"Yes, but it wasn't necessarily removed. It may have been started. You get up on the seat and sit back indifferently, as a driver would be likely to sit. Just try it. I want you to be satisfied."
Paul climbed to the driver's seat on the coupé, and the stableman leaned over the wheel.
"You see," said the latter, "unless you bent over and looked down sharply you wouldn't make out what I was up to, and not having any reason to suspect a trick, you'd likely sit still; more likely than not, if you was an ordinary driver, you'd look the other way most of the time; and—but I don't need to talk any longer for here is the nut!" and he held up a small wrench in which was the nut of the wheel by which he was standing.
"Great Scott!" exclaimed Paul, smiling, in spite of his anxiety, at the dexterous way in which the stableman had proved that the trick might have been done. "What sort of man was this, Mike, who talked to you?"
"I dunno, sir. Medium sized, young, I should say."
"Would you know him again?"
"I would that!"
"By the way, did you see anybody call at the house while you were waiting?"
"Yes, a gentleman went in. I heard him ask for Mr. Strobel, and he came out again inside of five minutes."
"What was he like and where did he go?"