detailed one of his men to keep a sharp look-out on that young gentleman's activities; trail him if he left the house, intercept any letter he might attempt to send, and record a possible telephone message. Perhaps he had already tried to communicate with Drew.
A discreet knock upon the library door interrupted his meditations, and he opened it to find Taylor, another of the men to whom he had assigned a special duty, confronting him.
"Jane told me you had got back, Sergeant, and I thought I had better report to you now if you've got time to hear me.
"Shut the door and fire away, Taylor." Odell seated himself once more. "You searched the servants' rooms first, as I directed?"
"Yes, sir. That butler must have changed from his livery into a plain suit; and Jane says that his derby hat, light overcoat, and a cane with a dog's head on it are missing. Everything is wide open in his room, none of the bureau drawers nor the trunk locked; and he left in such a hurry that he forgot his bank-book, although there is no check-book around."
"Have you the bank-book?"
"Here it is." Taylor handed him a thin tan book and a handful of letters, together with a page or two of papers upon which names and figures were arranged in a sort of chart.
Odell ran his eye down the columns in the bank-book first.
"Humph! He had over two thousand last spring, and his account has fluctuated since like a miniature stock-
