“What shall we say to him if he’s at home?” Tom wanted to know.
Ned thought for a moment and replied:
“We can ask him, for a starter, if he has recovered any of the Liberty Bonds he says my father took. Then, after that opening, you can mention the theft of your box and ask if Fawn thinks there is any connection between the two.”
“Then what?” Tom inquired.
“Well, if things turn out the way we expect—I mean if this Fawn has really had a part in the robbery at your place—he’ll get confused and maybe give himself away. That’s our one hope—that he will give himself away.”
“It’s worth trying,” decided Tom, after a little consideration. “Come on.”
A little later in the evening the two young men set off in a small gasoline car to call at the home of the suspected man. Ned had had occasion to go there before some time since, months prior to the accusation against Mr. Newton.
But it was with some feelings of apprehension and with wonderings as to what they had best say to the man when he saw them that Ned and Tom walked up the steps of the Fawn home.
A maid answered the door, and when they said they had called to see Mr. Fawn she remarked:
“I think Mr. Fawn is not at home, but Mrs. Fawn is. Please come in and I will tell her you are here.”