Let me explain how I arrived at this suspicion. When I found the will had disappeared from the safe--when I searched and searched in vain--I could only come to the conclusion that it had been stolen. But why was it taken? From what motive? Why should that one particular parchment be abstracted, and the others left? Obviously, it could only have been from interested motives. Now, who had an interest in getting possession of the will--so that it might not be proved and acted upon? Only one person in the whole world--Lady Clavering. And Lady Clavering had been alone in the room where the safe was for nearly half an hour. If she had obtained possession of the will, there was farewell to our ever getting it again. I saw through her character at that first interview: she was a woman absolutely without scruple. But how could she have got at it? Even supposing she knew the will was in the iron safe, she could not have opened it without the key; and how could she have obtained the key? Again--if Lady Clavering were the guilty party, what became of my very natural suspicions that the will and the gold were both taken by the same hand? And with the gold Lady Clavering could have had nothing to do. Look at it as I would, perplexities arose; points difficult, if not impossible, to reconcile. Lennard met me in the passage on my return. "Is it all right? Has Sir Edmund got it, sir?" "No, no; I told you it was a forlorn hope. Come upstairs, Lennard. Sir Edmund has not the will," I continued, as we entered the front room. "He says that when he was here last Thursday week, Mr. Brightman had occasion to refer to the will, took it from the safe, and put it back again. Therefore it is since that period that the theft has taken place." "Can you really look upon it as _stolen_?" Lennard uttered, with emphasis. "Who would steal so valueless a thing as a will?" "Not valueless to everyone." "No one in the house would do such a thing. You have a suspicion?" he added. "Yes, I have, Lennard." He began to pace the room. Lennard was, in truth, completely upset by this loss. "Of whom?" he presently jerked out. "Surely not of Leah!" "Of Leah! Oh no!" "I fancied you suspected her in the matter of the money. I feel sure she was innocent." "So do I. Leah no more took the money than you or I did, Lennard. And what should she want with the will? If I made her a present of all the wills in the safe, she would only light her fires with them as useless lumber. Try again." But he only shook his head. "I cannot catch your drift, sir." "To all persons, two excepted, the will would be as useless as to Leah. One of those two is Sir Edmund; and he has it not: the other is Lady Clavering." "But surely you cannot suspect her!" exclaimed Lennard. "You cannot suspect Lady Clavering!"