The trained nurse left the room, and Nick Carter quietly turned the key in the lock.
“What is it?” asked Marcos.
“Look at me. Don’t you think many people would say I was Prince Marcos if I declared that to be my name?”
“Of course they would. No one could tell the difference, and——”
Marcos stopped, and a wild expression of hope came into his fever-brightened eyes.
“You mean that you would——” he went on, and stopped again.
“I would go in your place to Penza, in Joyalita, and do for Prince Marcos what his enemies have prevented his doing for himself,” declared Nick Carter firmly.
CHAPTER II.
THE DEPARTURE FOR PENZA.
There was no other word spoken for an appreciable space of time. Prince Marcos could hardly comprehend the possibility of the plan, and was silent. Nick waited for him to say something.
“I should think it could not be done if it were any one but you, Carter,” were the broken words that came from Marcos at last. “But I can see only success if you undertake the thing.”