“What will he do about those charges?” “He will manage to slip away from them,” replied the detective; “and, for the present, I am quite content to let him do so. In fact, I would rather he would succeed, for the moment.” “Isn’t it an unfortunate circumstance,” asked Patsy, “that the Remsens should have started away for an unlimited stay in Europe, the moment after they had given their testimony?” “Yes; and no. The additional testimony they might have given would have done little or no good to our side of the case; at least, it would not have injured Jimmy. He would have succeeded in establishing himself just as firmly as he has now done, if they had remained. And, when all is said, one cannot blame them for wishing to get out of the country. It isn’t a very pleasant experience for people in their position to have had their only daughter engaged to be married to a man who is even suspected of having been the sort of crook that Bare-Faced Jimmy was, to say nothing of the fact that he was already married.” “I suppose that is why Theodore Remsen came out in that interview in the paper and stated over his own signature that the report of his daughter’s engagement to Jimmy was all a mistake; was not true, and that there had never been the slightest foundation for the report.” “Of course. Wouldn’t you do the same under like circumstances?” “I don’t know but I would, at that.” “We will not concern ourselves about that part of the affair,” said the detective. “It is not vital to what I wish to accomplish in this matter, whether Jimmy posed as a single man or not, or whether he became engaged to Lenore Remsen, while he already had a wife living, or not. It is not particularly vital whether he stole those jewels, or not—save only from one standpoint.” “What is that one?” Adelina asked him. “That one standpoint is Nan Nightingale,” replied the detective. The others were silent and waited for the detective to proceed with what he was saying. “The fact of the matter is right here,” Nick continued. “Up there at the Remsen residence—The Birches—all of Nan’s previous history was brought out. She confessed it all herself. She was all right after that confession—so far as those who were present and heard it are concerned; but she was not, and is not, all right in the estimation of thousands of others who have had only the reports in the newspapers to direct their thought.” “I see,” said Adelina. “Aside from those who were present in that house at the time of the finding of the jewels, when I put the irons on Jimmy, nine out of ten people believe to this day that Nan Nightingale knew more about the disappearance of that necklace and the other jewels than any other person. So you see for Nan’s sake, if for no other, the fact that Ledger Dinwiddie is not Ledger Dinwiddie, but is really Bare-Faced Jimmy, must be established. It is the only thing that can be done to set her right, for, in doing it, we also prove that he was, unquestionably, the thief.”