“Ida, I have got something for you to do which, I think, is about as difficult as anything you have undertaken.”
He told her the experiences of Chick and Patsy with the young Rainforth woman, and the discovery that she was the writer of the two anonymous letters.
“That young woman puzzles me,” said Nick. “I know something about her. Her father is an old army officer, very rich, who long since retired. The young girl, with her brother, was brought up at army posts in the West, in the wild Indian fighting times, and learned many things there that are not usually a part of a fashionable young lady’s education.
“She learned how to ride vicious horses and how to use firearms. She is an expert shot with both rifle and revolver. Besides, she can wield the sword as well as a soldier.
“Where she learned the accomplishment of boxing that she made a display of with Patsy, I don’t know. Probably after she returned to the East, and as a consequence of having already certain manly attainments.
“She is good at many of that sort of thing—lawn tennis, golf and yachting.
“All these things, although they have made her much talked about, have not given her the reputation of being fast. But it a queer story that Patsy tells of her, and it is borne out in Chick’s interview with her.
“The fact which concerns us is, that she knew about the attempt or intention to rob the Sanborn house, and that she knows more about Ellison’s private life than his associates do.”
“I should think,” said Ida, “from what you say, that she was involved with Ellison herself, and that the knowledge she obtained came through that connection.”
“It may be so,” said Nick, “but I am inclined to believe that all there was of that connection was a desire on her part to capture Ellison for herself.”