“I’d like to get my hands on that Higby’s throat,” growled Jack. “Of all the unspeakable cads, he’s the limit.”
“He sure is,” agreed Paul. “But we’ll have to put on the soft pedal if we hope to find out anything. I’ll try to strike up an acquaintance with him, ask him for a match, or something like that. He’s a shallow rascal, and it ought to be easy to worm something out of him.”
“All right, Mr. Detective,” laughed Jack. “Suppose you take that part of the work on you. In the meantime, I’ll write a letter to Tom Willis, an old college pal of mine and Walter’s, who lives in Roxbury, and ask him to make some discreet inquiries about that matter of the theft. Tom’s a good old scout and he’ll be glad to do anything he can for us. I want to find out whether a warrant was actually issued for the girl. If it wasn’t, the girl is all right, and Higby can’t make good on his threats. If it was, we’ll have to get a lawyer, and try to have it quashed.”
“How are you going to find out whether a warrant was issued for her, if you don’t know her name?” asked Walter.
“That’s so,” replied Jack, a little dashed. “I’ll go and have a talk with Cora. Maybe she can get the girl to tell her.”
As a result of his hurried conference, Cora spoke to Nina.
“Jack wants to look up that old matter at Roxbury, Nina, and he can’t do it unless he knows the date and also your name,” she explained. “We don’t want to pry, but you can see yourself that we can’t do much if we go groping round in the dark.”
“It happened a year ago last May,” replied Nina, “and the name to look for is Helen Holman. It isn’t my real name, but it was one that I chose to take when I was afraid my uncle would be hunting for me.”
“And you don’t feel quite ready yet to tell me your real name?” inquired Cora kindly.
“Please don’t ask me yet,” pleaded Nina. “When once I know that there’s no danger of disgracing it, I’ll be glad to tell you.”