"Oh! you do," sneered Cervera. "Plainly that is the limit of your knowledge. You may not be as wise as you think."
Nick made no reply, but looked sharply about the room.
It was a large, square chamber, and elaborately furnished. The two windows were well above the street, and offered no chance for escape. There were but two doors, that leading into the hall and the one leading into a large closet in the opposite wall.
Nick opened the latter, and found the closet hung with Cervera's extensive wardrobe. He thrust his arm along the garments hanging at either side, and sounded the three walls, and then the closet floor, all of which appeared perfectly firm and solid.
Even these precautions seemed quite needless to Nick, however, it being a rented house, and Cervera presumably uninformed of his coming.
"Now, señora, you may have just ten minutes to make ready," said he, as he rejoined her. "I shall leave this chamber door open, and will wait for you in the adjoining hall. Can you whistle?"
"Whistle?"
"Yes, whistle! You know what it is to whistle, don't you?"
The sneer on Cervera's red lips, as she arose from her chair, became almost a smile.
"Yes, I can whistle after a fashion," she admitted.