The inspector paused for a moment and wiped his hand over dry lips; in the telling of that tale his face had grown white.
"Whom do you mean by 'they'?" inquired the King.
The man hesitated. "Well, your Majesty, I'd rather not say."
"I ought to know."
"Oh, yes, sir, I can't deny that! But, there, I've got no proof—so it's not the same thing. But I do say this, your Majesty, that to be able to lay hands on those things in the first place, and now to keep them locked away, needs somebody higher up in the department than I'd like to name. If I may leave it at that?"
"That will do," said the King.
"Your Majesty sees I couldn't safely go to anybody else with that proof; either it would be somebody who couldn't get at it before it was destroyed, or it would be those who had the whole thing in their own hands."
"I quite see that," said the King.
"That's all I had to say, then, sir."
"I am very much in your debt; I shall not forget what I owe you. There is one question I want to ask—you say that the charge must have been a very feeble one?"