He would, in brief, murder Berlyn, stage the accident on the moor, and disappear—as Stanley Pyke. He would immediately reappear—as Jefferson. By impersonating Jefferson he could marry Phyllis and get all his cousin’s money as well. In this scheme there was a risk, of course, but the chances of anyone learning of Jefferson’s death were, he thought, sufficiently remote to make the scheme practicable. As soon as he could, without suspicion, he would go abroad, where Phyllis could presently follow him. At first the plan seemed full of snags, but as he thought over it, he saw ways of overcoming one difficulty after another, until the whole ghastly affair grew coherent and feasible. When he returned to Ashburton the scheme was cut and dry and he had only to get Phyllis’s approval and promise of help. Jefferson, the real Jefferson, had already visited Ashburton, but he had only been seen closely by the landlady, Mrs. Billing, the Berlyns and their servants, Domlio, and one or two others. Of these the only one Stanley need interview was Mrs. Billing, and he felt sure he could deceive her. Sergeant Daw, with whom in his enquiries about the tragedy he would have most to do, had only seen Jefferson in the distance. Personation would, therefore, be possible. The first thing necessary was to prove Jefferson still alive. Stanley found it easier than he had expected. From a theatrical supplies shop he bought shoes with false internal heels to increase his height, padded underclothes to give him the necessary girth, rubber discs to wear inside his cheeks to alter the shape of his face, and glasses. When in addition to these he wore Jefferson’s clothes and copied as best he could Jefferson’s walk, speech, and deportment, it was not surprising that the unsuspecting and unobservant persons at Ashburton should be taken in. On his way home he carried out the tricks at the hotels, then taking the room in Kepple Street. For some hectic weeks he managed to live at Kepple Street as Jefferson and at Ashburton as Stanley. His continual absences from Ashburton, travelling for his firm, enabled him to put in the necessary appearances in Kepple Street, where he gave out that in the intervals he was making business trips in England and France. He saw that by a judicious interview with the clerk of the Tavistock Urban District Council he could arrange for the evening journey across the moor. His first idea had been to dispose of Berlyn’s body on the way back by throwing it into one of the small mires close to the road. But when he considered this in detail he realised that the difficulties were overwhelming, just as had been suggested to French by Sergeant Daw. He therefore devised the episode of the duplicator in order to provide a means for the removal of the remains. He knew the Burry Inlet, and the date of a suitable tide became the foundation on which the rest of the plan was built.