Tchigorsky, Ralph Ravenspur, and Geoffrey sat smoking in the blind man's room. It was late the same afternoon and from the window could be heard the thunder of the incoming tide. Tchigorsky appeared to be in excellent spirits, puffed his cigarette with gusto and came out in the new rôle of a raconteur.
"We have them all now," he said. "To-day will settle everything. It was a pretty idea of Ralph's to hang about the corridor under the impression that the woman would try to send some kind of message to her familiars. Real genius, I call it."
"Not a bit of it," Ralph said doggedly. "Pshaw, a child would have done the same. The woman was bound to try to send a letter. She lies there helpless, but knows that somebody is moving in her tracks. And, to add to her suspense, she hasn't an idea who is following her up.
"Don't you see she is in the dark? Don't you understand that she suspects she has been trapped? She wants to know all about her infernal apparatus. She wants her information all at one fell swoop. And when she found that Marion was missing she felt certain that her time was near."
"What is her hold over Marion?" Geoffrey asked.
"And why has Marion gone away?" Tchigorsky said evasively. "We shall come to a full understanding about that presently. Let us begin to unravel the skein from the start. I read that letter which Ralph gave to me, the letter which by this time is in the hands of that woman's familiars. They have instructions to come to the castle at dusk and enter it by way of the vaults. When the family are at dinner the Orientals will make their way up to their mistress."
"But can they?" Geoffrey asked.
"Of course they can. Many a night have they been here. But we have already stopped any danger that way by locking the door of the vault, the one below sea level. Then we shall go down the cliffs presently and take the chaps like rats in a trap. They will be arrested and handed over to the police because the time has come when we can afford to show our hands. The end is very near."
"But the evidence against Mrs. May?" Geoffrey suggested.
Tchigorsky tapped his breast pocket significantly.