"He's a good Scout, only he thinks he's a detective. He gets all
the boys out of scrapes--except me, and I never get into any. That
is, he gets out all the honest ones."

"Jimmie told me about the trouble here," Nestor said, "and I came
to learn the exact truth from you. If you struck this man and
rifled the safe, tell me so at once. There may be extenuating
circumstances, you know."

"I didn't do it," Fremont broke out. "I hadn't been in the room
a minute when Jimmie came in and accused me of the crime. There is
some mystery about it, for no man could get into this building at
night unless he was helped in, or unless he hid during the day, in
which case he would be observed moving about."

Nestor smiled but made no reply.

"There has been no robbery," Fremont continued. "There are negotiable
bonds on the floor by the safe, and Mr. Cameron's watch and chain and
diamonds are still on him."

"Do you know," Nestor said, smiling, "that the points to which you
refer are the strongest ones against you? Tell me all about it, from
the moment you came into the room."

Fremont told the story as it is already known to the reader, Nestor
sitting in silence with a frown of deep thought on his brows. When
the recital was finished he went into the north room and stood over
the unconscious man.