R Austin Freeman

The Anthropologist at Large: a Dr John Thorndyke Mystery: (R Austin Freeman Masterpiece Collection)

Publisher Marketing: "Then as to the hair: it was, as I mentioned to you, circular in section, and of very large diameter. Now, I have examined many thousands of hairs, and the thickest that I have ever seen came from the heads of Japanese; but the hairs from this hat were as thick as any of them. But the hypothesis that the burglar was a Japanese received confirmation in various ways. Thus, he was short, though strong and active, and the Japanese are the shortest of the Mongol races, and very strong and active. "Then his remarkable skill in handling the powerful caretaker-a retired police-sergeant-suggested the Japanese art of ju-jitsu, while the nature of the robbery was consistent with the value set by the Japanese on works of art. Finally, the fact that only a particular collection was taken, suggested a special, and probably national, character in the things stolen, while their portability-you will remember that goods of the value of from eight to twelve thousand pounds were taken away in two hand-packages-was much more consistent with Japanese than Chinese works, of which the latter tend rather to be bulky and ponderous. Still, it was nothing but a bare hypothesis until we had seen Futashima-and, indeed, is no more now. I may, after all, be entirely mistaken."