“Mr. Barnes came over with you at once?” “No, sir. Having been told by him that he would soon be over I returned.” “What did you do first?” “Unbound the servants.” “You didn’t go first into Mr. Field’s room?” “No, sir.” “I should have thought you would.” “I did not wish to again see that horrid sight alone. I am not a coward by any means, but it is not pleasant to go in and look at a man now dead who has been to you a warm friend in the past.” “But, having released the other servants, you made up a party and entered Mr. Field’s room?” “Yes, sir.” “Who first discovered that the body was missing?” “I did. Having seen it where it was lying, I naturally looked in the right direction at once, and when I found it was not there I could hardly believe my senses. At first I thought that he had not, after all, been killed, but had recovered his consciousness and had crawled to his bed, but on looking toward it I saw it was empty.” “What next?” “Why, we had not recovered from our astonishment when Mr. Barnes came in.” “What was done after the arrival of this gentleman?” “He wanted to know if robbery had been the motive of the deed, and so a search was made.” “With what result?” “We did not find anything missing.” “Can you be sure that nothing is gone?” “I would not be willing to swear to it, although I am morally convinced that not a thing has been taken.” “That will do. You can go now, but do not say a word to the other servants of the line of questions put to you.” “I will not, sir.” Joe Timon having departed, Mr. Barnes inquired: “What do you make of it?” “As yet--nothing.” “His story does not give you any clew?” “Decidedly not. It only serves to make the case more mysterious. You are certain that this man had the full confidence of Mr. Field?” “I am. I have often heard him speak of the faithfulness of this man in particular.” Nick did not at all like the appearance of things. The story that Joe Timon had to tell had an air of truthfulness, and yet it was far from satisfactory to the detective. There were not a few points about it that appeared to him as unnatural. In the first place it was rather peculiar that the assassins should have taken the trouble to go around and bind the servants if their purpose here was only to take the life of Mr. Field, something which could be accomplished in the fraction of a minute. Their binding of the servants would, on the face of it, argue that they had need of time, as would be the case only if they were intending to take the time to systematically select the plunder they wanted. Secondly, while the story of falling downstairs and rendering himself insensible might be true, still it had about it a something that to the detective was “fishy.”