id. "Nick Carter did that for me. But I'm out again,
just the same, and now my lay is to get square with Nick Carter."

"You don't say so," said Curly, shifting uneasily in his chair, and
forgetting himself so far as to cast one furtive glance in the direction
of the detective. "What are you going to do to him?"

"Ask me that after I've got him where I want him," replied Madge, fixing
her bold eyes full upon Nick Carter's face; and then, slowly removing
them, and swinging her body half around until she again faced Curly, she
added insinuatingly:

"Aren't you going to introduce me to your friends, Curly?"

Curly shook his shoulders. He was on safe ground, now, ground where he
felt perfectly at home; for it was never necessary to indulge in
introductions in that walk of life, not even when they were asked for,
but he replied:

"Sure, Madge. These are my two friends, and I guess that'll be about
enough. You can call them by any name you want to, and they'll both
answer you."

"Under cover?" she asked.

"A little," admitted Curly.

"Are they dumb, or tongue-tied, or have they temporarily lost their
voices; or, are they only bashful? I should think that two full-grown
men such as they are might be able to speak for themselves."

"It ain't always good taste to speak for yourself," said Curly, with an
uneasy laugh. "They might do it once too often."

Madge's suspicions were plainly aroused. She remained silent for a
moment after that, and then, leaning forward, she rested her arms upon
the table, and with her face thrust well forward over them, again stared
into the detective's face.

"Do you know who you are like?" she asked coolly.

"Yes," replied Nick, just as coolly as she had spoken, "I have heard it
said often, but if you will take my advice you won't mention the name
aloud. It might excite some of the people here."

She laughed.

"That's just what I mean to do," she said, with a tightening of her
lips. "They need excitement; that's what they live on. It's what we all
live on. It's what we come here to get. Excitement is the backbone and
muscle and sinew of our beings. And do you know that I think I could
startle them all mightily right now if I should call something out to
them which is on my mind to say?"

She reached out her left hand, and seized Curly by the shoulder, pulling
him over to her, and then, in a tone which only the three who were
present with her could hear, she went on, her voice deadl