Show i n as j by FREDERIC F VAN DE WATER WW v 6 A U 4 WW V s r v 1 l I 1 c 0 issi CHAPTER XV continued IG dont both bother er I 1 said to ring or the maid to show me the door can find it I 1 ask you not now ut lui later when youve less to dis urb bouto think seriously whether ve ever violated your confidence knew about grove and his key waved him once from the jam he s tn in now I 1 knew of hla his liaison lone see how much of that ou lou can find in tho the press or my any ther newspaper up to now almagra gave a little laugh of als bellef bellef silo she tossed dukes squeal on be desk between us and went from ahe room I 1 bowed jerkily to miss igatha gatha and headed tor for the door ter lev voice checked me aup up to now sho she repeated do t understand that Is 8 threat I 1 11 had stood plenty her stern yes could not beat mine down fiand and do I 1 understand I 1 answered that your question is 1 a prelude to bribery are you she inquired doing your our best to be insulting aej 1 I am I 1 told her and I 1 begin it she chuckled the hearty sound leyer seemed more bizarre it tracked melodrama and spoiled my pose lose I 1 stared miss agatha grinned of tut put down your hat and coat he bade me 1 I want to talk to you dont stand there gawping gasping gaw ping do lo 10 as I 1 say allegra Is troubled with ideals shell outgrow them in time me suppose you teu tell me as po litel itel 1 as you can manage just how you TOU happen to be on the press she smoked one of my cigarettes while alle I 1 confessed my arrangement with th cochrane and the difficulties of if being pulled two ways by con can dieling dieting loyalties once or twice while I 1 spoke she nodded and when I 1 had ended gave that preposterous gain aln of hers ayou make me feel better she told me 1 I want to believe id twice been mistaken in my estimates ot of character in so short a time me 1 I found myself defending grove P learn when this thing is unscrambled that hes been just a idiot nothing more no one can make me believe that jno ino one can make me either she be broke in quietly iles hes a good boy bay iles hes lacking in common all well its a family foiling falling alss Ml ss agatha I 1 blurted smitten by the calm sho she preserved above the anguish that must be tearing at hir her youre a game guyl guy I 1 her for face relaxed a trifle J david she said when women reach my age they cry easily or r not at all I 1 have no gift for or tars grove is in trouble and I 1 have to help him I 1 always used to pull him out of scrapes my job adlain IS h looked at me and the wrinkles about out her eyes deepened lf it you had a spark of chivalry she 0 e mocked offer to help me hiie 1 I 1 and it I 1 answered you had any intuition whatever you would know khow that anything ive got is yours i 1 I 1 do know it she admitted with 1 al another lother chuckle and then grew suddenly grave t will you help me she ahe asked ao 30 to save my nephew from the bli into which a scoundrel and a stupid police force have plunged min him and out of which a pompous lawyer apparently cant get him I 1 arm an old woman david ond nd a ripple I 1 cant put a murder and s iu suicide c ide where they belong by my ou tall i A you have to do I 1 promised is point out the murderer y do you think so BO she asked labay tartly ive found him already f I looked hard at her 1 its lyon ferriter Ferr lter said agatha paget ive known that au all along 1 CHAPTER XVI alss agathas quiet words were wore chocking ing than screams they so simply and readily the tie be 1144 that I 1 had blundered toward and recoiled from and reached at again ijuin that I 1 could only stare at her t blurted J ilow how do you know 9 she ibe was like a damaged and ancient lamp in n which the flame still burned clearly she told me from his hands I 1 was sure the evening when captain shannon first questioned him dont you remember 1 very well I 1 answered but ahls U his hands she went on hung at his sides usually he uses them allot oil lot lie he was watching himself vie he was acting the part of an entirely ely innocent person in whose flat il at man had been found murdered ile he was overacting over acting it he had so something e i to tilde and he vas ahding it t very very carefully too carefully to tool fool me athen I 1 then why I 1 began but she cut me off I 1 david she raid ive been never so certain of my own virtues that t L ca cared red to hunt down the iniquity others 0 t h mr ferriter Ferr lter may hove have fad d very good reasons for killing Us Is visitor but she lift bit on nothing with a little lerk rk of her head and I 1 thought of the withered fate who uta the th cord she rummaged in jer er handbag for something and dl vining her need I 1 offered a cigarette and lit it tor for her smoke and some ome thing more dire had narrowed hr her eyes as othe bhe went on lyon ferriter was clever in his alibi since the part that anyone can check was wai fact it has hai to be b presumed the rest was too no one can prove he was in that flat when the man was stabbed what I 1 had started to speak now mow I 1 said excuse me and held my words and until miss agatha went on that is proved and it Is found how he got out afterward alt erward lyon ferriter thinks he Is safe tie ho is proud of his cleverness that Is danger ous for him well I 1 asked as she paused she did not seem to hear me she pursued her eyes still narrow her voice daunting in its calm AU all of which has been none of an old womans comans business up to now lyon ferriter Ferrit cr called on me this morning lie ile said he wanted to help grove what lie he wanted was to ad mire his own cleverness if he ha had CO come me to me fairly david if he had said your nephew and my sister lister have been having an affair how c can an we get them out of trouble most easily he would have had bad M me e as an ally she rubbed the cigarette out on the ash tray with slow violence I 1 Q do I 1 understand that la Is a threat gave her another her voice had an odd ring as she went on but he he had no idea why grove was in his fiall he said that he had given the boy a key because grove was in and out of the apartment a good deal implicitly he served notice on me that that was what he had told or will tell the police hell protect his sister and leave grove to be scapegoat goa t for the death of everett and the earlier murder if possible my nephews plight Is a godsend to him and to lone I 1 asked doubtfully and to lone miss agatha an and her jaw grew hard she spoken has she she has not come forward with the truth to help her lover hers Is the perfect tear fear that out love I 1 wish I 1 knew what it is her self possession got me by the throat I 1 blurted how foul people arel miss agatha cocked an eye at me so youre finding that out she asked she eat cat silent a moment and I 1 thought of the weathered figurehead immune to storm miss agatha I 1 said what do you yo u want me to do she answered indirectly in a level voice an all my life thanks to my legs ive been audience to tho the sorry dramas mortals play I 1 dont like the way this particular one promises to end I 1 dont like the thought of grove still in jail though I 1 understand der stand he is only being held for questioning according to senator groesbeck has he your nephew given any explanation the affectionate smile that accompanied her reply was pitiful grove it appeared had said nothing to the police and little enough to his bis lawyer lie he had been typing a letter at the desk in the workroom and had seen a light in the apartment across the air shaft lie he had gone to the ferriter flat and had found everett about tj throw himself from the window ile he bad tried to hold him but the man had screamed and torn tree free that was all he would say no more he would not even explain the note the police had found in his pocket and they say miss agatha ended that chivalry is dead grove the young sophisticate posing na as sidney carton would be funny if it so tragic he wont see that ile he wont help himself ver very y well I 1 have to save lavo him by putting lyon ferriter in his place the certainty in tier her voice stirred mine to awe as I 1 asked how miss agatha looked at me hard for an instant and the wrinkles about her eyes eye deepened david she ih said bald 1 I the least idea and she he gave her deep chuckle I 1 sat cat on the desks edge and told d her everything I 1 knew it was wa a relief to talk to someone without holding back we smoked together toe ether at first and then RI as I 1 passed from the scuffle in the basement to the tha duel with lyon and nd the rifling of my room the cigarette burned down unheeded in her fingers finger she asked at lost last and why have you had nil au this attention miss agatha I 1 tord tard her with a grin 1 I the tha least idea she chuckled again at any rate mhd said we wa start even as allies walt I 1 bade and told her of the foreign voice I 1 had heard at minos mines she looked at me hard when I 1 had finished are you sure she asked I 1 shrugged right now im not very sure of anything yet I 1 dont think im beginning to hear voices and it may be important but it evidence unless we wa can persuade lyon to drop op back into it again for the benefit beneat of the police no she said thoughtfully youre right its a signpost nothing more there Is ii a flaw in lyon somewhere everybody has one if we could only find it and work on it you said he be was proud I 1 reminded her and clever she added and also lucky at poor groves expense think a minute she gathered her fragile body together and looked hard at the hands clasped in her narrow lop lap as though they held a seers crystal ball think the she went on ot at his luck everett knew lyon had killed blackboard blackbeard and everett was frightened anyone could see that thal ile he was not of the breed of heroes you were to be killed by accident while everett rifled your room the fer thought you had something that was key to the murder and everett failed I 1 offered as she paused and that plus fear destroyed him bo he be wrote a farewell note to his family who were waiting for him to show up at minos and killed himself out of sheer terror the surprise in her face heartened me yes miss agatha said slowly that is quite possible and grove found the note and since its implications seemed to threaten the of his precious beloved pocketed it he would and thereby damned himself there was excitement and odd relief in thrusting facts into the pigeonholes eon holes of theory where at least they would lie without out in confusion faint pink had come to miss agathas cheekbones cheek bones and her eyes sparkled I 1 asked has your nephew told to whom he wrote the letter at this desk last of night he has not miss agatha answered 1 I never have known silence less than his bis because I 1 went on 1 I think he la is telling the truth and then I 1 confided my own experience at that desk when looking up I 1 had seen a light across the area and grove pull ing down a shade in the ferriter Ferr lter flat miss agatha when I 1 had bad ended reached out a hand and amazingly patted my kner kne 1 I think david she said quietly a very wrongheaded wrong headed pair os of women owe you more than an apology for or what they thought of you this morning forget it I 1 told her she shook her head no she said just postpone it it be well if we were to write down separately all we know and suspect of this bewilder mont thereafter The comparing our lists we might find somo some hint of what else we should do it might I 1 granted humoring her theres therea another typewriter about miss agatha thought aloud 1 I believe its ita in the basement storeroom im sure it was put there when it came back from the repair mans AUe Alle gral I 1 do not think she saw the movement I 1 made to cheek check her call I 1 had small desire to face the scorn acorn ful girl again it hurt too much and at the same flame time angered me but in an instant there she stood in the doorway looking at her aunt and plainly not recognizing my existence sight of her smoldering niece made miss agatha revise her pur pose my dear she said briskly 1 I 1 have already apologized to david for what we both thought when his bis friends letter came this morning she paused AUe face did not stir nor did her eyes move I 1 tumbled for some word to end this ordeal and found nothing why should I 1 apologize the girl asked so that I 1 can read about it to in tomorrows tomorrow i press if she could hurt me so I 1 might be able to reach her I 1 said as easily as I 1 could news must be either interesting or important I 1 was sorry then for she looked at me caught her breath and bad bledl TO ato BE CONTINUED |