Then he became aware of a tense whispering not ten feet away.
He became rigid.
"Don't make a sound!" It was Alec's voice. "Jill--do you hear me?"
"Yes--" breathed very low, very frightened. They were in the bathroom.
Then his ears caught a louder sound from somewhere along the corridor
outside. It was a mumbling of men's voices and a repeated muffled
rapping. Amory threw off the blankets and moved close to the bathroom
door.
"My God!" came the girl's voice again. "You'll have to let them in."
"Sh!"
Suddenly a steady, insistent knocking began at Amory's hall door and
simultaneously out of the bathroom came Alec, followed by the vermilion-
lipped girl. They were both clad in pajamas.
"Amory!" an anxious whisper.
"What's the trouble?"
"It's house detectives. My God, Amory--they're just looking for a
test-case--"
"Well, better let them in."
"You don't understand. They can get me under the Mann Act."
The girl followed him slowly, a rather miserable, pathetic figure in the
darkness.
Amory tried to plan quickly.
"You make a racket and let them in your room," he suggested anxiously,
"and I'll get her out by this door.
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