Marion said nothing. But she came directly to Vera's side. And Geoffrey glancing at Marion's rigid white face wondered what it all meant.
CHAPTER XLVII TCHIGORSKY FURTHER EXPLAINS
"I don't quite follow it yet," said Geoffrey.
"And yet it is simple," Tchigorsky replied. "Here is a form of electric battery in the vault connected by tiny wires to every sleeping chamber occupied by a Ravenspur. In each of these bed-rooms a powder is deposited somewhere and the wire leads to it. At a certain time, when you are all asleep, the current is switched on, the powder destroyed without leaving the slightest trace, and in the morning you are all as dead as if you had been placed in a lethal chamber—as a matter of fact, they would have been lethal chambers.
"Almost directly, by means of the chimneys, etc., the rooms would begin to draw a fresh supply of air, and by the time you were discovered everything would be normal again. Then the battery would be removed and the wires withdrawn without even the trouble of entering the rooms to fetch them. Then exit the whole family of Ravenspur, leaving behind a greater mystery than ever. Now do you understand what it all means?"
Geoffrey nodded and shuddered.
"What do you propose to do?" he asked. "Leave the battery where it is, and——"
"Unless I am mistaken, the battery is removed already," said the Russian.