Although Nick Carter, during the half hour that he spent inside those rooms, searched every possible place where the jewels might have been hidden, he turned at last toward the door, profitless from the search. He had peered into every vase, into every possible receptacle that stood in sight, and had found no trace of them—and so much time had elapsed that he did not dare to remain longer away from the other members of the house party. So he turned toward the door which opened upon the hall, opened it, and found himself looking into the face of Jimmy Duryea. But Jimmy did not come within reach. He only laughed, and turned hastily away. “I thought so,” he said. “I thought so;” and then he ran down the stairs, before Nick could make an effort to detain him. CHAPTER IX. EXCITEMENT IN THE NIGHT. Nick Carter was seated alone in the room that had been assigned to him. It was rather more than an hour after midnight, and the guests of the house had retired to their respective rooms, and it so happened that Chick had been roomed in an entirely different part of the house from Nick. The detective was uneasy in his mind. The atmosphere, somehow, seemed filled with portent of some sinister kind, and he could not define just the feeling that was upon him. No further opportunity had been obtained for conversation with Nan Nightingale since that talk in the corner of the veranda; indeed, when Nick returned downstairs, after his inspection of Nan’s rooms, and the encounter, at the door of them, with Jimmy, the party had divided itself into groups, some of which were playing cards, and others were indulging in music and the usual occupations of an evening of that sort. But Nick was uneasy about Nan. He realized that Jimmy could protect himself only by casting suspicion upon the songbird of the stage, and Nick knew that Jimmy would not hesitate to do that very thing—if it happened that the opportunity was offered him. The detective’s own impotency, so far as Jimmy was concerned, was apparent, and the reader must understand that, too. Put yourself in his place for a moment. Nick Carter could not arrest Ledger Dinwiddie and charge him with being Bare-Faced Jimmy Duryea, without the ability to produce proofs of the assertion—and Jimmy was undoubtedly prepared to meet and to refute all such charges; was prepared to prove his claim to the name and reputation of Ledger Dinwiddie, and therefore to establish a sufficient alibi to whatever charge the detective might bring against him.