Old Broadbrim went back to his room after the find in the house near the mouth of the alley.
"Confound it all! why did I bind myself for a year to play Cerberus for Custer Kipp?" he mused. "Here's the very sort of case I've been looking for, but my hands are tied, and I can't get out of the matter unless I go to his house and absolutely back out of the bargain. In that case I would lose the twenty-five thousand dollars and—— No, I'll stick!"
For long into the night there was a light in the detective's room, and he might have been found at the table at work.
It was near midnight when a footstep came to the door and stopped there.
Old Broadbrim heard the noise and waited for the rap.
When it sounded he crossed the room and opened the door.
A young man with a very white face and a figure that trembled a little stepped forward.
"You're the gentleman, I guess? You're Josiah Broadbrim?"
"I am."
"You are wanted at once at Custer Kipp's home on Fifth Avenue. Miss Nora sent me and I didn't go in to look at him."