"Here, wait for me!" he cried. "I should see everything."
As he stepped forward Horace Richmond was just closing the little case which had held the diamond clasp. The colonel was turning away.
"I am deeply disappointed," he said. "The clasp is there."
As the colonel walked away with bowed head, Nick turned to Horace.
The young man's face was a study. He looked as if he had seen a grave-yard full of ghosts.
"Nick Carter," he whispered, "this is dreadful."
"What?"
"Hush! I had to fool him. I positively had to or he would have gone crazy."
He poured the words into Nick's ear in an excited whisper.
"I made him think the clasp was in the box, but it isn't. I substituted another piece. The clasp is gone. What shall we do?"