were two sets of footprints in the bed--had entered the boudoir,
for if Mrs. Inglethorp had merely wished to speak to them she
would in all probability have stood at the window, and they would
not have come into the room at all. I was now quite convinced
that she had made a fresh will, and had called the two gardeners
in to witness her signature. Events proved that I was right in
my supposition."

"That was very ingenious," I could not help admitting. "I must
confess that the conclusions I drew from those few scribbled
words were quite erroneous."

He smiled.

"You gave too much rein to your imagination. Imagination is a
good servant, and a bad master. The simplest explanation is
always the most likely."

"Another point--how did you know that the key of the
despatch-case had been lost?"

"I did not know it. It was a guess that turned out to be
correct. You observed that it had a piece of twisted wire
through the handle. That suggested to me at once that it had
possibly been wrenched off a flimsy key-ring. Now, if it had
been lost and recovered, Mrs. Inglethorp would at once have
replaced it on her bunch; but on her bunch I found what was
obviously the duplicate key, very new and bright, which led me to
the hypothesis that somebody else had inserted the original key
in the lock of the despatch-case."