“And he would still be among the living.” “No; I do not think so.” “You do not? Why?” “Prince, hasn’t it occurred to you that in order that this affair could happen just as it did, those men must have been there on the watch?” “Yes. But——” “Wait. If they were there on the watch, they saw me leave the house, did they not?” “Supposedly so.” “Well, they permitted me to go my way unmolested. If they had received instructions concerning me, they would hardly have done that. No, they were watching and waiting for Turnieff, intending that he should die—intending to kill him. I had no place in that plot. It was hatched—it must have been—without considering me, and only because they deemed it expedient to get him out of the way. He would have been killed just the same—only it would have been a mysterious crime, and no person would have been directly charged with it.” “I see what you mean.” “If I had not stopped at that corner, where I remained certainly five minutes if not longer before Turnieff overtook me, he would not have found me at all. I should have gone around the next corner.” “Perhaps you are right; and yet——” “Well?” “It does look to me like the work of that woman’s craft.” “It looks so on the face of it; yes. But when one stops to analyze it, it does not. She could not have arranged it in the time allowed, even if it had occurred to her—and honestly, I do not think that she knew of the attack that was to be made on Turnieff. It was necessary that she should have known of that in order to have involved me in it.” “You are defending her, Carter.” “No; I am merely being just to her.” “But poor Turnieff is dead, and he has been killed by the men with whom she is working.” “We surmise that; but we do not know it. Even if it is so, it does not follow that she is in any way accountable for his murder, or that she knew that it was decreed.” “I think it does. Anyhow I shall act on that belief.” “As you please, prince.” “But, Carter, what are you to do now?” “I am to work this case out to the end, I believe; and incidentally, I shall seek and find the men who murdered Turnieff, and who would have charged me with the crime.” “Good. I believe you will do it. But how? You are a suspected man, Carter. You cannot go abroad in the streets now as you would have done. The papers will be filled with talk about you.” “I know it. I am anxious to see them. But I shall go about in the streets just the same, prince. I have not studied the art of disguising myself for nothing. Really, the case has just begun.” CHAPTER XXX. BARE-FACED JIMMY’S DOUBLE. Nick Carter, after he escaped from his pursuers that night, and could take it more easily for the remainder of the distance he wished to go, had thought deeply. Even before he had the interview which followed with the ambassador, he had determined upon his future course of action.