“None. The poor old fellow found murdered. A deed-box gone from the safe. A window left unsecured. Practically speaking, that is all they can go upon.”
“Do you know, Hugh,” said Irene, “I am convinced it was no common burglar. It was some desperate man who had borrowed money on some securities which he knew lay in that box, and he committed this crime to get them back. He was hiding in the house all the evening, possibly somewhere in the study—-and he opened that window to escape by the back lane.”
He smiled in spite of himself at her feminine certainty. “I wish they would put you in charge of the investigations, Renie,” he said.
“But don’t you think my theory is quite plausible?” she asked, accepting his remark with a humble knitting of her brows. He admitted that it was, observed that he had spoken not in satire but in admiration. The police were standing about there, not knowing where to turn next.
“Well, the first thing,” said Irene, “would be to list the securities in the deed-box—there must be a record of them somewhere—and then to investigate the actions last night of each of the clients to whom the securities belonged.”
“I never thought of that,” he exclaimed, sharply. “Yes, they’ll do that, undoubtedly.”
Irene went on to speak of Minna; of the girl’s friendless isolation; of the help that she herself might have offered, had Minna not so resolutely repelled her advances. She would be even willing now to risk a breach of good taste if she could befriend her. She asked his advice. Her great-heartedness drew him very near to her—so near that it required a moment’s struggle to stifle the craving to tell her all the miserable history of his marriage, and his own connection with the night’s tragedy. How could he advise her in the matter, knowing, as he did, Minna’s inveterate jealousy and dislike?
“I think she will have some of her own people with her,” he remarked, mendaciously. “She said something about it this morning.”
He rose to bid her good-bye. As she took his hand she scanned his face earnestly.
“You are looking so ill and worn,” she said, affectionately. “Much more so than when you came in. It has been all this discussion.”