"I suppose they crept stealthily after you," said Tony. "People always do that in books when they are shadowing anybody."
"I suppose they did," said Isabel. "I was much too frightened to look round. I just walked along with the lady till we got to the door of the flats, and then I thanked her very much and ran upstairs as fast as I could. Miss Watson's number was right at the top of the building. There was no bell, so I hammered on the knocker, and then I stood there panting and trying to get my breath, and thinking every moment I should hear them coming up the stairs after me.
"Well, I stood there and stood there, and nothing happened, and then suddenly it came to me as if—oh, just as if somebody had dropped a lump of ice down inside my dress. Suppose Miss Watson had left! You see I had been so excited about getting away from Richmond I had never thought of that. For a second it made me feel quite ill; then I grabbed hold of the knocker, and I was just beginning to hammer again, when the door of the opposite flat opened and an old gentleman came out on to the landing. He was a fat, cross-looking old man, with spectacles and carpet slippers, and a newspaper in his hand. He said to me: 'It's no good making that horrible noise. Miss Watson has gone away for a month, and there's no one in the place.' Then he banged the door and went back into the flat."
"Dyspeptic old brute," observed Tony. "I hope you went on hammering."
"What was the good?" said Isabel with a little despairing gesture. "I knew he was speaking the truth because I had already made enough noise to wake up twenty people. Besides I seemed to have gone all sort of numbed and stupid. I had so counted on finding Miss Watson I had never even begun to think what would happen if she wasn't there."
"It must have been a shattering blow," said Tony. "I think I should have burst into tears."
"I couldn't cry; I was too dazed and miserable. I just leaned where I was against the wall and wondered what on earth I was to do next. The only thing I could think of was to go to a hotel. I had no money, except what was left out of the half-crown, but I had got my rings and I knew I could sell them the next day. It was the two men outside that I was so frightened of. I felt certain they were policemen, and that if I went anywhere they would be sure to follow me and then telegraph to Uncle Philip where I was.
"I don't know how long I stayed on the landing. It seemed an age, but I expect it was only about half an hour really. I thought that perhaps if I stopped there long enough they might get tired of waiting and go away.
"At last I began to feel so cold and hungry and tired I simply couldn't stand it any longer. I came downstairs again as far as the hall, and then I walked across to the door and looked out into the street. I couldn't see a sign of anybody waiting about, so I just sort of set my teeth and stepped out on to the pavement. I stood there for a second wondering which way to go, and then almost before I knew what was happening there I was with my back against the wall, and those two horrible men in front of me."
She paused with a little reminiscent gasp.