"Very well. You don't remember ever mislaying the keys temporarily, I suppose, either here or at home?"
"No-o," Mr. Bell replied slowly. "I can't say that I do remember anything of the sort. No—and I believe I should be sure to remember if I had."
"Ah! And when you realised your loss what did you do? Told your partner first, I suppose?"
"No—he doesn't know of the discovery. He went out just before I made it, and I don't expect him in again to day," But as Mr. Bell spoke there grew plain in his face the pallor of a new fear.
Martin Hewitt observed it, but kept his thoughts to himself. "Well," he said, "you didn't tell your partner. Nor the police?"
"No, Mr. Hewitt. You see, of course, the first thing the police attempt is to catch and punish the thief, and they make the recovery of the property a subsidiary object. But for me, Mr. Hewitt, the recovery of the property, as I have explained, is the one great consideration. Punish the thief by all means, but first save me from ruin, Mr. Hewitt! That is why I sent for you; for that, and because I thought it might be advisable to keep the matter quiet, till you had taken some steps."
"There is something in that consideration,
