The door into the hall was locked as he had left it.
All was the same, except that on the dressing-table was the cushion bearing two diamond pins instead of three.
The robbery had been done, as one might say, under the nose of the greatest detective in the world.
"Well, this takes my breath away," said Nick to himself. "It's the nerviest challenge that ever was sprung on me."
CHAPTER III.
HOW NICK FOUND THE JEWELS.
It certainly looked like sheer recklessness for this thief, whoever he might be, to play his game on Nick almost at the very moment when the great detective appeared upon the scene.
Shrewd as Nick was, he had not expected this. His first thought, as the reader knows, was that it was a bold challenge, the defiance of a nervy criminal who thought himself absolutely safe from detection.
But a moment's reflection made this seem less probable.