“Well, John, if he does that I want you to drop me a letter by the very next mail saying that the trick is to be turned. Do you understand?”
“Sure I do!” exclaimed the humpback; “and I’ll send the letter the minute I know of it.”
“Very good,” bowed Nick. “That’s all to-day, John. In leaving here be as cautious as usual. You must not be seen, you know!”
“Trust me, sir,” smiled Green, with a shrug. “I will slip out and away like a shadow. You’re sure, sir, about poor Mr. Flood?” he added, as he lingered for a moment at the door.
“Trust me for that, John, as I trust you,” replied Nick.
And the detective bowed and smiled pleasantly, with a genuine appreciation of the warm and loyal heart that beat in the crooked breast of the departing man.
This interview with the humpback plainly indicates the shrewd line of work which Nick was secretly doing in his attempt to verify the suspicious by which he was actuated.
Green had been gone but a few minutes, moreover, when a second man familiarly entered.
He was a stylishly clad, yellow-haired chap, with a sandy beard, parted down the middle. He carried a cane, sported a bright-red tie, and looked for all the world as if he had just stepped off a fashion-plate.
It was the yellow-haired chap whom Belle Braddon had boasted of having caught on to at the Waldorf.