“They did that with an oxyhydrogen blowpipe,” said one of the men.
He indicated a number of iron tubes which lay upon the ground with the rest of the paraphernalia. “They made a thorough job of it. I wonder what disturbed them.”
The eldest of the men shook his head.
“I expect the night watchman may have alarmed them,” he said. “What do you think, Frankfort?”
“I haven’t got over my admiration for their thoroughness yet,” said Leslie. “Why, the beggars must have used about a couple of hundred pounds’ worth of tools.”
He pointed to the kit on the ground. The detective’s gaze followed his extended finger. He smiled.
“Yes,” he said quietly, “these people are pretty thorough. You say you’ve lost nothing?”
Mr. Warrell shook his head.
“Yes and no,” he said carefully. “There was a diamond necklace which was deposited there last week by a client of ours—that has gone. I am anxious for the moment that this loss should not be reported.”
The detective looked at him wonderingly.
“That is rather a curious request,” he said, with a smile; “and you don’t usually have diamond necklaces in a stockbroker’s office—if I may be allowed to make that critical remark.”
Mr. Warrell smiled.
“It isn’t usual,” he said, “but a client of ours who went abroad last week came in just twenty minutes before the train left, and asked us to take care of the jewel cases.”
Mr. Warrell said this carelessly. He did not explain to the detective that they were held as security against the very large difference which the client had incurred; nor did he think it necessary to explain that he had kept the jewels in the office in the hope that the embarrassed lady might be able to redeem them.
“Did anybody know they were there except yourself and your partners?”
Warrell shook his head.
“I don’t think so. I have never mentioned it to anybody. Have you, Leslie?”
Leslie hesitated.
“Well, I’m bound to admit that I did,” he confessed, “though it was to somebody who would not repeat it.”
“Who was it?” asked Warrell.
“To Gilbert Standerton. I certainly mentioned the matter when we were discussing safe robberies.”
The elder man nodded.
“I hardly think he is the sort of person who is likely to burgle a safe.”
He smiled.
“It is a very curious coincidence,” said Leslie reflectively, “that he and I were talking about this very gang only a couple of days ago before he was married. I suppose,” he asked the detective suddenly, “there is no doubt that this is the work of your international friend?”
Chief Inspector Goldberg nodded his head.
“No doubt whatever, sir,” he said. “There is only one gang in England which could do this, and I could lay my hands on them today, but it would be a million pounds to one against my being able to secure at the same time evidence to convict them.”
Leslie nodded brightly.
“That is what I was telling Gilbert,” he said, turning to his partner. “Isn’t it extraordinary that these things can be in the twentieth century? Here we have three or four men who are known—you told me their names, Inspector, after the last attempt—and yet the police are powerless to bring home their guilt to them. It does seem curious, doesn’t it?”
Inspector Goldberg was not amused, but he permitted himself to smile politely.
“But then you’ve got to remember how difficult it is to collect evidence against men who work on such a huge scale as do these bank smashers. What I can’t understand,” he said, “is what attraction your safe has for them. This second attempt is a much more formidable one than the last.”
“Yes, this is really a burglary,” said Mr. Warrell. “In the last case there was nothing so elaborate in their preparations, though they were much more successful, in so far as they were able to open the safe.”
“I suppose you don’t want more of this to get in the papers than you can help,” said the Inspector.
Mr. Warrell shook his head.
“I don’t want any of it to get in till I have seen my client,” he said; “but I am entirely in your hands, and you must make such arrangements as you deem necessary.”
“Very good,” said the detective. “For the moment I do not think it is necessary to make any statement at all. If the reporters get hold of it, you had better tell them as much of the truth as you want to tell them, but the chances are that they won’t even get to hear of it as you communicated directly to the Yard.”
The police officer spent half an hour collecting and making notes of such data as he was able to secure. At the end of that time the old Jewry sent a contingent of plainclothes policemen to remove the tools.
The burglars had evidently entered the office after closing hours on the previous night, and had worked through the greater part of the evening, and possibly far into the night, in their successful attempt to cut out the lock of the safe. That they had been disturbed in their work was evident from the presence of the tools. This was not their first burglary in the City of London. During the previous six months the City had been startled by a succession of daring robberies, the majority of which had been successful.
The men had shown extraordinary knowledge of the safe’s contents, and it was this fact which had induced the police to narrow their circle of inquiry to three apparently innocent members of an outside broker’s firm. But try as they might, no evidence could be secured which might even remotely associate them with the crime.
Leslie remembered now that he had laughingly challenged Gilbert Standerton to qualify for the big reward which two firms at least had offered for the recovery of their stolen goods.
“After all,” he said, “with your taste and genius, you would make an ideal thief-catcher.”
“Or a thief,” Gilbert had answered moodily. It had been one of his bad
