"Not in this especial instance, my lord. The will leaving all to Captain Jadby, and made in the South Seas years ago, is a personal document, since I have seen it. The unsigned will also was personal, as so far as I know Sir Oliver did not employ any lawyer to draw it. But I drew out the document by which Miss Chent inherited, and Sir Oliver copied it himself, and had it signed by Mrs. Blexey and Agstone. So you see that we can't actually say which will was burnt, as there is not sufficient remaining of the document. From some of the scraps found, which alluded to Miss Chent as 'my dear niece,' it would seem that the will in her favour must have been destroyed, since Sir Oliver when angered would not have spoken kindly of her in the document alluded to by Mrs. Blexey." Prelice nodded absently. "I presume that the new will would also have been signed by Mrs. Blexey and Agstone as witnesses?" "I think so, since Sir Oliver trusted both, but according to the housekeeper the will was not witnessed. For all we know, it may not even have been signed." "Mrs. Blexey says that it wasn't." "I think she is right," said Martaban thoughtfully, "since the testator has to sign in the presence of the witnesses, and Mrs. Blexey would probably have been one." "What about Captain Jadby?" "He was absent on many occasions, and had he signed as a witness he would not have benefited." "Madame Marie Eppingrave?" "Humph!" Martaban considered. "She and Agstone might have signed certainly, but in that case she would have come forward to state to whom the new will left the property. It could not have been Jadby, since the old will held good, if the second was destroyed." "Madame Marie may have been bribed by Jadby to hold her tongue about the third will, so that the first could stand." "Which points to the fact that the second must have been destroyed. Yet Mrs. Blexey says that it was not." "I agree," admitted Prelice; "but, as you say, she does not prove her case." Martaban nodded. "The sole way in which the case can be proved is by the production of the second will." "Or of the third," remarked Prelice quietly. "The assassin of Sir Oliver burnt one will--we know not which--and holds the other. He will produce it when he is ready." "And so lay himself open to arrest," ended Martaban neatly. He paused, and went on deliberately: "I advise a waiting game." "A waiting game?" Martaban nodded. "Let the other side move first." "Do you mean Captain Jadby?" asked Prelice abruptly. "And this unknown assassin, who holds one of the last two wills. Jadby, we know, retains the first, which gives the property to him. He will probably come down to insist upon his rights. I shall refuse to let him have the Grange or the income until the other wills are proved to be destroyed, or at least until he proves that the burnt will is the one giving the property to Miss Chent." "That was proved at the trial."