“Quite so; and if she did provide, Sir John was under no necessity to disclose the other person’s secret, which he was guarding, by providing for the girl in his own will. But Evangeline had quarrelled once with Lady Stableford, and had been cut out of the will once before. There was always the risk of another quarrel and the same thing happening again. That was the risk for which the secret trust provides—of that I’m positive now. Yes, I think we can take that as certain;” and the barrister, lighting another of his eternal cigarettes, tilted his chair back and lapsed into silence as he thought.
The other men kept silent. Tempest was so obviously puzzling the thing out further. At last Marston broke the silence. “Granted all that, Tempest. But what on earth was the good to Evangeline of creating that trust at all, if we, the trustees, don’t know when we are to call it into operation for her benefit?”
“Don’t you forget your instructions. You were to wait till something happened from outside, to put you all in motion. You must assume Sir John had laid his plans for this something to be made to happen, if necessary. As he would then be dead, the making of the happening rested with some third person, probably Evangeline herself. Have you fellows forgotten the basis of a cryptogram? The key is divided into two parts, and those two parts must come together in unison before the key is apparent. You three have one part of the cryptogram in your hands contained in your instructions. It was probable Evangeline had the other part. She was probably to write to you, if through a change of Lady Stableford’s will she needed the money. She is dead. She will never claim the money, and you three can spend it now with a light heart. Still, here’s another thing. If Evangeline knew all, and could call that trust into operation merely by writing to you, what was to prevent her doing so, whether she needed the money or not? If Sir John left things in that state, the secret was at the mercy of Evangeline, and I don’t think it was her secret. She may not have known what the secret was, nor indeed that there was one at all, but nevertheless its disclosure rested with her. There was probably a third part to the cryptogram in the hands of someone else.”
“Who would that be likely to be?”
“Probably the person whose secret it was?”
“But if that were so, what would the inducement be to her to ever disclose her secret?”
“One or other of two things. Either she is to participate in the trust, or else Sir John depended on the affection of a mother to efface herself for her child in case of dire necessity. Remember, it’s only a disclosure to you three, and that’s not a very serious risk. Few people need mind that.”
“Then, why didn’t Sir John disclose it to us?”
“Firstly, his loyalty regarding the secret of another person; secondly, the risk run by putting it on paper, when very likely, in all probability, he would outlive Lady Stableford, and himself know whether or not Evangeline had been provided for; because, if in his lifetime he knew Lady Stableford had left her money to Evangeline, the trust was quite unnecessary, and Sir John would at once have destroyed his present will and made another. Now, assuming all that to be true, who stood to benefit by Evangeline’s death?”
“We three did.”