CHAPTER XVII
NELL IN THE TOILS.
The instant after Professor Ruggles fired, the masked face in the
doorway disappeared, and the sound of swift-moving feet was heard.
Still clutching his weapon, the Professor strode to the door and flung
it open, gazing into the alley, which framed no reply to the question
that trembled unspoken on his lips.
"Did you hit him, Professor?"
"I fear I didn't."
Professor Ruggles then made an examination of the alley that assured
him that his bullet had not been stopped by flesh and bone--instead,
it lay on the ground where it had fallen, flattened, from the brick
wall above.
"So much for being a poor shot," sneered the woman.
"So much for your condemned carelessness in not locking the door," he
retorted with equal severity.
"Well, maybe you'd better see that it is fastened now."
Professor Darlington Ruggles turned the key in the lock, and then
assumed a seat once more.
"Let me see. Where did we leave off?"
"In a mighty important place," answered the woman. "If that sneak had
been at the door long, he must have heard something of our plans."
"And it makes you feel uneasy?"
"Don't it you?"
"A trifle. I can't imagine who the sneak was.
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