"I have no objection to telling you, none at all," Pylotte now replied.

"The man I spoke of, John David, swindled me yesterday with two artificial diamonds."

"Ah! is that so?" cried Nick, with a significant glance at Chick. "What is your name, my man?"

"Jean Pylotte, sir."

"Who are you, and where do you live?"

"I am a Frenchman by birth, and arrived in New York only this week. My home is in Denver. I am a diamond cutter by trade, and came here to buy some gems for a Denver woman of wealth, who wishes to obtain a certain size and quality."

"Then you are a judge of diamonds?"

"One of the best," Pylotte modestly admitted, with a faint smile. "I am an expert judge of diamonds, and so it happened that I discovered the swindle of which I am a victim."

"Then you bought a diamond of the man who said his name was John David, did you?"

"I bought two, sir," nodded Pylotte. "They appeared like natural and very perfect stones when I first examined them, but after subjecting them to more careful tests, I found them to be the most extraordinary imitations I ever beheld."

"Artificial diamonds, were they?"

"Yes, artificial. But only the best of experts, and after the most rigid tests, could discover the fraud. I never saw such imitations. The stones are really almost as good as natural ones."

"Have you them with you?"

"Yes."

"You feel quite confident that they were manufactured, do you?"

"Oh, I am positive of it," cried Pylotte, with emphasis. "That is why I was secretly following the swindler."

"You wanted to discover his house, and learn how he made such perfect imitations, eh? Was that your motive, instead of having him arrested at the theater?"

"Well, yes, it was," admitted Pylotte, with feigned reluctance.

"Do you know any process for manufacturing diamonds?" Nick next demanded.

"I am pretty well informed on the subject."

"Quite an art, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is."

"And one that could be made very profitable, perhaps?"

"I judge so."

"Put up your revolver," said Nick, abruptly. "What's that black object you dropped just now?"

Pylotte glanced down at his feet, then laughed faintly.

"That's odd," said he. "It's a piece of coal. I must have seized it from the road, thinking to defend myself with it."

"What is there odd in that?"

Pylotte laughed again.

"Diamonds may be made from coal," said he. "The fact that I should have got hold of a piece in the road here, while tracking that diamond swindler in search of his house, strikes me as being rather odd."

"So it was," said Nick, a bit dryly, thinking of Venner's house in the near distance.

Then he added, decisively:

"Put up your gun, Mr. Pylotte. I want you to go with me. I think you are the very man I want."

"Go with you!" exclaimed Pylotte, drawing back.

"If you please," said Nick, politely. "I want, at least, to hear more of your story."

"But who are you, sir?"

"My name is Nick Carter."

"Not the celebrated detective?" cried Pylotte, with feigned amazement.

"Precisely."

"That's quite sufficient, Mr. Carter!" the Frenchman now cried, with much bowing and sc.r.a.ping. "I'll go with you when and where you wish. If any man can run down these swindling ruffians, sir, you certainly are the man."

"Thanks," said Nick, dryly. "I'll take you home with me for the night."

CHAPTER XVII.

THE GAME UNCOVERED.

The following morning.

The clock in Nick Carter's library was striking nine.

Nick and Chick were seated at one side of the table, and Jean Pylotte occupied a chair at the opposite side.

Upon the dark cloth top of the table between them lay two large diamonds, declared by Pylotte to have been artificially made, the two with which he claimed to have been swindled.

Yet to the eyes of a layman they had all the qualities of natural gems, gleaming and glistening with magnificent fire in the cheerful sunlight of Nick's library.

Pylotte had invented a very clever and consistent story about himself and his mission in New York, as well as about the meeting and being victimized by the counterfeit diamond shover, and Nick as yet saw no occasion for seriously distrusting him, or connecting him with the Kilgore gang.