Colquitt paused.
"It's this way," he went on, at last. "Many years ago there was
a railway wreck in this part of the state. A good many passengers
were killed. Among them was the wife of a wealthy man. The husband
escaped with his life, but he was so badly hurt that, for a year
or so, his mind suffered. He had to be taken abroad. There were
a few babies among those killed in the wreck, and the infant son
of the couple was supposed to be one of them. The father is now
well and healthy, but a very lonely man. Within the last few
weeks this father has had some reason to believe that his son
didn't perish in the wreck, but that other people, believing both
parents had been killed, took charge of the infant.
"That is all," continued Mr. Colquitt, "except that the missing
infant had a small v-shaped nick on the outer edge of his right
ear. Probably with the boy's growth, if he is still alive, the
nick has become so small as to be barely noticeable, like the
nick in Holmes' right ear. Mr. Hibbert came to Gridley only yesterday,
and it happened that one of the first young men he saw, close
to the hotel, was young Holmes. Rather by chance Hibbert saw
that very small nick, that usually would escape notice.
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