“Well, boys,” continued Nick, “it is for you to follow up what you have begun. You must follow up the Lannigan end to-day. That will take you to Philadelphia, for Lannigan went over there this morning. I know that. Find out, while there, about Ellison’s associations in Philadelphia, and whom he visited in that place.” “You have no doubt, then,” asked Chick, “that the Englishman the girl Alice talked of was Ellison?” “I have no doubt,” said Nick, “for the reason that, while you were busy in one direction last night, I was pushing inquiries in another, and I learned that Ellison did charter a yacht last summer, and that he did spend a good deal of time in Philadelphia, off and on.” He got up from his chair, and, pacing up and down a little while, at length said: “I don’t quite know how to size up young Sanborn. For a man who is well acquainted with Ellison as he pretends to be, he is singularly ignorant of the man, or else he refuses to tell all that he knows. In his talk yesterday he dropped the name of a man as one of those with whom Ellison spent much of his time, and that man I am very well acquainted with. “While this young man made no pretentions to intimate friendship with Ellison, yet he knew enough about him to know that his life was not quite as correct as Sanborn would have us believe. “It is from him that I learned about the yacht, the Philadelphia trips, and that Ellison was involved in two or three scrapes that did not become public. I take it young Sanborn is no longer important to us.” “The girl Alice,” said Chick, “said that he, if he is the young Englishman, was very attentive to Mrs. Ladew. She told the truth there, because Miss Rainforth admitted to me that Ellison had been in a foolish flirtation with her.” “It’s all over,” cried Patsy. “That settles it.” “Settles what?” asked Chick. “Why, that the young Englishman is Ellison.” “Quite right, Patsy,” said Nick. Nick thought a moment or two, and then said: “Philadelphia is the place where you must look for a day or two. Keep your eyes open for traces of Ellison’s valet, and for the man who came to see Ellison, and in whose cape coat Ellison went away. Patsy saw them both, and that is an advantage. “I will follow up the Rainforth matter here, but that, in my judgment, is where Ida will have to do most of the work. You can’t get away any too quickly.” “I suppose,” said Chick, “what we’ve got to work on there is how Lannigan came to get a line on the wedding presents at Sanborn’s.” “Of course,” said Nick, “there is a connection there with Ellison, somehow. Whether with Ellison’s knowledge or not is a question, but on working in Philadelphia on the line of Ellison’s doings, and on the line of how Lannigan was steered to the wedding, you may find out much that is valuable for us to know in tracing the mystery of Ellison’s disappearance.” The two young detectives went away to prepare for their trip to Philadelphia. As soon as they were gone, Nick summoned Ida.