extraordinary," said Stephen. "I should have thought the
person who hung it would have asked Uncle Jeffrey which was the right
way up; and I can't imagine how on earth it could have hung all those
months without his noticing it. He must have been practically blind."

Here Marchmont, who had been thinking hard, with knitted brows, suddenly
brightened up.

"I see your point," said he. "You mean that if Jeffrey was as blind as
that, it would have been possible for some person to substitute a false
will, which he might sign without noticing the substitution."

"That wouldn't make the will a forgery," growled Winwood. "If Jeffrey
signed it, it was Jeffrey's will. You could contest it if you could
prove the fraud. But he said: 'This is my will,' and the two witnesses
read it and have identified it."

"Did they read it aloud?" asked Stephen.

"No, they did not," replied Thorndyke.

"Can you prove substitution?" asked Marchmont.

"I haven't asserted it," answered Thorndyke, "My position is that the
will is a forgery."

"But it is not," said Winwood.

"We won't argue it now," said Thorndyke. "I ask you to note the fact
that the inscription was upside down. I also observed on the walls of
the chambers some valuable Japanese colour-prints on which were recent
damp-spots. I noted that the sitting-room had a gas-stove and that the
kitchen contained practically no stores or remains of food and hardly
any traces of even the simplest cooking. In the bedroom I found a large
box that had contained a considerable stock of hard stearine candles,
six to the pound, and that was now nearly empty. I examined the clothing
of the deceased. On the soles of the boots I observed dried mud, which
was unlike that on my own and Jervis's boots, from the gravelly square
of the inn. I noted a crease on each leg of the deceased man's trousers
as if they had been turned up half-way to the knee; and in the waistcoat
pocket I found the stump of a 'Contango' pencil. On the floor of the
bedroom, I found a portion of an oval glass somewhat like that of a
watch or locket, but ground at the edge to a double bevel. Dr. Jervis
and I also found one or two beads and a bugle, all of dark brown glass."

Here Thorndyke paused, and Marchmont, who had been gazing at him with
growing amazement, said nervously:

"Er--yes. Very interesting. These observations of yours--er--are--"

"Are all the observations that I made at New Inn."

The two lawyers looked at on