"You spotted him at a glance." In his admiration of the result he cared not a fig for the correctness of the means by which it had been attained.
"Now why do I suggest that he is a stationmaster ?" pursued Thorndyke, disregarding his assistant's comment.
"I suppose you were looking at his feet," I answered.

"I seem to have noticed that peculiar, splay-footed gait in stationmasters, now that you mention it." "Quite so.

The arch of the foot has given way; the plantar ligaments have become stretched and the deep calf muscles weakened.

Then, since bending of the weakened arch causes discomfort, the feet have become turned outwards, by which the bending of the foot is reduced to a minimum; and as the left foot is the more flattened, so it is turned out more than the right.

Then the turning out of the toes causes the legs to splay outward from the knees downwards--a very conspicuous condition in a tall man like this one--and you notice that the left leg splays out more than the other.
"But we know that depression of the arch of the foot is brought about by standing for long periods.