Sinclair remained silent.
Boyce was annoyed.
“Here’s my idea of what occurred,” said he, rather peevishly.
“Jackson comes out from the asylum, we will assume, partially cured. He has nothing to do, and gradually the old madness comes over him. He nurses his grievance against Sir James until it becomes an obsession. He comes to you about it. Then he sees the official paper on your desk, and with a madman’s cunning he takes some pieces.
“Perhaps he thinks he will write to Sir James on it, who can say? He hangs about waiting for a chance, possibly only to speak to him. He had obtained a revolver, goodness knows where, and then the plan matures. With the cunning and vanity of insanity, he writes to the Central News—which by the way no one but a madman would do, and calls you and Collins up for the same reason. Perhaps he was watching you all the time when you were at the house.
“He sees Sir James come out with a letter, and as he states, he nearly killed him then, but thinks he will do so inside.
“He follows him in, and shoots him and escapes.
“He is watching you, and when you go to Collins’ flat, he follows and leaves that stupid message which also is the work of a madman which you told me about. How’s that for a case?”
Sinclair remained silent for a minute.
“A good counsel could smash it to pieces. I am certain that he never took anything from my room, but of course it is one of those things one cannot swear to. If he followed Sir James in, why did not Mrs. Simmons see him; and if she did, why should she screen him? Why did she hear no shot? And if she did, why did she not raise the alarm? How did he get out again, and close and lock the door behind him? Then who was the man who called on Sir James in the afternoon? Jackson makes no claim to be that man, probably because no mention was made of it in the papers?