"Not half as crudely as that. He said his dear nephew was not one to show his feelings, which left me with the impression that Master Stephen had been pretty callous. But there! I pick up impressions a lot quicker than Joseph knows, and I'd already picked up the impression that Stephen had been rather fond of his Uncle Nathaniel, and was a good deal more upset by his death than he meant to give away. But of course there was more to getting Stephen into Nathaniel's room than that. Stephen inspected the windows and the bathroom door, just as any man would, while Joseph pretended to be mourning over his brother's body. That made it possible for Stephen to have had the chance to tamper with the fastenings. All Joseph had to do was to tell me that he was sure the windows were shut. When I asked him, as I was bound to, whether he'd actually seen them, he said no, but his dear nephew had, which came to the same thing. He knew it didn't come to the same thing, anything like, but it sounded well: just what a soft old fool would say. Oh, you have to hand it to him!"
"It makes him out to be pretty black," said the Sergeant, awed.
"Well, you don't suppose a man who sticks a knife into his brother's back is a gilded saint, do you?"
"But, sir, I still can't see it altogether your way! I'd swear the one thing Joseph dreaded was that we should bring the murder home to Stephen! I mean, he went out of his way to explain that Stephen's rough manner didn't mean anything, and he was always sticking up for him!"
"Of course he was! That was his role, and very well he played it. But did he convince you that Stephen hadn't had anything to do with it?"
"No, I can't say that he did."
"The point is," said Hemingway, "that the excuses he made for Stephen were so weak that they made us more suspicious than ever about him, which was all according to plan. The most damaging things I found out about Swphen I found out either from his uncle, by way of countless conversation, or through his uncle, like when it came out he'd hinted to Miss Dean that Stephen was the heir. He'd even taken care to hint the same to Mottisfont, knowing Mottisfont would spill it the instant he got the wind up on his own account."
"There was never anything you could actually take hold of, though."
"No; I told you we were up against a very clever customer."
"Yes, but - Look here, sir, what about the will? If he was as clever as you make out, he must have known how the money would be divided up once the will was found be no good! And he doesn't get the lot: he only gets half."