Halkett, smoking in silence, was evidently thinking about his friend Gray, for, when Linette came to remove the cloth and coffee cups, and to say that some gentlemen on motor cycles were at the garden gate inquiring for Mr. Halkett, the young Englishman rose with a quick sigh of relief and walked swiftly to the heavy, green door under the arch in the garden wall.
As he laid his hand on the latch, he turned toward Warner:
"I'll bring Gray in directly," he called back; and opened the door and stepped out into the dusk.
At the same instant Warner rose to his feet, listening; then he ran for the green door. As he reached it, the heavy little door burst open; Halkett sprang inside, slid the big iron bolt into place, turned and warned the American aside with upflung hand.
"Keep Philippa out of range of the door!" he called across the garden, drawing his automatic at the same time and springing backward. "Don't stand in a line with that green door——"
A volley of pistol shots cut him short.
CHAPTER XII
The green door in the garden wall had been perforated by a dozen bullets from outside before the first heavy crash came, almost shaking it from its hinges.
Warner had already whipped out his own automatic; Halkett pushed him aside across a flower bed.
"Keep out of this!" he said. "It's my affair——"