"But you, my lady, are very far from being a clever woman," retorted Nick, with a gesture of impatience, signifying that he wished to leave with her at once.
"Nevertheless, I shall beat you at the finish, make no mistake about that," cried Cervera, scornfully. "Now, sir, I will put on my wrap, and go with you where you please."
With the last remark, she approached a peg in the open closet, as if to take down a dark shawl.
Instead, she suddenly turned quickly around and cried, with a taunting laugh:
"So long, Detective Carter! I really feel quite sorry to bid you—good-by!"
Nick started like a man electrified.
Cervera merely had pressed the peg on which the shawl hung, whereupon the whole back of the closet seemed to fall away instantly, disclosing a lighted passage beyond.
Nick caught a glimpse of it, and of the woman darting toward it, and he followed her like a shot from a gun.
As Cervera passed through the further opening and gained the lighted passage, she seized and threw a short lever just beyond the closet wall.
At the same moment Nick's weight fell upon the closet floor behind her.