archmont drew forth a large handkerchief and mopped
his forehead. Stephen Blackmore looked from one to the other
expectantly, and finally said:

"If I might make a suggestion, it would be that, as Dr. Thorndyke has
shown us the pieces now of the puzzle, he should be so kind as to put
them together for our information."

"Yes," agreed Marchmont, "that will be the best plan. Let us have the
argument, Doctor, and any additional evidence that you possess."

"The argument," said Thorndyke, "will be a rather long one, as the data
are so numerous, and there are some points in verification on which I
shall have to dwell in some detail. We will have some coffee to clear
our brains, and then I will bespeak your patience for what may seem like
a rather prolix demonstration."

Chapter XVI

An Exposition and a Tragedy

"You may have wondered," Thorndyke commenced, when he had poured out the
coffee and handed round the cups, "what induced me to undertake the
minute investigation of so apparently simple and straightforward a case.
Perhaps I had better explain that first and let you see what was the
real starting-point of the inquiry.

"When you, Mr. Marchmont and Mr. Stephen, introduced the case to me, I
made a very brief precis of the facts as you presented them, and of
these there were one or two which immediately attracted my attention. In
the first place, there was the will. It was a very strange will. It was
perfectly unnecessary. It contained no new matter; it expressed no
changed intentions; it met no new circumstances, as known to the
testator. In short it was not really a new will at all, but merely a
repetition of the first one, drafted in different and less suitable
language. It differed only in introducing a certain ambiguity from which
the original was free. It created the possibility that, in certain
circumstances, not known to or anticipated by the testator, John
Blackmore might become the principal beneficiary, contrary to the
obvious wishes of the testator.

"The next point that impressed me was the manner of Mrs. Wilson's death.
She died of cancer. Now people do not die suddenly and unexpectedly of
cancer. This terrible disease stands almost alone in that it marks out
its victim months in advance. A person who has an incurable cancer is a
person whose death may be predicted with certainty and its date fixed
within comparatively narrow limits.

"And now observe the remarkable series of coincidences