The door was locked; the key was in the lock upon the other side. He stooped to see; it was in a position which prevented anything being visible. He rattled the handle; rapped with his knuckles at the panel, without result. All was silent.
'It is her room. I wonder what they're up to? They're very still. They can't--'
He stopped, probably because the stillness of which he spoke was broken by a woman's cry--a mingling of surprise, anguish, fear. He retraced his steps towards the kitchen, whispering to himself two words,--
'They have!'
Taking the key from one side of the lock, replacing it in the other, he locked the door of the servants' room behind him. The key itself he pocketed.
'Except through the drawing-room, there's only this way out, so we've trapped you anyhow.'
As if to make assurance doubly sure, he locked the door of the kitchen also. Again he pocketed the key.
CHAPTER XVI
[THE FINDING OF THE RUBY AND THE LOCKING OF THE DOOR]
When Mr Burton returned to the drawing-room, he found that Mr Thomas Cox had been having a few words with the Flyman. That worthy jerked his thumb in the other's direction.