Terror Keep · Chapter
XIV explained
Margaret Belman escapes from Larmes Keep in a cab with Sergeant Gray, but is tricked into a trap car by an unknown captor.
What happens
Margaret Belman escapes from Larmes Keep in a cab with Sergeant Gray, but is tricked into a trap car by an unknown captor. She leaps from the moving vehicle, flees across common land, and falls down a cliff to a plateau. After a night of peril, she explores the beach, swims to another bay, and discovers a cave beneath Larmes Keep. Inside, she is seized from behind and rendered unconscious.
Themes in this chapter
Terror and Fear
Margaret's terror is palpable as she flees her captor, falls into darkness, and is seized in the cave.
Isolation and Entrapment
Margaret is trapped on a remote plateau, then in a sealed car, and finally captured in a cave.
Deception and Betrayal
The car meant to take her to safety is a trap; the driver betrays Reeder's plan.
Characters to notice
- Margaret Belman
Flees Larmes Keep, escapes a trap car, falls down a cliff, and is captured in the cave.
- Detective Gray
Escorts Margaret from Larmes Keep to a waiting car, unaware of the trap.
- J. G. Reeder
Arranged Margaret's escape; mentioned as having a look of grave concern.
- Chief Inspector Simpson
Mentioned as waiting at Scotland Yard to receive Margaret.
- Detective Brill
Mentioned as another officer inside the grounds of Larmes Keep.
Key passages
“Her head in a whirl, Margaret Belman had stepped into the cab that was waiting at the door of Larmes Keep.”
Margaret, dazed and confused, got into the waiting cab outside Larmes Keep.
Opening of the chapter; Margaret begins her escape.
“You're coming with me—to see life. Reeder's going to weep tears of blood.”
The driver threatens Margaret, saying Reeder will suffer greatly.
The trap is revealed; the driver is a villain.
“Scrambling over the back of the hood, she gripped tight at the edge, and let herself drop into the roadway.”
Margaret climbed over the back of the car and jumped onto the road.
Margaret's desperate escape from the moving car.
“She was falling down a steep slope, and her wild hands clutched tree and sand and grass, and then just as she had given up all hope, she found herself rolling over and over on a level plateau.”
Margaret tumbled down a steep incline and finally came to rest on a flat ledge.
Her fall ends on a cliffside plateau.
“Then, from somewhere behind, a bare arm was flung round her shoulder, a big hand closed over her mouth.”
An arm wrapped around Margaret from behind and a hand covered her mouth.
Margaret is captured in the cave.