CHAPTER III.
HOW NICK FOUND THE JEWELS.
It certainly looked like sheer recklessness for this thief, whoever hemight be, to play his game on Nick almost at the very moment when thegreat detective appeared upon the scene.
Shrewd as Nick was, he had not expected this. His first thought, as thereader knows, was that it was a bold challenge, the defiance of a nervycriminal who thought himself absolutely safe from detection.
But a moment's reflection made this seem less probable.
Was it not more natural to suppose that this event proved that thedetective was unknown to the thief?
Such being the case, Colonel Richmond, his nephew and Mrs. Pond wereacquitted at the start.
It may seem ridiculous to suspect them, in any case, but so strange wasthe nature of this affair that Nick gave nobody the credit of certaininnocence.
Colonel Richmond was certainly very nearly crazy on one point. He mightbe so much of a lunatic as to commit these robberies from simpledelusion. Or he might wish to prove to his daughter that the diamondswere not rightfully hers.
Mrs. Pond might be pawning them for small extravagances which she wasafraid to have known.
As to Horace Richmond, there was no motive which seemed plausible. Thevalue of the articles taken was so small as to make the game not worthwhile for a man in his position.
And it was perfectly certain that no professional thief or dishonestservant was doing the work.
If such a person had been in the game, he would not have taken one ofthose diamond pins; he would have taken all three.
It was impossible to lose sight of the fact that the Stevenses would bethe real gainers, if this ghost business led Colonel Richmond to insistthat his daughter should give up the jewels.
Mrs. Stevens and her daughter could not be doing the job personally, butthey might have a secret agent among the servants, or more probablyconcealed in some secret recess of the strange old house.
Nick resolved to go to see Mrs. and Miss Stevens without delay. He hopedto judge by their conduct whether they knew anything about therobberies.
These thoughts passed through his mind in a flash.
He quickly searched the room to be sure that the thief was not concealedin it, and then descended to the main hall. The outer door was open, andColonel Richmond and his daughter were standing on the steps.
Just as Nick joined them Horace Richmond strolled up. They all stoodlooking at a carriage which was coming up the driveway.
"Why, it's Mrs. Stevens," exclaimed Mrs. Pond. "I thought you said shedid not come here any more."
"She hasn't been here in some time," responded the colonel. "I havethought that she avoided us because of this matter of the jewels."
Nothing more could be said on the subject, for at that moment thecarriage drew up before the door.
Colonel Richmond advanced courteously and assisted Mrs. Stevens toalight.
Nick noticed at once that she was much agitated.
Colonel Richmond asked her into the house, but she said that shepreferred to sit on the veranda. She had come on business, and wouldstay but a moment.
She evidently wished to speak to the colonel privately, and so theothers stepped aside; but Nick's eye was upon the woman every moment.
Very few words had passed between them, when the colonel uttered a cryand called to Nick.
The detective instantly advanced. He made a sign to Richmond, but it wasnot understood, and the colonel introduced Nick by his right name.
"Here is an extraordinary thing, Mr. Carter," he said. "We now haveproof positive that this affair is not the work of mortal hands."
"What is that?" asked Nick.
"The jewels have appeared!"
"Where?"
"In Mrs. Stevens' house. They have been mysteriously transported therewithout human aid."
"I should be glad to have that proven," said Nick.
"It shall be," said the colonel. "Tell your story, Mrs. Stevens, if youplease."
"It is very simple," she said. "This noon, when I returned to my roomafter lunch, I found upon my dressing-table certain pieces of jewelrywhich I recognized as having belonged to the late Miss Lavina Richmond.
"I knew them well. Nothing that I can imagine could have surprised memore than to find them there. I have no explanation to offer. I can'texplain how it happened."
Nick could explain it very easily, at least so far as the appearance ofthe jewels in that particular place was concerned. It looked like anatural development of the plot. But his face expressed no emotion as heasked:
"Who had access to that room?"
"Nobody," replied Mrs. Stevens. "It was locked."
"Is it customary for you to lock your bed-room door when you go tolunch?"
"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.
"All the doors were locked. I had the key to one of them. The otherswere on the inside of the locks.
"When I went to lunch the jewels were not there. When I returned theywere there. That is all that I know about it. Here they are."
She drew from her pocket as she spoke a small cardboard box.
The woman was making heroic efforts to be calm, but it seemed as if shemight either faint or go into hysterics at any moment.
Was she playing a game that was too hard for her?
That was the question for Nick to answer; and yet, when he looked atthis gentle, refined woman, he hardly had the heart to suspect her ofany dishonesty.
"I will show you the jewels," she said, struggling to command her voice,"you can then see whether they are all here."
Her trembling hands could hardly find the string which was tied aboutthe box.
While she pulled at it she kept talking as if she must do it to relieveher overburdened mind. She described the articles of jewelry which werein the box.
"They are the very ones," said the colonel.
As he uttered the words the string was loosened, and the cover fell offthe box.
There was a sharp cry. It came from Mrs. Pond, who, with Horace, hadapproached during this scene.
"Why, there's one of my diamond pins!" she exclaimed. "How on earth didit come to be there?"
Well, if Mrs. Pond was surprised, she wasn't a bit more so than NickCarter.
The pin referred to was the one which had been stolen from the cushionin Mrs. Pond's dressing-room not ten minutes before.
"Why, this is impossible," cried Mrs. Pond. "I left that pin with thetwo others like it in my room."
Without saying another word, she turned and ran into the house.
Almost immediately her voice was heard in the hall.
"It's gone!" she cried. "It's been taken out of my bedroom."
She appeared at the door with a very white face.
But her excitement was nothing to that of Mrs. Stevens.
Nick dropped the role of detective and assumed that of doctor in lessthan a second.
When he had saved Mrs. Stevens from an attack of hysterics, he said:
"I was aware that that pin had been taken. It was done while I was inyour room, Mrs. Pond. The circumstances were exactly the same as thoseattending the other robberies."
"But I did not put it in the box," exclaimed Mrs. Stevens. "It was notamong the jewels which I found."
She turned to Colonel Richmond. Her face was ghastly pale.
"I have scorned your belief," she said; "but now I am convinced. Nomortal being could have done this thing."
"What do you say to that, Mr. Carter?" cried the colonel, with flashingeyes.
"I would like to ask a few questions," rejoined Nick. "Were you alonewhen you put those jewels into the box?"
"I was."
"Has it been in your possession ever since?"
"It has not been out of my care."
"Did you tell anybody about the finding of the jewels?"
"Nobody."
"Please describe
everything that happened after you found them."
"I was, of course, greatly agitated. I did not know what to do. For sometime I sat staring at the jewels and trying to think what was my propercourse.
"At last I took this box from a drawer of my dressing-table and put thejewels into it.
"Then I called to the servant who was in the dining-room, and asked herto see that the carriage was got ready, for though it is a long drive, Ihad resolved to make it, because I felt safer in that way."
"Did you go out of your room to call the girl?"
"Only into the hall."
"Who could have got into your room while you were out?"
"Nobody."
"Where was your daughter?"
"In her own room."
"How do you know?"
"I called to her after I had dressed, and she answered me. I told herthat I was going to drive over here, and she was very much surprised. Idid not tell her why."
"Did you meet anybody on the way over who spoke to you or came to theside of the carriage?"
"Nobody."
"That is all I wish to ask."
In fact, Nick had no more questions. He was really at a loss for anexplanation of this strange occurrence.
If the pin had been taken from the room, by a person concealed in thehouse, it might have been possible that that person had escaped from thegrounds unseen, and had given it to Mrs. Stevens.
There was hardly time for such a trick to have been done, but in sostrange a case every possibility was to be considered.
If such a thing had been done, it must have been very near to thehouse.
The thief must have known when Mrs. Stevens was coming, or she must havewaited for him just outside the colonel's grounds.
There was a place where the road was heavily fringed with trees, notmore than a hundred yards from the colonel's gate.
The trick must have been done there, if at all.
Nick resolved to settle this small point, if possible, immediately.
It was of no use to ask the man who had driven Mrs. Stevens' horse. Ofcourse, he would lie, if there was any need of it.
So Nick excused himself from the group on the pretext that he was goingto search Mrs. Pond's rooms again.
He remembered that just after Mrs. Stevens had arrived, a wagonbelonging to the colonel had driven into the grounds. He quietly lookedup the two servants who had been in this wagon. They told him that theyremembered seeing Mrs. Stevens drive up.
She had passed them on the road. They had had her carriage in sight fora mile before it turned into Colonel Richmond's grounds.
Her horse had been driven at a good pace. It had not stopped. Nobody hadapproached the carriage.
Nick was convinced that the men were telling the truth.
Then how had Mrs. Stevens obtained that pin?
Her possession of the other articles might be explained, but the pin wasa "stickler."
The Crime of the French Café and Other Stories Page 13
