“Yes!”
“He said: ‘You must.’ I told him Sir Charles was in the dining room, and he said: ‘I’ll get him away. Directly he goes, don’t fail to do what I told you.’”
“And then?”
“Another ‘phone call came—for Sir Charles. I knew who it was, because I had told Sidney about the case Sir Charles was attending in the square. When Sir Charles went out I changed the serviettes. Mrs. Howett found me in the dining room and played hell. But afterward I managed to burn the box in the kitchen. That’s all I know. What harm was there?”
“Harm enough!” said Harley, grimly. “And now—what was it that ‘Sidney’ stole from Sir Charles’s bureau in the study?”
The girl started and bit her lip convulsively. “It wasn’t stealing,” she muttered. “It wasn’t worth anything.”
“Answer me. What did he take?”
“He took nothing.”
“For the last time: answer.”
“It wasn’t Sidney who took it. I took it.”