d have been closed to him. The legacy would have been revoked, the
marriage for which he had planned so long would have been an unrealized
dream.

"He knew the extent of the fortune which was coming to Miss Nuttall. Mr.
Minute made two wills, in both of which he left an identical sum to his
ward. The first of these, revoked by the second and containing the same
provision, was witnessed by the man in the dock! He knew, too, that the
Rhodesian gold mine, the shares of which were held by John Minute on the
girl's behalf, was likely to prove a very rich proposition, and I
suggest that the information coming to him as Mr. Minute's secretary, he
deliberately suppressed that information for his own purpose.

"What had he to gain? I ask you to believe that if he is acquitted he
will have achieved all that he ever hoped to achieve."

There was a little murmur in the court. Frank Merrill, leaning on the
ledge of the dock, looked down at the girl in the body of the court, and
their eyes met. He saw the indignation in her face and nodded with a
little smile, then turned again to the counsel with that eager,
half-quizzical look of interest which the girl had so often seen upon
his handsome face.

"Much will be made, in the course of this trial, of the presence of
another man, and the defense will endeavor to secure capital out of the
fact that the man Crawley, who it was suggested was in the house for an
improper purpose, has not been discovered. As to the fourth man, the
driver of the motor car, there seems little doubt but that he was an
accomplice of Merrill. This mysterious Rex Holland, who has been
identified by Mrs. Totney, of Uckfield, spent the whole of the day
wandering about Sussex, obviously having one plan in his mind, which was
to arrive at Mr. Minute's house at the same time as his confederate.

"You will have the taxi-driver's evidence that when Merrill stepped
down, after being driven from the station, he looked left and right, as
though he were expecting somebody. The plan to some extent miscarried.
The accomplice arrived ten minutes too late. On some pretext or other
Merrill probably left the room. I suggest that he did not go into the
dining room, but that he went out into the garden and was met by his
accomplice, who handed him the weapon with which this crime was
committed.

"It may be asked by the defense why the accomplice, who was presumably
Rex Holland, did not himself commit the crime. I could offer t