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might catch sight of the letter before he could snatch it up. So he goes out
and walks in the woods, little dreaming that Mrs. Inglethorp will open his
desk, and discover the incriminating document.
"But this, as we know, is what happened. Mrs. Inglethorp reads it, and
becomes aware of the perfidy of her husband and Evelyn Howard, though,
unfortunately, the sentence about the bromides conveys no warning to her
mind. She knows that she is in danger--but is ignorant of where the danger
lies. She decides to say nothing to her husband, but sits down and writes to
her solicitor, asking him to come on the morrow, and she also determines to
destroy immediately the will which she has just made. She keeps the fatal
letter."
"It was to discover that letter, then, that her husband forced the lock of the
despatch-case?"
"Yes, and from the enormous risk he ran we can see how fully he realized its
importance. That letter excepted, there was absolutely nothing to connect
him with the crime."
"There's only one thing I can't make out, why didn't he destroy it at once
when he got hold of it?"
"Because he did not dare take the biggest risk of all--that of keeping it on his
own person."
"I don't understand."
"Look at it from his point of view. I have discovered that there were only five
short minutes in which he could have taken it--the five minutes immediately
before our own arrival on the scene, for before that time Annie was brushing
the stairs, and would have seen anyone who passed going to the right wing.
Figure to yourself the scene! He enters the room, unlocking the door by
means of one of the other doorkeys--they were all much alike. He hurries to
the despatch-case--it is locked, and the keys are nowhere to be seen. That is
a terrible blow to him, for it means that his presence in the room cannot be
concealed as he had hoped. But he sees clearly that everything must be
risked for the sake of that damning piece of evidence. Quickly, he forces the
lock with a penknife, and turns over the papers until he finds what he is
looking for.
"
But now a fresh dilemma arises: he dare not keep that piece of paper on
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