newspaper.

"Don't keep it to yourself, my son," said Otway, laying down his pen
and leaning back, so that his face passed out of the inner circle of
the lamplight.

Sammy bent forward, pushed the paper nearer to this pool of light,
smoothed it and read:

"'Thames-side Mystery

"'A Coroner's jury at C--, a 'village' on the south bank of the
Thames, not a hundred miles below Gravesend--'"

"Seems a lot of mystery about it already," observed Polkinghorne.
"Don't they give the name of the village?"

"No; they just call it 'C--,' and, what's more, they put 'village'
into inverted commas. Don't know why: but there's a hint at the
end."

"Proceed."

Sammy proceeded.

"'--Was engaged yesterday in holding an inquest on the body of an
unknown man, found lying at highwater mark in a creek some way
below the village. A local constable had discovered the body:
but neither the officer who attended nor the river police could
afford any clue to the deceased's identity. Medical evidence
proved that death was due to drowning, although the corpse had
not been long immersed: but a sensation was caused when the
evidence further disclosed that it bore an incised wound over
the left breast, in itself sufficient to cause death had not
suffocation quickly supervened.

"'The body was further described, in the police evidence, as that
of a middle-aged man, presumably a gentleman. It was clad in a
black 'evening-dress' suit, and two pearl studs of some value
remained in the limp shirt-front; from which, however, a third
and fellow stud was missing. The Police Inspector--who asked
for an open verdict, pending further inquiry--added that the
linen, and the clothing generally, bore no mark leading to
identification. Further, if a crime had been committed, the
motive had not been robbery. The trousers-pockets contained a
sovereign, and eighteen shillings in silver. In the waistcoat
was a gold watch (which had stopped at 10.55), with a chain and
a sovereign-purse containing two sovereigns and a
half-sovereign: in the left-hand breast pocket of the
dinner-jacket a handkerchief, unmarked: in the right-hand pocket
a bundle of notes and a worn bean-shaped case for a pair of
eyeglasses. The glasses were missing. The Police had carefully
dried the notes and separated them