mind
stepping round to the court-house presently yourself. He looks
uncommon queer, does Mr. Draper, and no wonder, so I'd like you to
take a look at him, and if you could bring Dr. Thorndyke with you, he'd
like it, and so should I, for, I assure you, sir, that although a conviction
would mean a step up the ladder for me, I'd be glad enough to find that
I'd made a mistake."

I was just showing my visitor out when a bicycle swept in through the
open gate, and Thorndyke dismounted at the door, revealing a square
hamper--evidently abstracted from the surgery--strapped on to a carrier
at the back. I conveyed the sergeant's request to him at once, and asked
if he was willing to take up the case.
"As to taking up the defence," he replied, "I will consider the matter;
but in any case I will come up and see the prisoner."
With this the sergeant departed, and Thorndyke, having unstrapped the
hamper with as much care as if it contained a collection of priceless
porcelain, bore it tenderly up to his bedroom; whence he appeared, after
a considerable interval, smilingly apologetic for the delay.
"I thought you were dressing for dinner," I grumbled as he took his seat
at the table.
"No," he replied. "I have been considering this murder. Really it is a
most singular case, and promises to be uncommonly complicated, too."
"Then I assume that you will undertake the defence?"
"I shall if Draper gives a reasonably straightforward account of
himself."
It appeared that this condition was likely to be fulfilled, for when we
arrived at the court-house (where the prisoner was accommodated in a
spare office, under rather free-and-easy conditions considering the
nature of the charge) we found Mr. Draper in an eminently
communicative frame of mind.
"I want you, Dr. Thorndyke, to undertake my defence in this terrible
affair, because I feel confident that you will be able to clear me. And I
promise you that there shall be no reservation or concealment on my
part of anything that you ought to know."
"Very well," said Thorndyke. "By the way, I see you have changed
your shoes."

"Yes, the sergeant took possession of those I was wearing. He said
something about comparing them with some footprints, but there can't
be any footprints like those shoes here in Sundersley. The nails are
fixed in the soles in quite a peculiar pattern. I had them made in
Edinburgh."
"Have you more than one pair?"
"No. I have no other nailed boots."
"That is important," said Thorndyke. "And now I judge that you have
something to tell us that bears on this crime. Am I right?"
"Yes. There is something that I am afraid it is necessary for you to
know, although it is very painful to me to revive memories of my past
that I had hoped were buried for ever. But perhaps, after all, it may not
be necessary for these confidences to be revealed to anyone but
yourself."
"I hope not," said Thorndyke; "and if it is not necessary you may rely
upon me not to allow any of your secrets to leak out. But you are wise
to tell me everything that may in any way bear upon the case."
At this juncture, seeing that confidential matters