"About three o'clock," replied Ralph. "It must have snowed heavily till then, for there was not a trace of all the carriage-wheels on the drive when we went out last night, but our footprints down to the lodge are clear in the snow now. There has been no snow since three o'clock this morning."
"It all points to the same thing," said Charles, quietly, speaking for the first time. "The jewels were taken by some one staying in the house."
"One of the servants—" began Marston.
"No!" said Charles, cutting him short, "not one of the servants."
"It is impossible it should have been one of them," said Ralph, after some thought. "First of all, none of them saw the jewels put into that drawer; and, secondly, how could they suspect me of hiding them in a place where I had never thought of putting them myself till that moment? Besides, that one drawer only was broken open—the centre drawer in the left-hand set of drawers. All the others were untouched, though they were all locked. No one who had not seen the jewels put in would have found them so easily. That is the frightful part of it."
For a few minutes no one spoke. At last Marston raised his head from his hands.
"There is no way out of it," he said, very gravely. "The robbery was committed by one of the visitors staying in the house!"
"Yes!" said Charles.
"Yes!" echoed a whisper from the bed.
Charles looked up slowly and deliberately, and the eyes of father and son met again.