The Crime of the French Café and Other Stories

his remarkable experience as a detective, he has ever encounte

ghosts. Yet most of us would be less sure about it i

host may not find many believers, but he will get plenty of

tence of spirits when he is asked whether he ever saw any. On the contr

t-eyed young man called on Nick one aft

d of him, and it bore the

hat he was a fellow who knew the world and was g

s going to do something unusual, and wants to

, Mr. Carter, if you w

t," repl

ty queer one. I don't pretend to

been

Mrs. Pond. But the robbery affects my uncle perhaps more seri

the

k of the case, I believe it's just simply theft. Mrs. Pond has

different. He says that these robbe

he time. I want you to understand right at the start that

ought to be in the jug, and will probably

emember that, three or four years ago, he fell into the

k of. They got messages from the spirit land seven nights in the week and two matinees. My uncle simply went wild about it. You remember. It wa

e been quite a

ur million dollars. I tell you, those bogus med

nvinced my uncle that they were ra

d 'these people are frauds, but there are others who ho

eeping him out of the hands of sharp

up, and all my uncle's faith has returned. He wa

ewels that have been stolen aren't worth o

dy's house, but we wouldn't care much if the mysterious circumst

rious circumstances?"

, who was once very rich. At that time she had a passion for collecting jewels. She used

income out of it. In the last part of her life she lost all that part o

odger in City Hall Square-for she hadn't a cent of money-and yet owni

ng but keep them locked up; and so she had to depend

or he had plenty. She lived at his

she had no friends except a Mrs. Stevens and her daughter. They're related

have just enough to live on. The colonel would take c

onds to Millie Stevens. Indeed, Miss Richmond used to say so continually. I've heard her say,

y will that could be found was dated many years back, an

st idea that it still existed, and that she had made no other. On the contrary, we knew positively that she had made a mu

s disappointment to them, but they bore it with perfect good nature. They didn't seem to feel half so b

sh that the girl should have them. And I can tell you, there's no

whole lot to Millie Stevens, I belie

lion dollars' worth of property that had been thrown at him in that way. And, to spea

pocket, but, as I've said, the Stevenses wouldn't to

Some of the smaller pieces are in Mrs. Pond's possession. She is a woman who likes to wear a lot of

d you, is now visiting her father. You know he bought the ol

floor of the house, a sitting-room and a bed-room. The bed-room opens of

he second day after she had arri

When she returned she hurried up

s and that sort of thing-and laid them on the dre

and how much is hysterics I can't say. She was scared half out of her wi

the sitting-room about a minute she turned tow

d the other door of the bed-room, and it did

into her mind. She supposed that a d

it, but it closed b

so. It did not seem to resist firmly, as it would if it had been fas

ronger than she was, for she did

n utter. I was in my own room, which is over hers, a

othes, so it took me a minute, I shoul

wn the stairs. At the same moment my

mportant. You see, we approached that room by two ways-

of her bed-room she opened it, a

nt, and, on coming to herself, she crie

all below. One of them staid there by my uncle's orders.

to her room, and she poin

a pin, but the most valuable rin

ke, and in its mouth was a ruby worth about two hundred

ring there. She told us how the do

o open it for several minutes it suddenly

e thief. He had been holding the door, and natura

he pressure on the other side was

She rushed to her dressing-table,

e hunted high and low for the thie

oor in the hall was locked on the inside, and practically guar

ooks out on a sort of court wit

er the window all the time. He was

enough to try it at that time of day, and, as I've told you, there were two persons who would h

very queer. What do you

really taken? Couldn't she

s. Pond came back from the drive my uncle banded her out of the c

st the ring by the way, for there was a guard ring on th

took up the carpets; we made such a search a

ubt that the ring was stolen, but I c

rest part of it is that somebody held the door, and then let go of it a

f put something

. Not a piece of furniture was out of place, and there wasn't a stick or a

d Nick. "I guess it will be necessary for

ust what

g, then. I