“And then?” Nolan tersely questioned.
“There were two men and a woman in the taxicab,” Lady Waldmere went on, quite hysterically. “The woman was veiled, as I told you. She held out her hand to me and I supposed that she knew me. I did not dream of anything wrong.”
“Sure not,” Nolan nodded.
“But when she grasped my hand, she seized it firmly and drew me into the taxicab. At the same time I felt the chauffeur push me from behind. I fell on the floor of the cab. One of the men seized me and held me, while the other covered my mouth with his hand.”
“Brutes!”
“I nearly fainted,” Lady Waldmere went on, moaning. “I knew, then, that I was being abducted. I tried to struggle and scream, when the taxicab sped away, but my efforts were futile. Then I felt a sharp pricking sensation in my shoulder——”
“The needle of a syringe,” put in Nolan.
“I don’t know—I don’t know!” moaned the woman. “I know only that I fainted or lost consciousness. That is all I remember till now. I cannot tell who or why I——”
“One moment,” said Nolan. “Were the men smooth shaved, or——”
“No, no! Both wore beards.”