“I will consent to go with you on one condition, Mr. Lynne,� was the reply.
“What is that?�
“That during the ride out there you will freely and frankly reply to any and every question I may ask you, without offense, without considering any of them an impertinence, and with an eye single to discovering the truth about this mystery—and I warn you that I may ask questions that will both startle and offend.â€�
“Very well, sir; I accept the condition.� He spoke with a quiet dignity now that entirely changed the man; that made him appear for the first time just as Nick Carter had expected to find him.
“And there is one more, Mr. Lynne; a very small one this time.�
“Yes? What is it?�
“It will be nearly an hour before I will be ready to start. My own car is in front of your door, and my two assistants are waiting for me. I must drive with them to my house. If you care to pick me up with your car, there, in just three-quarters of an hour from now, I will be ready to accompany you.�
“So be it, Mr. Carter. At eight-forty-five, then, I will call for you.�
Nick got into his own car in silence, and said nothing at all until, with Chick and Patsy, he was in his own house, where he led the way at once to his study. Then——
“Lynne has asked me to take the case—or, rather, he has asked me to drive out there with him, and I have consented. I will tell you both, frankly, that I do not know what to make of Mr. J. Cephas Lynne. He puzzles me. He is, all at once, almost as interesting as the crime. I am going out there with him in his car, more for the purpose of studying him at close range, and to see him on the ground where the crime was committed, than for any other reason.â€�