"Oh," said the Rev. Faker, "I remember, the original was destroyed after the testatrix's death."
"How?"
"Burnt!"
Even the very grave Hannen, my ever-respected friend and junior, smiled; Cresswell, never prone to smile at villainy, smiled also.
"The original burnt, and only a copy produced! What do you mean, sir?"
The situation was dramatic.
"Is it not strange," I asked, "even in your view of things, that the original will should be burnt and the copy preserved?"
"Yes," answered the reverend gentleman; "perhaps it would have been better—"
"To have burnt the copy and given us the original, and more especially after the lady was dead. But, let me ask you, why did you destroy the original will?"
I pressed him again and again, but he could not answer. The reason was plain. His ingenuity was exhausted, and so I gave him the finishing stroke with this question,—