d Radnor with a shrug, and he turned toward the
door that opened on the gallery. Mose was visible at the end evidently
recounting to an excited audience his experiences of the night. Rad
beckoned to him and the two turned together across the lawn toward the
laurel walk.

It was an hour or so later that Rad presented himself at my door. His
colloquy with Mose had increased rather than lessened the mystified look
on his face. He waited for no preliminaries this time, but plunged
immediately into the matter that was on his mind.

"Arnold, for heaven's sake, stop my father from getting a detective down
here. I don't dare say anything, for my opposition will only make him do
it the more. But you have some influence with him; tell him you're a
lawyer, and will take charge of it yourself."

"Why don't you want a detective?" I asked.

"Good Lord, hasn't our family had notoriety enough? Here's Nan eloping
with the overseer, and Jeff the scandal of the county for five years. I
can't turn around but some malicious interpretation is put on it, and
now that the family ghost has taken to cracking safes gossip will never
stop. Get a detective down here who goes nosing about the neighborhood
in search of information and there's no telling where the thing will
end. Those bonds can't be far. Aren't we more likely to get at the
truth, if we lie low and don't let on we're after the thief?"

"Radnor," I said, "will you tell me the absolute truth? Have you any
suspicion as to who took those securities? Do you know any facts which
might lead to the apprehension of the thief?"

He remained silent a moment, then he parried my question with another.

"What time did all that row occur in the night?"

"I don't know; I didn't think to look, but I should say it was somewhere
in the neighborhood of three o'clock. I didn't go to sleep again, and it
was about half an hour later that you drove in."

"You heard me?"

"I heard you go and I heard you come; but I did not mention that fact
to the Colonel."

Rad laughed shortly.

"I can at least prove an alibi," he said. "You can swear that I was not
Mose's devil."

He remained silent a moment with his elbows on his knees and his chin in
his hands studying the floor; then he raised his eyes to mine with a
puzzled shake of the head.

"No, Arnold, I haven't the slightest suspicion as to who took those
securities. I can't make it out. The robbery must have occurred while I
was away. Of course t