"I’ll tell you presently," said Goulard, who was apparently very well satisfied with having arrived in time to secure the detective. "Have you taken the woman down below?" "Yes, of course," Mullen nodded. "That’s the safest place." "Any old place is safe enough, now that we’ve got this rat," said Goulard confidently. "I’ll have his chief before midnight, too, unless my wires get crossed. Bring the woman up again and take her into the house. I want to revive her and force her to write a letter to her husband. Bring in this rat, too. I want to tell him where he stands. He’ll find mighty soon that I’ve got things dead to rights." Patsy said nothing. He began to fear, in fact, that the rascal really had. CHAPTER VIII. NICK CARTER’S INSIGHT. It was late in the afternoon. The dusk had begun to gather, and lamps were gleaming in some of the store windows. Daylight still found its way into the business office of Nick Carter’s residence, however, when he hung up his telephone receiver and placed the instrument on his desk. His only companion was his chief assistant, and the faces of both were unusually grave. "Who was it?" Chick inquired, when Nick turned in his swivel chair. "A man who said his name is Frank Steel," Nick replied. "He is employed in a Lexington Avenue provision store. He wanted to know whether Patsy had returned with his motor cycle." "By gracious, that beats hearing nothing from Patsy," Chick cried, with countenance lighting. "It gives us a hint, at least, at what has occurred to him. What more did he say? Could he give you any definite information?" "Some very suggestive information," Nick replied. "I begin to scent the rat in the meal. I can tell you in a nutshell." Nick then proceeded to do so. Steel had, in fact, become quite anxious concerning Patsy’s prolonged absence, and he had told Nick all that had transpired in the provision store that day, also informing him of Patsy’s interest in the occupant of the opposite flat, and all about the man who had called there. "By Jove, there is only one way of sizing that up," said Chick, after listening intently. "We know that old Mr. Mantell did not go there. The man who called, then, must have been Goulard." "Undoubtedly." "And Patsy must have recognized him." "No, not so," Nick quickly objected. "That’s the trouble. That’s why he is in wrong, unless I am much mistaken." "You mean----” "If he had recognized Goulard, he would have arrested him on the spot," Nick interposed. "The circumstances admit of only one interpretation." "Namely?" "Patsy supposed him to be the elder Mantell, and the fact that he was calling on Sadie Badger, or some other serious suspicion concerning him, led Patsy to pursue the taxicab. There’s no other way of sizing it up." "He may have recognized Helen Mantell," Chick suggested.