Impelled by this, he promptly called up Griswold’s office, and, after a little delay, Nick Carter’s magic name brought him directly into touch with the newspaper proprietor.
“It occurred to me to ask you another question or two about our friend S., Mr. Griswold,” Green Eye said apologetically. “What is he, a New Englander? Do you happen to know?”
“No, no! He comes from the Middle West—somewhere in Ohio.”
“But perhaps he has been in the habit of spending his vacations in Massachusetts?”
“I’ve already looked that up, Mr. Carter. The question occurred to me when I first learned of his disappearance. Those who know him best, though, in the office, tell me that he has either spent his little vacations at home, in New Pelham, or back in Ohio.”
“Then, so far as you know, New England is strange country to him?”
“It would seem so.”
“Now, about that electric—you haven’t known of his owning one in the past, have you?”
“Certainly not—he was paid only eighteen hundred a year.”
“I see. That’s all at present, thanks. Sorry to have troubled you.”