“It was only a foolish flirtation on his part,” said the young woman, and Chick noticed that there was a great deal of bitterness in her tone.
She paused for a moment or two, and then went on:
“The Ladew woman is an eccentric person, and she followed him up so that he could not get away from her. But he had to break when his marriage with Miss Sanborn approached; there was a great row.”
By this time Chick was much puzzled to know what relation this woman bore to Ellison and what her interest in the matter was. The question entered his mind as to whether or not this was not the woman who had written to Nick the two letters which had so excited their curiosity.
He knew from what she had said in the beginning that it was useless to ask who she was, or what her name was, but he determined upon a sudden and bold play.
“Who were you trying to strike,” he asked, “when you wrote those two letters to-day to my chief, Nick Carter?”
The young woman started violently, turning to Chick in a frightened manner.
“What do you mean by that? What letters?”
“The letters which warned the chief that an attempt would be made to rob the Sanborns and that a woman was at the bottom of Ellison’s disappearance.”
“How do you know that I wrote them?”