"I don’t think so," said Nick. "Goulard would reason that Patsy, whatever he may have learned, has had no opportunity to inform us since obtaining his evidence." "Right again," Chick quickly nodded. "But what scheme will they shape up by which to get you? If we knew----” "There is only one way of learning," Nick cut in. "By going up against it?" "Exactly." "You intend doing so?" "I certainly do." "When?" "At once. Before they can find time to learn more than they already know," Nick declared. "I’ll pay Sadie Badger my promised visit within half an hour." "But where do I fit in?" Chick inquired. "How can I aid you to the best advantage?" Nick gazed thoughtfully at the floor for several moments. Then, abruptly looking up, he said quickly: "Listen. I’ll tell you how." Precisely half an hour later, as Nick had predicted, a roughly clad man, a perfect likeness of Sadie Badger’s partner in crime the previous night, entered the vestibule of the Lexington Avenue flat and pressed the electric bell. At just about the same time, unobserved by any of the few pedestrians then in that locality, a second man stole into an alley leading to the rear of the brick block, and sought the gloomy yard back of the third house. This second man was Chick Carter. CHAPTER IX. THE COUNTERSTROKE. The bright light within illumined the drawn curtains of the Lexington Avenue flat, casting on them a filigree shadow of the filmy lace draperies, convincing Nick Carter before he had entered that Sadie Badger had not bolted. Nick’s ring was quickly answered, moreover, by the woman herself. He saw the evil light that flashed up for an instant in her intense black eyes when she saw and recognized him, which further assured him that he not only had sized up the circumstances correctly, but also that her designs were precisely what he suspected. Sadie Badger greeted him with a smile, however, placing her forefinger on her lips and glancing significantly up the stairs. "Not too loud, Bosey, till we’re inside and the door closed," she said quietly, drawing back for him to enter. "I’m a bit leary of those ginks on the next floor. What they don’t know won’t hurt them. If they get wise to too much, it might hurt me." Nick nodded approvingly, with a grim smile on his made-up, hangdog face, and he took the chair to which she pointed. He noticed that her hat, veil, and a long black cloak were lying on a sofa, as if she had just come in, or intended going out. "That’s good judgment, kid," he replied, in the same husky voice he had assumed the previous night. "There’s nothing lost by keeping others in the dark." "Right you are, Bosey." "Was you looking for me to-night?" "Sure thing," nodded Sadie, sitting opposite. "You said you’d come, didn’t you? I always take the word of a pal. Have you seen the newspapers?" "All of them, kid. I nailed them as soon as the story was out. But the dicks ain’t wise to anything. You’ve still got the stuff safe in the house?"