If there was ever a madder man in the United States than Bare-Faced Jimmy, when he discovered all that had happened to him since that moment in the parlor with Juno when he was cast under the spell she imposed upon him, Nick Carter has never succeeded in finding him.
He was taken from that Turkish-bath plunge straight to the Tombs; and this time there was no difficulty in proving him to be the real Bare-Faced Jimmy, for in addition to the proof that Nick was able to produce, Chick and Patsy had found sufficient evidence that James Duryea did not die, and, therefore, was not buried, on the island in the Sound.
Nan Nightingale did not return to America at once.
Acting upon the advice of Nick Carter, she went into Hertfordshire, England, determined to make peace, if possible, with certain relatives who still lived there. And Nick Carter returned at once to New York.
CHAPTER XXII.
A SECRET MISSION.
It was not long after the detective’s return from abroad that Joseph, his major domo, ushered a stranger into the library, bowed to him, and said:
“Mr. Carter is engaged for the moment, sir, but he will be at liberty presently. I will tell him that you have arrived.”
The stranger nodded his head and stood like a wooden image until Joseph had left the room. Then his tall and soldierly figure relapsed upon a chair, and he stared across the room at nothing during the entire interval of waiting.