NICK MEETS DEFIANCE.
It might occur to the reader to ask: Why did not Nick Carter seize upon
his man then and there, put the irons on him, and take him away? The
answer is obvious.
The detective knew the man with whom he had to deal, too well.
He realized that Jimmy Duryea would never have placed himself in the
present position unless he had been very sure of his ground.
There was no doubt in Nick’s mind that when Jimmy found that Nan had
gone to the city, he suspected at once that she would notify Nick
Carter of all that had happened at The Birches. The fact that Jimmy had
awaited with calmness the arrival of the detective upon the scene was
sufficient proof that the former burglar was fairly positive of the
ground upon which he stood.
Jimmy denied his identity while admitting it—by implication.
He called himself the ghost of Bare-Faced Jimmy with an irony that was
inimitable.
He had stated that Ledger Dinwiddie, the man whom he claimed to be,
could establish his identity, with a long line of ancestry, without a
doubt, and with very little trouble; and he had asserted that the bones
of Jimmy Duryea might be dug up, if necessary, to prove that Jimmy
Duryea was really dead.
There is just where the rub came. Jimmy might be bluffing, but again he
might be entirely in earnest. Jimmy was a careful one in preparing his
coups, and there could be no doubt that he had prepared this one from
every available standpoint.
And again, until that meeting with Nan, at the church, Nick Carter
himself had believed that Duryea was long since dead and buried.
Nevertheless, Nick Carter was not one to be driven aside from a
determination upon which he had studied and decided; and he had decided
that this was Jimmy Duryea, and that he must not only give up the
stolen property, but must also disappear. If the detective at times
appeared to hesitate, it was only because he wished to make himself
more sure of his own ground.
“Jimmy,” he said, after a short pause which followed the burglar’s last
remark, which was in the nature of a defiance, “you can’t bluff me, and
you know you can’t.”
“That is precisely why I am not attempting to do so,” was the quick
retort. “You will find, if you persevere far enough, that this is no
bluff. I’m in dead earnest. Jimmy Duryea is dead, buried, and gone;
Ledger Dinwiddie is very much alive, and is here on the spot, ready
to do business. Ledger Dinwiddie owns estates in the South, heavily
mortgaged, to be sure; but his, nevertheless. He can prove who he
is, and every statement he makes about himself. If you should place
me under arrest, you would cause me great inconvenience, to be sure;
but you would cause others more than you would me—yourself among the
number. Now, you can take that, or leave it.”
“You are covertly making a threat against Nan Nightingale.”
“I am not covertly threatening anybody; but I openly threaten every
person, no matter who it is, who attempts to connect me with the former
Jimmy Duryea. Now you’ve got it, straight from the shoulder.”
“Jimmy, I’ve got three questions to ask you.”
“Fire away.”
“I won’t go into the details of them till I have asked all of them.”
“Just as you please. I don’t want to hurry you. The storm is almost
over, and as soon as it is past I shall deny myself the pleasure of
your company, and go to the house.”
“We’ll see about that—when the storm is over.”
“We will see. Now, what are your questions?”
“The first one is this: Will you return those jewels you stole last
Thursday night?”
“I have not stolen any jewels, and therefore I cannot return any. Next?”
“Will you, after the jewels are returned to the proper owners, leave
this place, and the United States as well, never to return, on
condition that I let you go away unmolested?”
“Since I cannot—or will not, if you prefer it so—return the jewels,
that last question requires no answer; but I will answer it by saying
that I shall remain a guest at this place just so long as it pleases me
to do so.”
“The third and last question, is this: Will you promise me never to
communicate with Lenore Remsen again, after to-day?”
One quick flash of keen resentment crossed the face of Duryea, when
that question was asked; but it was gone as quickly as it appeared. He
laughed outright, flicking away the stub of a cigarette as he did so,
and producing another one.
“Don’t be an ass, Carter,” he said, rising and turning to cross the
summerhouse toward the door through which they could see the people on
the veranda of the mansion.
Instantly Nick Carter leaped from the seat he had been occupying, and
sprang upon him. He seized him by the arms, pulled his hands behind
him, and snapped the handcuffs upon his wrists in that position; and
then Nick pulled him away from the door so that there was no chance of
being seen from the house.
Beyond the first impulse of resistance, Jimmy made none at all; and
when the detective thrust him back again upon the chair where he had
been seated before, he looked up with a quiet smile, as if he rather
enjoyed the proceeding.
“Jimmy,” said Nick, “I’m not going to monkey with you. You are past all
that. You have laid your plans, and you think they will work out to the
end. But they won’t. They might do so with some people, but they won’t
with me. Now, I offer you your liberty upon those three conditions, and
I do it for Nan’s sake, not for yours.”
“Why don’t you marry her, Carter?” was the cool response. “You’re a
widower, and she is twice a widow. Why don’t you marry her? You seem to
be mightily stuck on her.”
“I am, in the sense that I thoroughly respect a good woman, Jimmy, and
Nan is that.”
“She was good enough to go to you and give things away up here, when
she supposed that she had the kibosh on me,” sneered Jimmy.
“She did not come to me and give you away, Jimmy. I met her by
accident; and even then it was after you had broken your solemn word
given to her that night. What has changed you so, Jimmy? You used to be
a man of your word, even though you were a crook.”
“I’m not Jimmy, I tell you. Jimmy is dead. Nothing of him
remains—unless it is that ghost we have been talking about. Come,
Carter, take these irons off me. You can only make trouble for Nan, if
I am found in this predicament. She would be the one to suffer; not I.”
“You think so.”
“I know so, Carter. I know whereof I speak. I don’t do things halfway,
and you know I do not. I intend to carry off this plan I have laid out,
Nick Carter to the contrary, notwithstanding.”
“What does that plan include, Jimmy?”
“If I should tell you, you would know.”
“Do you mean that you would have married that girl, if fortune had not
gone against you in the way it has?”
“I intend to marry her, as it is. I have got a name to perpetuate,
Carter; the name of Dinwiddie. There is not an older or a better one in
this benighted country of yours.”
“Perhaps you will tell me how you came by that name,” suggested the
detective; and he was surprised when Duryea laughed aloud.
“I’d like to tell you; by Jove, I would, and no mistake, Carter. It is
almost too good to keep. But that would be throwing altogether too much
information in your way—and it cannot be done. Look here, Carter, I’ll
tell you what I’ll do.”
“Well?”
This was what Nick had been hoping for. He had now got his man to a
point where he was tacitly admitting his position, and was doing his
share of the talking.
“We’ll admit, for the sake of the circumstance, that I am the ghost of
Bare-Faced Jimmy, or at least that I represent the ghost. We’ll admit
that the ghost got the diamonds. We’ll admit that the ghost can return
them. See?”
“Yes.”
“Well, I’ll confess to you that I badly need those diamonds, in order
to carry out my plans, for I am short of money. Nevertheless, since you
make such a point of it, I’ll get the ghost to return them to their
proper owners—on a condition.”
“What is the condition?”
“Wait. Don’t go off half cocked.”
“What is the condition?”
“I’ll return the diamonds, I’ll forget, as long as I live, that I ever
saw Nan Nightingale in my life—provided you’ll go away from here and
forget that such a person as Jimmy Duryea ever existed.”
For a moment the detective stared at Jimmy; then he laughed shortly.
“Have you so small an opinion of me as that, Duryea?” he asked. “Do you
suppose that I would permit a man like you to ruin the life of that
girl, as you would do, if she became your wife?”
“I wouldn’t ruin it; I would make her happy. I would——”
“That’s enough of that. Do you know, I have more than half a notion
to call your bluff about your being able to prove yourself to be a
Dinwiddie, and take you in right now?”
“Try it on, if you think it will work, Carter.”
Nick started to his feet as if he intended to do so. He was more
than half inclined to do it, and probably might have done so, had
it not been that at that moment he heard voices, as if persons were
approaching the summerhouse.
He stepped quickly to the vine-shaded doorway, and looked out.
The storm had passed, and halfway across the lawn from the house,
coming toward him, was Lenore Remsen, accompanied by two of the young
women guests at the mansion.
Nick realized instantly that this was no time for the dénouement.
One glance, and the thought that accompanied it, satisfied him that the
time was not yet ripe, and he wheeled and returned quickly to the side
of Duryea.
Then, without a word, he quickly unlocked the manacles and removed
them, dropping them into a pocket out of sight.
“Thanks. Thanks, awfully,” drawled Duryea, and yawned. “You’re really
quite a bore, Carter—sometimes.”
“People are coming, Jimmy,” said Nick, speaking rapidly. “You are free,
now, for the moment, but it won’t be for long. I am not sparing you,
just now; I am sparing that poor girl, whom you are deceiving. But
I’ll tell you right now, Duryea, that from this moment, no matter what
happens, I do not leave your trail until you are behind the bars of a
prison, condemned under the name that belongs to you. I’ll add that the
offer I made a little while ago, to let you escape on conditions, is
withdrawn. That’s all. You have defied me, Duryea, and you will have to
take the consequences. Maybe you know what that means when I say it. If
you do not, there are people up at Sing Sing who could tell you.”
The first tinge of uneasiness that Duryea had shown, appeared in his
face for an instant; and then the summerhouse door was darkened by the
young women whom Nick had seen approaching, and he started to his feet
with a smile and an exclamation of greeting. A moment later they were
all walking together toward the mansion.