“Positively. Here is the run-down heel, the mark of a patch on the sole, and the size is exactly the same.”
“Great guns! that seems almost incredible,” said Chick, with a puzzled expression. “It cannot be that Nancy Nordeck was one of the women you suspected of having been watching Maybrick.”
“On the contrary, Chick, she certainly was,” Nick insisted.
“But what motive could she have had? A clergyman is about the last man on earth in whom Nancy Nordeck would have any interest. Her whole career has been a vicious one.”
“True.”
“It must be that you are mistaken, then, and that the shoe of some other woman corresponds exactly with hers.”
“Wait a bit!” said Nick. “Let me consider all of the circumstances. I know I am not mistaken. Be quiet while I stir up my gray matter and dig out the solution of this problem.”
Nick was not long in finding it, or in framing up a theory that seemed consistent, at least, with all of the known circumstances. His thoughtful face suddenly lighted. He straightened up and exclaimed, gazing again at Chick:
“By Jove, I think I have it.”
“The answer?”