The chief was not looking, but he knew the glance had passed.
"And _why_ don't you believe it ?" he continued.
"In the first place," Mr.Wynne began without hesitation, "the diamonds were worth only about sixty thousand dollars, and Mr.Czenki here draws a salary of twenty-five thousand dollars a year.

The proportion is wrong, you see.

Again, Mr.Czenki is a man of unquestioned integrity.

As diamond expert of the Henry Latham Company he handles millions of dollars' worth of precious stones each year, and has practically unlimited opportunities for theft, without murder, if he were seeking to steal.

He has been with that company for several years, and that fact alone is certainly to his credit." "Very good," commented the chief ambiguously.