“I don’t think any of us have thought of blaming you in the matter, Mr. Tallboys.  I am sure that I have not.  You could not possibly have foreseen that Mr. Penfold’s sisters were likely to turn out thieves.”

“Well, that is rather a strong expression, Mrs. Conway; though natural enough I must admit in your position as Mr. Ralph Conway’s mother.  You see, there is a difference between concealing and not disclosing.  Mr. Penfold himself concealed the will.  The Miss Penfolds simply refuse to assist us in our search for it.”

“And as the nearest heirs take possession of the property.”

“Quite so, Mrs. Conway.  I am not defending their conduct, which morally is dishonest in the extreme, but I doubt whether any court of law would find it to be a punishable offense.”

“Well, now, Mr. Tallboys, I want you to let me know whether you suspect that they have destroyed the will; which, I suppose, would be a punishable offense.”

“Certainly the destruction of the will, in order that those who destroyed might get possession of property, would be criminal.  Well, I don’t know; I have thought it over in every sense, and think the balance of probability is against their having destroyed it.  In the first place the Miss Penfolds doubtless consider that the will is so securely hidden there is little, if any, chance of its being discovered.  That this is so we know, from the fact that although I ransacked the house from top to bottom, pulled down wainscoting, lifted floors, and tried every imaginable point which either I or the men who were working with me suspected to be a likely spot for a hiding-place, we did not succeed in finding it.

“Now, I have noticed that ladies have at times somewhat peculiar ideas as to morality, and are apt to steer very close to the wind.  The Miss Penfolds may consider themselves perfectly justified in declining to give us any assistance in finding the will, soothing their consciences by the reflection that by such refusal they are committing no offense of which the law takes cognizance; but while doing this they might shrink from the absolutely criminal offense of destroying the will.  I do not say that now they have entered upon the path they have that they would not destroy the will if they thought there was a chance of its being discovered.  I only say that, thinking it to be absolutely safe, they are unlikely to perform an act which, if discovered, would bring them under the power of the law.

“They may consider themselves free to believe, or if not actually to believe, to try and convince themselves, that for aught they know their brother may have destroyed the will, and that it is not for them to prove whether he did so or not.  Upon these grounds, therefore, it seems to me probable that the will is still in existence; but I acknowledge that so far as its utility is concerned it might as well have been destroyed by Mr. Penfold himself or by his sisters.”