"Don't tell Lizzie," she said. "She'd yell like a siren. It's the
only thing she does like a siren, but she does it superbly!"
For a moment it seemed as if Miss Cornelia had succeeded. The Doctor
smiled; Dale sat down again, her expression altering from one of
anxiety to one of amusement. Miss Cornelia opened her lips to dilate
further upon Lizzie's eccentricities.
But just then there was a splintering crash of glass from one of the
French windows behind her!
CHAPTER SIX
DETECTIVE ANDERSON TAKES CHARGE
"What's that?"
"Somebody smashed a windowpane!"
"And threw in a stone!"
"Wait a minute, I'll--" The Doctor, all alert at once, ran into
the alcove and jerked at the terrace door.
"It's bolted at the top, too," called Miss Cornelia. He nodded,
without wasting words on a reply, unbolted the door and dashed out
into the darkness of the terrace. Miss Cornelia saw him run past
the French windows and disappear into blackness. Meanwhile Dale,
her listlessness vanished before the shock of the strange occurrence,
had gone to the broken window and picked up the stone. It was
wrapped in paper; there seemed to be writing on the paper. She
closed the terrace door and brought the stone to her aunt.
Miss Cornelia unwrapped the paper and smoothed out the sheet.
Two lines of coarse, round handwriting sprawled across it:
Take warning! Leave this house at once! It is threatened with
disaster which will involve you if you remain!
There was no signature.
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