Instead of falling backward down the stairway, Chick pitched headlong over the side of it, straight down six feet to the hall floor, on which he landed with a crash that seemed to shake the house. The three men saw him as plainly as they had heard him, and another roar came from Andy Margate. “A spy! One of the Carters, boys, or I’m a liar. Get him! Lend me a hand.” Chick heard them, though severely shaken and stunned, and he tried to rise. Margate leaped upon him like a wolf on a lamb, however, forcing him back upon the floor and dealing him a blow on the head, at the same time shouting: “Out with a gun! Shoot him, Zeke, if he stirs. Bring a rope, Tony, and be quick about it. Cut one of the window cords.” CHAPTER IX. THE WOMAN INVOLVED. It was close upon noon when Nick Carter, after his interview with Senator Barclay, rejoined Patsy Garvan and hastened from the statesman’s residence. None could have appreciated more keenly the gravity of the situation, the delicate nature of what had been confided to him, and the quick and clever work that must be done to avert the impending calamity, if indeed it were possible. Nick thought he already saw his way clearly, however, and he began with informing Patsy of as many of the circumstances as the case required. “We’ve got a look in, Patsy, at least,” he added, pausing on a corner to hail a taxicab. “If Margate sizes up the letter and document as I think he will, he may undertake to blackmail Lady Deland before I can be seen by Senator Barclay and put on the case. He will reason, of course, that I cannot have yet discovered that he is alive, much less have tracked him to the medical college and to the Barclay residence.” “Gee whiz!” exclaimed Patsy. “You’re the only man on earth, chief, who could have accomplished all that in so short a time. Margate will not believe it possible.” “I am banking on that, Patsy, and that he will attempt to take advantage of my supposed ignorance. He will know, too, that any move to blackmail Lady Deland must be made immediately, both on my account and the fact that the document must be restored to her before to-morrow, when it will become useless as a lever to blackmail her.” “I see both points, chief,” nodded Patsy. “I have a countermove framed up in my mind,” Nick added. “What’s that, chief?” “I will inform you a little later. You go to the Willard as quickly as possible, now, and bring our make-up box to the Deland residence, wearing a disguise. I have one in my pocket that will enable me to go there without being recognized, assuming that the house is being watched, which I hardly think is probable. We’ll take no chances, however. Rejoin me there as soon as possible.” “You can bank on that, chief,” declared Patsy, as he turned and hurried away.