Read "The Red Thumbmark" by R. Austin Freeman online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
When I arrived at Thorndyke's chambers on the following morning, I found my friend already hard at work. Breakfast was laid at one end of the table, while at the other stood a microscope of the pattern used for examining plate-cultures of microorganisms, on the wide stage of which was one of the cards bearing six thumbprints in blood. A condenser threw a bright spot of light on the card, which Thorndyke had been examining when I knocked, as I gathered from the position of the chair, which he now pushed back against the wall.
"I see you have commenced work on our problem," I remarked as, in response to a double ring of the electric bell, Polton entered with the materials for our repast.