“They will not deter me,” said Nick, with a headshake. “I never run from danger.” “There is yet another reason.” “For dropping the business?” “Yes.” “What is it?” “You will fail.” “Fail in my undertaking?” “That is my impression. Ah, I see you smile!” cried the woman, wiping her damp cheeks and brow. “You do wrong to deride and ignore my predictions. Ask others to whom I have given advice. I have never yet erred in one of these predictions. Take my advice, Mr. Sibley, and avoid the impending perils.” Nick had smiled incredulously, and arose to go. He saw that the woman had no more to tell him, nor had he any inclination to hear more in the same line. Having paid her fee in money obtained by cashing a check in order to settle with Grady for the damage to his runabout, Nick bade Madame Victoria good morning, and departed. At the door of the inner room the woman tendered him her hand, which he gravely accepted, noting at the same time that it was damp with perspiration, yet as cold as a hand of clay. CHAPTER VII. THE DEEPER MYSTERY. Nick Carter was puzzled. His interview with Madame Victoria had, in a way, left him on the rocks. He could not account for the knowledge which, in indirect and equivocal terms, she had displayed. It plainly indicated that she had from some source received information concerning him and his business designs, as well as about the losses he had suffered in his encounter with the highwayman. Had this information really been derived through the occult powers of which the woman claimed to be possessed? Nick Carter was not ready to believe that it had, for he had but little faith in the supernatural. On the other hand, any natural explanation seemed equally difficult. “My intended visit to her rooms was known to only three persons by whom she could have been informed, and they were Badger and his wife, and Grady,” Nick perplexedly reasoned. “I know positively that Grady did not inform her. Assuming even that the Badgers did so by communicating with her by telephone, they cannot possibly have guessed that I would call upon her in disguise. My make-up, together with the fictitious name I gave, certainly should have blinded her to my identity. Yet I do not believe she could have guessed, merely by chance, all of the facts that she imparted, and I’m blessed if I can quite fathom the mystery.” The more Nick thought about it the more positive he became that there existed some crooked work under the surface, and this made him even the more determined to ferret out what it was.