“That you are right.”
“Right in what respect? Tell me.”
Carter had noticed the chief’s hesitation, his dark frown, as if he had started to say something which discretion quickly led him to withhold. He demurred only for a moment, however, then explained with lowered voice:
“Right, perhaps in thinking there is knavery back of this. There had been a feeling of bitter rivalry between Todd and a young local lawyer, Frank Paulding, who is an exceedingly impetuous and hot-headed chap. They had an ugly altercation in the Country Club last night, I have heard, and it is said that they nearly came to blows. That may have ended it, of course, though this sudden death of Todd, following it so quickly——”
“Is somewhat significant,” Nick Carter put in quietly. “I agree with you. In what have the two men been rivals?”
“For the hand of Edna Thurlow, by far the most beautiful and accomplished girl in Madison. She inherited half a million when her father died. Her mother, Mrs. Mortimer Thurlow, is also very wealthy and fashionable. She’s the acknowledged leader of the local smart set. The two men may have met here this morning. Possibly the fight of last night was resumed, resulting in——”
“Let it go at that,” the detective interrupted. “The physician has ended his examination.”
CHAPTER II.
NICK CARTER’S OPINION.
Chief Gleason immediately turned and approached the rising physician, asking a bit brusquely: