"I don't say that. When I first stood there I strolled about a little, talking with one person and another. _But I did not stir from the door after I saw Sam Dene leave the parlour._ And I do not think five minutes elapsed before I went in. Not more than five, I am quite certain. What are you thinking about, Dutton?--you don't seem to take me." "I take you well enough, sir, and all you say. But what is puzzling me in the matter is this; strikes me as strange, in fact: that Mr. Dene should do the thing (allowing that he has done it) in so open and barefaced a manner, laying himself open to immediate suspicion. Left alone in the room with the box by Miss Betty, he must know that if, when he left it, the box vanished with him, only one inference would be drawn. Most thieves exercise some caution." "Not when they are as hard up as Dene is. Impudence with them is the order of the day, and often carries luck with it. Nothing risk, nothing win, they cry, and they _do_ risk--and win. Dene has got my box, sergeant." "Well, sir, it looks dark against him; almost _too_ dark; and if you decide to give him into custody, of course we have only to---- Good-evening, Badger!" They had strolled as far as the Cross, and were standing on the wide pavement in front of St. Nicholas' Church, about to part, when that respectable gentleman, Jonas Badger, passed by. A thought struck the captain. He knew the man was a money-lender in a private way. "Here, Badger, stop a minute," he hastily cried. "I want to ask you a question about young Dene--my brother's clerk, you know. Does he owe you money?--Much?" Mr. Badger, wary by nature and by habit, glanced first at the questioner and then at the police-sergeant, and did not answer. Whereupon Captain Cockermuth, as an excuse for his curiosity, plunged into the history of what had occurred: the finding of the box of guineas yesterday and the losing it again to-day, and the doubt of Sam. Mr. Badger listened with interest; for the news of that marvellous find had not yet reached his ears. He had been shut up in his office all the morning, very busy over his account-books; and in the afternoon had walked over to Kempsey, where he had a client or two, getting back only in time for tea. "That long-lost box of guineas come to light at last!" he exclaimed. "What an extraordinary thing! And Mr. Dene is suspected of---- Why, good gracious!" he broke off in fresh astonishment, "I have just seen him with a guinea in his pocket!" "Seen a guinea in Sam Dene's pocket!" cried Captain Cockermuth, turning yellow as the gas-flame under which they were standing. "Why yes, I have. It was----" But there Mr. Badger came to a full stop. It had suddenly struck him that he might be doing harm to Sam Dene; and the rule of his life was not to harm any one, or to make an enemy, if his own interest allowed him to avoid it. "I won't say any more, Captain Cockermuth. It is no business of mine."