The operations had been performed and the crime committed. Simmons, in disguise, had managed to evade the watchful detectives, and had seen for himself that Grantley had carried out his part of the compact.
He had thereupon paid him the sum agreed upon, in gold, so that there would be no possibility of its being traced to him. Being constitutionally crooked, however, Grantley had failed to carry out his agreement in regard to Baldwin’s check.
His hatred of Baldwin prevented him from trying to realize on it himself. Moreover, he had good reason to fear that Nick Carter would not let him do so, in any case.
But when it came down to it, he could not endure the thought of turning it over to Simmons, for that would be reimbursing Simmons for the amount he had spent on Grantley, and in that case the crooked financier would be paying nothing for the great advantage that would come to him through Baldwin’s withdrawal from the game.
In short, Grantley decided to double cross his powerful confederate, feeling sure that Simmons was not in a position to expose him.
He had not dreamed of the use to which Nick Carter would put the destruction of the check, but even if he had, it is more than likely that he would have persisted. Misery likes company, they say, and it is certain that, when Grantley found himself in the toils, he was glad to see Felix Simmons in a similar plight.
Nick established enough of these facts to convict all of the criminals, and they were sent to prison for long terms.
CHAPTER XXIV.
A TRAGEDY OF THE STAGE.
It was several months after the conviction of Grantley and his confederates that the members of Nick Carter’s household all happened to meet at the breakfast table—a rather unusual circumstance.
The famous New York detective sat at the head of the table. Ranged about it were Chick, Patsy Garvan, and the latter’s young wife, Adelina, and Ida Jones, Nick’s beautiful woman assistant.