"But Tobias!"
He started and looked around. Lorna, pale and red by turns, suddenly clung to his shoulder.
"Tut, tut!" the old man muttered. "I'd forgot you was here, Lorny. Thought you'd gone upstairs to see Heppy."
"I—I am going. But I had to wait to hear what that man had to say. It's awful! Ralph——"
"Ain't no sense to that," interrupted Tobias with scorn. "O' course not."
"But that knife. It is his. I'm almost sure it is!" sobbed the girl.
"Oh, sugar! Wish't I'd never picked it up," complained Tobias. "Ain't nothing positive about it, I tell ye. I was too keen after a clue, I was."
"The book! That is surely his."
"Wal—yes. I cal'late. But it don't look sensible that he'd leave it there in the bank. Somebody picked it up, and put it there. Sure!"
"Tobias Bassett! how do you explain the combination being written in Ralph's address book?"