Nick Carter's Ghost Story Page 6

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.

  CHAPTER IX. THE DIAMOND CLASP.

  They then left the room. Nick dispatched Patsy secretly to the Stevens house.

  Shortly before noon, Colonel Richmond, Horace, and Nick took a train for the city.

  At two o'clock they entered the vault of the safe deposit company.

  It is a long room below the level of the street.

  The walls are lined with metal drawers, fastened by locks of the most approved pattern.

  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.

  A movable metal step-ladder stands ready for the convenience of those who wish to reach the boxes on the upper tiers.

  The space in the middle of the room is railed off, and there sits a guard day and night.

  “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.”

  Nick turned to speak to the officer in charge.

  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.

  “Colonel Richmond and Mrs. Pond have the two keys necessary for opening the drawer,” said the official.

  “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.”

  “True,” said Nick, apologetically, “that was not what I was asking about.”

  At that moment he heard the click of the drawer as it was pulled open.

  “Here, wait for me!” he cried. “I should see everything.”

  As he stepped forward Horace Richmond was just closing the little case which had held the diamond clasp. The colonel was turning away.

  “I am deeply disappointed,” he said. “The clasp is there.”

  As the colonel walked away with bowed head, Nick turned to Horace.

  The young man's face was a study. He looked as if he had seen a grave-yard full of ghosts.

  “Nick Carter,” he whispered, “this is dreadful.”

  “What?”

  “Hush! I had to fool him. I positively had to or he would have gone crazy.”

  He poured the words into Nick's ear in an excited whisper.

  “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?”

  He showed Nick the box. It contained nothing. Horace had removed the piece which he had used in the deception.

  “Good Heavens!” cried Horace. “He heard me.”

  He pointed to the colonel, who stood like one who has been struck upon the head.

  “Gone!” he cried, rushing toward them. “You deceived me!”

  Well, they searched the drawer, and the clasp certainly was not there.

  Horace explained how he had deceived the colonel by quickly putting another piece of jewelry into the little case when he found it empty.

  “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.”

  “I will forgive you, Horace,” said Colonel Richmond, gently; “but now you must believe. And you, too, Mr. Carter. Here is proof positive.”

  They locked the drawer and left the vault.

  In the ante-chamber Nick turned to Horace.

  “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.”

  “What is it?” asked Horace.

  “I think you ought to be searched.”

  “Exactly my own idea,” said Ho
race. “It is only fair to you. Proceed.”

  Nick searched him. The diamond clasp was not found. Horace certainly did not have it.

  “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.”

  Nick laughed.

  “I should say not,” he replied. “I'm afraid we shall have to fall back upon the theory of the colonel.”

  “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.”

  “I didn't,” replied Nick promptly. “I searched him in order to remove every possibility.”

  “Surely he would have no motive for such an action.”

  “None that I can see,” said Nick, with perfect sincerity.

  They proceeded at once to Mrs. Stevens' house.

  It was about seven o'clock when they arrived.

  They drove up from the station, and on the way picked up Patsy.

  During the remainder of the drive, he was busy communicating with Nick in their sign language.

  “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.”

  Annie O'Neil, the servant, answered the bell.

  She ushered them into the parlor, and said that Mrs. Stevens was in the room of her daughter who was quite ill.

  Annie went upstairs to summon her mistress.

  A minute later the party below heard a scream.

  Then Mrs. Stevens appeared. She was very pale.

  In her hand she held a small object wrapped in paper.

  “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.”

  “I am equally sure of it,” cried the colonel. “Open the package, Mrs. Stevens.”

  “My hand trembles so,” the lady began.

  “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.

  “Colonel Richmond. I suppose it is useless to plead with you further?”

  “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.”

  “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.

  “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.

  “Mrs. Stevens, is it not true that you have one of the judges of the Supreme Court as your neighbor?”

  “Yes; Judge Lorrimer is our next neighbor on the south.”

  “Will you kindly send your servant to his house, or perhaps—”

  He glanced at Horace.

  “All right, I'll go,” said Horace. “I know the judge. But I don't see what you are driving at, Mr. Carter.”

  “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.”

  “I think it a good idea,” said Colonel Richmond. “Horace, go over to the judge's house.”

  During the interval while he was gone very little was done. Mrs. Stevens sat holding the package, and apparently deeply moved.

  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.

  “If it should prove,” said Nick, “that this is a conspiracy, do you wish any arrests?”

  He turned toward the colonel as he spoke.

  “If it does,” said the colonel, with a smile, “you can arrest me. It won't.”

  “But I am serious.”

  “So am I. Of course, if there had been a crime I would not shield the guilty parties, whoever they might be.”

  At that moment Horace returned with Judge Lorrimer, whom he had met walking just beyond Mrs. 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 “love
d 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.”