decision without the
profoundest consideration of all the facts.

"The evidence that you have heard divides itself into two parts--that
relating to the circumstances of the testator's disappearance, and that
relating to certain human remains. In connection with the latter I can
only express my surprise and regret that the application was not
postponed until the completion of the coroner's inquest, and leave you
to consider the evidence. You will bear in mind that Doctor Summers
has stated explicitly that the remains cannot be identified as those of
any particular individual, but that the testator and the unknown
deceased had so many points of resemblance that they might possibly be
one and the same person.

"With reference to the circumstances of the disappearance, you have
heard the evidence of Mr. Jellicoe to the effect that the testator has
on no previous occasion gone abroad without informing him as to his
proposed destination. But in considering what weight you are to give
to this statement you will bear in mind that when the testator set out
for Paris after his interview with Doctor Norbury he left Mr. Jellicoe
without any information as to his specific destination, his address in
Paris, or the precise date when he should return, and that Mr. Jellicoe
was unable to tell us where the testator went or what was his business.
Mr. Jellicoe was, in fact, for a time without any means of tracing the
testator or ascertaining his whereabouts.

"The evidence of the housemaid, Dobbs, and of Mr. Hurst is rather
confusing. It appears that the testator came to the house, and when
looked for later was not to be found. A search of the premises showed
that he was not in the house, whence it seems to follow that he must
have left it; but since no one was informed of his intention to leave,
and he had expressed the intention of staying to see Mr. Hurst, his
conduct in thus going away surreptitiously must appear somewhat
eccentric. The point that you have to consider, therefore, is whether
a person who is capable of thus departing in a surreptitious and
eccentric manner from a house, without giving notice to the servants,
is capable also of departing in a surreptitious and eccentric manner
from his usual places of resort without giving notice to his friends or
thereafter informing them of his whereabouts.

"The questions, then, gentlemen, that you have to ask yourselves before
deciding on your verdict are two: first, Are th