“Please remember what I have just told you about finding Howard Drummond, alias Bare-Faced Jimmy, and all the other names he has passed under, in the library, with the jewels in his possession. Remember that he had promised to restore those jewels, and that he did not keep his word, and that I induced Mr. Carter to come here to help me get them.
“When Mr. Carter appeared here, Jimmy, as he is called, tried to brazen it out, and Mr. Carter told me about it. I was of the opinion then that the villain would try to kill me, or Mr. Carter, or both of us, but Mr. Carter did not think so when we talked it over on the veranda last evening. Mr. Carter told me then that he was coming to my rooms to see if the thief had concealed the jewels here. The thief saw us talking together, and evidently decided that he must act quickly, if at all.
“Later in the evening he sought me, when Mr. Carter was not near. He managed to draw me aside, and although he detained me only a moment, he managed to say in effect that since his interview with the detective in the summerhouse he had decided to abandon his entire plan here, and take Nick Carter at his word; that he had decided to give up the jewels, and go.
“He agreed to return them to me, with a written confession that would state the case plainly, if I would meet him at half-past one o’clock to-night, in the summerhouse where he had talked with Mr. Carter. The condition was that I was not to inform Mr. Carter about it until I could put the jewels into his hands.
“I agreed to that, for I did not think that the man would dare to do me harm, now that Mr. Carter was here on the spot. But I did not promise not to inform Nick Carter’s assistant—this gentleman here, who is Mr. Chickering Carter.
“I told Chick all about it, and asked his advice. He advised me to see the thing through to the end, and said that he would be near at hand if danger threatened.
“At half-past one o’clock to-night, I let myself out of the house silently. There were no burglar alarms that sounded then, showing that somebody must have turned off the power from them to permit me to go outside.
“I went to the summerhouse, and entered it. There was no one there, but after a moment two men sprang upon me from the darkness, I was seized, my hands were tied, and I was told that if I uttered a sound I would be killed. Then my feet were tied together and my own handkerchief was thrust into my mouth to gag me; and I was left there.
“But it was only for a moment.
“When those men stepped from the doorway of the summerhouse they were both knocked flat, handcuffs were put on them, and Chick came into the summerhouse and set me free. Then he made use of certain persuasive arguments which induced the men to talk and tell all they knew, with the result that we understood that they were to drive an automobile they had with them, to the rear door, and wait there until a woman in a red wrapper ran out of the house, when they were to start the car and go away about their business.