Mr. Teal, however, missed the last part of that observation, for as he spoke Storm fired. There was a scream of pain, and a police whistle sounded shrilly. The next instant Inspector Teal was deafened by the roar of an open exhaust. Storm was already at the wheel of his long silver Hirondel, and Mr. Teal climbed in beside him briskly, A crowd had already gathered in the yard, and Storm made his Klaxon howl urgently. A uniformed man signalled them to stop, but stepped aside when he recognized the detective. "Arrest that man!" shouted Teal, as they went past. The Hirondel skidded hectically into Piccadilly, swinging straight across the nose of an omnibus. There was a screech of grinding brakes, a chorus of angry yells, and the silver car lurched across the road and headed west, gathering speed with powerful ease. They sailed down the slight gradient towards Hyde Park Corner, cutting in and out of the stream of traffic with a daring that made Inspector Teal grip the side of the car hard and temporarily suspend mastication of his chewing gum. "Something funny happening at Hannassay's," Storm explained, raising his voice to make himself heard. "Secretary rang me up--two men trying to get in the back door, and Hannassay in his bedroom, locked in, and can't be woken. I heard a shot, and then the line went dead. Respectability--huh!" CHAPTER IV TALKING OF TRIANGLES Susan Hawthorne saw the door of the library opening slowly, and her heart stood still. The man outside was Morini--she saw his baby blue eyes above the white silk muffler that was bound about the lower part of his face. She saw something else that was blue, also, but by no means baby like, something that came up like the head of a striking snake.... The electric light switch was close to her hand, and she clicked it down and ducked swiftly. Even as she did so the sudden darkness was split by a streak of orange fire, and a deafening explosion battered on her ear-drums and left them buzzing painfully. The next instant she had smashed the heavy telephone twice against the delicate lever of the switch and efficiently mangled the mechanism.