"Oh, then you got nothin' to worry about," said H.M., "but there's one thing I want to ask you, and you tell me the truth or God help you." He leaned across the desk and pointed his finger. "The date of that paper, Ken tells me, was four days ago — Friday, June 12th. On that day, probably in the evening, somebody visited Hogenauer, and it wasn't Keppel. Who was it?"
"I dunno."
"But there was somebody, wasn't there? Hey?" "Yes. No. I dunno! 'Ere! You got no right ' "Was it a man or a woman?" "I dunno."
"Now I'm goin' to tell you why you haven't said anything about this," said the other. There are times when H.M. seems to spread out and fill the room, like a genie out of a bottle. You would say he was a remarkably solid genie; but, though he only got up from his chair, he appeared to envelop Bowers. "No, don't look away. Look at me. Keep lookin' at me. Somebody came to the house that night, and had a conference with your boss. Later, probably the next morning, you spotted a good Bank-of-England note — or what you thought was one-carelessly lyin' where your boss or somebody had left it. You thought that was awful careless. And your boss was always careless. It was a note for five or ten pounds. You wouldn't have risked a bigger one. So you just shoved it in your pocket and took a chance. I don't care a whoopin' curse whether you pinched that note or you didn't pinch it. What I want to know is, who was the person with Hogenauer that night?"
Bowers, as I had seen him do once before that night in a crisis, put on a remarkable imitation of coolness. The curve of his slicked hair had come unshredded again, like his cigar. But after a pause he nodded.
"Mind you," he said, warningly, "I don't admit anything about stealing. There's a law, and I don't have to commit myself. But I know my duty about telling 'oo was there. All right. It was Dr. Antrim."
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
The Five Solutions
The rain still fell softly. H.M. laboriously settled back into his chair. Whatever he thought or felt, no change passed over the sour woodenness of his face.
"So it was Dr. Antrim, hey? How do you know that, son? Did you see him?"