“And his alibi is perfect,” said the colonel.  “Well, I guess you’ve told me all I want to know.  You haven’t any reason to suspect any one, have you, Darcy?”

“Not a soul!  God knows I wouldn’t want to name any one, either, much as I’d like to get out Of here myself.”

“Mrs. Darcy had no enemies?”

“Not a one in the world that I know of.  She was a friendly woman.  Of course, that was good business policy.  No, she had no enemies.  Most people liked her.”

“So I’ve heard.  Well, we’ll get at the truth somehow.  Now brace up.”

“I’m trying to, Colonel.”

“Well, try harder.  When I go to see Miss Mason—­”

“You are going to see Amy?” cried the prisoner eagerly.

“Yes.  But if I have to tell her you looked as though you had lost every last friend you had in the world—­”

“It’s all right, Colonel.  Tell her you saw me—­laughing!” and Darcy did manage to utter what might pass for a laugh.  It was a good attempt.

“Good!  That’s better, though there’s room for improvement,” said the detective.  “Now, I’ll leave you.  I have lots to do.”

“I’m sorry.  Colonel, to put you to all this trouble—­”

“Pooh!  Now I’m in it there’s no trouble that’s too much.  I’ll get about the same fun out of this as I would if I fished—­and I’ll fish with greater enjoyment later on—­when I’ve cleared you.”

“I hope you do, Colonel.  And if there’s anything I can do—­”

“Thanks, but Miss Mason has already arranged to have me whip her father’s trout stream when this case is over, and that’s reward enough for me.  Now, sir, one last word to you!” and the colonel assumed the military appearance that so well befitted him.  “Stop worrying!”

“I’ll try, Colonel!”

“Don’t try—­do it.”

“One question.”

“Well, one only.  What is it?

“Do you think Mr. Grafton—­”

The detective smiled and shook his finger at Darcy.

“You just let me do the thinking!” he advised as he turned to go out.

Colonel Ashley spent two busy days, most of his time being given over to investigating Aaron Grafton.  And the more he saw of that gentleman the more the detective became convinced that the merchant knew something of the crime.

“I wouldn’t admit, even to myself,” mused the colonel, “that he had a hand in it, or that he was an accessory before or after.  But he certainly knows something about it, and enough to make him worry.  That’s what Aaron Grafton is doing—­worrying.  And he’s worrying about something that ought to be in the jewelry shop and isn’t.  Now, what is it?”

This, very evidently, was something for Colonel Ashley to discover, and with all his skill he set himself to this task.  For the time being he dropped several other ends—­tangled ends of the skein he hoped to unravel—­and devoted his time to Grafton.  And, at the end of two days the detective learned that the merchant was going to make a hurried trip to New York—­a trip not directly connected with his store, for those trips were made at other times of the year.