"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." At the end of this speech Simon shut his mouth tight and leaned back in his chair. For a moment it seemed as though Ned Cromarty was impressed by the lawyer's view of the case. But when he replied, his voice, though deliberate had a fighting ring in it, and his single eye, a fighting light. "Then you propose to leave this young couple under the most damnable cloud of suspicion that a man and a woman could lie under--simply leave 'em there, and let that be the end of it?" Simon seemed to be divided between distaste for this way of putting the case, and anxiety still to convince his visitor.