“Excellent!” said Marchmont, rubbing his hands gleefully; “this will be much more convincing to a jury. Pray go on, Dr. Thorndyke.”

“That,” said Thorndyke, “completes the first part of my investigation. We had now reached a definite, demonstrable fact; and that fact, as you see, disposed at once of the main question⁠—the genuineness of the will. For if the man at Kennington Lane was Jeffrey Blackmore, then the man at New Inn was not. But it was the latter who had signed the will. Therefore the will was not signed by Jeffrey Blackmore; that is to say, it was a forgery. The case was complete for the purposes of the civil proceedings; the rest of my investigations had reference to the criminal prosecution that was inevitable. Shall I proceed, or is your interest confined to the will?”

“Hang the will!” exclaimed Stephen. “I want to hear how you propose to lay hands on the villain who murdered poor old uncle Jeffrey⁠—for I suppose he did murder him?”