“You were not glad when you first recognized me. You were seriously alarmed. You were glad only when you remembered that I entered this office in disguise. You feared at first that some one had seen and recognized me. Your looks and conduct admit of no other interpretation. Come, come, what’s the meaning of it? What’s the answer?” Garland hesitated, settling back in his chair, looking white and worried again, as if burdened with fears he could not overcome. “Really, Nick, there is no answer----” “Stop a bit,” Nick interrupted. “Don’t hand me anything of that kind. I can read deeper than most men. You cannot get by me, Garland, with any flimsy denials. You are living in abject fear of some one. You fear that you are being secretly watched, and that this office is also under stealthy espionage. You fear that I was seen and recognized when I entered. “There can be only one reason for such a fear as that. Crooks are putting something over on you, Garland, and you have been warned against appealing to me for aid. You feel that you are absolutely in their power, too, or you would have ignored their warning and their threats. No other deductions are tenable. They would not have feet to stand on.” “Good heavens!” Garland huskily exclaimed, nervous and trembling. “You don’t know what you are saying, Nick, nor----” “Oh, yes, I do,” Nick again interrupted. “Nor have I finished, Garland, by any means. You listen to me for half a minute.” “But----” “There aren’t any buts,” Nick insisted impressively. “You hold your horses and hear what I have to say. Father Cleary, of the St. Lawrence Church, was murdered last evening. He was stabbed to death in the rectory. Lottie Trent, after having seen him and confided something to him, was abducted by the knaves who afterward killed him. Both crimes were committed to prevent further exposure of what the girl had told him. You, Garland, know what it was!” “On my word, Carter, I----” “Wait!” Nick cut in again. “I have adequate proof of all this. I am on the case and I’m going to sift it to the bottom. You, Garland, were near the scene of these two crimes. This torn letter written by Lottie Trent convinces me of that. I now can guess, too, with what object it was left there, and with what designs you were lured there. This girl is a sister of Larry Trent, now in prison for complicity with Andy Margate in the recent theft of your government plans. Now, Garland, you tell me the truth. I’ll stand for nothing else, nor can anything else save you. I once have pulled you out of the fire. I can, if necessary, do it again. There is no middle course for you. I must arrest you, or know the whole truth. Out with it. What is Andy Margate putting over on you?” There was no resisting Nick Carter under such conditions, and Garland now seemed to realize it. A look of relief had appeared on his pale face, that relief with which one burdened with a terrible secret sees the way open to confiding in another.