the
fact that he was alive on that date; and yet further, in case the
porter's memory should be untrustworthy or his statement doubted,
Jeffrey furnished a signed and dated document--the cheque--which could
be produced in a court to furnish incontestable proof of survival.

"To sum up this part of the evidence. Here was a will which enabled John
Blackmore to inherit the fortune of a man who, almost certainly, had no
intention of bequeathing it to him. The wording of that will seemed to
be adjusted to the peculiarities of Mrs. Wilson's disease; and the death
of the testator occurred under a peculiar set of circumstances which
seemed to be exactly adjusted to the wording of the will. Or, to put it
in another way: the wording of the will and the time, the manner and the
circumstances of the testator's death, all seemed to be precisely
adjusted to the fact that the approximate date of Mrs. Wilson's death
was known some months before it occurred.

"Now you must admit that this compound group of coincidences, all
conspiring to a single end--the enrichment of John Blackmore--has a very
singular appearance. Coincidences are common enough in real life; but
we cannot accept too many at a time. My feeling was that there were too
many in this case and that I could not accept them without searching
inquiry."

Thorndyke paused, and Mr. Marchmont, who had listened with close
attention, nodded, as he glanced at his silent partner.

"You have stated the case with remarkable clearness," he said; "and I am
free to confess that some of the points that you have raised had escaped
my notice."

"My first idea," Thorndyke resumed, "was that John Blackmore, taking
advantage of the mental enfeeblement produced by the opium habit, had
dictated this will to Jeffrey, It was then that I sought permission to
inspect Jeffrey's chambers; to learn what I could about him and to see
for myself whether they presented the dirty and disorderly appearance
characteristic of the regular opium-smoker's den. But when, during a
walk into the City, I thought over the case, it seemed to me that this
explanation hardly met the facts. Then I endeavoured to think of some
other explanation; and looking over my notes I observed two points that
seemed worth considering. One was that neither of the witnesses to the
will was really acquainted with Jeffrey Blackmore; both being strangers
who had accepted his identity on his own statement. The other was that
no one who