“She is a fine woman, Nick. That goes without saying, and I know what I’m talking about.” “Has Darling lived happily with her?” “Surely,” Clayton replied. “Why not, indeed? She is just the type of woman to steady a man of his temperament. He liked a good time, you know, and was easily influenced. But for her, Nick, he might have gone clean over the traces. She was his balance wheel. She kept him going nicely, instead of off on a tangent. Yes, yes, they have lived happily, all right, or I would have heard of it.” “No doubt,” Nick allowed. He took his hat and arose to go. CHAPTER IV. THE ANGLE OF REFLECTION. As Nick Carter had inferred, even before finding the terse, explanatory note of his chauffeur, there was a very good reason for the disappearance of Danny Maloney. There were equally good reasons, too, for the brevity of his note and his delay in reporting at the home office. Seated alone in the touring car after Nick had entered the Darling residence, Danny fell to watching a gang of men at work in the near distance, then installing the wires for an electric-lighting system, to one of which Nick had jestingly referred when approaching the place. Scarce five minutes had passed, however, when something of much more importance caught Danny’s eye and instantly claimed his attention. It was the sudden appearance and significant actions of a man who rounded a corner some thirty yards back of the motionless car. One might wonder, perhaps, how Danny, not having eyes in the back of his head, caught sight of the man the moment he turned the corner. As a matter of fact, however, Danny saw him reflected in the chauffeur’s mirror clamped to the frame of the windshield, in which he could distinctly see objects back of the car. This led to a somewhat curious situation. The man saw the car and its solitary occupant, but he did not observe the mirror, and he evidently supposed that Danny, facing straight ahead, could not see him. Danny easily saw the reflection, however, without turning his head. He saw the stranger stop short the moment he rounded the corner, and saw the car, at which he gazed suspiciously, which in turn was enough to arouse Danny’s suspicions. “Gee! what’s eating him?” he muttered, watching him intently. “Here’s a reflex, back-action discovery, for fair. He don’t know I can see him; but who the dickens is he, and what’s struck him?” The man stood gazing intently, first at the car and then at the Darling residence, several times from one to the other. He appeared in doubt, uncertain what to do. Presently, frowning darkly, he took a pencil and a letter, from his pocket and made a memorandum of the envelope. Then he turned and retraced his steps and vanished around the corner as quickly as he had come.