Canynge.  We must be careful with this Inspector fellow.  If he pitches hastily on somebody in the house it’ll be very disagreeable.

Winsor.  By Jove!  It will.

Canynge.  We don’t want to rouse any ridiculous suspicion.

Winsor.  Quite. [A knock] Come in!

Treisure enters.

Treisure.  Inspector Dede, Sir.

Winsor.  Show him in.

Treisure.  Robert is in readiness, sir; but I could swear he knows nothing about it.

Winsor.  All right.

     Treisure re-opens the door, and says “Come in, please.”  The
     inspector enters, blue, formal, moustachioed, with a peaked cap in
     his hand.

Winsor.  Good evening, Inspector.  Sorry to have brought you out at this time of night.

Inspector.  Good evenin’, sir.  Mr Winsor?  You’re the owner here, I think?

Winsor.  Yes.  General Canynge.

Inspector.  Good evenin’, General.  I understand, a large sum of money?

Winsor.  Yes.  Shall we go straight to the room it was taken from?  One of my guests, Mr De Levis.  It’s the third room on the left.

Canynge.  We’ve not been in there yet, Inspector; in fact, we’ve done nothing, except to find out that the stable ladder has not been moved.  We haven’t even searched the grounds.

Inspector.  Right, sir; I’ve brought a man with me.

     They go out.

Curtain.  And interval of a Minute.

SCENE II

     [The same set is used for this Scene, with the different arrangement
     of furniture, as specified.]

The bedroom of de Levis is the same in shape as Winsor’s dressing-room, except that there is only one door—­to the corridor.  The furniture, however, is differently arranged; a small four-poster bedstead stands against the wall, Right Back, jutting into the room.  A chair, on which de LEVIS’s clothes are thrown, stands at its foot.  There is a dressing-table against the wall to the left of the open windows, where the curtains are drawn back and a stone balcony is seen.  Against the wall to the right of the window is a chest of drawers, and a washstand is against the wall, Left.  On a small table to the right of the bed an electric reading lamp is turned up, and there is a light over the dressing-table.  The inspector is standing plumb centre looking at the bed, and de Levis by the back of the chair at the foot of the bed.  Winsor and Canynge are close to the door, Right Forward.

Inspector. [Finishing a note] Now, sir, if this is the room as you left it for your bath, just show us exactly what you did after takin’ the pocket-book from the suit case.  Where was that, by the way?