Grimm. "Where did you find that
handkerchief?" There was silence for an instant. "In this room?"
"Yes," replied Senor Rodriguez at last.
"Near the safe?" Mr. Grimm persisted.
"Yes," came the slow reply, again. "Just here," and he indicated a spot
a little to the left of the safe.
"And _when_ did you find it? Yesterday afternoon? Last night? This
morning?"
"This morning," and without any apparent reason the diplomatist's face
turned deathly white.
"But, Senor--Senor, you are mistaken! There can be nothing--! A woman!
Two hundred pounds of gold! Senor!"
Mr. Grimm was still pleasant about it; his curiosity was absolutely
impersonal; his eyes, grown listless again, were turned straight into
the other's face.
"If that handkerchief had been there last night, Senor," he resumed
quietly, "wouldn't you have noticed it when you placed the gold in the
safe?"
Senor Rodriguez stared at him a long time.
"I don't know," he said, at last. He dropped back into a chair with his
face in his hands. "Senor," he burst out suddenly, impetuously, after a
moment, "if the gold is not recovered I am ruined.
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