Excerpt: "“I feared you would not come.” The speaker, a beautiful woman of two or three and thirty, half reclined on a sofa, in an elegant apartment. A gentleman, rather old, had entered the room. He was what he looked to be—one of New York’s money kings. “It is for the last time, Louise,” he said, toying with his watch guard. “And why for the last time?” For a second the woman appeared downcast, and then, rising to her feet, she said, pleadingly: “You swore that you would always love me.” “Yes,” he thundered, “but then I was not aware that the shy and modest Louise Calhoun was a common adventuress. Truly, you would be a nice woman to grace my home and be a second mother to my orphan children!” “I shall force you to keep your promise!” The woman’s eyes blazed and she clinched her hands until the nails sank deep into the flesh. “Force me—you will force me!” exclaimed the gentleman. “Those were the words I used, Hilton Field.” “Why, you are a criminal.”"
Nick Carter is a fictional character who began as a dime novel private detective in 1886 and has appeared in a variety of formats over more than a century. The character was first conceived by Ormond G. Smith and created by John R. Coryell. Carter headlined his own magazine for years, and was then part of a long-running series of novels from 1964 to 1990. Films were created based on Carter in France, Czechoslovakia and Hollywood. Nick Carter has also appeared in many comic books and in radio programs.