Stevens' grounds.
“I have tried to explain the case to him,” said Horace; “but he says he doesn't understand how any legal complications can arise.”
“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.”
He put his hand upon the bell-cord.
As he did so, Mrs. Stevens opened the package. The article within rolled out upon her lap.
It was not the diamond clasp, but an ordinary pocket-knife of large size.
“Why, Nick, it's yours,” cried Patsy.
“So it is,” responded the detective. “But this is a diamond clasp.”
He drew the relic of the third crusade from his pocket as he spoke, and handed it to the colonel.
At that moment Annie O'Neil appeared at the door in answer to the bell.
“And now,” said Nick, while the others stared in wonder. “We will consider the legal points involved.
“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.”
CHAPTER X. SOME CLEVER TRICKS EXPLAINED.
No sooner had Nick uttered these words than a loud cry rang through the house.
Instantly Millie Stevens appeared upon the threshold of the parlor.
“Horace!” she cried. “Tell me it is not true. You have not done this.”
“Certainly not,” he exclaimed. “It is an absurd slander. Carter, you'll be sorry for this.”
The girl looked straight into Horace's face for an instant.
Then she uttered a moan.
“He is guilty!” she cried; “I can read it in his eyes. And I loved him so.”
She sank upon the floor at her mother's feet.
“Oh, mother,” she said, “this is a just punishment for me. You told me I must give him up. You read his heart.
“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.
“And all the time he loved me only because he thought that I should have a fortune in gold and diamonds.”
“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.
“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.
“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.
“He did everything to increase his uncle's delusion. It was he who put Colonel Richmond again in the hands of that medium.”
“I supposed that that affair was all over,” said Mrs. Stevens; “both the colonel and I had disapproved of it.”
“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.
“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!”
This last exclamation was addressed to Patsy. The girl was wavering as if she would fall.
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.”
“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.”
“It was Annie O'Neil whom you followed last night, Patsy,” said Nick. “Who was the men?”
“John Gilder,” gasped the terrified girl.
“And you played ghost?”
“Yes, sir.”
