Nick Carter Stories No. 131, March 13, 1915: A fatal message; or, Nick Carter's slender clew

NICK CARTER STORIES
Issued Weekly. Entered as Second-class Matter at the New York Post Office, by Street & Smith, 79-89 Seventh Ave., New York. Copyright, 1915, by Street & Smith. O. G. Smith and G. C. Smith, Proprietors.
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NEW YORK, March 13, 1915. No. 131. Price Five Cents.
Edited by CHICKERING CARTER.
Nick Carter leaned nearer to the wall and listened to what the two men were discussing.
The wall was that of a booth in the café of the Shelby House. It was a partition of matched sheathing only, through which ordinary conversation in the adjoining booth could be easily overheard, and both men in this case spoke above an ordinary tone.
Obviously, therefore, they were discussing nothing of a private nature, or anything thought to be of much importance, or serious significance. It meant no more to them, in fact, than it would have meant to most men, to all save one in a million.
That one in a million was seated alone in the next booth—Nick Carter.
The two men were strangers to the detective. They had entered when he was near the end of his lunch, and while waiting for their orders to be served they engaged in the conversation which, though heard only by chance, soon seriously impressed the detective.
“You were a little later than usual this noon, Belden,” said one.