"That's all I know," said Hatch.
"Did Mr. Herbert say anything when arrested?"
"No, he only laughed. I don't know why. I don't imagine it would have been at all funny to me."
"Has he said anything since?"
"No, nothing to me or anybody else. He was arraigned at a preliminary hearing, pleaded not guilty, and was released on twenty thousand dollars bail. Some of his rich friends furnished it."
"Did he give any reason for his refusal to say anything?" insisted The Thinking Machine testily.
"He remarked to me that he wouldn't say anything, because, even if he told the truth, no one would believe him."
"If it should have been a protestation of innocence I'm afraid nobody would have believed him," commented the scientist enigmatically. He was silent for several minutes. "It could have been a brother, of course," he mused.
"A brother?" asked Hatch quickly. "Whose brother? What brother?"
"As I understand it," the scientist went on, not heeding the question, "you did not believe Herbert guilty of the first theft?"