“Where is she? Where is she? Let me see her, I say! Let me see her!”
“Why, the poor fellow thinks you’ve got his niece here!” cried Clifford, who seemed to understand in a moment the mystery of the nocturnal knockings and disturbances of which the Colonel and his daughter had complained.
Colonel Bostal made no answer, but he threw one rapid glance behind him. Clifford followed his example instinctively, and an involuntary exclamation escaped his lips.
For Miss Theodora had disappeared.
CHAPTER XXII.
Sir Neville Bax had no idea of letting his admiration of Nell Claris’s pretty face save her from the terrors of a most rigorous examination.
When she had made the admission upon which the whole matter hinged, and had broken down into tears as a consequence, he gave her very little time to recover her composure, before he went on in a loud, pompous voice:
“Well, and so you admit there was a person in the house, at the time Mr. King was robbed, of whose presence there nobody but yourself knew anything. Now, what was the name of that person?”
Nell looked at him reproachfully. He knew who it was, and he might have spared her the pain of having to state it herself. But as he waited, she said in a whisper which was a strong contrast to the magistrate’s tones:
“Miss Theodora.”