Some of the members
were one evening seated
together in their
clubhouse
in the Adelphi.
Those present were: Henry Melville, a barrister not
overburdened with briefs, who was discussing a problem with Ernest
Russell, a bearded man of middle age, who held some easy post in
Somerset
House, and was a Senior Wrangler and one of the most subtle thinkers of
the club;
Fred Wilson, a journalist of very buoyant spirits, who had
more
real capacity than one would at first suspect;
John Macdonald, a
Scotsman, whose record was that he had never solved a puzzle himself
since the club was formed, though frequently he had put others on the
track of a deep solution;
Tim Churton, a bank clerk, full of cranky,
unorthodox ideas as to perpetual motion; also Harold Tomkins, a
prosperous accountant, remarkably familiar with the elegant branch of
mathematics—the theory of numbers.
Suddenly Herbert
Baynes entered the room, and
everybody saw at
once from
his face that he had something interesting to communicate. Baynes was a
man of private means, with no occupation.
"Here's a quaint
little poser for you all," said
Baynes. "I
have received
it to-day from Dovey."
Dovey was proprietor of one of the many private
detective
agencies that
found it to their advantage to keep in touch with the club.
"Is it another of
those easy cryptograms?" asked
Wilson.
"If
so, I would
suggest sending it upstairs to the billiard-marker."
"Don't be
sarcastic, Wilson," said
Melville.
"Remember, we are
indebted
to Dovey for the great Railway Signal Problem that gave us all a week's
amusement in the solving.
"If you fellows
want to hear," resumed Baynes,
"just try to
keep quiet
while I relate the amusing affair to you.
You all know of the jealous
little Yankee who married Lord Marksford two years ago?
Lady Marksford
and her husband have been in Paris for two or three months.
Well, the
poor creature soon got under the influence of the green-eyed monster,
and
formed the opinion that Lord Marksford was flirting with other ladies
of
his acquaintance.
"Now, she has
actually put one of Dovey's spies on
to that
excellent
husband of hers; and the myrmidon has been shadowing him about for a
fortnight with a pocket camera.
A few days ago he came to Lady
Marksford
in great glee.
He had snapshotted his lordship while actually walking
in
the public streets with a lady who was not his wife."
"'What is the use
of this at all?' asked the
jealous woman.
"'Well, it is
evidence, your ladyship, that your
husband was
walking with
the lady.
I know where she is staying, and in a few days shall have
found
out all about her.'
"'But, you stupid
man,' cried her ladyship, in
tones of great
contempt,
'how can any one swear that this is his lordship, when the greater part
of him, including his head and shoulders, is hidden from
sight?
And—and'—she scrutinized the photo
carefully—'why, I guess it is
impossible from this photograph to say whether the gentleman is walking
with the lady or going in the opposite direction!'
"Thereupon she
dismissed the detective in high
dudgeon.
Dovey
has himself
just returned from Paris, and got this account of the incident from her
ladyship.
He wants to justify his man, if possible, by showing that the
photo does disclose which way the man is going.
Here it is. See what
you
fellows can make of it."
Our illustration is
a faithful drawing made from
the original
photograph.
It will be seen that a slight but sudden summer shower is the real
cause
of the difficulty.
All agreed that
Lady Marksford was
right—that it is
impossible to
determine whether the man is walking with the lady or not.
"Her ladyship is
wrong," said Baynes, after
everybody had made
a close
scrutiny.
"I find there is important evidence in the picture. Look at
it
carefully."
"Of course," said
Melville, "we can tell nothing
from the
frock-coat. It
may be the front or the tails. Blessed if I can say!
Then he has his
overcoat over his arm, but which way his arm goes it is impossible to
see."
"How about the bend
of the legs?" asked Churton.
"Bend! why, there
isn't any bend," put in Wilson,
as he
glanced over the
other's shoulder.
"From the picture you might suspect that his lordship
has no knees.
The fellow took his snapshot just when the legs happened
to
be perfectly straight."
"I'm thinking that
perhaps——"
began
Macdonald, adjusting his
eye-glasses.
"Don't think, Mac,"
advised Wilson.
"It might hurt
you.
Besides, it is no
use you thinking that if the dog would kindly pass on things would be
easy. He won't."
"The man's general
pose seems to me to imply
movement to the
left,"
Tomkins thought.
"On the contrary,"
Melville declared, "it appears
to me
clearly to
suggest movement to the right."
"Now, look here,
you men," said Russell, whose
opinions
always carried
respect in the club.
"It strikes me that what we have to do is to
consider the attitude of the lady rather than that of the man.
Does her
attention seem to be directed to somebody by her side?"
Everybody agreed
that it was impossible to say.
"I've got it!"
shouted Wilson. "Extraordinary that
none of you
have seen
it. It is as clear as possible.
It all came to me in a flash!"
"Well, what is it?"
asked Baynes.
"Why, it is
perfectly obvious.
You see which way
the dog is
going—to the
left.
Very well.
Now, Baynes, to whom does the dog belong?"
"To the detective!"
The laughter
against Wilson that followed this
announcement
was simply
boisterous, and so prolonged that Russell, who had at the time
possession
of the photo, seized the opportunity for making a most minute
examination
of it.
In a few moments he held up his hands to invoke silence.
"Baynes is right,"
he said.
"There is important
evidence there
which
settles the matter with certainty.
Assuming that the gentleman is
really
Lord Marksford—and the figure, so far as it is visible, is
his I have
no hesitation myself in saying that"
"Stop!" all the
members shouted at once.
"Don't break the
rules of the club, Russell,
though Wilson
did," said
Melville.
"Recollect that 'no member shall openly disclose his solution
to a puzzle unless all present consent.'"
"You need not have
been alarmed," explained
Russell.
"I was
simply going
to say that I have no hesitation in declaring that Lord Marksford is
walking in one particular direction.
In which direction I will tell you
when you have all 'given it up.'"
See answer
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