aluable plunder off that woman, to get Corbut out of the
way.

"Did he pay Corbut to skip first? And is he now identifying Tom, Dick
and Harry for the purpose of bothering us and keeping us busy till he
can light out?"

"It's worth looking into," said Nick. "At any rate, you stick to
Gaspard. I'll put somebody else onto Hammond."

CHAPTER VI.

MRS. JOHN JONES.

Nothing of great importance occurred in the case until the next
afternoon when Nick was at Police Headquarters.

He was talking with Superintendent Byrnes.

"The identification of that woman gets stronger all the time," said the
superintendent. "I'm beginning to think that she is really the wife of
our prisoner."

"It looks so," said Nick.

At that moment a card was brought in. The superintendent looked at it
and whistled softly.

Then he handed the card to Nick, who read the name. The two men
exchanged glances, and both smiled.

"Mrs. John Jones," said Nick; "well, this puts a new face on the
matter."

"It's a great case," was the reply. "I'm mighty glad you happened to be
on the scene at once."

He turned to the officer who had brought the card, and directed that
Mrs. Jones should be admitted immediately.

A pretty young woman entered. She was of about the same height as the
unfortunate victim of the tragedy in the restaurant, and much like her
in build.

The faces did not resemble each other in outline, but the coloring was
similar. There was a faint resemblance in the large, light blue eyes.

The hair was of the same peculiar shade, and nearly as luxuriant. But
nobody would ever have mistaken one woman for the other, after a fair
look at their faces.

The costumes, however, were positively identical. Mrs. John Jones, to
all appearances, wore the very same clothes as Nick had seen upon the
woman in room B.

Mrs. Jones was evidently very nervous, but she made a fine attempt to
control herself.

"You have my husband under arrest, I believe," she said. "And he is
accused, they say, of killing me."

She tried to smile, but it was rather a ghastly effort.

The superintendent motioned the woman to a seat.

"Mr. John Jones is here," he said, "and he is suspected of murder."

"I have read about it," replied the woman. "There certainly appeared to
be evidence against him, but of course you must be aware that I know him
to be innocent."

"How?"

"Because I was with him when the crime was committed. At half-past seven
o'clock