“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.”
Patsy looked a little sheepish.
“You can't blame me, Nick,” he said. “We must suspect everybody in such business as this. Isn't that right?”
“Quite right,” responded the detective.
They went at once to the old dining-hall. Colonel Richmond presently joined them there.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
“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.”
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.
His pride was aroused. There was no use in combating the colonel's delusion. Of that he felt sure.
The man must be humored in order to secure delay.
“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.
“If you can convert me to your views, I should think the achievement might be worth the trouble.”
“It would, indeed,” cried the colonel, with sparkling eyes.
Nick, with his usual tact, had hit upon exactly the right course.
“You believe, of course,” he said, “that the spirits of the dead cannot be stopped by bolts and bars.”
The colonel smiled, and nodded assent.
“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.
“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?”
The colonel stood irresolute.
“Consent,” said a voice, as of a woman standing beside them.
Yet the three men were the only human beings in that room.
“The voice came from that screen!” cried Patsy, and he leaped toward the old fire-place.
He tore away the screen. No one was there.
“It was my aunt's voice,” said the colonel, calmly. “I consent.”
“Consent to what?” asked Horace Richmond, entering the room at that moment.
The test was explained to him.
“Good!” he whispered to Nick. “A fine idea.”
“Name a piece of jewelry,” said the detective to the colonel.
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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.
