"Wait a minute," rasped the Inspector, who was evidently not in the best of tempers. "Let me blow in the lock, then we shall have a better chance." Levelling his pistol, he emptied a couple of shots into the keyhole, the powerful bullets smashing and splintering the woodwork in every direction. As the second report died away they heard a scurry of footsteps outside, followed almost immediately by the unmistakable bang of another door. Pocketing his pistol, the Inspector gripped hold of the knob with both hands, and, as he jerked it violently toward him, the shattered bolt snapped and yielded. One more pull, and they stumbled over the threshold into a dimly lighted hall, where, framed in a doorway opposite, stood, or rather swayed, the slender figure of a girl. A low cry escaped Colin's lips, and, breaking from his companions, he sprang forward and caught her in his arms. "Nancy! Nancy darling! Thank God, we've found you!" As he uttered the words the sound of two pistol shots rang out from the back of the house, and with a stifled oath the Inspector hurried toward them. "Which is the way through into the yard?" he demanded. Nancy pointed across toward a door on the right. "There!" she gasped. "But it's locked. I heard them lock it and bolt it. You can only get round by the garden." "Come with me, Bates," snapped the Inspector. "You stop here, doctor, and take care of the girl." He ran toward the sitting room, followed by Joe, while Nancy, who had momentarily straightened herself as she answered his question, sank weakly back again against Colin's shoulder. Lifting her in his arms, he carried her to a small couch which was standing against the wall. "Tell me, Nancy," he whispered, "tell me. Are you hurt?" With a gallant effort she smiled up reassuringly into his face. "No," she said. "I am only tired out and a little faint. I--I've been through a good deal since this morning, Colin." He sat down beside her, taking her hands in his. "They brought you a forged letter from Penwarren, didn't they? The girl who lives next door to you told us something about it." She nodded. "I suppose it was foolish of me to be taken in, but it looked to me just like his handwriting. It said that he had suddenly discovered the truth about my father and mother, and that he had come up to town especially to see me. I went off in the car almost without thinking." "Where did they take you to?" "Some house close to Kensington High Street. There was another man there besides Major Fenton--a horrible middle-aged, smiling man--and when they got me inside they held me down and drugged me with a hypodermic syringe. I think it must have been opium they gave me. Anyhow, the next thing I remember is waking up with a frightful headache, and finding myself locked up alone in that room." With great difficulty Colin managed to steady his voice. "How long ago was that?" he asked.