"That being so, his own plans had to be modified pretty extensively.
Whether he meant to finish off Ben that night, you can't be sure;
but there is very little doubt of it. Everything was planned. The
interview with Robert had been arranged and various people,
including yourself, knew about it. His wife was ready down below to
help him get the body away, and their plans were, no doubt, mature
to the last detail. If, therefore, all had gone right with Pendean,
if you had really been away that night, next morning you would
probably have been greeted with the information that Bendigo had
disappeared. You would possibly have found evidences of a struggle
in the tower room and a pint of blood judiciously decorating the
floor, but nothing else.
"Only on the assumption that Pendean had found you out can I explain
why this didn't start under your nose. I imagine that if he had
believed his master alone at one o'clock that night, he would have
knocked him on the head and proceeded as I suggest. But he does no
such thing.
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