He did not exactly nod his head but he inclined it a trifle lower. “The damnedest thing, Steve; the queerest affair!” he said, looking quickly at me again. He brushed my book to the floor and dropped on the foot of the bed and sat there, staring straight ahead without speaking for a minute while he listened for sounds in the street or below; but there was nothing. He swung about and demanded of me suddenly, “You noticed Dot to-night?” “Of course, old fellow. Besides, she was with you most of the time.” He jerked, wincing at that; and Jerry’s not jerky. He’s excitable and capable, I’ve always felt, even of violence. But he possesses not one bad nerve; he might hit in anger but he would hit perfectly steadily if he hit to kill. “Yes, of course she was with me. I was responsible for her to-night. Did you notice what she was wearing, Steve?” “Blue dress, wasn’t it--pale blue? She certainly was stunning, Jerry.” “Her necklace, Steve; didn’t you see it? Those damned diamonds and sapphires her father brought back from abroad with him!” “Of course I saw them. So--she lost them to-night, did she? Or they were stolen? That’s it?” But I realized by this time it was far more than that. “Steve, let’s go over it just as it happened,” Jerry entreated. “When did you leave the Sparlings’?” “Twelve o’clock. Ten minutes after,” I added more precisely and he did not question me further on that; he knows I always keep track of time. “You saw Dot about midnight?” “Within a quarter of an hour of the time I left, Jerry.” “When did you see me last?” He tried not to--I thought--but he could not help bending toward me a little and he could not keep his voice from going a little up and down. “Why, at the door when I went, Jerry!” I said, my own voice cracking a little, excited from him. “At the door of the Sparlings at ten minutes after twelve, Steve?” he begged of me. “Why, yes, Jerry.” “I, Steve? You saw me there?” “Why not? What is it, Jerry? I’ve told you I did.” “You know me; or you ought to know me, if any one in the world does. And you wouldn’t joke about it with me, would you, Steve? If all the rest of them were doing it, if they’d sworn you in, too, in the hoax, you’d tell me the truth now, wouldn’t you? For you see Dot’s taken! If she’s not really taken, I believe she is; that’s the same to me! Oh, I know you wouldn’t be in on anything like that against me!” “Dot taken? Where? How? What is it that’s happened?”