Without waiting to question the boy, Lucy hurriedly directed him to watch the two children, and she then ran to the woman’s assistance, with whom Nick had observed her two or three minutes later. Returning while the detective was talking with the woman, Lucy found only the child crying in the carriage, and at once began a vain and frantic search for the missing girl. The boy also had disappeared, and all had transpired within a period of five or six minutes.
In the meantime, too, Margaret Hanson had vanished. For Patsy Garvan returned just as the nurse ended her hurried statements, and his face alone told the story.
“Couldn’t find her, eh?” Nick tersely questioned.
“Not hide nor hair of her, chief,” said Patsy; “nor any one who had seen a woman of her description. She must have made a bee line for the avenue, and taken a conveyance of some kind.”
Nick glanced around again and sized up the possibilities[Pg 6] of the immediate locality. Twenty yards away was a divergent driveway running north, in which, as well as the one near by, the tracks left by the tires of automobiles could be distinctly seen. None of these denoted that a car had recently passed that way, however, nor had Nick seen any during the episodes described.
“Are you in the habit of coming here with the children in the afternoon?” he asked a bit abruptly, again addressing the nurse.
“Yes, sir, every pleasant day.”
“At about this time?”
“Yes, sir; from three until five.”
“Did you see any one looking at you, or acting suspiciously, before the lad came and spoke to you?”