“How is it, then,” asked the judge, “that it has been put in evidence?”

“It has been put in by the defence, my lord,” said Sir Hector Trumpler.

“I see,” said the judge. “‘A hair of the dog that bit him.’  The ‘Thumbograph’ is to be applied as a remedy on the principle that similia similibus curantur.  Well?”

“When I arrested him, I administered the usual caution, and the prisoner then said, ‘I am innocent.  I know nothing about the robbery.’”

The counsel for the prosecution sat down, and Anstey rose to cross-examine.

“You have told us,” said he, in his clear musical voice, “that you found at the bottom of the safe two rather large drops of a dark fluid which you considered to be blood.  Now, what led you to believe that fluid to be blood?”

“I took some of the fluid up on a piece of white paper, and it had the appearance and colour of blood.”

“Was it examined microscopically or otherwise?”

“Not to my knowledge.”

“Was it quite liquid?”

“Yes, I should say quite liquid.”

“What appearance had it on paper?”

“It looked like a clear red liquid of the colour of blood, and was rather thick and sticky.”

Anstey sat down, and the next witness, an elderly man, answering to the name of Francis Simmons, was called.

“You are the housekeeper at Mr. Hornby’s premises in St. Mary Axe?” asked Sir Hector Trumpler.

“I am.”

“Did you notice anything unusual on the night of the ninth of March?”

“I did not.”

“Did you make your usual rounds on that occasion?”

“Yes.  I went all over the premises several times during the night, and the rest of the time I was in a room over the private office.”

“Who arrived first on the morning of the tenth?”

“Mr. Reuben.  He arrived about twenty minutes before anybody else.”

“What part of the building did he go to?”

“He went into the private office, which I opened for him.  He remained there until a few minutes before Mr. Hornby arrived, when he went up to the laboratory.”

“Who came next?”

“Mr. Hornby, and Mr. Walter came in just after him.”

The counsel sat down, and Anstey proceeded to cross-examine the witness.

“Who was the last to leave the premises on the evening of the ninth?”

“I am not sure.”

“Why are you not sure?”

“I had to take a note and a parcel to a firm in Shoreditch.  When I started, a clerk named Thomas Holker was in the outer office and Mr. Walter Hornby was in the private office.  When I returned they had both gone.”

“Was the outer door locked?”

“Yes.”

“Had Holker a key of the outer door?”

“No.  Mr. Hornby and his two nephews had each a key, and I have one.  No one else had a key.”

“How long were you absent?”