cording to his wife,
there was no one to leave him a legacy. She never heard of his receipt
of this money from any source. But--there's the fact! What explains it?
My theory--that the rumour that Collishaw, with a pint too much ale in
him, had hinted that he could say something about Braden's death if he
chose, had reached Braden's assailant; that he had made it his business
to see Collishaw and had paid him that fifty pounds as hush-money--and,
later, had decided to rid himself of Collishaw altogether, as he
undoubtedly did, by poison."

Once more Bryce paused--and once more the two listeners showed their
attention by complete silence.

"Now we come to the question--how was Collishaw poisoned?" continued
Bryce. "For poisoned he was, without doubt. Here we go back to
theory and supposition once more. I haven't the least doubt that the
hydrocyanic acid which caused his death was taken by him in a pill--a
pill that was in that box which they found on him, Mitchington, and
showed me. But that particular pill, though precisely similar in
appearance, could not be made up of the same ingredients which were in
the other pills. It was probably a thickly coated pill which contained
the poison;--in solution of course. The coating would melt almost
as soon as the man had swallowed it--and death would result
instantaneously. Collishaw, you may say, was condemned to death when he
put that box of pills in his waistcoat pocket. It was mere chance, mere
luck, as to when the exact moment of death came to him. There had been
six pills in that box--there were five left. So Collishaw picked out the
poisoned pill--first! It might have been delayed till the sixth dose,
you see--but he was doomed."

Mitchington showed a desire to speak, and Bryce paused.

"What about what Ransford said before the Coroner?" asked Mitchington.
"He demanded certain information about the post-mortem, you know, which,
he said, ought to have shown that there was nothing poisonous in those
pills."

"Pooh!" exclaimed Bryce contemptuously. "Mere bluff! Of such a pill as
that I've described there'd be no trace but the sugar coating--and the
poison. I tell you, I haven't the least doubt that that was how the
poison was administered. It was easy. And--who is there that would know
how easily it could be administered but--a medical man?"

Mitchington and Jettison exchanged glances. Then Jettison leaned nearer
to Bryce.

"So your theory is that Ransford got rid of