‘Yes; unless he were a very artful dodger, and knew where to find a good market for them, he’d be likely to sell them without an hour’s delay to be melted down.’ ‘When did you last see the things safe in that chest?’ asked Lucius. ‘About ten days ago. I haven’t much to do, you see, sir, except grub about amongst the collection; and I’m in the habit of looking over the things pretty often, and comparing them with my catalogue, to see that all’s right.’ ‘And you never missed anything before?’ ‘Never so much as a cracked tea-cup among what I call the rubbishing lots. Heaven only knows how that chest could have been emptied. Even if Ferdinand Sivewright were in the land of the living, which is hardly likely—for if he’d been alive he’d have come and tried to get money out of his poor old father before this—he couldn’t get into this house unless some one let him in.’ ‘No, not unless some one let him in,’ repeated Lucius thoughtfully. He had begun to think Jacob Wincher was perhaps, after all, an honest man. But to believe this was to make the mystery darker than the darkest night. His ideas were all at sea, drifting which way he knew not. ‘Ferdinand Sivewright is dead,’ he said presently. ‘He will never trouble his father again.’ ‘How do you know that, sir?’ asked Wincher eagerly. ‘Never mind how. I do know it, and that is enough. Now, Wincher, there’s no use in talking of this business any more, except in a practical manner. If you’re as innocent of any hand in the robbery as you pretend to be, you won’t shrink from inquiry.’ ‘I do not shrink from inquiry, sir. If I did I shouldn’t have told you of the robbery.’ ‘That might be a profound artifice, since the disappearance of these things must have been found out sooner or later.’ ‘If I had been the thief I should have tried to stave off the discovery as long as I could,’ answered Jacob Wincher. ‘However, I don’t want to argue; the truth is the truth, that is enough for me.’ ‘Very well, Mr. Wincher. What we have to do is to try and recover these missing articles. Unless the silver is melted down it ought to be easily traced. And the monstrance would be still more easily traced, I should think.’ ‘That would depend upon circumstances, sir. Depend upon it, if the things were taken by a thief who knows their value, and knows the best market for them, he’ll send them abroad.’ ‘They may be traced even abroad. What we have to do is to put the case at once into the best hands. I shall go straight from here to a detective officer, whom I’ve had some dealings with already, and get his advice. Now, is there much more property amongst the collection valuable enough to tempt a thief, and sufficiently portable for him to carry away?’ ‘There is a great deal of china, small pieces, quite as valuable as the silver—not, perhaps, quite so easy to carry, but very nearly so.’ ‘Then we must have the inside of this house guarded to-night.’ ‘I can sit up here all night and keep watch.’