incipal
beneficiary, unless Godfrey should contest Hurst's claim and the Court
should override the conditions of clause two.
"You will now understand the motives which governed my subsequent
actions. You will also see, Doctor Thorndyke, how very near to the truth
your reasoning carried you; and you will understand, as I wish you to
do, that Mr. Hurst was no party to any of those proceedings which I am
about to describe.
"Coming now to the interview in Queen Square in October, nineteen
hundred and two, you are aware of the general circumstances from my
evidence in Court, which was literally correct up to a certain point.
The interview took place in a room on the third floor, in which were
stored the cases which John had brought with him from Egypt. The mummy
was unpacked, as were some other objects that he was not offering to the
Museum, but several cases were still unopened. At the conclusion of the
interview I accompanied Doctor Norbury down to the street door, and we
stood on the doorstep conversing for perhaps a quarter of an hour. Then
Doctor Norbury went away and I returned upstairs.
"Now the house in Queen Square is virtually a museum. The upper part is
separated from the lower by a massive door which opens from the hall and
gives access to the staircase, and which is fitted with a Chubb
night-latch. There are two latchkeys, of which John used to keep one and
I the other. You will find them both in the safe behind me. The
caretaker had no key and no access to the upper part of the house unless
admitted by one of us.
"At the time when I came in, after Doctor Norbury had left, the
caretaker was in the cellar, where I could hear him breaking coke for
the hot-water furnace. I had left John on the third floor opening some
of the packing cases by the light of a lamp with a tool somewhat like a
plasterer's hammer; that is, a hammer with a small axe-blade at the
reverse of the head. As I stood talking to Doctor Norbury, I could hear
him knocking out the nails and wrenching up the lids; and when I entered
the doorway leading to the stairs, I could still hear him. Just as I
closed the staircase door behind me, I heard a rumbling noise from
above; then all was still.
"I went up the stairs to the second floor, where, as the staircase was
all in darkness, I stopped to light the gas. As I turned to ascend the
next flight, I saw a hand projecting over the edge of the half-way
landing. I ran up the stairs, and there, o
|