Clancy smiled with an air of patient tolerance.
"How about the letter?" he inquired. "How do you explain that?"
"I don't explain it; it is none of my business.
But I dare say Radnor will do so readily enough—there he is going toward the stables; we will call him over."
"No, hold on, I haven't finished what I want to say.
I was employed by Colonel Gaylord to find out who stole the bonds and I have done so.
But the Colonel did not suspect the direction my investigations would take or he never would have engaged me.
Now I am wondering if it would not be kinder not to let him know?
He's had trouble enough with his elder son; Radnor is all he has left.
The young man seems to me like a really decent fellow—I dare say he'll straighten up and amount to something yet.
Probably he considered the money as practically his already; anyway he's been decent to me and I should like to do him a service.
Now say we three talk it over together and settle it out of court as it were.
I've put in my time down here and I've got to have my pay, but perhaps it would be better all around if I took it from the young man rather than his father."
This struck me as the best way out of the muddle, and a very fair proposition, considering Clancy's point of view.
I myself did not for an instant credit his suspicions, but I thought the wisest thing to do was to tell Rad just how the matter stood and let him explain in regard to the letter.
I left Clancy waiting in the summer house while I went in search of Rad.
I wished to be the one to do the explaining as I knew he was not likely to take any such accusation calmly.
I found him in the stables, and putting my hand on his shoulder, marched him back toward the garden.
"Rad," I said, "Clancy has formed his conclusions as to how the bonds left the safe, and I want you to convince him that he is mistaken."
"Well?
Let's hear his conclusions."
"He thinks that you took them when you took the money."
"You mean that I stole them?"
"That's what he thinks."
"He does, does he?
Well he can prove it!"
Radnor broke away from me and strode toward the summer house.
The detective received his onslaught placidly; his manner suggested that he was used to dealing with excitable young men.
"Sit down, Mr. Gaylord, and let's discuss this matter quietly.
If you listen to reason, I assure you it will go no further."
"Do you mean to say that you accuse me of stealing those bonds?" Radnor shouted.
Clancy held up a warning hand.
"Don't talk so loud; someone will hear you.
Sit down." He nodded toward a seat on the other side of the little rustic table. "I will explain the matter as I see it, and if you can disprove any of my statements I shall be more than glad to have you."
Radnor subsided and listened scowlingly while the detective outlined his theory in a perfectly non-personal way, and ended by producing the letter.
"Where did you get that?" Rad demanded.
"Out of your coat pocket which I hooked over the transom of the door." He made the statement imperturbably; it was evidently a matter of everyday routine.
"So you enter gentlemen's houses as their guest and spend your time sneaking about reading their private correspondence?"
An angry gleam appeared in Clancy's eye and he rose to his feet.
"I did not come to your house as your guest.
I came on business for Colonel Gaylord.
Now that my business is completed I will make my report to him and go."
Radnor rose also.
"It's a lie, and you haven't a word of proof to show."
Clancy significantly tapped the pocket that held the letter.
"That," said Radnor contemptuously, "refers to two bonds which I bought last winter with some money I got from selling a mortgage.
I preferred to have the investment in bonds because they are more readily negotiable.
I left them at my broker's as collateral for another investment I was making.
Last week I needed some ready money and wrote to them to sell.
My statement can easily be substantiated; no reputable detective would ever base any such absurd charge on the contents of a letter he did not understand."