?" asked Paul,
dubiously.

"I can't say for certain," was the cautious reply; "but I think so, on
the face of the evidence which you have heard. What do you say?"

"Don't say anything," said Sylvia, before Paul could reply. "Mr. Hurd
had better read this paper. It was found by Deborah in an old box
belonging to my father, which was brought from Gwynne Street."

She gave the detective several sheets of blue foolscap pinned together
and closely written in the shaky handwriting of Aaron Norman. Hurd
looked at it rather dubiously. "What is it?" he asked.

"The paper referred to in that unfinished scrap of writing which was
discovered behind the safe," explained Paul. "Norman evidently wrote it
out, and placed it in his pocket, where he forgot it. Deborah found it
in an old coat, she discovered in a box of clothes brought from Gwynne
Street. They were Norman's clothes and his box, and should have been
left behind."

"Debby won't hear of that," said Sylvia, laughing. "She says Mrs. Krill
has got quite enough, and she took all she could."

"What's all this writing about?" asked Hurd, turning over the
closely-written sheets. "To save time you had better give me a precis of
the matter. Is it important?"

"Very I should say," responded Paul, emphatically. "It contains an
account of Norman's life from the time he left Christchurch."

"Hum." Hurd's eyes brightened. "I'll read it at my leisure, but at the
present moment you might say what you can."

"Well, you know a good deal of it," said Paul, who did the talking at a
sign from Sylvia. "It seems that Norman--we'd better stick to the old
name--left Christchurch because he was afraid of being accused of
murdering Lady Rachel."

"Was she really murdered?"

"Norman doesn't say. He swears he knows nothing about the matter. The
first intimation he had was when Jessop came down with the news after
blundering into the wrong bedroom. But he hints that Mrs. Krill killed
her."

"Can he prove that?"

"No. He can't give any proof, or, at all events, he doesn't. He declares
that when his wife and daughter--"

"Oh! does he call Maud his daughter?"

"Yes! We can talk of that later," said Paul, impatiently. "Well, then,
Norman says he went fairly mad. Jessop had bolted, but Norman knew he
would not give the alarm, since he might be accused himself of killing
Lady Rachel. Maud, who had seen the body, wanted to run out and call the
neighbors."

"How old does Norman say she was?