“The figure had vanished. The colonel's lamp stood on the sideboard just where he had put it.
“We had a fair light very soon. I examined you first, and, upon my word, I thought that you were done for.
“We got you up to this room, and Horace Richmond rode off for the doctor.
“From what he said about a nervous shock you can judge how much he knows.
“His help wasn't worth anything. I will back myself against him any day.
“I made sure that you were only stunned, and would come to all right. Then I hurried down to that room and began my search.
“Well, you know that room. It is simply built up of traps and panels. A man can go through the floor or the walls almost anywhere.
“My job would have been a good deal easier if there'd been less of that secret machinery.
“When there are five hundred ways in which a thing could have been done, it's pretty hard to say which one is right.
“There's a trap pretty nearly in the spot where the figure stood. Probably she came up and went down through that.
“But how about my shooting? There's the point.
“I took a direct line from the place where I was to the trap.
“Following that line, I came to the screen in front of the fire-place.
“In that screen, and about four and a half feet from the floor, were three bullets from my pistol. The other two are not there.
“Then, as I figure it out, that ghost has carried them away.
“My shooting was pretty good, considering the light. The three bullets were in the bigness of a watch-crystal.
“I feel sure that the other two were aimed just as well. If that's true, then one of the conspirators has some mighty serious wounds. Three went through her, and she stopped two.
“But there isn't a drop of blood to be found. The passage under the trap I have explored thoroughly.
“I can't find a human being or a trace of blood or any of the machinery which they must have used for the light or the ghost.
“Of course, the failure to find traces of the conspirators is not strange. These passages are so long, and so intricate, and so mighty well gotten up that I haven't had time to go through them all.
“But the wounded person is another matter. Where she is hidden is more than I can imagine.”
“I hope it wasn't Miss Stevens,” said Nick.
“You called her name.”
“Yes; I thought the chances were that it was she, but, of course, I couldn't recognize her in that rig for certain.”
“Well, if it was she, of course, we shall find it out. It's impossible for her to carry those two bullets around with her and not show it.”
Nick was dressed by this time. They went out into the hall of the new part. Nick had been taken to a room there, instead of being carried to that which had been assigned to him in the old part of the house.
From below came the sound of voices. The colonel, the doctor and Mrs. Pond were talking of the case.
Patsy stopped before a closed door in the upper hall.
A sign from Patsy arrested Nick's attention. He communicated to Nick in their silent language:
“That's Horace's room, isn't it? Whom is he talking with?”
Nick listened. Then he laughed.
“You've fooled yourself there, Patsy,” he said. “He's talking to a parrot. It's one of his pets. He has a good many.”
Patsy looked a little sheepish.
“You can't blame me, Nick,” he said. “We must suspect everybody in such business as this. Isn't that right?”
“Quite right,” responded the detective.
They went at once to the old dining-hall. Colonel Richmond presently joined them there.
To him Nick frankly explained all the events of the previous night, including the disguise which he had adopted in order not to appear in the ghost hunt in his own person.
In return the colonel confessed the facts of his visit to the medium. He said that he had done it secretly, because Horace and his daughter so strongly objected to his seeing those who held communion with the other world.
As to the woman who had met the colonel, he said that he did not know her name. She was veiled all the time, and did not speak to him.
After the disturbance—he was careful not to call it an expose—this woman had led him to the carriage, and they had hastened away.
Such was the strength of his delusion that he still believed that the manifestations he had seen at that house were genuine. He would not accept Nick's version of the affair.
“I have made up my mind what to do,” he said. “My decision is unalterable. I shall buy the jewels and give them to Millie Stevens. I believe that in so doing I shall carry out my aunt's wishes.”
It was a queer case for Nick. He had followed up many crimes, and had recovered a hundred fortunes in stolen property, but this was the first time that he had seen a robbery going on before his eyes and been unable to prevent it.
His pride was aroused. There was no use in combating the colonel's delusion. Of that he felt sure.
The man must be humored in order to secure delay.
“Colonel Richmond,” said Nick, “I wish to suggest to you a final test in this matter. It will settle all doubt and satisfy me thoroughly.
“If you can convert me to your views, I should think the achievement might be worth the trouble.”
“It would, indeed,” cried the colonel, with sparkling eyes.
Nick, with his usual tact, had hit upon exactly the right course.
“You believe, of course,” he said, “that the spirits of the dead cannot be stopped by bolts and bars.”
The colonel smiled, and nodded assent.
“The most of the jewels in dispute are, I believe, in the vaults of a safe deposit company,” Nick continued. “Very well; my test is this: Name some article of the collection which you are sure is there, and see whether your aunt will transfer it to Miss Stevens' possession.
“It should be as easy for a ghost to take anything from the vaults of a safe deposit company as from that dressing-table upstairs. Will you consent to the test?”
The colonel stood irresolute.
“Consent,” said a voice, as of a woman standing beside them.
Yet the three men were the only human beings in that room.
“The voice came from that screen!” cried Patsy, and he leaped toward the old fire-place.