Nancy leads the officers through the secret passage

Nancy leads the officers through the secret passage in a carefully planned alternative to a dangerous direct entry into Nathan Gombet's house. With an armed servant guarding the way, she turns knowledge of the concealed route between The Mansion and Gombet's house into the means for a quiet approach, taking the sheriff and a deputy through the underground tunnel and into the house.

The danger and the plan

The operation begins with the officers weighing the risk of confronting the servant at the house. One deputy objects to shooting her: there is no reason to kill her, and a stray bullet might hit her. The sheriff asks how they can get inside, and Nancy quickly offers a route she knows: a secret passage from the Turnbull Mansion to an upstairs room in Gombet's house. Her proposal is specific and tactical. Two men should accompany her while the others remain outside to keep watch, allowing the group to surprise the servant rather than attack her through the guarded entrance.

The sheriff accepts the plan and joins Nancy with one deputy, leaving the remaining officers behind. Nancy adds a diversion: those waiting outside should make a little noise from time to time to hold the servant's attention. The arrangement divides the work between a small entry party and an outside watch, while avoiding a direct confrontation with a woman who has a gun. The passage is not merely a hidden feature of the two houses; in this moment it changes the officers' available choices.

From The Mansion to the passage

Nancy directs the sheriff to drive to the Turnbull Mansion. On arrival, she tries the front door and finds it unlocked. The sisters, having hurried to the sheriff's office, have neglected to secure the doors and windows. The unfastened entrance lets the party reach the library without first having to force entry into The Mansion itself.

In the library, Nancy lifts the cover of the sofa and exposes the hidden opening. She lowers herself into it, leaving the sheriff and deputy staring after her in astonishment. Their surprise marks the difference between knowing that a secret passage exists and seeing its entrance opened in an ordinary room. Nancy explains that they are going through a secret passage and urges them to hurry; the urgent pace gives little time for the officers' amazement to interrupt the operation.

At a lower level, the route appears to end at a solid wall. Nancy does not answer the sheriff's question about what comes next. Instead, she runs her hand over the wall until she finds the tiny knob that releases a panel, then pushes it open. The sheriff and deputy follow her through. When the panel grates shut behind them, the sheriff worries that they may be locked inside. Nancy reassures him that she knows the secret, conveying her confidence in the mechanism even as the officers experience the passage as an uncertain trap.

Through the underground route

The three descend stone steps and enter the tunnel leading directly to the bird room of Nathan Gombet's house. At the far end, Nancy warns the officers that they are now inside the house and must be silent. She climbs the stone steps and searches the walls for the hidden release, directing the men to look for a brass ring or a tiny knob. Her search finds a small metal ring; she pulls it hard, and the secret panel opens to the sheriff's and deputy's amazement.

The panel brings Nancy into a closet in the bird room, not out into an open hallway. She motions for the officers to follow, cautiously opens the closet door, and checks that the way is clear. Once satisfied, she leads them across the room. The sequence depends on her working through each threshold in turn: opening the concealed wall, confirming the room beyond is clear, and only then moving the group onward. The officers follow her knowledge of the route rather than improvise their way through an unfamiliar house.

The quiet approach to the kitchen

The door from the bird room into the corridor is unlocked. Nancy tiptoes along the hall and leads the party toward the stairs; she and the officers then creep toward the kitchen, where the servant has taken up her post. The entry has carried them from the library at The Mansion, through the underground tunnel, and into the interior of Gombet's house without first confronting the guard at the door.

The action ends at the approach to the kitchen, not with the servant already subdued or Gombet captured. The sheriff listens at the inner kitchen door and peers through its keyhole. The servant still has her gun and is standing before the basement door, making threats. That final detail preserves the danger the secret route was meant to manage: Nancy has brought the officers past the house's outer defenses, but the armed woman remains between them and the next stage of the rescue. The episode's decisive achievement is therefore access and positioning, not a completed arrest.