“I have had a visitor and—and seen a devil,” Nick dryly asserted.
“Seen a devil!”
“A knave who has all the makings of one. None other than Stuart Floyd.”
“Great Scott!” Chick exclaimed. “You don’t mean, Nick, that he was your visitor?”
“Not exactly,” said Nick. “He only looked in, Chick, probably with some evil design, though I cannot say for what.”
“And your visitor?”
“He was Sir Edward Chadwick, of London, England, who said he arrived in Boston this morning. I am glad he called. He forms, unless I am much mistaken, the strongest link in the chain I am welding together.”
“Well, well, you surprise me,” said Chick. “Who the deuce is Sir Edward Chadwick, and what did he want?”
“I think he wanted to learn what I suspect and am doing in this case,” Nick replied. “He met with no success, however, but departed quite convinced that I am all in the dark. I made sure of that, for I had talked with him only a few minutes when I began to distrust him.”
Nick then stated in detail what had passed between him and the Englishman, and then proceeded to inform Chick what he since had been doing.