Deland had pitched sideways over the baluster rail—with four bullets in his breast. He was stone dead before he struck the hall floor.
Patsy Garvan had closed the eternal door on the most vicious crook then at large.
All that remains to be told of the strange and stirring case may be told with few and simple words. The three crooks, and subsequently Cora Cavendish, were arrested, and later received life sentences for complicity in the murder of Tilly Lancey. They made no fight against the evidence Nick Carter had obtained.
It also appeared that the crime had been framed up by Cora and Deland, as Nick had suspected, and that not only they, but also Flynn and Daggett were in the flat when Gordon visited the woman. Nick’s suspicions and deductions had, in fact, been correct from the start.
John Madison confessed his part in the affair to the court, and Nick’s intervention in his behalf resulted in his discharge from custody. He was ignominiously defeated in the election, however, and he moved West with his family the following month.
Arthur Gordon was elected with flying colors, and—well, it would be vain to attempt to describe his gratitude for Nick Carter and his assistants. There are sentiments that language cannot express.
Mortimer Deland was buried, his true name and history with him, save his criminal history, on the day after he was shot.
THE END.
“A Human Counterfeit; or, Nick Carter and the Crook’s Double,” will be the title of the long, complete story you will find in the next issue, No. 157, of the Nick Carter Stories, out September 11th. There is an unusually baffling mystery in this story that requires all of the cleverness of the great detective to solve. You will also find the usual installment of the serial now running, together with several other interesting articles.