“Ay, I _have_ stopped him, and just in the nick of time, sir,” responded the policeman, leading Earle into view. “_Earle Wayne!_” exclaimed Mr. Dalton, in greatest astonishment, as his glance fell upon him. “Yes, sir, it is I; but I am no thief, as you very well know.” “No, this does not look like it!” interrupted the policeman, flourishing the bracelet conspicuously. “I have committed no robbery,” asserted Earle, with quiet dignity; “and I did not see that bracelet until you picked it up and showed it to me. It must have been dropped by one of the robber, who fled after I was knocked down;” and he went on to explain how he happened to be there, and what he had seen and heard. “It’s a likely story now, isn’t it, sir,” sneered his captor, who was all too eager for the _eclat_ of having captured the perpetrator of so daring a theft, “when I’ve found him with his booty right here on the spot?” “Mr. Dalton,” Earle appealed, fearing he had got himself into a bad predicament, “you know well enough that I would do no such a thing, particularly in this house of all others;” and he glanced in a troubled way up at that white-robed figure in the window. “No, certainly not. Papa, we know _Earle_ would not be guilty of any thing of the kind, and I believe every word he has said about the encounter with those men,” Miss Dalton asserted, confidently. “Did you see or hear any one else, Editha?” asked her father. “No; I heard a heavy fall, and after listening a minute I came to the window, where I saw Earle just getting up from the ground; and see! as the light shines upon him he looks as if he had been having an encounter with some one;” and she pointed at the young man’s disarranged and soiled clothing. But Mr. Dalton shook his head, while the policeman sneered. It looked bad, and the presence of the bracelet seemed to them indisputable proof that he was in some way criminally connected with the affair. Further investigation proved that a quantity of silver, and all of Mrs. Dalton’s diamonds, together with quite a large sum of money, had been stolen. Young Wayne was closely questioned as to who his accomplices were, for the policeman insisted that he must have had one or more. “Make a clean breast of it, young one, and being your first attempt, perhaps they will let you off easy,” he said. But Earle indignantly refused to answer any more questions, and was at last led away to the station-house and locked up until his case could be officially investigated. The morning papers were full of the robbery, and the young man’s name figured largely in their columns, while much was said about the “culpable hardihood and stubbornness of one so young in years, but apparently so old in crime.” A day or two after the case was investigated, and, no further light being gained upon the affair, he was committed for trial.