whom he was used to
quarrelling, but with the second son whom he idolised, in whom he
believed. Don't you remember how John O'Neill heard the words 'liar' and
'deceit'? Percival Brooks had never deceived his father. His sins were
all on the surface. Murray had led a quiet life, had pandered to his
father, and fawned upon him, until, like most hypocrites, he at last got
found out. Who knows what ugly gambling debt or debt of honour, suddenly
revealed to old Brooks, was the cause of that last and deadly quarrel?

"You remember that it was Percival who remained beside his father and
carried him up to his room. Where was Murray throughout that long and
painful day, when his father lay dying--he, the idolised son, the apple
of the old man's eye? You never hear his name mentioned as being present
there all that day. But he knew that he had offended his father
mortally, and that his father meant to cut him off with a shilling. He
knew that Mr. Wethered had been sent for, that Wethered left the house
soon after four o'clock.

"And here the cleverness of the man comes in. Having lain in wait for
Wethered and knocked him on the back of the head with a stick, he could
not very well make that will disappear altogether. There remained the
faint chance of some other witnesses knowing that Mr. Brooks had made a
fresh will, Mr. Wethered's partner, his clerk, or one of the
confidential servants in the house. Therefore _a_ will must be
discovered after the old man's death.

"Now, Murray Brooks was not an expert forger, it takes years of training
to become that. A forged will executed by himself would be sure to be
found out--yes, that's it, sure to be found out. The forgery will be
palpable--let it be palpable, and then it will be found out, branded as
such, and the original will of 1891, so favourable to the young
blackguard's interests, would be held as valid. Was it devilry or
merely additional caution which prompted Murray to pen that forged will
so glaringly in Percival's favour? It is impossible to say.

"Anyhow, it was the cleverest touch in that marvellously devised crime.
To plan that evil deed was great, to execute it was easy enough. He had
several hours' leisure in which to do it. Then at night it was
simplicity itself to slip the document under the dead man's pillow.
Sacrilege causes no shudder to such natures as Murray Brooks. The rest
of the drama you know already--"

"But Percival Brooks?"

"The jury returned a ve