"No, the
safe was not blown! It was _closed and locked_, exactly as I had left
it!"
Mr. Grimm was idly twisting the seal ring on his little finger.
"Just as I left it!" Senor Rodriguez repeated excitedly. "Last night
after I locked the safe door I tried it to make certain that it _was_
locked. I happened to notice then that the pointer on the dial had
stopped precisely at number forty-five. This morning, when I unlocked
the safe--and, of course, I didn't know then that the money had been
taken--the pointer was still at number forty-five."
He paused with one hand in the air; Mr. Grimm continued to twist the
seal ring.
"It was all like--like some trick on the stage," the minister went on,
"like the magician's disappearing lady, or--or--! It was as though I had
not put the money into the safe at all!"
"Did you?" inquired Mr. Grimm amiably.
"Did I?" blazed Senor Rodriguez. "Why, Senor--! I did!" he concluded
meekly.
Mr. Grimm believed him.
"Who else knows the combination of the safe?" he queried.
"No one, Senor--not a living soul."
"Your secretary, for instance?"
"Not even my secretary.
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