A sudden light had burst upon me, and I suppose my countenance betrayed the fact.
"I am a confounded fool!" I exclaimed.
"Oh, don't say that," said Jervis. "Give your friends a chance."
"I ought to have seen this long ago and told you about it. John Bellingham did wear a ring, and it was so tight that, when once he had got it on, he could never get it off again."
"Do you happen to know on which hand he wore it?" Thorndyke asked.
"Yes. It was on the left hand; because Miss Bellingham, who told me about it, said that he would never have been able to get the ring on at all but for the fact that his left hand was slightly smaller than his right."
"There it is, then," said Thorndyke. "With this new fact in our possession, the absence of the finger furnishes the starting-point of some very curious speculations."
"As, for instance," said Jervis.
"Ah, under the circumstances, I must leave you to pursue those speculations independently. I am now acting for Mr. Bellingham."
Jervis grinned and was silent for a-while, refilling his pipe thoughtfully; but when he had got it alight he resumed.