Nick Carter had not anticipated any such development as this, when he determined to enter the house of the Countess Narnine as a burglar would. He had intended, then, merely to personate Jimmy, to surprise Juno, and if possible to force a confession of some sort from her.
But here was a gathering of the very men he wanted to find, at her house. And here she was resenting what they had done in murdering the Russian officer; defying them to their faces, and admitting in his hearing that she could place her hand upon the papers he was seeking. And more, here was the confessed murderer of Turnieff, with two of his accomplices.
Nor would Nick have interrupted the scene just when he did had he not realized the necessity of immediate action.
He had seen enough to know that Delorme was ugly, and to understand that the man was quite capable of killing Juno then and there.
Indeed, Delorme afterward confessed that the countess would not have lived a moment longer had Nick Carter not appeared when he did.
Nick saw the flame in the man’s eyes; he saw the temper the fellow was in. The detective realized that he must act at once, and so he snatched Juno out of danger, whipped out his own weapons and took her place, getting the “drop” on all of the three men at once.
And they did not know him.
Had he been Nick Carter in proper person, they would have done so; but in his character of Bare-Faced Jimmy, he was a stranger to them.
More than that, when he seized Juno, dragged her back away from Delorme, and took her place, they heard her cry out in evident consternation:
“Jimmy!”