To this point I shall return presently; meanwhile we will consider the second hypothesis--that the missing man was made away with by Mr.Hurst.
"Now, there seemed to be no doubt that some person, purporting 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.
"Assuming--as everyone seems to have done--that the visitor was really John Bellingham, we are dealing with a responsible, middle-aged gentleman, 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 come down to Eltham by rail immediately on landing in England, leaving his luggage in the cloak-room at Charing Cross.

This pointed to a definiteness of purpose quite inconsistent with his casual disappearance from the house.
"On the other hand, the idea that he might have been murdered by Hurst was not inconceivable.