"Mr. Chase—oh, yes!" cried Paula. "Tell him I want to see him—tell him to come here at once! I can't be entirely alone. I must see Mr. Chase. Tell him to come at once!"
Before the landlady could obey, however, there was a loud peal of the front door bell. Paula turned pale.
"It must be those men!" she exclaimed. "Look out! Can you see them there now?"
Mrs. Parkes hurried to the window and looked out.
"No," she said, "they're gone."
In the hall outside was the sound of footsteps and voices.
"They've come for me!" cried Paula, in an agony of fear. "They've come for me! He said he would, and he has." Wringing her hands, she cried: "Why did Mr. Ricaby go away! I'll go to my room—they dare not come there—they dare not."
Rushing into her room, she shut the door and locked it. Mrs. Parkes went to the door and only partly opened it.
"Miss Marsh cannot see anyone," she said, trying to shut the door in the intruders' faces.
Outside was heard Bascom Cooley's loud, coarse voice: