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"Just consider the conditions John Bellingha out alone upon a journey beyond the sea His exact destination was not stated He was to be absent for an undetermined period, but at least three weeks His disappearance would occasion no comment; his absence would lead to no inquiries, at least for several weeks, during which the murderer would have leisure quietly to dispose of the body and conceal all traces of the crime The conditions were, from a murderer's point of view, ideal

"But that was not all During that very period of John Bellinghaed to deliver to the British Museum as admittedly a dead human body; and that body was to be enclosed in a sealed case Could anyof a body be devised by the enious murderer? The plan would have had only one weak point: the mummy would be known to have left Queen Square after the disappearance of John Bellinghaht in the end have arisen To this point I shall return presently; meanwhile ill consider the second hypothesis--that theman was made aith by Mr Hurst

"Now, there see to be John Bellingham, did actually visit Mr Hurst's house; and he must either have left that house or remained in it If he left, he did so surreptitiously; if he remained, there could be no reasonable doubt that he had been murdered and that his body had been concealed Let us consider the probabilities in each case

"Assu--as everyone seehaentleman, and the idea that such a person would enter a house, announce his intention of staying, and then steal away unobserved is very difficult to accept Moreover, he would appear to have coland, leaving his luggage in the cloak-roo Cross This pointed to a definiteness of purpose quite inconsistent with his casual disappearance froht have beenwas physically possible If Bellingham had really been in the study when Hurst came home, the murder could have been committed--by appropriate means--and the body teh possible, it was not at all probable There was no real opportunity The risk and the subsequent difficulties would be very great; there was not a particle of positive evidence that a murder had occurred; and the conduct of Hurst in i the house in possession of the servants is quite inconsistent with the supposition that there was a body concealed in it So that, while it is alham left the house of his own accord, it is equally difficult to believe that he did not leave it