CHAPTER II.

ANOTHER PHASE.

The next morning Nick Carter had hardly concluded his breakfast when a card was brought to him by the servant.

He smiled as he read it, and, tossing it to his wife across the table, said:

“I expected that call, but hardly so early.”

He went into the parlor, where a middle-aged man rose to greet him.

“Mr. Carter, I presume,” said the visitor.

Nick bowed and requested his visitor to be seated, seating himself in such a position that the light fell on the face of his caller.

“My card has given you my name,” said the gentleman.

“Yes, Mr. Herron,” replied Nick; “I visited your house last night, or, rather, early this morning, but you were not at home.”

“Yes,” replied Mr. Herron, “and under circumstances that are not at all to my liking. I arrived home early this morning, and, on learning that my house had been robbed in my absence and that you had been promptly on hand to investigate, I have lost no time in coming to you, for I understand, from something you said to the officer, that you had no intention of following up the case.”

“That is so,” replied Nick; “unless I am especially retained in the case, it is without my province.”

“I am here to retain you, if you will take my retainer.”

“I should like to hear more about the case before I
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either accept or decline,” said Nick. “If it is an ordinary case of robbery, the police will deal with it.”

“First,” said Mr. Herron, “I would like to ask you what impression was received by you on your investigation last night. Evidently you think it is more than an ordinary robbery.”

“That was my impression last night,” replied Nick. “It seemed to me as if the men who robbed that house were searching for some one particular thing.”

“You are entirely correct,” replied Mr. Herron. “So well satisfied am I of that, that I believe that such things as were taken from the house, other than that particular thing, were so taken for the purpose of leading to the belief that it was a common burglary.”

“I should hardly go so far as that, Mr. Herron,” said Nick. “There were too many evidences of the work of skillful and professional burglars to justify that belief. But give me the facts.”

“Silver plate and jewelry were taken from the house to the value of probably $8,000. The jewelry was taken from a small safe standing in my wife’s bedroom.”

“Was that safe locked when you left town?”

“Yes,” replied Mr. Herron, “and the curious thing is that, before leaving town, I changed the combination without informing my wife of the change—a habit of mine always on leaving town.”

“Did you tell no one of that change?” asked Nick.

“I told no one, but, making a memorandum of it, placed it in my pocketbook.”

“And yet the safe was opened?” asked Nick.

“Yes, and without force.”

“I observed that your plate was kept in a dining-room safe?”

“Yes; and that has, also, a combination lock. That,
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however, was not changed, and was in the possession of the butler, who is an old and trusted servant.”

Mr. Herron paused a moment, and then went on:

“Of course, no one likes to lose a value of $8,000, but I would have been quite willing to have sustained that loss if that which I believe was the sole purpose of the burglary had been left me. It was for that that the desks and drawers were ransacked. That cost me, in actual outlay, $25,000, and, in the loss of its possession, deprives me of what I feel that I am justified in calling a large fortune.”

“What was that?” inquired Nick.

“The story is a long one to tell in all its details. But I will give it to you as briefly as I can.

“Some five or six years ago an acquaintance of mine, whom I knew to be a worthy man—an electrician of the name of Pemberton, who was a great experimenter—came to me with the statement that he was satisfied that he had discovered the practical principles of storing electricity and of operating a motor with a minimum of leakage, by an invention of his own.

“He had not the money to continue the experiments necessary to bring it to perfection.

“Becoming convinced of the value of the idea, I loaned him the money he required, with the understanding that, if it was successfully accomplished, upon the investment of a sufficient amount of purchase money, I should become interested and have a part ownership in the complete invention.

“From time to time I was forced to advance more money. But finally the experiments ended in complete success. Drawings were made, with a view to obtaining the patent rights, and even the papers which were to make me a half owner in the invention were drawn.

“About the time that everything was in readiness, the
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model even being completed, the electrician was taken suddenly ill and as suddenly died. The drawings and models were all in the possession of his widow. As soon as I could, properly, I made known to the widow what rights I had in the invention. While neither denying nor admitting my rights, she consulted a lawyer who had done business for her husband, who advised her not to admit my rights, but to see if she could not dispose of the invention in a more profitable way.

“However, by showing her that I had already advanced to her late husband some fifteen thousand dollars and the papers of co-ownership, which were drawn, but not signed, whereby I was to pay the expenses of obtaining the patents, and subsequently to invest fifty thousand dollars in the manufacture of the machine, I persuaded her to admit that I had actual rights.

“To bind and confirm her in this position I paid her ten thousand dollars, and thus got possession of the drawings and models.

“But she had already consulted some promoters, and the very day that she concluded this arrangement with me and delivered the models and drawings, on receiving my ten-thousand-dollar check, an offer, on its face more advantageous to her, was made.

“An effort was made by her and her friends to get out of the bargain entered into with me and a suit to recover the models from me was begun.

“At this time a new difficulty arose, and that was the doubt and difficulty as to the procedure in obtaining the patents. There had been, upon the part of my deceased friend, no assignment to me, and who was to act in obtaining those patents was a question.

“I was advised by my lawyer that the executors of the estate were the ones to move in it and that executor was
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the widow, who was in an antagonistic position to me, and refused to take the necessary steps.

“But the secrets of that invention—all the drawings, models, statements, papers relating to it—were in my possession.

“I carefully guarded these, going to the lengths of having a case built which should accommodate and keep safe all of them, under lock and key.

“And then I sat down to await developments.

“Various efforts have been made by the widow, through her lawyer, and by a number of promoters who, at least, know the value of the invention, to obtain possession of these things, but I have defeated every effort until now.

“That case, containing the drawings, models and all the papers relating to it, was stolen from my house last night.”

“And you desire to retain me to recover that case?” asked Nick.

“That is my purpose and the reason of my call.”

The great detective arose from his seat and began pacing the apartment, as was his custom when deeply thinking.

Several times Mr. Herron attempted to break him from his thoughts, but Nick imperatively motioned him to silence. At length, he stopped short, and, turning to Mr. Herron, said:

“Under your statement, there is justification for your belief that the sole object of that burglary was the obtaining of that case, which, you say, contains all the matter relating to the invention. Still, I am inclined to believe that that burglary was the work of professionals.”

“Then we are far apart in the way we look at it,” said Mr. Herron.

“Not necessarily,” replied Nick, sharply. “Let me ask
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you, are these promoters you speak of as desiring possession of this invention men who have a fair standing before the world?”

“Yes; I must admit that,” said Mr. Herron.

“Are they men, do you think, who would, in their great desire to obtain possession, themselves commit a burglary?”

“Oh, no; and I don’t want you to think that they are banded together against me. They are as antagonistic to each other as they are to me.”

“I should assume that, in any event,” said Nick. “But suppose that there was one so much more desirous than the other to obtain possession that he would even engage in desperate means, do you think he would commit a burglary? To take the chances of ruining his reputation by entering a house at night?”

“It is very hard to believe it, in the way you put it.”

“Very well, then. For the sake of my argument, let us assume that there is one among them who is unscrupulous enough to take desperate means, and see if we cannot get together on common ground. Suppose that, instead of committing a burglary, he hired some one to get possession of that case. Could we not, therefore, account for the disappearance of that case as being the real reason of the burglary, and yet meet my statement that the tracks of professionals were seen in the house?”

Mr. Herron leaped to his feet in excitement, crying:

“You’ve hit it! you’ve hit it exactly!”

“Don’t go so fast,” said Nick. “That is only a shrewd guess on my part, a supposition likely to be changed at the very first step that I make in a serious investigation. However, your case appeals to me, and I will take it. As a first step, I want you to go with me to my desk, and there carefully note down the names of all those promoters who you say have been trying to get posses
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sion of those papers. Write down, also, the name and address of the widow, of her lawyer and yours, and as full a description of the case you had made to contain those papers and models, together with a full list of the contents of that case.”

Nick took Mr. Herron into the room in which he did his work, and placed him at his desk to comply with his request.

While Mr. Herron was thus at work, Nick busied himself with summoning his three faithful aids—Chick, Patsy and Ida—by telephone.

By the time Mr. Herron had completed his writing, the three detectives had arrived, and Nick, dismissing Mr. Herron with the remark that three lines of investigation must be begun at once, devoted himself to a consultation with his three assistants.
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