Part 24 (2/2)

”A good hour to spare yet,” replied Chettle.

Allerd.y.k.e locked the door of the sitting-room when they were once inside it, and that done he placed a decanter, a syphon, and a gla.s.s on his table, and flanked them with a box of cigars. He waved a hospitable hand towards these comforts.

”Sit down and help yourself, Chettle,” he said. ”A drop of my whisky'll do you no harm--that's some I got down from home, and you'll not find its like everywhere. Light a cigar--and put a couple in your pocket to smoke in the train. Now then, let's see that photograph once more.”

Chettle handed over the watch, and Allerd.y.k.e, opening the case, delicately removed the print. He sat down at the table with his back to the light, and carefully examined the thing back and front, while the detective, gla.s.s in hand, cigar in lips, and thumb in the armhole of his waistcoat, watched him appreciatively and inquisitively.

”Make aught new out of it, sir?” he asked after a while.

Instead of answering, Allerd.y.k.e laid the photograph down, went across to another table, and took from it his alb.u.m. He turned its leaves over until he came to a few loose prints. He picked them up one after another and examined them. And suddenly he knew the secret. There was no longer any problem, any difficulty about that photograph. He knew--now! And with a sharp exclamation, he flung the alb.u.m back to the side-table, and turned to the detective.

”Chettle!” he said. ”You know me well enough to know that I can make it well worth any man's while to keep a secret until I tell him he can speak about it! What!”

”I should think so, Mr. Allerd.y.k.e,” responded Chettle, readily enough.

”And if you want me to keep a secret--”

”I do--for the time being,” answered Allerd.y.k.e. He sat down again and picked up the photograph which had exercised his thoughts so intensely.

”I've found out the truth concerning this,” he said, tapping it with his finger. ”Yes, I've hit it! Listen, now--I told you I'd only made four prints of this photo, and that I knew exactly where they all were--one in my own alb.u.m there, two given by James to friends in Bradford, one--as we more recently found out--given by James to Mrs. Marlow. That one--the Mrs. Marlow one--we believed to be--this--this!”

”And isn't it, Mr. Allerd.y.k.e?” asked Chettle wonderingly.

Allerd.y.k.e laughed--a laugh of relief and satisfaction.

”Less than an hour ago,” he replied, ”in fact, just before you came in, Mrs. Marlow showed me the photo which James gave her--showed it to me, out below there in the hall. No mistaking it! And so--when you came, I was racking my brains to rags trying to settle what this photo--this!--was. And now I know what it is--and d.a.m.n me if I know whether the discovery makes things plainer or more mixed up! But--I know what this is, anyway.”

”And--what is it, sir?” asked Chettle eagerly, eyeing the photo as if it were some fearful living curiosity. ”What, Mr. Allerd.y.k.e?”

”Why, it's a photograph of my photograph!” almost shouted Allerd.y.k.e, with a thump of his big hand on the table. ”That's the truth. This has been reproduced from mine, d'ye see? Look here--happen you don't know much about photography, but you'll follow me--I always use a certain sort of printing-out paper; I've stuck to one particular sort for years--all the photos in that alb.u.m are done on that particular sort. The four prints I made of James's last photo were done on that paper. Now then--this photo, this print that you found in Lydenberg's watch, is not done on that paper--it's a totally different paper. Therefore--this is a reproduction!

It is not my original print at all--it's been copied from it. See?”

Chettle, who had followed all this with concentrated attention, nodded his head several times.

”Clever--clever--clever!” he said with undisguised admiration. ”Clever, indeed! That's a smart bit of work, sir. I see--I understand! Bless my soul! And what do you gather from that, Mr. Allerd.y.k.e?”

”This!” answered Allerd.y.k.e. ”Just now, Mrs. Marlow said to me, speaking of her photo--the fourth print, you know--'I misplaced it some time ago,' she said, 'and couldn't lay hands on it, but I came across it accidentally this morning.' Now then, Chettle, here's the thing--somebody took that fourth print from Mrs. Marlow, reproduced it--and that--that print which you found in Lydenberg's watch is the reproduction!”

”So that,” began Chettle suggestively, ”so that--”

”So that the thing now is to find who it is that made the reproduction,”

said Allerd.y.k.e. ”When we've found him--or her--I reckon we shall have found the man who's at the heart of all this. Leave that to me! Keep this a dead secret until I tell you to speak--we shall have to tell all this, and a bonny sight more, to your bosses at headquarters--off you go to Hull, and do what you have to do, and I'll get on with my work here. I said I didn't know whether this discovery makes things thicker or clearer, but, by George, it's a step forward anyway!”

Chettle put the reproduction back into the case of the watch and bestowed it safely in his pocket.

”One step forward's a good deal in a case like this, Mr. Allerd.y.k.e,” he said. ”What are you going to do about the next step, now?”

”Try to find out who made that reproduction,” replied Allerd.y.k.e bluntly.

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