ant to talk about? Since you
wish to talk things over calmly, what did, you come here for, anyhow?"

"I came," said Nick, "believing that you were in the city, and knowing
that I would find you here if you were, I came because I was determined
to find out where you were, and to put a stop to your career."

She started savagely, but Nick held up his hand and hushed her.

"I am not going to make any arrests in this place, Madge. I am not going
to interfere with Mike Grinnel's business, or with his reputation for
affording security to his patrons. If every person in this room was my
friend instead of my enemy, you, Madge, would be as free to depart in
peace when you get ready to do so as you would have been had I not come
here."

"That all sounds very fine," she said, "if only I cared to believe it."

"Believe it or not, as you please, it is the truth."

"And what did you come here for?"

"I have told you that already. I came to find you."

"And, having found me, to let me go away in peace?"

"I have said that also, I believe."

"Nick Carter," she exclaimed, laughing scornfully, "you are not a good
liar."

"I never lie," replied Nick.

"Well," she said, "I will speak my little piece, now that you are
through. You are here, and there are two locked doors between you and
the street, and there are between twenty and thirty men in this room now
who would rather be killed than let you escape if they knew you were
here. I might as well confess to you that eight of those men belong to
me. That is, they obey my orders. Now, what are you going to do about
it?"

"I think," replied Nick quietly, and smiling back at her, "that, with
your permission, I will order another round of drinks."

She pushed back her chair petulantly from the table, and half started to
rise from it, but Nick Carter's voice, low, but sharp, halted her.

"Stop, Madge," he said; "keep your seat. This thing has gone too far for
either of us to attempt to fool the other. You might as well understand
that if there is to be any row precipitated, I will do the
precipitating."

She blazed her eyes at him for an instant, and then parted her lips with
the evident intention of shouting out his identity. And, while he did
not move to prevent her from doing so, the steady gaze of his eyes
somehow overcame her, and she closed them again without making a sound.

"That is better, Madge," he said. "This is a case of diamond cut
diamond, only for the moment