“Good gracious!” said Mrs. Peter, as a thought struck her; “this is rather an awkward time to have a person with his failing in the house. All those silver presents set out in the drawing-room, and others coming by every post; I hardly know what we’ve got and what are still to come. We can’t lock them all up; he’s sure to want to see them.”

“We must keep a sharp lookout, that’s all,” said Peter reassuringly.

“But these practised kleptomaniacs are so clever,” said his wife apprehensively, “and it will be so awkward if he suspects that we are watching him.”