LITMIR.BIZ

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by the lady.

      He found the door locked, and he opened it by means of the key. Then he locked it behind him, leaving the key in the lock.

      He turned at once to a dressing-table.

      The three pins were there, just as Mrs. Pond had said.

      Nick laughed softly to himself.

      “That looks bad for my first shot at this queer case,” he said; “but perhaps she didn’t dare work the game while I was in the house.”

      He glanced out of the window of the room.

      Two servants were in the yard. They seemed to be explaining the robberies to a new driver of a groceryman’s wagon, for they had one of his arms apiece, and were pointing to the window.

      Nick walked into the sitting-room, and spent some minutes examining the walls, and especially the door leading toward the old part of the house.

      He found nothing at all to reward his search. There absolutely was no secret entrance.

      The detective decided that nothing further could be done in that room. He walked toward the other.

      To his astonishment he found that the door had been closed while he had been busy with his investigations.

      He sprang against it.

      The door yielded a little, and yet he could not open it.

      Some person stronger than he seemed to be holding it on the other side.

      He drew back for a spring. That door would have gone to splinters if it had stood in his way again.

      Instead, it swung open the instant he touched it, and the force of his lunge took him nearly to the middle of the room.

      In an instant he was on guard, but he saw no one.

      The room was quiet, and it was empty.

      The door into the hall was locked as he had left it.

      All was the same, except that on the dressing-table was the cushion bearing two diamond pins instead of three.

      The robbery had been done, as one might say, under the nose of the greatest detective in the world.

      “Well, this takes my breath away,” said Nick to himself. “It’s the nerviest challenge that ever was sprung on me.”

Chapter III.

       How Nick Found the Jewels

       Table of Contents

      It certainly looked like sheer recklessness for this thief, whoever he might be, to play his game on Nick almost at the very moment when the great detective appeared upon the scene.

      Shrewd as Nick was, he had not expected this. His first thought, as the reader knows, was that it was a bold challenge, the defiance of a nervy criminal who thought himself absolutely safe from detection.

      But a moment’s reflection made this seem less probable.

      Was it not more natural to suppose that this event proved that the detective was unknown to the thief?

      Such being the case, Colonel Richmond, his nephew and Mrs. Pond were acquitted at the start.

      It may seem ridiculous to suspect them, in any case, but so strange was the nature of this affair that Nick gave nobody the credit of certain innocence.

      Colonel Richmond was certainly very nearly crazy on one point. He might be so much of a lunatic as to commit these robberies from simple delusion. Or he might wish to prove to his daughter that the diamonds were not rightfully hers.

      Mrs. Pond might be pawning them for small extravagances which she was afraid to have known.

      As to Horace Richmond, there was no motive which seemed plausible. The value of the articles taken was so small as to make the game not worth while for a man in his position.

      And it was perfectly certain that no professional thief or dishonest servant was doing the work.

      If such a person had been in the game, he would not have taken one of those diamond pins; he would have taken all three.

      It was impossible to lose sight of the fact that the Stevenses would be the real gainers, if this ghost business led Colonel Richmond to insist that his daughter should give up the jewels.

      Mrs. Stevens and her daughter could not be doing the job personally, but they might have a secret agent among the servants, or more probably concealed in some secret recess of the strange old house.

      Nick resolved to go to see Mrs. and Miss Stevens without delay. He hoped to judge by their conduct whether they knew anything about the robberies.

      These thoughts passed through his mind in a flash.

      He quickly searched the room to be sure that the thief was not concealed in it, and then descended to the main hall. The outer door was open, and Colonel Richmond and his daughter were standing on the steps.

      Just as Nick joined them Horace Richmond strolled up. They all stood looking at a carriage which was coming up the driveway.

      “Why, it’s Mrs. Stevens,” exclaimed Mrs. Pond. “I thought you said she did not come here any more.”

      “She hasn’t been here in some time,” responded the colonel. “I have thought that she avoided us because of this matter of the jewels.”

      Nothing more could be said on the subject, for at that moment the carriage drew up before the door.

      Colonel Richmond advanced courteously and assisted Mrs. Stevens to alight.

      Nick noticed at once that she was much agitated.

      Colonel Richmond asked her into the house, but she said that she preferred to sit on the veranda. She had come on business, and would stay but a moment.

      She evidently wished to speak to the colonel privately, and so the others stepped aside; but Nick’s eye was upon the woman every moment.

      Very few words had passed between them, when the colonel uttered a cry and called to Nick.

      The detective instantly advanced. He made a sign to Richmond, but it was not understood, and the colonel introduced Nick by his right name.

      “Here is an extraordinary thing, Mr. Carter,” he said. “We now have proof positive that this affair is not the work of mortal hands.”

      “What is that?” asked Nick.

      “The jewels have appeared!”

      “Where?”

      “In Mrs. Stevens’ house. They have been mysteriously transported there without human aid.”

      “I should be glad to have that proven,” said Nick.

      “It shall be,” said the colonel. “Tell your story, Mrs. Stevens, if you please.”

      “It is very simple,” she said. “This noon, when I returned to my room after lunch, I found upon my dressing-table certain pieces of jewelry which I recognized as having belonged to the late Miss Lavina Richmond.

      “I knew them well. Nothing that I can imagine could have surprised me more than to find them there. I have no explanation to offer. I can’t explain how it happened.”

      Nick could explain it very easily, at least so far as the appearance of the jewels in that particular place was concerned. It looked like a natural development of the plot. But his face expressed no emotion as he asked:

      “Who had access to that room?”

      “Nobody,” replied Mrs. Stevens. “It was locked.”

      “Is it customary

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