"The general’s man did," said Bartlett, who felt that the general was in some way to blame. "He has taken all our money," added Henrietta. "A thief, eh?" said the landlord. "Can’t we follow the car by the tracks?" asked Henrietta. She went to the door and peered eagerly at the many wheel tracks in the dust of the drive. The general waved the suggestion scornfully aside. "You can’t tell whether the tracks are coming or going," said he. "All detectives do," said Billy, following Henrietta to the door. "I’m sorry," whispered the Watermelon in Billy’s ear. Billy laughed. "We have more cars at home," said she. "It doesn’t bother me at all. That’s the trouble of being rich, you can’t be robbed and feel badly about it." "Batchelor, you say that you were up until after eleven," said the general, feeling that the occasion called for intelligence. "Did you see Alphonse go out?" "No," said the Watermelon. "The landlord says, however, that he must have gone before twelve," went on the general. "Then don’t you see how Alphonse could not have stolen the money? Those thefts were not committed until after twelve." "I don’t see how you work that out," said Henrietta, puzzling over it with knit brows. "Don’t you see, Henrietta, that if Alphonse stole our money after twelve, he could not have gone out in the car before eleven, so if he went out in the car before twelve, he did not steal the money. He either stole the money or the car." "Maybe he didn’t take the money," said Henrietta, feeling vaguely and disappointedly that she was not a person with detective-like instincts. "You see," said the general, "if Alphonse took the car, he did not take the money; if he took the money, he did not take the car." "He certainly did take the money," snapped the farmer. "And my car," added Bartlett angrily. "He could not have taken both," declared the general. "You were robbed last night, weren’t you?" demanded the farmer. "Well, then?" "And my car is gone, isn’t it?" demanded Bartlett. "Yes, yes," acknowledged the general, feeling that every word he said only made the other two angrier, but still clinging to his deductions as to his life’s principles. "Yes, of course; but Alphonse could not have done both. He went off with the car before eleven, so he could not have robbed us after twelve—" "Sir," interrupted the farmer with a quiet dignity that was impressive, "do you accuse any of us of stealing?" "No, no," protested the general, now hopelessly rattled. "But if Alphonse stole the money—" "Alphonse swiped both," said the Watermelon, and that settled it as far as the general was concerned, for the general had boundless faith in the young man’s deductive abilities. "I went in about eleven. He took the car out, ran it down the road a bit and then came back and sneaked our things." "Certainly," said Bartlett, who could not help feeling irritated with the general for the fault of his man.