“Through New York papers I learned from time to time of the murder of Hugh Mainwaring, the lost will, the discovery of the old will, and the appearance of the rightful heir.  From that source, also, I learned that Merrick, the detective, was shadowing the murderer, who was generally supposed to be a man by the name of Carruthers.  I had one advantage of Merrick.  I knew him — my old friend Whitney having often pointed him out to me — while he did not know the man he sought.  Many a time in my wanderings I have seen him, and, knowing well the game he was after, eluded him, only to fall at last into the snare of one whom I did not know.  The man searching for the murderer of Hugh Mainwaring encountered another, trailing the murderer of Harold Scott Mainwaring, and I suddenly found my time had come!  A coward then, as always, I tried to shoot myself.  In the darkness I held the muzzle of my brother’s revolver to my own temple; instantly there flashed before me his face when I had killed him!  I grew sick, my hand trembled and dropped; then, as my pursuers came nearer, I aimed for my heart and fired!  This is the result.  Death was not instantaneous, as I had hoped; instead, I was given this opportunity to make some slight reparation for my sin; to aid, as I said before, in righting the wrong wrought by my past life.

“And now, in these my last moments, I do solemnly affirm and aver that on the night preceding his death, my father executed a will restoring to my elder brother his full right and title, which will I have for more than twenty-five years last past wrongfully and fraudulently withheld and concealed; and that my brother being now dead, killed by my own hand, though unwittingly and unintentionally, his son, Harold Scott Mainwaring, is the rightful and sole heir to the entire Mainwaring estate.

“Signed by Hugh Mainwaring in the presence of the following witnesses:  William J. Barton, M. D. Montague, Joseph P. Sturgiss, M.D., M. J. Wheating, M.D., Daniel McCabe and C. D. Merrick.”

At the conclusion of this statement, there was shown in evidence the rusty metallic box-dragged from the lake — with the keys and the knotted, blood-stained handkerchief found therein.  This was followed by brief testimony by Harold Scott Mainwaring and the old servant, James Wilson, but the proceedings following the reading of the statement were little more than mere form.  There was little attempt at cross-examination, and when the time came for the argument by counsel for contestant, Mr. Whitney, who had been deeply affected by the confession of his old friend, declined to speak.

All eyes were fastened upon Mr. Sutherland as he arose, as was supposed, for the closing argument.  For a moment his eyes scanned the faces of the jurors, man by man, then addressing the judge, he said slowly, in clear, resonant tones,-

“Your honor, I submit the case without argument.”

In less than forty-five minutes from the conclusion of the statement the jury retired, but no one moved from his place in the crowded court-room, for all felt that little time would be required for their decision.  In ten minutes they returned, and, amid the silence that followed, the foreman announced the verdict, “for the proponent, Harold Scott Mainwaring.”