The policeman and the other man were conferring in a murmur which reached her ears.

The policeman stepped back into the garden path and scanned the darkened windows of the house.

She shrank back from the window.
The ring was followed by the sound of knocking at the front door--knocking heavy and prolonged, which reverberated solemnly through the silent house.
Then once more there was silence.
In her ignorance of the methods of the law she wondered wildly whether the next step would be to break in the door and search the house.

Terror shook her again at this thought, scorched her with burning breath.

She would escape--she must.