Who else, indeed, could have possessed the intimate
knowledge which the thief had displayed. Mrs. Prim
saw it all. The open library window had been but a
clever blind to hide the fact that the thief had worked
from the inside and was now doubtless in the house at
that very moment.
"Jonas," she directed, "call the police at once, and see
that no one, absolutely no one, leaves this house until
they have been here and made a full investigation."
"Shucks, Pudgy!" exclaimed Mr. Prim. "You don't think
the thief is waiting around here for the police, do you?"
"I think that if you get the police here at once, Jonas,
we shall find both the thief and the loot under our very
roof," she replied, not without asperity.
"You don't mean--" he hesitated. "Why, Pudgy, you
don't mean you suspect one of the servants?"
"Who else could have known?" asked Mrs. Prim. The
servants present looked uncomfortable and cast sheep-
ish eyes of suspicion at one another.
"It's all tommy rot!" ejaculated Mr. Prim; "but I'll call
the police, because I got to report the theft. It's some
slick outsider, that's who it is," and he started down
stairs toward the telephone. Before he reached it the bell
rang, and when he had hung up the receiver after the
conversation the theft seemed a trivial matter.
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