“Chick may learn something up at the Maynard house,” suggested Patsy. “In the meantime,” said Nick, “we ought to get our hand on that bully and lock him up. But this should be done without letting Hartley know that he has been arrested. Now, I am going up to the Maynard house to-night, and I want you to manage the arrest of the bully. String a line of men around the whole block, if necessary, but _get him_! I’ll be back in the morning. And, when you arrest the fellow, don’t let him communicate with any one. Hartley would make a jump for liberty that might give us a long chase.” It was eight o’clock when the detective left a train at the little suburban railroad station. Chick stood on the platform waiting for him. “What’s the news?” asked the chief. “Unless I am much mistaken,” was the reply, “the diamonds are still about the house. If they are not, there are a lot of lunatics up there.” “For instance?” “Well, Mrs. Maynard seems to have recovered from her fits. At any rate, she sits in the parlor and watches Anton every minute of the time. If he goes to his room she makes an errand upstairs. If he goes out into the grounds she is not far away.” “Go on,” said Nick. “And Anton seems to be keeping his eye on the maid, Bernice. He goes where she is as often as he decently can, and once I heard them quarreling in the shrubbery.” “Then you think Mrs. Maynard suspects Anton?” “I don’t know if she suspects him of the robbery and the murder, but I believe she thinks he knows all about the events of that night. You know she was about the house herself, and took the diamonds from the trunk.” “That is the way we figured it out this morning,” said Nick, thinking of the girl Anton had inquired for at the depot. “I guess that is settled,” said Chick. “Nothing is settled until the case is ended,” replied Nick. “For instance, you speak of the diamonds being here in the house at this moment. What if I tell you that I heard a man admit taking them and turning them over to one of Hartley’s agents?” “Is that a fact?” asked Chick, in surprise. Nick then related, in brief, the story of the afternoon’s work. “Here is the mystery,” said Chick. “How did the men get the diamonds? They did not penetrate the house farther than the west room. Who gave them the gems, then? And who killed Alvin Maynard? Again, the burglars were not in a position to do it! They never got to that front room. Were there two sets of criminals in the house last night, each acting with a different purpose in view?” Nick smiled, but attempted no explanation. He had his own notion about things, but he was not ready to tell the story of the crime, even to his assistant. The detectives were now walking side by side under the orchard trees, perhaps fifty yards back of the house. They had followed the track taken in the morning. It was a moonlight night, but there were heavy banks of clouds in the sky, and now and then the landscape was in darkness.