Nicholas Carter 
Under The Tiger’s Claws [EPUB ebook] 

Excerpt: ""Well, my dear Gilsey, I rather think I can land him for you, " declared Nick Carter, with an odd smile lurking in the corners of his keen, grey eyes. "But that will not do, Nick, " protested Mr. Raymond Gilsey, with an immediate display of apprehension. "Not do, sir?" "It may not be what I want." "Not what you want?" "Not exactly, Nick, " and Mr. Raymond Gilsey decisively shook his head. He was a venerable banker, with a remarkably gentle and benevolent countenance. He was the president of the Milmore Trust Company, a banking-institution located in Forty-second Street, the patrons of which consisted chiefly of business firms in the immediate neighborhood, and of wealthy women, to whom the up-town location of the bank was a convenience. It was in Mr. Gilsey’s handsome private office that Nick Carter was seated, one afternoon early in May, in response to a telephone request from the banker about an hour before. Between the two there existed a friendship of long standing, and the celebrated detective had hastened to respond. As yet, however, he had received but a hint at the business for which he had been called, and he wondered a little at the banker’s obvious misgivings, as appeared in his remarks noted above. "Please explain, Mr. Gilsey, " said Nick. "Certainly, if there is a deficit in your cash, and you suspect– Ah, but stop a moment. Perhaps it will be just as well, my dear Gilsey, if our interview–" The last, spoken with lowered voice, was considered with a significant glance in the direction of Gilsey’s private stenographer, who sat busily engaged near one of the office windows, and Nick’s glance was equivalent to a suggestion that the presence of a third party might wisely be dispensed with."