Nicholas Carter

“ Near where he stood was a door which he thought led into the offices of the kennel club. He dodged through it to find he was correct in his surmise as well as to face the prominent banker.
“What now, Patsy?” asked the banker.
“Only a little makeup,” replied Patsy. “I think I’m on to something, and am going to try it.”
Much to the interest and amusement of the banker, he drew from his pocket a wig, which he slipped on, and a false mustache, using some color to change his face and eyebrows.
“Oh, for another coat and hat!” cried Patsy, casting longing eyes on those worn by the banker. ”

“ As he said this, Nick carefully watched the Brown Robin, and was certain he saw first a look of surprise and then of triumph on what was supposed to be an unconscious face.
“Money,” cried the man, “I want no money. Would money restore my wretched home, my happiness, the mother of my children?”
Nick could hardly restrain a smile, for the man was clearly over-acting. But Nick kept up the pretense, for he wanted to see where the game was to lead to. ”

“ Nick went back to Edith, telling her to prepare herself for her walk and saying that he wanted to go in the neighborhood of the Festus Club, for a moment’s word with one of his clients.
When she came back, ready for her walk, she asked:
“Who was your caller, Nick?”
“The Brown Robin.”
“Nick! You don’t mean that that pretty woman is the Brown Robin?”
“No doubt of it!”
“How do you know?”
“I called on the Brown Robin to-day, disguised as Alpheus Cary.”
“And she had the audacity to come and see you, knowing you are retained to expose her?”
“Boldness and audacity are her weapons.” ”

“ Constant is that a man of the kind Masson is should commit murder, especially in cold blood.
“Now, suppose that Masson did not know of the twin sister, suppose he climbed into that coach under the notion that Mrs. Constant was in it. Since it was Ethel Romney, she, of course, denied that she was Blanche or that she knew Masson, perhaps, to his anger, leading to the murder and the reason for it.”
“That is,” said Nick, “supposing it to have been Masson, and that he lost his temper, he lost control of himself, in that denial.”
“Yes, that is what I mean,” said Chick. ”

“ When Nick had left Chick and Patsy at the hotel, where he had taken off the disguise of Mr. Cary, the two young detectives discussed their own details for the night.
“We’re to keep a watch over Mountain,” said Chick.
“He seems able to watch over himself,” replied Patsy.
“Oh, he’s able enough,” said Chick. “It isn’t that. The chief wants to know the moment he gets the word from the Brown Robin. He believes that the Brown Robin will show up to-night.”
“Then we must be on,” said Patsy. “It’s up to us to decorate the lobby of the Empire with our beauty. Say, Chick, it’s the old story. ”

“ The coroner stepped back and opened the door for Nick to pass through, closing the door after him and going his way.
Nick passed into the parlor, and there found Mrs. Constant lying in the box the undertaker had provided.
He stood looking down upon her face, thinking that death had brought its changes and sharpened peculiarities of features that he had not noticed in life.
While he looked, the undertaker came from a rear room, looking at him inquiringly. Nick said, quietly:
“I am Mr. Carter, the detective.”
“Oh, yes; Mrs. Constant is expecting you. Indeed, she is very anxious to see you.” ”

“ So there is no point in that.”
“But, chief,” cried Patsy, “what are we to do about the lads that are going to Chicago to-night?”
“Let them go,” replied Nick, quietly.
“Let them go?” repeated Chick and Patsy in the same breath.
“Yes; it will be easy enough to get them when we want them. The chief thing is that I want Masson to think that he is right; that we are not paying any attention to the dog end of the case; and, to convince him, if we can, by our action that we have no suspicion as to him as the murderer.” ”

“ The Brown Robin threw her head to one side and eyed the elderly gentleman shrewdly for a while.
“I am afraid you are fibbing, Papa Cary,” she said. “And I am getting afraid of you, too. I fear instead of being a respectable, elderly gentleman, ready to give aid and protection to unprotected females, you are a gay old dog.
“No, I can’t sell that pretty picture for a thousand dollars. It’s too cheap. It cost me too much pains to get it. And then, how do I know but that you will take it to your club, show it around to other gay old dogs, as your last conquest?” ”

“ He had barely entered the hall than a prominent banker, known for the keen interest he took in the development of the dog, and who was one of the officers of the society under whose auspices the dog show was held, greeted him with the remark:
“Of all men, Mr. Carter, you are the man I most wish to see. Some miscreant is poisoning our dogs here. The fourth animal is just now dying from a dose—all valuable animals.”
“Have you suspicions?” asked Nick, scenting mystery at once, and nothing loath to tackle another puzzle now that he had placed the Brown Robin behind prison bars. ”

“ When you knew her what sort of reputation did she bear?”
“The very best,” declared Edith. “Blanche was a good girl, Nick. She was so light-hearted and full of spirits in those days, so gay, that sometimes she was misunderstood, but there was not the least harm in her.”
“Well, Edith, I fancy you will have some detective work to do.”
“In what way?”
“She knows more than she thinks she does. You must get her to talk confidentially to you, and these things may crop out. ”

“ Nick Carter: I have come to town to do business. I give you notice before I begin, because I am quite certain you will be informed immediately after I commence operations. It really makes little difference; you cannot reach me. Really, my dear Nick, I have a contempt for the so-called detective ability. You, with your Ida, Chick and Patsy, are a little better than the rest, but you are in the same running when you undertake to stop me.
“The Brown Robin.” ”

“ I’ve been through the house. There wasn’t a soul in it.”
“But the woman who went in?”
“Patsy, I’ve tumbled to a big thing. The woman who went in and the man who came out are the same person. But hurry off, Patsy, rig up and find my trail. There’s business on hand.”
Patsy dashed away and was hardly out of sight, when Chick saw the young man come from the house and hurriedly pass up Seventeenth Street.
Chick was after him quickly, a piece of red chalk in his hand. The lineman had disappeared. ”

“ Charge no one with so awful a deed. Trust to me. I will investigate that line to the end, but let your suspicions be unsaid, or, if you must talk of them, talk only to me.”
Mrs. Constant first turned impatiently away, but as impulsively turned back and placed her hand in Nick’s, saying:
“You are Edith’s husband as well. I will trust everything to you.”
“That is good,” said Nick. “Now a practical question. The driver of that coach, who was he?”
“The same as my own coachman. I have an arrangement with a livery stable near by, by which I have the same carriage, horses and driver by the month. ”

“ Turning to Patsy, he went on:
“I want you to take up the dog end of this case, Patsy.”
“I am aching for that,” replied Patsy. “I’d rather run down a man who would kill a dog like that than anything else. But I say, chief, put me next to that swell banker. He’s one of my kind.”
Chick and Ida laughed at this, and Nick said:
“You shall have a note to him. As for you, Ida, you must go to Philadelphia.
“There is this possibility, that the murder of Ethel Romney came out of her life in that city, before she came to New York—some trouble that she had there. ”

“ Carter would devote his energies rather to finding out who killed Mrs. Constant than to finding out who poisoned her dogs.”
“Oh, Mrs. Constant is all right,” replied Patsy. “She wasn’t killed.”
“Not killed?” replied the banker. “The papers said so.”
“All a mistake,” said Patsy. “Mrs. Constant is well, though she ain’t happy, for the reason that it was her sister who was killed.”
“That beautiful girl!” exclaimed the banker, eager to know all that Patsy could tell him. ”

“ Macrane lies under conviction of murder in the first degree, and awaits execution.
He has confessed, saying that he visited New York to force Ethel to return with him, and, finding that he had lost her and all control of her, in a fit of anger he killed her.
Mrs. Constant devotes herself to her kennel, but her grief for the death of her sister is so great that she is a broken woman.
When Patsy wants to be particularly swell, he sports a fine diamond ring that Mrs. Constant gave him in recognition of his bravery when he prevented her abduction by Masson. ”

“ Constant is right about the murder of her sister, she is right about the dogs; if she is wrong about the dogs, she is wrong about the murder.”
“As usual, Chick,” said Nick, “you state the whole thing in a nutshell. So, as the dog business is more easily followed than anything else, we will get into that investigation first.”
“Don’t treat Mrs. Constant’s suspicions too lightly,” said Ida. “I think you will find that she has kept back her strongest reasons for suspecting Masson. She has 124 wanted you to guess them. Edith, as her friend, could get them from her.” ”

“ The man under watch finally turned and walked off toward the lower corner. Chick slipped out and across the street, directly in his rear. He did not attempt to follow the man, but watched him walk away. Then he slipped back to Nick on his tiptoes, saying, eagerly:
“By thunder, chief, that man walks with a hitch and jerk of his right shoulder.”
“I thought I saw that myself,” replied Nick. “Under other circumstances we’d follow that man, but now our business is to find Ida.” ”

“ Turning suddenly to her husband, she said:
“Nick, how is it that you can doubt for a moment that Masson is the man that murdered Ethel, thinking she was Blanche?”
Chick was about to speak, but Nick checked him, saying:
“Edith, you know, I usually want proof before I believe a man guilty.” Continuing, he said:
“When, having been rejected, Masson learns that Blanche Romney was about to marry Albert Constant, he tells her it will be well neither for herself nor for Constant if she does. ”

“ The sight of a man flying frantically through the room, with another plunging along as frantically, followed closely by a high official of the company, excited all the clerks, and they thronged into the narrow way, so impeding Patsy’s pursuit that, by the time he had reached the door at the end of the room through which the other disappeared, his man was nowhere to be seen. ”