“But,” I protested, “this is not Bendelow. This is Morris.”
Thorndyke nodded. “You have just heard two competent witnesses declare with complete conviction and certainty that this is Simon Bendelow; and, as you, yourself, pointed out, there can be no doubt as to their knowledge of Bendelow since they recognized the photograph of him that was shown to them by the American detective.”
“That is perfectly true,” I admitted. “But it is a most incomprehensible affair. This is not the man who was cremated.”
“Evidently not, since he is still alive.”
“But these two women saw Bendelow cremated—at least they saw him passed through into the crematorium, which is near enough. And they had seen him in the coffin a few minutes before I saw him in the coffin, and they saw him again a few minutes after Cropper and Morris and I had put him back in the coffin. And the man whom we put into the coffin was certainly not this man.”
“Obviously not, since he helped you to put the corpse in.”
“And again,” I urged; “if the body that we put into the coffin was not the body that was cremated, what has become of it? It wasn’t buried, for the other coffin was empty. Those women must have made some mistake.”
He shook his head. “The solution of the mystery is staring you in the face,” said he. “It is perfectly obvious, and I am not going to give you any further hints now. When we have made the arrest you shall have a full exposition of the case. But tell me, now; did those two women ever meet Morris?”
I considered for a few moments and then replied: “I have no evidence that they ever met him. They certainly never did in my presence. But even if they had, they would hardly have recognized him as the person whom they have identified to-day. He had grown a beard and moustache, you will remember, and his appearance was very much altered from what it was when I first saw him.”
Thorndyke nodded. “It would be,” he agreed. Then, turning to another subject, he said: “I am afraid it will be necessary for you to be present at the arrest. I would much rather that you were not, for he is a dangerous brute and will probably fight like a wild cat; but you are the only one of us who really knows him by sight in his present state.”