Phineas Duge kept up during the day the assumption of severe indisposition.  No one was allowed to see him.  A bulletin posted outside announced that he had been ordered complete and entire rest; and all the time the telephone wires from his bedroom, high up in the back of the house, were busy flashing messages east and west, all over the country.  The work in which he had been engaged was zealously pushed home.  No one saw his secretaries coming and going so often from his room, and neither of them was willing to admit, in fact they flatly denied when questioned, that they had seen their chief at all.  Towards afternoon, Virginia returned from a short drive in the park to be told that two gentlemen were waiting to see her.  She found no one in the drawing-room or waiting-room, however, or any of the usual reception-rooms, and rang the bell for the butler.

“Where are these people, Groves,” she asked, “who want to see me?”

“They are in the library, madam,” the man answered.

“You mean in your master’s room?” she asked, with a sudden presentiment.

“Yes, madam!” the man answered.  “You see, they are Mr. Weiss and Mr. Higgins, two of the master’s greatest friends, and they wished to see the room where the burglary took place.”

Virginia looked at the man in cold anger.

“Groves,” she said, “you had my orders that no one was to be admitted into that room.”

“I am sorry if I did wrong, madam,” the man answered.  “I made exception in favour of these two gentlemen, because they were constant visitors here, and old friends of Mr. Duge’s, and I scarcely thought that your orders would apply to them.”

Virginia stepped past him and across the hall.  She entered the room suddenly and closed the door behind her.  Mr. Weiss, with a bunch of keys in his hand, was trying to find one that fitted her uncle’s desk.  Higgins, who held an open penknife, seemed to have been attempting to pry the lid.  They started as they saw Virginia enter, and it flashed into her mind at once that they had waited to pay their visit until they had seen her go out, and that her return so quickly had disconcerted them.

“Mr. Weiss,” she said, crossing the room towards them, “this room is in my charge.  It is by my uncle’s orders that no one enters it.  I regret that you were shown here by a servant who misunderstood his instructions.  Will you come into the morning-room with me at once?”

Mr. Weiss stood up.  Higgins had moved a little toward the door, and Virginia suddenly realized that her retreat was cut off.

“Young lady,” the former said, “you must forgive us both, and me especially, if we speak to you very plainly.  I told you about the document in which we were interested, which your uncle was holding yesterday.  We were willing to let it remain here under ordinary circumstances, but after the events of last night, we do not propose to let it stay here another hour.  If your uncle is not well enough to be spoken to, then we must take the matter into our own hands.  You can see for yourself what a risk we run, when only last night an attempt was very nearly successfully made to steal these papers,”