“Would you commit suicide?” asked the detective, restraining her. “It would be death to leap from that window.” “And it is death to remain here!” cried the girl. The next moment she fell in a faint at the feet of the detective. As she sank to the floor her hair caught on a button of Nick’s coat, and came off, revealing a short under wig of red hair. “There!” said Patsy. “We have found the lady’s maid who made up in so many different ways. See! She wore long black hair, then a wig of red, then her own black hair, cut short.” “Cut short at the prison,” said Nick. The head of the syndicate stepped forward and looked down upon the girl. “I never supposed she lacked nerve,” he said. “The electric chair has terrors for all,” said Nick. The chief remained silent. By this time the members of the club who were not under arrest were leaving the room, never to return. The prisoners were grouped on one corner of the stage, some of them in the costumes they had prepared for the play, which was now destined never to be presented by the club. Nick picked up jewels as they fell from the unconscious girl. “It seems,” he said, “that Bernice cannot prove true even to her associates in crime. All the larger stones here are paste. How the girl substituted them for the real diamonds in one day’s time is more than I can tell.” The chief of the syndicate and Anton stepped forward in angry wonder. The chief muttered a savage oath. “I have suspected the girl all along,” he said. “That is why she has always been followed.” “For all that,” said Nick, “she was your best assistant. She did her work cleverly and left no clue, as a rule. I can’t understand how she came to murder Townsend.” “She never did!” shouted Anton. “Wait!” said the chief of the syndicate. “We can’t protect her in the crime which was not authorized by the syndicate. She murdered Townsend because he recognized her.” “And she and Mantelle, who is now in the Tombs, attempted the life of Maynard because he saw their faces and heard their talk? Is that it?” The chief was silent. “You can’t prove what you say,” said Anton, bending over the girl, who now showed signs of returning consciousness. “If that fool of a chief would only keep his mouth shut!” “Look here,” said Nick. “You say I have no proof. Let me tell you how the crimes were committed. When Anton and Bernice were released from prison, the Great Diamond Syndicate went after them, and they readily agreed to become members of that unlawful organization. They executed the four robberies I have named, Bernice playing the part of lady’s maid and Anton following her about as her lover. Then they came to the Maynard diamonds.