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paid but passing attention to the vehicle, merely noting that it discharged no
passenger, but stood at the kerb with the motor running as though waiting for a
fare from the residence before which it had stopped.
Almost immediately the new houseman, Carl, had come running from the
Greystoke house, saying that the girl's mistress wished to speak with her for a
moment, and that she was to leave little Jack in his care until she returned.
The woman said that she entertained not the slightest suspicion of the man's
motives until she had reached the doorway of the house, when it occurred to her
to warn him not to turn the carriage so as to permit the sun to shine in the
baby's eyes.
As she turned about to call this to him she was somewhat surprised to see that
he was wheeling the carriage rapidly toward the corner, and at the same time she
saw the door of the taxicab open and a swarthy face framed for a moment in the
aperture.
Intuitively, the danger to the child flashed upon her, and with a shriek she
dashed down the steps and up the walk toward the taxicab, into which Carl was
now handing the baby to the swarthy one within.
Just before she reached the vehicle, Carl leaped in beside his confederate,
slamming the door behind him. At the same time the chauffeur attempted to
start his machine, but it was evident that something had gone wrong, as though
the gears refused to mesh, and the delay caused by this, while he pushed the
lever into reverse and backed the car a few inches before again attempting to go
ahead, gave the nurse time to reach the side of the taxicab.
Leaping to the running-board, she had attempted to snatch the baby from the
arms of the stranger, and here, screaming and fighting, she had clung to her
position even after the taxicab had got under way; nor was it until the machine
had passed the Greystoke residence at good speed that Carl, with a heavy blow to
her face, had succeeded in knocking her to the pavement.
Her screams had attracted servants and members of the families from residences
near by, as well as from the Greystoke home. Lady Greystoke had witnessed the
girl's brave battle, and had herself tried to reach the rapidly passing vehicle, but
had been too late.
That was all that anyone knew, nor did Lady Greystoke dream of the possible
identity of the man at the bottom of the plot until her husband told her of the
escape of Nikolas Rokoff from the French prison where they had hoped he was
permanently confined.
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