"I
shadowed you from the theater to-night, intending to watch you and your
house, a design which has nearly cost me my life at the hands of your
faithful watchman.
"I am glad to add, senora, that I now have completely changed my views,
and I trust that you will bear in mind that you were a stranger to me,
and so pardon my unworthy misgivings. It is impossible that you, Senora
Cervera, could be guilty of any evil, or know aught of so accomplished a
knave as David Kilgore, or any of his clever gang."
A shrewder move could scarce have been conceived. That Nick would thus
have declared himself in the very presence of Kilgore, if known to him,
seemed utterly absurd; and the eyes of both Kilgore and Matt Stall were
aglow with a vicious amusement and satisfaction much too genuine to be
entirely concealed.
"Well, Mr. Carter," cried Venner, now hastening to release the
defective's hands, "you certainly have had a close call, and are lucky
to come out of it with a whole skin. These two men are employed by
senora to guard her house at night, and they naturally mistook you for a
burglar."
Despite his keen discernment, Nick could not determine whether this man
was lying, or was really as blind as his words implied.
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