d of him."

"It's a very awkward position for you," I said, "but I should think
there will not be much difficulty in obtaining the permission of the
Court to presume death and to proceed to prove the will."

Mr. Bellingham made a wry face. "I expect you are right," he said,
"but that doesn't help me much. You see, Mr. Jellicoe, having waited a
reasonable time for my brother to reappear, took a very unusual but, I
think, in the special circumstances, a very proper step; he summoned me
and the other interested party to his office and communicated to us the
provisions of the will. And very extraordinary provisions they turned
out to be. I was thunderstruck when I heard them. And the
exasperating thing is that I feel sure my poor brother imagined that he
had made everything perfectly safe and simple."

"They generally do," I said, rather vaguely.

"I suppose they do," said Mr. Bellingham; "but poor John has made the
most infernal hash of his will, and I am certain that he has utterly
defeated his own intentions. You see, we are an old London family.
The house in Queen Square where my brother nominally lived, but
actually kept his collection, has been occupied by us for generations,
and most of the Bellinghams are buried in St. George's burial-ground
close by, though some members of the family are buried in other
churchyards in the neighborhood. Now, my brother--who, by the way, was
a bachelor--had a strong feeling for the family traditions, and he
stipulated, not unnaturally, in his will that he should be buried in
St. George's burial-ground among his ancestors, or, at least, in one of
the places of burial appertaining to his native parish. But instead of
simply expressing the wish and directing his executors to carry it out,
he made it a condition affecting the operation of the will."

"Affecting it in what respect?" I asked.

"In a very vital respect," answered Mr. Bellingham. "The bulk of the
property he bequeathed to me, or if I predeceased him, to my daughter
Ruth. But the bequest was subject to the condition I have
mentioned--that he should be buried in a certain place--and if that
condition was not fulfilled, the bulk of the property was to go to my
cousin, George Hurst."

"But in that case," said I, "as you can't produce the body, neither of
you can get the property."

"I am not so sure of that," he replied. "If my brother is dead, it is
pretty certain that he is not buried in St. George's or any