"There, that is about right."
Then Nell Darrel backed to the door, snatched up the bunch of keys and
lamp, passed into the next room, securing the door just as the hag
from within came against it with tremendous force, at the same time
uttering a series of the most ear-splitting yells.
The door failed to yield, and Nell now hastened to improve her
opportunity for escape that the carelessness of Mrs. Scarlet had given
her.
CHAPTER XXI.
A BOUT IN THE CELLAR.
It was a stout tin lamp that the fleeing girl held in her hand, and
the blaze filled the subterranean apartment but dimly.
She found herself in a square room, larger than the one she had just
left. Advancing to a door she tried it, to find it locked. This was
made to yield, however, by one of the bunch of keys, and she proceeded
to another door that stood ajar.
"Help!"
It was a smothered cry that reached the girl's ears, and quite
startled her.
The sound came from the next apartment. For a minute Nell Darrel
hesitated. She reasoned that she had nothing to fear from the hag who
kept the place, and one who was in need of help certainly could not be
a friend to Mrs. Scarlet, or those who profited by the old woman's
villainy.
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