"No, nor anywhere else, I should think," the other replied, though this time a little more thoughtfully. "There's only my own family at home and the servants and----" "Anybody who has access to this room of the office?" Hewitt asked keenly. Mr. Bell seemed a little startled. "Why, no," he said, "nobody at home comes to the office--not even a visitor, except, of course, my junior partner, who visits the room pretty frequently." "Very well. You don't remember ever mislaying the keys temporarily, I suppose, either here or at home?" "No-o," Mr. Bell replied slowly. "I can't say that I do remember anything of the sort. No--and I believe I should be sure to remember if I had." "Ah! And when you realised your loss what did you do? Told your partner first, I suppose?" "No--he doesn't know of the discovery. He went out just before I made it, and I don't expect him in again to-day." But as Mr. Bell spoke there grew plain in his face the pallor of a new fear. Martin Hewitt observed it, but kept his thoughts to himself. "Well," he said, "you didn't tell your partner. Nor the police?" "No, Mr. Hewitt. You see, of course, the first thing the police attempt is to catch and punish the thief, and they make the recovery of the property a subsidiary object. But for me, Mr. Hewitt, the recovery of the property, as I have explained, is the one great consideration. Punish the thief by all means, but first save me from ruin, Mr. Hewitt! That is why I sent for you; for that, and because I thought it might be advisable to keep the matter quiet, till you had taken some steps." "There is something in that consideration, certainly. So you have told nobody of the loss, except me?" "Nobody but Foster, my head clerk--an old and faithful servant. It was he, in fact, who suggested sending for you. As he put it very forcibly, you can act for _me_ and my interests, while the police act for themselves, and--very properly, of course, as police--in the interest of the community." "Very well. I see you have several clerks in the outer office. Do they ever come into this room?" "Never, unless they are sent for." "If you and your partner were out, and one of the clerks came in _without_ being sent for, the rest would know it, of course?" "Certainly." "I observe three private rooms opening out of this. What are they?" "This is a sort of extra inner room where I have private interviews with clients--I was in there with a client for half an hour this morning before I discovered the loss. The next is a mere little box of a room where the correspondence clerk sits and works. The other is a larger place--it is shared between my partner, Mr. Clarence Dalton, and the head clerk, Mr. Foster." "Now let me have your broken padlock--and the key. I see you have forced up the front plate with a screw-driver. I will borrow that screw-driver, if you please, and force it off completely."