and Carl
Sartoris would have been pretty sure to have asked the question. He was
pleased to regard his sister more or less in the light of a fool, but he
did not trust her any the more for that.

Mary lay back in the cab and resigned herself to the inevitable. It was
good to feel that she was leaving the others behind now, and her spirits
rose accordingly. If she could only get to Wandsworth before the
precious pair, she would be all right, provided always that Beatrice had
not been in front of her. But as most of the trains were usually late
there was more than a chance of success in this direction. The girl was
nearing her destination now. She lifted the shutter on the top of the
cab and asked if the other cab was at any distance. There was a queer
sort of a grin on the cabman's face, as he answered.

"About five hundred yards, miss," he said. "Something seems to have gone
wrong with them. So far as I can see the cab has lost a tire."

The other cab had stopped, and something like an altercation was going
on between the fare and the driver.

Mary had not far to go now, and she decided that it would be safer to
walk the rest of the distance. There was a little crowd gathering behind
her and a policeman's helmet in the centre of it. Truly fortune was
playing on her side now.

It was not very far to the house; there it stood dark and silent, with
no light showing in the garden in front. Mary felt pretty sure that she
was in time. Then the front door of the house opened, there was a sight
of the hall in a blaze of light, and in the foreground the figure of a
woman standing on the doorstep.

Mary gave a groan and staggered back with her hand to her head.

"What a piece of cruel misfortune," she exclaimed passionately. "Another
minute and I should have been in time. Why did I not drive up to the
house? My over-caution has spoilt it all. I am sure that was Beatrice
Richford."

The door of the house closed and the figure of the woman disappeared
inside. Mary had had all her trouble for nothing. Not only was Beatrice
more or less of a prisoner there, but those thieves were pressing on
behind. What was the best thing to be done now, with Beatrice exposed to
the double danger? Mary racked her weary brains in vain. And in a few
minutes at the outside the others would be here. It seemed impossible to
do anything to save Beatrice from this two-edged peril. Mary started as
she caught sight of a figure coming up the front ga