And now," he continued, when we came
out into the room, "let me explain the mechanism in detail. It was
obvious to me, when I heard poor Fred Calverley's story, that the mirror
was 'faked,' and I drew a diagram of the probable arrangement, which
turns out to be correct. Here it is." He took a sheet of paper from his
pocket and handed it to the lawyer. "There are two sketches. Sketch 1
shows the mirror in its ordinary position, closing the end of the
closet. A person standing at A, of course, sees his reflection facing
him at, apparently, A 1. Sketch 2 shows the mirror swung across. Now a
person standing at A does not see his own reflection at all; but if some
other person is standing in the other closet at B, A sees the reflection
of B apparently at B 1--that is, in the identical position that his own
reflection occupied when the mirror was straight across."
"I see now," said Brodribb; "but who set up this apparatus, and why was
it done?"
"Let me ask you a question," said Thorndyke. "Is Alfred Calverley the
next-of-kin?"
"No; there is Fred's younger brother. But I may say that Fred has made
a will quite recently very much in Alfred's favour.
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