“Is it all right, dear?” her young husband asked eagerly.
She gave a nod.
“Then the chief will cut you loose. Unfortunately, I have other fish to fry.”
“Yes, you had better get busy,” Nick agreed. “It will save time if I attend to Adelina while you’re trying to force your way out.”
“By the way, did you send for any ‘brass buttons’?” Patsy asked his wife suddenly.
This time she shook her head, and a look of distress came into her expressive dark eyes.
Her husband bent suddenly and extracted the gag from her mouth.
“Why not?” he inquired gently, striving to conceal his disappointment.
“I—I thought you would whistle if you wanted me to,” Adelina replied apologetically. “It didn’t seem possible that they could down all three of you without giving you a chance to signal to me, and I was afraid of ‘gumming things up,’ as you call it. Just before they seized me, though, the police were coming—to investigate the explosion, I suppose. But I didn’t have any chance to call out—I was so taken by surprise. They came in the back way and I thought it was you and the chief.”
“Never mind, little woman!” Nick spoke up consolingly. “You couldn’t help it. Get to work, Patsy. We haven’t any time to lose. It isn’t likely, under the circumstances, that the police will search Grantley’s house, and there’s no knowing how soon those scoundrels may come for us again.”