“How can any inquiry be private? Uncle, we are treading on delicate ground, and have a task before us requiring great tact and discretion. If the safe had only been assaulted, or there were any evidences of burglary to be seen! But we surely should have heard of it from some one of the men, if anything unusual had been observed. Hopgood would have spoken at least.”
“Yes, Hopgood would have spoken.”
The tone in which this was uttered made Bertram look up. “You agree with me, then, that Hopgood is absolutely to be relied upon?”
“Absolutely.” A faint flush on Mr. Sylvester’s face lent force to this statement.
“He could not be beguiled or forced by another man to reveal the combination, or to relax his watch over the vaults entrusted to his keeping?”
“No.”
“He is alone with the vaults where the boxes are kept for an hour or two in the early morning!”
“Yes, and has been for three years. Hopgood is honesty itself.”
“And so are Folger and Jessup and Watson,” exclaimed Bertram emphatically.
“Yes,” his uncle admitted, with equal emphasis.
“It is a mystery,” Bertram declared; “and one I fear that will undo me.”
“Nonsense!” broke forth somewhat impatiently from Mr. Sylvester’s lips; “there is no reason at this time for any such conclusion. If there is a