shoved the thing under Elaine's face, turning his own head away
and holding a handkerchief over his own nose. The mere heat of his
hand was enough to cause the ethyl chloride to spray out and
overcome her instantly. He stepped away from her a moment and
replaced the now empty vial in his pocket.

"Then he took a box from his pocket, opened it. There must have
been a syringe and a bottle of scopolamine. Where they came from I
do not know, but perhaps from some hospital. I shall have to find
that out later. He went to Elaine, quickly jabbing the needle,
with no resistance from her now. Slowly he replaced the bottle and
the needle in his pocket. He could not have been in any hurry now,
for it takes time for the drug to work."

Kennedy paused. Had we known at the time, Michael--he of the
sinister face--must have been in the hallway, careful that no one
saw him. A tap at the door and the Clutching Hand, that night,
must have beckoned him. A moment's parley and they separated--
Clutching Hand going back to Elaine, who was now under the
influence of the second drug.

"Our criminal," resumed Kennedy thoughtfully, "may have shaken
Elaine. She did not answer. Then he may have partly revived her.
She must have been startled. Clutching Hand, perhaps, was half
crouching, with a big ugly blue steel revolver leveled full in her
face.

"'One word and I shoot!' he probably cried. "Get up!'

"Trembling, she must have done so. 'Your slippers and a kimono,'