“On the contrary, Chick, she certainly was,” Nick insisted. “But what motive could she have had? A clergyman is about the last man on earth in whom Nancy Nordeck would have any interest. Her whole career has been a vicious one.” “True.” “It must be that you are mistaken, then, and that the shoe of some other woman corresponds exactly with hers.” “Wait a bit!” said Nick. “Let me consider all of the circumstances. I know I am not mistaken. Be quiet while I stir up my gray matter and dig out the solution of this problem.” Nick was not long in finding it, or in framing up a theory that seemed consistent, at least, with all of the known circumstances. His thoughtful face suddenly lighted. He straightened up and exclaimed, gazing again at Chick: “By Jove, I think I have it.” “The answer?” “Yes.” “Good!” “If I am right, however, the outlook is bad--deucedly bad at that.” “Bad for whom?” “For the rector, Maybrick--and for Nancy Nordeck herself.” “Why bad for her?” questioned Chick perplexedly. “I don’t get you. What do you make of it?” “Listen.” Nick drew forward in his chair. “As sure as you’re a foot high, the veiled woman who visited Maybrick on Tuesday evening was Nancy Nordeck. Her inferior attire, the likeness of this plaster cast to the footprint under the library window, together with all of the other circumstances, convince me that she was the woman.” “But why, if she went there to visit him, did she look through the library window?” “To learn whether he was at home and alone. That would have been a perfectly natural step for her to have taken.” “True, Nick, as far as that goes,” Chick allowed. “But why on earth did she visit Maybrick? What business can a crook of her class have had with a clergyman?” “That is suggested, at least, in the letter she sent to Mallory.” “You mean?” “The sentiment I detected between the lines,” said Nick. “That girl, Chick, for she’s little more than a girl, was so deeply affected by the death of her father that she resolved to reform. There’s nothing else to it. She went to Maybrick and told him about the burglary, and she offered to turn over the plunder to him that he might restore it to the bank officials.” “Oh, hold on!” Chick exclaimed incredulously. “You are overlooking no end of contradictory points. How, to begin with, did Nancy Nordeck come in possession of the plunder?” “That is easily explained,” Nick replied. “We know that Jim Nordeck has been repeatedly buncoed and cheated by his pals, and he may in this case have insisted upon taking charge of the plunder until it could have been equally divided. The gang would have consented to that, of course, for they could not have cracked the vault without his assistance. He was the big squeeze in that part of the work.” “That’s very true,” Chick allowed.