he very carefully examined first one and
then the other, and as she did so a light of intelligence broke out upon
her face.

"Well, Portia, have you got it?" he asked.

"I have got something," she answered. "I do not know if it is right.
Don't you see, the old man was superstitious; they frightened him first
of all by a ghostly voice or some such thing into signing the will, and
then to death after he had signed it. The lawyer's clerk prepared the
will--he would know how to do it. Then he was smuggled into the room
under the bed, or somewhere, dressed up as a ghost perhaps. The sending
for the son by the niece was a blind. The thing that was seen running
away was a boy--those footprints were made by a boy. I have seen so many
thousands on the sands here that I could swear to it. He was attracted
to the house from the road, which was quite near, by catching sight
of something unusual through the blind; the brief says there were no
curtains or shutters. Now look at the photographs of the footprints.
See in No. 1, found outside the window, the toes are pressed down deeply
into the mud. The owner of the feet was standing on tip-toe to get a
better view. But in No. 2, which was found near where the son thought
he saw a person running, the toes are spread out quite wide. That is the
footprint of some one who was in a great hurry. Now it is not probable
that a boy had anything to do with the testator's death. Why, then, was
the boy running so hard? I will tell you: because he was frightened at
something he had seen through the blind. So frightened was he, that he
will not come forward, or answer the advertisements and inquiries. Find
a boy in that town who has a joint missing on the third toe of the right
foot, and you will soon know all about it."

"By Jove," said Geoffrey, "what a criminal lawyer you would make! I
believe that you have got it. But how are we to find this boy with the
missing toe-joint? Every possible inquiry has already been made and
failed. Nobody has seen such a boy, whose deficiency would probably be
known by his parents, or schoolfellows."

"Yes," said Beatrice, "it has failed because the boy has taken to
wearing shoes, which indeed he would always have to do at school. His
parents, if he has any, would perhaps not speak of his disfigurement,
and no one else might know of it, especially if he were a new-comer in
the neighbourhood. It is quite possible that he took off his boots in
order to creep up t