“He didn’t tell me; he sent a letter by one of the grooms. But he had seen me yesterday, and had given me an inkling of what would happen. And, now stand aside. I want that woman whom he has exposed. I arrest her——” “No you don’t. You won’t arrest anybody, Mr. Constable, unless you have a warrant, which I doubt; and if you have one, and serve it, you’ll regret it as long as you live. You won’t make any arrest, just now, unless I direct it, constable.” “Who says I won’t? I——” “I say so. I have the warrant, constable.” Duryea was beginning to move; he was recovering, and quick as a flash Nick Carter bent forward and snapped handcuffs on his wrists. “Stop that!” cried Mr. Remsen. “You cannot arrest that man, here, Mr. Carter. He is my guest, and you are my guest. You are abusing my hospitality—and besides, just now you said that no arrests could be made without a warrant.” Nick Carter turned to Remsen. He spoke quietly, and in a kindly tone. “Mr. Remsen,” he said, “I have two duties to perform here to-night, and one of them, in particular, supersedes all the claims that might be made in the name of hospitality. I am doing you a very great service in saving your daughter from that man on the floor. He is as vile a scoundrel as ever went unhung. He is Bare-Faced Jimmy, the crook. He is the one who stole the jewels, and who has now tried to charge it upon a defenseless woman, after slandering her in a way that requires no answer. That is why I told Miss Nightingale not to speak.” “But the warrant! The warrant!” “I have it here, Mr. Remsen. I secured it before I left the city. It is a bench warrant and is good anywhere in the State—and it directs me to arrest and to hold the person of James Duryea, alias Ledger Dinwiddie, alias Bare-Faced Jimmy. Here it is. Are you satisfied as to that?” “Y-yes,” reluctantly. “He told you partly the truth, regarding that scene in the summerhouse, for he did have the face to defy me. I offered him his liberty, if he would leave the country, after returning the jewels he had stolen; but he dared to face me; to claim that he could prove that he is Ledger Dinwiddie, and not James Duryea.” “But where is the man who was in the library with Miss——” “He is there, on the floor,” replied Nick, interrupting. “The real circumstance is just the reverse from the manner in which he told it. It was Miss Nightingale who found him there. He had the jewels in his possession at the time. She saw them. That was why she asked me to come out here to-day—and even you will admit that I came here upon her invitation.” “Why doesn’t Nick Carter produce the jewels, since he seems to know so much about them, Mr. Remsen?” said a drawling voice from the floor, and then they saw the fallen Ledger Dinwiddie draw himself to a sitting posture, and attempt to caress his bruised jaw with his manacled hands.