nst some queer characters--Gilverthwaite was one, Phillips--whoever
he may have been--another. It's very evident, from what I've heard from
you, that the three men were associates at one time. And it may be--it's
probably the case--that in some moment of confidence, Michael let out his
secret to these two, and that when he was dead they decided to make more
inquiries into it--possibly to blackmail the man who had stepped in, and
whom they most likely believed to be the genuine Sir Gilbert Carstairs.
Put it this way: once they'd found the documentary evidence they wanted,
the particulars of Michael's marriage, and so on, what had they to do but
go to Sir Gilbert--as they thought him to be--and put it to him that, if
he didn't square them to keep silence, they'd reveal the truth to his
nephew, whom, it's evident, they'd already got to know of as Mr. Gavin
Smeaton. But as regards the actual murder of Phillips--ah, that's a
mystery that, in my opinion, is not like to be solved! The probability is
that a meeting had been arranged with Sir Gilbert--which means, of
course, Meekin--that night, and that Phillips was killed by him. As to
Crone--it's my opinion that Crone's murder came out of Crone's own greed
and foolishness; he probably caught Meekin unawares, told what he knew,
and paid the penalty."

"There's another possible theory about the Phillips murder," remarked Mr.
Gavin Smeaton. "According to what you know, Mr. Elphinstone, this Meekin
is a man who has travelled much abroad--so had Phillips. How do we know
that when Meekin and Phillips met that night, Meekin wasn't recognized by
Phillips as Meekin--and that Meekin accordingly had a double incentive to
kill him?"

"Good!" exclaimed Mr. Lindsey. "Capital theory!--and probably the right
one. But," he continued, rising and making for the door, "all the
theories in the world won't help us to lay hands on Meekin, and I'm going
to see if Murray has made out anything from his search and his
questioning."

Murray had made out nothing. There was nothing whatever in the private
rooms of the supposed Sir Gilbert Carstairs and his wife to suggest any
clue to their whereabouts: the servants could tell nothing of their
movements beyond what the police already knew. Sir Gilbert had never been
seen by any of them since the morning on which he went into Berwick to
hear the case against Carter: Lady Carstairs had not been seen since her
departure from the house secretly, two mornings