“What the devil does it all mean?” asked Danton, almost beside himself with curiosity.
“It means,” replied Nick, “that when I opened the door opposite, I heard Rogers’ voice inside the room, so I thought that instead of sending you there to reconnoiter, I would do the thing myself. I happened, fortunately, to surprise a heart-to-heart talk between this chap and Isabel, in which, in a very few words, they betrayed the whole plot, almost exactly as I outlined it to you. And, by the way, Reginald, I don’t blame you for supposing that Isabel was your sister when you saw her in front of the hotel in the carriage. I would have believed the same had I seen her instead of you. Now, I want you to sit here with our gentle acquaintance while I go down and interview the management of the hotel. This is one of the circumstances which they like to manage in their own way, and when I tell them that it need not be known that anything has occurred in the hotel, there will be no difficulty in getting our prisoners to police headquarters without delay.”
“But where is Mercedes? Where is my sister? Has anything happened to her? You have not told me that yet, Nick?”
“To be sure I haven’t; but do you suppose that if anything had happened to her, I would be almost joking with this brute here on the floor? Wait, Danton. She is under the influence of drugs, and is, doubtless, quite ill; but I think we will soon bring her out of that.”
* * * * * * *
Half an hour later there was a sharp summons upon the door of the suite opposite the room where Nick Carter had related the story to Reginald Danton.
Presently, after the summons had been repeated a second and a third time, there came a voice from the other side, inquiring who was there.
“A telegram,” replied the hotel detective, whereupon he was told to wait a moment, and presently the door was partly opened and the face of Isabel—it was uncannily like the face of Mercedes—appeared in the opening.
But she had no time to ask questions, for the door being ajar thus far, was quickly pushed wide open by the men outside, and, almost before the woman was thoroughly awake, she found herself a prisoner.
It was broad daylight, in the same suite of rooms at the hotel.