“I should think the fact just given, of his standing in the relation of unacknowledged husband to the suspected party was something.”
“No positive evidence as to his being the assassin of Mr. Leavenworth, I mean?”
I was obliged to admit I had none which he would consider positive. “But I can show the existence of motive; and I can likewise show it was not only possible, but probable, he was in the house at the time of the murder.”
“Ah, you can!” cried Mr. Gryce, rousing a little from his abstraction.
“The motive was the usual one of self-interest. Mr. Leavenworth stood in the way of Eleanore’s acknowledging him as a husband, and he must therefore be put out of the way.”
“Weak!”
“Motives for murders are sometimes weak.”
“The motive for this was not. Too much calculation was shown for the arm to have been nerved by anything short of the most deliberate intention, founded upon the deadliest necessity of passion or avarice.”
“Avarice?”
“One should never deliberate upon the causes which have led to the destruction of a rich man without taking into account that most common passion of the human race.”