She moved silently away along the wall, and the terrible hunt began. The girl was helped by her knowledge of the room, but Morini crept after her with an uncanny accuracy in spite of the impenetrable blackness. Her chest was heaving so that it seemed as if every breath she took must betray her whereabouts as surely as a siren. The door was a little ajar, and the lights in the hall were on. There was no escape that way, for he would see her as she was silhouetted against the glare, and she had already had enough evidence of the grimness of his purpose. Once she saw him step cat-wise across the pencil of light that the hall bulbs smudged across the room, and with difficulty choked back the cry that would have been fatal. Once he fired again, at random, and she only just had time to drop behind a couch out of the way of the more accurate shot that followed instantly on the echo of the first when the brief flash had given him his bearings. From outside came a swelling drone that grew in volume with startling speed and then died into a breathless purr coincident with the muffled squeal of rubber tearing on asphalt. Hardly two seconds later the bell at the back of the house rang stridently, and someone pounded on the front door. Through the half-open window came Storm's voice: "Stand clear of the lift gates, please! This is where I damage architecture!" She saw Morini slip through the door and out into the corridor, and then with a dreadful premonition she rushed to the window and flung up the lower sash. Storm and Inspector Teal were on the step, and Storm already had his automatic crammed against the Yale lock and his finger was on the trigger. "Storm! Stop!" she cried, and he looked round. "Morini's in the hall and the back door's broken in--he'll get you as you come in and escape easily!" He only hesitated for a second. Then-- "That be bullraced for a yarn!" he sang out recklessly. "All aboard for hell!" She heard the explosion as she dashed across the room and opened the door wide. The two men crashed into the hall, but she did not look at them. She was straining her eyes into the shadows at the end of the passage which led to the servants' quarters, and, used as she was to the darkness, she saw Morini a space of time before they did ... saw his gun leap up ... and hurled the priceless vase she carried.... Three automatics detonated almost as one. Morini was hit by the vase as he pressed the trigger, and his shot went high, splintering the transom above the front door. As Storm fired back he raced towards the servants' entrance. Mr. Teal laid an unexpectedly gentle arm about the girl's shoulders and led her into the library. "There's another light," she said, trying to keep her voice level. "I smashed the big switch. A reading lamp, on the table--it's lucky Morini didn't find it."