Chick could not get near enough to hear what was being said, but it looked to him as if Nick was better placed. As the starting bell rang, Chick saw the man take something from his purse and pass it over to Bernice. Then the man moved toward the train, with the girl facing in the same direction. Chick then saw his chief rise up out of the bushes and point to the man who was making for the train. As the fellow sprang upon the lighted platform, Chick mounted the steps of the now moving train, and took a seat in the smoker. He was bound to obey orders, though he knew little of the significance of his own actions. As the train moved off, Bernice skirted the station building and started off toward the house at a swift walk. Nick, who had heard considerable of the girl’s talk with the man, followed close behind her. Arriving on the house grounds, she passed around to the kitchen door, which was opened at her knock. Some one had evidently been waiting for her. Nick moved up to a window, and looked in. The servant girl he had before talked with stood in front of the maid, a lighted lamp in her hand. The maid’s hand bag lay on a table between them. As Nick waited, the girls moved into the pantry, as if to get a luncheon, and Nick hastened back to the door, which he found unfastened. The lamp was still in the pantry when the detective opened the outer door and looked into the kitchen. He crept in, seized the hand bag, and hastened out again. Stationing himself at the window again, Nick saw the girls leave the pantry. “I thought I heard a noise out here,” said Bernice. “It was the wind,” said the girl, offering the usual threadbare explanation. Bernice approached the table. “Where is my hand bag?” she asked. “I haven’t got it,” was the reply. “You saw me lay it here?” “Yes.” “Some one has stolen it,” said the maid, terror showing in her face. “Have you seen Anton about here to-night?” “He has not been here,” was the reply. “Do you think he would steal it?” “I am sure of it,” replied the maid. “Oh, what shall I do? It means ruin to lose that hand bag now!” “You can buy another,” said the girl stupidly. “But the contents!” cried the maid. “I can’t replace them!” “Shall I go to Anton’s room and see if he is there?” asked the girl. “Yes—no! Oh, what shall I do? Perhaps I had better go myself.” Bernice moved away, followed by the servant, and Nick opened the kitchen door again, and entered. He followed the girls through the dining room into a hall from which ran the stairs connecting with the servants’ hall on the second floor. Bernice mounted the stairs and soon stood at the door which opened into the main hall, which ran in front of the room where the murder had been committed. “I can’t bear to go in there,” Nick heard her whisper. “The body is not there,” said the servant. “It is in the large room back of the library, and the watchers are there with it.”