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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:38:36 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:38:36 -0700 |
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diff --git a/11989-h/11989-h.htm b/11989-h/11989-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ead5858 --- /dev/null +++ b/11989-h/11989-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,10598 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" + content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of + The Crime of the French Café, + by Street & Smith. +</title> +<style type="text/css"> + <!-- + P { margin-left: 4%; + margin-right: 4%; + margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; } + HR { width: 33%; } + PRE { font-family: Courier, monospaced; } + .card { margin-left: 10%; + margin-top: 1.25em; + margin-bottom: 1.25em;} + // --> +</style> +</head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11989 ***</div> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<h1><a href="#FRENCH">The Crime of the French Café</a></h1> +<h1><a href="#GHOST">Nick Carter's Ghost Story</a></h1> +<h1><a href="#AGNES">The Mystery of St. Agnes' Hospital</a></h1> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<center> +<i>THREE COMPLETE STORIES OF THE EXPLOITS OF +NICHOLAS CARTER, AMERICA'S GREATEST DETECTIVE</i> +</center> + +<p> </p> +<center> +Entered according to act of Congress in the years 1893, 1894 and 1900 +</center> +<center> +By STREET & SMITH +</center> +<center> +In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D.C. +</center> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<hr> + +<p> </p> + +<a name="FRENCH"></a> +<h2> +THE CRIME OF THE FRENCH CAFE +</h2> + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH1"><!-- CH1 --></a> +<h3> + CHAPTER I. +</h3> + +<h3> +PRIVATE DINING-ROOM "B." +</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> +There is a well-known French restaurant in the "Tenderloin" district +which provides its patrons with small but elegantly appointed private +dining-rooms. +</p> +<p> +The restaurant occupies a corner house; and, though its reputation is +not strictly first-class in some respects, its cook is an artist, and +its wine cellar as good as the best. +</p> +<p> +It has two entrances, and the one on the side street is not well lighted +at night. +</p> +<p> +At half-past seven o'clock one evening Nick Carter was standing about +fifty yards from this side door. +</p> +<p> +The detective had shadowed a man to a house on the side street, and was +waiting for him to come out. +</p> +<p> +The case was a robbery of no great importance, but Nick had taken it to +oblige a personal friend, who wished to have the business managed +quietly. This affair would not be worth mentioning, except that it led +Nick to one of the most peculiar and interesting criminal puzzles that +he had ever come across in all his varied experience. +</p> +<p> +While Nick waited for his man he saw a closed carriage stop before the +side door of the restaurant. +</p> +<p> +Almost immediately a waiter, bare-headed and wearing his white apron, +came hurriedly out of the side door and got into the carriage, which +instantly moved away at a rapid rate. +</p> +<p> +This incident struck Nick as being very peculiar. The waiter had acted +like a man who was running away. +</p> +<p> +As he crossed the sidewalk he glanced hastily from side to side, as if +afraid of being seen, and perhaps stopped. +</p> +<p> +It looked as if the waiter might have robbed one of the restaurant's +patrons, or possibly its proprietor. If Nick had had no business on his +hands he would have followed that carriage. +</p> +<p> +As it happened, however, the man for whom the detective was watching +appeared at that moment. +</p> +<p> +Nick was obliged to follow him, but he knew that he would not have to go +far, for Chick was waiting on Sixth avenue, and it was in that direction +that the thief turned. +</p> +<p> +So it happened that within ten minutes Nick was able to turn this case +over to his famous assistant, and return to clear up the mystery of the +queer incident which he had chanced to observe. +</p> +<p> +Nick would not have been surprised to find the restaurant in an uproar, +but it was as quiet as usual. He entered by the side door, ascended a +flight of stairs, and came to a sort of office with a desk and a +register. +</p> +<p> +It was the custom of the place that guests should put down their names +as in a hotel before being assigned to a private dining-room. +</p> +<p> +There was nobody in sight. +</p> +<p> +The hall led toward the front of the building, and there were three +rooms on the side of it toward the street. +</p> +<p> +All the doors were open and the rooms were empty. Nick glanced into +these rooms, and then turned toward the desk. As he did so he saw a +waiter coming down the stairs from the floor above. +</p> +<p> +This man was known by the name of Gaspard. He was the head waiter, and +was on duty in the lower hall. +</p> +<p> +"Ah, Gaspard," said Nick, "who's your waiter on this floor to-night?" +</p> +<p> +Gaspard looked at Nick anxiously. He did not, of course, know who the +detective really was, but he remembered him as one who had assisted the +police in a case in which that house had been concerned about two years +before. +</p> +<p> +"Jean Corbut," replied Gaspard. "I hope nothing is wrong." +</p> +<p> +"That remains to be seen," said Nick. "What sort of a man is this +Corbut?" +</p> +<p> +"A little man," answered Gaspard, "and very thin. He has long, black +hair, and mustaches pointed like two needles." +</p> +<p> +"Have you sent him out for anything?" +</p> +<p> +"Oh, no; he is here." +</p> +<p> +"Where?" +</p> +<p> +"In one of the rooms at the front. We have parties in A and B." +</p> +<p> +"You go and find him," said Nick. "I want to see him right away." +</p> +<p> +Gaspard went to the front of the house. A hall branched off at right +angles with that in which Nick was standing. On the second hall were +three rooms, A, B and C. +</p> +<p> +Room C was next the avenue. The other two had windows on an open space +between two wings of the building. Nick glanced at the register, and saw +that "R.M. Clark and wife" had been assigned to room A, and "John Jones +and wife" to room B. Room C was vacant. +</p> +<p> +The detective had barely time to note these entries on the book when +Gaspard came running back. +</p> +<p> +His face was as white as paper, and his lips were working as if he were +saying something, but not a sound came from them. +</p> +<p> +He was struck dumb with fright. Whatever it was that he had seen must +have been horrible, to judge from the man's trembling limbs and +distorted face. +</p> +<p> +Nick had seen people in that condition before, and he did not waste time +trying to get any information out of Gaspard. +</p> +<p> +Instead, he seized the frightened fellow by the shoulder and pushed him +along toward the front of the house. +</p> +<p> +Gaspard made a feeble resistance. Evidently he did not want to see again +the sight which had so terrified him. +</p> +<p> +But he was powerless in Nick's grasp. In five seconds they stood before +the open door of room B. +</p> +<p> +The door was open, and there was a bright glare of gas within. +</p> +<p> +It shone upon the table, where a rich repast lay untasted. It illumined +the gaudy furnishings of the room and the costly pictures upon the +walls. +</p> +<p> +It shone, too, upon a beautiful face, rigid and perfectly white, except +for a horrible stain of black and red upon the temple. +</p> +<p> +The face was that of a woman of twenty-five years. She had very abundant +hair of a light corn color, which clustered in little curls around her +forehead, and was gathered behind in a great mass of plaited braids. +</p> +<p> +She reclined in a large easy-chair, in a natural attitude, but the +pallid face, the fixed and glassy eyes, and the grim wound upon the +temple announced, in unmistakable terms, the presence of death. +</p> +<p> +Nick drew a long breath and set his lips together firmly. He had felt +that something was wrong in that house. The waiter who had run across +the sidewalk and got into that carriage had borne a guilty secret with +him, as the detective's experienced eye had instantly perceived. +</p> +<p> +But this was a good deal worse than Nick had expected. He had looked for +a robbery, or, perhaps, a secret and bloody quarrel between two of the +waiters, but not for a murder such as this. +</p> +<p> +One glance at the woman showed her to be elegant in dress and of a +refined appearance. +</p> +<p> +She could have had nothing in common with the missing Corbut, unless, +indeed, he was other than he seemed. +</p> +<p> +Certainly, whatever was Corbut's connection with the crime, there was +another person, at least, as intimately concerned in it. And he, too, +had fled. +</p> +<p> +Where was the man who had brought this woman to this house? How was it +possible to account for his absence except by the conclusion that he was +the murderer? +</p> +<p> +That was the first and most natural explanation. Whether it was the true +one or not, the man must be found. +</p> +<p> +Nick turned to Gaspard. The head waiter had sunk down on a chair by the +table and seemed prostrated. +</p> +<p> +From previous experience Nick knew Gaspard to be a man without nerve, +and he was not surprised to find him prostrated by this sudden shock. +</p> +<p> +There was a bottle of champagne standing in ice beside the table. The +detective opened it and made Gaspard drink a glass of the sparkling +liquor. +</p> +<p> +It put a little heart into the man, and he was able to answer questions. +</p> +<p> +Nick, meanwhile, closed the door of the room. Apparently the tragedy was +known only to Gaspard and himself and to the guilty authors of it. +</p> +<p> +"Did you see this woman when she came in?" asked Nick. +</p> +<p> +"No." +</p> +<p> +"Who showed her and the man with her to this room?" +</p> +<p> +"Corbut." +</p> +<p> +"Who waited on them?" +</p> +<p> +"Corbut." +</p> +<p> +"Who waited on the people in room A?" +</p> +<p> +"Corbut." +</p> +<p> +"They are gone, I suppose?" +</p> +<p> +"Yes; I looked in there before I came in here." +</p> +<p> +"Did you see any of these people?" +</p> +<p> +"I saw the two men." +</p> +<p> +"How did that happen?" +</p> +<p> +"One of them came out into the hall to call Corbut, who had not answered +the bell quick enough." +</p> +<p> +"Which one was that?" +</p> +<p> +"The man in room A." +</p> +<p> +"How do you know?" +</p> +<p> +"Because I saw the other man, later, coming out of room B." +</p> +<p> +"This room?" +</p> +<p> +"Yes." +</p> +<p> +"You are sure of that?" +</p> +<p> +"Perfectly." +</p> +<p> +"Did he see you?"' +</p> +<p> +"I think not. I was standing right at the corner of the two halls. The +man came out and glanced around, but I stepped back quickly, because we +do not like to appear to spy upon our guests. He did not see me." +</p> +<p> +"What did he do?" +</p> +<p> +"He went out the front way. I supposed the lady went with him, for I was +sure that I heard the rustling of her dress." +</p> +<p> +"Where was Corbut then?" +</p> +<p> +"In room A." +</p> +<p> +"How long did he stay there?" +</p> +<p> +"Only a minute. I went back to the desk, and then was called by a waiter +upstairs. Just as I turned to go I saw Corbut coming through the hall." +</p> +<p> +"Did you speak to him?" +</p> +<p> +"Yes; I called to him to stay by the desk while I went upstairs." +</p> +<p> +"Did he answer?" +</p> +<p> +"Yes; he said 'very well.'" +</p> +<p> +"And that's the last you saw of him?" +</p> +<p> +"Yes." +</p> +<p> +"All right; so much for Corbut. Now for the two men. Would you know +them?" +</p> +<p> +"Not the man in room A. I didn't notice him particularly." +</p> +<p> +"But how about the man who came out of this room? He's the one we're +after." +</p> +<p> +"I would know him," said Gaspard, slowly. "Yes; I feel sure that I could +identify him." +</p> +<p> +"That's good. Now for the crime itself. Go back to the desk and ring for +a messenger. When he comes, send him here. Don't let anybody else come, +and don't say a word to anybody about this affair." +</p> +<p> +Gaspard, with a very pale face, went back to his desk. +</p> +<p> +Nick remained alone with the beautiful dead. +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH2"><!-- CH2 --></a> +<h3> + CHAPTER II. +</h3> + +<h3> +GASPARD SPOTS HIS MAN. +</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> +A revolver lay on the carpet just where it would have been if it had +dropped from the woman's right hand. +</p> +<p> +Its position suggested the possibility of suicide, and there was, at the +first glance, nothing to contradict that theory, except the conduct of +Corbut and the man who had registered as John Jones. +</p> +<p> +It might be that the woman had committed suicide, and the men had fled +for fear of being implicated in the affair. +</p> +<p> +Nick examined this side of the case at once. +</p> +<p> +The pistol had evidently been held only a few inches from the woman's +head when it was fired. +</p> +<p> +Her white flesh showed the marks of the powder. +</p> +<p> +The bullet had passed straight through the head. +</p> +<p> +The revolver carried a long thirty-two cartridge. Three of the five +chambers were loaded. +</p> +<p> +One of them contained an empty shell, on which the hammer rested. The +fatal bullet had doubtless come from this chamber, for the shell had +been recently discharged. +</p> +<p> +In the fifth chamber was an old shell, which had apparently been carried +under the hammer for safety, as is quite common. +</p> +<p> +The woman had a purse containing about twenty dollars, but no cards or +other things which might lead to identification. +</p> +<p> +Her ears had been pierced for earrings, but she seemed not to have worn +them recently. She had no watch. +</p> +<p> +There was one plain gold ring on the third finger of her right hand, and +there was a deep mark showing that she had worn another, but that ring +was gone. +</p> +<p> +How recently it had been removed was, of course, beyond discovery. +There was no sign that it had been violently torn away. +</p> +<p> +When Nick had proceeded thus far with his investigation the messenger +boy arrived. The detective sent messages to his assistants, Chick and +Patsy. +</p> +<p> +He then notified a coroner, who came about ten o'clock and took charge +of the body. +</p> +<p> +A minute examination failed to reveal any marks upon the clothing which +might assist in establishing the woman's identity. +</p> +<p> +Nick then left the restaurant, taking Gaspard with him. Inspector +Mclaughlin's men were by this time on hand, and they took charge of the +house, under Nick's direction. +</p> +<p> +At seven o'clock in the morning Nick received a message from Patsy, who +had been directed to find the cabman in whose cab Corbut had fled. +</p> +<p> +Patsy had located the cabman at his home on West Thirty-second street. +The man's name was Harrigan. +</p> +<p> +Nick took Gaspard with him and went to the house where Harrigan boarded. +</p> +<p> +"I got on to him easy enough," said Patsy, whom they found outside the +house. "I found the policeman who was on that beat last night, and got +him to give me a list of all the night-hawks he'd seen around there up +to eight o'clock of the evening. +</p> +<p> +"Then I began to chase up the fellows on that list. The second man put +me on to Harrigan. He remembered seeing him get the job, but couldn't +tell what sort of a man hired him. +</p> +<p> +"I guess there's no doubt that he's the man, but I haven't questioned +him yet. He's in there asleep." +</p> +<p> +Nick passed himself off as a friend of Harrigan's, and was directed with +Patsy to the man's room. +</p> +<p> +They went in without being invited, after having tried in vain to get +an answer to their pounding on his door. +</p> +<p> +The cabman was snoring in a heavy slumber. +</p> +<p> +"From what I heard," said Patsy, "Harrigan had a very large skate on +last night. He's sleeping it off." +</p> +<p> +Nick shook the man unmercifully, and at last he sat up in bed. +</p> +<p> +"What t' 'ell?" said he, looking about him wildly. "Who are youse, an' +wha's the row?" +</p> +<p> +As the quickest way to sober the man, Nick showed his shield. It acted +like a cold shower-bath. +</p> +<p> +"Say, what was it I done?" gasped Harrigan. "S' help me, I dunno nothing +about it. I had a load on me last night, an' I ain't responsible." +</p> +<p> +Patsy laughed. +</p> +<p> +"There's no charge against you," said Nick; "I only want to ask you a +few questions." +</p> +<p> +Harrigan sank back on the pillow with a gasp of relief. +</p> +<p> +"Gimme that water-pitcher," he said; "me t'roat's full o' cobwebs." +</p> +<p> +He drank about a quart of water, and then declared himself ready for a +cross-examination. Nick sized him up for a decent sort of fellow; and +saw no reason to doubt that he was telling the truth when he answered +the questions that were put to him. +</p> +<p> +It appeared that he had been on Seventh avenue, near the French +restaurant, from a little after six to about half-past seven on the +previous evening. +</p> +<p> +At the latter hour a man had engaged his cab. He had taken it to the +side door of the restaurant, and the waiter had got in. The man who +hired the cab was already inside. +</p> +<p> +He had driven them somewhere on Fifty-seventh street, or it might be +Fifty-eighth. He couldn't remember exactly. +</p> +<p> +The two men got out together. He didn't know what had become of them. +</p> +<p> +His fare was paid all right. Then he had a couple more drinks, and the +next thing he knew he was at the stable where he had hired the cab. +</p> +<p> +Of course he didn't confess this in so many words, but Nick understood +the facts well enough. +</p> +<p> +That was absolutely all that Harrigan knew about the case. +</p> +<p> +"Would you recognize the man who hired your cab if you saw him again?" +asked Nick. +</p> +<p> +"Oh, sure," said Harrigan. "I wasn't so very full. I had me wits about +me. Say, you ain't going to do me dirt an' git me license taken away? I +was all right. I didn't do any harm." +</p> +<p> +Nick assured Harrigan that if he acted right in this case his license +would be safe, and then left the man to his slumbers. +</p> +<p> +"Not very promising, is it, my boy?" said Nick to Patsy, as they went +downstairs. "We've lost the trail as soon as we struck it." +</p> +<p> +"Do you think he's giving it to us straight?" +</p> +<p> +"Yes; he doesn't know where he took the men nor what became of them +after they left his cab." +</p> +<p> +"It's a pity he had such a jag. He'd have been the best witness in the +case." +</p> +<p> +Nick smiled. +</p> +<p> +"If he hadn't been drunk he wouldn't have had anything to do with the +case," he said. +</p> +<p> +"What do you mean?" +</p> +<p> +"Why, it's clear enough. This man that we want saw Harrigan on that cab +while the man was on his way to the restaurant with the woman. Then when +it became necessary to get Corbut out of the way, he remembered the +drunken cabman, and hired him." +</p> +<p> +"I don't see how you know that." +</p> +<p> +"A man would rather have a sober driver than a drunken one, wouldn't +he?" +</p> +<p> +"Yes." +</p> +<p> +"Well, the man who told you he saw Harrigan get the job was sober, +wasn't he?" +</p> +<p> +"Yes." +</p> +<p> +"Then why didn't the man take his cab? Because he wanted a drunken +driver, who wouldn't be sharp enough to get on to any queer business. +</p> +<p> +"But he wouldn't have tried to find a drunken cabman just by luck, and +he wouldn't have taken a sober one. Therefore he had seen Harrigan and +hoped to find him in the same place. +</p> +<p> +"That's part of the plot. Now, then, you go to Chick, who's watching the +body of the woman. I'm going to take Gaspard uptown and have a look at +that part of the city where Harrigan left his passengers." +</p> +<p> +Nick and Gaspard went to the Thirty-third street station of the Sixth +avenue elevated road. +</p> +<p> +They walked to the edge of the platform on the uptown end. +</p> +<p> +Suddenly Gaspard gave a violent start. He uttered an exclamation of +surprise and pointed across the tracks. +</p> +<p> +"What is it?" cried Nick. +</p> +<p> +"The man who was in room B!" exclaimed Gaspard. "I am sure of it!" +</p> +<p> +At that instant a downtown train rushed into the station, cutting off +Nick's view. +</p> +<p> +And a half-second later an uptown train pulled in on their side. Nick +pushed open a gate before the train had fairly stopped. He dragged +Gaspard after him. +</p> +<p> +The gateman tried to stop them, but Nick pushed the fellow in the car so +violently that he sat down on the floor. +</p> +<p> +Then the detective pulled the other gate open, and, still dragging +Gaspard, sprang down in the space between the tracks. +</p> +<p> +The other train was just starting. Nick leaped up and opened one of the +gates. +</p> +<p> +Gaspard stood trembling. Excitement and terror rendered him incapable of +action. +</p> +<p> +Nick reached down, and, seizing the man by the shoulders, lifted him up +to the platform of the car as if he had been a child of ten. +</p> +<p> +"Look back," cried the detective, pushing Gaspard to the other side of +the car. "Is your man still at the station?" +</p> +<p> +Two or three men were there, having, apparently, just missed the train. +</p> +<p> +It seemed possible that the criminal—if such he was—had seen Gaspard +point, and had been shrewd enough not to board the car. +</p> +<p> +But Gaspard looked back and declared that his man was not there. +</p> +<p> +"Good," said Nick. "He must be on the train. We have him sure." +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH3"><!-- CH3 --></a> +<h3> + CHAPTER III. +</h3> + +<h3> +JOHN JONES. +</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> +"I want you!" whispered Nick. +</p> +<p> +How many luckless criminals have been startled by those words! How many +have seen the prison or the gallows rise before them at the sound! +</p> +<p> +In this case, however, the words seemed to produce less than the +ordinary effect. +</p> +<p> +The man to whom they were addressed turned suddenly toward the +detective, but did not shrink or tremble. +</p> +<p> +"I beg your pardon," said he; "I didn't quite understand what you said." +</p> +<p> +The man's coolness made Nick even more in doubt about Gaspard's +identification. +</p> +<p> +After boarding the train they had walked through it hurriedly, and in +the car next the engine Gaspard had clutched Nick's arm, whispering: +</p> +<p> +"There is your man!" +</p> +<p> +The person indicated was well-dressed, rather good-looking, and about +thirty-five years old. There was nothing particularly striking about his +appearance. +</p> +<p> +It would have been easy to have found dozens of such men on lower +Broadway any day. +</p> +<p> +Nick feared a mistake. But Gaspard was sure. +</p> +<p> +"I never forget a face," he said. "That is the man whom I saw coming out +of room B. That is the murderer." +</p> +<p> +The man was standing up and holding on to one of the straps. His profile +was turned to them. +</p> +<p> +Nick waited until he turned and showed his full face. The detective was +bound to give Gaspard every chance to change his mind. +</p> +<p> +But he remained firm, and at last Nick approached the accused and +suddenly whispered the terrifying words in his ear. +</p> +<p> +Having done so, he was obliged to carry it through. Therefore, when the +stranger asked Nick to repeat what he had said, the detective, in a low +voice, inaudible to anybody else in the car, told him what the +accusation was. +</p> +<p> +"This is ridiculous," said the man. "I read the story of this affair in +the papers this morning, but I am not connected with it in any way. If +you arrest me, you must be prepared to take the consequences." +</p> +<p> +"I guess we can manage the affair quietly," said Nick, "and give you no +trouble at all. I suppose you were going downtown to business?" +</p> +<p> +"Yes." +</p> +<p> +"Well, I will go along, too, if you don't mind." +</p> +<p> +"By all means," said the man, and he looked much relieved. +</p> +<p> +"I understand what your duty is," he continued. "Since this imported +French jackass has made this charge, of course you'll have to look into +it. Come down to the office and make some inquiries, and then go up to +my flat. I was at home last evening after eight o'clock. +</p> +<p> +"What did you do before that?" +</p> +<p> +"I had dinner with my wife, and then put her aboard a train. She's gone +away on a visit." +</p> +<p> +"Where has she gone?" +</p> +<p> +"No, sir; none of that. I don't propose to have a detective go flying +after her to scare her to death. She keeps out of this mess, if I have +any say about it." +</p> +<p> +"But if you're arrested she'll hear about it and come back to the city." +</p> +<p> +"I'm not going to be arrested. You're too sensible a man to do such a +thing. I can see that. +</p> +<p> +"Here we are. We get off at Franklin street. My place of business is +just a little way up the street, toward Broadway." +</p> +<p> +They left the train. Nick was beginning to feel that a mistake had been +made. This man's easy manner and perfect confidence were hard to square +with the idea of his guilt. +</p> +<p> +"By the way," said the suspect, as they descended the stairs, "I forgot +to give you my card." +</p> +<p> +He handed it to Nick as he spoke, and the detective read this: +</p> +<p class="card"> + MR. JOHN JONES.<br /><br /> + + ALLEN, MORSE & JONES,<br /> + Electrical Fixtures,<br /> + <i>The "Sunlight" Lamp</i>. +</p> +<p> +"What did I tell you!" exclaimed Gaspard, who was looking over Nick's +shoulder. "It is the name that was on the register. He is the man." +</p> +<p> +But Nick took a different view. He was of the opinion that Mr. Jones had +presented very strong evidence of his complete innocence. +</p> +<p> +Anybody else might have signed himself "John Jones," but the real John +Jones, never! +</p> +<p> +It would be mighty hard to convince a jury that a man meditating murder +had recorded his correct name for the benefit of the police. +</p> +<p> +The coincidence was certainly astonishing, but it was in Jones' favor. +</p> +<p> +They walked over to the office of Allen, Morse & Jones. +</p> +<p> +Mr. Allen was there. +</p> +<p> +"Good-morning, Mr. Allen," said Jones, "My name has got me into trouble +again." +</p> +<p> +"How is that?" +</p> +<p> +"Did you read about that French restaurant murder last night?" +</p> +<p> +"Well, I glanced at the story in one of the papers." +</p> +<p> +"This Frenchman here is a waiter in the place. He saw me in an elevated +train just now, and told this other man, who is a detective, that I was +the party who took that woman to the restaurant. +</p> +<p> +"That was bad enough, but when they found out what my name was, they +convicted me immediately. It appears that the visitor to the restaurant +signed the very uncommon name of John Jones on the books." +</p> +<p> +"Why, what the devil!" exclaimed Allen, looking wrathfully at poor +Gaspard, who was shaking in his shoes. "Don't you know that this is a +serious matter? What do you mean?" +</p> +<p> +"He is the man," cried Gaspard. "If I were dying, I would swear with my +last breath that he is the man." +</p> +<p> +"But who's the woman?" asked Allen, turning to Nick. "And what has she +to do with my partner?" +</p> +<p> +"That I cannot say," replied Nick; "she has not been identified." +</p> +<p> +"Then you have absolutely nothing to go upon except this fellow's word?" +</p> +<p> +"Nothing." +</p> +<p> +"Why, this is nonsense." +</p> +<p> +"Perhaps so," said Nick, "but you will admit that I would be false to my +duty if I did not make an investigation." +</p> +<p> +"Investigate all you wish," laughed Jones. "But don't bother me any more +than you have to. This is my busy day." +</p> +<p> +"I'm going right away," said Nick. "All I want of you is that you will +give me your address, and meet me at your home in the latter part of the +afternoon." +</p> +<p> +"Very well," said Jones, and he scribbled on a piece of paper. "I'll be +there at half-past four o'clock." +</p> +<p> +Nick thanked Mr. Jones for his courtesy, and immediately withdrew. But +he did not go far. +</p> +<p> +In a convenient doorway he wrote a note to Chick, on the back of the +scrap of paper which Jones had given him, and sealed it in an envelope. +</p> +<p> +Then he sent Gaspard with it to Chick, who was on the lookout in the +undertaker's room, where the body lay. +</p> +<p> +Having dispatched this message, Nick changed his disguise and kept watch +over the establishment of Allen, Morse & Jones. +</p> +<p> +Nothing of importance happened until a little after noon, when a reply +came from Chick. +</p> +<p> +Translated from the detective's cipher, it read as follows: +</p> +<blockquote> +<p> "The address is that of a good flat house. Jones lives there with + his wife. +</p> +<p> + "They have been there only about two months. Nobody in the house + knows anything about them. +</p> +<p> + "They had one servant, who was taken sick about two weeks ago and + carried to a hospital, where she died. +</p> +<p> + "Since then they have lived absolutely alone. There was nobody in + the house who had seen Mrs. Jones' face. She always wore a heavy + veil. +</p> +<p> + "The only description I could get tallied with that of the body. The + principal point was the hair. +</p> +<p> + "I have just found a woman who saw Mr. and Mrs. Jones go out + yesterday afternoon. She remembers Mrs. Jones' dress. The + description agrees with that found on the corpse. +</p> +<p> + "Jones carried an alligator-skin traveling-bag. Nobody saw either of + them come back to the house, but Jones evidently slept there. +</p> +<p> + "I shall take the woman who saw them go out to the room where the + body lies. +</p> +<p> + "Will send Patsy down with the result of this effort at + identification. I believe it will show the woman to be Mrs. Jones. I + send this that you may have warning." +</p> +<p> + "CHICK." +</p> +</blockquote> +<p> +Nick read this note and then glanced across the street toward the office +of Allen, Morse & Jones. +</p> +<p> +Through the window he could see Jones calmly writing a letter. Could it +be possible that this man was guilty of so hideous a crime? +</p> +<p> +Half an hour passed, and then came the second message, as follows: +</p> +<blockquote><p> + "Identified as Mrs. Jones." +</p></blockquote> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH4"><!-- CH4 --></a> +<h3> + CHAPTER IV. +</h3> + +<h3> +ALL SORTS OF IDENTIFICATIONS. +</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> +"I am sorry to tell you, Mr. Jones, that the body of the woman murdered +last night has been identified as that of your wife." +</p> +<p> +So spoke Nick, and this time Jones' calmness was not proof against the +surprise. +</p> +<p> +"It can't be possible!" he exclaimed, leaping from his chair. +</p> +<p> +"I am so informed," said Nick, "and I must place you under arrest." +</p> +<p> +"But there is some infernal mistake here," said the accused. "I know +that my wife is all right. This must be somebody else." +</p> +<p> +"A lady living in the same house with you has recognized the body." +</p> +<p> +"I don't care if she has. Nobody in that house knows my wife." +</p> +<p> +"Is there anybody in the city who does know her?" +</p> +<p> +"I can't think of anybody." +</p> +<p> +"How about the grocer with whom you traded?" +</p> +<p> +"Our servant attended to all that till she was taken sick. Since then +I've done what little there was to do. We've eaten most of our meals at +restaurants." +</p> +<p> +"What restaurants?" +</p> +<p> +"Oh, all around. There's the Alcazar, for instance, where we have +sometimes dined together." +</p> +<p> +"Does the head waiter there know her?" +</p> +<p> +"I suppose he would remember her face. He doesn't know the name." +</p> +<p> +"All right. I'll have him look at the body." +</p> +<p> +"But, man, you're going to let me look at it, aren't you?" exclaimed +Jones. "That would settle it, I should think." +</p> +<p> +"I'll take you there now, and we will try to get somebody from the +Alcazar at the same time." +</p> +<p> +Nick took the prisoner at once to the Alcazar. The head waiter +remembered Jones' face. He had seen him dining with a lady who had +beautiful light hair. +</p> +<p> +The three went to the undertaker's rooms. +</p> +<p> +Nick watched Jones narrowly as he approached the body. He started +violently at the first sight of it. Then he became calm. +</p> +<p> +"The hair is wonderfully like," he said, "but there is no resemblance +between the two faces." +</p> +<p> +"That is true, gentlemen," said the head waiter; "this is not the lady." +</p> +<p> +"On the contrary," said a voice close beside them, "I believe that this +lady was your wife, Mr. Jones." +</p> +<p> +All the color went out of Jones' face as he turned quickly toward the +man who had spoken. +</p> +<p> +"Ah, Mr. Gottlieb," he said, "I am surprised to hear you say that." +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Gottlieb is the grocer from whom the Joneses bought their +supplies," said Chick, who had advanced to Nick's side. +</p> +<p> +"I was not aware that you had ever seen my wife," said Jones, looking +searchingly at the grocer. +</p> +<p> +"I never saw her plainly," said Gottlieb. "She came into my store once +or twice, but always closely veiled. So I cannot be sure; and, of +course, if you insist that this is not your wife's body, I must be +mistaken." +</p> +<p> +"You are mistaken, sir," said Jones, coldly. +</p> +<p> +He turned to Nick. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Gottlieb has sealed my doom for the present," he said, with a +smile. "I am ready to go with you." +</p> +<p> +Nick took his prisoner to Police Headquarters. +</p> +<p> +The detective had meanwhile sent Patsy in quest of Harrigan, the +coachman. +</p> +<p> +Jones was taken into the superintendent's room, and a dozen other men +were assembled there, waiting for the arrival of the cabman. +</p> +<p> +Harrigan was very nervous when he appeared. +</p> +<p> +"Youse fellies are tryin' to do me out o' my license," said he; "but I'm +tellin' yer I was all right last night. I wasn't half so paralyzed as +youse t'ink I was. Show me your man and I'll identify him." +</p> +<p> +Harrigan was led into the superintendent's room. When he saw how many +men were there he seemed to be a great deal taken aback. +</p> +<p> +But he put a bold face on the matter, and promptly advanced, saying: +</p> +<p> +"This is the man." +</p> +<p> +Nick made a gesture of disappointment, and then he laughed, and the +superintendent with him. +</p> +<p> +The man whom Harrigan had selected was Chick. +</p> +<p> +It was evident that the cabman was going upon pure guess-work. Being +sharply questioned, he confessed that he had no idea how his "fare" of +the previous night looked. +</p> +<p> +"I'll give it to youse dead straight," said he, at last; "I don't know +whether the mug was white or black. Say, he might have been a Chinee." +</p> +<p> +"I believe that fellow is faking," said the sergeant to Nick, as +Harrigan left the room. +</p> +<p> +"No; he's straight enough, I guess," said Nick. "He's not the sort of +man who would have been let into a game of this kind." +</p> +<p> +Nick then proceeded to question the prisoner in the presence of Chick +and the superintendent. +</p> +<p> +His answers were straightforward enough, but they threw little light +upon the affair. +</p> +<p> +The only subject which he refused to discuss was the whereabouts of his +wife. When questioned about her, he invariably declined to speak. +</p> +<p> +"She's gone on a little pleasure trip," he said, "and I want her to +enjoy it. This affair will be all over when she gets back. She'll never +hear of it, where she is, and that's as it should be." +</p> +<p> +Nick returned to his house, where he was informed that a visitor was +waiting for him. +</p> +<p> +He found a gentleman somewhat under forty years of age, and apparently +in prosperous circumstances, pacing the study floor. +</p> +<p> +The visitor was evidently greatly excited about something, for his hands +trembled and he started nervously when Nick entered. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Carter," he said, anxiously, "can I trust you fully?" +</p> +<p> +Nick laughed. +</p> +<p> +"I shan't do anything to prevent it," he said. +</p> +<p> +"Will you swear to keep what I shall tell you a secret?" +</p> +<p> +"No, sir; I will not." +</p> +<p> +The man made a despairing gesture. +</p> +<p> +"I supposed that your business was always strictly confidential," he +said. +</p> +<p> +"So it is, but I take no oaths." +</p> +<p> +"I didn't mean that exactly, but—but—" +</p> +<p> +The man hesitated, stammered, and was unable to proceed. +</p> +<p> +"Come, sir," said Nick; "be calm. Tell me plainly what you want me to do +for you." +</p> +<p> +"It isn't for me; it's for a—for a friend of mine." +</p> +<p> +"Very well; what can I do for your friend?" +</p> +<p> +"He is accused of a terrible crime, of which he is entirely innocent. I +want you to save him." +</p> +<p> +"I have been asked to do that many times." +</p> +<p> +"And you have always succeeded?" +</p> +<p> +"Oh, no; in several cases the persons have been hanged." +</p> +<p> +The visitor shuddered violently. +</p> +<p> +"I had heard," he said, "that you never failed to find the guilty +persons and to save the innocent." +</p> +<p> +"That is the truth. It has been my good fortune to leave no case +unsettled." +</p> +<p> +"But you said that these innocent persons had been hanged." +</p> +<p> +"They were hanged," said Nick, "but they were not innocent. Their +friends assured me that the persons were entirely guiltless, but it was +not true. +</p> +<p> +"And therefore," Nick continued, looking straight into the man's eyes, +"I should advise you to be very sure of your friend's innocence before +you put the case in my hands." +</p> +<p> +The visitor looked very much relieved. +</p> +<p> +"I'm perfectly sure of it," he cried. "My friend had nothing to do with +this case." +</p> +<p> +"I'm glad to hear it. Who is he?" +</p> +<p> +"The man who has been arrested in this restaurant murder case." +</p> +<p> +"John Jones?" +</p> +<p> +"That is the name he has given to the police." +</p> +<p> +"But isn't that his right name?" +</p> +<p> +"I—I don't know," stammered the visitor. +</p> +<p> +"He must be a very particular friend of yours, since you don't know what +his name is!" +</p> +<p> +"I never saw him in my life." +</p> +<p> +"Look here, Mr.—" +</p> +<p> +"Hammond is my name." +</p> +<p> +"Well, Mr. Hammond, your statements don't hang together. You began by +saying that this man was your friend." +</p> +<p> +"I didn't mean that exactly, but I sympathize with him. It must be +terrible to be arrested for such a crime and to find the evidence +growing stronger in spite of your innocence." +</p> +<p> +"How do you know that he is innocent?" +</p> +<p> +Before Hammond could reply there came a knock at the door. +</p> +<p> +Nick answered it. +</p> +<p> +"Come in, Gaspard," he said, throwing the door wide open. +</p> +<p> +"You sent for me, and—Good God! who is this?" +</p> +<p> +"You know him, then?" +</p> +<p> +"Yes, yes, I know him," cried Gaspard; "he is the man who was in room A +last night." +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH5"><!-- CH5 --></a> +<h3> + CHAPTER V. +</h3> + +<h3> +PATSY'S TIP. +</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> +Gaspard's declaration produced a stunning effect upon Hammond. +</p> +<p> +At first he seemed thunderstruck. There was a look in his face which +made Nick say to himself, "It isn't true." +</p> +<p> +But whether the accusation was true or false, Nick knew at once that +Hammond recognized Gaspard. +</p> +<p> +Yet he couldn't be a regular visitor to the place, because Gaspard had +said that he had never seen either of the two men before the fatal +evening. +</p> +<p> +Therefore, as Hammond had recognized Gaspard, he must be the man who was +in room A, because the man in room B had not seen the head waiter, +according to Gaspard's story. +</p> +<p> +Hammond, after the first shock of surprise, recovered his nerve +wonderfully. +</p> +<p> +He calmly took a chair and sat there in deep thought for nearly five +minutes. He paid no attention to questions. +</p> +<p> +Finally he looked up and said: +</p> +<p> +"I don't know why I should deny it to you. There is no charge against +the man in room A." +</p> +<p> +"None whatever," said Nick. "He is wanted merely as a witness." +</p> +<p> +"It occurred to me that you might have some theory of a conspiracy in +which both men were concerned." +</p> +<p> +"I never thought of it." +</p> +<p> +"Then I am not to be put under arrest?" +</p> +<p> +"Certainly not, unless some new evidence appears, and I do not expect +it." +</p> +<p> +"Very well; I was the man in room A." +</p> +<p> +"And who was the lady?" +</p> +<p> +"I decline to mention her name. She has nothing to do with this case. +You will easily understand that I do not wish to bring a lady's name +into a tragedy of this kind." +</p> +<p> +"I can understand that. Now tell me why you feel so sure of this man +Jones' innocence." +</p> +<p> +"Will you promise to keep me out of this affair as much as you can?" +</p> +<p> +"Why do you wish it? What are you afraid of?" +</p> +<p> +"Well," said Hammond, looking very much embarrassed, "I'm a married man, +very respectable sort of a fellow; and the lady with whom I dined was +not my wife. It's all right, you know. My wife is not a jealous woman. +But the thing would not look well in print." +</p> +<p> +"I won't make this public if I can help it, Mr. Hammond. Not that I have +much sympathy for you. You shouldn't have been there. But the publicity +would annoy your wife, and do nobody any good." +</p> +<p> +"Thank you," said Hammond, with a grim smile; "now I will tell my story. +There is very little to tell. +</p> +<p> +"We arrived before the other party. We heard them go into room B. +</p> +<p> +"By and by, I went out into the hall to find the waiter, who didn't +answer my ring. I saw this man," pointing to Gaspard, "at the desk, and +should have spoken to him, but just then the waiter hove in sight at the +end of the hall. +</p> +<p> +"So I went back. Just as I was closing the door of our room, I heard the +man come out of room B. +</p> +<p> +"I didn't see him, but I know that he went down the front stairs, for I +heard his footsteps, and also heard the door shut. +</p> +<p> +"The waiter came in and finally went out again. We. were just ready to +leave the place when we heard the pistol-shot in the other room. +</p> +<p> +"Then we got out of the house just as fast as we could. It was +cowardly, perhaps, but I knew that something terrible had happened, and +I didn't want to be mixed up in it. +</p> +<p> +"Of course I wanted to keep the lady out of it, too, and—and—well, you +can see that there were many reasons why I should have decided to make +tracks." +</p> +<p> +"You know that the man was not in room B when the shot was fired?" said +Nick. +</p> +<p> +"I'm sure of it." +</p> +<p> +"He might have come back." +</p> +<p> +"No; the front door makes a loud noise when it is shut I should have +heard him if he had come in that way. And if he had come the other way +this man would have seen him." +</p> +<p> +"You didn't see him at all, did you?" +</p> +<p> +"No." +</p> +<p> +"So you can't say whether Jones was the man?" +</p> +<p> +"No; but I'm sure he wasn't the murderer." +</p> +<p> +"You think it was suicide?" +</p> +<p> +"I'm sure of it. How could it have been anything else? The woman was +alone." +</p> +<p> +"There might have been somebody else in the room." +</p> +<p> +"No; our waiter told us that the party consisted of only two." +</p> +<p> +"You mean Corbut?" +</p> +<p> +"I believe that's his name—the fellow who disappeared." +</p> +<p> +"How do you account for his disappearance?" +</p> +<p> +"I don't; but perhaps he was afraid of being mixed up in the affair. He +may have a record which won't permit him to go before the police, even +as a witness." +</p> +<p> +"How could he have got that cab?" +</p> +<p> +"I've thought a good deal about that. It was mentioned in the papers. I +believe he may have slipped out the front way, called the cab, and then +gone back to get something. +</p> +<p> +"Perhaps he went back for his clothes but didn't dare to take them." +</p> +<p> +"And how about the cabman's story of the man who engaged the cab?" +</p> +<p> +"The cabman's a liar. That's plain enough." +</p> +<p> +"I'm afraid he is. Now, Mr. Hammond, could either Corbut or this man +Gaspard have got into room B without your knowing it?" +</p> +<p> +"Easily. Great heavens, I never thought of that! One of them may be the +murderer!" +</p> +<p> +Gaspard, at these words, turned as white as a sheet. +</p> +<p> +He was so frightened that his English—which was usually very +fluent—deserted him, and he mumbled protestations of innocence in his +mother tongue. +</p> +<p> +"Thank you, Mr. Hammond," said Nick, without appearing to notice +Gaspard's distress. "I have no more questions to ask, but I would be +obliged to you if you would wait here a few minutes for me." +</p> +<p> +Nick went into another room, where he knew that Patsy was waiting. +</p> +<p> +A set of signals is arranged in Nick's house, by which he always knows +when one of his staff gets in. +</p> +<p> +"Patsy," said Nick, "there's a fellow up stairs whom you'll have to +shadow." +</p> +<p> +"Gaspard?" +</p> +<p> +"No; a man who calls himself Hammond. Gaspard has identified him as the +man who was in room A." +</p> +<p> +"Look here," said Patsy, "am I a farmer, or is the man Gaspard the +greatest living identifier?" +</p> +<p> +"What do you mean?" +</p> +<p> +"Why, it strikes me that he picked out his men a good deal too easy. If +it's all straight, I'd like the loan of his luck for a few days. +</p> +<p> +"That identification on the elevated station looked to me like a fake. +I don't believe he ever intended that you should get hold of the man. +</p> +<p> +"In my opinion, he's simply running around identifying everybody he +sees." +</p> +<p> +"But this man Hammond admits it." +</p> +<p> +"Is he telling the truth?" +</p> +<p> +"No," said Nick, with a peculiar smile, "I don't believe he is." +</p> +<p> +"Well, then, Gaspard's a liar, and if he's lied here, he may have done +the same thing in Jones' case." +</p> +<p> +Nick looked shrewdly at his youthful assistant. He is very fond of this +bright boy, and gives him every chance to develop his theories in those +cases in which he is employed. +</p> +<p> +"Come, my lad," said the famous detective, "tell me what has set you +against Gaspard." +</p> +<p> +"He's going to skip." +</p> +<p> +"Is that so? Well, this is serious." +</p> +<p> +"It's a fact. I got it from one of the men in the restaurant. My man was +told of it by Corbut." +</p> +<p> +"Corbut?" +</p> +<p> +"Yes; and there's another suspicious circumstance. There's a Frenchwoman +who is going to give little old New York the shake at the same time as +Gaspard. They're going back to sunny France together. +</p> +<p> +"Now, nobody knows this but the man I talked with. Gaspard thinks that +Corbut was the only one who knew it. +</p> +<p> +"So it was for Gaspard's interest, in case he really did this job, and +lifted some valuable plunder off that woman, to get Corbut out of the +way. +</p> +<p> +"Did he pay Corbut to skip first? And is he now identifying Tom, Dick +and Harry for the purpose of bothering us and keeping us busy till he +can light out?" +</p> +<p> +"It's worth looking into," said Nick. "At any rate, you stick to +Gaspard. I'll put somebody else onto Hammond." +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH6"><!-- CH6 --></a> +<h3> + CHAPTER VI. +</h3> + +<h3> +MRS. JOHN JONES. +</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> +Nothing of great importance occurred in the case until the next +afternoon when Nick was at Police Headquarters. +</p> +<p> +He was talking with Superintendent Byrnes. +</p> +<p> +"The identification of that woman gets stronger all the time," said the +superintendent. "I'm beginning to think that she is really the wife of +our prisoner." +</p> +<p> +"It looks so," said Nick. +</p> +<p> +At that moment a card was brought in. The superintendent looked at it +and whistled softly. +</p> +<p> +Then he handed the card to Nick, who read the name. The two men +exchanged glances, and both smiled. +</p> +<p> +"Mrs. John Jones," said Nick; "well, this puts a new face on the +matter." +</p> +<p> +"It's a great case," was the reply. "I'm mighty glad you happened to be +on the scene at once." +</p> +<p> +He turned to the officer who had brought the card, and directed that +Mrs. Jones should be admitted immediately. +</p> +<p> +A pretty young woman entered. She was of about the same height as the +unfortunate victim of the tragedy in the restaurant, and much like her +in build. +</p> +<p> +The faces did not resemble each other in outline, but the coloring was +similar. There was a faint resemblance in the large, light blue eyes. +</p> +<p> +The hair was of the same peculiar shade, and nearly as luxuriant. But +nobody would ever have mistaken one woman for the other, after a fair +look at their faces. +</p> +<p> +The costumes, however, were positively identical. Mrs. John Jones, to +all appearances, wore the very same clothes as Nick had seen upon the +woman in room B. +</p> +<p> +Mrs. Jones was evidently very nervous, but she made a fine attempt to +control herself. +</p> +<p> +"You have my husband under arrest, I believe," she said. "And he is +accused, they say, of killing me." +</p> +<p> +She tried to smile, but it was rather a ghastly effort. +</p> +<p> +The superintendent motioned the woman to a seat. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. John Jones is here," he said, "and he is suspected of murder." +</p> +<p> +"I have read about it," replied the woman. "There certainly appeared to +be evidence against him, but of course you must be aware that I know him +to be innocent." +</p> +<p> +"How?" +</p> +<p> +"Because I was with him when the crime was committed. At half-past seven +o'clock of that evening we were walking toward the Grand Central Depot. +</p> +<p> +"We had dined in our flat. The people who say they saw us go out tell +the truth. +</p> +<p> +"But we came back. It was my intention to take an afternoon train, but I +decided to wait. +</p> +<p> +"So we came back and had dinner. Nobody saw us go in or out of the flat. +</p> +<p> +"After dinner we walked to the depot, and I took the eight-ten train for +my home in Maysville, ten miles from Albany. +</p> +<p> +"I arrived in Albany Wednesday morning, and remained there with friends +throughout the day and night. Then I went to Maysville, where I heard +the news, and came back at once." +</p> +<p> +The superintendent touched his bell. Two minutes later John Jones was +brought into the room. +</p> +<p> +"Amy!" exclaimed he. "How came you here?" +</p> +<p> +He ran up to her, and they greeted each other affectionately. The +woman, who had controlled herself up to this point, burst into tears. +Jones turned in wrath toward Nick. +</p> +<p> +"Haven't we had enough of this infernal nonsense?" he exclaimed. "You +have raised the devil with my business and scared my wife into a fit. +Now let me out, and arrest the Ameer of Afghanistan. He had more to do +with this affair than I did." +</p> +<p> +Nick did not reply, but he made a secret sign to the superintendent. +</p> +<p> +"You are at liberty, Mr. Jones," said Byrnes, calmly. "I regret that it +was necessary to detain you so long." +</p> +<p> +"I have no complaint to make against you," said Jones. "It was that +man's work, and he shall pay for it." +</p> +<p> +He scowled at Nick, and then, after bowing to the superintendent, walked +out of the room with his wife on his arm. +</p> +<p> +"Shall I call a man?" asked Byrnes. +</p> +<p> +"If you please," said Nick. "My force is pretty busy." +</p> +<p> +"Musgrave!" said the superintendent. +</p> +<p> +A man appeared so suddenly that he seemed to come out of the wall. +</p> +<p> +"Shadow the couple that has just left here," said Byrnes. "You are under +Mr. Carter's orders until dismissed by him." +</p> +<p> +Musgrave turned to Nick. +</p> +<p> +"I have no special instructions," said Nick, "except that you keep your +eyes on the woman." +</p> +<p> +The officer saluted, and vanished almost as quickly as he had come in. +</p> +<p> +At half-past seven o'clock that evening Musgrave was on guard outside +the flat, the address of which had been given to Nick by Jones. +</p> +<p> +An old man selling papers came along the street, calling "Extra!" in a +cracked voice. +</p> +<p> +Musgrave bought a paper. +</p> +<p> +"Well," said the newsman, in Nick Carter's voice, "what have you to +report?" +</p> +<p> +"From headquarters they went to an employment agency on Sixth avenue. +They engaged a colored girl as a servant. +</p> +<p> +"They then came straight here, and the girl followed them. Mr. and Mrs. +Jones have not been out since." +</p> +<p> +"Are you sure of that?" +</p> +<p> +"Perfectly. There is no way to get out of that house from the rear." +</p> +<p> +"How about the fire-escape?" +</p> +<p> +"There is only that one on the side which you can see. The little yard +back of the house is walled in by buildings." +</p> +<p> +"So Mr. and Mrs. Jones must be inside?" +</p> +<p> +"Yes." +</p> +<p> +"And the girl?" +</p> +<p> +"She is out. She has been going on errands half a dozen times, but +usually to the grocer's or the butcher's around the corner. I don't know +where she has gone this time. She's been out about a quarter of an +hour." +</p> +<p> +"All right. I'm going over there." +</p> +<p> +Nick changed his disguise to that in which Jones had seen him. He did it +in the hall of the flat house, while waiting for the door to be opened +in answer to his ring. +</p> +<p> +Jones met him on the upper landing. +</p> +<p> +"Look here," said Jones, when he recognized Nick, "isn't this going a +little too far? What do you want now?" +</p> +<p> +"I would like to ask Mrs. Jones a few questions if you have no +objections." +</p> +<p> +"I object very seriously." +</p> +<p> +"Will you ask her if she is willing to see me?" +</p> +<p> +"No; I won't." +</p> +<p> +"Then I shall have to use my authority." +</p> +<p> +"Don't do that. Come now, be a good fellow. Amy is sick with all this +worry. She's just gone to bed. Let her alone until to-morrow." +</p> +<p> +"I will," said Nick. "Good-night." +</p> +<p> +He descended the stairs and rejoined Musgrave, who was standing in a +dark place on the opposite side of the street. +</p> +<p> +"Have you seen a light in that window?" asked Nick, pointing to the +flat. +</p> +<p> +"No." +</p> +<p> +"Then Jones lied to me a minute ago when he said that his wife had just +gone to bed. That window is in the principal bedroom of the flat." +</p> +<p> +"There's been no light there." +</p> +<p> +"Then they've fooled you, Musgrave." +</p> +<p> +"What do you mean?" +</p> +<p> +"I mean that Mrs. Jones is out." +</p> +<p> +"It can't be possible." +</p> +<p> +"It's true. She's gone out disguised as her own servant." +</p> +<p> +"I can't believe it. Why, the girl's black as your hat." +</p> +<p> +"That's why they engaged her, in my opinion. It made the trick easier. A +black face is a good disguise. But I'm going to be sure about it." +</p> +<p> +"How?" +</p> +<p> +"I'm going to see whether the colored girl is in the flat." +</p> +<p> +"How can you get in?" +</p> +<p> +"I'm going down the air shaft. The servant's room opens on that shaft. +They'll have made her go in there so that her light won't show, as it +would if she were in the kitchen." +</p> +<p> +Nick went to an engine-house near by, where he secured a coil of +knotted rope. +</p> +<p> +He wished to make his investigations secretly, so as not to put Jones on +his guard. It would not have been safe to get into the flat by the +ordinary methods. +</p> +<p> +By using the fire escape of the building next door to the flat house, +Nick got to the roof. +</p> +<p> +The top of the air shaft was covered with a framework, in which large +panes of glass were set. +</p> +<p> +Nick removed one of them. Then he made his rope fast, and crept through +the space where the glass had been. +</p> +<p> +The Jones' flat was next to the top, so Nick had a short descent. +</p> +<p> +But there was an awful stretch of empty air under him as he hung there. +</p> +<p> +The shaft went to the basement floor, about seventy feet below the level +of the window which opened into the room occupied by the Jones' new +servant. +</p> +<p> +He found that window readily. One glance through it was enough to +satisfy him. +</p> +<p> +There sat the colored girl, reading a book. Nick's suspicions had been +correct. +</p> +<p> +Naturally he did not delay very long in the air shaft. He had a hard +climb to make, hand over hand, to the roof. +</p> +<p> +The instant that his eyes rested on the girl, he began the ascent. +</p> +<p> +He had gone up less than six feet when the rope suddenly gave way, and +he found himself plunging downward through the shaft. +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH7"><!-- CH7 --></a> +<h3> + CHAPTER VII. +</h3> + +<h3> +THE WARDROBE OF GASPARD'S FRIEND. +</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> +Nick Carter is hard to kill. A good many crooks have tried to put him +out of the world, and a fair percentage of them have lost their own +lives in the attempt without inflicting any injury upon Nick. +</p> +<p> +He is a man of resources, and that's what saves him. When one thing +fails him, he finds something else to take its place. +</p> +<p> +And so, when that rope gave way, he took the next best thing. +</p> +<p> +That happened to be the sill of the window of Mr. Jones' bath-room. Nick +seized it with a grip of iron as he shot downward. +</p> +<p> +The strain on his arms was something awful, but he held on. His fingers +gripped the wood till they dented it. +</p> +<p> +In two seconds he had scrambled through the window into Jones' flat. +</p> +<p> +It was done so noiselessly that the colored servant in the room directly +opposite, across the narrow shaft, was not disturbed in her reading. +</p> +<p> +From the bath-room Nick made his way to the hall, and thence to the +parlor, where Mr. Jones—to judge by the light in the window observed by +Musgrave—had decided to spend the evening. +</p> +<p> +Mr. Jones was not visible when Nick looked into the room. +</p> +<p> +The bedroom adjoining was also empty. +</p> +<p> +Nick ran through the flat, but saw nobody. He returned to the parlor, +and there stood Mr. Jones under the chandelier. +</p> +<p> +"Well, upon my word!" exclaimed Jones, "how did you get here?" +</p> +<p> +"I might ask you the same," said Nick, "but it isn't worth while." +</p> +<p> +"I've been here all the time." +</p> +<p> +"Except when you were on the roof." +</p> +<p> +"Nonsense! What should I be doing on the roof." +</p> +<p> +"It wasn't what you were doing; it was what you were undoing that +bothered me. You were undoing the knot with which I fastened my rope +before I descended your air shaft to get a peep at your servant." +</p> +<p> +"Nonsense again, Mr. Carter. How could I get to the roof?" +</p> +<p> +"I'll show you just how it was done. In the first place, you saw me +coming back to the house, and you guessed what I was going to do. +</p> +<p> +"You went into this room," and Nick dragged Jones into a sort of closet +adjoining the parlor, "and you got out of that window onto the fire +escape. +</p> +<p> +"That led you to the roof, and the rest was simple. You saw me go down, +and you tried to make me go down farther and a good deal faster. But you +failed, and the game's up. Now come to headquarters again." +</p> +<p> +"What for?" +</p> +<p> +"For trying to kill me. That's the charge against you. And I haven't got +through with you on that other matter." +</p> +<p> +"But for heaven's sake pity my wife!" +</p> +<p> +"What's the matter with her?" +</p> +<p> +"She will be crazy when she gets back and finds me gone." +</p> +<p> +"One of my men will tell her where you are. Why did you lie to me about +her going out? I've a great mind to place her, too, under arrest." +</p> +<p> +"You can't do it. It's no crime to dodge a detective. I admit that she +did it, but for a very innocent purpose. She has gone to see our +lawyer." +</p> +<p> +"Very well; I will attend to that later. Now, come with me." +</p> +<p> +Nick took Jones to the street. Musgrave got a policeman, and Jones was +put in his care. +</p> +<p> +Musgrave remained on the watch for Mrs. Jones, while Nick went to get a +report from Patsy, who was shadowing Gaspard. +</p> +<p> +Jones' last words to Nick were these: +</p> +<p> +"I am a victim of circumstances. I had nothing to do with the murder in +the restaurant, nor with any attempt upon your life. You are doing me a +grave injustice. If you were not as blind as a bat you would see who the +real criminals are." +</p> +<p> +These words were pronounced in a calm and steady tone, and it cannot be +denied that they produced a great effect upon Nick. +</p> +<p> +"If it should prove that I have wronged you," he said, "I will repay you +for the injury to the limit of your demand." +</p> +<p> +And the detective did a lot of hard thinking while he was walking toward +Gaspard's lodgings, where he expected to meet Patsy. +</p> +<p> +Certainly if Jones ever succeeded in establishing his innocence he would +have won a friend in Nick Carter, whose good will is worth a fortune to +any man. +</p> +<p> +Nick found Patsy outside the house where Gaspard lodged. +</p> +<p> +"I'm dead onto this fellow," said the youth. "He's just about ready to +flit. He's bought lots of stuff to-day, and is flush with money. +</p> +<p> +"A man just went in there with a suit of clothes. Two delivery wagons +from dry goods stores have been here. I suppose that the stuff they +brought belongs to the woman who is going with Gaspard." +</p> +<p> +"Have you seen her?" +</p> +<p> +"No; she has kept mighty dark." +</p> +<p> +"Hello! what's this?" +</p> +<p> +Nick drew Patsy more closely into the shadow of the steps by which they +were standing. +</p> +<p> +A carriage rumbled over the pavement and stopped before the door of +Gaspard's lodging-house. +</p> +<p> +"Upon my word," said Nick, "it's my old friend Harrigan on the box. The +way people keep bobbing up in this case is something wonderful." +</p> +<p> +"Perhaps the woman's in the cab," whispered Patsy. +</p> +<p> +On the contrary, the cab was empty. +</p> +<p> +Harrigan got off the box and rang the bell. +</p> +<p> +Nick heard him ask for Gaspard Lebeau. Gaspard was summoned. +</p> +<p> +"I've two trunks for you," said Harrigan. +</p> +<p> +"For me?" asked Gaspard. +</p> +<p> +"Yes; a young woman hired me to bring them, and she said it would be all +right. You'd pay the price." +</p> +<p> +"What sort of a woman?" +</p> +<p> +"A very gallus French siren with a big white hat and a black plume as +long as the tail of me horse." +</p> +<p> +"All right," said Gaspard, promptly; "bring in the trunks." +</p> +<p> +They were carried up the stairs to Gaspard's room. +</p> +<p> +Harrigan mounted the box and drove away. +</p> +<p> +"Follow him," said Nick. "Bring him back here in about half an hour." +</p> +<p> +Patsy darted away in pursuit of the cab. +</p> +<p> +Nick walked up to the door of Gaspard's house and rang the bell. +</p> +<p> +He was directed to the Frenchman's room. +</p> +<p> +Gaspard was examining the two trunks. He looked very much embarrassed at +the sight of Nick. +</p> +<p> +"What's all this, Gaspard?" asked the detective. "I hear you're going +back to France." +</p> +<p> +"I? Oh, no. New York suits me much better." +</p> +<p> +"But what are these trunks doing here?" +</p> +<p> +Gaspard looked particularly foolish. +</p> +<p> +"They are the property of a friend—a lady. To tell the truth, I hope to +marry her. A charming girl, monsieur; and innocent as a dove." +</p> +<p> +"Why does she send her trunks here?" +</p> +<p> +"Ah, that I do not know. It was not agreed upon." +</p> +<p> +"Have you any idea what is in them?" +</p> +<p> +"Her wardrobe. Ah, she is extravagant. She buys many dresses. But then, +what would you have? When one is young and beautiful—" +</p> +<p> +Gaspard finished his sentence with a sweep of the arms. +</p> +<p> +"They are heavy," said Nick, lifting one of the trunks and setting it +crosswise on a lounge. +</p> +<p> +He took a bunch of keys from his pocket. Gaspard seemed aghast. +</p> +<p> +"You would not open it?" he cried. +</p> +<p> +"Perhaps it won't be necessary," said Nick. "This may answer." +</p> +<p> +He drew a knife from his pocket and opened one of the blades, which was +sharpened like a very large nut-pick. +</p> +<p> +With a sudden movement, he struck this into the bottom of the trunk, and +then withdrew it. +</p> +<p> +A dark red stream followed the blade when it was withdrawn. The end of +the trunk projected over the side of the couch, and the red fluid +dripped upon the carpet. +</p> +<p> +"My God!" exclaimed Gaspard. "It is blood!" +</p> +<p> +"So it would seem," said Nick, quietly. +</p> +<p> +He set the trunk upon the floor and snapped back the lock with a +skeleton key. +</p> +<p> +Then he threw open the lid and revealed a mass of excelsior and scraps +of newspapers. +</p> +<p> +This being torn away disclosed a dead and ghastly face—the face of +unfortunate Corbut, the waiter. +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH8"><!-- CH8 --></a> +<h3> + CHAPTER VIII. +</h3> + +<h3> +TRACING THE TRUNKS. +</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> +Corbut's body had been cut in two. Only half was in the trunk which Nick +had opened. +</p> +<p> +The other half was not, however, far away. It was in the other trunk. +</p> +<p> +Both trunks contained considerable blood, but they had been neatly lined +with rubber cloth, apparently taken from a rubber blanket and a man's +heavy waterproof coat. +</p> +<p> +It was so fitted that the trunks, when closed, were water-tight. +</p> +<p> +"The neatest job I ever saw," said Nick. "Come, Gaspard, tell the +story." +</p> +<p> +"I swear to you," cried Gaspard, "that I know nothing about it." +</p> +<p> +At this moment Patsy rapped on the door. He had brought back Harrigan. +</p> +<p> +"Come in!" said Nick; and they both entered. +</p> +<p> +"Holy mother!" shrieked Harrigan, when he saw the open trunks. "So help +me, gentlemen, I don't know nothing about this business. I ain't in it. +I'm tellin' yer straight. Youse don't believe I had anything to do wid +this, do yer?" +</p> +<p> +"You brought the trunks here," said Nick. +</p> +<p> +"Lemme tell youse all about it," cried Harrigan, who was so anxious to +tell that he couldn't talk fast enough. "De French leddy struck me on me +old place. You know. Where I was de odder night. +</p> +<p> +"She talked a kind o' dago, but I tumbled to what she was a-givin' me. +This was about half-past seven o'clock. +</p> +<p> +"'Meet me,' says she, 'in an hour.' An' she give me street an' number. +</p> +<p> +"It was West Fifty-seventh street; but dere ain't no such number. Dere's +nuttin' but a high board fence. +</p> +<p> +"But that didn't make no difference, 'cause when I got dere, her jiblets +was a-standing on der sidewalk, waitin' for me. +</p> +<p> +"'Drive over ter de corner,' says she, 'and' turn round an' come back.' +</p> +<p> +"I did it, an' when I got dare, she showed me dese two trunks. I hadn't +seen 'em before. +</p> +<p> +"Den she give me dis mug's address, an' two bones for me fare, an' tole +me ter come down here, which I did, an' I wish ter —— I hadn't; see?" +</p> +<p> +"That's a pretty good story, Harrigan," said Nick. "Patsy, get a +policeman to stay here with Gaspard." +</p> +<p> +Patsy brought the blue-coat in a few minutes. +</p> +<p> +"Now, we'll go up to Fifty-seventh street," said Nick. +</p> +<p> +Half an hour later they had found the place where, as Harrigan claimed, +"de French leddy" had delivered the trunks to him. +</p> +<p> +"I t'ought o' course she'd been fired out o' some boardin'-house," said +Harrigan. "Dere's a hash-mill dere on der right. I had an idea she'd +been trun out o' dere." +</p> +<p> +Nick meanwhile had been examining the sidewalk with the aid of his dark +lantern. +</p> +<p> +"Clever work," he said. "There are no marks on the sidewalk. The trunks +were not dragged. That woman must be pretty strong. You say you didn't +see the trunks when you first drove up?" +</p> +<p> +"No." +</p> +<p> +"Then they couldn't have been here. Where were they? Not in any of these +houses. She couldn't have got them out quick enough. Then they must have +been behind that fence." +</p> +<p> +There was a little gate in the fence, which Nick opened as he spoke. +</p> +<p> +"Ah, here we have tracks," he said. "It's all clear enough now. The +trunks were brought across this vacant lot from one of the houses facing +the other street." +</p> +<p> +The lot is the width of three flat houses, which stand behind it. There +are no gates in the fence between the yards of the houses and the lot, +but Nick found a wide board that could be pulled off and replaced +without much trouble. +</p> +<p> +Passing through the opening made by taking away this board, he found +himself in the yard of the middle house. +</p> +<p> +"The trunks came from here," he said. "They were lowered down in the +dumb waiter to the cellar and then carried through the lot to +Fifty-seventh street. +</p> +<p> +"I'll leave the rest of this job to you, Patsy. Find out all you can and +have as many witnesses as you can get together, at the superintendent's +office to-morrow afternoon, at three o'clock. We're going to have a +special examination into this case." +</p> +<p> +The special examination began promptly at the hour named by Nick. +</p> +<p> +All the persons hitherto mentioned in connection with the case—except, +of course, the two victims—were present. There were also several +witnesses whom Patsy had secured. +</p> +<p> +"The case which I have made out," said Nick, "is perfectly clear. It +begins with Gaspard's identification of the prisoner, Jones. +</p> +<p> +"We know that he was at the restaurant when the crime was committed. His +name is on the books. +</p> +<p> +"In some way, which I am not now prepared to fully explain, the waiter, +Corbut, obtained a knowledge of the crime. It was necessary for the +criminal to get Corbut out of the way. +</p> +<p> +"I saw Corbut get into a cab at the door of the restaurant. The driver, +Harrigan, testified to taking him and another man to a point on West +Fifty-seventh street. He was not sure of the exact spot, but he fixed +the locality in a general way. +</p> +<p> +"From that point all trace of Corbut was lost for a time. At last his +body was found. +</p> +<p> +"I succeeded in tracing the body back to a place near the spot where +Harrigan last saw Corbut alive. +</p> +<p> +"I discovered that the body had been removed from a flat house on West +Fifty-eighth street. +</p> +<p> +"My assistant, Patsy, questioned the people in that house. He learned +that the third flat had been occupied by a couple who lived very +quietly. +</p> +<p> +"The man was often away. I now desire to ask the witness, Eliza Harris, +who lives in that house, when she last saw the man in question—the man +who rented that third flat." +</p> +<p> +A bright-eyed little woman arose at this, and said: +</p> +<p> +"I see him now. There he is!" +</p> +<p> +She pointed to John Jones. +</p> +<p> +"He wore a false beard," she continued, "but I know him. And there's the +woman." +</p> +<p> +She stretched out her hand toward Mrs. Jones. +</p> +<p> +"To their flat," Nick continued, "as I have every reason to believe, +Corbut was taken by Jones on that night, and there he was murdered and +his body cut in two. +</p> +<p> +"It was placed in the trunks. Jones intended, probably, to remove it +next day, but his arrest prevented. +</p> +<p> +"Of course it was necessary to get the body out of the way very soon. +But Jones was too closely watched. That work had to be done by the +woman, and she did it exceedingly well." +</p> +<p> +Nick told how Musgrave had been duped. +</p> +<p> +"Now," he continued, "nothing remains but to clear up the details of +the crime in the restaurant. I shall proceed to state exactly how it was +done." +</p> +<p> +At this moment Jones, who had previously remained perfectly calm, +uttered a horrible groan, and half arose to his feet. He sank back +fainting. +</p> +<p> +And then came a surprising incident, for which even the shrewd +superintendent of police had been wholly unprepared. +</p> +<p> +A pale-faced man, who had been sitting beside Nick, arose and cried, in +a voice that trembled with emotion: +</p> +<p> +"Stop! Stop! I can bear this no longer!" +</p> +<p> +It was Hammond, the man who begged Nick to save Jones. +</p> +<p> +While Nick had been speaking, Hammond's eyes had been fixed upon Jones' +face. He had watched the agony of fear growing upon the wretched man and +gradually overcoming him. +</p> +<p> +And when the burden became too great for the accused to bear, Hammond +also reached the limit of his endurance. +</p> +<p> +"I can't stand it," he cried. "You shall not torture this innocent man +any longer." +</p> +<p> +"What do you mean?" asked the superintendent. +</p> +<p> +"This is what I mean. The fear of disgrace has kept me silent too long. +Now I will confess everything. Do you think I will sit here and let an +innocent man be condemned and his wife put to torture to save me from +the just punishment of my fault? +</p> +<p> +"Never! Listen to me. It was I who took that unhappy woman to the place +where she met her death. It was I who wrote that name in the register. +</p> +<p> +"I! I, and not that innocent man, was her companion. The waiter, +Gaspard, is mistaken. +</p> +<p> +"I am the man who was in room B!" +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH9"><!-- CH9 --></a> +<h3> + CHAPTER IX. +</h3> + +<h3> +HAMMOND'S STORY. +</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> +The effect of this statement can hardly be exaggerated. +</p> +<p> +It shook the very foundation of the case against the prisoner. If +Gaspard's identification could be disproved, it seemed almost sure that +Jones was saved. +</p> +<p> +Even though it could be shown beyond a doubt that Corbut had been +murdered in a flat which was rented by Jones, that would not prove that +Jones had done it. +</p> +<p> +The murderer was evidently the man who had ridden in the cab with +Corbut. And Harrigan, the only witness, had failed to recognize Jones as +that man. +</p> +<p> +The suspicion must instantly arise that a plot had been carefully laid, +with the purpose of putting the crime upon Jones. +</p> +<p> +Some enemy had signed his name on the register, and the same cruel +wretch had decoyed Corbut to the vacant flat and murdered him there. It +was easy to suppose that the criminal knew the flat to be empty and had +obtained a key. +</p> +<p> +It might have been by this secret enemy's connivance that the trunks +were removed and sent to Gaspard. +</p> +<p> +But if Hammond was the wretch who had done all this, why had he +confessed? +</p> +<p> +All these and many other thoughts must have rushed through the mind of +the superintendent, in the pause which followed Hammond's declaration. +</p> +<p> +Byrnes looked at Nick for an explanation. +</p> +<p> +"This is an extraordinary statement, Mr. Hammond," said Nick. "Have you +any evidence to support it?" +</p> +<p> +"I have ample evidence. I was seen in the company of the woman now +dead, not fifty yards from the restaurant on the night when she met her +death. I can call one of the most prominent and respected men in this +city to prove that. The Rev. Elliot Sandford is the man." +</p> +<p> +This name produced a great impression. +</p> +<p> +"Why has he kept silence?" asked Nick. +</p> +<p> +"He promised me that he would do so as long as his conscience would +permit. I called upon him on the morning after the crime. +</p> +<p> +"He believed me when I asserted my innocence. He agreed to be silent for +the sake of my family." +</p> +<p> +"But who is the dead woman?" asked Nick. +</p> +<p> +"I have not the least idea." +</p> +<p> +"You did not know her!" +</p> +<p> +"No. Let me tell the full story. It was a chance acquaintance. I met her +on the street that afternoon. +</p> +<p> +"I was walking behind her on Twenty-third street. You know what +wonderful hair she had. I was admiring it. +</p> +<p> +"Suddenly I saw her drop a little purse. I picked it up and handed it to +her, and somehow we fell into conversation. +</p> +<p> +"Her manner mystified me. Sometimes she seemed to be laboring under some +secret grief which nearly drove her to tears. In another moment she +would be apparently as merry as a schoolgirl. +</p> +<p> +"She showed no reserve whatever, but something in her manner warned me +that she was a lady, and I did not presume upon her confidence. +</p> +<p> +"We walked together a long while, and at last we found ourselves near +that restaurant. How we came there I do not know. I paid no attention to +where we were going. T was too much fascinated by my companion. +</p> +<p> +"Suddenly she said: 'It is late and I am hungry. Let us go to dinner.' +</p> +<p> +"I thought it a strange thing to say, but I was glad enough to comply. +We went into that restaurant because it was right before us. +</p> +<p> +"I signed the first name that came into my head, and then Corbut showed +us into the private dining-room. +</p> +<p> +"I ordered a dinner, but before it was served, I began to be a good deal +surprised at my companion's behavior. She paced up and down the room, +and every now and then she listened at the door which was between us and +room A. +</p> +<p> +"'I have all a woman's curiosity,' she said, 'I'd like to hear what +those people are saying over their dinner.' +</p> +<p> +"I tried to make her sit down, and playfully took hold of her. Then I +made a discovery which frightened me. +</p> +<p> +"The woman had a pistol in her pocket. +</p> +<p> +"Suddenly she turned upon me and exclaimed: +</p> +<p> +"'What shall we do after dinner? I'll tell you what I'd like. I want to +go to the theater. Let's see something real funny. Yes, I must go. You +run out now and get the tickets. There's a place just down the street +where they're sold. You can get back before your dinner is cold.' +</p> +<p> +"Of course, it was perfectly plain that she was trying to get rid of me. +Well, I had no objection. That pistol had scared me badly. I didn't want +to be mixed up in a scandal. +</p> +<p> +"So I took my hat and cleared out. But once on the street, my courage +came back, and also my curiosity. I wanted to know more of that strange +woman. +</p> +<p> +"I bought the theater tickets and hurried back. I opened the door of +room B. +</p> +<p> +"You know what I saw. She sat there dead, with the pistol by her side. +She had committed suicide. +</p> +<p> +"I rushed out with the intention of calling for help, but fear overcame +me. I looked around into the hall. This man Gaspard was at the desk. +</p> +<p> +"I dared not summon him. I turned and ran." +</p> +<p> +Hammond ceased, and a sigh ran around the room. Nick could read relief +in all the faces. The mystery was solved. The innocent man was no longer +to suffer under unjust suspicion. +</p> +<p> +That was what could be seen in the faces. Hammond's words had the ring +of truth. Neither the superintendent nor Nick nor any other person there +doubted a single statement of his story. +</p> +<p> +"When Gaspard identified me as the man in room A," Hammond continued, "I +thought I saw a chance to save Mr. Jones very easily, and so I told a +falsehood." +</p> +<p> +"It was a foolish thing to do," said Nick. "The truth is always best. If +we had known at the outset what we know now, Mr. Jones might have been +spared a great deal of trouble. Since the woman committed suicide—" +</p> +<p> +"Hold on!" cried the superintendent. "How do you account for the murder +of Corbut?" +</p> +<p> +"He must have found the body and robbed it. Probably he took some money +and a diamond ring. There was the mark of a ring on her finger, but the +ring was gone. +</p> +<p> +"Corbut fled with these things. He engaged Harrigan's cab. He was +decoyed to that flat by some woman, probably, who knew that nobody was +in it, and was there murdered. +</p> +<p> +"Of course, neither Mr. nor Mrs. Jones had anything to do with it. Now, +if Mr. Jones would only explain how he happened to be at that +restaurant, the case would be clear. We know positively that he was +there." +</p> +<p> +A great light of hope had shone in Jones' face while Hammond was telling +his story, and when Nick added his explanation of Corbut's death, the +prisoner nearly laughed for joy. +</p> +<p> +"It's true I was there," he said. "My wife and I dined in room A, and—" +</p> +<p> +"Fool!" exclaimed the woman, in a terrible voice. "Don't you see that +this is a trap?" +</p> +<p> +In her wild excitement, she covered Jones' mouth with her hand to +prevent his speaking further. +</p> +<p> +"That is true," said Nick. "It was a trap, and the wretch has fallen +into it. Jones, you have put the halter around your neck." +</p> +<p> +"No! It is a lie!" exclaimed Jones, freeing himself from the woman's +grasp. "I tell you that I was in room A. The crime, if there was a +crime, was committed in room B." +</p> +<p> +"No, it wasn't," said Nick. "It was committed in room A." +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH10"><!-- CH10 --></a> +<h3> + CHAPTER X. +</h3> + +<h3> +THE TRUE STORY OF MRS. JOHN JONES. +</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> +Jones fell back into his chair. The woman bit her lip till the blood +spurted out. +</p> +<p> +Then suddenly the color left her face. She sat up, staring straight +before her, and she did not move during the explanation which Nick gave. +</p> +<p> +While he was speaking, the detective watched her narrowly. Certainly she +was meditating some remarkable action. He wondered what it could be. +</p> +<p> +"Yes," said Nick, turning to the superintendent, "we have at last +straightened out the matter of those two rooms and their occupants. +</p> +<p> +"As to the spot where the crime was committed, I have not been in doubt +from the first. +</p> +<p> +"You will remember that the fatal wound was visible on both the woman's +temples. The bullet passed entirely through her head. +</p> +<p> +"But where was the bullet? That was the question which I asked myself at +once. +</p> +<p> +"I could not find it in room B, where the body lay. Then I tried room A, +with no better success. +</p> +<p> +"At this point Chick took up the hunt, and carried it to the end. The +bullet was in neither room. It was just between them. +</p> +<p> +"You remember that there was a door which I found fastened upon both +sides. +</p> +<p> +"Chick opened that door, and in its framework, the wood of which was old +and soft, he found the bullet. +</p> +<p> +"The mark was covered when the door was shut. Therefore the door must +have been open when the shot was fired. +</p> +<p> +"The position of the bullet shows that the shot was fired from room A. +Then the woman, for some reason, had got into that room. She had +unlocked the door on her side and had managed to induce the persons on +the other side to slip their bolt. +</p> +<p> +"Now, why did she do this? Of course there is only one answer. Jealousy +was her motive. The man in room A was her husband. +</p> +<p> +"I have satisfied myself of that. She must have known that he was going +to dine in that house with another woman. +</p> +<p> +"It is clear that she made the acquaintance of Hammond because she was +determined to get into that restaurant, and women are not admitted +alone. +</p> +<p> +"The dropping of the purse was, of course, a very simple trick. She had +noticed Hammond behind her, and as he was evidently a gentleman, she +decided to use him for her purpose. +</p> +<p> +"You have heard how she led him to the restaurant. Of course it was only +by chance that they got the room next to that in which her husband was. +</p> +<p> +"Hammond has told how she listened to the voices, and how she got rid of +him. +</p> +<p> +"What followed can be easily understood. She got into room A. She drew +her pistol and attempted to shoot either her faithless husband or his +companion. +</p> +<p> +"Jones disarmed her and shot her with her own pistol. +</p> +<p> +"Then he carried her into room B, and put her in that chair. +</p> +<p> +"At that moment Corbut entered, for the door of room B was not locked. +</p> +<p> +"In some way they bribed him to keep silence. They sent him into room +A, where he locked the connecting door on that side. +</p> +<p> +"Jones fastened it on the side of room B and fled. It was then that +Gaspard saw him coming out of room B. And that's what mixed the case so +badly. +</p> +<p> +"It gave us the wrong arrangement of men in those rooms. That was the +only reason why I ever doubted Jones' guilt. I was convinced that the +man who had brought the woman to the house was not the man who had shot +her. +</p> +<p> +"You did not know, Mr. Hammond, that when you told me, in my house, that +you were the man in room A, that you practically confessed to being the +murderer." +</p> +<p> +At these words, Hammond gave a dry and painful gasp. He saw what an +escape he had had. +</p> +<p> +"As to the two women," Nick continued, "it is easy to read the secret. +</p> +<p> +"Jones had two wives. The real wife, now dead, lived in the flat the +address of which Jones gave me. This woman lived in the Fifty-eighth +street flat, where Corbut was murdered. +</p> +<p> +"Jones divided his time between them. He really loved this one and +wished to be rid of the other. +</p> +<p> +"His true wife surprised his secret at last, and it led her to her +death. +</p> +<p> +"That night after the murder the plan was formed by which this woman was +to personate the other. The striking similarity in the hair, which was +the most conspicuous beauty of each, suggested the plot. +</p> +<p> +"Perhaps Jones had thought of such a thing long before. That may have +led him to keep his real wife practically unknown in this city, while he +was frequently seen with this woman. +</p> +<p> +"As to the dresses, this woman, who is a very clever dressmaker, as I am +told, doubtless had time to copy the other's costume in the night and +the day following the crime. +</p> +<p> +"She did most of the work in Albany, where she went as soon as possible. +Then wearing the duplicate dress, she went to her friends in Maysville, +and afterward came here. +</p> +<p> +"Is it all plain now?" +</p> +<p> +"It is clear as a bell, Mr. Carter," said the superintendent. +</p> +<p> +"Wait a moment!" +</p> +<p> +It was the woman's voice. She spoke calmly, and looked straight into +Nick's face. +</p> +<p> +"You have made one grave error," she said. "It was not John who killed +that woman; it was I. +</p> +<p> +"She tried to shoot him, and I wrenched the pistol from her hand. I shot +her dead. +</p> +<p> +"The plot was all mine. It was I who bribed Corbut. It was I who killed +him. +</p> +<p> +"John brought him to our flat. I sent my husband away, and when he +returned a few minutes later, Corbut was dead. John had no guilty hand +in either crime. +</p> +<p> +"He fainted at the sight of Corbut's body. When he came to himself, the +body was no longer to be seen. I had put it into the trunks. It was I +who afterward sent them to Gaspard. +</p> +<p> +"These crimes I committed for love of this man. I had been his wife for +five years, and for three of them I did not know he had another. +</p> +<p> +"And when I found it out, I did not do as this woman did. I simply loved +him more. +</p> +<p> +"I love him still, and because I love him I tell the truth to save him. +Yes, more, because I love him, I will shed more blood. He shall not see +me imprisoned or condemned to death. I will spare him that pain." +</p> +<p> +As she spoke, she drew a little ornamental dagger from her dress. It +was a mere toy. Nobody would have supposed it to be a deadly weapon. +</p> +<p> +However, Nick sprang forward to prevent her from doing herself an +injury. +</p> +<p> +He was too late. She plunged the dagger into her brain. +</p> +<p> +So firm and true was her hand that the slender blade pierced the thin +bone of her right temple, and was driven in until the hilt made an +impression on her white skin like a seal upon wax. +</p> +<p> +Jones uttered a scream of horror at this sight. He, too, had attempted +to stay her hand, but had been too slow. +</p> +<p> +As she fell, he plucked the dagger from the wound and attempted to drive +it into his own brain. But Nick caught his arm and wrested the +blood-stained weapon from him. +</p> +<p> +Deprived thus of the means for ending his life, Jones fell upon his +knees before the woman and covered her hands with kisses, nor could he +be taken away, until the hands were chilled by death. +</p> +<p> +And that was the strange end of the affair. The woman's confession, +though it may not have been true, will doubtless save Jones' life. +</p> +<p> +At the time of this writing the district attorney is of the opinion that +a plea of murder in the second degree had better be accepted. There is +no indication that the prisoner will fight the case. +</p> +<p> +So Jones will spend his days in prison, though he will escape the death +chair. +</p> +<p> +A word should be added about the witness, Gaspard. He has been cleared +of all reproach, and has sailed for France with his bride. +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="GHOST"></a> +<h2> + NICK CARTER'S GHOST STORY. +</h2> + + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH11"><!-- CH11 --></a> +<h3> + CHAPTER I. +</h3> + +<h3> +THE VANISHING THIEF. +</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> +Nick Carter's friends often ask him whether, in the course of his +remarkable experience as a detective, he has ever encountered anything +which could not have been the work of human hands. +</p> +<p> +Few people, nowadays, will own that they believe in ghosts. Yet most of +us would be less sure about it in a grave-yard at midnight than on +Broadway at noon. +</p> +<p> +A man who can tell a reasonable story about having seen a ghost may not +find many believers, but he will get plenty of listeners, for we are all +eager to hear about such things. +</p> +<p> +So Nick, who always likes to oblige his friends, does not deny the +existence of spirits when he is asked whether he ever saw any. On the +contrary, if he has the time to spare, he usually tells the following +story: +</p> +<p> +A broad-shouldered, square-jawed, bright-eyed young man called on Nick +one afternoon, and was ushered into the study. +</p> +<p> +His card had gone up ahead of him, and it bore the name—Horace G. +Richmond. +</p> +<p> +Nick ran his eye over his visitor, and decided that he was a fellow who +knew the world and was getting everything out of it that there is in it. +</p> +<p> +He met Nick's eye with the air of a man who is going to do something +unusual, and wants to announce at the start that he can back it up. +</p> +<p> +"I have a case for you, Mr. Carter, if you will take it," he said. +</p> +<p> +"State it," replied Nick. +</p> +<p> +"It's a robbery case, and a mighty queer one. I don't pretend to +understand it or any part of it." +</p> +<p> +"Who's been robbed?" +</p> +<p> +"My uncle, Colonel Richmond, or, I should say, his daughter, Mrs. Pond. +But the robbery affects my uncle perhaps more seriously than his +daughter. It is on his account that I am here." +</p> +<p> +"Tell the story." +</p> +<p> +"I'll do it, but first let me say that whatever others may think of the +case, I believe it's just simply theft. Mrs. Pond has a lot of jewelry +and somebody is stealing it a piece at a time. +</p> +<p> +"That's my view, but my uncle's is different. He says that these +robberies are not the work of human hands. +</p> +<p> +"Now, as for me, I try to keep my feet on the earth all the time. I want +you to understand right at the start that I don't believe in any stuff +about ghosts and hobgoblins. +</p> +<p> +"In my opinion, ghosts that steal diamonds ought to be in the jug, and +will probably get there unless they turn over a new leaf. +</p> +<p> +"My uncle doesn't see as straight as that. Perhaps you remember that, +three or four years ago, he fell into the hands of a couple of sharks +who pretended to be mediums. +</p> +<p> +"He had always believed in spiritualism, and those crooks caught him +just right. They called up the spooks of all the dead people he could +think of. They got messages from the spirit land seven nights in the +week and two matinees. My uncle simply went wild about it. You remember. +It was all in the papers. They worked him beautifully, and if I had not +stepped in and exposed them just in time they'd have got every cent he +had." +</p> +<p> +"That would have been quite a haul," said Nick. +</p> +<p> +"Well, I should remark! He's worth more than four million dollars. I +tell you, those bogus mediums thought they'd struck something very soft. +</p> +<p> +"However, I showed them up, and convinced my uncle that they were rank +frauds. They're in Sing Sing now. +</p> +<p> +"My uncle did not give up his belief in spirits. He said 'these people +are frauds, but there are others who honestly and truly hold +communication with the departed.' +</p> +<p> +"I tell you, we've had a hard time keeping him out of the hands of +sharpers since then. But we've succeeded. +</p> +<p> +"And now, by bad luck, this queer affair has come up, and all my uncle's +faith has returned. He wants to consult mediums, and all that sort of +thing. +</p> +<p> +"That's the only serious part of it. The jewels that have been stolen +aren't worth over a couple of thousand dollars, all told. +</p> +<p> +"Of course, it's a nuisance to have such a thing happen in anybody's +house, but we wouldn't care much if the mysterious circumstances were +not driving my uncle's mind back to his pet delusion." +</p> +<p> +"What are these mysterious circumstances?" asked the detective. +</p> +<p> +"Why, it's like this: Colonel Richmond's aunt, Miss Lavina Richmond, was +a queer old lady, who was once very rich. At that time she had a passion +for collecting jewels. She used to invest her money in diamonds, just as +another person might buy houses or railroad stock. +</p> +<p> +"Only about a tenth part of her fortune was invested so that she got any +income out of it. In the last part of her life she lost all that part +of her property, so that she hadn't anything in the world but her jewels. +</p> +<p> +"She wouldn't sell one, and there she was as poor in one sense as a +lodger in City Hall Square—for she hadn't a cent of money—and yet +owning diamonds and other precious stones worth nearly a million +dollars. +</p> +<p> +"She wouldn't borrow on them; she wouldn't do anything but keep them +locked up; and so she had to depend absolutely on my uncle for the +necessities of life. +</p> +<p> +"He didn't mind that, of course, for he had plenty. She lived at his +house, and eventually died there. +</p> +<p> +"She and my uncle never got along well, in spite of his kindness to her, +and she had no friends except a Mrs. Stevens and her daughter. They're +related to the Richmonds, but the money is all in the colonel's branch +of the family. +</p> +<p> +"Mrs. Stevens and Millie, her daughter, are poor. They have just enough +to live on. The colonel would take care of them, but they won't have it. +They're too proud. +</p> +<p> +"Now, everybody thought that old Miss Lavina Richmond would leave her +tremendous pile of diamonds to Millie Stevens. Indeed, Miss Richmond +used to say so continually. I've heard her say, in the colonel's +presence, that Miss Stevens should have the jewels; that such was her +wish. +</p> +<p> +"Well, she died suddenly a year or more ago, and the only will that +could be found was dated many years back, and left everything she +possessed to the colonel's daughter. +</p> +<p> +"It was the greatest surprise that you can imagine. We all knew that +such a will had been made, but we hadn't the slightest idea that it +still existed, and that she had made no other. On the contrary, we knew +positively that she had made a much later will in favor of Millie +Stevens. But the document couldn't be found, and so the old one was +submitted for probate. +</p> +<p> +"The colonel expected a contest, but the Stevenses did not make a +murmur. It must have been a tremendous disappointment to them, but they +bore it with perfect good nature. They didn't seem to feel half so badly +about it as my uncle did. If he had had his way, he would have given all +the jewels to Miss Stevens. +</p> +<p> +"He said over and over again that he believed it was his aunt's wish +that the girl should have them. And I can tell you, there's no man so +particular as he is about respecting the wishes of the dead. +</p> +<p> +"Mrs. Pond would have turned over the whole lot to Millie Stevens, I +believe, if it hadn't been for her husband. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Pond isn't a rich man, and he didn't feel that he could afford to +yield up a million dollars' worth of property that had been thrown at +him in that way. And, to speak plainly, he isn't the sort of man to let +go of anything that comes within his reach. +</p> +<p> +"My uncle offered to do the fair thing out of his own pocket, but, as +I've said, the Stevenses wouldn't touch his money; and there the case +has stood ever since. +</p> +<p> +"The most valuable of the jewels are in the vaults of the Central Safe +Deposit Company in this city. Some of the smaller pieces are in Mrs. +Pond's possession. She is a woman who likes to wear a lot of jewelry, +and, by Jupiter, she can do it now if she likes, for she owns more +diamonds than the Astors. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. and Mrs. Pond live in Cleveland. Mrs. Pond, as I've told you, is +now visiting her father. You know he bought the old Plummer place on the +shore of Hempstead Harbor, Long Island. +</p> +<p> +"She has been with him about two weeks. She has two rooms on the second +floor of the house, a sitting-room and a bed-room. The bed-room opens +off the hall. It has only one other door, which leads to her +sitting-room. +</p> +<p> +"The first robbery occurred on the second day after she had arrived. It +was late in the afternoon. +</p> +<p> +"Mrs. Pond had been out riding. When she returned she hurried up to her +room to dress for dinner. +</p> +<p> +"She took off some of her jewelry—some rings, pins and that sort of +thing—and laid them on the dressing-table. Then she went into her +sitting-room. +</p> +<p> +"Remember, I'm telling this just as she told it. How much of it is fact +and how much is hysterics I can't say. She was scared half out of her +wits by what happened afterward, and may have got mixed up in her +narrative. +</p> +<p> +"This is what she told us: When she had been in the sitting-room about a +minute she turned toward the bedroom and saw the door slowly shutting. +</p> +<p> +"She was surprised at this, for she had locked the other door of the +bed-room, and it did not seem possible for anybody to be in there. +</p> +<p> +"In fact, such a thing did not come into her mind. She supposed that a +draught of air was swinging the door. +</p> +<p> +"She hastened toward it, but it closed before she got there. +</p> +<p> +"She turned the knob and tried to open the door, but was unable to do +so. It did not seem to resist firmly, as it would if it had been +fastened. Instead it gave slightly, as if some person had been holding +it. +</p> +<p> +"If that was the case, he was stronger than she was, for she didn't +succeed in opening the door. +</p> +<p> +"Then she screamed. Such a yell I never heard a woman utter. I was in my +own room, which is over hers, and I jumped nearly out of my skin, it +startled me so. +</p> +<p> +"I was dressing, and was in my underclothes, so it took me a minute, I +should say, to get a pair of pantaloons on. +</p> +<p> +"Then I ran out into the hall and down the stairs. At the same moment +my uncle ran up from the ground floor. +</p> +<p> +"I mention these facts, because they seem to me to be important. You +see, we approached that room by two ways—by the only two ways except +that by which Mrs. Pond came. +</p> +<p> +"Just as I got to the hall door of her bed-room she opened it, and fell +into my arms in a faint. +</p> +<p> +"She lost consciousness only for a moment, and, on coming to herself, +she cried out that a thief had been in her room. +</p> +<p> +"By this time there were three or four servants in the hall below. One +of them staid there by my uncle's orders. The others went outside and +made a circuit of the house. +</p> +<p> +"We led Mrs. Pond back into her room, and she pointed to her +dressing-table. +</p> +<p> +"There lay two or three rings and a pin, but the most valuable ring that +she had put there was gone. +</p> +<p> +"It was a queer, old-fashioned ring in the form of a snake, and in its +mouth was a ruby worth about two hundred and fifty dollars. The eyes +were made of small diamonds. +</p> +<p> +"She declared that she had left the ring there. She told us how the door +between the two rooms had closed. +</p> +<p> +"It appears that after she had struggled to open it for several minutes +it suddenly yielded, and she almost fell into the room. +</p> +<p> +"Of course, she expected to rush straight upon the thief. He had been +holding the door, and naturally he couldn't have gone far after +releasing it. +</p> +<p> +"She was inside just as soon as the pressure on the other side was +removed. But the room was empty. +</p> +<p> +"She thought of her jewels at once. She rushed to her dressing-table, +and instantly missed the ruby ring. +</p> +<p> +"Now, that's all there is to it. We hunted high and low for the thief, +and did not find a trace of him. +</p> +<p> +"How did he get away? That's where I give up the riddle. The door in the +hall was locked on the inside, and practically guarded by my uncle and +myself. At the other door stood Mrs. Pond. +</p> +<p> +"There is only one window. It looks out on a sort of court with the +house on three sides of it. +</p> +<p> +"A man with a wagon was almost under the window all the time. He was +delivering groceries to the cook. +</p> +<p> +"It's absurd to suppose that anybody got in or out by that window. No +thief would have been fool enough to try it at that time of day, and, as +I've told you, there were two persons who would have been perfectly sure +to see him if he had. And he couldn't have got in or out without a +ladder. +</p> +<p> +"I admit that it looked very queer. What do you make of it, Mr. Carter?" +</p> +<p> +"Are you sure the ring was really taken? Couldn't she have been mistaken +about it?" +</p> +<p> +"That's the idea that occurred to me. But it happens that when Mrs. Pond +came back from the drive my uncle banded her out of the carriage, and he +distinctly remembers seeing the ring on her finger. +</p> +<p> +"She went straight to her room, and she couldn't have lost the ring by +the way, for there was a guard ring on the outside of it, and that we +found on the dressing-table. +</p> +<p> +"Of course, we hunted for the ruby ring. We took up the carpets; we made +such a search as I never saw before. The ring was not there. +</p> +<p> +"I don't think there's a shadow of doubt that the ring was stolen, but I +can't form an idea of how it was done. +</p> +<p> +"The more I think about it the more confused I get. To my mind the +queerest part of it is that somebody held the door, and then let go of +it and vanished in a quarter of a second. How are we going to explain +that?" +</p> +<p> +"Didn't the thief put something against the door?" +</p> +<p> +"I thought of that, and tried to work out that theory, but it's +impossible. Not a piece of furniture was out of place, and there wasn't +a stick or a prop of any kind in the room that could have been used for +such a purpose." +</p> +<p> +"Well, that's strange, I must admit," said Nick. "I guess it will be +necessary for me to go down and look the ground over." +</p> +<p> +"That's just what we want." +</p> +<p> +"Come along, then. I'm ready." +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH12"><!-- CH12 --></a> +<h3> + CHAPTER II. +</h3> + +<h3> +NICK IS BOLDLY CHALLENGED. +</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> +Nick knew the old Plummer mansion well. There is not a house to match it +in this country. +</p> +<p> +A hundred years and more ago it must have been the scene of strange +adventures. It was built, certainly, by one who did not expect a +peaceful and quiet life within it. +</p> +<p> +The thick stone walls, which look so unnecessarily massive, are really +double. There are secret passages and movable panels and trap-doors +enough in that house to hide a man, if a regiment of soldiers was after +him. +</p> +<p> +Evidently such a place offered every chance to shrewd criminals who +might have a motive for playing upon the superstitious beliefs of the +present proprietor. +</p> +<p> +Anybody who couldn't get up a respectable ghost in the old Plummer house +must be a very poor fakir. +</p> +<p> +The mere fact that all the doors and windows of a room were closed did +not prevent any person from going in or out at will, if he knew the +secrets of the house. +</p> +<p> +Nick thought of these things as he rode down there in the cars, and he +prepared himself for an interesting time, chasing bogus ghosts through +secret doors and panels. +</p> +<p> +But a surprise awaited him on his arrival. Colonel Richmond met him at +the door, and, by Nick's request, took him at once to the room from +which the articles had been stolen. +</p> +<p> +It was a modern room in a new part of the house. +</p> +<p> +Nick was entirely unprepared for this. He did not know that the colonel +had built any additions to the old mansion. +</p> +<p> +Colonel Richmond spoke of this remarkable feature of the case at once. +</p> +<p> +"If this thing had happened in the old part of the house," he said, "I +shouldn't have thought that it was anything but an ordinary robbery. +</p> +<p> +"Every room there can be entered in a secret manner, and no doubt there +are plenty of panels and passages which even I do not know. +</p> +<p> +"But there's nothing of the kind here. This wing was built under my eye, +and from my own design. I saw the beams laid and the floors nailed down. +</p> +<p> +"There is absolutely no way to enter the room in which we now stand +except by the two doors and the window. +</p> +<p> +"My nephew has told you about the robberies. You know that the doors and +the windows were practically guarded all the time. +</p> +<p> +"I don't believe that any mortal being could have got in here and got +out again without being seen. +</p> +<p> +"As for myself, I understand the case perfectly. My belief will seem +strange to you, because you do not see with the eye of the spirit. +Everything has to be done by human hands, according to your +matter-of-fact notion. +</p> +<p> +"I know better; and I tell you that these jewels were taken by the +spirit of my deceased aunt, and that she did it to show me that my +daughter was wrongfully in possession of them." +</p> +<p> +When a healthy, hearty old man, who seems to be as sane as anybody else +in the world, stands up and talks such nonsense as this, what can one +say to him? +</p> +<p> +It is useless to tell him that he is wrong about the whole matter. It is +folly to attempt to reason with him. +</p> +<p> +The only way to do is to show him a perfectly natural explanation of the +mystery, and simply make him see it. +</p> +<p> +That was the task which Nick had before him, and it must be owned that, +at the first glance, he did not see how he was going to accomplish it. +</p> +<p> +He examined the room and satisfied himself that it had no secret +entrances. +</p> +<p> +Such being the case, Nick was unable to form a theory of the robbery +which would fit the facts as they had been stated to him. +</p> +<p> +After looking at the rooms, he went with Colonel Richmond to the parlor, +on the ground floor, and there proceeded to question him about the +mysterious occurrences. +</p> +<p> +"There have been three robberies in all," said the colonel, "and they +have been exactly alike. +</p> +<p> +"In every case my daughter has left some articles of jewelry on the +dressing-table in her bed-room, and one of them has vanished. Never more +than one at a time. +</p> +<p> +"Twice it happened while she was in the adjoining room. The bed-room +door which opens into the hall was locked on these occasions. +</p> +<p> +"The third time she was in the hall, talking with my nephew. He was +standing in the upper hall, leaning over the banister rail. They were +discussing a plan for a drive out into the country. Quite a party was to +go. +</p> +<p> +"Horace had just received word from a gentleman whom they had invited +that he would be unable to go. He had read the note in his room, and he +called downstairs to my daughter to tell her about it. +</p> +<p> +"That was how they happened to be standing in the hall. Presently she +went back into her room, and almost immediately noticed that a small +locket set with diamonds had been taken. +</p> +<p> +"She screamed, and Horace and I came running to her room. We searched it +thoroughly. +</p> +<p> +"There was nobody there. The door between the bedroom and the +sitting-room was open, but the other door of the sitting-room, which +opens into the old portion of the house, was locked and bolted on the +inside. +</p> +<p> +"Now, I submit to you, Mr. Carter, whether in that case any other way of +entrance or exit was possible except by the windows." +</p> +<p> +"I'm bound to admit," responded Nick, "that if the doors were in the +condition you describe, no person could have entered or left those rooms +except by the windows." +</p> +<p> +"Well, it had been raining hard, and the ground was soft. We looked +carefully under all the windows. +</p> +<p> +"There was no sign of a footprint, and nobody could have walked there +without making tracks. Oh, it is clear enough! Why do we waste your time +in a search for invisible spirits of the dead?" +</p> +<p> +He rambled on in this way for several minutes, and Nick did not try to +stop him. +</p> +<p> +The colonel was at last interrupted, however, by the entrance of his +daughter. +</p> +<p> +Mrs. Pond had been out driving. She learned, on her return, that a +stranger had come to the house, and she hurried into the parlor, +suspecting who was there. +</p> +<p> +"I am delighted to see you, Mr. Carter," she exclaimed. "You will clear +up this abominable mystery and relieve my father's mind from these +delusions." +</p> +<p> +"Then you do not share his opinions," said Nick. +</p> +<p> +Mrs. Pond laughed nervously. +</p> +<p> +"No, indeed," she said, "and yet I must admit that I am quite unable to +explain the facts. I suppose you have heard the story?" +</p> +<p> +"Yes." +</p> +<p> +"What do you think about it?" +</p> +<p> +"It is much too early in the case for me to express an opinion. But +there are one or two questions that I should like to ask you." +</p> +<p> +"Do so, by all means. It was at my request that you were called in." +</p> +<p> +"At your request?" +</p> +<p> +"Yes; I talked with Horace about it, and at last we agreed to ask you to +take the case. He didn't believe in it at first, for he did not want to +let anybody into our family secrets." +</p> +<p> +She glanced at her father as she spoke. It was evident that the family +was a good deal ashamed of Colonel Richmond's spiritualistic delusions +and wanted to keep quiet about them. +</p> +<p> +"I talked Horace into it after a while," Mrs. Pond continued, "and at +last he became as enthusiastic as myself. We know that you will find the +thief." +</p> +<p> +"Thank you," responded Nick. "There is one point which seems peculiar to +me. After you had been robbed once, why did you continue to leave the +jewels unwatched in the very place from which one of them had previously +been taken?" +</p> +<p> +"I insisted upon it," said Colonel Richmond. "I told my daughter that +she must make no change in her habit of wearing or caring for my aunt's +jewels. I wished to show that we were not foolishly trying to hide them +from the eye of a spirit, but that we wished to learn the desire of my +departed aunt as soon as possible." +</p> +<p> +"It was by your order, then," said Nick, "that your daughter continued +to put the jewels on her dressing-table when she laid them aside for any +reason?" +</p> +<p> +"It was." +</p> +<p> +"I have just left some of them there now," said Mrs. Pond. "I went to my +room after my ride, and took off a light cloak which was fastened with +three pins, each having a diamond in its head. I stuck them all into a +cushion on that dressing-table." +</p> +<p> +"Is the room locked?" asked Nick. +</p> +<p> +"Yes," replied Mrs. Pond, and she produced the key of the door which +opened from the hall above. +</p> +<p> +"Will you allow me to go up there now?" +</p> +<p> +"Certainly." +</p> +<p> +She handed the key to Nick. +</p> +<p> +He took it and walked out of the parlor. +</p> +<p> +Nick had already formed a sort of working theory in the case. He +scarcely believed that it would hold water, but it would do for a +starter. +</p> +<p> +The most probable explanation that had come to him was that Mrs. Pond +had not really been robbed at all. +</p> +<p> +It might be that she had some motive for making these articles vanish. +Perhaps she had some need of money, and was secretly selling them +against the wish of her husband and her father. +</p> +<p> +So, when Nick took that key and went toward that room he did not expect +to find the three diamond pins in the position described by the lady. +</p> +<p> +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. +</p> +<p> +He turned at once to a dressing-table. +</p> +<p> +The three pins were there, just as Mrs. Pond had said. +</p> +<p> +Nick laughed softly to himself. +</p> +<p> +"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." +</p> +<p> +He glanced out of the window of the room. +</p> +<p> +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. +</p> +<p> +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. +</p> +<p> +He found nothing at all to reward his search. There absolutely was no +secret entrance. +</p> +<p> +The detective decided that nothing further could be done in that room. +He walked toward the other. +</p> +<p> +To his astonishment he found that the door had been closed while he had +been busy with his investigations. +</p> +<p> +He sprang against it. +</p> +<p> +The door yielded a little, and yet he could not open it. +</p> +<p> +Some person stronger than he seemed to be holding it on the other side. +</p> +<p> +He drew back for a spring. That door would have gone to splinters if it +had stood in his way again. +</p> +<p> +Instead, it swung open the instant he touched it, and the force of his +lunge took him nearly to the middle of the room. +</p> +<p> +In an instant he was on guard, but he saw no one. +</p> +<p> +The room was quiet, and it was empty. +</p> +<p> +The door into the hall was locked as he had left it. +</p> +<p> +All was the same, except that on the dressing-table was the cushion +bearing two diamond pins instead of three. +</p> +<p> +The robbery had been done, as one might say, under the nose of the +greatest detective in the world. +</p> +<p> +"Well, this takes my breath away," said Nick to himself. "It's the +nerviest challenge that ever was sprung on me." +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH13"><!-- CH13 --></a> +<h3> + CHAPTER III. +</h3> + +<h3> +HOW NICK FOUND THE JEWELS. +</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> +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. +</p> +<p> +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. +</p> +<p> +But a moment's reflection made this seem less probable. +</p> +<p> +Was it not more natural to suppose that this event proved that the +detective was unknown to the thief? +</p> +<p> +Such being the case, Colonel Richmond, his nephew and Mrs. Pond were +acquitted at the start. +</p> +<p> +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. +</p> +<p> +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. +</p> +<p> +Mrs. Pond might be pawning them for small extravagances which she was +afraid to have known. +</p> +<p> +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. +</p> +<p> +And it was perfectly certain that no professional thief or dishonest +servant was doing the work. +</p> +<p> +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. +</p> +<p> +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. +</p> +<p> +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. +</p> +<p> +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. +</p> +<p> +These thoughts passed through his mind in a flash. +</p> +<p> +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. +</p> +<p> +Just as Nick joined them Horace Richmond strolled up. They all stood +looking at a carriage which was coming up the driveway. +</p> +<p> +"Why, it's Mrs. Stevens," exclaimed Mrs. Pond. "I thought you said she +did not come here any more." +</p> +<p> +"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." +</p> +<p> +Nothing more could be said on the subject, for at that moment the +carriage drew up before the door. +</p> +<p> +Colonel Richmond advanced courteously and assisted Mrs. Stevens to +alight. +</p> +<p> +Nick noticed at once that she was much agitated. +</p> +<p> +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. +</p> +<p> +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. +</p> +<p> +Very few words had passed between them, when the colonel uttered a cry +and called to Nick. +</p> +<p> +The detective instantly advanced. He made a sign to Richmond, but it was +not understood, and the colonel introduced Nick by his right name. +</p> +<p> +"Here is an extraordinary thing, Mr. Carter," he said. "We now have +proof positive that this affair is not the work of mortal hands." +</p> +<p> +"What is that?" asked Nick. +</p> +<p> +"The jewels have appeared!" +</p> +<p> +"Where?" +</p> +<p> +"In Mrs. Stevens' house. They have been mysteriously transported there +without human aid." +</p> +<p> +"I should be glad to have that proven," said Nick. +</p> +<p> +"It shall be," said the colonel. "Tell your story, Mrs. Stevens, if you +please." +</p> +<p> +"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. +</p> +<p> +"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." +</p> +<p> +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: +</p> +<p> +"Who had access to that room?" +</p> +<p> +"Nobody," replied Mrs. Stevens. "It was locked." +</p> +<p> +"Is it customary for you to lock your bed-room door when you go to +lunch?" +</p> +<p> +"No; it is quite unusual. But we have a new servant in the house, and, +as I had considerable money in the room, I took that precaution. +</p> +<p> +"All the doors were locked. I had the key to one of them. The others +were on the inside of the locks. +</p> +<p> +"When I went to lunch the jewels were not there. When I returned they +were there. That is all that I know about it. Here they are." +</p> +<p> +She drew from her pocket as she spoke a small cardboard box. +</p> +<p> +The woman was making heroic efforts to be calm, but it seemed as if she +might either faint or go into hysterics at any moment. +</p> +<p> +Was she playing a game that was too hard for her? +</p> +<p> +That was the question for Nick to answer; and yet, when he looked at +this gentle, refined woman, he hardly had the heart to suspect her of +any dishonesty. +</p> +<p> +"I will show you the jewels," she said, struggling to command her voice, +"you can then see whether they are all here." +</p> +<p> +Her trembling hands could hardly find the string which was tied about +the box. +</p> +<p> +While she pulled at it she kept talking as if she must do it to relieve +her overburdened mind. She described the articles of jewelry which were +in the box. +</p> +<p> +"They are the very ones," said the colonel. +</p> +<p> +As he uttered the words the string was loosened, and the cover fell off +the box. +</p> +<p> +There was a sharp cry. It came from Mrs. Pond, who, with Horace, had +approached during this scene. +</p> +<p> +"Why, there's one of my diamond pins!" she exclaimed. "How on earth did +it come to be there?" +</p> +<p> +Well, if Mrs. Pond was surprised, she wasn't a bit more so than Nick +Carter. +</p> +<p> +The pin referred to was the one which had been stolen from the cushion +in Mrs. Pond's dressing-room not ten minutes before. +</p> +<p> +"Why, this is impossible," cried Mrs. Pond. "I left that pin with the +two others like it in my room." +</p> +<p> +Without saying another word, she turned and ran into the house. +</p> +<p> +Almost immediately her voice was heard in the hall. +</p> +<p> +"It's gone!" she cried. "It's been taken out of my bedroom." +</p> +<p> +She appeared at the door with a very white face. +</p> +<p> +But her excitement was nothing to that of Mrs. Stevens. +</p> +<p> +Nick dropped the role of detective and assumed that of doctor in less +than a second. +</p> +<p> +When he had saved Mrs. Stevens from an attack of hysterics, he said: +</p> +<p> +"I was aware that that pin had been taken. It was done while I was in +your room, Mrs. Pond. The circumstances were exactly the same as those +attending the other robberies." +</p> +<p> +"But I did not put it in the box," exclaimed Mrs. Stevens. "It was not +among the jewels which I found." +</p> +<p> +She turned to Colonel Richmond. Her face was ghastly pale. +</p> +<p> +"I have scorned your belief," she said; "but now I am convinced. No +mortal being could have done this thing." +</p> +<p> +"What do you say to that, Mr. Carter?" cried the colonel, with flashing +eyes. +</p> +<p> +"I would like to ask a few questions," rejoined Nick. "Were you alone +when you put those jewels into the box?" +</p> +<p> +"I was." +</p> +<p> +"Has it been in your possession ever since?" +</p> +<p> +"It has not been out of my care." +</p> +<p> +"Did you tell anybody about the finding of the jewels?" +</p> +<p> +"Nobody." +</p> +<p> +"Please describe everything that happened after you found them." +</p> +<p> +"I was, of course, greatly agitated. I did not know what to do. For some +time I sat staring at the jewels and trying to think what was my proper +course. +</p> +<p> +"At last I took this box from a drawer of my dressing-table and put the +jewels into it. +</p> +<p> +"Then I called to the servant who was in the dining-room, and asked her +to see that the carriage was got ready, for though it is a long drive, I +had resolved to make it, because I felt safer in that way." +</p> +<p> +"Did you go out of your room to call the girl?" +</p> +<p> +"Only into the hall." +</p> +<p> +"Who could have got into your room while you were out?" +</p> +<p> +"Nobody." +</p> +<p> +"Where was your daughter?" +</p> +<p> +"In her own room." +</p> +<p> +"How do you know?" +</p> +<p> +"I called to her after I had dressed, and she answered me. I told her +that I was going to drive over here, and she was very much surprised. I +did not tell her why." +</p> +<p> +"Did you meet anybody on the way over who spoke to you or came to the +side of the carriage?" +</p> +<p> +"Nobody." +</p> +<p> +"That is all I wish to ask." +</p> +<p> +In fact, Nick had no more questions. He was really at a loss for an +explanation of this strange occurrence. +</p> +<p> +If the pin had been taken from the room, by a person concealed in the +house, it might have been possible that that person had escaped from the +grounds unseen, and had given it to Mrs. Stevens. +</p> +<p> +There was hardly time for such a trick to have been done, but in so +strange a case every possibility was to be considered. +</p> +<p> +If such a thing had been done, it must have been very near to the +house. +</p> +<p> +The thief must have known when Mrs. Stevens was coming, or she must have +waited for him just outside the colonel's grounds. +</p> +<p> +There was a place where the road was heavily fringed with trees, not +more than a hundred yards from the colonel's gate. +</p> +<p> +The trick must have been done there, if at all. +</p> +<p> +Nick resolved to settle this small point, if possible, immediately. +</p> +<p> +It was of no use to ask the man who had driven Mrs. Stevens' horse. Of +course, he would lie, if there was any need of it. +</p> +<p> +So Nick excused himself from the group on the pretext that he was going +to search Mrs. Pond's rooms again. +</p> +<p> +He remembered that just after Mrs. Stevens had arrived, a wagon +belonging to the colonel had driven into the grounds. He quietly looked +up the two servants who had been in this wagon. They told him that they +remembered seeing Mrs. Stevens drive up. +</p> +<p> +She had passed them on the road. They had had her carriage in sight for +a mile before it turned into Colonel Richmond's grounds. +</p> +<p> +Her horse had been driven at a good pace. It had not stopped. Nobody had +approached the carriage. +</p> +<p> +Nick was convinced that the men were telling the truth. +</p> +<p> +Then how had Mrs. Stevens obtained that pin? +</p> +<p> +Her possession of the other articles might be explained, but the pin was +a "stickler." +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH14"><!-- CH14 --></a> +<h3> + CHAPTER IV. +</h3> + +<h3> +MILLIE STEVENS. +</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> +After questioning the two men whom he had found in the stable, Nick +walked toward the house. +</p> +<p> +On the way he met Horace Richmond. +</p> +<p> +"Mrs. Stevens has gone home," said Horace. "She would not remain for +dinner, although she has such a long ride before her. She seems terribly +distressed by this strange affair." +</p> +<p> +"What did your uncle say to her?" +</p> +<p> +"Not much," was the reply; "and I was a good deal surprised. He begged +her not to be nervous about it, and talked very pleasantly to her, but +he steered clear of the matter of the jewels. +</p> +<p> +"I don't understand it. I thought he would insist upon what he calls a +restitution of the property." +</p> +<p> +"Perhaps, after all," said Nick, "he isn't so far off his base on the +ghost question as you think he is." +</p> +<p> +"Don't you deceive yourself about that. He is just as sure that his +aunt's spirit removed those jewels as you are that that house is resting +on its foundations. +</p> +<p> +"And I wouldn't try to shake his belief just now," continued Horace, +seriously. "Simply say nothing about the affair this evening. Talk about +something else to him. Stay with us as long as you can, and quietly look +the ground over. Then tell me privately what you think." +</p> +<p> +This advice seemed good to Nick. He passed a quiet evening in the house, +and nobody but Mrs. Pond referred to the robberies. Horace managed to +quiet her quickly. +</p> +<p> +But the next morning after breakfast she came to Nick with a very long +face. +</p> +<p> +"My father has been talking to me," she said, "and I'm going to lose +those jewels surely, unless you do something and do it very quickly. I +don't care for their value, but they're mine by right, and I mean to +keep them if I can. But, of course, I can't bear to make my father's +life miserable. It will probably end by my compelling my husband to let +me give them up." +</p> +<p> +Nick had his doubts about the possibility of such a thing, and they were +made certainties very soon afterward. +</p> +<p> +Mr. Pond arrived unexpectedly. When the story was told him, he "danced +the war-dance," as our young friend Patsy might have expressed it. +</p> +<p> +"You don't seem to realize the importance of this matter," he exclaimed. +"Why, it's a million-dollar robbery, that's what it is! If we give up +the jewels, the colonel will give us their value. By jingo, he'll have +to. +</p> +<p> +"Well, what's that but the theft of a million from him?" +</p> +<p> +Nick was compelled to confess that it was just that, and nothing else. +</p> +<p> +"And who'll reap the proceeds?" continued Pond. "Why, the Stevenses, of +course. Nobody else gets anything out of it. They're playing on the +colonel's superstitions for a million dollar stake. +</p> +<p> +"Now, Mr. Carter, you go ahead and work this thing out. Catch the thief. +Don't let the colonel get you out of the way. If there's a question of +money, I'm good for the best fee you can name." +</p> +<p> +Nick's first move that day was to go to Mrs. Stevens' house. +</p> +<p> +She lived well on her small income. It was a nice old country-house, +with grounds of considerable extent, and a stable in which two good +horses were kept. +</p> +<p> +Nick rode over there on one of Colonel Richmond's fine saddle-horses. +</p> +<p> +As the detective rode up the winding, shaded walk toward the house, he +noticed a man-servant just ahead of him. +</p> +<p> +This servant had a newspaper and some letters in his hand. He seemed to +have come from the village post-office. +</p> +<p> +Leaning over the railing of the veranda, as if waiting for this servant, +was one of the handsomest girls Nick had ever seen. She was a beauty of +the dashing, dark-eyed type—a girl of courage and strong will. +</p> +<p> +The servant gave her the letters just as Nick came in sight. He not only +gave her those he had been carrying in his hand, but he drew one from +his pocket with a motion that suggested secrecy. +</p> +<p> +Nick rode up to the veranda, introduced himself, and asked to see Mrs. +Stevens. +</p> +<p> +"Let James take your horse," said the girl. "Come into the house, if you +please. I will speak to my mother." +</p> +<p> +Nick went into the cool and pretty parlor. Miss Stevens left the room +for a moment, and then returned with her mother. +</p> +<p> +The detective spoke of the occurrences of the day before, and requested +permission to see the room in which the jewelry had so mysteriously +appeared. +</p> +<p> +While they were talking thus, it happened that Miss Stevens drew her +handkerchief from her pocket, and as she did so two little pieces of +paper fell to the floor. +</p> +<p> +"So she's read that letter, and torn it up so soon," was Nick's silent +comment. +</p> +<p> +Almost immediately Miss Stevens said: +</p> +<p> +"There's the mail on the table, mother. I forgot to give it to you. +There are several letters." +</p> +<p> +Mrs. Stevens glanced at the addresses. +</p> +<p> +"They are all for me," she said. "Was there nothing for you?" +</p> +<p> +"No, indeed," cried the girl. "There's nobody who writes letters to +me." +</p> +<p> +"Lies to her mother, does she?" said Nick to himself. "Well, it begins +to look bad for her." +</p> +<p> +Miss Stevens did not notice the bits of paper on the floor, and Nick by +clever work succeeded in getting possession of them. +</p> +<p> +Then, by Mrs. Stevens' permission, he went to look at the room already +referred to. +</p> +<p> +No sooner was he there than he got rid of the lady upon some plausible +excuse, and so had an opportunity of examining the bits of paper. +</p> +<p> +They were ordinary letter paper impossible to trace. +</p> +<p> +One bit was blank on both sides. The other bore some queer little marks, +but no writing. To Nick the marks were quite clear. They were the dots +and dashes of the Morse telegraphic alphabet. They represented the +letters n, t, b, e, t, r, a, written very small on a narrow scrap, not +more than an inch long. +</p> +<p> +"Don't betray," muttered Nick. "Worse and worse. Miss Stevens will +evidently bear watching." +</p> +<p> +As to the room, his inspection of it was of little use. He had not +expected much. He had come to see Miss Stevens, principally, and in her +case the investigation had certainly begun better than he could have +reasonably expected. She was engaged in some secret affair. She +concealed letters from her mother. She had bribed one of the servants. +This last fact was proven by the manner in which the letter had been +delivered to her. +</p> +<p> +As he was turning these matters over in his mind, Mrs. Stevens and her +daughter entered the room. +</p> +<p> +"What have you discovered, Mr. Carter?" asked the girl. "You must know +that my mother has told me all about this strange affair, and I am +deeply interested." +</p> +<p> +"I have learned nothing," said Nick, "except that this room can be +easily entered, even when the doors are locked. +</p> +<p> +"Take this door leading to the rear room, for instance. The key was on +this side, it is true, but it turns very easily. A person with a pair of +nippers could get in without trouble, and lock the door afterward. +</p> +<p> +"I can't tell from the appearance of the key whether or not this was +done, but I think it probable." +</p> +<p> +"You mean that somebody came in here while mother was at lunch, and put +the jewels where they were found?" +</p> +<p> +"Exactly." +</p> +<p> +"But who could it have been?" +</p> +<p> +"I don't know," answered Nick, frankly. +</p> +<p> +"And how do you explain the presence of that other pin in the box?" +asked Mrs. Stevens. +</p> +<p> +"There is an explanation," said Nick; "but I prefer not to give it now." +</p> +<p> +"As you please," responded the lady, haughtily. "I can only say that I +trust you will find this thief speedily, and end this annoyance to which +we are being subjected." +</p> +<p> +"I don't think it ought to be hard for a person of your abilities," said +Miss Stevens. "I have already solved the puzzle." +</p> +<p> +"And who is the guilty person?" asked Nick, with a smile. +</p> +<p> +"Colonel Richmond, of course." +</p> +<p> +"Why should he do this?" +</p> +<p> +"Because he's crazy. That's reason enough." +</p> +<p> +"I'd like to hear you explain your theory a little further." +</p> +<p> +"Why, Mr. Carter, I'm surprised at you. Is there any motive for this +so-called crime? No. Then it must be a crazy person's work. Is there +more than one lunatic among us? Certainly not. So, as two and two make +four, and the sun doesn't rise in the west, Colonel Richmond is the +man. What kind of a detective do you think I'd make?" +</p> +<p> +"There isn't any one alive who could compare with you," said Nick. +</p> +<p> +"You're joking." +</p> +<p> +"No; I'm serious. There are plenty of detectives who can reason up to +the wrong man, but none, I'm sure, who can do it so quickly as you can." +</p> +<p> +Mrs. Stevens laughed at her daughter's discomfiture, and the girl joined +heartily. +</p> +<p> +"Supposing for a moment that your theory is true," continued Nick. "How +do you suppose that Colonel Richmond managed to get the jewels over +here?" +</p> +<p> +The girl became serious in a moment. +</p> +<p> +"This is a very delicate subject," she said. "I hate to cast suspicion +upon any one." +</p> +<p> +"You refer to the new servant, of course." +</p> +<p> +"Well, we know nothing about the girl," said Mrs. Stevens, "and, of +course, when anything so strange happens in the house we naturally think +of her. She brought good references, and she certainly looks honest." +</p> +<p> +"Did she have an opportunity to put the jewels into this room?" +</p> +<p> +"As to that, I have talked it over with my daughter, and it seems just +possible that the girl could have done it. I thought at first that it +was not." +</p> +<p> +"Of course, it was possible," exclaimed Miss Stevens. "She could have +run up the back stairs at any time." +</p> +<p> +She proceeded to explain this theory, until it seemed quite plausible. +</p> +<p> +And yet all the time she was filling the detective's mind with the +blackest suspicions against herself. +</p> +<p> +Here was the case: The plotters were trying to work on Colonel +Richmond's superstitions. +</p> +<p> +A celebrated detective had been called in. If he succeeded, the +plotters failed, and the Stevenses lost the jewels. +</p> +<p> +What more natural than that the criminals should wish to throw the +detective on a wrong scent? Was it not to be expected that they should +pitch upon this new servant as the best person with whom to deceive +Nick. +</p> +<p> +Altogether, Miss Stevens was making out a very strong case against +herself. +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH15"><!-- CH15 --></a> +<h3> + CHAPTER V. +</h3> + +<h3> +COLONEL RICHMOND'S NIGHT ADVENTURE. +</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> +Of course, Nick questioned the servant. To have failed to do that would +have been to throw light upon his real suspicions. +</p> +<p> +She was a tall, slender, and rather pretty Irish girl, named Annie +O'Neil. +</p> +<p> +Her answers to all questions were plain and simple. +</p> +<p> +She told what she had been doing on the previous day while Mrs. Stevens +was at lunch. She had not been in the dining-room all the time, but had +come in twice or thrice when summoned. +</p> +<p> +During the remainder of the time she had been in the kitchen. Nobody had +been with her there. +</p> +<p> +When Nick left the house, he rode half a mile back along the road, and +then dismounted and sat down under a big tree. In a few minutes a +farmer's wagon came along. A young man, who looked like a farm laborer, +was riding beside the farmer. He did not ride far beyond the place where +Nick was sitting. In a few minutes they sat together under the tree. The +young farm laborer was Patsy. +</p> +<p> +"I got your message," said Patsy. "I took the chance to ride over from +the station with that fellow, and I've asked him a few questions about +the house where you want me to go on duty. It seems that there's no show +to get in there on any pretext. I'll have to camp around on the outside +like a grass-eater." +</p> +<p> +"That won't hurt you, Patsy, my lad," said Nick. "The weather's good. +You're to keep an eye on the whole household, but on Miss Stevens +especially. +</p> +<p> +"This is the way the case looks at present: The girl is doing the work +on this end in connection with some confederate concealed in Colonel +Richmond's house. +</p> +<p> +"You understand the game. It's to work the spirit racket on Colonel +Richmond until he buys the jewels from his daughter or her husband, and +gives them to Miss Stevens. +</p> +<p> +"You must watch for the system by which she communicates with her +confederate in Richmond's house. They work the mails, but there must be +some quicker means to use in emergencies. +</p> +<p> +"Try to snare a letter, or get a sight of the other party. +</p> +<p> +"And be sure not to jump at conclusions, Patsy. I've told you how the +case looks, but it may be any other way. I haven't begun to work down to +it yet." +</p> +<p> +Nick mounted his horse, and Patsy strolled away in the direction of the +Stevens house. +</p> +<p> +When the detective got back to Colonel Richmond's, it was well along in +the afternoon. +</p> +<p> +He spent the remainder of his day in exploring the secret recesses of +the old house. It was, indeed, a marvelous place, and Nick got a very +high opinion of the ingenuity of the man who had designed its mysterious +passages. +</p> +<p> +He got little else, however. One or two discoveries he certainly made. +They were important as indicating that somebody had recently been in the +secret passages. +</p> +<p> +There was nothing to show what that person had been doing there, but the +probability was, of course, that he had concealed himself in the old +part of the house while preparing for his operations in Mrs. Pond's +room, or while escaping from them. +</p> +<p> +These indications were very vague, and did not point to the principal in +this affair—that mysterious thief who worked invisibly and by such +strange methods. +</p> +<p> +After dinner Horace Richmond took Nick aside, for what he termed a +discussion of "this ghostly rot." +</p> +<p> +"The very devil is in this business," said Horace. "The servants are +getting scared out of their wits. +</p> +<p> +"They all sleep in the old part of the house, you know, and there isn't +one of them who hasn't some story to tell of what goes on there in the +night. +</p> +<p> +"Some of these yarns are the old-fashioned business about sighs and +groans, and doors opening and shutting without anybody to open and shut +them. +</p> +<p> +"But under it all I must say that there seems to be a basis of fact. +There's John Gilder, the coachman. You've seen him, Does he look like a +man who can be scared easily?" +</p> +<p> +"I should say not," laughed Nick. "He looks to me like a Yankee +horse-trader, who is too intimate with the devil and his ways to be at +all alarmed about them." +</p> +<p> +"Just so. Well, John Gilder came to me to-day, and told me just as +calmly as I'd tell you the time of day, that he'd seen the ghost of Miss +Lavina Richmond. He saw her right in this room where we are now." +</p> +<p> +They had gone to the large dining-hall in the old mansion. Horace +sometimes used it as a smoking-room, but otherwise it was seldom +visited, except when the house was full of guests and all the old part +was thrown open. +</p> +<p> +It was a long and high room, finished in dark wood, and decorated with +moldering portraits in the worst possible style of art. +</p> +<p> +At one end was a gigantic fire-place, which was closed by a screen of +boards. +</p> +<p> +"He told me," continued Horace, "that he was passing through here late +last night—near midnight, he said—and that he saw Lavina Richmond +standing just about where you stand now. +</p> +<p> +"He came in by that door, behind me, and she was directly facing him. +He says that he didn't move or yell, or do anything, but just stood +staring at her. +</p> +<p> +"She paid no attention whatever to him, but passed across the room and +went out by that other door, which opened as she approached and closed +after her of itself. +</p> +<p> +"Then he ran for his room. He claims that he wasn't scared—only a bit +nervous. +</p> +<p> +"You can believe that if you want to. I tell you that he was scared, so +that he won't get over it in a year. +</p> +<p> +"If it wasn't for that I might think he was lying; but when a man like +Gilder quietly invites the footman—whom he always hated—to take half +of his bed for a few weeks, it's a sure thing that he's seen something +out of the ordinary. +</p> +<p> +"And the footman, as I learn, was mighty glad to accept the invitation, +for he's been having a few experiences of his own. +</p> +<p> +"Now, Mr. Carter, you and I believe that these things are done by some +clever trickster. It may be that some bogus medium who used to get the +colonel's good money away from him, wants more of it, and is taking this +means of driving my uncle back to the fold of true believers. +</p> +<p> +"I'm beginning to believe that that may be the fact. But whatever it is, +the case is almighty serious. +</p> +<p> +"Here's a nice old man, living happily, and gradually getting away from +his delusion. Here's an agent of the devil trying to drive this old man +back to his delusion, and make a lunatic of him, for that's what the +doctor says will certainly happen. +</p> +<p> +"I say it's too bad, not to mention the jewels at all. Now, what are we +going to do about it?" +</p> +<p> +"Catch the rascal," said Nick, promptly, "and catch him mighty quick." +</p> +<p> +"Well, I hope you'll succeed. I tell you, Mr. Carter, I feel toward +Colonel Richmond all the affection that I would give my father, if he +were alive, and I can't bear to see him driven out of his wits in this +infernal way." +</p> +<p> +"Have no fear," said Nick; "we'll save him. This trickery with the +servants may give us a chance to catch our man." +</p> +<p> +They returned to the parlor in the new part of the house. +</p> +<p> +Colonel Richmond was not there. +</p> +<p> +"Where is he?" asked Horace, anxiously, of Mrs. Pond. +</p> +<p> +"He has gone to his room. He said that the excitement of this affair had +worn him out completely." +</p> +<p> +Horace looked relieved. +</p> +<p> +Nick said that he, too, would go to his room. +</p> +<p> +He went, but he did not remain long in it. He had a fancy for a quiet +stroll around the house on the outside. It would be interesting to know +whether anybody entered or left it during the night. +</p> +<p> +One of the secret passages of the old house communicated with a sort of +tunnel, which had its outer extremity in an old well about twenty yards +away. This tunnel had caved in long before, but had been restored by +Colonel Richmond, who wished to preserve all the old-time peculiarities +of the place. +</p> +<p> +The inner end of it had been closed by a strong door, so as to prevent +anybody who might have the secret from entering in that way, but Nick +was strongly of the opinion that it would not keep out the persons who +were "haunting" the house in case they desired to come in. +</p> +<p> +If anybody was going in and out secretly this seemed to be the readiest +way, so Nick had resolved to watch the well that night. +</p> +<p> +A little house with sides of lattice-work had been built over it, and +vines covered it. +</p> +<p> +Nick stealthily crept into its shadow, and prepared for his vigil. But +it was not destined to be a long one. +</p> +<p> +He had not been there ten minutes before he saw a figure hastening +along one of the numerous paths which wound through the grounds. +</p> +<p> +This person evidently wished to avoid observation, and that was enough +for Nick. He immediately started in pursuit. +</p> +<p> +He trailed his man to the edge of the colonel's grounds. During this +pursuit the man kept in the shadow of some trees, and Nick had no +opportunity to see him clearly. +</p> +<p> +But as the man stepped out into the highway, a ray of moonlight fell +upon him, and Nick recognized him in an instant. It was Colonel +Richmond. +</p> +<p> +Why this man should be leaving his own house by stealth and under the +cover of darkness was an interesting problem. +</p> +<p> +Nick resolved to know all about it before the night was much older. So +he trailed along. +</p> +<p> +The colonel walked up the highway with rapid strides. +</p> +<p> +About half a mile from the house he found a carriage standing under the +shadow of a tree. +</p> +<p> +Evidently he expected to find it just there, for he immediately jumped +into it, and the driver whipped up his horse. +</p> +<p> +Nick was unable to see the driver, for the carriage was a covered buggy, +and had been standing with its back toward him. +</p> +<p> +The horse was evidently a good one, but Nick overhauled him, and got +hold of the carriage behind. +</p> +<p> +There was no chance for him to ride there, but his grip on the wagon +helped him along, and he ran about eight miles quite comfortably. +</p> +<p> +His presence so near was entirely unsuspected by the occupants of the +carriage. He was favorably situated for overhearing their conversation, +but unfortunately they did not say anything. +</p> +<p> +Nick discovered that the driver was a woman, but he could only guess at +her identity. +</p> +<p> +At last they turned suddenly out of the road, into the grounds of a +private house. +</p> +<p> +The sound of the wheels was evidently heard within, and the front door +was thrown open, letting out considerable light from the hall. +</p> +<p> +Nick could not go too near that light, so he let go, and crept into some +shrubbery. +</p> +<p> +The carriage drew up before the door, and the colonel and his companion +hurried into the house, leaving the horse tied. +</p> +<p> +The detective failed to obtain a good view of the woman or of the person +who had opened the door. The latter seemed to be a servant. +</p> +<p> +When the door had closed, Nick crept up. +</p> +<p> +He manoeuvred carefully, and discovered that there was somebody sitting +in the hall just inside the door. +</p> +<p> +Entrance by that means was out of the question. +</p> +<p> +However, he succeeded without much difficulty in entering the house from +the rear. +</p> +<p> +He found himself in the kitchen, from which he passed to a dining-room. +</p> +<p> +This apartment was almost totally dark. Nick felt his way to the side +opposite the kitchen, and came to a heavy pair of folding doors. +</p> +<p> +From the other side came a confused murmur of voices, as if many persons +were talking in hushed tones. +</p> +<p> +Presently they became quite still and then there arose the sound of +music. It was a slow and somber strain, as from an organ gently played. +</p> +<p> +Nick was crouching against the door, among the folds of a curtain which +could be drawn across. +</p> +<p> +Suddenly he heard a slight sound behind him. He turned noiselessly. +</p> +<p> +A white figure flitted across the room. +</p> +<p> +Nick was at one end of the folding doors, and the figure passed to the +other end and into the corner beyond. +</p> +<p> +There it suddenly vanished. +</p> +<p> +The light was so dim that Nick could not tell exactly what had happened. +</p> +<p> +It certainly seemed as if the figure had gone straight through the wall. +</p> +<p> +About a minute later another form appeared in the same way. It crossed +the room, and vanished. +</p> +<p> +"Good!" muttered Nick. "I'll back these ghosts against any that Colonel +Richmond can raise in his house." +</p> +<p> +Almost immediately there was the sound of a voice in the room beyond the +doors. +</p> +<p> +"Does any person present recognize a departed friend?" it said. +</p> +<p> +Then Colonel Richmond's voice arose, hoarse and trembling with emotion. +</p> +<p> +"Aunt Lavina," he said, "tell me what you wish me to do. I will obey you +absolutely." +</p> +<p> +"I thought so," chuckled the detective. "The colonel has come to attend +a spiritualistic seance." +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH16"><!-- CH16 --></a> +<h3> + CHAPTER VI. +</h3> + +<h3> +A ROUND-UP OF SPOOK-ARTISTS. +</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> +It began to look very much as if Horace Richmond's theory was correct. +Certainly the colonel had fallen again into the clutches of bogus +mediums. +</p> +<p> +It might be that the whole plot was directed to that end, and that the +transfer of the jewels to the Stevenses was only to be an incidental +result of the plot. +</p> +<p> +Yet so long as Miss Stevens' unusual conduct remained unexplained, it +would not do to go upon this theory. +</p> +<p> +"One of the principal things that Horace Richmond employed me to do," +said Nick to himself, "was to break up his uncle's belief in +spiritualism. I guess that this is a first-class chance to do it." +</p> +<p> +He softly crept to the corner where the gliding figures had disappeared. +</p> +<p> +There, as he expected, he found one of those movable panels which the +bogus mediums prepare so cleverly. +</p> +<p> +His experience of such affairs taught Nick exactly what he should find +in the other room. +</p> +<p> +There must be a little cabinet in the corner covering the other side of +the sliding panel. +</p> +<p> +The medium might be in it, or she might be sitting blindfold just by the +door. +</p> +<p> +But the cabinet was certainly not empty. Two figures had gone into it, +as Nick had observed. +</p> +<p> +One of these was doubtless playing the part of Aunt Lavina. +</p> +<p> +The other must be waiting to appear in some other role. +</p> +<p> +Nick listened. He could hear the colonel questioning the supposed +spirit. +</p> +<p> +The replies were put in that silly and mysterious language supposed to +be appropriate to visitors from the other world. +</p> +<p> +The meaning of them, however, was plain enough. Colonel Richmond was +commanded to restore the jewels to Millie Stevens. +</p> +<p> +This point was made so exceedingly clear, and his promise was demanded +in such stringent terms that Nick was no longer able to doubt that the +interests of the Stevenses were being very carefully attended to by +these "spook-compellers." +</p> +<p> +In view of the facts already known, it was hardly possible to reach any +other conclusion than that Millie Stevens had hired this medium to do +the whole job. +</p> +<p> +That it was being done "to the queen's taste," Nick was forced to admit. +</p> +<p> +Yet he couldn't help being sorry to believe that such a charming and +beautiful girl as Millie Stevens should be mixed up in such a dirty +business. +</p> +<p> +He waited till Colonel Richmond had completed his solemn protestations, +and then suddenly slid the panel and passed through. +</p> +<p> +There was another person in the cabinet, who was, of course, instantly +aware of Nick's entrance. +</p> +<p> +But the place was so dark that at first the bogus ghost did not know +that Nick was not one of the regular company of spirits. +</p> +<p> +He had a chance to get his bearings before the discovery was made. +</p> +<p> +The shade of Aunt Lavina was just retreating toward the cabinet making +that absurd series of nods and gestures which such spirits always use. +</p> +<p> +Nick could see this performance through an aperture in the side of the +cabinet. +</p> +<p> +He instantly leaped out, and grappled with the spook. +</p> +<p> +Then there was an uproar. The whole room was in indescribable confusion. +</p> +<p> +Somebody turned up the light. For an instant Nick, grappling with the +spirit, saw Colonel Richmond. +</p> +<p> +The colonel had not been given a private seance. Possibly he had not +desired it. He had come with a dozen other victims of the same delusion. +</p> +<p> +He had been given a seat a little in the rear. +</p> +<p> +Before him, as is usual, was a row of persons who were "in the game." +</p> +<p> +The space where the spirits appear is always encircled by such a line as +a guard against possible attempts at exposure. +</p> +<p> +Of course, everybody in the room was on his feet. +</p> +<p> +Some of the front-row people were rushing upon Nick. +</p> +<p> +Others had crowded around Colonel Richmond so closely that Nick was +afraid he might not fully see the exposure of this fake. +</p> +<p> +The person whom Nick had seized was not a woman, as might have been +expected, but a man. He was of short stature, but surprising strength. +</p> +<p> +Even in the mighty arms of the detective, he managed to struggle +vigorously, and for a moment prevented Nick from tearing away the white +and ghostly wrappings. +</p> +<p> +But a complete expose could not have been long delayed. In spite of the +odds against him, Nick was certain to come out ahead. +</p> +<p> +He called out to Colonel Richmond: +</p> +<p> +"Look! Look at this! It's a man!" +</p> +<p> +Just at that instant a tall man who had been standing beside the female +"medium," and acting as master of ceremonies, seized an ornament from +the mantelpiece, and hurled it not at Nick, as the detective expected, +but at the lamp in the corner of the room. +</p> +<p> +This lamp had been turned up by one of the timid believers as soon as +the row began. +</p> +<p> +The missile which the spiritualistic "bouncer" hurled was well directed. +It smashed the lamp to fragments, and the room for a minute was dark. +</p> +<p> +Then another light flashed up. The broken lamp had set fire to the +window curtains. +</p> +<p> +The scene hadn't been what one would call peaceful before, but it had +been nothing at all to what it became when the fire leaped up. +</p> +<p> +Pandemonium broke loose. Doors and windows were burst out, and everybody +rushed toward the outer air. +</p> +<p> +Among the last to emerge was Nick. +</p> +<p> +He held the "bouncer" in one hand and the ghost of Aunt Lavina in the +other. +</p> +<p> +Both of them were very badly used up. When the detective dropped them on +the lawn they made no attempt to rise. +</p> +<p> +Some of the medium's stool-pigeons were beginning to get their wits +together, and were making preparations for putting out the fire. +</p> +<p> +Nick yelled to them, and pointed to a line of garden hose on the lawn. +</p> +<p> +There was a head of water in this pipe, and with the aid of its stream +the fire was extinguished. +</p> +<p> +The detective did not assist. He turned his attention to discovering +what had become of Colonel Richmond. +</p> +<p> +The colonel had disappeared. The carriage in which he had come was gone. +</p> +<p> +Doubtless the person who had driven him over had hustled him into the +carriage at the earliest possible moment. +</p> +<p> +"A shrewd move," muttered Nick, "and a bad one for me. However, I've got +this gang cornered, and if they've been doing the job at the colonel's +house, their operations are over." +</p> +<p> +There was an excited group of people by the main door of the house. In +the midst of them stood the medium, a fat and coarse woman, whom Nick +had seen before in the same crooked business. +</p> +<p> +Those around her were the real believers in spiritualism, who had come +to the show. +</p> +<p> +They had witnessed the exposure, and were ready to mob the medium. +</p> +<p> +Nick took his two prisoners to this group. He tied them securely, and +then turned to one of the dupes: +</p> +<p> +"Why don't you have these people arrested?" he whispered. "Charge them +with taking money under false pretenses." +</p> +<p> +"Good!" said the man. "There's a warrant for some of them already. I'll +get the constable, who lives over across the fields, and he'll pull 'em +all in." +</p> +<p> +A half-hour later the whole gang was under arrest and on the way to the +nearest lock-up. +</p> +<p> +The detective felt that his evening's work was not in vain. Whatever +might be the facts about the connection of this gang with the affair at +Colonel Richmond's, it was a good thing to get them all out of the way. +</p> +<p> +The colonel's presence among them proved that they were the +spiritualistic crowd which was after him. Their removal would simplify +matters. +</p> +<p> +Moreover, the colonel's presence, and his questioning of the spook, +showed that any theory connecting him with the disappearance of the +jewels was wrong. +</p> +<p> +It was evident that he had asked the questions in all sincerity, +believing that he was really in the presence of his aunt's spirit. +</p> +<p> +He could hardly be crazy enough to do that, supposing that his lunacy +had led him to abstract the jewels. +</p> +<p> +Having witnessed the arrest of the gang, Nick procured a horse and drove +rapidly toward Colonel Richmond's house. He arrived there about +half-past eleven o'clock. +</p> +<p> +There was a light in the parlor, and through the open window Nick beheld +an unusual scene. +</p> +<p> +The colonel, Mrs. Pond and Horace were present. Mr. Pond was not in the +house. He had returned to New York. +</p> +<p> +Besides the persons named, there were in the parlor nearly all the +servants connected in any way with the establishment. +</p> +<p> +It looked as if the colonel was holding court. +</p> +<p> +One of the servants seemed to be giving testimony. The expressions on +the faces of the others showed deep interest and superstitious terror. +</p> +<p> +Nick had no doubt about what was going on. The colonel was getting to +the bottom of the ghost stories. There must have been more +manifestations that night. +</p> +<p> +The detective was in doubt whether to enter the house in his own +character. Finally he decided not to do so. +</p> +<p> +He disguised himself in the character of John Gilder, the coachman, who +was not present in the parlor. +</p> +<p> +It seemed best to gain access to the room from an entrance toward the +old part of the house instead of from the main hall. +</p> +<p> +So Nick passed around the corner of the house. As he did so he was aware +of a dark figure crouching in the shadow. +</p> +<p> +He instantly grappled with it, and the figure was not less prompt in +grappling with him. +</p> +<p> +The struggle was very brief. It ended with Nick on top, and no harm +done. +</p> +<p> +The detective instantly leaped to his feet again. +</p> +<p> +"Patsy!" he exclaimed. "What brings you here?" +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH17"><!-- CH17 --></a> +<h3> + CHAPTER VII. +</h3> + +<h3> +A REALLY COMPETENT GHOST. +</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> +Patsy told his story in a few words. +</p> +<p> +He had watched the Stevens house all day without discovering anything. +</p> +<p> +As evening descended, however, his patience had been rewarded. +</p> +<p> +"She came out," said Patsy, "and quietly scooted off across the fields." +</p> +<p> +"Millie Stevens?" +</p> +<p> +"Yes." +</p> +<p> +"What did she do?" +</p> +<p> +"She made for that big oak tree which stands in the middle of the field +on the right of the road as you go from the station. +</p> +<p> +"I had to trail carefully, for it was not very dark and there was no +cover. So I couldn't get very near her. +</p> +<p> +"Under that tree a man was waiting. He had a saddle-horse with him. The +man and the girl exchanged a few words. +</p> +<p> +"Of course, I couldn't hear what they said. Neither could I get a line +on the man. +</p> +<p> +"I resolved to get nearer, though it was taking big risks. It couldn't +be done. They saw me. +</p> +<p> +"In a flash the man leaped into his saddle and pulled the girl up in +front of him in regular old-fashioned style. +</p> +<p> +"They were off in no time. It was a fine horse they rode. +</p> +<p> +"I wasn't in it at any stage of the game. I ran myself out at the end of +about a mile. +</p> +<p> +"They had disappeared in the darkness, but they were taking the road +toward this place, and on a venture I came over. I hoped to connect with +you, and get instructions." +</p> +<p> +"That was right. Come with me." +</p> +<p> +"What's up?" +</p> +<p> +"A ghost hunt, unless I'm very much mistaken. I guess we can join it +without any trouble." +</p> +<p> +They made their way into the old portion of the house. +</p> +<p> +In the hall from which the broad stone stairs led up to the second floor +they paused a moment to listen. +</p> +<p> +Steps were approaching. Before they could get into a place of +concealment a door opened, and Colonel Richmond entered. +</p> +<p> +He carried a small lamp in his hand. Horace followed him. +</p> +<p> +"Gilder!" cried the colonel, seeing Nick disguised as the coachman. "Why +were you not present in the parlor?" +</p> +<p> +"I've just got back to the house, sir," rejoined the detective, +imitating Gilder's Yankee twang". +</p> +<p> +"Who's that with you?" +</p> +<p> +"My cousin, Frank Gilder." +</p> +<p> +"What's he doing here?" +</p> +<p> +"If you please, sir, I brought him over to spend the night with me. The +footman and I don't get along very well together, and I don't like to be +alone in a room in this house, sir, just now." +</p> +<p> +"So!" said the colonel. "I understand that you have seen strange things. +Very well; I am going to investigate this matter. I shall pass the +remainder of the night in the dining-hall above." +</p> +<p> +The colonel led the way up the stairs. The whole party followed him. +</p> +<p> +"May I ask where the other servants are, sir?" said Nick. +</p> +<p> +"They will pass the night in the new part of the house," returned +Horace Richmond, with a grim smile. "You can do so if you like." +</p> +<p> +"No, sir," said Nick; "I think I'd rather sleep in my own room so long +as my cousin is with me." +</p> +<p> +At the head of the stairs they turned at once toward the old +dining-hall. +</p> +<p> +It was proper for Nick to follow, for the nearest way to Gilder's room +led in that direction. +</p> +<p> +It was exactly midnight when they opened the door of the old +dining-hall. A cool breath of air swept out upon them, for the thick +stone walls of this part of the house resisted the hot weather, and this +room had been kept closed. +</p> +<p> +The colonel shivered slightly in the draught. +</p> +<p> +He paused on the threshold for a moment, and looked into the room. It +was lighted—except for the feeble ray from the lamp—only by the faint +moonlight which found its way in through the hall and narrow windows, +partly overgrown with clinging vines. +</p> +<p> +The whole party entered. The colonel set his lamp upon the sideboard. +</p> +<p> +He turned to speak to the supposed Gilder, probably with the intention +of sending him at once to his room. +</p> +<p> +But at that moment the lamp suddenly went out. +</p> +<p> +With a low cry the colonel sprang toward it. The lamp was not there. +</p> +<p> +It had been removed. The room was almost totally dark. +</p> +<p> +The colonel lit a match. There was no sign of the lamp. It had utterly +vanished. +</p> +<p> +As the burned match fell to the floor a beam of light suddenly shot +across the gloom. +</p> +<p> +And there, before the old-fashioned fire-place, stood a figure +corresponding in every particular to Lavina Richmond as she appeared in +a portrait painted just previous to her death, and hanging at that +moment in the colonel's room. +</p> +<p> +There was no sound in the room except the labored breathing of the +excited old man, whose faith was now fully justified to his mind. +</p> +<p> +He was gazing straight at this apparition. +</p> +<p> +It was veiled, and the heavy folds of a black silk dress in the style of +many years ago hung loosely about the form. +</p> +<p> +Immediately a white hand appeared. The veil was lifted, disclosing the +thin and pale face of a woman of advanced age and feeble health. The +likeness of Lavina Richmond was perfect. +</p> +<p> +The colonel tried to speak, but his voice stuck in his throat. +</p> +<p> +Slowly the veil descended. Nick made a sign to Patsy, who had pressed up +a little in advance. +</p> +<p> +He had kept an eye over his shoulder, however, to be sure of getting any +orders from his chief. +</p> +<p> +There was light enough to see the signal. Patsy sprang forward toward +the specter. +</p> +<p> +The distance separating them was not more than twenty feet. The athletic +youth would have covered it in a twinkling. +</p> +<p> +But suddenly he fell to the floor with a smothered groan. +</p> +<p> +"I'm hit hard," he cried; and, raising himself upon one knee, with his +left hand pressed to his temple, he drew a revolver with the other. +</p> +<p> +"Don't shoot!" exclaimed Nick. "It's Millie Stevens!" +</p> +<p> +The detective made a bound toward the figure. +</p> +<p> +The light which had played full upon it wavered, as if about to vanish. +</p> +<p> +Yet there was time. Nick felt sure of his prize, as he sprang out from +his place beside the colonel. +</p> +<p> +And the next thing Nick knew it was six o'clock of the following +morning, and he was lying in a bed, looking up into Patsy's face. +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH18"><!-- CH18 --></a> +<h3> + CHAPTER VIII. +</h3> + +<h3> +PATSY'S STORY AND THE TEST PROPOSED. +</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> +"Are you much hurt?" asked Patsy, anxiously. +</p> +<p> +Nick took in the whole scene before he replied. +</p> +<p> +Beside the bed were Colonel Richmond, Horace and a man whom Nick rightly +judged to be a doctor. +</p> +<p> +"No," said Nick, "I'm not much hurt, except in my feelings. What +happened, Patsy?" +</p> +<p> +"The ghost got away," responded the young man, in a tone of disgust. +</p> +<p> +"I wouldn't talk very much," said Colonel Richmond. "The doctor says +that you have been subjected to a severe nervous shock, and—" +</p> +<p> +"My grandmother's ducks!" exclaimed Nick. "Nervous shock! Well, this +makes me worse. Why, man, I've been sand-bagged." +</p> +<p> +The colonel shook his head. +</p> +<p> +"The power of the unseen forces," he began; but Nick interrupted him. +</p> +<p> +"Look here, Colonel Richmond!" he said, "if you had the sensation behind +your ear that I've got, you wouldn't talk about mysterious powers of +darkness. I know what's the matter with me, and what I want is a chance +to get square." +</p> +<p> +"There is no evidence of any injury," said the physician. +</p> +<p> +"There never is in a case of this kind," rejoined Nick. "A sand-bag +doesn't leave any mark. That's why it is so popular." +</p> +<p> +"It is impossible to convince a stubborn man," said the colonel. "I +should think that this experience would have been enough." +</p> +<p> +"Quite enough, thank you," responded Nick, sitting up. "And so, if you +gentlemen who kindly put me to bed will gracefully withdraw I will get +into my clothes, and prove to you that I have had enough, and that it is +somebody else's turn now." +</p> +<p> +He made them leave him with Patsy. Then he began to dress. +</p> +<p> +"Now tell me your story," he said. +</p> +<p> +"When I jumped for that spook," Patsy began, "I got the fearfulest thump +on my crust that I've had since that marline-spike fell off the main +yard on to me in the little affair of the Five Kernels of Corn. +</p> +<p> +"It couldn't have been a marker to what you got afterward, though. I +went down, but not out. +</p> +<p> +"You saw me draw my gun. Well, when you yelled 'Don't fire!' I held off, +but when I saw you go out I decided that all orders of that kind were +canceled. +</p> +<p> +"I blazed away; and, Nick, I put five bullets through that figure just +as sure as you're an inch high." +</p> +<p> +"What happened then?" +</p> +<p> +"The light went out. I got to your side, and flashed your lantern in +half a second. +</p> +<p> +"The figure had vanished. The colonel's lamp stood on the sideboard just +where he had put it. +</p> +<p> +"We had a fair light very soon. I examined you first, and, upon my word, +I thought that you were done for. +</p> +<p> +"We got you up to this room, and Horace Richmond rode off for the +doctor. +</p> +<p> +"From what he said about a nervous shock you can judge how much he +knows. +</p> +<p> +"His help wasn't worth anything. I will back myself against him any day. +</p> +<p> +"I made sure that you were only stunned, and would come to all right. +Then I hurried down to that room and began my search. +</p> +<p> +"Well, you know that room. It is simply built up of traps and panels. A +man can go through the floor or the walls almost anywhere. +</p> +<p> +"My job would have been a good deal easier if there'd been less of that +secret machinery. +</p> +<p> +"When there are five hundred ways in which a thing could have been done, +it's pretty hard to say which one is right. +</p> +<p> +"There's a trap pretty nearly in the spot where the figure stood. +Probably she came up and went down through that. +</p> +<p> +"But how about my shooting? There's the point. +</p> +<p> +"I took a direct line from the place where I was to the trap. +</p> +<p> +"Following that line, I came to the screen in front of the fire-place. +</p> +<p> +"In that screen, and about four and a half feet from the floor, were +three bullets from my pistol. The other two are not there. +</p> +<p> +"Then, as I figure it out, that ghost has carried them away. +</p> +<p> +"My shooting was pretty good, considering the light. The three bullets +were in the bigness of a watch-crystal. +</p> +<p> +"I feel sure that the other two were aimed just as well. If that's true, +then one of the conspirators has some mighty serious wounds. Three went +through her, and she stopped two. +</p> +<p> +"But there isn't a drop of blood to be found. The passage under the trap +I have explored thoroughly. +</p> +<p> +"I can't find a human being or a trace of blood or any of the machinery +which they must have used for the light or the ghost. +</p> +<p> +"Of course, the failure to find traces of the conspirators is not +strange. These passages are so long, and so intricate, and so mighty +well gotten up that I haven't had time to go through them all. +</p> +<p> +"But the wounded person is another matter. Where she is hidden is more +than I can imagine." +</p> +<p> +"I hope it wasn't Miss Stevens," said Nick. +</p> +<p> +"You called her name." +</p> +<p> +"Yes; I thought the chances were that it was she, but, of course, I +couldn't recognize her in that rig for certain." +</p> +<p> +"Well, if it was she, of course, we shall find it out. It's impossible +for her to carry those two bullets around with her and not show it." +</p> +<p> +Nick was dressed by this time. They went out into the hall of the new +part. Nick had been taken to a room there, instead of being carried to +that which had been assigned to him in the old part of the house. +</p> +<p> +From below came the sound of voices. The colonel, the doctor and Mrs. +Pond were talking of the case. +</p> +<p> +Patsy stopped before a closed door in the upper hall. +</p> +<p> +A sign from Patsy arrested Nick's attention. He communicated to Nick in +their silent language: +</p> +<p> +"That's Horace's room, isn't it? Whom is he talking with?" +</p> +<p> +Nick listened. Then he laughed. +</p> +<p> +"You've fooled yourself there, Patsy," he said. "He's talking to a +parrot. It's one of his pets. He has a good many." +</p> +<p> +Patsy looked a little sheepish. +</p> +<p> +"You can't blame me, Nick," he said. "We must suspect everybody in such +business as this. Isn't that right?" +</p> +<p> +"Quite right," responded the detective. +</p> +<p> +They went at once to the old dining-hall. Colonel Richmond presently +joined them there. +</p> +<p> +To him Nick frankly explained all the events of the previous night, +including the disguise which he had adopted in order not to appear in +the ghost hunt in his own person. +</p> +<p> +In return the colonel confessed the facts of his visit to the medium. +He said that he had done it secretly, because Horace and his daughter so +strongly objected to his seeing those who held communion with the other +world. +</p> +<p> +As to the woman who had met the colonel, he said that he did not know +her name. She was veiled all the time, and did not speak to him. +</p> +<p> +After the disturbance—he was careful not to call it an expose—this +woman had led him to the carriage, and they had hastened away. +</p> +<p> +Such was the strength of his delusion that he still believed that the +manifestations he had seen at that house were genuine. He would not +accept Nick's version of the affair. +</p> +<p> +"I have made up my mind what to do," he said. "My decision is +unalterable. I shall buy the jewels and give them to Millie Stevens. I +believe that in so doing I shall carry out my aunt's wishes." +</p> +<p> +It was a queer case for Nick. He had followed up many crimes, and had +recovered a hundred fortunes in stolen property, but this was the first +time that he had seen a robbery going on before his eyes and been unable +to prevent it. +</p> +<p> +His pride was aroused. There was no use in combating the colonel's +delusion. Of that he felt sure. +</p> +<p> +The man must be humored in order to secure delay. +</p> +<p> +"Colonel Richmond," said Nick, "I wish to suggest to you a final test in +this matter. It will settle all doubt and satisfy me thoroughly. +</p> +<p> +"If you can convert me to your views, I should think the achievement +might be worth the trouble." +</p> +<p> +"It would, indeed," cried the colonel, with sparkling eyes. +</p> +<p> +Nick, with his usual tact, had hit upon exactly the right course. +</p> +<p> +"You believe, of course," he said, "that the spirits of the dead cannot +be stopped by bolts and bars." +</p> +<p> +The colonel smiled, and nodded assent. +</p> +<p> +"The most of the jewels in dispute are, I believe, in the vaults of a +safe deposit company," Nick continued. "Very well; my test is this: Name +some article of the collection which you are sure is there, and see +whether your aunt will transfer it to Miss Stevens' possession. +</p> +<p> +"It should be as easy for a ghost to take anything from the vaults of a +safe deposit company as from that dressing-table upstairs. Will you +consent to the test?" +</p> +<p> +The colonel stood irresolute. +</p> +<p> +"Consent," said a voice, as of a woman standing beside them. +</p> +<p> +Yet the three men were the only human beings in that room. +</p> +<p> +"The voice came from that screen!" cried Patsy, and he leaped toward the +old fire-place. +</p> +<p> +He tore away the screen. No one was there. +</p> +<p> +"It was my aunt's voice," said the colonel, calmly. "I consent." +</p> +<p> +"Consent to what?" asked Horace Richmond, entering the room at that +moment. +</p> +<p> +The test was explained to him. +</p> +<p> +"Good!" he whispered to Nick. "A fine idea." +</p> +<p> +"Name a piece of jewelry," said the detective to the colonel. +</p> +<p> +"Among all her wonderful collection," replied Colonel Richmond, speaking +slowly, "there was no piece of which she was more proud than the gold +clasp, studded with diamonds, which you well remember, Horace." +</p> +<p> +"I do," responded Horace. "There is an old tradition about it. A remote +ancestor of ours is said to have brought it from the Holy Land at the +time of the third crusade." +</p> +<p> +"An ancient family," said Nick. "You have a right to be proud of your +ancestry. I accept the article named as the one upon which the test +shall be made, provided that you are sure that it is now in the vault." +</p> +<p> +"Perfectly certain," responded the colonel. "I put it there with my own +hands. Nobody else was present, except an officer of the company and my +daughter. It is utterly impossible that the jewel can have been +removed." +</p> +<p> +"I will take that for granted," said Nick. "The conditions of the test +are that this piece shall not be found in the vault when we visit it +this afternoon, and that it shall be afterward discovered in the +possession of Millie Stevens." +</p> +<p> +"Granted," said the colonel; and then in a clear voice, as if he wanted +to be sure that there was no misunderstanding in spirit land, he +announced the conditions of the test. +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH19"><!-- CH19 --></a> +<h3> + CHAPTER IX. +</h3> + +<h3> +THE DIAMOND CLASP. +</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> +They then left the room. Nick dispatched Patsy secretly to the Stevens +house. +</p> +<p> +Shortly before noon, Colonel Richmond, Horace, and Nick took a train for +the city. +</p> +<p> +At two o'clock they entered the vault of the safe deposit company. +</p> +<p> +It is a long room below the level of the street. +</p> +<p> +The walls are lined with metal drawers, fastened by locks of the most +approved pattern. +</p> +<p> +The drawers near the floor are the largest. They are, perhaps, a foot +square, as seen when closed. Near the top of the room they are much +smaller. +</p> +<p> +A movable metal step-ladder stands ready for the convenience of those +who wish to reach the boxes on the upper tiers. +</p> +<p> +The space in the middle of the room is railed off, and there sits a +guard day and night. +</p> +<p> +"This is ours," said the colonel, advancing toward one of the larger +drawers. "I placed the diamond clasp on the very top of the pile of +jewels within. It was in a case of its own." +</p> +<p> +Nick turned to speak to the officer in charge. +</p> +<p> +He questioned him regarding the possibility of any person taking +anything from the boxes. He asked especially about the custody of Mrs. +Pond's jewels. +</p> +<p> +"Colonel Richmond and Mrs. Pond have the two keys necessary for opening +the drawer," said the official. +</p> +<p> +"Yes," said Colonel Richmond, speaking over his shoulder to Nick. "I +told you all about that, and I explained how the second key happened to +be in my possession instead of Mrs. Pond's." +</p> +<p> +"True," said Nick, apologetically, "that was not what I was asking +about." +</p> +<p> +At that moment he heard the click of the drawer as it was pulled open. +</p> +<p> +"Here, wait for me!" he cried. "I should see everything." +</p> +<p> +As he stepped forward Horace Richmond was just closing the little case +which had held the diamond clasp. The colonel was turning away. +</p> +<p> +"I am deeply disappointed," he said. "The clasp is there." +</p> +<p> +As the colonel walked away with bowed head, Nick turned to Horace. +</p> +<p> +The young man's face was a study. He looked as if he had seen a +grave-yard full of ghosts. +</p> +<p> +"Nick Carter," he whispered, "this is dreadful." +</p> +<p> +"What?" +</p> +<p> +"Hush! I had to fool him. I positively had to or he would have gone +crazy." +</p> +<p> +He poured the words into Nick's ear in an excited whisper. +</p> +<p> +"I made him think the clasp was in the box, but it isn't. I substituted +another piece. The clasp is gone. What shall we do?" +</p> +<p> +He showed Nick the box. It contained nothing. Horace had removed the +piece which he had used in the deception. +</p> +<p> +"Good Heavens!" cried Horace. "He heard me." +</p> +<p> +He pointed to the colonel, who stood like one who has been struck upon +the head. +</p> +<p> +"Gone!" he cried, rushing toward them. "You deceived me!" +</p> +<p> +Well, they searched the drawer, and the clasp certainly was not there. +</p> +<p> +Horace explained how he had deceived the colonel by quickly putting +another piece of jewelry into the little case when he found it empty. +</p> +<p> +"I am clever at sleight-of-hand," said he, "or I could never have worked +it. I just flashed it before your eyes, uncle, and made you think that +you saw the clasp. Forgive me; I thought it was the best." +</p> +<p> +"I will forgive you, Horace," said Colonel Richmond, gently; "but now +you must believe. And you, too, Mr. Carter. Here is proof positive." +</p> +<p> +They locked the drawer and left the vault. +</p> +<p> +In the ante-chamber Nick turned to Horace. +</p> +<p> +"I suppose you'll want to knock my head off when I tell you what I now +propose to do," said the detective. "But I think it ought to be done." +</p> +<p> +"What is it?" asked Horace. +</p> +<p> +"I think you ought to be searched." +</p> +<p> +"Exactly my own idea," said Horace. "It is only fair to you. Proceed." +</p> +<p> +Nick searched him. The diamond clasp was not found. Horace certainly did +not have it. +</p> +<p> +"I hope you're satisfied," he said to Nick. "You know perfectly well +that I have had no opportunity to dispose of it. There wasn't much +chance in that vault." +</p> +<p> +Nick laughed. +</p> +<p> +"I should say not," he replied. "I'm afraid we shall have to fall back +upon the theory of the colonel." +</p> +<p> +"No theory," cried he; "but the living truth, and now proven before you +both. But let me ask, Mr. Carter, why you suspected my nephew of taking +the clasp." +</p> +<p> +"I didn't," replied Nick promptly. "I searched him in order to remove +every possibility." +</p> +<p> +"Surely he would have no motive for such an action." +</p> +<p> +"None that I can see," said Nick, with perfect sincerity. +</p> +<p> +They proceeded at once to Mrs. Stevens' house. +</p> +<p> +It was about seven o'clock when they arrived. +</p> +<p> +They drove up from the station, and on the way picked up Patsy. +</p> +<p> +During the remainder of the drive, he was busy communicating with Nick +in their sign language. +</p> +<p> +"Miss Stevens is in her room," said Patsy. "She has had a doctor with +her almost all the time. He refuses to say anything. I believe, upon my +soul, that I shot her last night." +</p> +<p> +Annie O'Neil, the servant, answered the bell. +</p> +<p> +She ushered them into the parlor, and said that Mrs. Stevens was in the +room of her daughter who was quite ill. +</p> +<p> +Annie went upstairs to summon her mistress. +</p> +<p> +A minute later the party below heard a scream. +</p> +<p> +Then Mrs. Stevens appeared. She was very pale. +</p> +<p> +In her hand she held a small object wrapped in paper. +</p> +<p> +"I have just found this upon my daughter's pillow," she said. "I have +not removed the paper, but I know instinctively what is within. It is +another jewel." +</p> +<p> +"I am equally sure of it," cried the colonel. "Open the package, Mrs. +Stevens." +</p> +<p> +"My hand trembles so," the lady began. +</p> +<p> +"Don't open it now," said Nick, "wait a moment. I have a suggestion to +make. And, at any rate, we all know what is within. +</p> +<p> +"Colonel Richmond. I suppose it is useless to plead with you further?" +</p> +<p> +"Quite useless," said the colonel. "Millie shall have all the jewels. I +am determined to buy them of my daughter, and make the transfer at +once." +</p> +<p> +"Well, I am beaten," said the detective. "The case has gone against me. +But I will still try to help you. I wish to call your attention to the +legal aspects of this case. +</p> +<p> +"They may surprise you, but, before, going further, I think you should +know them. You will not accept my authority, if I state the facts as +they are. +</p> +<p> +"Mrs. Stevens, is it not true that you have one of the judges of the +Supreme Court as your neighbor?" +</p> +<p> +"Yes; Judge Lorrimer is our next neighbor on the south." +</p> +<p> +"Will you kindly send your servant to his house, or perhaps—" +</p> +<p> +He glanced at Horace. +</p> +<p> +"All right, I'll go," said Horace. "I know the judge. But I don't see +what you are driving at, Mr. Carter." +</p> +<p> +"I want to persuade Colonel Richmond to get the law in the case before +he goes further. He should consult an authority about this transfer +before he makes any more promises which may or may not be legally good." +</p> +<p> +"I think it a good idea," said Colonel Richmond. "Horace, go over to the +judge's house." +</p> +<p> +During the interval while he was gone very little was done. Mrs. Stevens +sat holding the package, and apparently deeply moved. +</p> +<p> +She several times declared to Colonel Richmond that she did not wish her +daughter to get the jewels in such a way, and that she was still +convinced that human beings had planned and executed the whole strange +series of robberies and surprises. +</p> +<p> +"If it should prove," said Nick, "that this is a conspiracy, do you wish +any arrests?" +</p> +<p> +He turned toward the colonel as he spoke. +</p> +<p> +"If it does," said the colonel, with a smile, "you can arrest me. It +won't." +</p> +<p> +"But I am serious." +</p> +<p> +"So am I. Of course, if there had been a crime I would not shield the +guilty parties, whoever they might be." +</p> +<p> +At that moment Horace returned with Judge Lorrimer, whom he had met +walking just beyond Mrs. Stevens' grounds. +</p> +<p> +"I have tried to explain the case to him," said Horace; "but he says he +doesn't understand how any legal complications can arise." +</p> +<p> +"We will try to make that clear presently," said Nick. "Mrs. Stevens, +open that package. No; wait a moment. You are agitated. You should have +a glass of water. Permit me to ring." +</p> +<p> +He put his hand upon the bell-cord. +</p> +<p> +As he did so, Mrs. Stevens opened the package. The article within rolled +out upon her lap. +</p> +<p> +It was not the diamond clasp, but an ordinary pocket-knife of large +size. +</p> +<p> +"Why, Nick, it's yours," cried Patsy. +</p> +<p> +"So it is," responded the detective. "But this is a diamond clasp." +</p> +<p> +He drew the relic of the third crusade from his pocket as he spoke, and +handed it to the colonel. +</p> +<p> +At that moment Annie O'Neil appeared at the door in answer to the bell. +</p> +<p> +"And now," said Nick, while the others stared in wonder. "We will +consider the legal points involved. +</p> +<p> +"Judge Lorrimer, here are the necessary blank forms. Please grant me +warrants for the arrest of Horace Richmond and Annie O'Neil for criminal +conspiracy." +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH20"><!-- CH20 --></a> +<h3> + CHAPTER X. +</h3> + +<h3> +SOME CLEVER TRICKS EXPLAINED. +</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> +No sooner had Nick uttered these words than a loud cry rang through the +house. +</p> +<p> +Instantly Millie Stevens appeared upon the threshold of the parlor. +</p> +<p> +"Horace!" she cried. "Tell me it is not true. You have not done this." +</p> +<p> +"Certainly not," he exclaimed. "It is an absurd slander. Carter, you'll +be sorry for this." +</p> +<p> +The girl looked straight into Horace's face for an instant. +</p> +<p> +Then she uttered a moan. +</p> +<p> +"He is guilty!" she cried; "I can read it in his eyes. And I loved him +so." +</p> +<p> +She sank upon the floor at her mother's feet. +</p> +<p> +"Oh, mother," she said, "this is a just punishment for me. You told me I +must give him up. You read his heart. +</p> +<p> +"But I secretly accepted his love. I received letters in which he begged +me to keep our love a secret, and in which I should have read a +confession of guilt. +</p> +<p> +"And all the time he loved me only because he thought that I should have +a fortune in gold and diamonds." +</p> +<p> +"You have stated the case exactly," said Nick. "When he thought you +would inherit all those jewels, he made love to you. Heaven knows that +your own attractions should have been enough, but they were not for him. +</p> +<p> +"When the jewels went elsewhere, he was probably on the point of giving +you up. I judge that from certain letters of yours in that telegraph +cipher which I found in his room. +</p> +<p> +"Then he wormed his plan for making you rich. He managed the robberies +at the house with the aid of John Gilder and one or two of that +spiritualistic gang whom he smuggled into the house. +</p> +<p> +"He did everything to increase his uncle's delusion. It was he who put +Colonel Richmond again in the hands of that medium." +</p> +<p> +"I supposed that that affair was all over," said Mrs. Stevens; "both the +colonel and I had disapproved of it." +</p> +<p> +"Annie O'Neil," said Nick, turning to the servant, "a full confession +from you is what we now require. It may save you from prison. +</p> +<p> +"We know that you managed the affair from this end. It was you who put +the jewels where they were found, after they had been given you by +Horace. It was you—catch her!" +</p> +<p> +This last exclamation was addressed to Patsy. The girl was wavering as +if she would fall. +</p> +<p> +Before Patsy could reach her she sank sobbing to the floor. She +proceeded to pour out an incoherent confession, in which little was +clear but the name of Horace Richmond, and the fact that the girl "loved +him still." +</p> +<p> +"I've been waiting for this," said Horace, with a brutal sneer. "Trust a +woman and lose the game. Well, it's all up. I loved you, Millie, but not +enough to marry you without the jewels. So I schemed for the transfer, +and I have failed." +</p> +<p> +"It was Annie O'Neil whom you followed last night, Patsy," said Nick. +"Who was the men?" +</p> +<p> +"John Gilder," gasped the terrified girl. +</p> +<p> +"And you played ghost?" +</p> +<p> +"Yes, sir." +</p> +<p> +"But how about my shooting?" asked Patsy. "How does Annie O'Neil happen +to be alive?" +</p> +<p> +"Read that from Chick," said Nick, producing a paper. "He's made some +discoveries in the colonel's house to-day while we were all away. +</p> +<p> +"He's found the ghost. It seems that this girl was inside of a hollow +dummy. +</p> +<p> +"She stood over a trap door. Just as soon as she had shown her face, she +dropped the veil, and went through the trap." +</p> +<p> +"The dummy still continued to stand there, and you shot at it. Two of +your bullets flattened on its steel braces. The rest went through. +</p> +<p> +"John Gilder flashed the light. When he turned it off, the dummy was +hauled down through the trap, and hidden in a place that neither you nor +I found, Patsy." +</p> +<p> +Colonel Richmond seemed to be in a trance. +</p> +<p> +"But the mysterious force," he said, at last. "The injury to yourself +and your assistant. How do you explain that?" +</p> +<p> +"It was done by John Gilder swinging a sand-bag on a string at the end +of a pole which he poked through one of those panels. +</p> +<p> +"It couldn't be seen in that dim light, and it made a fearful weapon. +It's a wonder that he didn't knock our heads off." +</p> +<p> +"I thought that I heard something whiz," muttered Patsy. +</p> +<p> +"And yet I heard her voice this morning," said the colonel. "She said +'consent.'" +</p> +<p> +"No, she didn't; I said it," rejoined Nick. "I'm something of a +ventriloquist." +</p> +<p> +"How was the affair managed at the safe deposit vault?" asked the +colonel, after a pause. +</p> +<p> +"Why, Horace took the clasp out of the box and put it into your pocket. +You really saw it, only he made you think afterward that you didn't. +</p> +<p> +"After I had searched him he picked your pocket and got the clasp. Then +he wrapped it in paper. +</p> +<p> +"I picked his pocket to make matters even, and substituted my knife +similarly wrapped up. +</p> +<p> +"When we got to this house he gave the knife to Annie O'Neil, who put it +on Miss Stevens' pillow when she went upstairs to call Mrs. Stevens." +</p> +<p> +"You have not explained the robberies at my house," said Colonel +Richmond. +</p> +<p> +"I'll do that over there. Is the rest of it clear? Has anybody a +question to ask?" +</p> +<p> +Nobody spoke. +</p> +<p> +"Annie O'Neil," said Nick, "I'll leave here in Patsy's charge. Horace +Richmond, come with us." +</p> +<p> +Horace looked ugly for a moment, and then he calmed down and sullenly +complied with Nick's order. +</p> +<p> +Judge Lorrimer begged to be of the party in order to see the explanation +of the mysterious robberies of which he had heard. +</p> +<p> +Two hours later they all stood in Mrs. Pond's room. +</p> +<p> +"The essential part of this matter," said Nick, "was this door which +appeared to open and close of itself. +</p> +<p> +"I saw that at a glance, and made a secret investigation. It is done by +electricity. +</p> +<p> +"There's a magnet in the casing which is powerful enough to swing the +door to, after which the same magnet pushes this little bolt—which +looks like an ordinary screw—into position, and that holds the door, +but not very steadily. +</p> +<p> +"You may say that this should have given me the criminal at once, but it +didn't. +</p> +<p> +"You see, this electro-magnet works whenever a current is turned into +the wires. Horace was clever enough to have the wires lead all over the +house. +</p> +<p> +"A connection with the electric light wires, furnishing the current, can +be made in almost every room in the house. +</p> +<p> +"Of course, I suspected Horace at once, because his room was directly +overhead. In fact, the two are connected, as you see, by a ventilator in +the form of a pipe with a grated opening in each room. +</p> +<p> +"The grating here, you see, is open." +</p> +<p> +"But, bless me," exclaimed Judge Lorrimer, "no thief could come through +such a place. Why, it isn't six inches square." +</p> +<p> +"Step in here a minute and see," said Nick, and then he called out: +</p> +<p> +"All ready, Chick!" +</p> +<p> +The whole party had by this time gone into Mrs. Pond's sitting-room. +</p> +<p> +Nick said hush, and pointed to the ventilator. Most of the party could +see it through the door. +</p> +<p> +Instantly there appeared a mass of green feathers, and then Horace +Richmond's parrot fluttered noiselessly down into the room. +</p> +<p> +For a minute or two it ran around the floor. Then it flew up on to the +dressing-table, seized a small gold bar pin in its beak, and flew back +into the ventilator pipe. +</p> +<p> +"A nice trick," said the detective. "I believe it took you some time to +teach the bird that." +</p> +<p> +"About a year," growled Horace. "The bird was well trained before." +</p> +<p> +"Is it all clear?" said Nick. +</p> +<p> +"Perfectly," said the colonel. "But how did you get at it?" +</p> +<p> +"Simply enough. There was only one way into this room when those +robberies were committed, and the parrot was the only living thing in +the house that was small enough to go through that pipe and intelligent +enough to do the trick. +</p> +<p> +"You see, Horace trained the bird to pick up bright objects, and +especially articles of the color of gold, and to go up and down that +pipe. +</p> +<p> +"Then he schemed to have your daughter come here. The rest was easy. He +waited till she was in the farther room, and then closed the door +between by the electrical device. +</p> +<p> +"Immediately he sent down the parrot. The bird was so well trained that +he required only a minute or two to secure something. +</p> +<p> +"Of course, it was not always something of value. There were probably a +dozen failures where the bird brought back nothing or some useless +object that glittered. +</p> +<p> +"I suspected the bird, and so put Chick on that lay. As you see, he has +got the creature to work very well. +</p> +<p> +"Now, colonel, what more can I do for you? What shall be done with the +prisoners?" +</p> +<p> +"Nothing; I will not prosecute." +</p> +<p> +"I guess we can hush it up, if you say so," responded Nick. "By the way, +there's one thing that I want to explain. I mean the strange appearance +of that diamond pin in the box on the occasion of Mrs. Stevens' first +visit. +</p> +<p> +"It was not the real pin, but a duplicate which had been prepared in +advance. Horace had put up that game as a finishing touch for his uncle. +</p> +<p> +"Mrs. Pond had forced Horace to go for me; but he wouldn't be scared +out. He played the game right under my nose. +</p> +<p> +"Annie O'Neil had the duplicate pin. She opened that box while Mrs. +Stevens was calling to her daughter, as she testified, and put the +duplicate into it. Then she wrapped it up just as before." +</p> +<p> +"So I won't have to give up the jewels," said Mrs. Pond. +</p> +<p> +"I am afraid you will," said Nick; "the queerest part of the story is to +come. +</p> +<p> +"Chick has found a later will by Miss Lavina Richmond. It is undoubtedly +genuine. +</p> +<p> +"And where do you suppose it was found? The strangest of all places—in +Horace Richmond's room." +</p> +<p> +"She died there," responded the colonel. "She must have hidden the will +during her last illness." +</p> +<p> +"It is strange to think of Horace Richmond struggling with that parrot, +and putting up his elaborate schemes, while the document which would +have given him all he wanted was hidden in his own room." +</p> +<p> +Horace Richmond's face at that moment was an amusing spectacle. +</p> +<p> +So was Mrs. Pond's. +</p> +<p> +"Never mind, daughter," said the colonel. "It is better so. I will make +good the loss to you." +</p> +<p> +And so ends Nick Carter's ghost story in a most natural manner. +</p> +<p> +Nobody was ever punished for the affair. Even the gang of mediums and +heelers whom Nick had rounded up were released after their night in +jail, because, on sober second thought, their dupes were ashamed to +complain against them. +</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<a name="AGNES"></a> +<h2> + THE MYSTERY OF ST. AGNES' HOSPITAL +</h2> + + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH21"><!-- CH21 --></a> +<h3> + CHAPTER I. +</h3> + +<h3> +LAWRENCE DEEVER DEMANDS JUSTICE. +</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> +"I call it a perfectly plain case, Mr. Colton." +</p> +<p> +"A case of what?" +</p> +<p> +"Why, murder, of course." +</p> +<p> +"Who has been murdered?" +</p> +<p> +As "Mr. Colton"—who was no other than Nick Carter—asked this question, +his face looked as innocent as a babe's. He seemed surprised to hear +that there had been a murder, though his companion, Lawrence Deever, had +been saying so repeatedly during the last half hour. +</p> +<p> +Deever now looked at Nick with eyes and mouth wide open. +</p> +<p> +"Who has been murdered?" he repeated. "My brother has been murdered." +</p> +<p> +"What makes you think so?" asked Nick, calmly. +</p> +<p> +"What, indeed!" exclaimed Deever. "I have told you already." +</p> +<p> +"No, you haven't. You have told me that your brother has been missing +since night before last." +</p> +<p> +"I told you more than that," cried Deever. "He is known to have +quarreled with that man Jarvis." +</p> +<p> +"Dr. Jarvis, of St. Agnes' Hospital?" +</p> +<p> +"Of course. And I have proved—" +</p> +<p> +"You have proved nothing," said Nick. "Let me repeat your statements: +</p> +<p> +"Your brother Patrick worked for Dr. Jarvis, or under his direction, in +the garden of St. Agnes' Hospital. The doctor frequently remonstrated +with Patrick for drinking too much whisky, and—" +</p> +<p> +"Remonstrated!" exclaimed Deever. "That's hardly the word for it. He +abused the lad. He struck him half a dozen times during the last week." +</p> +<p> +"With the flat of his hand," said Nick, smiling. "That is hardly the +foundation for a charge of murder." +</p> +<p> +"It shows that Jarvis is a violent man," said Deever, "and everybody +knows that he is." +</p> +<p> +"He has a bad temper, I will admit." +</p> +<p> +"He's a dangerous old crank." +</p> +<p> +"Well, to continue your statement of the case, late on Monday afternoon +they were heard quarreling in the garden. They were seen there about +half-past six o'clock. +</p> +<p> +"A little after half-past seven the doctor was seen coming toward the +hospital. He was greatly excited. He passed Martin Burns, who drives the +hospital ambulance. +</p> +<p> +"Martin went into the garden and failed to find Patrick. Nobody can tell +what became of your brother or how he got out of the garden." +</p> +<p> +"Yes; that's the point," Deever cried. "How did he get out?" +</p> +<p> +"He may have climbed over the wall." +</p> +<p> +"You've forgotten that his coat, with a little money in the pocket, was +found hanging on the limb of a tree." +</p> +<p> +"No, I did not forget that." +</p> +<p> +"Well, why did he leave it?" +</p> +<p> +"I don't pretend to know." +</p> +<p> +"And what has become of him?" +</p> +<p> +"There, again, I shall have to find out the facts before I answer." +</p> +<p> +"I tell you he was murdered." +</p> +<p> +"Now," said Nick, smiling again, "I shall have to turn your own question +against yourself: If he was murdered, what's become of him?" +</p> +<p> +"You mean where's his body?" +</p> +<p> +"Exactly." +</p> +<p> +"But do you mean to tell me," cried Deever, indignantly, "that if this +man has hidden my brother's body so that nobody can find it he will +escape punishment for his crime?" +</p> +<p> +"Nothing of the sort," Nick replied. "I only wish to curb your +impatience." +</p> +<p> +"I'm not more impatient than any man in my situation ought to be. I +simply demand justice." +</p> +<p> +"Or, in other words—" +</p> +<p> +"I want you to arrest Dr. Jarvis." +</p> +<p> +"I can't do it." +</p> +<p> +"Why not?" +</p> +<p> +"We must have some sort of proof that your brother is dead. We can't try +a man for the murder of somebody who may be alive for all we know." +</p> +<p> +"You seem to be working in Jarvis' interest," said Deever, with a sneer. +</p> +<p> +"Not a bit of it. You know why I am here in your house." +</p> +<p> +"Because Superintendent Byrnes sent you; and I supposed that he had sent +a good man. He promised the best." +</p> +<p> +"Well, that ought to satisfy you." +</p> +<p> +"There was no need of sending anybody. We might have arrested Jarvis at +once. Any ordinary policeman could have got evidence enough to convict." +</p> +<p> +"But the superintendent did not think so." +</p> +<p> +"No; and I'm willing he should work in his own way, so long as I get +justice in the end. Now, what do you want?" +</p> +<p> +"Well," said Nick, appearing to consider the subject deeply, "I would +like some evidence of a motive." +</p> +<p> +"I don't believe there was any motive. The thing was done in anger." +</p> +<p> +"Then I want evidence of a really serious quarrel." +</p> +<p> +"Very well; you wait right here, and I'll bring a man who knows +something about it. I heard of him this morning, and had time to ask him +a few questions, but I don't know all he has to tell." +</p> +<p> +Deever hastily left the room. From the window Nick saw Deever pass up +West One Hundred and Forty-third street, on which the house stood. He +was going in the direction of St. Nicholas avenue. +</p> +<p> +In less than an hour he returned with a young man whom he presented as +the important witness for whom he had been in search. +</p> +<p> +"Your name is Adolf Klein?" said Nick. +</p> +<p> +The witness nodded. He was a bashful, awkward fellow, who did not seem +to be possessed of the average intelligence. +</p> +<p> +"Where do you work?" was the next question. +</p> +<p> +"I'm a bartender in Orton's saloon, up on the avenue." +</p> +<p> +"Do you know what has become of Patrick Deever?" +</p> +<p> +"All I know is this: I was passing the grounds of the hospital Monday +evening and stopped just by the wall. The reason I stopped was that I +heard Pat Deever inside, talking very loud. He called somebody an old +fool and swore at him." +</p> +<p> +The witness paused. He seemed to be a good deal excited. It was not very +warm in the room, but the perspiration was pouring off of Klein's +forehead. +</p> +<p> +"Was that all you heard?" asked Nick. +</p> +<p> +"No; I heard more hard talk, and then a blow was struck. It sounded +heavy and dull. Then came more blows. Somebody seemed to be pounding. It +sounded as if he was pounding on the ground, and if it hadn't been for +the loud talk just before, I'd have thought that Pat was smoothing down +a flower-bed with his spade." +</p> +<p> +"Did you hear any talking after the blow?" +</p> +<p> +"I didn't hear Pat's voice again." +</p> +<p> +"Did you hear any voice?" +</p> +<p> +"I heard somebody muttering. The voice sounded like Dr. Jarvis'. I've +been to the hospital, and I know the doctor." +</p> +<p> +"Did you look over the wall?" +</p> +<p> +"No; it's too high there. I ran around to the gate on St. Nicholas +avenue and tried to see in; but I couldn't. There were too many trees +between me and the garden." +</p> +<p> +"Then what did you do?" +</p> +<p> +"I went home." +</p> +<p> +"Did you say anything about what you had heard?" +</p> +<p> +"Not that night." +</p> +<p> +"When did you first speak of it?" +</p> +<p> +"This morning." +</p> +<p> +"To whom?" +</p> +<p> +"To Mr. Deever. He was in the saloon, and he told me that his brother +was missing." +</p> +<p> +"Well," cried Deever, who could keep silence no longer, "what do you +think of that?" +</p> +<p> +"It is important evidence." +</p> +<p> +"You remember," Deever continued, "that when I went to ask Jarvis where +my brother was, he admitted having quarreled with him, but said that it +ended in words. Now we know that it ended in blows." +</p> +<p> +"What time was it when you heard that blow?" asked Nick of Klein. +</p> +<p> +"Must have been about half-past seven," Klein replied. +</p> +<p> +"How do you know?" +</p> +<p> +"When I walked up the avenue I saw the clock on the church up by One +Hundred and Fiftieth street. It was a quarter of eight." +</p> +<p> +"That fits the case exactly," Deever exclaimed. "It was a little after +half-past seven when Burns saw Jarvis coming in from the garden." +</p> +<p> +"That is true." +</p> +<p> +"Will you arrest Jarvis now?" +</p> +<p> +"I will not," said Nick. "The evidence is not yet sufficient." +</p> +<p> +Deever made an impatient gesture. +</p> +<p> +"Remember," said Nick, "that an accusation of murder leaves an indelible +stain. We cannot move too carefully." +</p> +<p> +"You will let him escape." +</p> +<p> +"His escape is utterly impossible," said Nick. "He is watched." +</p> +<p> +"A good many men have been watched and have got away." +</p> +<p> +"Nobody ever got away from the man who is watching Jarvis," said Nick, +quietly; and that praise was not too high, for the person in question +was Nick's famous assistant, Chick. +</p> +<p> +"And now," said Deever, "may I ask what more you need in the way of +evidence?" +</p> +<p> +"I need proof of your brother's death." +</p> +<p> +"In short, we must find the body." +</p> +<p> +"Exactly." +</p> +<p> +"Very well," sneered Deever, "I suppose I must do it myself. I've got +nearly all the evidence thus far." +</p> +<p> +"By all means do it," said Nick, with his calm smile, "if you can." +</p> +<p> +Deever stared at him for more than a minute without speaking. Then he +said: +</p> +<p> +"Colton, why do you treat this case as you do?" +</p> +<p> +"What do you mean?" +</p> +<p> +"You don't seem to want to go ahead with it." +</p> +<p> +"I don't want to go ahead with it any faster than the facts will +justify. If you had had more experience in such matters you would know +the folly of arresting a man first and getting facts to warrant the +arrest afterward. As I say, I want more facts, and you must help me to +get them." +</p> +<p> +The last part of this conversation was held as Nick, Deever and Klein +passed out upon the street. +</p> +<p> +A ragged young man who was leaning against a tree heard it, and was much +surprised. +</p> +<p> +For the ragged young man was Patsy, and he had never heard Nick Carter +ask anybody except his regular assistants to help him in that way +before. +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH22"><!-- CH22 --></a> +<h3> + CHAPTER II. +</h3> + +<h3> +THE DEAD MAN'S HEAD. +</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> +Dr. Jarvis, chief of the staff of St. Agnes' Hospital, was well known as +a peculiar man. +</p> +<p> +He was rich enough to take his leisure, but he worked like a slave. He +had an elegant house on St. Nicholas avenue, but he spent all his days +and more than half his nights at the hospital. +</p> +<p> +A rude cot in a little room adjoining his laboratory in the hospital was +his bed four nights in seven on the average. His only recreation was +found in the care of a little garden in the hospital grounds; and it was +the common talk of the younger physicians that Dr. Jarvis enjoyed +finding fault with the gardener more than he did cultivating the +flowers. +</p> +<p> +He had a wife and a young, unmarried daughter, whom he loved devotedly, +but to whom he gave only a few hours of his time in the course of a +week. +</p> +<p> +A negro named Caesar Augustus Cleary was the doctor's assistant in the +laboratory. +</p> +<p> +The other physicians in the hospital said that Cleary had become so +accustomed to Jarvis' ways that, like a Mississippi mule, he had to be +cursed before he could be made to understand anything. +</p> +<p> +Cleary slept in a little closet similar to the doctor's, and on the +opposite side of the laboratory. He was asleep there, about twelve +o'clock on the night after Nick's visit to Lawrence Deever, when Nick +crept softly through the window. +</p> +<p> +All these rooms were on the ground floor and entrance was easy. +</p> +<p> +Nick had spent a part of the evening in the garden. He had watched till +the light went out in the laboratory and another appeared in the +doctor's bed-room. Then he was ready for a search of the premises. +</p> +<p> +If, in a moment of anger, Dr. Jarvis had struck Patrick Deever and +killed him, it was likely that the laboratory would hold some trace of +the secret. +</p> +<p> +The best way to hide a human body is to utterly destroy it. This is no +easy task for an ordinary man, but to a scientist, like Dr. Jarvis, it +would be comparatively easy. +</p> +<p> +However, it would take time. Patrick Deever had disappeared on Monday +night. Forty-eight hours had elapsed, but yet Nick hoped to find a +trace, if the work of destruction had been attempted in the laboratory. +</p> +<p> +Nick had entered Cleary's room with the purpose of guarding against any +interruption from the negro. He found Cleary sleeping heavily; but when +Nick left the room and glided into the laboratory, Cleary's sleep was +even deeper than it had been before. +</p> +<p> +An adept in chemistry, Nick knew how to produce a slumber from which no +ordinary means could arouse the sleeper. His drug was sure and it left +no bad effects. +</p> +<p> +The laboratory was unlighted, except by the moon, which shone in over +the shutters, which covered the lower parts of the windows, preventing +observation from without. +</p> +<p> +The first object which attracted Nick's attention was a corpse which lay +upon a stone table in the middle of the room. +</p> +<p> +Nick had made a hasty search of the laboratory some hours before, while +the doctor had been at dinner. He had then seen this corpse, and had +assured himself that it was not Patrick Deever's; but he had been unable +to do much more before the doctor returned. Therefore, he had made this +late visit. +</p> +<p> +He first examined some instruments which lay near the dissecting-table. +They revealed nothing. Then for perhaps half an hour, he searched +various parts of the room without result. +</p> +<p> +Beneath the laboratory was a cellar in which, as Nick knew, were +electric apparatus and a furnace which the doctor used for his +experiments. +</p> +<p> +Nick was about to descend into this cellar when a noise in the direction +of the doctor's room attracted his attention. +</p> +<p> +He turned and beheld Dr. Jarvis entering the laboratory. +</p> +<p> +Realizing the possibility of such an event, Nick had disguised himself +as Cleary, yet he wished to avoid being seen if possible. +</p> +<p> +He got into the darkest corner available and watched. +</p> +<p> +Dr. Jarvis had on only his night-shirt, a skull-cap and a peculiar red +dressing-gown, which he wore whenever he worked in the laboratory or in +the garden. This dressing-gown and the queer red skull-cap were so old +that nobody about the hospital could remember when they had been new. +Cleary once said that he believed they were born and grew up with the +doctor. +</p> +<p> +Without noticing Nick, Dr. Jarvis advanced directly toward the +dissecting-table. He had no light, but the moon's rays glanced brightly +around the slab. +</p> +<p> +The doctor drew back the sheet which covered the figure, revealing the +head and naked breast. +</p> +<p> +Then he drew some instruments from a case, and proceeded to sever the +head from the body. +</p> +<p> +This secret action in the dead of night surprised Nick greatly. Could it +be that some clever trick had been accomplished? Had the body which Nick +had seen been removed, and that of Patrick Deever substituted? +</p> +<p> +From where he stood Nick could not see the face of the body clearly +enough to form a decision. If, however, this was only an ordinary +subject for the dissecting-table, why did Dr. Jarvis mutilate it with +such caution and at such an hour? +</p> +<p> +To cut off the head was the work of a very few minutes to the skillful +physician. +</p> +<p> +He soon held it in his hands; and it seemed to Nick that the old +physician gazed at it with peculiar attention in the moonlight. +</p> +<p> +Suddenly Dr. Jarvis turned, and, carrying the head in one hand, holding +it by the hair, he advanced toward Nick. In his other hand the doctor +held a knife which he had used in his ghastly work. +</p> +<p> +Nick had little hopes of escaping discovery. Evidently it was the +doctor's intention to carry the head into the cellar, and the detective +was concealed close by the stairs. +</p> +<p> +But Nick was not discovered. Dr. Jarvis stalked by, within six feet of +him, and looked neither to the right nor to the left. +</p> +<p> +Still bearing the head, he descended the stairs, and Nick crept after +him. +</p> +<p> +The cellar was perfectly dark except where a faint glow around the +little furnace could be perceived. Nick was therefore able to follow the +doctor closely. +</p> +<p> +But suddenly the place was made light. Dr. Jarvis had touched a button +in the wall, and a row of electric lights, suspended before the furnace, +flashed up. +</p> +<p> +Nick had barely time to drop flat on the floor behind a row of great +glass jars full of clear fluid, the nature of which he could not +determine. +</p> +<p> +These jars were set upon a sort of bench made of stone, rising about two +feet from the floor. Between them and the furnace stood the doctor. Nick +was on the other side. +</p> +<p> +It seemed tolerably certain to the detective that Dr. Jarvis would +throw the head into the furnace. Nick determined to get a sight of the +head at once. He was yet uncertain whether it was Patrick Deever's. +</p> +<p> +Rising on his hands and knees he peered between two of the jars. The +head was not more than a yard from Nick's eyes, but the face was turned +away. +</p> +<p> +By the hair, and the general outline, it might be Deever's. At all +hazards Nick must get a sight of it before it was consigned to the +furnace in which a fire, supported by peculiar chemical agencies and +much hotter than burning coal, raged furiously. +</p> +<p> +Suddenly, when it seemed as if the doctor was about to raise an arch of +fire-brick in order to throw the head into the fire, he turned and +dropped the grim object into the jar almost directly above Nick's head. +</p> +<p> +It was carefully done, though quickly. The head sank without a splash. +Only a single drop of the fluid—a drop no bigger than a pin's +point—fell upon the back of Nick's hand. +</p> +<p> +It burned like white, hot iron. It seemed to sink through the hand upon +which it fell. +</p> +<p> +Nick sprang to his feet, not because of the pain of the burning acid, +but because he knew that he must instantly obtain a sight of the head or +it would be dissolved. +</p> +<p> +It lay face upward in the jar, but the acid, even in that instant, had +done its work. +</p> +<p> +All semblance to humanity had vanished. As Nick gazed, the head seemed +to waver in the midst of the strange fluid, and then, suddenly, Nick +saw, in a direct line where it had been, the bottom of the jar. +</p> +<p> +The head had been dissolved. +</p> +<p> +Nick raised his eyes to Dr. Jarvis' face. +</p> +<p> +There stood the doctor, entirely unmoved. He looked directly at Nick but +seemed not to see him. +</p> +<p> +His eyes were fixed, and their expression was peculiar. One less +experienced than Nick would have supposed Dr. Jarvis to be insane. +</p> +<p> +Certainly his conduct as well as his appearance seemed to justify such a +</p> +<p> +But Nick knew better. He recognized at once the peculiar condition in +which Dr. Jarvis then was. He had seen the phenomenon before. +</p> +<p> +"Walking in his sleep," Nick said to himself. "Shall I wake him here? I +think not. Let me see what he will do." +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH23"><!-- CH23 --></a> +<h3> + CHAPTER III. +</h3> + +<h3> +THE DOCTOR OFFERS A BRIBE. +</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> +Nick was not greatly surprised by his discovery. He knew that Dr. Jarvis +was a sleep-walker. +</p> +<p> +The reader may remember the case of a young woman who, in her sleep, +walked nearly a mile on Broadway, and was awakened by a policeman to +whom she could give no account of her wanderings. +</p> +<p> +At that time, the newspapers had a good deal to say about sleep-walking, +and several good stories were printed about Dr. Jarvis. The doctor was +sensitive on the subject, and he had threatened the most dreadful +vengeance if he ever found out who had betrayed his secret to the +reporters. +</p> +<p> +These stories came into Nick's mind at once. He decided to witness this +strange scene to the end. +</p> +<p> +There was, however, little more to be observed. The doctor extinguished +the lights and ascended the stairs. +</p> +<p> +He paused a moment beside the mutilated body; put away his knife, drew +the cloth over the corpse, and then turned toward his room. +</p> +<p> +Nick followed, and entered the room close behind the somnambulist. It is +sometimes possible to question a person in that condition, and to learn +what he would not disclose when awake. +</p> +<p> +Some such intention was in Nick's mind, but he had no opportunity of +executing it. The doctor walked to the window, of which the shade was +drawn. Accidentally he touched the cord, and the shade, which worked +with a spring, shot up, making a loud noise. +</p> +<p> +With a peculiar, hoarse cry, the doctor awoke. He exhibited the nervous +terror common at such times. He jumped back from the window, and turned +toward the bed. +</p> +<p> +Nick, disguised as Cleary, stood directly before him. It was impossible +to avoid discovery. The moonlight flooded the room. +</p> +<p> +"Cleary!" cried the doctor, "why are you here?" +</p> +<p> +"I heard you moving about, sir," replied Nick, imitating Cleary's voice +which had very little of the ordinary peculiarities of the negro. +Indeed, he was an educated man. +</p> +<p> +"Walking in my sleep again," muttered the doctor. "And such dreams! +Great Heaven! such dreams!" +</p> +<p> +"I thought you must have had a bad nightmare," said Nick. +</p> +<p> +"I have. It was dreadful." +</p> +<p> +The doctor pressed his hands to his head. +</p> +<p> +"What did you dream, sir?" +</p> +<p> +"What business is that of yours, you infernal, inquisitive rascal?" +</p> +<p> +"Well, sir," said Nick, respectfully, "I thought from what you did—" +</p> +<p> +"Did? What did I do?" +</p> +<p> +Nick very briefly described the scene which he had witnessed. +</p> +<p> +Dr. Jarvis seemed overcome with horror. +</p> +<p> +"Is it possible?" he cried. +</p> +<p> +Then suddenly he turned and hurried out into the laboratory. He went +straight to the corpse upon the slab of stone, and drew back the cloth. +</p> +<p> +Nick followed, and together they gazed upon the mutilated body. It +seemed to Nick that it was the same which he had seen before, and which +he had known to be not that of Patrick Deever. But in the uncertain +light he could not be certain. +</p> +<p> +Dr. Jarvis gave him little time for making his decision. +</p> +<p> +He hastily replaced the cloth, shuddering convulsively as he did so. +Then he returned to his room. +</p> +<p> +He sat down upon the edge of his cot, and held his head in his hands. +When he looked up his violent mood had passed away. He seemed to wish to +talk. +</p> +<p> +"It was a hideous dream," he said. +</p> +<p> +"Murder?" asked Nick. +</p> +<p> +"There was murder in it," replied the doctor. "I thought that I had +killed—that I had killed a man." +</p> +<p> +"Patrick Deever?" +</p> +<p> +"How the devil did you know that?" cried the doctor, springing to his +feet. +</p> +<p> +"Well, sir, the man has disappeared, and—" +</p> +<p> +"And somebody has been filling your head with foolish stories. Who was +it?" +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Deever was asking some questions about his brother." +</p> +<p> +"And you told him everything you knew, and a good deal more, I suppose?" +</p> +<p> +"I didn't tell him anything." +</p> +<p> +"It's lucky for you that you didn't. Now, look here, Cleary, you know +where your interest lies. Don't you lose a good job by talking too +much." +</p> +<p> +"No, sir; I won't. But there's something in dreams, and—" +</p> +<p> +"There was agony in this one. I thought that I had killed Deever, and +was obliged to hide his body. I felt that the police were close upon me. +</p> +<p> +"It seemed as if I had only one night in which to make myself safe. I +thought first of burning the body in the furnace. Then it seemed best to +use the acid. Heavens, I am glad to be awake again!" +</p> +<p> +"Such a dream as that means something, sir." +</p> +<p> +"It means this—that miserable, drunken rascal has disappeared, and I am +likely to have trouble about it." +</p> +<p> +"He'll come back." +</p> +<p> +"I don't know about that. Perhaps he won't come back." +</p> +<p> +"Have you any idea where he is, sir?" +</p> +<p> +"Do you think I killed him, Cleary?" +</p> +<p> +"No, sir; certainly not." +</p> +<p> +"But suppose I did? What then?" +</p> +<p> +"Well, sir; it's a terrible thing. I—" +</p> +<p> +"Would you betray me?" +</p> +<p> +"I would not say a word unless I was sure that you were guilty." +</p> +<p> +"Even then, why should you speak?" +</p> +<p> +"There's a conscience, and—" +</p> +<p> +"Nonsense! What business is it of yours? Now look here; you think a good +deal more about money than you do about your conscience. I've got money, +and I'm willing to pay well to keep out of trouble." +</p> +<p> +"But I don't want to get into any." +</p> +<p> +"You won't. All you've got to do is to keep still." +</p> +<p> +"Keep still about what, sir?" +</p> +<p> +"This sleep-walking to-night." +</p> +<p> +"I won't say a word, unless—" +</p> +<p> +Nick hesitated. He wished to give the doctor the impression that his +innocence was by no means clear, and that the idea of shielding a +murderer was not to be entertained. +</p> +<p> +His acting was evidently successful. +</p> +<p> +"Look here, Cleary," said the doctor, "I don't trust you. There's just +one thing that will satisfy me. You must get away." +</p> +<p> +The doctor was trembling violently. Evidently fear had taken possession +of him. +</p> +<p> +"Get away?" asked Nick, as if surprised. +</p> +<p> +"Yes; I'm afraid of you. You will talk." +</p> +<p> +"But where shall I go?" +</p> +<p> +"Go to Australia," said Dr. Jarvis, after a moment's reflection. "You +have no family. It makes no difference to you where you go, so long as +you have money." +</p> +<p> +"How much money?" +</p> +<p> +"In that safe," said the doctor, pointing to a steel box in the corner, +"there is enough to start you. I have about five thousand dollars in +cash there, and I will send ten times as much more after you. Is that +enough?" +</p> +<p> +"You take my breath away," said Nick. "When must I go?" +</p> +<p> +"At once; to-night." +</p> +<p> +"But, Dr. Jarvis—" +</p> +<p> +"Don't talk. Do it. If fifty thousand dollars isn't enough, you shall +have a hundred thousand within six months." +</p> +<p> +"How do I know that you will send it?" +</p> +<p> +"If I don't, come back and denounce me." +</p> +<p> +"But how will you explain my going?" +</p> +<p> +"I will say that you have gone to Europe for me as you did go three +years ago." +</p> +<p> +Nick shook his head. +</p> +<p> +"Dr. Jarvis," said he, "I've worked for you twenty years, and I think as +much of you as of any man living, but I can't do this." +</p> +<p> +"Why not?" +</p> +<p> +"I can't shield a guilty man." +</p> +<p> +"Nonsense, you idiot; I am as innocent as you are." +</p> +<p> +"Then why do you send me away? No, Dr. Jarvis, this is plain to me. You +killed him." +</p> +<p> +"I killed him?" cried the doctor. +</p> +<p> +"Yes; but you are not a murderer at heart. Some accident led to this. +Tell me how it happened, and if it is as I think, I will go." +</p> +<p> +"I tell you I am innocent. I had nothing to do with this man's +disappearance." +</p> +<p> +Despite all Nick's ingenuity, Dr. Jarvis stuck to this assertion. There +was nothing left for Nick, in the character of Cleary, except to pretend +to believe it. +</p> +<p> +He resolved to accept the doctor's bribe. This was almost necessary, for +in any case he would be obliged to remove Cleary. +</p> +<p> +After this conversation, it would not be safe to leave the negro there. +The doctor would, of course, discover that some trick had been played +upon him as soon as he mentioned the events of the night to Cleary. +</p> +<p> +The results which would follow such a discovery Nick wished to avoid. +</p> +<p> +He, therefore, with great caution, accepted the proposal, and received a +large sum as the first installment of the blackmail. +</p> +<p> +As to the doctor's real intentions, Nick was in some doubt. It seemed +probable that he meant to sacrifice Cleary to secure his own safety in +case it became necessary. +</p> +<p> +If Cleary ran away, it would be easy to divert suspicion to him. +</p> +<p> +The case against Dr. Jarvis looked very plain. Innocent men do not take +such desperate measures. And yet Nick was far from reaching a definite +opinion in the case. +</p> +<p> +He returned to Cleary's room; and it required a good deal of skill to +keep the doctor out of it. If he had entered, and had seen two Cleary's, +it is hard to say what desperation would have led him to do. +</p> +<p> +For an instant Nick had an idea of letting him do it, and then attempt +to secure a true statement of the case with the aid of the shock which +the doctor would have sustained on discovering how he had been duped. +</p> +<p> +But second thought showed him the necessity for a different procedure. +</p> +<p> +From Cleary's window he signaled for Chick, who was in waiting near the +wall, and to him he delivered the unconscious form of the negro. +</p> +<p> +Then he returned to take his leave of the doctor—a difficult business, +which he managed with great skill. +</p> +<p> +This done, he secretly left the hospital. +</p> +<p> +What had been the true meaning of the night's events? It puzzled him to +say. +</p> +<p> +Was the body on the slab that of Patrick Deever, or had the doctor gone +through in his sleep the act which he intended to perform later with the +real body? +</p> +<p> +Nick thought that the latter was more probable. He was inclined to +believe that the body of Deever might be concealed about the building. +If so, he would find it. +</p> +<p> +Reflecting thus, he passed outside the hospital walls. +</p> +<p> +Three men were approaching along St. Nicholas avenue. Two of these he +quickly recognized as Chick and Lawrence Deever. The other was unknown +to him. +</p> +<p> +Evidently Chick had sent Cleary away in a carriage which they had kept +waiting near the hospital during the evening. How he had met Deever, +Nick could not guess. +</p> +<p> +He went forward to meet the three men. +</p> +<p> +He had removed the disguise in which he had deceived the doctor, and was +now as Deever had seen him before. +</p> +<p> +Deever recognized him at once, and started forward, saying: +</p> +<p> +"You ask for proof of my brother's death. I will give it to you. Here is +a man who saw him buried." +</p> +<p> +And he pointed to the stranger. +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH24"><!-- CH24 --></a> +<h3> + CHAPTER IV. +</h3> + +<h3> +WHAT WAS FOUND IN THIS GARDEN. +</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> +Nick received Deever's startling intelligence with every evidence of +satisfaction. +</p> +<p> +"You are doing great work, Mr. Deever," said he. "We shall soon have +this affair straightened out." +</p> +<p> +As Nick pronounced these words he signaled to Chick in their sign +language as follows: +</p> +<p> +"What do you think of this witness?" +</p> +<p> +Chick promptly returned the answer: +</p> +<p> +"He seems to be telling the truth." +</p> +<p> +Then Deever turned toward the new witness. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Haskell, Mr. Colton," said he, in hasty introduction. "Now, +Haskell, tell what you know." +</p> +<p> +"Wait," said Nick, "who is this man?" And he pointed to Chick. +</p> +<p> +"He's a fellow that knows my brother. We met him just below, and brought +him along to help in the identification. There are two more coming." +</p> +<p> +"Then you purpose to disinter your brother's body at once?" +</p> +<p> +"Of course I do." +</p> +<p> +"You have no tools." +</p> +<p> +"The others will bring them. That's what they're after." +</p> +<p> +"Where is the place?" +</p> +<p> +"The hospital garden. Haskell, tell your story. But, no; I'll tell it +for you to save time." +</p> +<p> +He took Nick by the arm and led him along the hospital wall on the +southern side of the ground. They followed the wall in the direction of +the river, until they came to the corner. +</p> +<p> +Between them and the river was a large piece of ground nearly as wild in +appearance as it was a hundred years ago. Many trees and bushes grew +upon it. +</p> +<p> +"This place," said Deever, "is a sort of lovers' walk. Any pleasant +evening in summer you can see dozens of couples walking down that path. +</p> +<p> +"Haskell was here Monday evening with a young lady. They sat for a while +on the trunk of a fallen tree, looking off toward the river. +</p> +<p> +"It was nearly eleven o'clock when Haskell walked home with her. Then he +discovered that he had lost his knife. He had been whittling the +tree-trunk with it. +</p> +<p> +"It was a good knife, and he thought it worth while to go back and try +to find it. He went back, and after quite a hunt, found it beside the +tree. +</p> +<p> +"By this time it was after midnight. On his way home he passed the spot +where we are now standing. +</p> +<p> +"Just as he got here, he heard a peculiar noise on the other side of the +wall. It seemed strange that anybody should be at work in the garden at +that hour, but the sound was as if somebody was using a shovel. +</p> +<p> +"Haskell has more curiosity than a woman. He resolved to find out what +was going on inside that garden. +</p> +<p> +"The wall here is pretty high, as you see, but with the help of a piece +of board he climbed up so that he could look over. Now, Haskell, tell us +just what you saw." +</p> +<p> +Chick and Haskell had come up just as Deever finished his introduction +to the story. +</p> +<p> +"I saw Dr. Jarvis digging," said Haskell. +</p> +<p> +"How did you know it was he?" asked Nick. +</p> +<p> +"He had on his dressing-gown and cap," Haskell replied. "I guess pretty +near everybody who lives up this way knows those things." +</p> +<p> +"What did you do?" +</p> +<p> +"I watched him a couple of minutes. He seemed to be hard at work digging +a hole. I never thought then that it was a grave." +</p> +<p> +"Could you see how big a hole he was making?" +</p> +<p> +"No; he was under the shadow of the trees. I could hardly see him at all +there, but just as I got on the top of the wall, he came out for a +second or two into the moonlight. Then I saw the old cap and +dressing-gown." +</p> +<p> +"Did you see any object lying upon the ground which looked like a body?" +</p> +<p> +"No; it was dark under the tree. The body was probably there." +</p> +<p> +"Why do you say that?" +</p> +<p> +"Well, it couldn't have been anywhere else." +</p> +<p> +"How do you know there was any body ?" +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Deever has told me about his brother. I take it for granted that +the doctor was burying him." +</p> +<p> +"Did you tell anybody about this occurrence?" +</p> +<p> +"No." +</p> +<p> +"Why not? It was strange enough." +</p> +<p> +"I didn't think it was strange for him. Everybody knows that the doctor +is a sort of crank. When I saw who it was, I just slid down off the wall +and went home. I never would have thought of it again if Mr. Deever +hadn't spoken to me about his brother." +</p> +<p> +"You can point out the spot where the doctor was digging?" +</p> +<p> +"Sure." +</p> +<p> +"We will make an examination at once." +</p> +<p> +"I thought you'd find out that murder had been done," said Deever. +"You'll find out, if you stick to me, that I pretty generally know what +I'm talking about." +</p> +<p> +"That's right," said Haskell. +</p> +<p> +"Here come your friends," said Chick, who had not spoken up to that +time. +</p> +<p> +Two men were seen coming from St. Nicholas avenue. They carried spades +and pickaxes. +</p> +<p> +Thus reinforced, the party proceeded to scale the wall. Just as they did +so, the moon, which had been very bright, was obscured by a heavy cloud. +</p> +<p> +It was in darkness, then, that they descended into the garden. +</p> +<p> +But Haskell seemed to be in doubt about the direction to be followed. He +started off at once. +</p> +<p> +They had gone less than a hundred feet when suddenly Haskell shrank +back. Deever, who was next to him, ran against him violently. +</p> +<p> +"What's the matter?" whispered Deever, in an anxious tone. +</p> +<p> +"There's somebody here ahead of us." +</p> +<p> +All looked where Haskell pointed, and they were able to make out the +figure of a man standing in one of the numerous paths which wound +through the garden. He appeared not to have noticed the advancing party. +</p> +<p> +"He isn't ten feet from the grave," whispered Haskell. "It's under that +tree right beside him." +</p> +<p> +At this moment the moon broke through the cloud. Its light fell round +the figure in the path. +</p> +<p> +It was Dr. Jarvis. +</p> +<p> +Nick's first thought was that this was another sleep-walking wonder, but +in a second this idea was dispelled. +</p> +<p> +The doctor saw the intruders. He uttered an exclamation, and seemed +about to retreat in the direction of the hospital. Then summoning up his +courage, he paused, and confronted them as they came forward. +</p> +<p> +"Who are you?" he asked, in a trembling voice. +</p> +<p> +"I'll soon show you who I am?" cried Deever, angrily, "and I'll show +these gentlemen what you are, in a few minutes." +</p> +<p> +"Lawrence Deever!" cried the doctor. +</p> +<p> +"Yes; I'm Lawrence Deever," was the reply, "and I've come to find my +brother." +</p> +<p> +"You are a fool and a knave," the doctor exclaimed. "Your brother is not +here." +</p> +<p> +"We'll see about that." +</p> +<p> +"I order you to leave this garden." +</p> +<p> +"I wouldn't do that if I were you," said Nick, stepping forward. "I have +the proper authority, and what we shall do here will not harm you." +</p> +<p> +In a few words he showed Dr. Jarvis the futility of resistance. Nick +explained in a few words the evidence of Haskell, and made no attempt to +conceal its true bearing upon the case. +</p> +<p> +He spoke with his customary calm and steady tone, and his words seemed +to reassure the doctor. +</p> +<p> +"The fellow is a liar and the tool of a liar," said the doctor, glaring +at Deever. "I shall challenge you to find that body in this garden." +</p> +<p> +"It's here, unless you've taken it away," said Deever, roughly. "Now, +Haskell, show us the spot, and we'll go to work." +</p> +<p> +Thus urged, Haskell, who had hung back, as if afraid, stepped forward +with no sign of hesitation, and pointed to the ground under one of the +trees. +</p> +<p> +"He was at work just under this long limb," said Haskell. +</p> +<p> +Nick bent down to examine the ground. It was a flower-bed which looked +as if it had recently been sown. +</p> +<p> +The spot was excellently chosen for concealment. It was impossible to +tell whether the earth there had recently been disturbed. +</p> +<p> +Deever seized a spade and began to dig. He was a man of enormous +strength, and he worked furiously. +</p> +<p> +The two men who had brought the tools joined in the work, but they did +less than half as much as Deever alone. +</p> +<p> +In an incredibly short time the hole was four feet deep. Then Nick +suggested that they proceed with greater caution. +</p> +<p> +"The body," he said, "was probably buried without protection. If you +strike it with your spades you may increase the difficulty of +identification." +</p> +<p> +Thus warned, Deever's two assistants worked with care, but Deever +himself continued to ply his spade like a madman. +</p> +<p> +Not knowing the exact spot, they dug a hole much larger than a grave, +and thus the three men were able to work at the same time with +advantage. +</p> +<p> +Suddenly Deever cried: +</p> +<p> +"Here it is!" +</p> +<p> +His spade had struck something more solid than the soft earth. +</p> +<p> +All sprang forward, and the doctor uttered a cry as of terror. +</p> +<p> +Hastily the earth was removed from the buried object, until it could be +lifted to the surface. +</p> +<p> +Chick stepped forward, and brushed the last of the earth from the face +with his handkerchief. Then it was dragged to where the moon shone full +upon it. +</p> +<p> +A murmur arose from the little party. The face of the dead man was cut +and mangled with many wounds. +</p> +<p> +"It's Pat," said one of those who had assisted in the digging. "There's +no doubt about it." +</p> +<p> +"Yes," said Haskell, who was shivering with fear, "I recognize the +clothes he had on." +</p> +<p> +"He's got no coat," said one of the men; "where's that?" +</p> +<p> +"It was hanging on a tree in this garden," said Deever. +</p> +<p> +Then he bent forward over the corpse, and took from around the neck a +string to which a little cheap locket was attached. +</p> +<p> +"He always wore that, poor boy," said one of the men. +</p> +<p> +Deever turned to where Dr. Jarvis stood. The face of the doctor was +whiter than paper, as the moon shone down upon it. +</p> +<p> +"What do you say now, Jarvis?" said Deever, coldly. "Do you confess your +crime?" +</p> +<p> +The doctor recovered himself with a mighty effort. +</p> +<p> +"No," he cried. "I deny all responsibility for this man's death." +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH25"><!-- CH25 --></a> +<h3> + CHAPTER V. +</h3> + +<h3> +THE BODY ON THE SLAB. +</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> +Nobody seemed to be much impressed by Jarvis' declaration of innocence. +</p> +<p> +The finding of the body in the exact spot indicated by Haskell looked +like conclusive proof. Added to this was the doctor's presence beside +the grave in the dead of night. +</p> +<p> +"It's a plain case," said Deever, turning toward Nick. "Will you make +the arrest now?" +</p> +<p> +Dr. Jarvis shuddered as these words were spoken. It was easy to see that +he was on the verge of despair. +</p> +<p> +"Let's not go too fast," said Nick. +</p> +<p> +"What stronger proof can you possibly desire?" exclaimed Deever. +</p> +<p> +He seemed to be dazed with surprise at Nick's delay, but Dr. Jarvis +plucked up his courage. +</p> +<p> +"I wish first to examine the body," said Nick. +</p> +<p> +He bent over the corpse which lay in the bright moonlight. The cause of +death was evident at a glance. The head had been beaten and cut in a +frightful manner. +</p> +<p> +"See," said Deever, bending over the body, "these wounds were made with +a spade." +</p> +<p> +"They have that appearance," said Nick. +</p> +<p> +"Why, it's as plain as the nose on your face," exclaimed Deever, utterly +losing patience. +</p> +<p> +He seized a spade from the ground and applied it to the wounds. +</p> +<p> +"The first blow, the one which killed him," said Deever, "was struck +with the side of the spade on the top of the poor boy's head. It was a +terrible blow." +</p> +<p> +Nick examined the wound. It was plain that no person could live a +minute after receiving such a fearful injury. +</p> +<p> +"The other blows," Deever continued, "were some of them made with the +side, and some with the tip of the spade. +</p> +<p> +"I can see just how it happened. Pat angered Jarvis with the words that +Klein heard. Jarvis rushed upon him, knocked him down with the spade, +and then beat him like a maniac in his rage." +</p> +<p> +"And then buried him, eh?" said Nick, in a doubtful voice. +</p> +<p> +Chick looked inquiringly at his chief. He had never seen Nick conduct a +case in that way before. +</p> +<p> +Instead of taking the lead in the investigation, the great detective +seemed to wait for suggestions. After his first glance at the body, he +had stood irresolute, as if he could not make up his mind about the +value of the evidence. +</p> +<p> +This conduct of his chief interested Chick deeply. +</p> +<p> +"Watch Nick Carter," he said to himself, "and you'll always be learning +something." +</p> +<p> +"Of course he didn't bury him then," Deever replied to Nick's question. +"Haskell saw him digging the grave after midnight." +</p> +<p> +"Where do you suppose your brother's body was in the meantime?" asked +Nick. +</p> +<p> +"Hidden in the garden somewhere." +</p> +<p> +Nick shook his head. +</p> +<p> +"There is no place in the garden where it could have been hidden. I have +searched the place thoroughly." +</p> +<p> +"He may have taken it into the hospital; into his laboratory, perhaps." +</p> +<p> +"That can't be," said Nick. "You remember that Burns met the doctor +coming in from the garden. If he had already brought in the body he +wouldn't have come out again. On the other hand, the body couldn't have +been in the garden, or Burns would have seen it. He looked all around +for your brother." +</p> +<p> +For the first time Deever looked puzzled. He hesitated a long time +before he replied. Then he said: +</p> +<p> +"Jarvis must have thrown Pat's body over the wall. He must have hidden +it among the bushes in the direction of the river." +</p> +<p> +"Yes," Nick rejoined; "that seems probable." +</p> +<p> +"Well," cried Deever, "will you make the arrest?" +</p> +<p> +"I think not. The evidence does not seem to warrant it." +</p> +<p> +Deever threw up his hands in utter amazement. +</p> +<p> +"Not sufficient!" he exclaimed. "What remains to be proved?" +</p> +<p> +"I should like some evidence bearing on the question where the body was +hidden during the evening, and how it was got back to the garden." +</p> +<p> +"You don't mean to say that you will wait for that before taking this +man into custody?" +</p> +<p> +"Yes," said Nick, slowly; "I shall wait for that." +</p> +<p> +"But, meanwhile, how will you guard against his escape?" +</p> +<p> +"I will take him back to the hospital, where one of my assistants is +waiting. I will put him in charge of that officer, who will remain with +him until I feel justified in taking him to headquarters." +</p> +<p> +"Then you practically put him under arrest," said Deever, with evident +satisfaction. +</p> +<p> +"Yes; but it will not be known except to us who are here. I expect your +friends to be silent for the present." +</p> +<p> +"I'll answer for them," said Deever. "I know them all well, except that +man—where is that man?" +</p> +<p> +He looked around for Chick, but that individual had disappeared. He had +caught a glance from Nick when the latter had spoken of his assistant +at the hospital, and had immediately slipped away under the shadow of +the trees. +</p> +<p> +"That fellow will give it away," cried Deever. "That's what he sneaked +for. He'll sell the news to the papers." +</p> +<p> +"If he does we can't help it," said Nick. "And as for you, I judge that +you would not be sorry if he did." +</p> +<p> +"You are right," said Deever, looking grimly at Dr. Jarvis, "the sooner +this murderer is held up before the public the better I'll be pleased." +</p> +<p> +"I shall be sorry," said Nick, "and yet perhaps it will not make much +difference. In the meantime we will do what we can to keep the secret on +our part." +</p> +<p> +Deever chuckled. It was evident that he regarded the secret as already +out, and that he was entirely satisfied. +</p> +<p> +"Now come with me," said Nick to Jarvis, "and you others wait for me +here." +</p> +<p> +He led the doctor to his room in the hospital, where, of course, they +found Chick, in a different disguise, waiting for them. +</p> +<p> +Jarvis acted like a man in a trance, he was so thoroughly overpowered by +the horror of his situation. In his room, he seemed to forget the +presence of the two detectives. He flung himself down upon his cot, and +appeared to sink almost instantly into a stupor. +</p> +<p> +After a word or two with Chick, Nick made his way back to the little +group around the dead body. +</p> +<p> +"Get a carriage up to the wall," said Nick, "and remove the corpse to +your house. I will see a coroner, and get the necessary permit. I will +be answerable for the removal in advance of the permit." +</p> +<p> +In spite of Deever's distrust of Nick, the great detective's manner, +when he spoke with decision, was such as to secure instant obedience. +</p> +<p> +The body was carried to the wall; two men were left to guard it, while +Deever, with Klein, went for the carriage. +</p> +<p> +Nick separated himself from the party. He did not go to see a coroner, +however. He went to Lawrence Deever's house, which he entered secretly, +and searched from top to bottom, but without finding anything of +interest. +</p> +<p> +Then he went to his own house, where he waked Patsy. +</p> +<p> +"Go to Lawrence Deever's country-house near Nyack," he said to his +youthful assistant. "Watch it, and see that no man leaves it." +</p> +<p> +Morning was breaking as Nick secretly entered St. Agnes' Hospital, and +made his way to Dr. Jarvis' room. +</p> +<p> +He pushed the door open softly, believing that the doctor would be still +asleep, and Chick on guard. +</p> +<p> +The room was empty. +</p> +<p> +Nick was at first amazed, and then he reflected that it was quite +possible that some disclosure of the prisoner had led Chick to accompany +him in search of evidence. +</p> +<p> +He passed out into the laboratory. It was darker at this hour of dawn +than at midnight with the moonlight in it. +</p> +<p> +The sheeted figure still lay upon the slab. Was it a body obtained in +the usual way, under the sanction of the law, or had it a criminal +history? Nobody knew better than Nick the secrets that may lurk in the +dissecting-room. +</p> +<p> +With such thoughts, he paused a moment beside the body. He was about to +lift the sheet in order to satisfy some doubts which still lingered in +his mind when he was attracted by a slight noise in the cellar. +</p> +<p> +He quickly stepped to the head of the stairs. Certainly there was some +person below. +</p> +<p> +Nick cautiously descended the steps. The electric lights were not +shining, but the furnace sent up a glow in which the surrounding objects +were dimly visible. +</p> +<p> +The first of these objects to command Nick's attention was no other +than the white face of Dr. Jarvis bending over the furnace. +</p> +<p> +He had removed some portion of the arch above the raging fire, and just +as Nick's eye fell upon him, he put a human arm into the white flame. +</p> +<p> +In that fierce heat it was almost instantly consumed, and only the +faintest smell of burning flesh escaped into the cellar. +</p> +<p> +The corpse from which the arm had been taken lay upon the floor. Nick +could not see it plainly, but his heart leaped wildly. +</p> +<p> +There was but one explanation of Dr. Jarvis' conduct. +</p> +<p> +Under the cloth in the laboratory above, Nick had seen the outline of a +body. +</p> +<p> +Whose, then, was this man giving to the flames? +</p> +<p> +It could not be any but Chick's! +</p> +<p> +Evidently the doctor had, by some fiendish trick, succeeded in +overcoming his powerful watcher, and he was now removing all trace of +the body, preparatory to his own flight to the ends of the earth. +</p> +<p> +The horror of this thought was almost too much for Nick's iron nerves. +</p> +<p> +If this was Chick's body, all human help was now vain. +</p> +<p> +What should be done to secure the most certain retribution? +</p> +<p> +Plainly the corpse, or what remained of it, must be recovered before the +fire had completely made away with it. +</p> +<p> +Nick was about to leap forward, and interrupt the dreadful work which +was in progress under his eyes, when suddenly a new inspiration came to +him. +</p> +<p> +With a bound as noiseless as a tiger's, he was at the top of the stairs. +In another instant he stood beside the sheeted form upon the slab. +</p> +<p> +He withdrew the cloth. +</p> +<p> +The body was Chick's. +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH26"><!-- CH26 --></a> +<h3> + CHAPTER VI. +</h3> + +<h3> +THE LAST LINK IN THE CHAIN. +</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> +Nick's first glance at the body of Chick took a weight like a mountain +of lead off his heart. +</p> +<p> +Chick was bound and gagged. +</p> +<p> +This was enough to make Nick certain that no serious harm had come to +him, but he was instantly made aware of it in another way. +</p> +<p> +Cautiously Chick lifted an eyelid. A less acute observer than Nick would +not have seen the movement. +</p> +<p> +The eye opened wide, and then it winked. Chick was all right. +</p> +<p> +"Shall I cut this rope?" asked Nick. +</p> +<p> +Chick spoke straight through the gag with very little trouble. +</p> +<p> +"It isn't necessary," he said. "I can get loose at any moment. Dr. +Jarvis is not an expert at tying knots, though there are some other +things that he understands pretty well." +</p> +<p> +"How did this happen?" +</p> +<p> +"It was a clever trick," said Chick. "He threw some kind of a drug into +my face. If I hadn't known—thanks to your teaching long ago—just what +to do in a case of that kind, I should have gone to sleep in a second. +</p> +<p> +"As it was, the drug made my head swim. But I kept it out of my lungs, +and pulled through. +</p> +<p> +"Of course, I pretended to be unconscious, for I wanted to see what he +would do. He tied me up rather clumsily; gagged me exceedingly well; and +laid me on this slab, after removing a headless body. +</p> +<p> +"He went down into the cellar, and I slipped my bonds and followed him. +I found him getting his furnace ready. +</p> +<p> +"Knowing what he would do, I got back to my downy couch here, pulled the +bed-clothes over me, and waited. +</p> +<p> +"He came back and got the body of my predecessor and took it down +cellar. Of course, he is burning it. Look out! He's coming!" +</p> +<p> +Chick quickly replaced the sheet. +</p> +<p> +Nick could see that beneath it Chick slid his hands again within the +rope that had been used to bind him. +</p> +<p> +Then Nick sprang toward the door of the doctor's room, pushed out a case +of instruments from the wall, and got behind it. +</p> +<p> +Dr. Jarvis went to Chick's side, lifted the sheet, and looked at the +quiet face. +</p> +<p> +Then he felt of the rope, but it seemed to be tight. +</p> +<p> +He replaced the sheet, and came toward the door beside which Nick was +concealed. +</p> +<p> +No sooner had Jarvis passed within the room than Nick came out of his +hiding-place and followed the doctor. +</p> +<p> +Jarvis was engaged in putting a few articles into a small bag. His back +was toward the door, but he heard Nick's entrance and turned quickly. +</p> +<p> +He sprang to his feet with a cry. Then his hands fell to his sides. He +was the picture of despair. +</p> +<p> +"I see," said Nick, "you were preparing to run away." +</p> +<p> +Jarvis made no answer. +</p> +<p> +"That would have been the most foolish thing you could do," said Nick. +"It would have been equivalent to confession." +</p> +<p> +"And why not?" groaned the doctor. +</p> +<p> +"Do you admit your guilt?" +</p> +<p> +"No, I do not," said Jarvis firmly; "but everything is against me." +</p> +<p> +"Well, we will consider that subject later. What did you intend to do +with my friend yonder?" +</p> +<p> +He pointed through the open door toward Chick. +</p> +<p> +"Nothing," said Jarvis. "I intended simply to leave him there. He would +not have been discovered till I had got a good start." +</p> +<p> +"I believe that you did not intend to injure him," said Nick. "I suppose +he might as well get up now." +</p> +<p> +He uttered a peculiar call. Chick instantly sat up under the sheet. Then +he threw it aside, got down from the slab, and advanced toward Nick and +Jarvis, removing his gag and bonds as he did so. +</p> +<p> +Jarvis regarded this performance with wonder. +</p> +<p> +"You should take some lessons in tying knots," said Nick. +</p> +<p> +"And now," he continued, "we will take you to my house." +</p> +<p> +"Arrest me?" +</p> +<p> +"I would hardly call it by that name, unless you prefer it." +</p> +<p> +"But I am innocent." +</p> +<p> +"That question we will pass for the present. There is one link wanting +in the chain of evidence against you. I shall supply that link, and then +we will see what comes of it." +</p> +<p> +With a hasty movement, Dr. Jarvis took a little vial from his pocket, +and raised it toward his lips. +</p> +<p> +But Nick had been watching. He struck the vial from the doctor's hand, +and it went flying through the window. +</p> +<p> +"If you will give me your word of honor not to attempt suicide again," +said Nick, calmly, "I will not handcuff you." +</p> +<p> +Jarvis hung his head. +</p> +<p> +"Your word will bind you for three days, no more," said Nick. +</p> +<p> +"I promise," said the doctor. +</p> +<p> +"Remove your dressing-gown and cap," said Nick. +</p> +<p> +Jarvis complied with the request, and Nick received the articles from +his hands. Leaving the care of the prisoner to Chick, he carried the +dressing-gown to the window. +</p> +<p> +"Ah!" said he, "you have torn the dressing-gown." +</p> +<p> +"Where?" asked the doctor. +</p> +<p> +"It is ripped under the arms," Nick replied, "and the cloth is strained +beside each shoulder seam on the back." +</p> +<p> +"I was not aware of it," said Jarvis. +</p> +<p> +"Put it on again," said Nick, and the doctor obeyed. +</p> +<p> +Nick studied his figure carefully. He made Jarvis assume a number of +positions, and at last seemed satisfied. +</p> +<p> +Chick was not possessed of the information to fully understand these +maneuvers, but he knew by his chief's manner that the subject was of the +first importance. +</p> +<p> +After the doctor had been clothed properly for the street he was taken +to Nick's home in a closed carriage. +</p> +<p> +Then Nick and Chick had a few words in private. +</p> +<p> +"That last link which I spoke of," said Nick, "must be supplied by you." +</p> +<p> +Chick nodded. +</p> +<p> +"The land back of St. Agnes' Hospital, as you know is a sort of lovers' +walk," Nick continued. +</p> +<p> +"It is." +</p> +<p> +"If the body of Patrick Deever was hidden there, and was removed to the +garden by night, somebody may have seen it done." +</p> +<p> +"And that somebody," said Chick, "may not come forward without being +urged." +</p> +<p> +"Right." +</p> +<p> +"I think I can manage it, if there is any witness. Of course, there may +be none." +</p> +<p> +"I will bet you a dollar to a doughnut that such a witness appears +whether you get him or not." +</p> +<p> +Chick looked hurt for a minute, and then he caught a gleam in Nick's +eye. +</p> +<p> +"I begin to understand you," said he. +</p> +<p> +"Your plan," Nick went on, "is to circulate among the young men who +whisper their love in the paths of that particular region. Find who was +there on Monday night. It is not easy, but you can do it." +</p> +<p> +"I will get about it at once," said Chick. +</p> +<p> +After this conversation, Nick went to see Lawrence Deever. +</p> +<p> +"Poor Pat's body is in the house," said he, meeting Nick at the door; +"but I have kept my promise to you." +</p> +<p> +"Nobody knows of it, then?" +</p> +<p> +"Not from me or any of my friends." +</p> +<p> +"That is as it should be." +</p> +<p> +"I begin to believe," said Deever, "your idea is to spring this thing on +old Jarvis complete. Make the case iron-clad; tie him up double and +twisted; and then let it come out in the papers." +</p> +<p> +His eyes shone with malignity. +</p> +<p> +"I was surprised," he continued, "to see nothing about it in the papers +this morning. Why do you suppose that fellow skipped out of the garden? +Who was he, anyway?" +</p> +<p> +"Didn't you know him?" said Nick, who always escaped a falsehood when he +could. +</p> +<p> +"No, I didn't." +</p> +<p> +"He may have run away, because he couldn't stand that horrible sight any +longer, and he may have been ashamed to confess that his nerves were so +weak." +</p> +<p> +"Perhaps. It doesn't matter. What is to be done to-day?" +</p> +<p> +"The only evidence I now require," said Nick, "is something to show that +your brother's body was hidden in the vacant lot and brought into the +garden by Jarvis." +</p> +<p> +"Why do you need that? But never mind; I will see what can be done." +</p> +<p> +They separated then, and until evening Nick saw neither Deever nor +Chick. +</p> +<p> +But about six o'clock he met Chick by appointment in Deever's house. +Deever himself was not present. +</p> +<p> +Chick was accompanied by a young man and a pretty young woman. +</p> +<p> +He presented them as Margaret Allen and Henry Prescott. Both lived on +One Hundred and Thirty-fifth street, Prescott in a boarding-house and +Margaret with her father. +</p> +<p> +By the secret sign Chick communicated his belief—founded, of course, +upon investigations which he had made—that Prescott and Miss Allen were +present to give true testimony. +</p> +<p> +"These two witnesses," said he, in conclusion, "will supply the only +link in the chain which has been missing up to this time." +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH27"><!-- CH27 --></a> +<h3> + CHAPTER VII. +</h3> + +<h3> +THE MAN WITH THE SACK. +</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> +"I will have your story first," said Nick to Prescott. "I will not +subject Miss Allen to the annoyance of questioning, unless it is +necessary." +</p> +<p> +"We are engaged to be married," said Prescott, beginning his story with +evident embarrassment. +</p> +<p> +"And the course of true love does not run smooth," said Nick, with a +smile. +</p> +<p> +"No, it does not," responded Prescott. "Her father is strongly opposed +to our marriage. However, as both of us are of age, it will take place. +</p> +<p> +"We have been obliged to meet secretly, and we have frequently walked, +in the evening, in the grove back of St. Agnes' Hospital. +</p> +<p> +"We were there Monday evening, and we remained much later than we should +have done. We had many things to talk about. +</p> +<p> +"It must have been midnight when we left the place. As we were walking +slowly up one of the paths we became aware that a man was approaching +from behind us. +</p> +<p> +"Not wishing to be seen, we stepped aside among the trees and waited. +</p> +<p> +"The man came on up the path, and by the moonlight which struggled +through the branches of the trees we saw that he was carrying a great +sack. +</p> +<p> +"I instantly suspected that some crime was afoot. My first thought was +that this was a grave-robber carrying a body. +</p> +<p> +"I supposed that he had brought the body to the shore of the river in a +boat, and was carrying it to one of the doctors in the hospital. +</p> +<p> +"We allowed him to pass us, and then we followed him. He went to the +wall surrounding the hospital grounds. +</p> +<p> +"Choosing a place where there is a bank of rubbish against the wall, he +lifted the sack to the top. Then I knew that it could not contain a dead +body." +</p> +<p> +"How did you know that?" asked Nick. +</p> +<p> +"Because he lifted it so easily. What was in the sack I do not know, of +course. There was some crooked business about it, I have no doubt, but +it was not a body that he had there, because, by the way he handled it, +I saw that it could not weigh over fifty pounds, and the sack was too +large to have only a child's body in it." +</p> +<p> +"What did you do?" +</p> +<p> +"We watched him lay the sack on top of the wall, and then climb up. He +dropped the sack into the garden, and let himself down from the wall. We +paid no further attention to the matter. +</p> +<p> +"It made Margaret very nervous, but I proved to her, by the weight of +the sack, that her suspicions regarding its contents were unfounded." +</p> +<p> +"Did you know the man?" asked Nick. +</p> +<p> +"I hardly like to answer that question." +</p> +<p> +"Why not?" +</p> +<p> +"I am afraid of doing somebody an injustice." +</p> +<p> +"You have a suspicion, then?" +</p> +<p> +"I have." +</p> +<p> +"Was the man Dr. Jarvis?" +</p> +<p> +"I cannot say. I do not know him." +</p> +<p> +"But his dress—" +</p> +<p> +"I see that it is useless to try to conceal anything from you," said +Prescott. "The man wore the peculiar cap and dressing-gown which +everybody knows for the doctor's." +</p> +<p> +"There is no doubt about it," said Miss Allen. "It was Dr. Jarvis." +</p> +<p> +"I thank you very much for your evidence," said Nick. +</p> +<p> +"But why do you want it?" asked Prescott. "I have heard a rumor that +Patrick Deever has disappeared. This is his brother's house. Is the +doctor suspected of having murdered him?" +</p> +<p> +"He is," said Nick. +</p> +<p> +"Then I see the bearing of my story upon the case; but I assure you that +that bag did not contain Patrick Deever's body. It was too light." +</p> +<p> +Prescott spoke with decision. Out of the corner of his eyes Nick could +see Chick struggling with this phase of the evidence. Chick was too good +a detective not to know that one little fact of that kind is worth a +hundred that lie too near the surface. +</p> +<p> +"You can do me only one more favor," said Nick, addressing Prescott and +Miss Allen. "Do not under any circumstances mention what you have seen +without my permission." +</p> +<p> +"You can trust us for that," said Prescott, with a smile, "we are by no +means anxious to have our connection with this affair made public." +</p> +<p> +The two witnesses withdrew, leaving Nick and Chick together. They were +silent for several minutes, and then Nick said: +</p> +<p> +"Well, Chick, the chain is complete." +</p> +<p> +"It is," was Chick's reply, "and in all my experience I have never seen +a plainer case made out against any man." +</p> +<p> +"You mean from a jury's point of view." +</p> +<p> +"Certainly." +</p> +<p> +"What do you think of it?" +</p> +<p> +"I wish you'd tell me just what you think of it, Nick." +</p> +<p> +"I guess we shouldn't be found to differ a great deal," said Nick, with +a smile. "This is my view—but hold on. Here comes Deever." +</p> +<p> +Indeed Deever was at that moment entering the house. +</p> +<p> +He was accompanied by a young man of a very unpleasant appearance. To +Nick's eyes he seemed a born thief. +</p> +<p> +"Well," said Deever, entering the room, "here we are." +</p> +<p> +"You mean that the case is complete," said Nick. +</p> +<p> +"Absolutely." +</p> +<p> +"This witness whom you have brought supplies the link that was wanting?" +</p> +<p> +"He does." +</p> +<p> +"I shall be glad to hear his story." +</p> +<p> +"His name," said Deever, "is John Flint." +</p> +<p> +"Where are you employed, Mr. Flint?" asked Nick. +</p> +<p> +"I ain't doing nothing just now," said Flint. +</p> +<p> +"What do you know about the disappearance of Mr. Deever's brother?" +</p> +<p> +"I don't know anything about it, but I saw something Monday night which +Mr. Deever wants me to swear to." +</p> +<p> +"And you are willing?" +</p> +<p> +"Yes, I am willing; but I don't want to get into court if I can help +it." +</p> +<p> +"I told him," explained Deever, "that we would try to keep him out of +court. He thinks it might lose him a job he wants to get. There's +evidence enough without his, the Lord knows." +</p> +<p> +"I will hear you now," said Nick. +</p> +<p> +"The way of it was this," said Flint. "Monday night, about midnight, I +was down in the vacant lot of St. Agnes' Hospital. I was just looking +for a fellow I heard had gone down that way." +</p> +<p> +"That was Klein," said Deever. +</p> +<p> +"I walked up the street, and had just turned the corner of the wall +when I saw a man coming up under the trees. He was carrying a big bag. +</p> +<p> +"I kept out of sight, and watched him. I thought at first that there was +some crooked work, but the man with the bag didn't seem to be afraid. +</p> +<p> +"He came up to the wall in a place where there was some rubbish piled +against it, and lifted the bag on to the top of the wall. Then he +climbed up himself and let the bag down into the garden. That's all I +know about it." +</p> +<p> +"Did you notice how the man was dressed?" +</p> +<p> +"He had on a loose, long coat—a queer sort of thing—and a little round +cap on his head." +</p> +<p> +"That will do," said Nick. "I am much obliged. It will not be necessary, +I think, for you to testify to these facts in court." +</p> +<p> +"There's enough without it," said Deever. "You'll take Jarvis to +headquarters now, won't you ?" +</p> +<p> +"Well, no," said Nick. "I hadn't thought of it." +</p> +<p> +"I'll be doubly and eternally—" +</p> +<p> +Deever's wrath and surprise choked him. +</p> +<p> +"Never mind," he said, at last, mastering his rage. "Come along, John. +And you get out!" +</p> +<p> +"With all the pleasure in life," said Nick, quietly walking toward the +door. +</p> +<p> +Chick had slipped away at Deever's approach. Nick met him outside. +</p> +<p> +"What did Deever's witness say?" asked Chick. +</p> +<p> +"He told exactly the same story as Prescott." +</p> +<p> +"I'm surprised to hear it." +</p> +<p> +"Why?" +</p> +<p> +"Prescott, in my opinion, told the truth." +</p> +<p> +"So I believe." +</p> +<p> +"And Deever's man—I got a glimpse of him—struck me as a liar in the +first degree. I took him for a man Deever had hired, in order to hurry +up his vengeance on Dr. Jarvis." +</p> +<p> +"But as they told the same story, and Prescott can have no connection +with Deever or the other man, it must be true." +</p> +<p> +"Right; but the meaning of it—" +</p> +<p> +Chick paused. Suddenly a flash came from his eyes. +</p> +<p> +"I have it!" he cried. +</p> +<p> +"That's good," said Nick. "Now, if you'll follow Deever, I'll go back to +Dr. Jarvis." +</p> +<p> +Accordingly Nick hurried home. He found Jarvis in a state of great +mental anguish. +</p> +<p> +"It is an extraordinary fate," he cried, as soon as Nick appeared, +"which has twice brought these Deevers into my life to make me +miserable." +</p> +<p> +"You have had to do with them before?" asked Nick. +</p> +<p> +"Yes, and in a way that is beyond belief." +</p> +<p> +"Explain yourself." +</p> +<p> +"This man, Lawrence Deever," said the doctor, with a groan, "had the +incredible presumption to make love to my daughter." +</p> +<p> +Nick could not help smiling. +</p> +<p> +"What did you do about it?" he asked. +</p> +<p> +"I sent him about his business in a hurry." +</p> +<p> +"Was that all?" +</p> +<p> +"No; and I'm ashamed to say it. There is no possible way of accounting +for the conduct of women. My daughter actually took this fellow's part." +</p> +<p> +"But nothing came of it?" +</p> +<p> +"No, sir. I am master of my own household." +</p> +<p> +"So your daughter really loved this man?" +</p> +<p> +"No; it was only her obstinacy. They became acquainted in some way. I +don't know how. The fellow called at my house. I made my daughter +promise never to speak to him, but it was a most unpleasant affair +throughout. I thought Deever would murder me. +</p> +<p> +"It seems strange, perhaps, that I should speak of it in the midst of +the terrors that surround me, and yet I can't help thinking of the whole +affair as one freak of fate." +</p> +<p> +"And now tell me the truth about his brother and yourself," said Nick +earnestly. +</p> +<p> +"I will," replied the doctor. +</p> +<p> +At this moment a messenger was announced. Nick knew that the matter must +be of the greatest importance, or he would not have been interrupted in +his conference with his prisoner. +</p> +<p> +It proved to be a message from Superintendent Byrnes asking Nick to come +to his house as soon as he could. +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH28"><!-- CH28 --></a> +<h3> + CHAPTER VIII. +</h3> + +<h3> +BEFORE THE SUPERINTENDENT. +</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> +As Nick expected, he met Chick outside Superintendent Byrnes's house. +</p> +<p> +"Go to Jarvis," said Nick. "He is going to tell the whole story. +Personate me in this disguise." +</p> +<p> +Chick nodded and vanished. +</p> +<p> +Within the house Nick found Deever in the superintendent's presence. +Deever's face was red, and he looked like a man who had been kicking a +stone wall until he is tired. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Deever has lodged a complaint against you, Mr. Colton," said the +superintendent, with a twinkle in his eye. +</p> +<p> +"What's the matter?" asked Nick. +</p> +<p> +"He says that you ought to have had this man Jarvis electrocuted by this +time." +</p> +<p> +"I have proceeded with great caution," said Nick. +</p> +<p> +"Yes, you have," said Deever. "You have been very careful to shield +Jarvis at every step. He's a rich man, Jarvis is!" +</p> +<p> +"Deever," said the superintendent, sternly, "I have delayed answering +your complaint until this time because I wished to have Mr. Colton +present to hear what I said. +</p> +<p> +"And, now, what I have to say is this—don't you venture to hint at the +shadow of a suspicion of his integrity. I am entirely satisfied with Mr. +Colton's conduct. I sustain him absolutely. I have put this case in +his hands, and there it stays." +</p> +<p> +Deever quailed at these words, but his natural obstinacy came to his +aid. +</p> +<p> +"I can get a warrant for Jarvis' arrest," he said. +</p> +<p> +"Go ahead and do it, and make a fool of yourself," replied the +superintendent. +</p> +<p> +"With your permission," said Nick, "I advise Mr. Deever to remain here. +Meanwhile we will send a messenger for the witness, John Flint, whose +testimony seems to me to be of the greatest importance." +</p> +<p> +"Proceed just as you wish," said Byrnes. +</p> +<p> +The messenger was summoned, and dispatched. +</p> +<p> +While they waited for him Nick reviewed in the presence of the +superintendent and Deever the evidence against Jarvis. +</p> +<p> +Some of it, as the reader knows, was news to Deever. He seemed surprised +to find the case supported and strengthened by the man whom he suspected +of trying to weaken it. +</p> +<p> +"I call that plain enough," said he, when Nick had finished. "I will +withdraw my charge against Mr. Colton, if some action is now taken." +</p> +<p> +"No action will be taken except on his advice," said the superintendent. +</p> +<p> +Deever became excited again. He ran over the evidence, and insisted on +an immediate arrest. +</p> +<p> +Nick said nothing, and the superintendent maintained the calm of an iron +statue. +</p> +<p> +When Deever had exhausted himself, Nick spoke. +</p> +<p> +"I promise you an arrest in one hour," he said. +</p> +<p> +At this moment a card was brought in and handed to the superintendent. +</p> +<p> +"From Chick," he said aside to Nick. "He and Jarvis are waiting. What do +you say?" +</p> +<p> +"Let them come in," said Nick. +</p> +<p> +They were admitted. Chick, as the reader is prepared to learn, appeared +as the exact counterpart of Nick. +</p> +<p> +Deever was struck dumb with astonishment at the sight, and the doctor's +eyes nearly fell out of his head. +</p> +<p> +Byrnes smiled, and muttered "clever." +</p> +<p> +"Which of these two men do you complain of, Mr. Deever?" he asked, +enjoying the man's mystification. +</p> +<p> +But Deever did not reply, except to mutter something about the +interference of the devil in earthly affairs. +</p> +<p> +Dr. Jarvis, with some effort, recovered some portion of his composure. +</p> +<p> +"Well, sir," said the superintendent, addressing him, "I suppose that +you have something to say to me." +</p> +<p> +"I have, sir," replied Jarvis; "and no man could be charged with a more +painful disclosure." +</p> +<p> +"Speak up." +</p> +<p> +"I am guilty of the murder of Patrick Deever." +</p> +<p> +This confession produced no perceptible effect upon Nick, though the +reader cannot have failed to perceive that the great detective had been +working with a conviction of the doctor's innocence. +</p> +<p> +Of all the persons in the room, Deever exhibited the strongest emotion. +He gasped, sprang to his feet, and then sat down again heavily. +</p> +<p> +"What do you say to that?" he exclaimed, turning to Nick. +</p> +<p> +"I am waiting to hear Dr. Jarvis' story," Nick replied. +</p> +<p> +"Yes," said the superintendent, "let us hear all about it." +</p> +<p> +Dr. Jarvis tried to speak, but the words would not come. He staggered +and fell half-fainting into a chair. +</p> +<p> +"I cannot tell it," he said, when he had somewhat revived. "Wait till I +am stronger." +</p> +<p> +"Perhaps that will not be necessary," said Nick. +</p> +<p> +"No, no; why should it?" said the prisoner, in a faint voice. "I +confess, and that is the end of it." +</p> +<p> +"However, we would like to know more fully about this affair," said +Byrnes, and he looked inquiringly at Nick. +</p> +<p> +"Let me tell the story," said Nick to Jarvis. "If I am right, you have +only to nod. That will do for the present occasion. We are not taking +testimony." +</p> +<p> +"But how do you know—" Deever began. +</p> +<p> +The superintendent cut him short. +</p> +<p> +"Proceed, if you please," said he to Nick, and then he fixed his eyes +upon Dr. Jarvis. +</p> +<p> +"In the garden of the hospital," Nick began, "about half-past six +o'clock on the evening of Monday last, you had high words with Patrick +Deever, who was working under your direction." +</p> +<p> +Dr. Jarvis nodded, as Nick paused. +</p> +<p> +"He was somewhat intoxicated, and his language was very abusive. You +replied in violent reproval, and he started forward, as if about to +attack you." +</p> +<p> +Again the doctor made a sign of assent. +</p> +<p> +"You seized a spade—" +</p> +<p> +"It was in my hand," the doctor interrupted, feebly. +</p> +<p> +"That is right; correct me whenever I am in error. You raised the spade +and struck Deever upon the head. +</p> +<p> +"He fell to the ground, and you, bending over him, were horrified to +find that he was dead; or, rather, that he seemed to be. +</p> +<p> +"Exactly how he came to life I do not know, but it must have been while +you were in the midst of your terror, and beginning to wonder what you +would do with the body." +</p> +<p> +"How do you know all this?" asked the doctor, faintly. +</p> +<p> +"It is simply the only explanation of all the facts. The witness Klein +heard the quarrel and the blow. That blow did not fall upon you, and +there was nobody else present but Patrick Deever. +</p> +<p> +"Now, then, he suddenly came to himself. He sprang up. You were amazed. +You advanced toward him. +</p> +<p> +"Believing that you intended to renew the attack, he ran away. He scaled +the garden wall, and fled through the little grove toward the river." +</p> +<p> +"You are reading my mind," exclaimed the doctor, whose amazement acted +as a restorative. +</p> +<p> +"No, I am not. How else could he have got out? On one side was Klein, on +the other St. Nicholas avenue, with many people who would have seen him. +He escaped toward the river." +</p> +<p> +"Then you didn't kill him, after all?" asked the superintendent. +</p> +<p> +"Of the remainder of that fatal affair," said Dr. Jarvis, "I have only +one explanation to give, and that will seem miraculous. +</p> +<p> +"His body was found buried in the garden. I was seen to bury it. I was +seen carrying it there by night. +</p> +<p> +"But upon my soul, I did not know that I did it. The evidence has +convinced me, that is all. +</p> +<p> +"And this is the explanation: Patrick Deever, after escaping from the +grove, must have fallen and died. I must have gone there in my sleep, +have found the body, and brought it back to the garden. +</p> +<p> +"My habit of sleep-walking is well known. I have done things which, from +a scientific point of view, were far more marvelous than this." +</p> +<p> +"Nonsense!" cried Deever; "you were wide enough awake. Superintendent +Byrnes will not swallow that story." +</p> +<p> +"Is it any more wonderful," said Nick, "than what I saw the doctor do in +his laboratory?" +</p> +<p> +The story of that night he had already told to Deever and the +superintendent. +</p> +<p> +"Very little, if any," said Byrnes. +</p> +<p> +"I passed that night, or supposed that I passed it, at my home," said +the doctor. "I took an opiate, and seemed to sleep. But I had dreams of +murder and the hiding of dead bodies. I must have walked. It was fate." +</p> +<p> +"But the wounds upon the body? How about them?" asked Byrnes. +</p> +<p> +"They must have been made while he was pounding the body down into the +earth," said Deever, quickly. +</p> +<p> +Then he turned to Nick. +</p> +<p> +"You promised me an arrest within the hour," he said; "now let me have +the satisfaction of seeing it formally made." +</p> +<p> +"Wait," said Nick. "I have yet several minutes; and here is the witness, +John Flint." +</p> +<p> +The man was brought in as Nick spoke. He seemed to be somewhat alarmed. +</p> +<p> +"What's wanted?" he said. +</p> +<p> +"Only a little formality," said Nick. "As you do not wish to appear in +court, we desire to take your sworn testimony at this time." +</p> +<p> +The sweat stood out on Flint's forehead, but when the proper +arrangements had been made, he took the oath and told his story. +</p> +<p> +"And now, Dr. Jarvis," said Nick, "it is my very agreeable duty to +recommend that you be discharged from custody." +</p> +<p> +"What!" cried Jarvis and Deever in the same breath. +</p> +<p> +"Superintendent Byrnes, I appeal to you," Deever exclaimed. +</p> +<p> +The face of the superintendent was perfectly calm. +</p> +<p> +"The case is in Mr. Colton's hands," he said, simply. +</p> +<p> +"What did you mean, you villain," cried Deever, turning to Nick, "by +talking about an arrest?" +</p> +<p> +"I will keep my promise," said Nick. "I will keep it doubly. There is +yet one minute of the hour. I arrest you, John Flint, for perjury, and +you, Lawrence Deever, for the subornation of perjury." +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH29"><!-- CH29 --></a> +<h3> + CHAPTER IX. +</h3> + +<h3> +THE OTHER SIDE OF A "PLAIN CASE." +</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> +As may readily be supposed, the emotions excited in the various persons +present differed widely. +</p> +<p> +But of the two who rejoiced, it is hard to say that Chick was second to +Dr. Jarvis. The smile which settled down upon Chick's face was beautiful +to behold. He was the image of satisfaction. +</p> +<p> +"I had it right," he said, and hugged himself. +</p> +<p> +The doctor in the meanwhile sat in a sort of delightful trance. Just +what had happened he could not have told anybody, but he perceived that +he had sailed out of all his difficulties. +</p> +<p> +Flint and Deever, of course, protested loudly, but the superintendent +promptly "shut them up." +</p> +<p> +"Don't you dare to say a word, either of you, till I hear the inside of +this whole case," said he. +</p> +<p> +"It is one of the finest examples of the dangers of circumstantial +evidence that I ever saw," said Nick. "No jury that ever sat in the box +would hesitate a moment to convict Dr. Jarvis, yet he is entirely +innocent. +</p> +<p> +"The principal confusion, in my own mind, was a result of the doctor's +belief in his own guilt. That is why he bribed me, believing me to be +Cleary. By the way, here is your five thousand dollars, doctor." +</p> +<p> +He handed the package of bills to the astonished physician, who could +only gasp, "You? you?" +</p> +<p> +"Yes; I played Cleary," said Nick. "That affair and your attempt to +elude Chick amount to no more in the case than that they indicate your +own belief in your guilt. +</p> +<p> +"Now, what is against that belief? In the first place, you would never +have disposed of the body by burial. Having that acid, unknown to +chemists, in which flesh dissolves like water, you would have used it. +</p> +<p> +"Your sleep-walking adventure proved to me what you would have done +under similar conditions, if awake. +</p> +<p> +"Having seen that, I had only to be present at the digging up of the +body to have a fairly reliable theory of your innocence. Why should you, +possessing that acid and that furnace, mutilate a man's face and head +with a spade? You had far better means of preventing an identification. +</p> +<p> +"But the body was buried in the garden. The question is, by whom? To +answer that we pass on to the story of the bringing of the body through +the vacant lot, and hoisting it over the wall. +</p> +<p> +"The testimony of Prescott I regard as reliable. Chick's investigations +satisfy me as to the man's character and motives. Then we acquit the +doctor at once." +</p> +<p> +"This is nonsense," cried Deever. "I will not be silent any longer." +</p> +<p> +"Yes, you will," said Byrnes, in a voice that secured obedience. +</p> +<p> +"It acquits the doctor, I say," continued Nick. "He could never have +lifted that body to the top of the wall. There's a physical +impossibility in the way of a belief that he is guilty. +</p> +<p> +"It takes a very strong man to raise a dead body weighing one hundred +and seventy-five pounds above his head in the manner described by +Prescott. We shall have to work down to that strong man before the case +is proven." +</p> +<p> +Nick looked significantly at Lawrence Deever. That look was understood. +</p> +<p> +"You're a liar and a scoundrel," screamed Deever, beside himself with +rage. +</p> +<p> +He sprang upon Nick. +</p> +<p> +Nobody raised a finger to interfere. +</p> +<p> +The superintendent and Chick calmly awaited the inevitable issue. Flint +dared not go to the assistance of his patron. +</p> +<p> +It was all over in a few seconds. +</p> +<p> +Deever lay upon the floor, fettered, and Nick stood over him. +</p> +<p> +"The strong man in the case has been found," said Nick. "I'm willing to +admit that you gave me hard work, Deever." +</p> +<p> +"So it was he that buried the body?" asked Byrnes. +</p> +<p> +"Yes; I suspected it at once," responded Nick. "It was his deliberate +intention to throw the crime upon Dr. Jarvis. +</p> +<p> +"He stole the doctor's cap and dressing-gown on Monday night, and then +returned them when the job was done. But they showed the signs of hard +usage. +</p> +<p> +"You remember, doctor, that I carefully examined them. It was plain that +a much larger man than the doctor had worn them. +</p> +<p> +"The seams in the back and around the arms were strained, and some of +them had burst. This was only a hint, of course, but it fitted the +remainder of the case. +</p> +<p> +"The strongest indication, however, was the way Deever secured +testimony. I had only to hint that I wanted to cover a point, and he +immediately went out and secured the witness." +</p> +<p> +"But most of them told the truth," said the superintendent. +</p> +<p> +"Yes," Nick admitted, "there he was wonderfully helped by fate. It +happened that he was seen at just the right moments, when he was +playing the part of Dr. Jarvis. +</p> +<p> +"If he hadn't been so impatient it would even have been unnecessary for +him to produce this man Flint. Chick secured real witnesses who were +much better. +</p> +<p> +"And there we come to the point where we are sure about Deever. Prescott +and Miss Allen told the truth. Flint, prompted by Deever, told exactly +the same story. +</p> +<p> +"Therefore, Deever must have known precisely what the facts were. +Investigation convinces me that he could have known them in only one +way—by being himself the person who performed the acts described." +</p> +<p> +"Do you mean to accuse me of murdering my brother?" demanded Deever. +</p> +<p> +"Certainly not," said Nick. "Do you remember the question I asked you on +the first day of the investigation? I asked, 'Who has been murdered?'" +</p> +<p> +"Well?" +</p> +<p> +"I answer that question now. Nobody has been murdered. Your brother is +alive. There is nothing the matter with him, except a scalp wound. The +body found was a substitute which you procured. It was you who made the +wounds with the spade." +</p> +<p> +"This is all bare assertion," cried Deever, who, in irons, sat upon the +floor with his back against a chair. "You cannot prove what you say." +</p> +<p> +"Let me first explain how the trick was done," said Nick, coolly. "Your +brother, after he had somewhat recovered from the effects of the blow he +had received, went to your house. +</p> +<p> +"He wished you to help him get revenge upon Dr. Jarvis. You had your own +grudge against him on account of your unsuccessful suit for his +daughter. +</p> +<p> +"You saw the chance of a deeper revenge than your brother had any idea +of. You then planned this whole conspiracy. He was to go away forever. +You were to remain, and make this charge against the doctor." +</p> +<p> +"It is an infernal lie," shrieked Deever. "Where is my brother? I demand +that you produce him." +</p> +<p> +"Your brother is now hidden in your house at Nyack. It was vacant. You +told him to go there, until you could make arrangements to get him +safely away. As to the body, you bought it of a grave-robber." +</p> +<p> +"How do you pretend to know that?" asked Deever, scornfully. +</p> +<p> +"As to the body, I can produce the man who sold it. As to your brother, +I know where he has gone, because no other course was practicable; and +because I have had word that he is there." +</p> +<p> +"I defy you to prove it," cried Deever. "I am willing to let the +question of my guilt or innocence rest on that event. He is not there." +</p> +<p> +There was a peculiar light of triumph in Deever's eyes as he spoke. It +did not escape Nick's observation. +</p> +<p> +The shrewd detective saw at a glance that Deever believed his brother to +have already escaped. +</p> +<p> +Could it be possible? In any event, Nick would not evade the other's +challenge. +</p> +<p> +He felt that his reputation was at stake, but he did not hesitate. +</p> +<p> +"If I do not produce him in twenty-four hours," said Nick, "I will +withdraw my charge against you." +</p> + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<a name="CH30"><!-- CH30 --></a> +<h3> + CHAPTER X. +</h3> + +<h3> +NICK'S REPUTATION AT STAKE. +</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> +As Nick made the bold assertion of his power to produce Patrick Deever +alive, both Chick and the superintendent looked at him with something as +near doubt as anybody who knew Nick Carter could feel in any of his +statements. +</p> +<p> +They both saw that Deever felt sure of his brother's escape, and they +could not help seeing that there was many chances in favor of it. +</p> +<p> +But Nick was undismayed. He put his trust in Patsy's fidelity. +</p> +<p> +"I shall hold you and Flint under arrest," said Superintendent Byrnes to +Deever. "Dr. Jarvis, you may go when you wish." +</p> +<p> +Nick, Chick and Dr. Jarvis left the room, after the last-named had +expressed his thanks to those concerned in his deliverance. +</p> +<p> +Nick went at once to Nyack. It was very late when he reached there. +</p> +<p> +He made his way to the house of Lawrence Deever, which stood some +distance from the centre of the town. +</p> +<p> +There was no sign of Patsy about the place. The house seemed to be +deserted. +</p> +<p> +Nick easily effected an entrance. He searched the house thoroughly. +</p> +<p> +There were signs of the recent presence of Patrick Deever. He had done +some rude cooking. The remnants of the food which he had prepared were +visible. +</p> +<p> +But the man himself was not to be found. The method of his exit, +however, Nick discovered. +</p> +<p> +A window in the end of the house, farthest from the street, was wide +open, and beneath it, with the aid of his lantern, Nick found the +foot-prints of a man who had leaped from the window. +</p> +<p> +Unquestionably that man was Patrick Deever. +</p> +<p> +The footprints could be traced a little way. They led toward a hedge +which separated the property from a large, vacant tract south of it. +</p> +<p> +Nick could see where some person had recently broken through this hedge. +And here he made a more important discovery, which gladdened his eyes. +</p> +<p> +Beside the hedge were Deever's foot-prints, and another's. The second +must be Patsy's. +</p> +<p> +Passing through, Nick saw a wide field with a grove at its end. The +foot-prints were very faint, but it seemed that Deever had started in +the direction of that grove. +</p> +<p> +Nick hurried thither. He searched through the little clump of trees with +the utmost minuteness, till at last, on the farther side, in a bit of +soft ground, he found the foot-prints. +</p> +<p> +They still led in the direction of the river. Following such faint clews +as he could find, Nick continued the search till dawn broke. +</p> +<hr> +<p> +"Uncle Jimmy" Redwood has boats to let in Nyack. He has a boat-house on +the river bank from which a flight of steps leads down to a long "float" +extending into the river. +</p> +<p> +His boats are moored to that float, or anchored near the end of it. He +has several fine, fast cat-boats, of which he is very proud. +</p> +<p> +Uncle Jimmy was overhauling his boats about six o'clock on the morning +after the events just described, when a man, whom he had never seen +before, came somewhat hurriedly down the steps, and said he wished to +hire a cat-boat. +</p> +<p> +"I want the fastest boat in the fleet," he said. +</p> +<p> +Uncle Jimmy looked the stranger over carefully. There was a bandage +around his head. Uncle Jimmy suspected that something was wrong, but +that, after all, might not be any of his business. +</p> +<p> +"Get the Clio ready for this man," Uncle Jimmy shouted to an assistant +at the far end of the float. +</p> +<p> +"Ay, ay, sir," said the man. +</p> +<p> +The Clio was lying with her nose against the float, and there was +nothing to do but hoist her sail. +</p> +<p> +However, the stranger seemed impatient of even this delay. +</p> +<p> +When the sail was up, he jumped into the boat, and prepared to get under +way. +</p> +<p> +But Uncle Jimmy's assistant had hold of the "painter," or rope, by which +the Clio had been fastened to the wharf. +</p> +<p> +"Avast there!" he said. "Mr. Redwood don't let his boats go out that +way." +</p> +<p> +"What do you mean?" demanded the stranger with the bandaged head. +</p> +<p> +"He won't let you go out alone. How does he know that you will bring the +boat back?" +</p> +<p> +"Nonsense. I want to go by myself." +</p> +<p> +"He wants to take her out himself," called the assistant to Uncle Jimmy, +who stood near the end of the float talking with another tarry old salt. +</p> +<p> +"He can't, and that settles it," said Uncle Jimmy. +</p> +<p> +"Shall I go with him?" asked the assistant, who held the Clio's painter. +</p> +<p> +"No; let Dick, here, go." +</p> +<p> +Dick, thus delegated to the duty of skipper, rolled down the float with +the gait of an old sailor, and got aboard the Clio. +</p> +<p> +The stranger with the sore head grumbled, but he could not help +himself. He insisted, however, on taking the helm as the Clio moved out +from the float. +</p> +<p> +She was scarcely a hundred yards away when a young man, panting with +haste, rushed down the stairs from the boat-house. The reader would have +known Patsy by his activity, despite his disguise. +</p> +<p> +"I want a boat," he cried out. +</p> +<p> +"Quite a run o' business for so early in the morning," said Uncle Jimmy, +calmly. "What sort o' boat do you want?" +</p> +<p> +"I want one that can overhaul the one that just left the float." +</p> +<p> +"I ain't got it," said Uncle Jimmy. "The Curlew is about even with her, +but they ain't one o' them that can outsail her." +</p> +<p> +"Then give me the Curlew, and do it in a hurry," cried Patsy. +</p> +<p> +"By whose orders, I'd like to know?" +</p> +<p> +Patsy was in no mood for trifling. He showed Uncle Jimmy in less than +two seconds that obedience would pay well. +</p> +<p> +The Curlew also was hauled in to the float, and Patsy was aboard of her +and clear of his moorings before anybody could stop him, or even get in +with him. +</p> +<p> +A brisk southerly wind was blowing in from the sea. +</p> +<p> +By the course which the Clio was taking Patsy guessed that it was the +intention of her occupants to "beat" down the river against the wind. +</p> +<p> +Meanwhile, in the Clio, the man with the bandaged head was in a fever of +excitement. He crowded the boat for all she could stand, but he seemed, +on the whole, to be a clever boatman. +</p> +<p> +The old salt watched him critically for a few minutes, and then seemed +to be satisfied. +</p> +<p> +Presently he began to notice the anxious glances which the man at the +helm cast over his shoulder at the pursuing boat. +</p> +<p> +"You seem to be anxious to outrun that feller," he said at last. +</p> +<p> +Patrick Deever, for it was he, nodded his head and set his teeth. The +old sailor looked long and earnestly at their pursuer. +</p> +<p> +"Wall, ye ain't doin' of it," he said, at last. +</p> +<p> +"Is she gaining?" asked Deever, nervously. +</p> +<p> +"She be," said the tar, calmly. +</p> +<p> +"I thought this was the fastest of Redwood's boats." +</p> +<p> +"So she be," was the answer; "but the Curlew's overhauling her this +time." +</p> +<p> +"What's the matter?" +</p> +<p> +"The other feller's the best sailor, that's what's the matter. I don't +know who he is, but he's a skipper from away back." +</p> +<p> +For some minutes Deever kept silent. From time to time he glanced +astern. +</p> +<p> +There was no doubt about it; the Curlew was gaining. +</p> +<p> +"Can you get any more speed out of her?" he said at last, in +desperation. +</p> +<p> +"Reckon I kin," said the tar. "Shall I take her?" +</p> +<p> +"Yes, and if you outrun them I'll give you a hundred dollars." +</p> +<p> +"All right." +</p> +<p> +The grizzled seaman took the helm. In ten minutes it began to look blue +for Patsy and his chief. The Clio had reasserted her superiority. She +was slowly dropping the Curlew astern. +</p> +<p> +When they tacked on the other side of the river the Clio had doubled her +lead. In an hour the Curlew was half a mile behind. +</p> +<p> +"Where are ye bound?" asked the old tar. +</p> +<p> +"There's a vessel anchored in the harbor. I'll show you where. You're +to put me aboard and keep still about it. The hundred is yours, and as +much more to go with it." +</p> +<p> +They were nearly abreast the Battery, when suddenly the police-boat was +seen heading toward them. +</p> +<p> +"That's the 'Patrol,'" said Deever. "Give her a wide berth." +</p> +<p> +Instead of complying, the boatman put his helm over, and stood straight +toward the tug. +</p> +<p> +"Here!" cried Deever; "what does this mean?" +</p> +<p> +"It means," said the boatman, "that you're my prisoner, Patrick Deever. +I am Nick Carter." +</p> +<p> +Ten minutes later they were both aboard the police-boat, and in another +hour Nick had redeemed his pledge to produce Patrick Deever alive before +the superintendent. +</p> +<p> +"I'd have had him, anyway," said Patsy, afterward. "He turned on me in +the woods up there in Nyack and knocked me down, and tied me. +</p> +<p> +"He thought I was done, but I wasn't. I was just going for a tug when +you ran him aboard the police-boat. +</p> +<p> +"At any rate," he said in conclusion, "it's some satisfaction to know +that it was you, and not he, that outsailed me." +</p> +<p> +The two Deevers were punished in due course for conspiracy, and Flint +for perjury. +</p> +<p> +"On the whole," said Superintendent Byrnes to Nick, "I think that was +about the prettiest work I ever saw. The most puzzling thing in the +world, I've noticed, is apt to be a perfectly plain case." +</p> +<p> </p> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11989 ***</div> +</body> +</html> + + |