“Unless I am much mistaken,” was the reply, “the diamonds are still about the house. If they are not, there are a lot of lunatics up there.”
“For instance?”
“Well, Mrs. Maynard seems to have recovered from her fits. At any rate, she sits in the parlor and watches Anton every minute of the time. If he goes to his room she makes an errand upstairs. If he goes out into the grounds she is not far away.”
“Go on,” said Nick.
“And Anton seems to be keeping his eye on the maid, Bernice. He goes where she is as often as he decently can, and once I heard them quarreling in the shrubbery.”
“Then you think Mrs. Maynard suspects Anton?”
“I don’t know if she suspects him of the robbery and the murder, but I believe she thinks he knows all about the events of that night. You know she was about the house herself, and took the diamonds from the trunk.”
“That is the way we figured it out this morning,” said Nick, thinking of the girl Anton had inquired for at the depot.
“I guess that is settled,” said Chick.
“Nothing is settled until the case is ended,” replied Nick. “For instance, you speak of the diamonds being here in the house at this moment. What if I tell you that I heard a man admit taking them and turning them over to one of Hartley’s agents?”