“Two can play at that game, you see. If either of you rats shows his head at the door, I’ll not miss it with my next bullet.”
This brought no response for a moment.
Chick heard the two men whispering in the hall, and also the rustle of skirts.
“By Jove, there may have been another woman in the house when I stole in,” he said to himself, constantly alert. “She may have heard me, or saw me, and afterward sent word to Garland. That may be how they caught me in this fashion.”
Chick’s theory was quite nearly correct. As a matter of fact, a sister of Vera Vantoon, who had figured in the episode in the taxicab, had been left in the hurriedly rented furnished house, rented expressly after the abduction had been accomplished, in order that the identity of none of the culprits should afterward be discovered.
This sister, Leah Vantoon, had seen Chick stealing into the house. She later had stolen out and got word to Garland, happening to meet Vera and the chauffeur, then on their way to the house. All of them had stolen in and up the stairs, unheard by the detective, while Chick was talking with Lady Waldmere.
Morris Garland had, of course, then realized how craftily he had been duped by Nick Carter himself.
He did not realize it all, however, for Stuart Floyd and Moses Hart were at that moment under arrest by the famous detective.
Chick’s taunting remark was answered in a few seconds by Garland.
At the same moment, too, Chick saw that Lady Waldmere had revived and was sitting on the edge of the bed. He held up his finger, warning her to be silent, then signed for her to seek a remote corner of the room, where a bullet from the hall could not possibly hit her.