“No.” Barclay moved a tall glass compote containing nuts, so that he could look directly at her. “No. I wandered about that part of the city, questioned the policemen on duty there, and came home. Do you know, Cousin Jane,” helping himself to a walnut, “that you had a burglar here last night?”
“What!” Mrs. Ogden’s fork fell with a clatter into her plate, and her usually rosy cheeks turned pale.
“Fact.” Barclay’s serene smile widened at seeing the concentrated attention which Ethel and Professor Norcross were giving him. “I suppose my sudden and unexpected glimpse of the Jap, Ito, excited me, for I could not sleep and sat up reading. I thought I heard a window open, and stole downstairs just in time to see a man vault through the hall window.”
“Good heavens! We might all have been murdered in our beds!” Mrs. Ogden turned a stricken face to the agitated butler. “Any silver missing, Charles?”
“No, madam, not a piece; I’ve just been after acountin’ of it,” he stammered. “I locked up the house as usual, last night, madam, but this mornin’ I did find the pantry window unlocked.”
“Probably that girl, Rose, was a confederate,” Mrs. Ogden shuddered at the thought. “That was why she was so agitated this morning. I’ll notify the police. Could you identify the burglar, Julian?”
Barclay cracked a nut before answering.
“I couldn’t see very well in the half light,” he said. “But do you know, the man, in size and quickness, reminded me of the Jap, Ito——”
Ethel and Norcross exchanged glances across the table.
“Didn’t you see the intruder face to face?” asked Norcross, breaking the pause.