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Show 1 pvp COPWIGHT BY THE CENTURY CO. WNU service, CHAPTER X Continued 19 "Yes, I nra-" Tlle glrl'a volce wos jeflant but miserable. "I have always bated the dark. I always have a dim light In my r00 nt nlSht. It's the darkness I mind now the utter blackness, black-ness, and the closeness. I feel as If we (rarf! shut up In a tomb." 'Tike Alda and her young man," Renshaw frivolously commented. He wts so sorry for the girl that his throat iched, so anxious about her that the pit of his stomach felt cold ; but he went on cheerfully : "Let them be a lesson to you. All the reprisal they offered was to sing." "I'm afraid you don't appreciate 'Alda.' " The girl was pathetically trying to play np. Again his throat contracted. "Not especially. I've always seen lome elephantine prima donna In the leading role, and It has been hard to take her sufferings seriously. But I like the music. We might try the duet now, If you like," he ended lightly. IIDUncn HlTl't IniUTh fit TT1P "I won't If you will admit that you ire foolish to mind a gay little adventure adven-ture like this." "You call It. gay?" "Oh, well," he appeared to give his mind to the problem while he battered the oak door "I will substitute the word 'amusing,' if you like that better." bet-ter." "Do you mind If I if I " there was i very long pause; " If I hold your hand?" she brought out at last. "Yon may hold the right ,one," he graciously conceded, accepting the request re-quest as the most natural one in the world. "I've got to keep on banging g with the left." He extended his hand In the darkness, found the small one that was groping toward him, and took It in a firm, close grasp, tne Again he felt the odd contraction of Set the throat he had experienced before, old He knew what it had been to Verity n't lampbell to make that request. He snew that, having made it, her pride was In the dust, like a trailing flag. He seemed suddenly to know a great sa many other things about her as he felt hij the quiver if that small cold hand in his own. "I'll keep on beating with the left," he repeated, efficiently combining the jflu words with the action, "because about ,Btl( this time Morris ought to be getting ml back from his calls. I've seen him use spj, the main staircase several times ; and ,, If he does it to-day unless he's more 'jj, absent-minded than I think he is he's, going to realize that some one would appreciate the honor of his attention." at-tention." "Oh do you think he'll come soon?" lt)cr The hand in his was growing warmer j end more steady. The human contact itbi 'vas do';n8 lts work. Now, under the rver. !;or,e aroust'd by his words, Verity pifped his arm with her other hand r.il was clinging to him. 'eifl " co,lrse he'11 come soon. Morris W nf the man t0 ne&lect the most im-liit! im-liit! I";t'"nt patient he has ever had. Also, "if incomparable Jenks has told him ,!at tea is served at five o'clock, and 'hnt your cook's specialty is toasted muffins. It must be about five now," !'e added with conscious pathos ; "I . i wouldn't mind having a buttered muf-y, muf-y, En myself." -- I All the while he banged, kicked. SI battered, stopping occasionally to V! turn the doorknob experimentally. Hp J "ad not for a moment forgotten that 2B the impish or malicious force that had jS s suddenly closed the door might 7 n It as suddenly. He did not intend to he caught napping, or to have the . Kirl remain in that trap one instant 9 longer than was necessary. lM eri,y releaso'-' tlPr grasp of his fJ "in and slipped her left hand further full his right one. He held it com- . alcti fortingly. but as impersonally as he h"' coulti- It was a nice job, he suddenly .J eillized, quite a delicate job, in fart, dJi llold "'"t hand in exactly the right ;taj Way. Under the force of this discov- tbiS1, Cr lle iSin rushed into speech. Ujt 'Morris is sure to come, and he is f're to )ear lls he went 0I1 easily. liiP dDt know wly 1 didn't mention : ' 'at sooner. It would have spared you At .Tur anxiety." JY A long, trembling sigh from the witness beside him told him that the 3 Jtoiety was not yet past. He exerted ""itself to interest the girl. He spoke )W i KV'llapes she luui mentioned in her i i", e talks with Madame Hvoeslef, and .(i j ch he also knew. He, too, had fly! an(iered over the world, and had -i 011 ght its out-of-the-way places. As 'j e tulked he punctuated his sentences kO ,-"h hkm nd kicks upon the un- & -iinS door. and as he Heat and ''5 h '"" W0S steaJn-v conscious of i.fj Increasing closeness of the atmos- 21-" Phere. Sis heart fluttered in a new anxiety Jor 'he gr. Sne must be feeling It, - She must he suffering. Yes. her ,lWer figure, so close to him now, wns sagging against his shoulder. His grasp on her hand tightened. "I'm sure you're tired," he said gently. "Won't you sit down now?" "No; I won't take more than my share of the air that Is left." He laughed. "Still harping on that air!" he eluded. The girl's voice was faint, but the impulse toward panic had passed. She was feeling queer and rather drowsy. "Here!" Renshaw was shaking her quickly, almost violently. "You're not going to faint, are you? Pull yourself your-self together. Try to brace up !" He rubbed her hands. "Pull yourself together," to-gether," he urgently repeated. "Don't let yourself go !" The appeal in his voice reached her. "I feel so strange," she murmured. "It's the air. I can't get a deep breath " He dropped her hands and started an assault on the door that was frenzied fren-zied in its desperation. He would get the girl out of that hole, he decided, If he had to batter down the walls of that d d house. He'd rouse some ol those deaf fools who were dozing in distant wings. He'd make them think the last trump was sounding He had resumed the role of the human hu-man batteringram. Verity was past protest, and he kept it up. Suddenly, head first, he pitched into the outer corridor with such force that he struck and recoiled from the opposite wall. Behind him, Verity, clutching the sides Suddenly, Head First, He Pitched Into the Outer Corridor With Such Force That He Struck and Recoiled From the Opposite Wall. of the open closet door, swayed weakly and blinked at him in dawning, incredulous in-credulous understanding and relief. Facing them both, the Incomparable Jenks, all self-control and presence of mind departed, helplessly gasped and stuttered. "My Gawd!" he said, over and over. "And you In there, too. Miss Campbell, and 'most suffocated " Renshaw put him aside and caught the girl's arm as she blinked and swayed. "It was pretty bad while it lasted, but it's over now." he said cheerfully. Steady ner on me umu o...., and we'll get her to her room. Here, hurry up !" , , For Jenks was examining the door to discover the cause of the accident. His face had an odd, chalky look that, even In the excitement of the moment. Renshaw noticed. At the latter's crisp order he found his wits, and hurried to the other side of Verity to take her "''it might of killed her," he dazedly muttered. "Nothing of the sort!" Renshaw shot a warning look at him over her head "Some one was bound to hear the noise we kept up. I can't understand under-stand whv you didn't hear It sooner. I did hear it sooner, sir," Jenxs confessed, con-fessed, abject under the shock he bad received "I heard it for more than .,n hour. Rut I didn't pay any atten-;"on atten-;"on to it, because I thought It came from somewhere ous.de He re turned to his original refrain. She might have suffocated " -Well she's all right now. Here vou are'. Miss Campbell, door of your own room. Better down for a while." watched He opened the door for aZ er walk unsteadily across the thn hold, closed the door, and looked '"ret a Flass of sherry for Miss r-imphell. and then brine w,'lsk nnd soda to my room." he Reeled Tenks did not return his usual br.k tlve He did not even move from the spot where he oo.I. Jh Met that the secretary 8 P-nl had at f;a8t been equal to that of his young mistress obviously did not interest oi concern him. Renshaw watched him with a tolerant understanding of hli viewpoint. "She might of been suffocated,'' Jenks slowly repeated. Chapter XI Uncertainties. Ten minutes later a deferential tap on Renshaw's door showed that Jenks had recalled himself to the high duties of his office. He entered without waiting wait-ing for a response, and, finding the secretary in a big chair before the unlit fire, set down the tray he carried car-ried and moved around the room for a moment with characteristically noiseless activity. At the end of the brief interval a small table was at the young man's elbow, and from tha decanter and siphon he had brought drink. He set this before the secretary secre-tary In silence, and, producing a box of cigars, maintained a perfect pose of respectful service till Renshaw had selected one. Jenks certainly knew how to make a man comfortable. Jenks spoke : "All right now, sir?" His voice, aa always, was smoothly respectful. "All right, thanks. Did Miss Campbell Camp-bell drink her sherry?" "Yes, sir." Jenks hesitated. Then, "Might I ask just how It happened, sir?" he mellowly inquired. Renshaw welcomed the question. He desired the servants to know just how it had happened, if Jenks intended to discuss the matter below stairs. "Simplest thing in the world," he said lightly. "Miss Campbell was showing me through the house. When we reached this hall, I said something about not having enough towels. You know, I've mentioned that to you, too. She went into the closet to show me where they were. I followed her across the threshold, and the door suddenly sud-denly slammed shut behind us." Jenks gazed at the floor. ' "That was odd, sir, wasn't It?" he asked gently. Renshaw looked at him until the butler's glance lifted from the floor to his eyes. "It was very odd," he then said, holding the look. "In fact, it was so odd that it simply could not have happened." hap-pened." Jenks seemed startled. ' "I don't quite follow you, sir." "I will be clearer. What I mean is" Renshaw spoke very slowly "that door did not shut by itself." To this, at first, Jenks made no reply. re-ply. He seemed slightly disturbed and greatly puzzled. "You mean, sir, that it didn't blow shut?" he asked at last through the mental mist that appeared to have settled set-tled over him. "Of course It didn't blow ehnt. How could it have blown shut? There was no draft. What I mean is that some one, or something, intentionally shut it." Jenks now looked frankly incredulous; incred-ulous; but his reply, as always, was deferential : "That could hardly be, sir, could It? Why would anyone shut It? Who would want to? And even If nnyone. wanted to. how could it be done without with-out you seeing, sir?" "That's what I'd like to know myself." my-self." Renshaw spoke wearily. The after-strain of the episode was telling on him. Jenks nodded and took up the tray. "It was a regrettable incident, sir." he said quietly but firmly, "due to the unfortunate condition of the knob. I have given orders to have the knob repaired in the morning." Renshaw did not answer. Every word Jenks had uttered had convinced him that the butler knew all about that door ; hut he was also aware that Jenks did not Intend to share his knowledge. The solution that suggested suggest-ed itself seemed preposterous. His brief sense of well-being departed under un-der the mental jolt of the conversation. Tawno Ker was taking a lot out of him. He wondered what comments Jenks would make on other recent episodes epi-sodes that had occurred. Probably they, too. were "regrettable incidents." Jenks oozed from the room, carrying carry-ing his tray. Renshaw's thoughts swung back to Verity. How plucky the girl had been! She would actually have sufflooatec rather than take what she considered more than her "share" of the diminisn-ing diminisn-ing air supply ! He wondered how much longer she could have held her self-control, and what would have happened if Jenks had not heard him for, say, another hour. Tluit was not a reflection his mind cared to dwell upon. He switched from It to the memory of the butler's genuine consternation when he discovered dis-covered thauMiss Campbell, as well as Renshaw, had been a prisoner. Hr discomfort, her possible danger, had affected him. Renshaw was glad of that. (TO BE CONTIN'VED.) |