Hopper belongs to our
family, or the family belongs to him. I am never sure which. You must
have missed in him the deferential bearing of a man-servant in Paris,
yet he is true gold, like the sovereign you bestowed upon him, and he
bestowed upon me. Now here, Monsieur, is the evidence of the theft,
together with the rubber band and two pieces of cardboard. Ask my
friend Gibbes to examine them minutely. They are all at your
disposition, Monsieur, and thus you learn how much easier it is to
deal with the master than with the servant. All the gold you possess
would not have wrung these incriminating documents from old Hopper. I
was compelled to send him away to the West End an hour ago, fearing
that in his brutal British way he might assault you if he got an
inkling of your mission.'
'Mr. Dacre,' said I slowly, 'you have thoroughly convinced me--'
'I thought I would,' he interrupted with a laugh.
'--that you did _not_ take the money.'
'Oho, this is a change of wind, surely. Many a man has been hanged on
a chain of circumstantial evidence much weaker than this which I have
exhibited to you. Don't you see the subtlety of my action? Ninety-nine
persons in a hundred would say: "No man could be such a fool as to
put Valmont on his own track, and then place in Valmont's hands such
striking evidence.
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