Tearing open the note, he read: “Dear Mr. Carter: I beg you will call on me at the Zetler Bank, on a matter of importance, at your earliest convenience. I do not call on you for the reason that I fear the call would become known to a person I desire to keep in the dark. Respectfully, Alpheus Cary.” “Where did you get these?” whispered Nick. “At the drug store,” returned Edith, also in a whisper. “I was about going out when the druggist called me by name. An elderly gentleman, standing near, started and spoke in a low tone to the druggist, asking if I was Nick Carter’s wife. “Being told that I was, he came to me, handing me his card and this note, with the request that I should give it to you. “He said that he had intended to call, had even driven past the door, but, on second thought, believed it were not best, and had gone to the drug store, where he was known, and had written the note there.” “And you came directly back with it?” “Directly.” “Where did Mr. Cary go?” “He got into a cab and drove down Columbus Avenue.” Nick thought a moment, and said, in a whisper: “This must have occurred about the time my caller handed in the other card.” He sprang to his feet and hurried to the parlor. But it was empty. The waiting caller had left without a word. Nick, calling the servant, inquired if she had seen the caller leave, but she had not, nor could she give any information. Pursuing his inquiries, all that he could learn was that a moment after Mrs. Carter was seen to enter the front door an elderly-appearing man had darted from it and had gone down the street, hastily, to the west. Satisfied that a spurious Mr. Cary had called on him that morning, and that the genuine Mr. Cary had accosted his wife in the drug store, Nick returned to his room to await the arrival of his assistants, Chick, Patsy and Ida. CHAPTER II. THE WAY OF THE ROBIN. Nick’s passage to the Zetler Bank to see the real Mr. Alpheus Cary was in the nature of a procession. He had been impressed with the idea that the caller who had announced himself as Mr. Alpheus Cary, had, by some means, come to know that the real Mr. Cary was in the neighborhood, and had fled because of that. His fleeing seemed to Nick to suggest that in some way this person was either the Brown Robin or some one connected with that person. The audacity of the effort to impersonate Cary in an interview with Nick further suggested that the person had much confidence in his own skill, and was rather conceited about it. He thought it probable that he would be put under observation in his next attempt to leave the house.