“I know only that one of my boarders, Helen Bailey, was assaulted by a man about eleven o’clock as she was approaching the door. A stranger ran across the avenue and drove the miscreant away, then pursued him around the corner. Neither of them returned. I don’t think the stranger was Mr. Lamont, however, for he don’t answer Miss Bailey’s description of her protector.”
“Chick in another disguise,” thought Nick. “The game opened even more quickly than I expected.”
Mrs. Hardy then was gazing at him quite suspiciously, and Nick decided to take her into his confidence. He briefly explained the situation and the probable circumstances, much to the woman’s relief and increasing interest in her visitor, whom she now regarded in an entirely different light.
“Dear me!” she exclaimed. “I did not even dream, Mr. Carter, that you were the famous detective. I don’t think Miss Bailey even suspected that her protector was one of your assistants.”
“Did she say anything more about the matter than you have stated?” Nick inquired.
“No, sir; only what I have told you.”
“You must not do so, then, nor mention what I have told you,” Nick directed, more impressively. “Say nothing whatever about the matter to any one.”
“But, Mr. Carter, your instructions come too late.”
“Too late?”
“Yes, sir. I already have told one man.”