"That's all, Fogarty. I'll get any other particulars later."

Thereupon, as Nick was about to turn away, a young man in the crowd came suddenly forth, and exclaimed:

"One moment, Detective Carter, if you please! I saw that girl, about half an hour ago, walking this way with a gentleman."

Nick turned abruptly to the speaker.

"What is your name?" he asked.

"Tom Jenkins, sir."

"And your address?"

"I live at the Hotel North, and am employed by Hentz Brothers, in Broad Street."

"You say that you saw the girl walking this way with a gentleman?"

"Yes, sir."

"Did they appear to be on good terms?"

"Excellent, sir. They were talking and laughing, and seemed to be enjoying themselves."

"Do you know the girl's name, or where she lives?"

"I do not, sir; nor anything about her."

"Do you know anything about her companion, the gentleman you saw with her?"

For the bare fraction of a second Jenkins hesitated, as one might do who was loath to bring trouble upon another. Then he replied, in faltering tones:

"Well, yes, sir, I know the name of the man who was with her."

"State it, please."

"His name, sir, is Harry Boyden."

Nick felt his blood start slightly, yet his countenance did not change by so much as a shadow.

He glanced at Chick, however, and the same thought was in the mind of each.

"Harry Boyden! The clerk employed by Thomas Hafferman, the dealer in diamonds!"

CHAPTER IX.

NICK STRIKES A STARTLING CLEW.

The mind of Nick Carter was, as he had remarked to Chick, stirred with a flood of questions not easily or quickly answered.

Who was this girl found dead in Central Park?

Had she, indeed, been foully murdered? If so, by what mysterious means?

What had been the object? Who the perpetrator of the crime?

Or, on the other hand, was the evidence itself misleading, and had the unfortunate girl selected that sequestered seat in the park, and there deliberately committed suicide? Even then, by what means had the deed been accomplished? What had been the occasion?

What, moreover, had become of her companion at just that time? Why had he deserted her? What signified the pin-punctured wrapping paper, and the empty jewel casket, in the dead girl's possession?

Had the casket contained jewels of great value? Had the girl been robbed of them, and then foully murdered in some mysterious way?

Was Harry Boyden, the clerk employed by Hafferman, the last to leave the girl that fateful afternoon? Was he responsible for her death? Was robbery the incentive to the crime?

Or, on the other hand, had Boyden left the girl alive and well, and was the crime the work of another?

Or, finally, was there some strange and startling connection between this park murder and the robbery committed at Venner's store? Was there, between the two crimes, some extraordinary bond yet to be discovered--some tie uniting the two misdeeds as if with links of steel?

These were some of the conflicting questions that occurred to Nick Carter that afternoon, and in order to consider them before taking any decided action in the matter, Nick had kept to himself his startling discoveries, and left Officer Fogarty to take the customary steps in the affair.

At seven o'clock that evening, while Nick and Chick were seated at dinner, and still engaged in discussing the conflicting circ.u.mstances, a message was received from police headquarters, informing Nick that the girl had been identified, and that Harry Boyden had been found and arrested.

"Very good," observed Nick. "We shall now get something to work upon. I will go and question Boyden as soon as I finish my dinner."

"By all means," nodded Chick.

"Do you know," said Nick, "I am seriously impressed that there is some strange connection between this girl's death and that robbery at Venner's store. I believe that we have struck the very clew, or are about to strike it, that we so long have been vainly seeking."

"To the Kilgore gang?"

"Exactly."

"Egad, I hope so," laughed Chick, with a grimace. "I am beastly tired of nosing about on a scentless trail."

Nick joined in the laugh of his invariably cheerful a.s.sociate.

"Odds blood, Nick, as they say in the play," added Chick. "I'd welcome any sort of stir and danger, in preference to this chasing a will-o'-the-wisp."

"There'll be enough doing, Chick, take my word for it, as soon as we once more get on the track of Kilgore and his push."

"Let it come, and G.o.d speed it," grinned Chick. "What's your idea, Nick?"

"This empty jewel casket, the possibility that it contained diamonds, of which the girl was robbed and then murdered, and the fact that Harry Boyden is the clerk who brought the stolen diamonds to Venner's store--certainly the circ.u.mstances seem to point to some strange relation between the two crimes."

While Nick was thus expressing his views, a rapidly driven carriage approached the residence of the famous detective, and a servant presently entered the dining room and informed Nick that a lady wished to see him.

Nick glanced at her card.