Convinced at last there was no one moving along the corridor, she started feeling her own way along. The end of the corridor was marked by a very dim light that failed to penetrate more than a dozen feet in any direction. It was toward this glow that Janet started.
It was a ghostly and unnerving business, but she couldn’t spend the whole night in Jim’s office. It just wasn’t possible. She had to get out.
Fighting to keep down a mounting fear, Janet quickened her steps. Then she stopped abruptly. Just why she did that, she would never know, but her instinct warned her that someone was near.
She turned toward an office door she had just passed. It was open and a flood of light poured out to blind Janet’s tired eyes. The beam from the electric torch was so bright it fairly seared its way into her fatigued mind.
Then the stabbing light vanished and Janet heard a swift movement. A hard hand was clapped over her mouth and she felt an arm slide around her neck.
Before she could scream or move, a soft cloth, which reminded her of a hospital, was slapped against her face and the fumes of ether penetrated her nose and throat. Janet attempted to struggle but two capable arms held her fast.
She felt herself losing consciousness. She felt delightfully tired and dreamy. Once she rallied her senses, but the next time she slipped away into unconsciousness and her captor, satisfied that she would cause no trouble for some time, let her fall into a heap on the floor.
While Janet remained unconscious, a lithe figure darted into Jim Hill’s office and the flash sought the drawer into which she had dropped the manuscript.
A small steel instrument, expertly inserted, forced the drawer open and the beam of light fell upon the inscription Janet had placed on the envelope. The intruder’s breath was drawn in sharply and it was evident that this was the property sought.
Removing the envelope and placing it in his pocket, the unknown closed the drawer and slipped out into the corridor. Bending down over Janet, the figure vanished. Someone watching closely could have seen it dodge into the main reception room, but there was no one there to watch—only Janet unconscious on the floor.