Mr. Campbell looked surprised.
"No, indeed, I did not know it. He has colossal nerve, I must say. But divorce is pretty common over here. Most anybody can get one who wants to."
"And, Papa," went on Billie, "I believe that our little maid, Onoye, was his wife, and when her father lost his money, Yoritomo got a divorce, and she and her mother were so poor they had to go to work."
Mr. Campbell was even more shocked at this disclosure.
"And, Papa, I believe she would do most any favor for Yoritomo in order to get to see her little boy who lives with Mme. Ito. Onoye and her mother are mad about him, and—and—" went on Billie, slowly working out the complication in her mind—"they were the ones who laid the blame on Nancy, weren't they?"
"I didn't know I had a detective for a daughter," said Mr. Campbell, smiling.
"I'm just putting two and two together," said Billie. "You see it works out like a jigsaw puzzle."
"So I see," said Mr. Campbell gravely. "There is only one bright spot in the whole business," he added, with something very like a chuckle. "For once in my life I've out-tricked a trickster and I've really enjoyed doing it. Buxton informed me the very night you shot somebody here—"
"There you are," interrupted Billie. "That was Onoye, remember."
"Yes, there is no doubt about that. Well, Buxton informed me that they were after my papers and the safe would be the place they would look for them. So that very night I substituted some old drawings and put the important ones in another place. Now a Japanese, when he's after something, is as crafty and shrewd as a fox. That's why I'm patting myself on my back for having outwitted one."