“Do you want me to believe that there were only two persons when the plate was exposed and three when it was developed?” I asked.  “That is exactly what has happened,” said Jones.

“Then it must be the most wonderful developer you used, or was it that this was the second exposure given to the same plate?”

“The developer is the one which I have been using for the last three years, and the plate, the one I charged on Saturday night out of a new box that I had purchased only on Saturday afternoon.”

A number of other clerks had come up in the meantime, and were taking great interest in the picture and in Jones’ statement.

It is only right that a description of the picture be given here for the benefit of the reader.  I wish I could reproduce the original picture too, but that for certain reasons is impossible.

When the plate was actually exposed there were only two ladies, both of whom were sitting in cane chairs.  When the plate was developed it was found that there was in the picture a figure, that of a lady, standing in the middle.  She wore a broad-edged dhoti (the reader should not forget that all the characters are Indians), only the upper half of her body being visible, the lower being covered up by the low backs of the cane chairs.  She was distinctly behind the chairs, and consequently slightly out of focus.  Still everything was quite clear.  Even her long necklace was visible through the little opening in the dhoti near the right shoulder.  She was resting her hands on the backs of the chairs and the fingers were nearly totally out of focus, but a ring on the right ring-finger was clearly visible.  She looked like a handsome young woman of twenty-two, short and thin.  One of the ear-rings was also clearly visible, although the face itself was slightly out of focus.  One thing, and probably the funniest thing, that we overlooked then but observed afterwards, was that immediately behind the three ladies was a barred window.  The two ladies, who were one on each side, covered up the bars to a certain height from the bottom with their bodies, but the lady in the middle was partly transparent because the bars of the window were very faintly visible through her.  This fact, however, as I have said already, we did not observe then.  We only laughed at Jones and tried to assure him that he was either drunk or asleep.  At this moment Smith of our office walked in, removing the trouser clips from his legs.

Smith took the unmounted photograph, looked at it for a minute, turned red and blue and green and finally very pale.  Of course, we asked him what the matter was and this was what he said: