“What sort of a boy is this Dawkins?” she asked, “Do you like him?”

“Not particularly. He does his duties passably well. I took him into my counting-room to oblige his father.”

“Perhaps he is the thief.”

“To tell the truth I would sooner have suspected him.”

“Has he cleared himself from suspicion?”

“He was the first to suggest a search.”

“Precisely the thing he would have done, if he had placed the bill in Paul's pocket. Of course he would know that the search must result favorably for him.”

“There is something in that.”

“Besides, what could have been more foolish, if Paul wished to hide the money, than to multiply his chances of detection by hiding it in two different places, especially where one was so obvious as to afford no concealment at all.”

“Admitting this to be true, how am I to arrive at the proof of Paul's innocence?”