Nicholas Carter

“ Claude Lamont seemed struck with a thunderbolt, and for some time he sat in the presence of his father, dazed and speechless.
“I had hoped the truth would never come out,” continued the millionaire. “I accidentally discovered a year ago who Mother Flintstone was, but I said nothing. I would have given her thousands to have thrown herself from the bridge or to have left the city, but I dared not approach her. And so she left a confession behind; she has left the secret to a scoundrel like this George Richmond. Why, this man has more names than one.” ”

“ Dora arose from the table, cast a contemptuous glance at Darwin, and walked into a side room.
“Confound that woman!” Darwin muttered, as he gazed after her. “If she turns against me, she may ruin me. I wish I hadn’t met Sally Rich—at least, not for the present.”
Carter heard what Darwin muttered, and he saw that the man was greatly disturbed.
“He’s afraid of Dora, for some reason,” the detective cogitated. “If I could get her out of here, unseen by Darwin, while she is in her present mood, I might be able to worm some information out of her. Shall I make the attempt?” ”

“ Can this be true, girl?”
“It is true, and because I am Nick’s friend I am here. You know him.”
Nora did not speak, but her lips parted in a gasp and she looked away.
“You don’t want that man to implicate you in the plot, do you?” asked Margie.
No answer.
“You don’t want to hang with the balance?”
“I won’t; the rope that hangs me isn’t made. The hemp has never grown for that purpose.”
“Then let me out of here.”
“To tell on me—to go to Carter with the story of where you’ve been?”
“I’ll shield you, Nora.” ”

“ Half an hour after the interview with his sister Claude Lamont occupied the armchair in the room in which he once showed himself to Carter and Bristol Clara, the latter his near neighbor.
This time he was alone.
Presently he was startled by a rap on the front door, as if some one outside had no use for a bell, and in a moment he had opened it.
He found a well-dressed, dark-faced stranger on the step—a man with a brownish beard and clear, gray eyes.
Claude did not know just what to do with the man, but as he held the door open the fellow entered and faced him in the hall. ”

“ By the detective’s side on the platform of the car Darwin stood, entirely unconscious that the man whom he had paid Brockey to kill was near him.
When the car reached Thirty-first Street, Darwin jumped off, lighted a cigar, and strolled leisurely down the block, turning into Sixth Avenue.
Carter was not far behind him.
“I’m going to find out more about you, my lad,” the detective thought, as he followed Darwin into a crowded dance hall.
It was nearly midnight, and the place was filled with men and women. A band was playing a popular waltz, and the floor was crowded with dancers. ”

“ TIGHTENING THE COILS.
The cashier of the safe deposit company kept gazing in silence at Carter with open-mouthed astonishment.
Nick’s countenance was illumined with an expression of triumph. He held in his hand damaging evidence against Simeon Rich.
If Rich were innocent of the murder, how was it that he had in his possession one of the bills which the cashier of the safe deposit company had paid to the man who had been so cruelly murdered at the Red Dragon Inn?
“This is a valuable clew,” the detective said, when the silence was becoming oppressive. ”

“ As the detective stepped toward the door it opened and a tall and distinguished-looking young lady entered the room.
“My daughter,” said the millionaire, with a wave of his hand toward the young lady, but she did not seem to hear the words.
Already she had turned upon Carter and her hands were clenched till the nails seemed to cut the fair flesh to the palms.
“You want to disgrace us all!” she cried, as she appeared to increase an inch in stature. “You are one of those blackmailers with whom honest and wealthy people must be bothered. You want to make us trouble. But you shall not! ”

“ There were many chances against Nick finding the woman he sought, but he did not despair.
The piers of New York are many and long.
From them thousands have leaped to their death, or been thrown into the waters after dark by those whose hands are red with crime.
More than once the detective’s trail had taken him to the docks, and there he had picked up more than one clew.
Every dock in the city was known to Carter. ”

“ Father shall not pay you one dollar to keep the false secret you think you have discovered. Attempt to carry out your plans and your life will not be worth the snuffing of a candle.”
Carter was astounded at these words, and he could not take his eyes from the flushed face of the girl who was really beautiful and vixenish.
“Be calm, miss,” said he. “I don’t intend to disgrace your family name. The truth never hurt anybody. I am a detective on the trail, and if that trail leads to your house, why, you should not find fault, for the dogs of justice seldom miss the scent.” ”

“ I don’t want to disgrace you and see your boy go to the chair. I don’t want to do anything of the kind, and I won’t if you pay me for the secret.”
Perhaps something told Perry Lamont that he was dealing with a desperate man, who, after all, might have the secret he spoke of, but it was such a terrible thing to think of that it chilled his blood.
[161] “I’m a man of business. I want the check or your boy is exposed.”
“What is the crime?” asked Lamont.
“What did I say? They take life for murder only.”
“My son!—a murderer!”
“They will certainly lay hands on Claude if you don’t buy my silence.” ”

“ It sent out a singular odor, not unpleasant, but enervating, and the detective’s system seemed to yield to its influence from the first.
“The accursed thing is the death agent which may have killed Newell!” he cried, as he sprang forward and set his foot on the burning ball.
At that moment an explosion occurred, the interior of the dungeon seemed to collapse and Carter became unconscious.
Perhaps the end had come.
When the detective came out of the darkness of doom, as it were, he was lying on his face. ”

“ Carter wanted to see if Darwin would speak to him. He judged that if he waited long enough the man would do so.
Darwin crossed the street, halted a moment, and [92] then came back. He glanced sharply, suspiciously, at Carter.
“Excuse me,” he said, as he came to a standstill, “do you live around here?”
“Are you addressing me?” the detective asked, in a disguised tone of voice.
“I am.”
“Oh, well, yes, I live in that house down there,” said Nick, pointing to the tall tenement which Darwin had twice entered.
“You do? What floor do you live on?” ”

“ As I live, I believe that man has Mother Flintstone’s blood on his hands.”
“I don’t know,” she said, dropping her voice almost to a whisper. “But go to sleep, girl. I can’t let you out.”
In another moment Margie was alone, for the woman had broken from her grasp, and the girl heard her footsteps on the stairs beyond the room.
“I see. This woman is merely the tool of the plotters,” thought the detective’s fair friend. “She serves them, while she fears Mr. Carter. Nora knows the detective, but she stands by the man who brought me to this place.” ”

“ Claude Lamont arose and crossed the room.
“You don’t know what you do,” he cried.
“I know what I do. It is either lose this friend, as you call him, or lose your fortune.”
“He never tried to blackmail you.”
“He did!” thundered the nabob. “In this very room [221] he wanted to sell the so-called secret for ten thousand dollars. I drove him away. I wouldn’t have anything to do with the scoundrel. But it seems you do. You are with him night and day, and you are old enough to know that you can’t play with pitch and not become defiled.” ”

“ The title of the next volume of The New Magnet Library, No. 836, is “The Heart of the Underworld,” by Nicholas Carter. The story leads you through dark and devious ways of crime, through a labyrinth of mystery and apparent defeat, out upon the broad highway of justice—where crime is punished and wrongs are righted. The great detective is the guide through this maze, and those who follow him in his perilous adventures will find themselves thrilled from start to finish. ”

“ Suddenly the millionaire’s hand leaped from the drawer and the revolver flashed in the stranger’s face.
“I won’t be blackmailed,” hissed Lamont. “I’m as merciless as a tiger when aroused, and I count your life as nothing as compared to the welfare of my family. What is the lie you have made up for to-night’s work? ”

“ After a time the detective heard the man Rich remark:
“Isabella made a mistake.”
“I don’t know about that,” the stout man rejoined, and at the same time he lighted a fresh cigar, while he leaned back in his chair and blew the smoke up in the air over his head.
[61] “Darwin,” replied Rich, in a low, clear, deep voice, “I think you are unnecessarily alarmed.”
“I am not. I have heard a great deal of that man’s ability.”
“All such men are overestimated. When they are brought face to face with shrewd men they fail.”
“Make no mistake. That man has circumvented shrewder men than we.” ”

“ To understand the preliminaries of the case on which Chick Carter and Patsy had been working for their chief, we must go back to a time before Simeon Rich was tried and executed, before Darwin was sent back to England, where he afterward died in prison.
To begin with, Old Mother Flintstone, well known in the neighborhood of Hell’s Kitchen, was dead.
All people have to die, and the old woman had to follow the written law of all mankind; but, what was queer, her death was a subject for police investigation. ”

“ You will recollect Margie Marne’s visit to the Trocadero in answer to the mysterious note which had reached her, and how the detective discovered that the person whom she encountered vanished with her into the alley back of the café while the detective himself was coolly and cleverly drugged by Caddy.
If the detective could have tracked the cab he would have seen it stop in front of a frame building not far from the East River.
He would have seen the door open and a man step out. ”

“ Dora was the first to speak and break the silence.
“Mr. Carter,” she said, “I can see that Rich and Darwin are implicated in some affair which you are investigating. It may be a crime. It was committed on New Year’s Eve, or you would not be so particular about that date. I feel sure of that.”
“You are a shrewd woman,” the detective remarked, with a smile. ”

“ Suddenly the clear tones of the bell reverberated through the mansion, but the millionaire did not rise. He did not want any visitors, and he was not at all in the humor to be disturbed.
Again the bell rang, a little sharper than before, and he laid down the cigar.
“Confound it all, why can’t a fellow get a little rest?” he growled, crossing the room toward the hall.
“It’s a pity some people haven’t the slightest notion about propriety, but must come when a man wants to throw off the cares of the world and enjoy himself.” ”

“ George Richmond broke into a laugh and leaned back in his chair.
“You don’t look like it, boy,” he cried. “Well, if I’m to be killed, why don’t you do it now?”
Claude reached forward and picked up the check.
“I’m to have a cool two hundred thousand for the job,” said he. “Just think of it! You’re an important person.”
“Hang me if I ain’t. Why does the old man want me out of the way?”
“You hold the secret, and he believes you have the papers left by Mother Flintstone.” ”

“ You have forgotten all about the old place on the Bowery that flourished five or six years ago. You don’t recall the barkeeper and the sometime pianist?”
A smile flitted across Claude’s face.
“Are you that person?” he asked.
“I’m Hugh Larkins. Sometimes they call me ‘Rosy’ Larkins, you remember.”
“I never recall nicknames.”
“Mr. Lamont, you’ve got good quarters here.”
Claude started a little at mention of his name.
“You see, I know you. Why, you haven’t changed a great deal. You’ve got a few more years on you, and you’ve grown a little stouter—good living, I guess. ”