Nick Carter Stories No. 150, July 24, 1915: The House of Fear; or, Nick Carter's Counterstroke.Carter, Nicholas (House name)
General
Nick Carter Stories No. 150, July 24, 1915: The House of Fear; or, Nick Carter's Counterstroke.
Carter, Nicholas (House name)
Detective and mystery stories, American -- Periodicals; Popular literature -- Periodicals
"Yes; he’s upstairs in the swing room, I believe. I’ll send for him."
"Now, Pop," said Owen, as the grizzled carrier came into the office,
"are you absolutely sure that it was Miss Worthington to whom you handed
that pink envelope last night?"
"Yes, sir; I am quite sure."
"You don’t think there’s any possibility that you could have been
mistaken--that it might have been some other young woman who resembled
Miss Worthington?" asked Owen.
"No; I’m positive, Mr. Sheridan. I know her well. You know I had that
delivery route for six weeks last summer, while Smithers was sick, and I
saw her, of course, every day when I called at the real-estate office
with the mail, so I couldn’t be mistaken."
Owen nodded gloomily. "That’s right, Pop; I recall, now, that you had
that route while Smithers was laid up. As you say, you ought to know
her. Now, I want you to tell me, Pop, exactly what passed between you
when she asked for that letter. Give me every word of the conversation
as near as you can remember it."
"Very good, sir," said the old man. "Well, to begin at the very
beginning, the young lady was pacing up and down in front of the letter
box in a very nervous manner, as I came along. When I went to open the
box, she touched my arm, and said: ‘I just dropped a letter in here,
which I’d like to get back. I’ve changed my mind about sending it.’
‘Excuse me, miss,’ I said, ‘but before you go any further let me tell
you that us carriers are not allowed to hand back anything that has been
mailed. Its strictly against the rules,’ I says. ‘The only way you can
get your letter is by going around to the post office and seeing the
superintendent. He can let you have it if he wants to; the rules give
him that right; but I can’t.’"
"And what did she say to that?" inquired Owen eagerly.
"She said that she didn’t care to go around to see the superintendent;
that she didn’t think he’d do her the favor, and she began to plead and
beg, saying that if I knew how very much it meant to her to get that
letter back, she was sure that I wouldn’t refuse her."
"Didn’t she tell you what was in the letter?" asked Owen. "Surely she
must have mentioned something as to the nature of its contents, Pop?"
"No, sir; she didn’t. She merely said it was a very important letter,
and that it would do a terrible lot of harm if it went through the mail.
And she said, also, that she could pick the letter out without giving me
any trouble, because it was in a pink envelope, and square-shaped."
"Square-shaped!" repeated Owen, turning eagerly to Superintendent
Henderson, who sat listening to this conversation. "Then that goes to
prove that----”
"I believe I forgot to mention, Mr. Inspector, that according to Mr.
Sammis and his clergyman friend, the letter which they dropped into the
box, and which is now missing, was also in a square envelope,"
interrupted the superintendent.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account