"Talk to him," whispered Caroline Smith. "He's come to stop me, and you're the only person who can make him let me pass on!"
The guard hurriedly came up to them. "Sorry," he said. "Got an idea you're going downstairs, Miss Smith."
"Yes," she said faintly.
The fellow grinned. "Not yet. You'll stay up here till the chief gives the word. And I got to ask you to step back into your room, and step quick." His voice grew harsh, and he came closer. "He told me straight, you're not to come out."
Caroline had shrunk back, and she was on the verge of turning when the arm of Ruth was passed strongly around her shoulders and stayed her.
"She's going with me," she told John Mark's bulldog. "Does that make a difference to you?"
He ducked his head and grinned feebly in his anxiety. "Sure it makes a difference. You go where you want, any time you want, but this—"
"I say she's going with me, and I'm responsible for her."
She urged Caroline forward, and the latter made a step, only to find that she was directly confronted by the guard.
"I got my orders," he said desperately to Ruth.