"You are right, Carter, perfectly right. I must keep[Pg 17] a grip on myself, or I shall go completely off my perch. What do you mean by saying that you know more about this matter than I suppose?"
"I will presently tell you," said Nick. "Let’s get down to bare facts, for a starter, and I then will decide what must be done."
"But what do you make of it? How could my father——”
"Obviously, Frank, your father could not be in two places at once," Nick interrupted. "If you were with him in the surrogate court precisely half an hour ago, it could not have been he who called here for your wife."
"That goes without saying, Nick. But——”
"Wait! Let me learn the exact circumstances," Nick again interposed. "Come into the library. This way, Perkins."
He led the way while speaking, forcing Mantell to a chair and adding encouragingly:
"You keep quiet, now, while I question the butler. I’ll very soon pick up the trail and get after the rascal."
"Go ahead, Nick," bowed Mantell, pressing his hand. "Thank God that I brought you out here."
"Now, Perkins, tell me what occurred," said Nick, turning to the tall, very much astonished butler. "You were very sure, you said, that the man who came here is the elder Mr. Mantell."