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Great Diamond Syndicate

[121] <h2>CHAPTER VIII. HOW IT WAS DONE.</h2> “When the news that the diamonds were coming reached the house,” began Nick, “Anton, being without money and in debt, began figuring how the inheritance of his cousin by marriage could best be put to his own advantage.” “That is a lie!” roared Anton. “If you interrupt me again,” said Nick, “I’ll put the handcuffs on you. You, Anton, even went so far in your envious plotting as to speak to your mother about the diamonds being divided. Charley, you said, would not miss a few, and it would be the means of saving you from disgrace. Your mother resented the imputation on her honesty, and resolved to see that the diamonds, when they arrived, should be protected from thievery. “The diamonds came, and your plans were not perfected. You wanted to keep your skirts clean, yet you wanted to profit by the inheritance of your friend. On the night the diamonds arrived,[122] you remained downstairs long after the others were in their rooms—all except Bernice. You did not tell me the truth when you said that you were almost the first one on the second floor that night.” Nick then turned to the company in general as he continued: “Seeing that whatever was done must be done at once, Anton that night confided his plans to Bernice, proposing that he get the diamonds and that she dispose of them in a way yet to be arranged. Bernice consented, and Anton went to his room to watch for a chance to steal the diamonds. In the meantime, Charley had been given a sleeping potion in his lemonade. This was done by Anton doctoring up his own and deftly changing glasses. The substitution was witnessed by Mrs. Maynard, who then began to fear not only for the safety of the gems, but also for the future of her son. “Anton went to his room late, after arranging the details of the robbery with Bernice, and sat by his door in undress, waiting for the house to become quiet. While he sat there he heard his[123] mother leave her room and cross the hall to the apartment where the diamonds were, and where the owner was sound asleep, with the gems unprotected in an old trunk, which was not even locked. Alarmed at the thought of what might take place, Mrs. Maynard had decided to herself take charge of the diamonds for the night. Too loyal to her son to betray him, and thus put Charley on his guard, she resolved to risk her own reputation for honesty in defending the property. “After a time Mrs. Maynard recrossed the hall to her own room, leaving her son in a frame of mind little short of desperation. All his plans had failed! Then it was that he heard the door of his stepfather’s room open. The old man, feeling that something unusual was going on, had watched the hall, and had heard his wife enter and leave Charley’s room. That day the mother had pleaded with her husband in the interest of her spendthrift son, and had been refused the money favor she asked. “It was natural, then, that the old man should believe that his wife had become a midnight thief in order to provide her son with money. After[124] Mrs. Maynard returned to her room Mr. Maynard went there, light in hand, and in no gentle frame of mind. He found the diamonds where his wife had placed them—in a little drawer of her dresser—accused her of stealing them, refused to listen to any explanation, and carried the gems off to his own room.” “You are an evil spirit!” gasped Bernice. “You have eyes in this house when you are away in New York.” “Mrs. Maynard followed her husband on his return to his room,” continued Nick. “There she resented his charges, explained her purpose in taking the diamonds, and demanded their return to her custody. But she had asked for money for her son that day, and Mr. Maynard would not listen to her story. He believed that she had stolen the gems for the purpose of enriching her son at the expense of the nephew. “After a time the woman tried to take the diamonds by force, and a struggle took place, during which she was thrown to the floor, her head striking on the corner of the lounge, inflicting the wound which she afterward ascribed to a blow[125] from the burglar. Anton, who was watching and listening in the hall, heard the fall, and entered the room just in time to see Mr. Maynard bending over his mother in a threatening attitude. “Just before leaving his room he had used a geologist’s hammer in fixing a box in which he proposed to hide and ship the diamonds. Unconsciously he carried this hammer in his hand when he entered the front room. Seeing his mother insensible on the floor, and Mr. Maynard bending over her in an angry attitude, the young man had every right to believe that he was acting for the best, when he bounded forward and struck the man a violent blow on the head. Mr. Maynard fell dead. “Alarmed at what he had done, the young man hastened to place the body on the bed and apply restoratives, but it was too late. He then revived his mother and carried her back to her room. “While all these events had been going on, Bernice had been waiting at the end of the hall leading to the servants’ quarters. She was expecting that Anton would eventually bring her the box containing the diamonds. When Mr. Maynard[126] fell dead, Anton took the diamonds to his room, after a distressing interview with his mother, who was inconsolable at the death of her husband, whose last words to her had been words of anger and reproach. The mother protested without avail against the larceny of the gems. Anton was determined to profit by the events of the night. “Anton carried the diamonds to his room and secreted them in a box in the closet. The geologist’s hammer with which the murder had been committed was placed on a shelf in the same closet, after being cleared from the marks of the blow, by wiping it on a towel which hung in the closet. This hammer has a break on one side of the striking surface, and this shows in the wound on the dead man.” “Is all this necessary?” asked the mother, greatly distressed at the details of the killing of her husband. “It seems to be,” was the reply. “When Anton closed his door, Bernice crept down the hall and listened. She waited there until the young man’s light was extinguished. Then she realized that[127] it was not his intention to trust her with the diamonds. You see, Anton had doubtless decided to deny everything, not knowing that the girl had been a witness of the murder. “Then the burglars came. They had followed the diamonds from New York, and would have entered the house earlier, only that they understood that something unusual was in progress on the inside. During the absence of Anton in his stepfather’s room they had raised a ladder to a window of his room. One of them had looked through the window while Anton gloated over the diamonds. “When the young man went to bed the burglars entered the room, not knowing that Bernice was watching at the door, of course. Anton was not sound asleep, and sprang up at the noise they made. He was instantly grappled with, and finally knocked down, though not rendered entirely unconscious, with a pair of iron knuckles. While he lay on the floor, fearing for his life, the men, who had seen him enter the closet with the diamonds, searched about and secured the gems. “All this time Bernice was listening at the door,[128] afraid to call out for fear of inviting her own death at the hands of the burglars, resolved not to leave her post of observation, for the reason that she had not entirely given up the notion of securing the diamonds. She is a quick-witted girl, this French maid, and her brain was busy with a plan as she stood at the door in the dark hall. “She regarded the arrival of the burglars as opportune. Their presence in the house would account for the murder and for the disappearance of the diamonds. Besides, she had a plan for securing the diamonds. When the burglars left Anton’s room, she darted through it and climbed down the ladder in pursuit. Anton, though not fully recovered, knew who it was that was passing through without stopping to offer assistance, and at once decided that Bernice was in league with the robbers, and had brought them to the house. “Bernice followed the burglars to the railroad station. Here they met a third man, the agent of a diamond merchant, and she saw the diamonds placed in charge of the third man, locked in a trunk, and finally checked for passage on the train. I am still at a loss to know why this was[129] done, but I think the merchant considered the gems safer there than in the pocket of any one of the three men. “Now, Bernice had a lover on the train which would carry the diamonds away, and that lover was no less a person than the baggageman in whose charge the diamonds were placed. When the train halted at the station she called him from his car, told him what was going on, and the two went to where the three men were still haggling over the disposition of the diamonds. On the way to New York this baggageman opened the trunk and stole the diamonds. The sailors believed that the agent stole them, the agent believed that the sailors gave him a counterfeit package, and Hartley, the merchant, sided with the agent. So, you see, it all made a pretty mess. “Yesterday in New York,” continued Nick, “the baggageman stored the diamonds in a deposit vault on Broadway, and when the train came through here not long ago, he handed the key to the box to Bernice. I have it here now.” “But the baggageman, he have escape!” cried[130] Bernice. “I have nothing to do with it all! I am free—innocent!” At that moment Nick was called to the telephone. Before leaving the room he turned to Anton and Bernice. “I am going to leave you here,” he said, “although both are under arrest. I don’t know but you will try to escape. If you do it will be the worse for you both. Under the circumstances, if you behave well, I am inclined to be very lenient with you. Will you remain here until I return?” They both promised. For the first time a gleam of hope shone in Anton’s eyes. When Nick reached the phone he found Chick at the other end. “I have the baggageman under arrest,” said the assistant. “What does he say?” “He says that he did not know what the box contained.” “That may be true. Have you found out whether the diamonds are really in the vault?” asked Nick. [131] “It is impossible to locate the manager to-night,” was the reply. “How are things at your end?” “Everything lovely,” was the reply. “Come out on the first train.” When Nick went back to the parlor he handed Charley the key to the safety box in the Broadway vaults. “The baggageman is under arrest in New York,” explained Nick. “Perhaps you had better go down on an early train and see if the diamonds are all right. He claims that he did not know what was in the box.” “He did not,” said Bernice. “I was not the fool to tell him.” “You may have made a mistake in not doing so,” said Nick, “for he might have left the package about in a careless manner. You have done several injudicious things in connection with this affair,” added Nick. “When you watched us from the hall on the morning following the murder you attracted attention to yourself. When you came up and destroyed the footprints in the hall leading to the servants’ rooms, you made[132] yourself an object of suspicion. When you shot at us from the thicket in the orchard, you admitted, as plainly as words could have done, that you were deeply implicated in the robbery or the murder, or both. Under these circumstances it was natural that you should be followed to the station and your movements there noted. I saw the baggageman give you the key to the deposit box, and heard what you said to him. Your interview with him the night before was witnessed by the lunchman, although he could not hear what was said at that time. It was enough for me that you were there with him. So you see you, yourself, supplied the clues which led to the location of the gems.” “What are you going to do with me now?” demanded the girl. “I have done my work in the case,” replied the detective. “I have located the diamonds, and I have discovered how Alvin Maynard came to his death. The case is now in the hands of the sheriff and the State’s attorney.” “Remember your promise to me,” interrupted Mrs. Maynard. “You promised not to be too[133] hard on my son and Bernice if I told you what I knew of the affair.” “I shall recommend leniency,” replied Nick, “but I knew all the facts before you told me your story. The geologist’s hammer with which the blow was struck was found in Anton’s closet yesterday morning, but I did not remove it. I was not certain at that time that it was the instrument of death. During my absence in New York the young man removed it, thus showing that he had an interest in concealing clues pointing to the murderer. Again, I learned on my first inspection of the closet that the stolen diamonds had for a time been secreted in a box in the closet. One of the gems had broken away from its fastening and was found in the box. The box and the diamond were also removed during my absence. Instead of covering up his tracks, the young man was only supplying more proof against himself. I think the burglars must have seen Anton carry the diamonds to the closet on his return from the front of the house, for they appeared to have found them with little trouble.” “Are you going to turn me over to the sheriff?”[134] asked Anton, his face deadly pale, his lips quivering, his brain whirling at the contemplation of the case against him. “I shall be obliged to do that,” said Nick, “but I don’t see how you can be convicted of murder, for you certainly had a right to strike when you believed your mother to be in peril. Bernice will be held as accessory after the fact only, for I shall not press the charge of attempted murder, though she might have killed Chick or myself. I shall be lenient for the sake of this poor old lady.” At this moment a knocking was heard at the door, and Charley admitted the sheriff. “I followed a false clue,” he said to Nick. “What luck here?” “The diamonds have been recovered in New York,” replied Nick, “and the death of Mr. Maynard is no longer a mystery. I have two prisoners here, Anton Sawtelle and Bernice. I ask you to take them into custody and keep them prisoners in this house until the State’s attorney can be consulted.” The detective did not consider it necessary to tell the whole story to the sheriff, but the latter[135] consented to do as requested. In a few moments the house was dark, and Nick slept soundly until eight o’clock in the morning, when he was awakened by Chick. “How are things in New York?” asked the chief. “Both Hartley and the bully murderer are under arrest,” replied Chick, “and the sailor at the hospital is in a fair way to recover. He got a wicked blow, however.” “They have run their course,” said Nick. “The baggageman puts up the biggest yell,” said Chick. “He says that he did not know that there had been a robbery; that he did not know that there were diamonds in the package, and that he only did a favor for Bernice.” “When baggagemen break open trunks as a favor to their sweethearts,” said Nick, “it is time that they were called down.” “It was a pretty mess,” said Chick. “The burglars seemed to happen along just in time to turn suspicion from members of the household. Anton and Bernice put up the job to get the diamonds,[136] all right, but Mrs. Maynard unconsciously foiled them for the time being.” “I think Anton must be a bad sort of a chap,” said Nick. “He would have robbed his friend of half a million.” “I’d like to know whether the baggageman put the diamonds in the safety box,” said Chick, in a moment. “He might have opened the package, weakened at sight of so much wealth, and carried out the character of the case by putting a dummy package in the box.” “Well,” replied Nick, “the man is under arrest, but, for all that, it would not be so easy to again locate the diamonds.” That morning the case was laid before the State’s attorney, and Anton and Bernice were taken to the county jail. The diamonds were found in the safety vault, and Charley recommended leniency in the case of the baggageman, who was charged with breaking baggage confided to his care. It proved to be the fact that he did not know what was in the trunk, and that he had been made to believe that Bernice had the right to have it opened. [137] The wounded sailor recovered, and was sentenced to one year in the penitentiary for breaking and entering. His sentence was made light because he testified willingly against Hartley. He said that they had followed the diamonds from South Africa, and had applied to Hartley for funds immediately upon their arrival in New York. The one thing the sailor would not talk about was as to how they were able to interest Hartley in the venture in so short a time. They arrived on the vessel with the gems they were after, and in an hour’s time they were working under the instructions of the diamond merchant. This part of the case was a mystery to all. Nick Carter was abroad at the time of the trial and sentence. Hartley, too, remained silent on this one point, even after he had received a sentence at Sing Sing, and the bully had been sent to the electric chair for the murder done at the store. “It was one of the strangest cases I ever handled,” said Nick, after the matter was closed. “I came near getting a broken head there in the diamond store, but my usual luck protected me.[138] There is one point, however, that I would like to see cleared up.” “About how the sailors and Hartley got together so quickly?” “That’s it. I have my suspicions, but they are vague.” “Has Charley Maynard disposed of his diamonds?” asked Chick. “He has not,” was the reply. “I wish he would,” added the detective soberly, “for it is not safe to have such a fortune in so small a parcel. The diamonds were followed from Africa. Who knows whether the leaders in the conspiracy have given up hope of securing them? Those sailors never put up that job.” “I think I understand what your suspicions are regarding the combination between Hartley and the sailors, made in an hour,” said Chick. “Well,” said Nick, “it is the young man’s own affair. I have advised him, but he only laughs at me.” “Past experiences should teach him better,” said Chick, and so it would seem. <hr class="chap" /></div> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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