"No, I have let them go."

"That so?"

"I have no use for them at present."

"Why is that?"

"My engagement at the theater has closed, and I seldom have occasion to wear my diamonds. I have placed them all in a safe deposit vault."

"Ah! I see."

"So I have no need for my guardians, Detective Carter, with only myself here. n.o.body would want me personally, you know," she added, with a bold laugh.

Nick's firm lips drew a little closer.

"On the contrary," said he, pointedly, "somebody does, want you personally."

"Oh! is that so?" cried Cervera, as if amused.

"Very much so, senora."

"And who does me the honor, pray?"

"I want you," said Nick, bluntly.

"You, Detective Carter! Why, sir, what an idea! I wouldn't have believed it of you."

"Yet it is true, nevertheless."

"Well, well," repeated Cervera, with a pretty shrug, "I am really glad to hear you say so. For what do you want me, Detective Carter?"

Not once had Nick's searching gaze left her brazen countenance, and despite her outward display of badinage, his steadfast and penetrating eyes were making her secretly uneasy.

"I want you," said Nick, pointedly, "for that ugly 'Jack-in-the-box'

trick which you perpetrated this afternoon."

Cervera's eyes emitted a single swift, fiery gleam, and her red lips drew closer. Yet she cried, still pleasantly:

"What do you mean by that, Detective Carter? Is it a joke?"

"You'll find it no joke."

"If it is, sir, I don't see the point."

"You will have a chance to look for it at the Tombs," replied Nick, with grim quietude. "Senora Cervera, I want you to go along with me."

"The Tombs! Go with you! What do you mean?"

"I mean that you are now under arrest."

"Arrest! For what?"

"For the murder of a girl named Mary Barton," Nick bluntly rejoined, ignoring the woman's increasing display of amazement and resentment.

"Mary Barton!" cried Cervera. "I never heard of the girl."

"Nevertheless," said Nick, sternly, "you met her on Fifth Avenue this afternoon, and gave her a jewel casket containing a venomous snake, which you had stolen from the den of Pandu Singe, and by which means you inadvertently killed Mary Barton, instead of another for whom your infernal design was intended. I am aware of all of your late movements, senora, you see."

"I see that you are a devil!" cried Cervera, with a sudden pa.s.sionate outburst. "How dare you come here with such a story as that?"

For a moment at least, the fact that Nick already had discovered nearly every detail of her infamous crime--though committed only a few hours before--almost completely unnerved her, and her changing countenance, her irrepressible outbreak, and the violent agitation of her lithe, nervous figure, were tokens of self-betrayal by no means un.o.bserved by Nick.

"You'll have a chance to refute the story before a judge and jury," Nick curtly answered. "At present you are in my custody, however, and you must go with me."

Cervera rose to her feet, trembling visibly, and gripped the back of her chair as if for support.

"There must be some terrible mistake, Detective Carter," she now cried, with well-feigned distress and alarm. "Surely you do not mean this, sir? Surely you do but jest?"

"On the contrary, senora, I mean every word that I have said."

"That I am under arrest?"

"Yes."

"And must go with you?"

"Precisely."

"To the Tombs?"

"To the Tombs, senora."

"Oh! this is dreadful--dreadful!" craftily moaned Cervera, with tears now filling her eyes.

"I am sorry for you, senora, but I must do my duty," said Nick, rising.

"I know you must--but, oh! what shall I do? To whom can I appeal? Oh! if Mr. Venner were only here!"

"You can send a messenger for him later, or dispatch one of your servants from here," suggested Nick.

"I have none here," sobbed Cervera. "They are all out, and I am alone. I have no one--"

She suddenly stopped, then drew herself up with resentful dignity, and wiped the tears from her eyes.

"I am a fool to be so weak!" she exclaimed, bitterly. "Detective Carter, I know nothing of the crime you mention. I never heard of Mary Barton.

This arrest is an outrage, and I will appeal to the highest court in the land for vindication!"

"That's your privilege," said Nick, shortly. "But at present you must go with me."