Nick Carter’s strong, clean-cut face took on a more serious expression while he listened. It was half past eight when Patsy returned, just as Nick was about leaving the Wilton House, and only half an hour after Chick set forth to search the apartments of Gaston Todd.
“That’s all, chief,” said Patsy, when ending his report. “As far as I can see, it lets Doctor Devoll out of the circle of suspicion and rings in another, no less than three, in fact—the chauffeur, his elderly passenger, and the man he met at the road house. For I’ll wager my pile, chief, that the chauffeur knew there was something doing and was acting as a sentinel.”
“Are you absolutely sure that the elderly passenger was not Doctor Devoll?” Nick inquired.
“Reasonably sure, chief, at least,” said Patsy confidently. “He is too solid and compact for Devoll, more erect and with broader shoulders. Devoll is somewhat bowed and very slim. He looks like a string bean.”
“He may have disguised himself while in the motor car,” Nick suggested.
“I don’t think so,” Patsy quickly objected. “He would hardly have covered all of the features mentioned. Besides, I could see the interior of the car distinctly when the door was open, and I would have seen his discarded hat and garments.”
“That does seem probable,” Carter thoughtfully admitted. “Don’t you overlook one fact, however?”
“What’s that, chief?”
“That you saw Doctor Devoll leave the hospital and ride away with the chauffeur. You could not then have been mistaken as to the physician’s identity, and the circumstances convince me that he is in some way associated with the two men who met in the road house.”
“I think so, too, chief, as far as that goes,” said Patsy.