“Chick will try to find out. I have left that to him, and given him all of the necessary points. It is useless for us to speculate upon it.” “Gee, it’s surely some case, chief, and likely to become a difficult one,” said Patsy. “It’s odd, too, that Miss Strickland has felt so apprehensive of deviltry by Mortimer Deland since his escape.” “That’s like a girl of her sensitive nature.” “For all that, chief, Deland must be a mighty slick gink, or he never could have given the hospital guards the slip in female attire, to say nothing of having contrived to secretly get the garments. That whole business is still a mystery.” “And likely to continue one,” said Nick. “It looked to me like bribery, Patsy, rather than cleverness on Deland’s part, and the bribery of a prison official is difficult to expose.” “That’s right, too.” “It was no fault of ours, however, for we did our part when we rounded up the rascals,” Nick added. “Take the road to the left, Danny. I’ll give you the street and number after we hit the town.” CHAPTER III. CONFIRMATORY EVIDENCE. It was eleven o’clock when the touring car containing the detectives stopped in front of an attractive wooden residence in a quiet and very reputable section of Fordham. Nick directed Patsy to accompany him, while Danny waited in the car, and his ring brought an elderly, refined-looking woman to the door, whom Nick at first supposed was one of the boarders. “I wish to see Mrs. Lord, the landlady,” he informed her. “I am Mrs. Lord, sir,” was the reply, smiling. “Will you walk in?” “Yes, thank you. I wish to inquire about one of your boarders.” “One of them!” The woman laughed lightly. “I have only one, sir, and I consented to take her only to slightly increase my limited income. I do not keep what might be more properly termed a boarding house. What Miss Perrot pays me enables me to keep an extra servant, which relieves me of most of the housework. Will you be seated, gentlemen?” They had followed her into a neatly furnished parlor, and Nick now saw plainly that she was an unassuming and thoroughly honest woman, one upon whom a crafty person could very easily impose. He reasoned, too, that that might be why Pauline Perrot was established there. “Your boarder is Miss Perrot?” he said inquiringly. “Yes, sir.” “Is she at home?” “Oh, no, she never is here at this hour,” said the landlady. “She is employed as a stenographer by a New York banker, Mr. Arthur Gordon. But she now is away on a visit. She will be gone about a week.” “Gee! that’s sure to be the longest week on record,” thought Patsy. “When did she go, Mrs. Lord?” Nick inquired. “She left from her office yesterday, sir, but she sent her trunk away two days ago.” “Why did she send her trunk in advance?” “I don’t know, sir. I did not inquire.” “Did you know Miss Perrot before she came to board here?” “I did not, sir. She was a stranger.” “Do you now know anything definite about her?” “Only what she has told me.”