“I hardly expected to see you to-day, Ida. But your coming now would indicate that you have something to say.”
“I have,” replied Ida. “I have seen and had a talk with the widow, Mrs. Pemberton.”
“So soon?” said Nick, highly pleased. “That is very quick work, Ida.”
Ida laughed, and replied:
“I had unusual good luck. Finding out where Mrs. Pemberton lived, I saw at once that her next door neighbor was a friend of mine. Going there, to that friend, I found out that the two—my friend and Mrs. Pemberton—were quite intimate friends. At all events, very neighborly—frequently exchanging calls. That is how I came to meet her so quickly. While I was in the rooms of my friend, Mrs. Pemberton ran in, and it was not a difficult matter to get Mrs. Pemberton to talk of that which is nearest to her heart.”
“That was, indeed, unusual luck,” said Nick.
“Nick Carter’s luck,” said Ida, with a laugh.
“No,” replied Nick; “if it was anybody’s luck, it was your luck; but I don’t think luck has anything to do with it, after all. It is hard work and quick seizure of opportunities when they present themselves. And your luck was in seizing quickly the opportunity you saw. But what did you learn?”
“The chief thing that I learned,” said Ida, “is that Mrs. Pemberton is beginning to believe that she has been badly advised and that she believes that it would have been better for her had she followed the intentions of her husband and stuck to Mr. Herron. She is poor and without money.”
“But she has the ten thousand dollars that Mr. Herron gave her for the drawings and models.”