ll which
he wished me to look over before it was executed.

"It was an absurd will, and I nearly told him so; but then an idea
occurred to me in connection with Hurst. It was obvious to me, as soon
as I glanced through the will, that, if the burial clause was left as
the testator had drafted it, Hurst had a very good chance of inheriting
the property; and, as I was named as the executor I should be able to
give full effect to that clause. Accordingly, I asked for a few days
to consider the will, and then I called upon Hurst and made a proposal
to him; which was this: That I should advance him five thousand pounds
without security; that I should ask for no repayment, but that he
should assign to me any interest that he might have or acquire in the
estate of John Bellingham up to ten thousand pounds, or two-thirds of
any sum that he might inherit if over that amount. He asked if John
had yet made any will, and I replied, quite correctly, that he had not.
He inquired if I knew what testamentary arrangements John intended to
make, and again I answered, quite correctly, that I believed John
proposed to devise the bulk of his property to his brother, Godfrey.

"Thereupon, Hurst accepted my proposal; I made him the advance and he
executed the assignment. After a few days' delay, I passed the will as
satisfactory. The actual document was written from the draft by the
testator himself; and a fortnight after Hurst had executed the
assignment, John signed the will in my office. By the provisions of
that will I stood an excellent chance of becoming virtually the
principal beneficiary, unless Godfrey should contest Hurst's claim and
the Court should override the conditions of clause two.

"You will now understand the motives which governed my subsequent
actions. You will also see, Doctor Thorndyke, how very near to the
truth your reasoning carried you; and you will understand, as I wish
you to do, that Mr. Hurst was no party to any of these proceedings
which I am about to describe.

"Coming now to the interview in Queen Square in October, nineteen
hundred and two, you are aware of the general circumstances from my
evidence in Court, which was literally correct up to a certain point.
The interview took place in a room on the third floor, in which were
stored the cases which John had brought with him from Egypt. The mummy
was unpacked, as were some other objects that he was not offering to
the Museum, but several cases wer