"He took that case of jewels?" Bivens cried with excitement.
"Yes."
The little financier broke into a peal of laughter, walked over to the chair where the doctor sat, thrust his hands into his pockets and continued to laugh.
"So, that's what you meant by laughing and sneering in my face as you left that night, you d——d old hypocrite!"
Stuart suddenly gripped Bivens and spun him around in his tracks.
"That will do now! The doctor is my friend. He's an old broken man to-night and he's under my protection. He came here at my suggestion and against his protest. I won't stand for this."
"I'll say what I please to a thief."
"Not this one."
Stuart faced the little dark man with a dangerous gleam in his eye. The two men glared at each other for a moment and Bivens threw up his hands in a gesture of disgust.
"Well, what did you come for? To ask me to give him a pension for robbing me of a case of jewels? I've accused every drunken servant in the house of the act. Shall I send one of them to the penitentiary and give the real thief a medal for his skill?"