There was no need whatever for so vehement a bid[{35}]ding. Dillon had seized upon life anew the instant he saw her and the complete change in the situation. He caught up the key from his table and opened the drawer in which he had placed his revolver. He had it in his hand and was on his feet, white and vengeful, before Irma Valaska had ceased speaking.
In view of the several irons he had in the fire, and the value he placed on a whole skin, Nick Carter did not think it worth while to invite so ready a bullet by attempting any absurdly desperate move.
Smiling indifferently, he permitted Irma Valaska to hold the ribbons for a time.
CHAPTER IX.
CHICK CARTER’S QUEST.
There were reasons, of course, for the swift sequence of sensational episodes of that morning, as there are reasons why the maelstrom so fiercely swirls on certain tides. There is always turbulence and violence when strong tides meet.
It was after nine o’clock when Chick Carter approached the rented home of the Baron Esterveldt and his wife, as well as the beautiful snake who was posing as their orphan relative.
It was, as Garland had said to Nick, a most attractive place. A stately stone residence well in from the street, with an environment of beautiful grounds, shaded with fine old trees and adorned with ornamental shrubbery. Rounded and perfectly kept driveways led to a stable and a commodious garage, beyond which a stone wall divided the estate from a rear street.
Chick turned his steps in that direction after sauntering by the front of the house, taking the opposite side of the fashionable street. He could see no one at any of the windows, many of which were partly open for ventilation at that hour of the morning.
Upon entering the back street, however, where the wall and considerable intervening shrubbery served to conceal him, he obtained a good view of the back of the house, and he then discovered the two persons he was chiefly seeking.
The sunshine lay warm and bright on a broad rear veranda. In one of several large willow chairs was seated the massive, bearded man whom Nick had seen in the restaurant the previous night, and afterward described to his assistants. He was reading a morning newspaper.