Jerce started up in dismay. "Is this the reason why you asked me if Horran was a scoundrel?" he demanded.
"That is the reason," replied Barras, serenely. "I want to know what has become of that money. I think I can guess, however."
"You can guess?" repeated Clarice, puzzled.
"Yes. You wondered why Mr. Horran was murdered. I answer, for the sum of forty thousand pounds."
Barras said this so quietly, that he took away the breath of his hearers, and they looked at one another, unable to speak. Seeing this, Barras explained himself still further. "I collected the rents of the Baird property," he said. "Two thousand a year I paid into the London Bank, according to the directions of Mr. Horran, and that I can account for, by the books and the papers, since it went in Mr. Horran's income as guardian, in keeping up this house, and in educational and clothing expenses. But the remaining two thousand a year I paid personally to Mr. Horran, as it came in, and he never accounted to me for its use. There was no reason that he should do so," added the lawyer, coolly, "seeing that Mr. Horran had full power under Mrs. Baird's will to deal with the estate as he chose. Certainly, judging from Mr. Clarke's loan, which came under my notice, I fancied that Mr. Horran might be investing the money, or letting it out at large interest, but I can find nothing in the papers left by the deceased likely to throw any light on its disposal."
"It is most extraordinary," said Clarice, thoughtfully. "Do you mean to say, Mr. Barras, that Uncle Henry had forty thousand pounds in his room when he died?"
Barras placed his finger-tips together and leaned back. "I leave it to you, Miss Baird. Mr. Horran always insisted that I should bring to him two thousand a year of the rents, in gold. I always, according to his wish, paid him in gold. You sent me up the papers from his desk, and, of course, I have all his business letters, deeds, and the rest of such things in my office. But in no case can I find what has become of this forty thousand pounds. When I saw in the papers that no cause could be assigned for the murder of my late client, and recollected that the Purple Fern villains always struck down the rich, it dawned upon me that, instead of investing the two thousand a year, which he regularly received--and in gold," emphasised the lawyer, "Mr. Horran kept the money in his room, and was murdered for its possession."