dow."

"You admit there is no proof?"

"Sure," said Ned candidly. "I quite admit there is no proof of
anything--yet."

"No robbery, no evidence of anyone having come in by the window--"

"No proof," corrected Ned. "I maintain that the window being unsnibbed
and that mud on the floor and the table near the window being upset is
evidence; but not proof positive."

Simon's patience had by this time become exemplary. His only wish seemed
to be to convince by irresistible argument this obstinate objector. It
struck the visitor, moreover, that in this effort the lawyer was
displaying a fluency not at all characteristic of silent Simon.

"Well, let us leave it at that. Suppose there be a possibility that
entry was actually made by the window. It is a bare possibility against
the obvious and easy entrance by the door,--near which, remember, the
body was found. Then, as I have pointed out, there was no robbery, and
not a trace has been found of anybody outside that house with a motive
for the crime."

"Except me."

"Unless you care to except yourself. But neither you nor the police have
found any bad characters in the place."

"That's true enough," Ned admitted reluctantly.

"On the other hand, there were within the house two people with a very
strong motive for committing the crime."

"I deny that!" cried Ned with a sudden gleam of ferocity in his eye that
seemed to disconcert the lawyer.

"Deny it? You can scarcely deny that two young people, in love with one
another and secretly engaged, with no money, and no chance of getting
married, stood to gain everything they wanted by a death that gave them
freedom to marry, a baronetcy, a thousand a year, and two thousand in
cash besides?"

"Damn it, Mr. Rattar, is the fact that a farmer benefits by a shower any
evidence that he has turned on the rain?"

"I have repeatedly said, Mr. Cromarty, that there is no definite
evidence to convict anybody. But nothing would have been easier than
making an end of Sir Reginald Cromarty, to anybody inside that house
whom he would never suspect till they struck the blow. All the necessary
conditions are fulfilled by this view of the case, whereas every other
view--every other view, mind you, Mr. Cromarty--is confronted with these
difficulties:--no robbery, no definite evidence of entry, no explanation
of Sir Reginald's extraordinary silence when the man appeared, no bad
characters in the neighbourhood, and, above all, no motive."