“So you’ve no idea what would turn a man like that into a thief.”
Mr Upwater moved his hands hopelessly.
“Who knows what makes anyone go wrong? They say that every man has his price, so I suppose every man can be tempted. And that stone was big enough to tempt anyone.”
“Then,” said the Saint, “the same could be said about you.”
“That’s what he’s afraid of,” Mrs Upwater said gently.
Simon sniffed his brandy again, watching the man.
“What does your firm think about it?”
“I haven’t told them yet,” Upwater said dully. “I haven’t had the courage. You see—”
“You see,” Mrs Upwater put in, and her voice began to break, “they know Mr Jonkheer, too. They’ve done business with him for a long time. My husband’s been with them for a long time too, but he’s only an employee. Someone’s got to be guilty... They can’t prove that Tom’s lying, because he isn’t, but that’s not enough. If he can’t prove absolutely that he’s telling the truth—”
“There’d always be a doubt,” her husband finished for her. “And with a firm like I work for, in that kind of business, that’s the end. They’d let me out, and I’d never get another job. I might as well put my head in a gas oven, or jump in one of these canals.”