Page:The Strand Magazine (Volume 6).djvu/44

and the bank was robbed! A pretty mess I should be in."

"No doubt you would. And if, therefore, at any moment you cease to have perfect confidence in our defensive arrangements, by all means call in the police at once. But I don't think you will need them. You agree with me that there is no fear of an entrance being effected to-night?"

"Not the slightest, I should say. It is mere speculation, of course, but I should think the burglar has a full week's work before him."

"Good. Then let us see, in the first place, whether we can fix any probable time for the final attack. Is the bank particularly rich just now?"

"On the contrary, just now the cash in hand is lower than usual. But next Monday is quarter-day, and for some days after that we shall have an exceptionally large amount in hand, as a number of rents and other accounts are paid in about that time."

"Then if, as we may assume, our underground friend knows his business, he will endeavour to get in about a week hence. By the way, who is your neighbour on that side?"

"A French gentleman, the Count de la Roche. But, good heavens! the Count can't have anything to do with it. Why, he has five hundred pounds in the bank at this moment."

"That sounds respectable, but it is not conclusive. I am glad to hear it, though, for in that case we are pretty sure to have warning of the attack. When the Count draws out his five hundred pounds we may reckon that he has got pretty nearly through the wall."

"I don't quite follow your logic."

"It is clear enough. It is not worth any man's while to steal his own money; and if he made the attempt, and failed, he might have trouble in getting it afterwards. Ergo, if the Count is the culprit, he will draw it out just before the attempt is made."

"But why should he have deposited it at all?"

"Doubtless, to disarm suspicion. But we need not take it for granted that the Count is the man. It may be some other inmate of his household. What sort of a man is the Count?"

"Antoine."

"A thorough Frenchman, dark, short, and stout, with a pinched-in waist, and small hands and feet. Very polite and complimentary. Smokes a very expensive brand of cigars, which are got down from London on purpose for him. Dresses smartly, and is never without a flower in his button-hole."

"How long has he been here?"

"About three months, as near as I can recollect. Yes, he opened his account with us on the first of October, and he had then been in the town some three or four days. He told me that he desired to open a drawing account as a temporary accommodation, and that he should always keep a good balance. Under such circumstances I accepted him without hesitation."

"And what family has he?"

"His household consists of his wife, a good-looking, rather over-dressed woman, who speaks no English, and a foreign servant, called Antoine. An old woman belonging to the town assists in the housework, but she does not sleep in the house. Antoine is cook, butler, and general factotum."

"What is Antoine like?"

"I should take him to be a native of the South of France. He is very dark, with crisp black hair, coming low down over his forehead, and thick red ears, with gold rings