certainly. So you have told nobody of the loss, except me?"
"Nobody but Foster, my head clerk—an old and faithful servant. It was he, in fact, who suggested sending for you. As he put it very forcibly, you can act for me and my interests, while the police act for themselves, and—very properly, of course, as police—in the interest of the community."
"Very well. I see you have several clerks in the outer office. Do they ever come into this room?"
"Never, unless they are sent for."
"If you and your partner were out, and one of the clerks came in without being sent for, the rest would know it, of course?"
"Certainly."
"I observe three private rooms opening out of this. What are they?"
"This is a sort of extra inner room where I have private interviews with clients—I was in there with a client for half an hour this morning before I discovered the loss. The next is a mere little box of a room where the correspondence clerk sits and works. The other is a larger place—it is shared between my partner, Mr. Clarence Dalton, and the head clerk, Mr. Foster."
"Now let me have your broken padlock—and the key. I see you have forced up the front plate with
