She stirred the ashes with a poker till they were well scattered.
Bailey, recovering from the shock of finding that Miss Cornelia's sharp eyes had pierced his disguise without his even suspecting it, now threw himself on her mercy.
"Then you know why I'm here ?" he stammered.
"I still have a certain amount of imagination! I may think you are a fool for taking the risk, but I can see what that idiot of a detective might not--that if you had looted the Union Bank you wouldn't be trying to discover if the money is in this house.

You would at least presumably know where it is." The knowledge that he had an ally in this brisk and indomitable spinster lady cheered him greatly.

But she did not wait for any comment from him.

She turned abruptly to Dale.
"Now I want to ask you something," she said more gravely.

"Was there a blue-print, and did you get it from Richard Fleming ?" It was Dale's turn now to bow her head.
"Yes," she confessed.
Bailey felt a thrill of horror run through him.