“You stole my hand bag!” shouted Bernice. Nick looked up with a smile on his face. “One thing at a time,” he said. “Your diamonds, Charley, are now located in deposit vaults on Broadway, in box number three thousand eight hundred and seventy-nine, and this is the key thereof.” Bernice looked like a girl about to commit murder. “You thief!” she cried. “You stole my hand bag!” “Yes,” replied Nick, “I did steal your hand bag. It is down in the kitchen, behind the range. I have no further use for it.” “Did you get this key from her hand bag?” demanded Charley. Nick nodded. “Then she stole the diamonds,” said Charley. “You are wrong,” said the detective. “She did not steal the diamonds, but she was prepared to do so, and she concealed all knowledge of their whereabouts, for she knew this morning where they were.” “It is false!” shouted Bernice. “Do you get us all up in the night to tell us of these things? It is all a lie!” “You will be claiming, presently,” said Anton, “that I murdered Alvin Maynard.” “You did,” said Nick coolly. Again Anton sprang to his feet, but Nick lifted the muzzle of a revolver to his breast, and he sat down again. Mrs. Maynard bowed her head and sobbed audibly. Charley moved nearer to the accused man. Bernice stared like one under a spell, first at Mrs. Maynard and then at Anton, who sat with his eyes fixed reproachfully on his mother. Nick understood the meaning of that look, and said: “Don’t blame your mother. I knew the truth before she confessed to the scene in the dead man’s room last night.” “You are a devil,” cried Bernice. “If I had only shot straight.” “It would have been better for you if you had not shot at all,” said Nick, “for that was what made me certain of your complicity in the diamond robbery.” “You lie! You lie! I know nothing about it,” shouted the girl. “Wait,” said Nick coolly, “and I will tell the story of the robbery and the murder.” CHAPTER VIII. HOW IT WAS DONE. “When the news that the diamonds were coming reached the house,” began Nick, “Anton, being without money and in debt, began figuring how the inheritance of his cousin by marriage could best be put to his own advantage.” “That is a lie!” roared Anton. “If you interrupt me again,” said Nick, “I’ll put the handcuffs on you. You, Anton, even went so far in your envious plotting as to speak to your mother about the diamonds being divided. Charley, you said, would not miss a few, and it would be the means of saving you from disgrace. Your mother resented the imputation on her honesty, and resolved to see that the diamonds, when they arrived, should be protected from thievery.