ave gone far after
releasing it.

"She was inside just as soon as the pressure on the other side was
removed. But the room was empty.

"She thought of her jewels at once. She rushed to her dressing-table,
and instantly missed the ruby ring.

"Now, that's all there is to it. We hunted high and low for the thief,
and did not find a trace of him.

"How did he get away? That's where I give up the riddle. The door in the
hall was locked on the inside, and practically guarded by my uncle and
myself. At the other door stood Mrs. Pond.

"There is only one window. It looks out on a sort of court with the
house on three sides of it.

"A man with a wagon was almost under the window all the time. He was
delivering groceries to the cook.

"It's absurd to suppose that anybody got in or out by that window. No
thief would have been fool enough to try it at that time of day, and, as
I've told you, there were two persons who would have been perfectly sure
to see him if he had. And he couldn't have got in or out without a
ladder.

"I admit that it looked very queer. What do you make of it, Mr. Carter?"

"Are you sure the ring was really taken? Couldn't she have been mistaken
about it?"

"That's the idea that occurred to me. But it happens that when Mrs. Pond
came back from the drive my uncle banded her out of the carriage, and he
distinctly remembers seeing the ring on her finger.

"She went straight to her room, and she couldn't have lost the ring by
the way, for there was a guard ring on the outside of it, and that we
found on the dressing-table.

"Of course, we hunted for the ruby ring. We took up the carpets; we made
such a search as I never saw before. The ring was not there.

"I don't think there's a shadow of doubt that the ring was stolen, but I
can't form an idea of how it was done.

"The more I think about it the more confused I get. To my mind the
queerest part of it is that somebody held the door, and then let go of
it and vanished in a quarter of a second. How are we going to explain
that?"

"Didn't the thief put something against the door?"

"I thought of that, and tried to work out that theory, but it's
impossible. Not a piece of furniture was out of place, and there wasn't
a stick or a prop of any kind in the room that could have been used for
such a purpose."

"Well, that's strange, I must admit," said Nick. "I guess it will be
necessary for me to go down and look the ground over."

"That's just w