o
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, was shown
into a certain room, 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 the circumstances of the
testator's disappearance and his continued absence incongruous with his
habits and personal peculiarities as they are known to you? and second,
Are there any facts which indicate in a positive manner that the
testator is dead? Ask yourselves these questions, gentlemen, and the
answers to them, furnished by the evidence that you have heard, will
guide you to your decision."

Having delivered himself of the above instructions, the judge applied
himself to the perusal of the will with professional gusto, in which
occupation he was presently disturbed by the announcement of the foreman
of the jury that a verdict had been agreed upon.

The judge sat up and glanced at the jury-box, and when the foreman
proceeded to state that "We find no sufficient reason for presuming the
testator, John Bellingham, to be dead," he nodded approvingly. Evidently
that was his opinion, too, as he was careful to explain when he conveyed
to Mr. Loram the refusa