"Undoubtedly. And now just one more question, Mr. Brent, before I tire your patience out. We policemen, you know, are terrible nuisances. What time was it when young Wilson discovered the door of the bank unlatched?" "About half-past nine. I had just noticed my clock striking the half-hour, when I was disturbed by the inspector----" "And wasn't it a bit unusual for a clerk to come back to the bank at that hour--unless he was working overtime?" Mr. Naylor-Brent's fine head went back with a gesture which conveyed to Cleek the knowledge that he was not in the habit of working any of his employees beyond the given time. "He was doing nothing of the sort, Mr. Headland," he responded, a trifle brusquely. "Our firm is particularly keen about the question of working hours. Wilson tells me he came back for his watch which he left behind him, and----" "And the door was conveniently unlatched and ready, so he simply fetched in the inspector, and took him straight down into the vaults. Didn't get his watch, I suppose?" Mr. Naylor-Brent jumped suddenly to his feet, all his quiet self-possession gone for the moment. "Gad! I never thought of that. Hang it all, man, you're making a bigger puzzle of it than ever. You're not insinuating that that boy murdered old Simmons, are you? I can't believe that." "I'm not insinuating anything," responded Cleek, blandly. "But I have to look at things from every angle. When you got downstairs with the inspector, Mr. Brent, did you happen to notice the safe or not?" "Yes, I did. Indeed, I fear that was my first thought--it was natural, with £200,000 Bank of England notes to be responsible for--and at first I thought everything was all right. Then young Wilson told me that he himself had closed the safe door.... What are you smiling at, Mr. Headland? It's no laughing matter, I assure you!" The queer little one-sided smile, so indicative of the man, travelled for a moment up Cleek's cheek and was gone again in a twinkling. "Nothing," he responded, briefly. "Just a passing thought. Then you mean to say young Wilson closed the safe. Did he know the notes had vanished? But of course you said he knew nothing of them. But if they were there when he looked in----" His voice trailed into silence, and he let the rest of the sentence go by default. Mr. Brent's face flushed crimson with excitement. "Why, at any rate," he ejaculated, "the money wasn't stolen until young Wilson sent the inspector up for me. And we let him walk quietly out! You were right, Mr. Headland, if I had only done my duty and told Inspector Corkran at once----" "Steady, man, steady. I don't say it _is_ so," put in Cleek with a quiet little smile. "I'm only trying to find light----" "And making it a dashed sight blacker still, begging your pardon," returned Mr. Brent, briskly.