The secretary rose with a very red face. "Do you mean to say that I took the money?"
"I was not aware that I accused you, Mr. Vass," said Torry.
"But you do accuse me. Only Mr. Grent and myself can open that safe, which is in his private room. I swear he did not take the money, and on my oath I declare that I am guiltless. Don't you believe me, sir?" cried Vass, turning appealingly towards Leighbourne.
"Yes, I believe you," replied the banker emphatically. "I am sure you never took the money out of the safe."
"Would I be such a fool?" said Vass, turning again towards Torry. "The money was in bank-notes, in two bundles of five thousand pounds each. Twenty notes of five hundred pounds each--ten in one bundle, the same number in the other. Manuel has the numbers of these notes, so is it unlikely that I could do anything with bank-notes of such value of which the numbers are known to their owner. I could not change a single one without being found out, and then what benefit would the theft do me. I am neither a fool nor a criminal, Mr. Torry."
The detective could not but be struck by this reasoning, which was feasible enough. In the face of the known value and known numbers of the notes, it was ridiculous to suspect Vass. To steal the money under the circumstances would have been simply to court arrest, and the detective, taking a common-sense view of the question, acquitted Vass of the robbery.
"I believe you to be innocent," he said genially; "but who is guilty?"
"I do not know," said the secretary gloomily, "other than myself and Mr. Grent, no one could have stolen these notes. Mr. Grent did not, I did not; so I can't see how they have disappeared."
"Might not the key of the safe have been stolen?"
Vass produced a bunch of keys out of his pocket and selected one. "Here is my key," said he holding it up. "It is never off this chain, or out of my possession."