They crept together to the top of the stairs and began their descent, both of them glad the stairs were so thickly carpeted. They stood together on the bottom step.

‘Right!’ said Daisy. ‘Straight for the front door as fast as we can.’

But when they got to the door, it was locked and barred. Daisy slid back the well-oiled bolts. She was still clutching her skeleton keys in her hand.

‘I’ll soon get to work on this,’ she whispered.

‘Here, you two,’ shouted a voice behind them.

They turned slowly and found Philips glaring at them. ‘Helga!’ he shouted.

A female nurse came out of a side room. She was of the same build as Philips, heavy and menacing.

‘Two of our little birds were trying to escape,’ said Philips, ‘and the doctor’s just gone in to London.’

‘Lock them down in the basement till he gets back,’ said Helga.

Philips grabbed Daisy by the wrist and twisted the keys out of her hand. ‘A nasty little spy,’ he said.

‘I’ll have you in court for this,’ said Rose and slapped him full across the face.

He hit her on the cheek so hard that she fell to the ground.

‘Bastard!’ said Daisy, helping Rose up.

‘I’ll have some fun with you later,’ sneered Philips. He took a thick blackjack out of his pocket. ‘Now, move.’

‘Don’t protest,’ said Rose, holding her cheek. ‘He could crack your head open with that, Daisy.’

A heavy door was opened at the back of the hall. A steep flight of steps led down.

‘Get down with you,’ growled Philips, ‘or I’ll shove you down.’

With arms around each other’s waists, they went down the stairs as the door slammed above them.

‘I can’t see a thing,’ complained Daisy.

‘There’s a faint light below.’ Rose released Daisy and went ahead, feeling her way down. The staircase curved towards the bottom.

‘There’s a window, but it’s high up and it’s barred,’ said Rose.

Daisy followed her down and they both stood in the basement and looked around. ‘It isn’t a cellar. It’s a storeroom. Look at all this luggage. It must belong to the other poor creatures in this hellish place.’

‘We’ll never escape from here,’ said Rose.

‘I’ll try.’ To Rose’s amazement, in the dim light from the overhead window, she saw Daisy was beginning to take her dress off.

‘I’ve got files in my stays. The captain gave them to me.’

‘Oh, thank God. He knows of this.’

‘He’s outside and if we’re not out by morning, he’ll come for us.’

‘Why doesn’t he just bring a gun and blast his way in?’ said Rose bitterly.