To facilitate the comparison I have made transparent photographs of both
sets of moulds to the same scale. Now, if we put the photograph of the
mould of the prisoner's right shoe over that of the murderer's right
shoe, and hold the two superposed photographs up to the light, we cannot
make the two pictures coincide. They are exactly of the same length, but
the shoes are of different shape. Moreover, if we put one of the nails
in one photograph over the corresponding nail in the other photograph,
we cannot make the rest of the nails coincide. But the most conclusive
fact of all--from which there is no possible escape--is that the number
of nails in the two shoes is not the same. In the sole of the prisoner's
right shoe there are forty nails; in that of the murderer there are
forty-one. The murderer has one nail too many."
There was a deathly silence in the court as the magistrates and Mr.
Bashfield pored over the moulds and the prisoner's shoes, and examined
the photographs against the light. Then the chairman asked: "Are these
all the facts, or have you something more to tell us?" He was evidently
anxious to get the key to this riddle.
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