“Once more, it appeared to me that there were too many coincidences.
“The question as to whether Graves and Jeffrey were identical admitted of fairly easy disproof; for if Graves was still alive, he could not be Jeffrey. It was an important question and I resolved to test it without delay. That night, Jervis and I plotted out the chart, and on the following morning we located the house. But it was empty and to let. The birds had flown, and we failed to discover whither they had gone.
“However, we entered the house and explored. I have told you about the massive bolts and fastenings that we found on the bedroom doors and window, showing that the room had been used as a prison. I have told you of the objects that we picked out of the dust-heap under the grate. Of the obvious suggestion offered by the Japanese brush and the bottle of ‘spirit gum’ or cement, I need not speak now; but I must trouble you with some details concerning the broken spectacles. For here we had come upon the crucial fact to which, as I have said, all sound inductive reasoning brings one sooner or later.
“The spectacles were of a rather peculiar pattern. The frames were of the type invented by Mr. Stopford of Moorfields and known by his name. The right eyepiece was fitted with plain glass, as is usual in the case of a blind, or useless, eye. It was very much shattered, but its character was obvious. The glass of the left eye was much thicker and fortunately less damaged, so that I was able accurately to test its refraction.
“When I reached home, I laid the pieces of the spectacles together, measured the frames very carefully, tested the left eyeglass, and wrote down a full description such as would have been given by the surgeon to the spectacle-maker. Here it is, and I will ask you to note it carefully.
“ ‘Spectacles for constant use. Steel frame, Stopford’s pattern, curl sides, broad bridge with gold lining. Distance between centres, 6.2 centimetres; extreme length of sidebars, 13.3 centimetres.
“ ‘Right eye plain glass “ ‘Left eye −5.75D. spherical
−3.25D. cylindrical, axis 35°.’
“The spectacles, you see, were of a very distinctive character and seemed to offer a good chance of identification. Stopford’s frames are, I believe, made by only one firm of opticians in London, Parry & Cuxton of Regent Street. I therefore wrote to Mr. Cuxton, who knows me, asking him if he had supplied spectacles to the late Jeffrey Blackmore, Esq.—here is a copy of my letter—and if so, whether he would mind letting me have a full description of them, together with the name of the oculist who prescribed them.
“He replied in this letter, which is pinned to the copy of mine, that, about four years ago, he supplied a pair of glasses to Mr. Jeffrey Blackmore, and described them thus:
“ ‘The spectacles were for constant use and had steel frames of Stopford’s pattern with curl sides, the length of the sidebars including the curled ends being 13.3 cm. The bridge was broad with a gold lining-plate, shaped as shown by the enclosed tracing from the diagram on the prescription. Distance between centres 6.2 cm.
“ ‘Right eye plain glass “ ‘Left eye −5.75D. spherical
−3.25D. cylindrical, axis 35°.’
“ ‘The spectacles were prescribed by Mr. Hindley of Wimpole Street.’
“You see that Mr. Cuxton’s description is identical with mine. However, for further confirmation, I wrote to Mr. Hindley, asking certain questions, to which he replied thus:
“ ‘You are quite right. Mr. Jeffrey Blackmore had a tremulous iris in his right eye (which was practically blind), due to dislocation of the lens. The pupils were rather large; certainly not contracted.’
“Here, then, we have three important facts. One is that the spectacles found by us at Kennington Lane were undoubtedly Jeffrey’s; for it is as unlikely that there exists another pair of spectacles exactly identical with those as that there exists another face exactly like Jeffrey’s face. The second fact is that the description of Jeffrey tallies completely with that of the sick man, Graves, as given by Dr. Jervis; and the third is that when Jeffrey was seen by Mr. Hindley, there was no sign of his being addicted to the taking of morphine. The first and second facts, you will agree, constitute complete identification.”
“Yes,” said Marchmont; “I think we must admit the identification as being quite conclusive, though the evidence is of a kind that is more striking to the medical than to the legal mind.”
“You will not have that complaint to make against the next item of evidence,” said Thorndyke. “It is after the lawyer’s own heart, as you shall hear. A few days ago I wrote to Mr. Stephen asking him if he possessed a recent photograph of his uncle Jeffrey. He had one, and he sent it to me by return. This portrait I showed to Dr. Jervis and asked him if he had ever seen the person it represented. After examining it attentively, without any hint whatever from me, he identified it as the portrait of the sick man, Graves.”
“Indeed!” exclaimed Marchmont. “This is most important. Are you prepared to swear to the identity, Dr. Jervis?”
“I have not the slightest doubt,” I replied, “that the portrait is that of Mr. Graves.”
“Excellent!” said Marchmont, rubbing his hands gleefully; “this will be much more convincing to a jury. Pray go on, Dr. Thorndyke.”
“That,” said Thorndyke, “completes the first part of my investigation. We had now reached a definite, demonstrable fact; and that fact, as you see, disposed at once of the main question—the genuineness of the will. For if the man at Kennington Lane was Jeffrey Blackmore, then the man at New Inn was not. But it was the latter
