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.