“I should say that he was assisted by some one belonging in the house,” was the quiet reply. “After he left this room he mounted the staircase and hid in Frank’s closet, evidently waiting for you to return home, or for Frank to come. Perhaps he hoped that one of you might bring home the thing, or the things, he had been unable to find in your rooms.”
“The papers concerning the Gatun plot, for instance,” said the lieutenant.
The editor glanced at the officer with a slight frown on his brow, but made no reply to the remark. It was plain that he was unwilling to take up that phase of the case.
“It is a wonder the fellow didn’t jimmy Frank’s safe and get the emerald necklace, without waiting so long for the safe to be opened,” he said, in a moment.
Thus insisting on his previously expressed opinion that the sole purpose of the thieves had been to secure the emerald necklace, further disclaiming any belief that the alleged plot against the government had figured in the matter at all, the editor smiled provokingly at the officer.
Nestor looked from the lieutenant to the newspaper owner and smiled quietly.
“I wish I knew,” he said, “whether the papers we hear so much about really reveal the details of an alleged plot against the government.”
Mr. Shaw did not reply.
“If they do not,” continued the boy, “do they connect some man, or some group of men, with a plot which may be forming?”
The editor glanced approvingly at Ned, as if rather pleased with his cleverness, but did not speak.