Within five minutes Patsy had all four of the culprits in irons, and in five more they were on their way to the Tombs, to which Stuart Floyd and Hart already had preceded them. Half an hour later Lady Waldmere was restored to the arms of her anxious husband, who, it seems needless to say, was jolly well pleased. It later appeared that all of Nick Carter’s suspicions, as set forth in brief by Chick, were entirely correct. Nick had felt reasonably sure of it from the first, but knew that he must secure absolute proof of it, which he set about doing in the manner described. He knew that Garland and Hart would have to work lively to raise the money to recover the Waldmere jewels, that they might be turned over to her that morning, and that that was Garland’s mission when he left his office with Vera Vantoon, afterward meeting Floyd. That the latter then had undertaken the mission, and that he was in league with the others, became obvious to Nick when Floyd visited the jewelry firm. He rightly reasoned that Garland had provided him with a parcel of diamonds, or other costly gems, from those in pawn with the loan company, upon which Floyd could obtain a loan from the jeweler. It afterward was shown to be eighteen thousand dollars. That Floyd then went and redeemed the jewels from the Crosstown Collateral Trust Company. Nick had not had a doubt, and he shaped his course accordingly, meeting with complete success and later showing that Mr. Isaac Meyer had, indeed, been almost utterly ruined by his treacherous managers. “They now will get theirs,” Nick observed, speaking of the case that evening. “I have no doubt that Floyd was the genius back of the whole job, but we may not be able to prove even that. However, be that as it may, it was very quick work, cleaned up within twenty-four hours.” “Yes, chief,” supplemented Patsy. “And as his blooming English nobs would say, and has said--deucedly keen and clevah work, bah Jove, deucedly keen and clevah!” THE END. Some men are never beaten, regardless how great may be the odds against them. Such was the case of Stuart Floyd, notwithstanding the fact that Nicholas Carter had succeeded in bringing him to justice, the clever rogue was to give the famous detective another battle of wits, which you will read about in “The Melting Pot; or, Nick Carter and the Waldmere Plate,” which will appear in the next issue, No. 140, of the NICK CARTER STORIES, out May 15th. Dared for Los Angeles. By ROLAND ASHFORD PHILLIPS. (This interesting story was commenced in No. 134 of NICK CARTER STORIES. Back numbers can always be obtained from your news dealer or the publishers.) CHAPTER XXIII. THE CONFESSION.