And--it's a going back, no doubt, to supposition and to theory--but there's reason in what I shall advance.

We know--beyond doubt--that Brake had been tricked and deceived, in some money matter, by some man--some mysterious man--whom he referred to as having been his closest friend.

We know, too, that there was extraordinary mystery in the disappearance of his wife and children.

Now, from all that has been found out, who was Brake's closest friend?
Ransford! And of Ransford, at that time, there's no trace.

He, too, disappeared--that's a fact which I've established.