. He went
away from home some little time ago at rather short notice, and
probably deposited the documents in the hiding-place for safe-keeping."

"You mean the will which he made some three years ago?" said Mr.
Nicholas.

"Exactly," answered Mr. Denny. In his quick, jerky movements he was
always very like a bird, but now he was watching the other man with the
keen eyes of a hawk.

"Well?" queried the visitor.

"On examination," continued the lawyer, "I found that, unknown to me,
he had added a codicil. Pardon me if I make this quite clear for the
benefit of our young friend," he continued, turning to Miles. "A
codicil is an addition--postscript, as it were--which a person adds to
his original will, and it has to be duly signed and witnessed in the
same way as the will itself. In this case your father wished a small
sum of money to be given to an old servant, and to ensure this being
done he added the codicil of which I am speaking."

Mr. Nicholas was listening intently, but did not seem to understand at
what the lawyer was driving.

"Well, what of that?" he demanded.

"The point is," said Mr. Denny quite calmly, "that this codicil was
dated not more than a month before your brother's death."

A deep hush fell upon the room--so deep that the ticking of the old
clock in the corner seemed to have become almost as loud as the
knocking of a hammer. Mr. Nicholas sat like a graven image, merely
drumming softly on the table with the tips of his fingers, while his
and Mr. Denny's gaze remained fixed as though each had determined to
stare the other out of countenance.

"Once more, for the benefit of our young friend, let me be more
explicit," went on Mr. Denny. "His father makes a will, and then,
apparently, revokes it by making another some eighteen months later.
Now, a month before his death, instead of adding a codicil to the
second will, he adds it to the first, which has become so much waste
paper--a foolish thing, which no man in his senses would have thought
of doing. We can only conclude," continued Mr. Denny, "that he had no
recollection at all of having executed a second will."

The square jaw was rigid, and a dark flush overspread the visitor's
temples.

"It was a mistake," he said thickly. "A slip of memory might cause any
one to do a similar thing."

"Following up our first discovery," continued Mr. Denny, apparently
paying no attention to this reply, "I was led to go a little further,
and