CHAPTER II.
THE STOLEN PLATE.
It was eleven o’clock when Nick Carter arrived with Chick and Patsy at the Waldmere residence that morning. The butler admitted them, while Lord Waldmere and his wife came hurrying through the broad, handsomely furnished hall to meet them.
“Come into the library,” said Lord Waldmere, after their greeting. “By Jove, I’m deucedly glad you could come so quickly. I’m in a terrible state. I’m the victim of a beastly job, as you American detectives call them. ’Pon my word, Carter, I don’t know whether I’m afoot or horseback. I’m infernally upset, don’t you know——”
“Won’t it be well, then, Waldmere, to let your wife tell me what has occurred?” Nick suggested, interrupting. “I infer that it is something of a criminal nature, or you would not require my services.”
“That hits the bally nail on the nob,” groaned the Englishman. “I have been jolly well robbed, Mr. Carter, jolly well robbed and——”
“Sit down, Archie, dear, and let me state the case,” Mrs. Waldmere interrupted, after all had entered the finely furnished library. “I can inform Mr. Carter much more briefly than you, and he evidently feels that time may be valuable.”
Lord Waldmere always yielded to his wife, at which none wondered, for her beauty and charm were quite irresistible.
“Archie has, as you already know, decided to remain permanently in America, or at least until a reconciliation has been effected with his family, of which there appears to be no prospect as long as his father, the Earl of Eggleston, lives.”
“Yes, I know about that,” Nick bowed.
“Archie not only has been successful in his mining ventures,” Mrs. Waldmere continued, “but he also inherited from his mother, who was the earl’s second wife, nearly all of her extensive estate.
“It comprised the London residence of her father, also the old manor house and estate in Dorsetshire, with all that they contained. This included a fine library, numerous costly paintings, portraits, and other furnishings, and also a large quantity of valuable silver and gold plate, which has been a heritage of the Waldmeres for two centuries. It is of the massive and beautifully engraved kind that we do not see in these days, and it is valued at something like a hundred thousand dollars.”
“That’s the blooming truth, Mr. Carter,” nodded Waldmere. “I would jolly well rather have given a leg, old top, than have lost it.”
“Lost it!” echoed Nick. “Do you mean that you have been robbed of the plate?”
“Yes, bah Jove, that’s just what I mean. The bally stuff, you see, was——”
“One moment, Archie,” Mrs. Waldmere interposed. “Let’s state the facts briefly.”
“Yes, do so,” put in Nick attentively.
“After having bought this beautiful residence, which still is only partly furnished,” she continued; “Archie decided to ship over here most of his English furnishings, including the library, the paintings and portraits, a quantity of costly rugs, tapestries, and draperies, and also all of the gold and silver plate.”
“Ah, I see!” Nick nodded. “The plate has been stolen during transportation.”
“Exactly.”
“Tell me what you know about it.”
“That can be briefly told. Archie wrote to his London agent, Mr. Cherry, a thoroughly reliable man, giving him all of the necessary directions. Mr. Cherry had the goods packed for shipment. They filled twenty large cases. These were marked and numb
