In an instant I planted myself between them and the door--the only door that remained unlocked. "Excuse me, ladies," I said; "I cannot permit you to leave me in this unceremonious fashion." "Why, we've done nothing," one of them gasped. "We are free." "Not at all," I blithely observed, "you are all three my prisoners. I charge all of you with falsely representing yourselves to be nurses engaged at the Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum, and, whilst doing so, endeavouring to rescue a prisoner lawfully in my custody on the charge of a series of frauds in the Mexican Republic,--a girl whom I am taking to the Extradition Court at Bow Street to await the arrival of the necessary papers; and I warn you all to be careful what you say to me. Any remark you happen to make now I shall use in evidence against you, and if the lot of you don't get put away for a long term of penal servitude it will be mighty odd to me. You are certainly the wickedest gang of females I have ever struck." "And I'll strike you, you wretch," screamed the woman Hand, and before I could turn the woman in black caught me a blow on the side of the head that sent me crashing to my seat. That was the only chance they had, but they took it almost in a flash. Just then the train was drawing into Vauxhall, and like lightning they tore open the door of the carriage and sprang on to the platform, to disappear instantly in a bewildering network of waiting-rooms. For my own part, I was rather relieved than otherwise at their flight, and I turned to congratulate Camille Velasquon on the skill with which we had managed to outwit them. But she, too, had disappeared! CHAPTER TWELVE. WHAT THE PAPERS SAID. With a startled exclamation I began to search up and down. At first, I own, I did not know what to do. True, the mystery of how that carriage door had been unlocked was quickly elucidated, for directly I looked out I saw that the engine had drawn us along a single set of metals to a point in the station where platforms stood quite close to the solitary track. There were plenty of porters on either side of the compartment, and it was no doubt the easiest thing in the world for the girl to beckon one to her assistance and to slip off as I was seeking to discover what became of that sham warderess from Broadmoor and her confederates. But why should she go at all? At that point she was perfectly safe. I had beaten off the attempt to abduct her. So far as either of us could foresee she would be able to go to her refuge at the headquarters of the Order of St Bruno with perfect safety and ease. And yet, just as I had secured this, she had vanished! What excuse could I make to Jose Casteno? And could it have been a sudden freak or, after all, had somebody got the better of me when my back was turned, and, in spite of the woman Hand, had kidnapped the girl in the flash of a moment?