“Then where is Nan Nightingale?” demanded Theodore Remsen, stepping forward.
“She has been abducted,” replied the detective coolly.
“Abducted? Nonsense! By whom?”
“By a scoundrel named Jimmy Duryea, known to the police as Bare-Faced Jimmy, all-around crook and expert cracksman. Just now the man is posing under another name, and is imposing upon certain confiding people, who believe all that he tells them. But, Mr. Remsen, the time has come to denounce him, and now——”
He stopped suddenly. A figure had appeared in the doorway, and all turned to follow Nick Carter’s glance.
It was Nan Nightingale who stood there, facing them.
CHAPTER X.
A PLOT MOST FOUL.
But it was Nan Nightingale, fully dressed as she had been when the members of this oddly assorted group had parted with her at retiring time, not arrayed in a red wrapper, and with an automobile veil thrown around her head, who faced them all.