Show r H v dd e n Wa Was Wast s 46 BY Q t I t r FREDERIC F. F V VAN DE WATER 1 CHAPTER Continued 21 21 I Silently Hoyt looked at me with a smirk of terror Intent on the uproar up up- uproar roar in the foyer shocked by the disembodied voice we both had heard he had let the elevator down without checking it on the cross crossbeams beams that guarded the shaft pit What was It he babbled Ja Ma hear that Then I saw that hat the car rested un unevenly unevenly evenly on the beams as though something were pinned beneath one side and I knew what that last abruptly stilled outcry had meant e He had done trapeze work I told Miss Agatha Aga tha When the ele ele- elevator elevator vator valor was at the floor above him it was easy for lor him to open the shaft door below it and leap to the travel travel- traveling traveling ing cables They're the power ca ca- cables ca- ca cables bles that are attached to the bottom of ol the car The old lady sat in i her living room cigarette in hand highball beside her She was personification of ol the quiet that spread after alter tem tem- tempest pest The useless ambulance that had tarried before the Morello had gone away Shannon had left with Cochrane Allegra had vanished I hoped that I. I I too might depart be be- before belore before fore lore her return Meanwhile I gulped my drink and supplied at Miss Agathas Agatha's Aga Aga- Agatha's Agathas Agathas Agatha's thas tha's insistence those fragments of the tragedy that were not already hers Apparently then with a thrust of his foot he shut the open door and went down unseen to the basement beneath the car dropping into the elevator pit when the elevator halt halt- halted halted halted ed at the foyer Tonight you see It didn't stop He jumped too late or else he lost count of the floors and was pinned between the pit crossbeams and the car floor I drained my glass Miss Agatha said So that tha t is why his hands were grimed the night after aUer the murder and why he wore no overcoat Right 1 answered The ca ca- cables cables Cables bles are greased and dirty Per Per- Perhaps Perhaps haps he threw his overcoat into the furnace At any rate he wiped off oft the knife and hid it in the base base- basement basement basement ment for fear someone would stop him turn when he went out into the street Pride killed him the old lady told me Let that be a warning to you David He had killed in m self A lawyer no better than Tertius Groesbeck could have saved him Lyon Ferriter had too much sense of drama Hed been on the stage I point point- pointed ed out why he spoke so sowell sowell well until he got excited and then lapsed into his native tongue It was just a veneer he had acquired Odd isn't it Miss Agatha asked what you yo find when you pry off veneer veneer odd odd and terrible David Ill I'll ll do no more prying The Paget book jook will never be written People that hat throw stones should live in in in- intact intact tact glass houses She peered at me and my face seemed to disappoint her Usually she prompted you grin at my epigrams That's been one of several reasons Ive I've endured you Sorry I said I was thinking of lone Her fathers father's gone They must have loved each other Its It's going to be brutal for lor her I sent Allegra to see her Miss Agatha said briefly That was generous She shook her head Its easy to be generous when youve you've won Presumably shell she'll be financially secure for shell she'll inherit Lyons Lyon's Lyons Lyon's I mean prop Horstman's prop erty Shell She'll never have Grove now Grove will know how nearly he was trapped and how little she really I cared And I cant can't see him marry marry- marrying marryIng ing lag a widow who had been a dance- dance hall hostess and was accessory to her husbands husband's death Theres There's that thing I call noblesse oblige You probably call it snobbery I grinned and rose ro e. e explaining that I was to meet mee Cochrane at the Press office at seven I fumbled badly over my farewell for I owed lowed much to the woman who listened to my and offered me no aid And tell I stumbled your niece good good-by good by for or me too Her sharp gray eyes dug Into me meI meI I wonder asked Miss Agatha if you think Im I'm the utter fool that I know you are David Mallory You talk as If 1 we never were to meet again That I answered is exactly what I do mean I had faced it for the last half Quarrels and rasped feelings seemed In the after alter aftermath aftermath math of tragedy trivial things but my purpose ran deeper than that By every measurement one might employ Allegra was out of my reach and the best tribute I could pay her was to leave her so The old lady had leaned forward in her effort to beat down my eyes David she said life doesn't begin at fourteen and stay there What happened to the last person who went in pride out of this apart apart- apartment apartment apartment ment should make you think a lit lit- tle Im I'm fond of you which Is more than I admit to most people Dont Don't be bc a posturing idiot Miss Agatha I said and it was hard to speak clearly after alter the odd tenderness I had heard in her voice I love your niece That Tha t sounds old- old fashioned All the important things In the thc world arc are old fashioned she told me And that's why you want to tomake tomake tomake make things as distressing as possible possible possible ble for lor everyone concerned Be Be- Because Because Because cause you love Allegra What I knew was truth seemed trite when spoken under her steady regard I went on Ive got a job At about fifty a week I cant can't offer that to a girl who has everything My M dear boy said Miss Aga Agatha tha and jerked her head match matchmaking matchmaking matchmaking making isn't among my sins And besides Ive I've never fixed Allegra's worth in dollars Have you why I went on fast be be- because because because cause my throat was tightening Im saying good goodby Probably this also sounds idiotic to you but I Ilove Ilove Ilove love her too dearly to ask her to marry me Rhetoric rhetoric said Miss Agatha and laid her hands on her chairs chair's wheels I hope newspaper work sweats some of it out of you David Will you wait a minute She propelled herself through that door which opened into her bedroom I picked up my hat and coat and turned toward the hall half hall minded to go Allegra stood there I thought that till now I had not known how fair she was She was a cool wind blow- blow blowIng blowing blowing Ing through through through-my my mind routing the rubbish of old wretchedness Going she asked Her eyes smiled I am I said Or Or I I mean I 1 Iwas Iwas was just saying to your aunt aunt aunt- Part of my mind screamed Idi Idl Idiot Idiot ot oU at me None of it did any any- anything anything anything thing else to help me She came nearer I heard you she told me Ive been standing here herc for five minutes Lets Let's not review that again lets let's letsgo letsgo letsgo go on from there Have you no bet bet- better better better ter reason for lor not marrying me mc Da Da- David David vid Miss Agatha did not come back backI I for lor a long while THE END |