"When I came in," he said, endeavouring to speak in an ordinary tone, "you were at your writing-table."
"I was," said Rendel, watching him.
"And then I sat down in an armchair and read the Mayfair Gazette——" and he stopped.
"Yes. All that," Rendel said, "I remember, of course. Thacker came in telling me Lord Stamfordham was there, and I rushed out, shutting the roller top of my writing-table, which closes with a spring. I was especially careful to shut it, as it had valuable papers in it."
"Indeed?" said Sir William, almost inaudibly.
"Yes, and among them," Rendel said, watching the effect of his words, "a map—that map of Africa which is reproduced this morning in the Arbiter."
"In your writing-table?" Gore said, with quivering lips.
"Yes, in my writing-table, out of which it must have been taken."
"That is very serious," Gore forced himself to say.