"
Mr. Batchgrew approached the bed almost threateningly.
"I'll tell you why ye won't have the police told. Because ye know
Louis Fores has taken your money. It's as plain as a pikestaff. Ye put
it on the chair on the landing here, and ye left it there, and he came
along and pocketed it." Mrs. Maldon essayed to protest, but he cut her
short. "Did he or did he not come upstairs after ye'd been upstairs
yourself?"
As Mrs. Maldon hesitated, Thomas Batchgrew began to feel younger and
more impressive.
"Yes, he did," said Mrs. Maldon at length. "But only because I asked
him to come up--to fasten the window."
"What window?"
"The landing window."
Mr. Batchgrew, startled and delighted by this unexpected confirmation
of his theory, exploded--
"Ha!... And how soon was that after ye'd been upstairs with the
notes?"
"It was just afterwards."
"Ha!... I don't mind telling ye I've been suspecting that young man
ever since this morning. I only learnt just now as he was in th' house
all night. That made me think for a moment as he'd done it after ye'd
all gone to bed. And for aught I know he may have. But done it some
time he has, and you know it as well as I do, Elizabeth."
Mrs.
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