keen-witted to give way
to alarm and leave his task unfinished. He must remove the whole pile, in
order to give no cause for suspicion that he had been excavating in
search of something; and the sooner it was done the better. It was noon
when the work was finished and he entered the house, where there was
something else to be done. He was a methodical man and had a place for
each of his belongings. He began by examining the position of every
article in a cupboard. None seemed to have been disturbed, which was
reassuring, and Wandle proceeded to empty a chest in which he kept his
clothing. He had reached the bottom of it when a pair of light summer
shoes caught his eye and his face became intent. They were not where he
had placed them; he remembered having fitted them in between some other
things at the opposite end of the chest. This confirmed his worst
suspicions, but he carefully laid back each garment before he sat down to
consider.

It was obvious that the police had searched his house, and had taken the
cash-box away, but he was careful not to let his fears overcome his
judgment. The box was of a cheap and common pattern; it would be
difficult to identify it as having belonged to Jernyngham. He was more
troubled by the evidence that he was being watched by the police because
it might result in their discovering the sale of land he had made. This
must be guarded against, as the offense was serious, and would, moreover,
connect him with Jernyngham's disappearance; but Wandle would not be
driven into any rash and precipitate action by his alarm. He was a cool,
ready-witted, avaricious man, who had found industry profitable, and he
had no intention of leaving the farm he had spent so much work on. Flight
would mean ruin: he could not dispose of his property before he went
without attracting attention, and it would, in all probability, lead to
his arrest. He must stay and face the matter out.

First of all, he tried to estimate the risk of his being recognized as
the man who had sold Jernyngham's land. If the suspicions of the agent he
had dealt with were aroused, he might describe his customer to the
police. Wandle was glad his appearance was by no means striking. When he
sold the land, he had, however, worn a newly made suit of a rather vivid
brown, which the man would probably remember. Wandle had bought it on a
business visit to Brandon, which was a long way off, and the police could
not have seen it when searching