“Oh, before! Just as I was rattling the doorhandle. The shot broke in upon it....”
Robin turned to Herr Schulz, who stood with a grave face by his side.
“The silencer, you see, sir!” he said. Then to Mary he added: “Mary, we are going off now. But we will be back within the hour and....”
“Oh, Robin,” the girl broke in, “don’t leave me alone! I don’t feel safe in this place after this morning. I’d much rather come with you....”
“Mary, it’s quite impossible....” Robin began.
But the girl had turned to a table and taken from it her hat and fur.
“I don’t care!” she exclaimed wilfully; “I’m coming anyhow. I refuse to be left behind!”
She smiled at Herr Schulz as she spoke, and that gentleman’s rather grim face relaxed as he looked at her.
“I’m not sure I wouldn’t say the same!” he remarked.
The upshot of it was that, despite Robin’s objections, Mary Trevert accompanied the party. She sat on the back seat, rather flushed and excited, between Herr Schulz and the doctor, while Robin took the wheel again. A few minutes’ drive took them to the big hotel where Robin had booked a room. They all waited in the car whilst he went to the office.