WHEN A MAN IS DESPERATE.
During what remained of that day, through the dinner hour, and in the
evening when the entire company of guests thronged the big rooms, Nick
Carter and Duryea kept as far apart as they conveniently could. Nick
had an object in carrying out his part of that unspoken arrangement: He
wished Jimmy to understand that he had not yet decided what to do.
It has always been one of the detective’s theories that if you leave a
criminal well enough alone, he will presently become uneasy under the
restraint of inaction, and do something himself. Nick had a notion that
Jimmy would attempt some sort of move before another day came around,
if only he were left severely to himself; that is, as far as the
detective was concerned.
But Nick found an opportunity to make Chick thoroughly acquainted with
all that had happened; and he also had it arranged to take Nan in to
dinner, and so secured an opportunity to talk with her.
He noticed, while at the dinner table, that Jimmy, who was seated
nearly opposite, kept a furtive eye upon him and Nan, and noted that
they were whispering together. No doubt the cracksman would think that
they were hatching some sort of a plot against him. That was precisely
what Nick wished to have him think.
Nick did not believe that Jimmy would have the pluck to hold his
ground, and really attempt to marry the girl; for he must know that
Nick Carter would never permit that.
No, it was plain to the detective that the bluff on Jimmy’s part was
directed at some other effort, since that one must now be abandoned.
There was a time after dinner when Nick and Nan found themselves alone
together, at a corner of the veranda. Nick was seated upon the rail,
and Nan stood beside him, picking apart the leaves of a wilted rose
that she held in her hand.
It was the first chance that Nick had had to tell her about what
happened in the summerhouse; there had been no opportunity to do so at
the dinner table.
“You and Jimmy were a long time in the summerhouse together, during the
storm,” she said to him, in a low tone. “What happened?”
“A great deal happened, and very little happened,” he replied, smiling.
“Tell me about it, Mr. Carter,” she asked.
“Jimmy is a great bluffer,” replied Nick. “He is also a brave man, for
one in his position. To tell you the truth, Nan, if what he says is
half the truth, he holds trumps at the present moment. Can you guess
what he would do if I were to arrest him now?”
“Deny his identity, of course.”
“More than that. He has got another identity established. That name
he is wearing is more than a mere name which he has assumed for his
present purposes.”
“What do you mean by that statement?”
“I mean that somehow he has managed to establish a new identity. I
don’t know how he has accomplished it, but if I read him correctly, he
has practically made himself over into a new being, and established
beyond a doubt—that is, a present doubt—that he is that person.”
“But how could he do that?”
“I don’t know—at the present time; but some day I shall make it my
business to look into the matter; after we have got the present
predicament off our hands.”
“You admit, then, that it is a predicament?”
“Decidedly so.”
“Will you tell me in just what way it is a predicament?”
“Jimmy has practically defied me. Out there in the summerhouse I
actually put the handcuffs on him, thinking that he might weaken; but
not a bit of it. He was as cool as a cucumber. He not only insisted
that he could prove the death of Jimmy Duryea, but that he could prove
his own identity as Ledger Dinwiddie. He actually dared me to arrest
him—and under the circumstances I thought it best not to do so—till
later. Nan, where is the room you occupy in this house?”
“I have a suite of three rooms. They are in the south wing. Why?”
“I want to go to them. I want to examine them—thoroughly.”
“Why?”
“Because I think that Jimmy has hidden those jewels there.”
“What; in my rooms?”
“Yes.”
“Why should he do that?”
“Can’t you guess?”
“I’m afraid not. I——”
“When he found that you had gone to the city with Mrs. Remsen, his
first thought must have been one of panic, for he guessed that you
would go straight to me with the story about him. The fact that he
remained here, was perfectly cool when I arrived, and thoroughly the
master of himself, is proof to anybody who knows Jimmy that he had
prepared to strike back, and strike hard, if anything happened after
your return.”
She nodded, and Nick continued:
“When you returned, nothing happened; but there is no doubt that he
expected me, and was not in the least surprised when I appeared on the
scene. Do you remember what he said when we were discussing the theft
of the jewels?”
“Yes. About a woman having taken them? He meant me, did he not?”
“Surely. I understood it at the time, but he made it more plain, later
on, in the summerhouse. He almost openly threatened you, in case
anything happened to him.”
“With a revelation of my past, do you mean?”
“Worse than that. With accusing you directly with stealing the jewels,
and proving it.”
“By finding them in my possession? Do you mean that?”
“Yes.”
“That is why you would like to search my rooms?”
“Yes.”
“Do you really think that he would have taken the risk of hiding them
in my rooms?”
“Nan, Jimmy Duryea will stop at nothing to carry his point. He has
come here, resolved to marry Theodore Remsen’s daughter. He has made
that daughter fall in love with him, and he can render himself a most
lovable chap, if he has the mind to do so.”
“That is only too true, Mr. Carter. Even now I find myself trying to
make excuses for him. In the old days, when he made me assist him in
his burglaries, and finally when I actually stole things under his
direction, there was no resisting him.”
“I know.”
“But what——”
“Nan, Lenore Remsen will have a dowry of more than a million. This
house, with the estate upon which it stands, will go to her. He regards
that as a prize worth winning, no matter what the effort. He stole the
jewels merely to provide himself with ready cash when the time comes
for him to leave here to prepare for the wedding. The wedding itself is
the great goal.”
“I am aware of that.”
“Therefore, when he decided that you had gone to New York to warn me,
and possibly to bring me back with you, he realized that he must make
his position unassailably strong, or else abandon it altogether.”
“But, how——”
“Now, if the worst should come to the worst, he could tell what you
used to be—and he knows that you could not and would not deny that.
He also knows that you and I, both, will do anything in our power to
prevent the necessity of such a revelation.”
“Yes,” she said.
“So it remains—at least it is apparent to me—that he has found a place
inside of your rooms to conceal those stolen jewels; a place where he
could find them by accident, or where some other person would find them
seemingly by accident, in case a search should be made for them. Where
would you be then, Nan?”
She smiled wistfully; and then, with an attempt at playfulness, replied:
“I’d be in a bad fix, wouldn’t I?”
“You certainly would.”
“But, Mr. Carter, he must know that he cannot carry off that marriage,
with you and I both at hand to prevent it. He must know that we would
not permit it to take place, no matter what the consequences might be.”
“One would think so; but—well, perhaps he intends, somehow, to
forestall us.”
“Forestall us? How could he do that?”
“Oh, I don’t know; only, perhaps, if the marriage had actually taken
place, and there was no help for it, you and I might both think that
it would be the better way to leave things alone. While we might, and
would, prevent such a thing, if we had the time and the opportunity, we
might both of us feel disinclined to interfere after it had actually
happened.”
“I understand what you mean.”
“Well, just what do you think I mean?”
“That he was only playing you to gain time, and that he will, if he can
do it, induce Lenore to run away with him, and be married. Only there
wouldn’t be any earthly reason for such a thing as that, when he is
already the accepted suitor. No; it isn’t that. It is something else,
and I think I can guess what it is.”
“What, then?”
“Remember, I have been his wife. I have lived with him and I know him,
even better than you do.”
“Yes.”
“A little while ago, you called him a brave man. Well, if physical
courage is bravery, then he can certainly lay claim to that quality.
James Duryea is not afraid of anything.”
“I know it.”
“Once he has made up his mind to do a certain thing, he will do that
thing, though the heavens fall.”
“I understand that quality about him, too.”
“It is evident that he has made up his mind to marry Lenore.”
“Yes, I think so.”
“And the only obstacles that are in his way at the present moment stand
right here; they are Nick Carter and Nan Nightingale. Is that correct?”
“Admitted—if you put aside a small one that I see at the other end of
the veranda, who is called Chick.”
“True; I had forgotten Chick. But that does not alter what I was about
to say.”
“What was that?”
“In the past, whenever obstacles got in the way of Jimmy’s designs, he
broke them down, put them aside, or destroyed them. That is what he
will attempt to do now.”
“Nan, my dear girl, do you mean murder?”
“Yes. That is just what I do mean. He would not hesitate.”
“Perhaps not, if there were opportunity. But here there is none.”
“Then he will make one. I am afraid, Nick Carter! I am afraid!”