R. Austin Freeman

“ He was lying on his face, with his neck over the near rail on the down side. His head was in the four-foot way, and his body by the side of the track. It looked as if he had laid himself out a-purpose."
"Is there a level crossing thereabouts?" asked Thorndyke.
"No, sir; no crossing, no road, no path, no nothing," said the porter, ruthlessly sacrificing grammar to emphasis. "He must have come across the fields and climbed over the fence to get on to the permanent way. Deliberate suicide is what it looks like." ”

“ For Thorndyke, without a word of warning, had sprung up lightly and thrown one of his long legs over the wall.
"I can't allow you to enter private premises, sir," continued the inspector. But Thorndyke quietly dropped down on the inside, and turned to face the officer over the wall.
"Now, listen to me, Inspector," said he. "I have good reasons for believing that the dead man, Brodski, has been in this house; in fact, I am prepared to swear an information to that effect. But time is precious; we must follow the scent while it is hot. ”

“ At length the two ovals of glass lay on their respective cards, complete save for one or two small gaps; and the little heap that remained consisted of fragments so minute as to render further reconstruction impossible. Then Thorndyke leaned back and laughed softly.
"This is certainly an unlooked-for result," said he.
"What is?" I asked.
"Don't you see, my dear fellow? There's too much glass. We have almost completely built up the broken lenses, and the fragments that are left over are considerably more than are required to fill up the gaps." ”

“ Thorndyke looked up with a smile. "It doesn't do, inspector, to assume that anything is off the track in an inquiry of this kind. These crumbs, for instance, that are scattered over the dead man's waistcoat. Can we learn nothing from them?"
"I don't see what you can learn," was the dogged rejoinder.
Thorndyke picked off the crumbs, one by one, with his forceps, and, having deposited them on a slide, inspected them, first with the lens and then through the microscope. ”

“ Brodski murmured an indistinct acceptance, and, as his host turned to open a cupboard, he deposited his hat (a hard gray felt) on a chair in a corner, placed his bag on the edge of the table, resting his umbrella against it, and sat down in a small arm-chair.
"Have a biscuit," said Hickler, as he placed a whisky bottle on the table, together with a couple of his best star-pattern tumblers and a siphon.
"Thanks, I think I will," said Brodski. "The railway journey and all this confounded tramping about, you know——"
"Yes," agreed Silas. "Doesn’t do to start with an empty stomach. ”

“ He was growing disagreeably conscious of a new and unfamiliar state of mind.
"Do you take any interest in gardening?" he asked. Next to diamonds and "weekly property," his besetting weakness was fuchsias.
Brodski chuckled sourly. "Hatton Garden is the nearest approach——" He broke off suddenly, and then added: "I am a Londoner, you know."
The abrupt break in the sentence was not unnoticed by Silas, nor had he any difficulty in interpreting it. A man who carries untold wealth upon his person must needs be wary in his speech. ”

“ Thorndyke made a note in his pocket-book, and then, as the inspector moved the tarpaulin, he glanced down on the corpse. For fully a minute he remained silently stooping over the uncanny object; then he stood up and said quietly to me: "I think we can eliminate two out of the three hypotheses."
The inspector looked at him quickly, and was about to ask a question, when his attention was diverted by the traveling-case which Thorndyke had laid on a shelf and now opened to abstract a couple of pairs of dissecting-forceps. ”

“ Oscar Brodski
by Austin Freeman
Author of "The Aluminum Dagger," "The Blue Sequin," etc.
PART I NO one, looking into Silas Hickler's cheerful round face, beaming with benevolence and wreathed in perpetual smiles, would have imagined him to be a criminal. Yet it is a fact that Silas earned his modest though comfortable income by the gentle art of burglary. A precarious trade, and risky withal, yet not so very hazardous if pursued with judgment and moderation. And Silas was eminently a man of judgment. He invariably worked alone. He kept his own counsel. ”

“ After all this dry weather we may get a change, and damp feet are very uncomfortable when you are traveling."
"Yes; dangerous, too," agreed Brodski.
Silas walked into the adjoining kitchen, where, by the light of the little lamp that was burning there, he had seen his stout country boots placed, cleaned and in readiness, and sat down upon a chair to make the change. He did not, of course, intend to wear the country boots, for the diamonds were concealed in those he had on. But he would make the change and then alter his mind; it would all help to pass the time. ”

“ He lifted the paper and the two cards carefully on to the ground, and, opening the case, took out the little microscope.
"Ha!" he exclaimed presently. "The plot thickens. There is too much glass, and yet too little; that is to say, there are only one or two fragments here that belong to the spectacles. The remainder consists of a soft, uneven molded glass, easily distinguished from the clear, hard optical glass. These foreign fragments are all curved, as if they had formed part of a cylinder, and are, I should say, portions of a wine-glass or tumbler." ”

“ There must be abundant traces inside the house. The only question is, which house is it?"
"Quite so," replied Thorndyke. "That is the question, and a very difficult question it is."
Here our conversation was interrupted by our arrival at the spot where the body had been found. The station-master had halted, and he and the inspector were now examining the near rail by the light of their lanterns.
"There's remarkably little blood about," said the former. "I've seen a good many accidents of this kind, and there has always been a lot of blood, both on the engine and on the road. ”

“ Thorndyke examined it with interest, and having deposited it, with the cigarette, in his collecting-box, turned to retrace his steps.
"There is now, Jervis," said he, "no reasonable doubt that Brodski was murdered in that house. We have succeeded in connecting that house with the crime, and now we have got to force an entrance and join up the other clues."
" 'THERE'S A LIGHT IN THE HOUSE,' SAID THE INSPECTOR, 'BUT THERE'S NO ONE AT HOME' "
We walked quickly back to the rear of the premises, where we found the inspector conversing disconsolately with the station-master. ”

“ The appearances suggest that the spectacles had been trodden on. But, if the body was carried here, the probability is that the spectacles were carried here too, and that they were then already broken; for it is more likely that they were trodden on during the struggle than that the murderer trod on them after bringing them here. Hence the importance of picking up every fragment. ”

“ If the blood ran down the face toward the chin, the face must have been upright at the time; and if the blood trickled from the front to the back of the head, the head must have been horizontal and face upwards. ”

“ The little book was produced from the officer's pocket, and a sample paper abstracted. Thorndyke laid the half-burnt paper beside it, and the inspector, having examined the two, held them up to the light. "There isn't much chance of mistaking that 'Zigzag' water-mark," he said. "This cigarette was made by the deceased; there can't be the shadow of a doubt."
"One more point," said Thorndyke, laying the burnt wooden vesta on the table. "You have his match-box?" ”

“ Boscovitch, addressing the station inspector.
"Yes, sir," the official replied. "A man has been run over by the goods train about a mile down the line. The station-master has gone down with a stretcher to bring him in, and I expect that is his lantern that you see coming this way." ”

“ Because if, when we have picked up every fragment that we can find, there still remains missing a larger portion of the lenses than we could reasonably expect, that would tend to support our hypothesis, and we might find the missing remainder elsewhere. ”

“ You have only to find out who was in this house at that time in order to give the murderer a name; and, remember, it is in the highest degree probable that he will either have stolen diamonds about his person or have recently disposed of them.
"There is one little point that we may as well settle," he added, "Give me a slide with a drop of Farrant on it, Jervis." ”

“ Nothing must be removed. The station-master or I will let them know at the police-station, so that they can send an officer to relieve you."
With a friendly "good night," we went on our way; and here our connection with the case came to an end.
Hickler was, it is true, arrested as he stepped ashore from the steamer, and a packet of diamonds, subsequently identified as the property of Oscar Brodski, was found upon his person. But he was never brought to trial ”