"Might he not have taken the money out of the drawer before the robber appeared?"
"I don't think so. In fact, I am positive that he did not. I'll tell you something about Playfair, Mr. Carter. He was a very peculiar man. He, of course, kept the larger portion of his cash in bank, but it was his custom to keep constantly on hand in his house two or three thousand dollars. He paid out much money in charity, as I have already told you, and he preferred to hand out the cash to deserving applicants rather than go to the trouble of drawing checks. He never carried much money in his pockets, never more than fifty or sixty dollars. No, he was robbed, and for some reason he desired to screen the robber."
"Do you know of any person, vicious in morals, whom he would have been likely to screen?" asked Nick, with a queer look in his eyes.
"Yes, I do. It's that scoundrel of a stepson, Arthur Mannion."
CHAPTER XII.
NICK HAS A FRIGID IDEA.
Nick told Feversham what he had discovered bearing upon the case of Arthur Mannion, from which it became clear to Feversham that Mannion was the murderer. "But though I am convinced," said he, "that the stepson is the guilty man, I am puzzled over the motive. If Mannion robbed the house and secured two thousand dollars, why should he, a few days afterward, kill Playfair to obtain less than a hundred, or, say, two hundred, taking into consideration the watch and rings?"
"It is something of a puzzle," replied the detective, "but it is possible that I may arrive at a solution."
"If any one can do so, you are the man," said Feversham, with conviction. "And can I be of any help to you?"
"You will help me by telling me all that you know about this stepson."