Grasping the bell-knob, I executed a vigorous peal upon the bell. There was a light in the hallway but my ringing elicited no response, until:
"My God, look!" cried Gatton.
He pulled me backward out of the porch, looking upward to the window of a room on the first floor.
A silhouette appeared there—undoubtedly that of Isobel. She seemed to be endeavoring to pull the curtain aside ... when the shadow of a long arm reached out to her, and she was plucked irresistibly back. The sound of a muffled scream reached my ears, and:
"Great heavens! It has got in!" whispered Gatton.
He raised his hand and the shrill note of a police whistle split the silence.
The closed door was obviously too strong to be forced without the aid of implements for the purpose, and we began to run around the house, looking for some means of entrance. Suddenly:
"There's the way!" said Gatton, and pointed up to where the branches of an old elm tree stretched out before a window. The glass of the window was entirely shattered except for some few points which glittered like daggers around the edges of the frame.
"Can you do it?"
"In the circumstances—yes!" I said.