trange occurrence.

If the pin had been taken from the room, by a person concealed in the
house, it might have been possible that that person had escaped from the
grounds unseen, and had given it to Mrs. Stevens.

There was hardly time for such a trick to have been done, but in so
strange a case every possibility was to be considered.

If such a thing had been done, it must have been very near to the
house.

The thief must have known when Mrs. Stevens was coming, or she must have
waited for him just outside the colonel's grounds.

There was a place where the road was heavily fringed with trees, not
more than a hundred yards from the colonel's gate.

The trick must have been done there, if at all.

Nick resolved to settle this small point, if possible, immediately.

It was of no use to ask the man who had driven Mrs. Stevens' horse. Of
course, he would lie, if there was any need of it.

So Nick excused himself from the group on the pretext that he was going
to search Mrs. Pond's rooms again.

He remembered that just after Mrs. Stevens had arrived, a wagon
belonging to the colonel had driven into the grounds. He quietly looked
up the two servants who had been in this wagon. They told him that they
remembered seeing Mrs. Stevens drive up.

She had passed them on the road. They had had her carriage in sight for
a mile before it turned into Colonel Richmond's grounds.

Her horse had been driven at a good pace. It had not stopped. Nobody had
approached the carriage.

Nick was convinced that the men were telling the truth.

Then how had Mrs. Stevens obtained that pin?

Her possession of the other articles might be explained, but the pin was
a "stickler."

CHAPTER IV.

MILLIE STEVENS.

After questioning the two men whom he had found in the stable, Nick
walked toward the house.

On the way he met Horace Richmond.

"Mrs. Stevens has gone home," said Horace. "She would not remain for
dinner, although she has such a long ride before her. She seems terribly
distressed by this strange affair."

"What did your uncle say to her?"

"Not much," was the reply; "and I was a good deal surprised. He begged
her not to be nervous about it, and talked very pleasantly to her, but
he steered clear of the matter of the jewels.

"I don't understand it. I thought he would insist upon what he calls a
restitution of the property."

"Perhaps, after all," said Nick, "he isn't so far off his base on the
ghost quest