"I daren't go and tell the boys about this," he muttered: "but it looks as though I had bees fooled."
The real fact was the tavern-keeper had been fooled.
Vance was not the man to depend upon hearsay. He had followed after Rigby, and had overheard every word that had passed between the man and his friends.
The detective a was fully convinced, from what he overheard, that the smugglers were innocent of old Tom Pearce's death; indeed, he had so believed from the first; but it was one of his methods to make sure, and when once really convinced he knew as stated, where to look for the real assassin, and he folded his tent, like the Arab, and as silently stole away.
CHAPTER XLIII.
Upon the day following the scenes described in our preceding chapter, a strange interview was in progress in a magnificent apartment in a house situated in one of the most fashionable quarters of New York.
A beautiful young lady, richly attired, had been sitting alone in the elegant apartment described when a man of dark complexion entered the room, and, with silent step and a pleased smile upon his dark face, he advanced toward the girl.
Just a moment preceding the entrance of the dark-faced man, the girl had indulged in a brief soliloquy. She murmured:
"Well-well, my mind is made up. I have fooled that villain! He thinks I love him. He thinks I have been dazzled and bewildered by the possession of all these fine clothes and the wearing of these costly jewels; but he is mistaken. I hate him—I abhor him! He is an assassin! He thinks I do not know it; but I saw him strike down that good old man, Tom Pearce, and I have but hired him on with a promise of my love, only that I might hold him until an opportunity offers to hand him over to justice."
A moment the girl was thoughtful and silent, but speedily she resumed her soliloquy, salving: