“‘Because,’ he replied, ‘we’ve been hunting high and low for the papers. We supposed they must be somewhere in the government building. But we’ve looked everywhere. They’re gone, and that’s all there is to it.’”
“I thought of your telegram, Nick, but said nothing. After I had asked the usual questions about where the papers were kept, and so forth, I inquired if he had any suspicions.
“The questions seemed to make him uneasy.
“‘I cannot suspect anybody,’ he replied.
“I remembered you, Nick, and I said:
“‘That means that you suspect everybody.’”
“What did he say to that?” asked Nick.
“Huh! he smiled in a queer way, and simply said: ‘Well?’ Of course, I pressed him to be frank with me, but didn’t succeed at first.
“Finally, though, he let the cat out of the bag in a kind of roundabout way.
“I saw that he actually suspected Gov. Bradley himself.”