“But the diamonds did not remain in the drawer for any length of time,” said Nick. “Did you know Alvin Maynard in his lifetime?”
The assistant shook his head.
“Then you do not know what an inveterate snuff taker he was. Well, he came in here last night, after the return of his wife, and removed the gems from that drawer. His fingers were soiled with snuff at the time, and he left traces of it on the handkerchiefs in the drawer. The handkerchiefs are also crumpled, showing that the diamonds were not taken out in a calm manner.”
“I see,” said Chick, more surprised than ever.
Nick now went to the old lady’s closet, which opened from the sleeping room, and came out with a pink nightrobe thrown over his shoulder. He attempted no explanation until they both stood in the front room, by the side of the bed whereon the dead man lay.
“It is certain that the old lady followed her husband to this room,” Nick said, then, “and that a quarrel took place here. Observe how the gathers are torn out at the neck of this nightrobe. It all ended in her being pushed down or falling in a faint. At any rate, the woman received her wound in this room, and not in the doorway of her own chamber, from the fist of a burglar, as she is said to claim.”
Nick walked over to a couch which stood by a front window. The head of the couch was composed of a straight, sharp-cornered piece of quarter-sawed oak, without upholstery of any kind on the edge. On the outer corner of this headpiece was a bruise and a stain of blood.
“It looks to me,” said Chick, “as if the burglary was a put-up job, and that the diamonds are still in the possession of some member of the Maynard family. Why, for instance, should the old lady lie about the way in which she received her wound, if all is on the level here?”
Nick smiled and pointed to the couch.
“No woman,” he said, “would admit a quarrel with her husband, much less a blow. It is therefore easy to understand why she lays the wound to the burglar. Besides, the diamonds she handled last night have been stolen, and it would be indiscreet for her to admit having them in her possession, even for a minute, just before the robbery. And, then, there is the murder. It is hard to believe that any member of the family would murder the old man.”