Frank hesitated.
"I hardly like to accuse a man," he said, "but Poltavo——"
"Poltavo?" repeated T. B. quickly.
"Yes," said Frank; "he has some views on the question of Miss Gray."
He spoke reluctantly, for he was loath to introduce Doris' name into the argument.
"Poltavo would have a good reason," mused T. B. Smith. "Tell me what happened in the car."
Briefly Frank related the circumstances which had led up to his capture.
"When I found myself in their hands," he said, "I decided to play 'possum for a while. The car was moving at incredible speed, remembering your stringent traffic regulations,"—he smiled,—"and I knew that any attempt to escape on my part would result in serious injury to myself. They made no bones about their intentions. Before we were clear of London they had pulled the blinds, and one of them had switched on the electric lamp. They were both masked, and were, I think, foreigners. One sat opposite to me, all through the night, a revolver on his knees, and he did not make any disguise of his intention of employing his weapon if I gave the slightest trouble.
"I could not tell, because of the lowered blinds, which direction we were taking, but presently we struck the country and they let down one of the windows without raising the blind and I could smell the sweet scent of the fields, and knew we were miles away from London.