"I am telling you candidly that the object of my first visit to these Stores was to investigate happenings which looked very black against you.

It was hardly so much the work of a detective as an accountant," he said, "but Mr.Lyne thought that I should be able to discover who was robbing the firm." "And did you ?" asked Milburgh coolly.

There was the ghost of a smile still upon his face, but defiance shone in his pale eyes.
"I did not, because I went no further in the matter after you had expressed your agreement with Mr.Lyne that the firm had been robbed by Odette Rider." He saw the man change colour, and pushed home his advantage.
"I am not going to inquire too closely into your reasons for attempting to ruin an innocent girl," he said sternly.

"That is a matter for your own conscience.

But I tell you, Mr.Milburgh, that if you are innocent--both of the robbery and of the murder--then I've never met a guilty person in my life." "What do you mean ?" asked the man loudly.