Well, if Mrs. Pond was surprised, she wasn't a bit more so than Nick Carter.
The pin referred to was the one which had been stolen from the cushion in Mrs. Pond's dressing-room not ten minutes before.
"Why, this is impossible," cried Mrs. Pond. "I left that pin with the two others like it in my room."
Without saying another word, she turned and ran into the house.
Almost immediately her voice was heard in the hall.
"It's gone!" she cried. "It's been taken out of my bedroom."
She appeared at the door with a very white face.
But her excitement was nothing to that of Mrs. Stevens.
Nick dropped the role of detective and assumed that of doctor in less than a second.
When he had saved Mrs. Stevens from an attack of hysterics, he said: