Phineas Duge did not hesitate.  There was a light in his eyes which transformed his face.  He knew as though by inspiration something of what had happened.  He took the back stairs, and descending at a pace quite extraordinary for a sick man, he was inside the library in less than a minute.  It was easy to see that Smedley’s alarm had not been altogether ill-founded.  A chair was overturned; Virginia was lying face downwards upon the floor in front of the desk.  Phineas Duge dropped his cigarette, and fell on his knees by her side.  Then he saw that her hands and feet were tied with an antimacassar torn into strips, and a rude sort of gag was in her mouth.  She opened her eyes at his touch, and moaned slightly.  In a moment or two he had released her from her bonds, and removed the handkerchief which had been tied into her mouth.

“Fetch some brandy,” he told the young man, “and keep your mouth shut about this.  You understand?”

“Sure, sir!”

The young man hurried away.  Duge was still stooping down, with his arm around Virginia’s waist.  Gradually she began to recover herself.  She looked all round the room, as though in search of some one.  Her uncle asked her no questions.  He saw that she was rapidly regaining consciousness, and he waited.  Smedley returned with the brandy.  Together they forced a little between her lips, and watched the colour coming back into her cheeks.  Then Phineas Duge withdrew his arm and walked to the other side of the desk.  On the floor were the broken fragments of Virginia’s locket.  The carpet had been torn up.  The steel coffer, with the keys still in it, was there half open.  He slid back the lid, and taking out a few of the topmost papers, ran them through his fingers.  There was no doubt about it.  The document was missing.  He returned to the chair to which he had carried Virginia.

“Are you well enough now,” he asked, “to tell me about this?”

She raised herself in her chair, and looked with fascinated eyes toward that spot in the carpet.

“Has anything gone?” she asked.

“Yes!” her uncle answered shortly.  “I want to know how it was that any one got into this room, and who it was.  Quickly, please!”

“I was in the drawing-room talking to Mr. Littleson,” Virginia said, “when I heard the small alarm bell that I had had fitted on to the library door ring.  I came in and found Stella here.  She locked me in.  She is very strong.  I had no idea that she was so strong,” Virginia murmured, half closing her eyes and fainting away.

He hurried to her side, and forced some more brandy between her lips.  Then he laid her flat on the floor, and began to walk up and down.

“So this is Stella’s work,” he muttered to himself.  “That accounts for the message I had yesterday, that she was seen driving with Littleson.  What she did for that blackguard Vine, she has done for them!”