“Once he has made up his mind to do a certain thing, he will do that thing, though the heavens fall.” “I understand that quality about him, too.” “It is evident that he has made up his mind to marry Lenore.” “Yes, I think so.” “And the only obstacles that are in his way at the present moment stand right here; they are Nick Carter and Nan Nightingale. Is that correct?” “Admitted—if you put aside a small one that I see at the other end of the veranda, who is called Chick.” “True; I had forgotten Chick. But that does not alter what I was about to say.” “What was that?” “In the past, whenever obstacles got in the way of Jimmy’s designs, he broke them down, put them aside, or destroyed them. That is what he will attempt to do now.” “Nan, my dear girl, do you mean murder?” “Yes. That is just what I do mean. He would not hesitate.” “Perhaps not, if there were opportunity. But here there is none.” “Then he will make one. I am afraid, Nick Carter! I am afraid!” CHAPTER VIII. PLOTTING AGAINST A PLOTTER. It should be permitted us to look inside the brain of Bare-Faced Jimmy Duryea for a moment, in order that we can see just how he was working out the existing situation. It will help us better to understand the events which followed; although, of course, the one who reads must understand that no such privilege could have been afforded the detective at that time. He had to form his judgments as to what Jimmy might determine to do next, from his past knowledge of the man, and that, he decided wisely, was to his credit. We cannot relate here just how it happened that Jimmy appeared at the summer residence of Theodore Remsen in the character of a Southerner named Ledger Dinwiddie, and was prepared to establish that character, and the reputation that went with it, to all comers. That is another story. But that Jimmy Duryea never entered upon any task without having thoroughly prepared himself to meet all the emergencies that might arise has already been made sufficiently clear. His presence in that house as an accepted suitor for the hand of Lenore Remsen was the result of careful study and preparation, and the step had been taken with due recognition of all the risks that had to be met and overcome. The encounter with Nan, in that house, and the manner of it, as related by her to Nick Carter, were, of course, unforeseen; they could not have been anticipated. When Jimmy met Nan that night in the library, while he was sorting over the jewels he had stolen, it came in the nature of a surprise to him. He was absolutely unprepared for it. Nevertheless, he had met it with his customary aplomb and coolness. We already know the consequences of that encounter.