“And just where, please, did you find that handkerchief?” continued Mr. Grimm.

“Handkerchief?” repeated the diplomatist.  “You mean Miss Thorne’s handkerchief?” He paused and regarded Mr. Grimm keenly.  “Senor, what am I to understand from that question?”

“It was plain enough,” replied Mr. 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.  You understand that better than I can tell you.  It’s the kind of thing that could not be explained to my government.”  He rose suddenly and faced the impassive young man, with merciless determination in his face.  “You must find the gold, Senor,” he said.

“No matter who may be—­who may suffer?” inquired Mr. Grimm.

“Find the gold, Senor!”

“Very well,” commented Mr. Grimm, without moving.  “Do me the favor, please, to regain possession of the handkerchief you just returned to Miss Thorne, and to send to me here your secretary, Senor Diaz, and your servants, one by one.  I shall question them alone.  No, don’t be alarmed.  Unless they know of the robbery they shall get no inkling of it from me.  First, be good enough to replace the packet in the safe, and lock it.”

Senor Rodriguez replaced the packet without question, afterward locking the door, then went out.  A moment later Senor Diaz appeared.  He remained with Mr. Grimm for just eight minutes.  Senor Rodriguez entered again as his secretary passed on, and laid a lace handkerchief on the desk.  Mr. Grimm stared at it curiously for a long time.

“It’s the same handkerchief?”

“Si, Senor.”

“There’s no doubt whatever about it?”

“No, Senor, I got it by—!”

“It’s of no consequence,” interrupted Mr. Grimm.  “Now the servants, please—­the men first.”

The first of the men servants was in the room two minutes; the second—­the butler—­was there five minutes; one of the women was not questioned at all; the other remained ten minutes.  Mr. Grimm followed her into the hall; Senor Rodriguez stood there helpless, impatient.