"He appears to really mean business," Nick observed. "Did your wife recognize him?" "No. She had only a glimpse at his face. She is sure that he wore a beard, however, and was a dark man, of medium build. She was too frightened to note anything more." "The beard may have been a disguise." "Quite likely." "What steps did you then take to protect her?" "I employed two private watchmen to stealthily keep an eye on my estate, hoping to discover and arrest the miscreant. On the very next day, Nick, a threatening letter came in the mail, addressed to my wife. It was on cheap, plain paper, and printed with a lead pencil, as were the placards mentioned." "Obviously, then, from the same person," said Nick. "What did the letter contain?" "I have it in my pocket." "Ah. Let me see it." Mantell hastened to comply, and Nick read the following, rudely printed on a single sheet of paper: "Those two watchmen will not protect you. I’m going to get you, in spite of them, in spite of your husband, in spite of all the forces with which you can oppose me. I want you--and I’m going to get you." Nick Carter’s brows knit a little closer while he read this cowardly, threatening communication. Instead of returning it to his companion, he replaced the sheet in the typewritten envelope and slipped it into his pocket. "I’ll keep it for the present, Mantell," he said simply. "Tell me, now, what more has occurred and what you have done about it." "A few evenings later, Nick, or about a week ago, when Helen was partly disrobed for bed, she thought she heard a stealthy step outside of one of her windows. She stole into the next room and looked out." "And discovered?" "A man crouching on the veranda floor. He saw the lace draperies move when Helen parted them, and then heard the scream she tried in vain to suppress. He turned like a flash and leaped to the ground, then vanished in the gloom under the near trees. We found my wife in a faint on the floor. She was not mistaken, Nick, for the tracks of the miscreant were on the roof and in the driveway." "Were the two watchmen then in your employ?" "Yes." "They did not see the intruder?" "No. The cowardly cur is as elusive as a shadow. Helen is becoming a nervous wreck, while I----” "I will talk with her." Nick interposed. "I also will look into the matter. I suppose, Mantell, that you have no suspicion as to the identity of the rascal." "Not the slightest, Nick." "Your wife is a very beautiful woman," added the detective. "There was one man who aspired to her love, as I remember, and who had a very deep hatred for you and your father after the wrecking of your big department store and----” "You mean Gaston Goulard, of course," Mantell cut in. "Yes." "But he is dead. If he were alive--well, he is the miscreant whom I at once would suspect. But the East River does not give up its dead. We know that Goulard was drowned."