“Well, is it as bad as it looks?”
“It’s bad enough, Chick,” Nick replied, removing his overcoat and tossing it on a chair in the front room.
“I reckoned you’d think so,” said Phelan.
Nick turned and replied more impressively:
“That isn’t all I think. I am going to confide in you, Phelan, and tell you what I have done and why I have done it.”
Phelan instantly turned more grave.
“It goes without saying, Nick, that whatever you do or have done will be for the best,” he replied. “Do you think I made a mistake in having Gordon arrested so quickly?”
“It would have been better to have deferred it,” said Nick. “I admit, nevertheless, that the circumstances seemed to warrant it.”
“I certainly thought so.”
“That’s neither here nor there, now, for I have talked with the chief and had Gordon liberated. I gave the chief my word that I would find evidence refuting that involving Gordon, and that I would also run down the real criminals. It now is up to me to make good.”