"Yesterday a very strange thing happened in this house while we were away—a very serious thing, I may say, and one which gives me considerable uneasiness. Last night I came into the library to work, just after dinner. I opened the safe and found that some one had been rummaging among the papers in there."
"Oh, Papa," ejaculated Billie anxiously, knowing the value of those documents.
"They were all there, but they had been disturbed. There had been an attempt made to trace off some of the drawings. The specifications and descriptions had been tampered with, too. I never dreamed such a thing could be managed in the daytime with the house full of servants. The two watchmen would prevent even a possibility of it at night. Whoever did it must have laid his plans well, or else—"
Mr. Campbell paused and looked at his daughter very hard.
"Nancy has been greatly troubled about something lately, hasn't she, little daughter?"
"Yes, Papa, she has, but it's nothing serious," said Billie stoutly. "Just the heat and that absurd business about Yoritomo. You know she did really make eyes at him a good deal."
"Where was she yesterday?"
"In her room, I suppose?"
"Billie, I called several of the servants in last night and questioned them about this business here," he pointed to the safe in the corner. "I called them in separately and each one made the same statement. Nancy spent most of the day in this room."
Billie started.