ot, in such a case, tried the word once or twice
on the edge of the blotting-paper, or a spare scrap of paper, to see if
it looked right? Well, that is what Mrs. Inglethorp did. You will notice
that the word 'possessed' is spelt first with one 's' and subsequently
with two--correctly. To make sure, she had further tried it in a
sentence, thus: 'I am possessed.' Now, what did that tell me? It told
me that Mrs. Inglethorp had been writing the word 'possessed' that
afternoon, and, having the fragment of paper found in the grate fresh
in my mind, the possibility of a will--(a document almost certain
to contain that word)--occurred to me at once. This possibility was
confirmed by a further circumstance. In the general confusion, the
boudoir had not been swept that morning, and near the desk were several
traces of brown mould and earth. The weather had been perfectly fine for
some days, and no ordinary boots would have left such a heavy deposit.

"I strolled to the window, and saw at once that the begonia beds had
been newly planted. The mould in the beds was exactly similar to that on
the floor of the boudoir, and also I learnt from you that they had been
planted yesterday afternoon. I was now sure that one, or possibly both
of the gardeners--for there were two sets of footprints in the bed--had
entered the boudoir, for if Mrs. Inglethorp had merely wished to speak
to them she would in all probability have stood at the window, and they
would not have come into the room at all. I was now quite convinced
that she had made a fresh will, and had called the two gardeners in
to witness her signature. Events proved that I was right in my
supposition."

"That was very ingenious," I could not help admitting. "I must confess
that the conclusions I drew from those few scribbled words were quite
erroneous."

He smiled.

"You gave too much rein to your imagination. Imagination is a good
servant, and a bad master. The simplest explanation is always the most
likely."

"Another point--how did you know that the key of the despatch-case had
been lost?"

"I did not know it. It was a guess that turned out to be correct. You
observed that it had a piece of twisted wire through the handle. That
suggested to me at once that it had possibly been wrenched off a flimsy
key-ring. Now, if it had been lost and recovered, Mrs. Inglethorp would
at once have replaced it on her bunch; but on her bunch I found what was
obviously the duplicate key, ve