And the elderly broker shook his head.

"If a man will cheat legally, I don't think he will stop at cheating any other way," replied Hal. "He may for a while, but his conscience soon gets blunted, and that's the end of it. You say the police think somebody else is guilty?"

"Yes."

"Do they think the thief came through the window?"

"Yes."

"That the man who came in while I was here had nothing to do with it?"

"That is their theory."

"But that doesn't explain one point."

"And what is that?"

"Why the marks on the window-sill, which are very plain and made by dirt and ashes, did not extend to the safe."