And men who wear silk hats are usually well-dressed men."
"But how can you be at all sure that the hat fell off? Isn't it
possible that he took it off and laid it there?"
"Possible--yes--but scarcely probable. A well-dressed man is so from
instinct. And his instinctive neatness would hardly permit him to put
his well-kept hat down in the dust."
"Go on," said Pendleton.
"The stairs have been used since the hat fell there; but the dust has
not been disturbed. There is a hand-rail on the other side of the
flight, and consequently, all went up and down on that side."
"I can understand the thick glasses," said Pendleton, "his being
near-sighted suggested those. But what made you think he cared for the
modern German dramatists?"
"That was a hazard, merely," and the investigator laughed.
"He knew German and was apparently a man of intelligence. No man who
combines these two things can fail of admiration of Hauptmann,
Sudermann and their brothers of the pen. And then a mute who knew
shorthand well enough to have such ready recourse to it, struck me as
being unusual. They all know the digital sign language; but German and
phonography classed him as one above the ordinary. This knowledge
brought the suggestion of an institution.
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