“Why, here you are now! I ought to scold you for being so late!”
She presented her visitors to the newcomers, and Nick saw at a glance that the cunning fox was not suspicious of him.
“This is the young lady whose father has been kidnaped; oh, do something for her, Elmer, for my sake!” said Louise.
Greer seemed in doubt; he was taken so much by surprise, as it were.
He found his tongue, however, and retained control of it long enough to say: “It’s a bad business, a very bad business.”
“Indeed, that it is, and no mistake,” put in Mr. Deming.
“Oh, but for my sake”—Louise placed her hand lightly upon his shoulder—“you will break your resolution never to do any more detective work for just this once.”
Nick Carter would have given five dollars for an opportunity to laugh.
He winked at Mignon, and she, taking her cue, said:
“I will pay you handsomely for your time, whether you are successful or not. Have you any idea where the rascals have carried my father?”