“I haven’t that amount with me,” replied Mr. Cary. “Give me your check, then.” “Oh, I can’t do that. But wait a minute. I can get the money.” He hurried out, going quickly to the corner. Here he stopped, sounding a signal. Chick and Patsy, hearing it, went quickly to the corner. As they came up, Mr. Cary said: “Follow when I come out of the real estate office.” He went back, handing to the Brown Robin twenty-five dollars. Finishing her business, she went out, followed by Mr. Cary. On the sidewalk she said: “Now, Papa Cary, you must leave me. But you must come promptly when I send for you. Perhaps it will be to-morrow. Our fun is only beginning.” She asked Mr. Cary to stop a Lexington Avenue car for her and got aboard it when it came, bidding the elderly gentleman good-by at the car, very sweetly. Mr. Cary, regaining the sidewalk, turned the corner, walking down Fourth Avenue to Twenty-second Street. There he stopped, waiting for Chick and Patsy to come apace, and, when they did, he said: “I want to get this makeup off as soon as I can.” “It’s a pity to take it off,” said Patsy. “It’s great.” “Boys,” said the elderly gentleman, “that woman is the Brown Robin.” “The devil!” exclaimed Patsy. “I am the only detective, or police officer, that has ever spoken to the Brown Robin, knowing it to be her. I have her measure.” “Why didn’t you nab her, then, chief?” asked Chick. “Because she has worked the Cary matter so skillfully that I could not convict her. I want to get her foul on the Mountain case. But the Brown Robin is a woman.” “Then who the devil is Harold Stanton?” asked Patsy. “I’ll tell you that later. There are others, and we must capture them. But come with me.” They hurried to a neighboring hotel, where the Alpheus Cary who had dined with the Brown Robin quickly came out as Nick Carter, the famous detective. CHAPTER VI. AN AUDACIOUS VISITOR. After he had removed his disguise, Nick said to his two aids: “The Cary case will give us little trouble after this. I shall probably continue to play his part in it, but it will amount to little more than shelling out some money. She thinks she has captured him. “She is a wonderfully clever woman, and is using the Cary incident merely as a cover to the big strike on Mountain. “Now, Chick, tell me what you found in Seventeenth Street?” “That the house was empty; that it had been occupied but two or three days; that the rent had been paid for a month; but possession has not been given up.” “Do you know who rented it?” “A woman who gave the name of Mrs. Stanton.” “Hum! I fancy that she has rented another house this evening, the one in Thirtieth Street. In my way of thinking, that house is to be the scene of the strike on Mountain. “That is a job for you, Patsy,” continued Nick. “Watch that house from early to-morrow morning and settle who goes in and all about it. Nothing will be done there to-night.