“No.”
“Did you step out on to the balcony at all?”
“Not once, but I thought I heard someone moving outside the window while the manager and I were talking, just before you arrived, and I pulled up the blind. As I did so I think a window clicked shut beside me.”
“Beside you? Which side?”
“The Enterprise side. It sounded like the next room, but I couldn't swear to that.”
“Humph! How did you come to buy those papers from the manager?”
Mr. Beale thought a while.
“He offered them to me. I said that though I didn't know Eames personally yet I knew that he was mixed up in a business swindle. Said I'd be mighty glad, had I known who he was, to've had a look through his papers. He sat still a moment, then went out and came back with that pocket-book and those papers you have there, done up in a neat little green and white packet. Didn't say how he got them, and I didn't ask. No, sir, I didn't ask!”
“Humph! Well, Mr. Beale, you've only yourself to thank for your position. I shall leave two of my men to accompany you till we look into matters a little more, and you'll have to stay in England.”
“Under arrest, am I?”