kiss looked at his watch. Then he put it to his ear.

"Good gracious!" he exclaimed, his head cocked on one side, "I believe
it has stopped. I'm afraid we are late."

We were late. My watch and Hotchkiss' agreed at nine o clock, and, with
the discovery that our man might have come and gone, our zest in the
adventure began to flag. McKnight motioned us away from the door and
rang the bell. There was no response, no sound within. He rang it twice,
the last time long and vigorously, without result. Then he turned and
looked at us.

"I don't half like this," he said. "That woman is in; you heard me ask
the elevator boy. For two cents I'd--"

I had seen it when he did. The door was ajar about an inch, and a narrow
wedge of rose-colored light showed beyond. I pushed the door a little
and listened. Then, with both men at my heels, I stepped into the
private corridor of the apartment and looked around. It was a square
reception hall, with rugs on the floor, a tall mahogany rack for hats,
and a couple of chairs. A lantern of rose-colored glass and a desk light
over a writing-table across made the room bright and cheerful. It was
empty.

None of us was comfortable. The place was full of feminine trifles
that made us feel the weakness of our position. Some such instinct made
McKnight suggest division.

"We look like an invading army," he said. "If she's here alone, we will
startle her into a spasm. One of us could take a look around and--"

"What was that? Didn't you hear something?"

The sound, whatever it had been, was not repeated. We went awkwardly out
into the hall, very uncomfortable, all of us, and flipped a coin. The
choice fell to me, which was right enough, for the affair was mine,
primarily.

"Wait just inside the door," I directed, "and if Sullivan comes, or
anybody that answers his description, grab him without ceremony and ask
him questions afterwards."

The apartment, save in the hallway, was unlighted. By one of those
freaks of arrangement possible only in the modern flat, I found the
kitchen first, and was struck a smart and unexpected blow by a swinging
door. I carried a handful of matches, and by the time I had passed
through a butler's pantry and a refrigerator room I was completely lost
in the darkness. Until then the situation had been merely uncomfortable;
suddenly it became grisly. From somewhere near came a long-sustained
groan, followed almost instantly by the crash of something--glass or
chi