Thus with simple, homely music, and conversation always
cheerful and sometimes brilliant, slipped away one
of the pleasantest evenings of my life, and slipped
away all too soon. St. Dunstan’s clock was
the fly in the ointment, for it boomed out intrusively
the hour of eleven just as my guests were beginning
thoroughly to appreciate one another; and thereby
carried the sun (with a minor paternal satellite) out
of the firmament of my heaven. For I had, in
my professional capacity, given strict injunctions
that Mr. Bellingham should on no account sit up late;
and now, in my social capacity, I had smilingly to
hear “the doctor’s orders” quoted.
It was a scurvy return for all my care.
When Mr. and Miss Bellingham departed, Thorndyke and
Jervis would have gone too; but noting my bereaved
condition, and being withal compassionate and tender
of heart, they were persuaded to stay awhile and bear
me company in a consolatory pipe.
THE EVIDENCE REVIEWED
“So the game has opened,” observed Thorndyke,
as he struck a match. “The play has begun
with a cautious lead off by the other side. Very
cautious, and not very confident.”
“Why do you say ’not very confident’?”
I asked.
“Well, it is evident that Hurst—and,
I fancy, Jellicoe too—is anxious to buy
off Bellingham’s opposition, and at a pretty
long price, under the circumstances. And when
we consider how very little Bellingham has to offer
against the presumption of his brother’s death,
it looks as if Hurst hadn’t much to say on his
side.”
“No,” said Jervis, “he can’t
hold many trumps or he wouldn’t be willing to
pay four hundred a year for his opponent’s chance;
and that is just as well, for it seems to me that
our own hand is a pretty poor one.”
“We must look through our hand and see what
we do hold,” said Thorndyke. “Our
trump card at present—a rather small one,
I am afraid—is the obvious intention of
the testator that the bulk of the property should
go to his brother.”
“I suppose you will begin your inquiries now,”
said I.
“We began them some time ago—the
day after you brought us the will, in fact. Jervis
has been through the registers and has ascertained
that no interment under the name of John Bellingham
has taken place since the disappearance; which was
just what we expected. He has also discovered
that some other person has been making similar inquiries;
which, again, is what we expected.”
“And your own investigations?”
“Have given negative results for the most part.
I found Doctor Norbury, at the British Museum, very
friendly and helpful; so friendly, in fact, that I
am thinking whether I may not be able to enlist his
help in certain private researches of my own, with
reference to the changes effected by time in the physical
properties of certain substances.”
“Oh; you haven’t told me about that,”
said Jervis.
