man!"

The person indicated was well-dressed, rather good-looking, and about
thirty-five years old. There was nothing particularly striking about his
appearance.

It would have been easy to have found dozens of such men on lower
Broadway any day.

Nick feared a mistake. But Gaspard was sure.

"I never forget a face," he said. "That is the man whom I saw coming out
of room B. That is the murderer."

The man was standing up and holding on to one of the straps. His profile
was turned to them.

Nick waited until he turned and showed his full face. The detective was
bound to give Gaspard every chance to change his mind.

But he remained firm, and at last Nick approached the accused and
suddenly whispered the terrifying words in his ear.

Having done so, he was obliged to carry it through. Therefore, when the
stranger asked Nick to repeat what he had said, the detective, in a low
voice, inaudible to anybody else in the car, told him what the
accusation was.

"This is ridiculous," said the man. "I read the story of this affair in
the papers this morning, but I am not connected with it in any way. If
you arrest me, you must be prepared to take the consequences."

"I guess we can manage the affair quietly," said Nick, "and give you no
trouble at all. I suppose you were going downtown to business?"

"Yes."

"Well, I will go along, too, if you don't mind."

"By all means," said the man, and he looked much relieved.

"I understand what your duty is," he continued. "Since this imported
French jackass has made this charge, of course you'll have to look into
it. Come down to the office and make some inquiries, and then go up to
my flat. I was at home last evening after eight o'clock.

"What did you do before that?"

"I had dinner with my wife, and then put her aboard a train. She's gone
away on a visit."

"Where has she gone?"

"No, sir; none of that. I don't propose to have a detective go flying
after her to scare her to death. She keeps out of this mess, if I have
any say about it."

"But if you're arrested she'll hear about it and come back to the city."

"I'm not going to be arrested. You're too sensible a man to do such a
thing. I can see that.

"Here we are. We get off at Franklin street. My place of business is
just a little way up the street, toward Broadway."

They left the train. Nick was beginning to feel that a mistake had been
made. This man's easy manner and perfect confidence were hard to s