“I’ll tell you. On what road was it, Miss Clayton, that you and Mrs. Badger were held up by these rascally highwaymen?” “The road to Canton.” “Are you familiar with it?” “I’m familiar with that part of it,” cried Vic, with a very significant smile and grimace. “Dear me! I shall never forget it!” “Quite vividly impressed upon your memory, eh?” “Decidedly so, Detective Carter?” “I suppose you could locate the precise spot, if there was any occasion?” “Indeed, I could. I know exactly where it is.” “Ah, that is very fortunate,” said Nick agreeably. “I wish to go out there and view the spot.” “For what?” “I think I may discover some clue or sign, Miss Clayton, either in the general appearance of the immediate scene or the surrounding country, which might put me on the track of the thieves,” Nick artfully rejoined, now feeling that even this lame explanation could be made to serve his purpose. “Of course,” he smilingly added, “we detectives see much more in such cases than the untrained eyes of a layman.” “Naturally.” “You see the point, do you not?” “Oh, yes,” nodded Vic, with a demure stare at him. “What do you think of it?” “I’ll admit there might be something in it.” “I thought you would,” Nick heartily replied. “Now the question is, to get back to the service I require of you. Will you go out there with me and show me the spot?” Vic burst out laughing, as if much amused. “Is that all you want of me?” she cried. “That is all just now,” said Nick, a bit dryly. “Why, of course, Detective Carter, I’ll go with you,” exclaimed Vic, as if a refusal was the last thing to have been expected, or any occasion for one. “How shall we go? It’s much too far to walk.” “Oh, I should not think of asking you to walk,” laughed Nick, somehow feeling again that he was on deucedly thin ice, for which he could not account. “I hope not, my dear Mr. Carter.” “I will provide a carriage.” “What time do you wish to go?” “The sooner the better, Miss Clayton. At once will suit me best of all.” Now Vic bridled a little, never other than crafty, and her smiling face took on a look of regret. “Dear me! That makes it a little bad,” she said, as if weighing the situation. “I already had planned to go to——Stay! here is a note to verify my making any excuse, Detective Carter, after offering so volubly to serve you.” She reached over to the desk while speaking, taking from it the note she had been writing, which she now handed to Nick to be read. It was merely a note to her maid, informing her that she would be absent for a few hours, and that the girl might close the rooms and take an outing until the morrow. “I had already planned to go riding, and was about to leave that note for Delia, my maid,” she explained, while Nick glanced at the craftily prepared missive.