“I told Mrs. Ringold to give the girl the evening, if she asked for it,” put in Chick.
“So much the better. You will know what to do, Patsy, in that case.”
“You bet I’ll know, chief,” cried Patsy, hurriedly departing.
“In the meantime, Chick, you had better see the policemen who were on duty in the street back of the Carrington place last night,” said Nick. “One of them may have noticed that particular limousine, or its driver. Find out who they were and what they can tell you.”
CHAPTER V.
THE DOUBLE REFLECTION.
Nick Carter was alone in his library at five o’clock that afternoon. Both Chick and Patsy still were absent and at work on the mystifying case.
As he frequently did when wishing to concentrate his mind upon a difficult problem, Nick had stretched himself on the library couch, relaxing physically, as an aid to his mental operations.
The dusk of the January afternoon had deepened into darkness. Joseph, the detective’s butler, had switched on the lights in the hall, the business office, and library, and he then was in the rear of the house, directing preparations for dinner.
Nick was lying with his eyes closed, deep in thought, undisturbed by the faint sounds from the avenue outside, scarce breaking the stillness then in the hall and library.
Nick was thinking of the missing man, the titled Engglishman, of Lord Archie Waldmere, and of the two previous cases in which he had served him so successfully, and in both of which the now notorious crook and escaped convict, Stuart Floyd, had figured conspicuously.