Show J JL bagga cag ga i A novel from the play by mary roberts rinehart and avery hopwood t tha bat copyright by art and arery hopwood FROM THE START defying all efforts to capture him after a ions series of murders and robberies a crook known to the police inar as the bat has brought about a veritable verl taBle reign of terror at his wits end and at the man s own request the chief of police assigns his best operative an dwon to get on the trail of the bat CHAPTER II 11 continued she had skimmed the paper hurried ly new a headline caught her eye failure of union bank gasn wasn k that the bink that courtleigh fleming had been president of she settled down to read the article but it was disappointingly brief the union bank had closed its doors the cashier a young man named bailey was apparently un der suspicion the article mentioned courtleigh flemings recent and tragic death in the best vein of newspaper ese she laid down the piper and thought bailey bailey she seemed to have a vague recollection of hear ing about a young man named bailey who worked in a bank but she could not remember where or by whom name had been mentioned well it matter blie had other things to think about she must ring for lizzie get up and dress ahe bright morning sun streaming in through the long window made lying in bed an old woman s luxury and she refused to be an old woman though the worst old woman I 1 ev er anew was a man she thought w ath a twinkle she was glad sallys daughter oung dile ogden was here in the house with her the corn of dales bright youth would keep her from getting old worn tf anything could she smiled thinking of dale dale was a nice child her favorite niece sally dlan t understand her of course but sally wouldn L sally read mag allne articles on the younger genera alon and its ways bally doean doesn t remember she was a younger generation herself thought miss cor nella but I 1 do and if we have sports roadsters road in the eighties we had buggies and youth doean doesn t chainge its ways just because it a bobbed its hair before mr and mrs ogden left for europe sally had talked to her elster cornelia long and weight lly on the problem of dale problem of dale indeed 1 thought miss cornelia scornfully dales the nicest young thing ive seen in some time and shed be ten times happier if bally gasn wasn t always trying to marry her olt to some young snip with more of aliat fools call eligibility than brains 1 but there cornelia van gorder sallys given you your innings ram paging off to europe and leaving dale with you all summer and youve a lot loss sense than I 1 myself you have if you can t give your favorite niece a happy vacation from nil her immediate family and mil be find her some one make her happy for good and all into the bargain for miss cornelia was an incorrigible matchmaker eve she was more con earned with the problem or aile tian she would have admitted dale nt her age with her charm and beauty vh she ought to behave as if B ignore walking on air thought her cant worriedly and instead she n ts more as if she were walking on p us and needles she seems to like being here I 1 know she likes me im pretty sure ashes just as pleased to beet a little holiday from sally nd harry she amuses herself she falls in with any plan I 1 want to make and set and yet dale was not happy miss cornelia felt sure of it it isn t natural for a girl to seem so lack luster and and at her age end shea nervous too as if some ting were preying on her mind par these last few davs ihen misa cornelias mind seized non a sentence in a hurried flow of ler sisters last instructions a sen afine that had passed almost unno 1 cad at the time something about aale and an unfortunate attachment but of course cornelia dear ashes fo young and I 1 m sure it will come to nothing now her father and I 1 have made our attitude plain pshaw I 1 bet it thought miss cornelia dales fallen in love or thinks she has with some decent oung man without a penny or an eligibility to his name and now she s unhappy because her parents don t approve or because she s trying to give him up and finds she cant ell and miss cornelias tight little ahe curls trembled ith the vehemence of her decision if the young thing ever comes to me for advice give he h piece of my mind that ft surprise her and scandalize sally van gorder ogden oni of her seven senses sally thinks nobody a worth looking at if they come over to america hen our family did she chasn t gump alon enough 0 o realize that if some people come over laler wed all still be living on crullers crul lers and dutch punch r sh was just stretching out her 5 hand to ring for lizzie when a kaack carne at lie door she gathered her paisley eliam more tightly about her shoulders deis who Is it oh its only you lizzie as a pleas int irish face crowned by an old fashioned pompa dour of graying hair peeped in at the door good morning lizzie I 1 was just going to ring for you has miss dale had breakfast I 1 arnow its shamefully late good morning miss nelly said lizzie and a lovely morning it Is too if eliat was all of it she added somewhat tartly as she came into the room with a little silver tray whereupon the morning mall reposed ve hire not iet described lizzie lien and she deserves description fixture in the an gorder household since her sixteenth year she had long ere now attained the dignity of a tra dialon one could not imagine bliss cornelia without a lizzie to grumble at and cherish or lizzie without a miss cornelia to baby and scold with the privileged franl ness of such old family servitors the two were at once a contrast and a complement fifty years of american ways had not shaken I 1 firm belief in banshees and leprechauns lepre chauns or tamed her wild irish tongue fifty sears of lizzie had not altered miss cornelia s attitude of fond exasperation with some of alz ilz ales more startling eccentricities to gether they may have been as one of the younger van gorder cousins had irreverently put it a scream but apart each would have felt lost with out the other now what do you mean if that were all of it queried miss cornelia as she took her let from the tray I 1 azzle s face assumed an expression of doleful reticence its not my place to speak she said with a grim shake of her head but I 1 saw my grandmother last night god rest her plain as life she was alie way she looked when they waked her and if it was my doing wed be this house this hour cheese pudding for supper af pf course you saw your grandmother said miss cornelia crisply slitting open the first of lier letters with a pa nonsense lizzie I 1 m not going to be scared anav from an ideal country place because you happen to have a bad dream I 1 was it a bad dream I 1 saw on the stairs last night when alie lights went out and I 1 was looking for the can dies said lizzie heatedly was it a bad dream that ran away from me and out the back door as fast as gaddys paddys pig no miss nelly it was a man seven feet tall he was and eyes that shone in the dark and lizzie alien 1 well its true for all that in alsted I 1 azzle stubbornly and why did the lights go out tell me that miss nelly they never go out in the city well tills isn t the city said miss cornelia decisively it s the country and very nice it Is and we re staying here all summer I 1 suppose I 1 may be thail ful she went on ironically that it was only your grandmother you saw last night it might have been the bat and then where would vou be this morning 1 I d he stiff and stark with candles at my head and feet said lizzie gloomily oh miss nelly dont talk of that terrible creature the baal she came nearer to her mistress oh miss nelly miss nelly do lets go back to the city before he flies away with us all nonsense I 1 izle said miss cor nella again but this time less tier face grew serious if I 1 thought for an instant eliat there was any real possibility of our being in danger here she said slowly but oh look at the map lizzie the bat has been alv ing in this district true anoush but he come with in ten of us yet 1 ten miles to the bat the obdurate I 1 lzzie sighed and what of the letter ve had when ye first moved in here the fleming house la unhealthy for strangers it aid leave it while ye can some silly boy or some crank mias cornelias voice was firm 1 I never pay any attention to anonymous letters and there s a funne lookin letter this moraln down at the bottom of the pile persisted I 1 azzle it looked like the other one 1 d half a mind to throw it away before you saw itt now lizzie quite enough miss cornelia had the van flodder manner on now 1 I don t care to als cua your ridiculous fears any further where la miss dale urite assumed an attitude of prim rebuff miss dales gone into alie city maam gone into the city yes maam she got a telephone call this owning early long distance it was I 1 dont know who it was called her lizzie 1 you listen of course not miss nelly alz aloa face was a study in injured clr tue miss dale took the call in her own room and shut the door and you were outside the door I 1 where else would I 1 be dustan that A time in the moraln said lizzie but its yourself snows well enough the doors in this house Is thick and not a sound goes past them 1 I should hope not said miss cor nella but tell me lizzie did iss dale seem well this morning that she did not said I 1 azzle promptly han she came down to breakfast after the call she looked like a ghost I 1 made her the eggs she likes too but she eat cm hm miss cornelia pondered 1 I m sorry if well lizzie we meddle in miss dales affairs iso maaen but did she say when she would be back yes nelly on the two train oh and I 1 was almost forgett ln she told me to tell you par she said while she was in the city she d be after enga gln the gar dener you poke of the gardener oh yes I 1 jpike to her about that the other the place Is beginning to look run down so many flowers to attend to well that a very kind of miss dale yes miss nelly lizzie ed obviously with some weighty news on her mind which she wished to am part she took the plunge her fingers trembled a little as she turned the missive over 1 I might have told miss dale she could have been lookin for a cook as well and a housemaid she mut at last but they haan hadn t spoken to me then miss cornelia sat bolt upright in bed A cook and a housemaid but we have a cook and a housemaid lizzie 1 you don t mean to tell me lizzie nodded her heat desm they re leaving both of cm today but good beav lizzie why on earth you tell me before im really ery much annoyed with you because you dlan t I 1 shall get up immediately I 1 want to ghe those two a piece of my mind Is billy leaving too not that I 1 know of the heathen japanese said lizzie sorrowfully and yet he d be better riddance rid dince than cook or housemaid now lizzie how many times have I 1 told you that you must conquer your prejudices billy Is an excellent but ler hed been with mr fleming ten years and has the very highest becom lons I 1 am very glad that he Is staying if he Is with you to help him we shall do ery well until I 1 can get ether miss cor nella had now and lizzie was helping tier with the intricacies of her toilet but its too annoying she went on tn the pauses of I 1 s deft ministrations what did they say to you lizzie did they alve any reason oh yes miss nelly they had rea sous you could choke a goat with said lizzie viciously as she arranged miss cornelia s transformation cook was the first of them she was up lute I 1 think been talking it over together she comes into the kitchen with her hat on and her bag in her hand good morning I 1 pleasant enough youve got our bat on says I 1 im leaving says she leaving are you saya I 1 leaving says she my sister has twins says she 1 I just got word 1 must go to her right away what says I 1 all struck in a heap twins sas she you e heard of such things as twins that I 1 hac bays I 1 and I 1 know a lie on a face when I 1 see it too lizzie 1 all it made me sick at heart miss nelly her with her hat and her bag and talk about twins and no consideration tor you nellt says she you can see that annie the housemaids house maids leaving too lias her sister got twins as well gays I 1 and looked at her no says she as bold as brass but annies got a pain to her side and ashes feared its appen so ashes leaving to go back to her family oh saya I 1 and what about miss van gorder tm sorry or miss van gorder says she the falseness of her but shell have to do the best she can for twins and Is acts of god and not to be put aside for even the best of wages Is that so says I 1 and with that I 1 left her for I 1 knew if I 1 listened to her a minute longer id be ghang her bonnet a shake and that wouldn t be respectable so there you are miss and the gist of the matter miss cornelia laughed 1 I lazie you re unique she said but I 1 m glad you dlan t give her bonnet a shake though ie no doubt you could humph said I 1 izzie snorting the alre of battle in her eie and Is it any black irish from ulster would play impudence to a kerry woman without getting the flat of a hand in but neither here nor there the truth of it Is miss nelly her voice grew solemn its my belief they re scared both of them by the haunts and the banshees here and all if they are they re very silly said miss cornelia practically but it doean doesn t matter it they want to go they may an hour or so later ass cornelia sat in a deep chintz chair in the corn for table ihling room of the fleming house going through the pile of letters which tizzies Liz news of domestic revolt had prevented her reading earlier cook and housemaid had come and gone civil enough but so obviously determined upon leaving the house at once that miss cornelia had sighed and let them go though not without caustic comment since then she had devoted herself to calling up varl ous employment agencies without en satisfactory results A new cook and housemaid were promised for the end of the week but for the next three days the japanese butler billy and lizzie between them would have to bear the brunt of the service oh acs ics and then there s dales gardener if she gets one thought miss cornelia 1 I wish he could cook but I 1 dont suppose gardeners can and billys a treasure still its ancon now stop cornelia van gorder you were asking for an ad venture only this morning and the mo ment the littlest sort of one comes along you w ant to crawl out of it she had reached the bottom of her pile of letters these to be thrown away these to be answered ah here was one she had overlooked somehow she took it up it must be the one lizzie had wanted to throw away she smiled at tizzies fears the ad dress was badly typed on cheap pa per she tore the envelope open and drew out a single unsigned sheet if you stay in this house any longer DEATH go back to the city at once and save your life her fingers trembled a attle as she turned the missive over but her face remained calm she looked at the envelope at the postmark while her heart thudded uncomfortably for a moment and then resumed its normal beat it had come at last the adaven ture and she was not afraid 1 she knew who it was of course the bat I 1 0 o doubt of it and yet did the bat ever threaten before be struck she could not but it matter the bat was unprecedented unique at any rate bat or no bat she must think out course of action the defection of cook and housemaid left her alone in the house with lizzie and billy and dale of coarse if dale returned two old women a young girl and a japanese butler to face the roost dangerous criminal in america she thought grimly and betone coulden couldn t be sure the threatening letter might be only a joke a letter from a crank after all still she must take precautions look for aid somewhere rut where could she look for aid she ran over in her mind the new acquaintances she had made since she moved to the country there was doctor wells the local physician who had colod with her about moving into the bats home |