s about to turn away, a young man in the crowd came
suddenly forth, and exclaimed:

"One moment, Detective Carter, if you please! I saw that girl, about
half an hour ago, walking this way with a gentleman."

Nick turned abruptly to the speaker.

"What is your name?" he asked.

"Tom Jenkins, sir."

"And your address?"

"I live at the Hotel North, and am employed by Hentz Brothers, in Broad
Street."

"You say that you saw the girl walking this way with a gentleman?"

"Yes, sir."

"Did they appear to be on good terms?"

"Excellent, sir. They were talking and laughing, and seemed to be
enjoying themselves."

"Do you know the girl's name, or where she lives?"

"I do not, sir; nor anything about her."

"Do you know anything about her companion, the gentleman you saw with
her?"

For the bare fraction of a second Jenkins hesitated, as one might do who
was loath to bring trouble upon another. Then he replied, in faltering
tones:

"Well, yes, sir, I know the name of the man who was with her."

"State it, please."

"His name, sir, is Harry Boyden."

Nick felt his blood start slightly, yet his countenance did not change
by so much as a shadow.

He glanced at Chick, however, and the same thought was in the mind of
each.

"Harry Boyden! The clerk employed by Thomas Hafferman, the dealer in
diamonds!"

CHAPTER IX.

NICK STRIKES A STARTLING CLEW.

The mind of Nick Carter was, as he had remarked to Chick, stirred with a
flood of questions not easily or quickly answered.

Who was this girl found dead in Central Park?

Had she, indeed, been foully murdered? If so, by what mysterious means?
What had been the object? Who the perpetrator of the crime?

Or, on the other hand, was the evidence itself misleading, and had the
unfortunate girl selected that sequestered seat in the park, and there
deliberately committed suicide? Even then, by what means had the deed
been accomplished? What had been the occasion?

What, moreover, had become of her companion at just that time? Why had
he deserted her? What signified the pin-punctured wrapping paper, and
the empty jewel casket, in the dead girl's possession?

Had the casket contained jewels of great value? Had the girl been robbed
of them, and then foully murdered in some mysterious way?

Was Harry Boyden, the clerk employed by Hafferman, the last to leave the
girl that fateful afternoon? Was he responsible for her death? Was
robbery the incentive to t