y calm:

"Did you think, Nick Carter, that you could fool Black Madge? Did you
think that you could come here into this same room where I am without my
knowing instantly who you were? Don't you know that your very presence
in the same room with me would make itself known to my sensibilities by
reason of the very hate I bear you?"

She paused a moment and laughed uneasily. And then she continued:

"Don't you know, Nick Carter, that you have walked directly into a trap,
from which you cannot escape? And were you not aware before you came
here that if your identity became known your life wouldn't be worth a
moment's purchase? If you so much as quiver an eyelid, Nick Carter, I
will call out your name, and point you out as a spy, and you know what
that will mean in Mike Grinnel's dive."

CHAPTER XXIII.

BLACK MADGE'S DEFIANCE.

It was a crucial moment for each of the three men who were seated at
that table, and it affected each of the three quite differently.

Chick was concerned only for the safety of his chief, for even then it
did not occur to him that Black Madge had taken sufficient interest in
himself to identify him, and that doubtless she still regarded him as
really a friend of Curly's.

Curly was plainly frightened, as well as utterly astounded. It had never
occurred to him that the disguise of Nick Carter, which had seemed to
him to be perfect, would be, or could be, so readily penetrated; and he
realized, for the moment, at least, that he was in as much danger as
Nick Carter himself, for if it should be known to the others--or should
suddenly be made known to them--that Nick Carter was in that room, they
would not only kill the detective, but they would also murder the man
who had dared to bring him there.

Black Madge was as thoroughly aware of this fact as was Curly himself,
and she did the latter justice to believe that somehow he had been
imposed upon by the detective, just as Nick had sought to impose upon
all of them; in a word, she did not blame Curly for the existing
situation.

As for the situation itself, she was delighted with it, for it had
thrust Nick Carter into her power much more quickly and certainly than
she had ever supposed it could be done.

She had not been seated at the table with them a full minute before she
was perfectly assured in her own mind that the man opposite her was Nick
Carter, and it did not occur to her to doubt that the other man was one
of his assistant