e library door. Anybody
coming from the interior of the house must pass me. I'll grab the woman.
I'll see she makes no outcry. I'll keep her out of the way for she must
be human to that extent. When you hear the two raps open the door and
take the bomb. According to Alsop's description you won't be suspected
in this light. A little over five minutes! I'll get Alsop and his crew
out of the library and where their precious skins will be safe."

He touched her hand in farewell. Her fingers were very cold. She
shivered and slipped behind the screen. He went to the library, knocked,
entered, and closed the door. The faces that greeted him were restless
with misgiving.

"I want you all out of this room now, please," Garth said. "I've delayed
moving you as long as I dared, so, if anything goes wrong, those outside
won't know you have left. Take them to the back part of the house, Mr.
Alsop. Into the cellar, if you like. It's safest. In fifteen or twenty
minutes I hope you will be able to resume your conference in perfect
security."

Without words the men gathered up their papers and filed out.

Garth, left alone in the room, turned out the light, went to the window,
slipped behind the curtain, opened the casement, and peered through.

The darkness was still unrelieved. Through that darkness, he knew, men
crept on an errand of fanaticism and death. Through that silence he was
momentarily expectant of the audible evidence of their approach. But he
could hear nothing, see nothing. He couldn't wait. It was necessary for
him to go to the door from behind which he was to ambush the veiled
woman in order that Nora might take her place.

As he thrust the curtain aside a thin, tinkling sound stole from the
silence of the room. He felt his way to the telephone and lifted the
receiver.

"Hello!" he whispered. "Hello!"

The inspector's hoarse voice came to him, lowered to a note of caution.

"You, Garth? I'm in the gardener's cottage. Tell me Alsop and his people
are safe."

"Yes," Garth said. "Hurry! Hurry! What's up?"

"For Heaven's sake, be careful," the inspector answered, "because,
Garth, all your dope was right. There are four of them in the grounds
now, and one carries a thing that looks like a bomb. Are you going to
get away with it? The veiled woman--"

"She's in the house," Garth murmured. "I'm waiting. I must go. Hush! I
hear--"

He broke off. Through the appalling quietness of the house he had heard
distinctly