Show bidd n VV avs friederic FlIE DERIC F VAK dr ft D V 14 vh wrt rc 1 60 CHAPTER continued 21 silently hoyt looked at me with a smirk of terror intent on the up 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 beams that guarded the shaft pit what was it he babbled jal ja hear that then I 1 saw that tho the car rested un evenly on tho the beams os as though something were pinned beneath one side and I 1 knew what that last abruptly stilled outcry had meant he had done trapeze work I 1 told miss agatha when the elevator was at the floor above him it was easy for him to open tho the shaft door below it and leap to the traveling cables the power cables that are attached to the bottom of the car the old lady sat in her living room cigarette in hand highball beside her she was personification of the quiet that spread after tempest the useless ambulance that had tarried before the morello had gone away shannon had left with cochrane allegra had vanished I 1 hoped that 1 I too might depart before her return meanwhile I 1 gulped my drink andi and supplied at miss agathas 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 halted at the foyer tonight you see sec it stop ile he jumped too late or alsehe else he lost loit count of the floors and was pinned between the pit crossbeams cross beams and the car floor I 1 drained ny my glass miss agatha said so that Is why his hands were grimed the night aft after erthe the murder and why he wore no overcoat right I 1 answered the cables are greased and dirty perhaps he be threw his overcoat into the furnace at any rate he wiped off the knife and hid bid it in the base ment for fear someone would stop him when he went out into the street pride killed him the old lady told me let that be a warning to you david lie he had killed in self defense A lawyer no better than tertius groesbeck could have saved caved him lyon ferriter Ferr lter had too much sense of drama hed been on the stage I 1 pointed out why he spoke so well until he got excited and then lapsed into his native tongue it was just a veneer he had acquired odd it miss agatha asked what you find when you pry oft off veneer odd and terrible david 1 ill 11 do no more prying the paget boak will never be written people that throw stones should live in intact glass houses she peered at me end and my face seemed to disappoint her usually she prompted you grin at my epigrams been one of several reasons ive endured you sorry I 1 said 1 I was thinking of lone her fathers gone they must have loved each other its going ta be brutal jor for her 1 I sent allegra to see her miss agatha sold said briefly that was generous she shook her head its easy to be generous when youve won presumably shell be financially secure for sheu shell inherit lyons I 1 mean horstmann Horst ians mans property shell never have grove now grove will know how nearly he was trapped and how little she relly really cared and I 1 cant see hini him marry ing a widow who had been a dance hall hostess and was accessory to her husbands death theres that thing I 1 call noblesse oblige you probably cill it snobbery I 1 grinned and rose explaining that I 1 was to meet cochrane at the press office at seven I 1 fumbled badly over my farewell for I 1 owed much to the woman who listened to my flounder ings and offered me no aid and tell I 1 st stumbled your niece goodby good by tor for me too her sharp gray eyes dug into me 1 I wonder asked miss agatha it if you think im the utter fool that I 1 know you are david mallory you talk RS as if we never were to meet again 10 that I 1 answered la is exactly what I 1 do mean I 1 had faced it for the last half hour qu quarrels a rr 0 I 1 S a and nd rasped feelings seemed in the after ninth math of tragedy trivial things but my purpose ran deeper than that dy by every measurement ment one might employ allegan was out of my roach reach and the best tribute I 1 could pay her was to leave her to BO the old lady had leaned forward in her effort to beat down my eyes david she said life begin at fourteen and stay there what happened to the last person who went in pride out of this apart ment should make you think a lit ht tie im fond of you which Is more than I 1 admit to most people dont be a posturing idiot miss agatha I 1 said and it was hard to speak clearly after the odd tenderness I 1 had heard in her voice 1 I love your niece that sounds old ra fashioned ned all the important things in the world are old fashioned she told me and why you want to make things as distressing as possible tor for everyone concerned because you love allegra what I 1 know knew was truth seemed trite when spoken under her steady regard I 1 went on ive got a job at about fafty a week I 1 cant offer that to a girl who has everything my dear boy said miss agatha and jerked her head matchmaking ai mong among my sins and besides ive never fixed Al legras worth in dollars havo have you why I 1 went on fast because my throat was tightening im saying goodby good by probably this also sounds idiotic to you but I 1 lovo love her too dearly to ask her to marry me rhetoric rhet rhetoric orle 11 said miss agatha and laid her hands on her chairs wheels 1 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 1 picked up my lint hat and coat and turned toward the hall halt half minded to go allegra stood there I 1 thought that till now I 1 had not known how fair she was she was a cool wind blowing through my mind routing the rubbish of old wretchedness going she asked her eyes smiled 1 I am I 1 said or I 1 mean 1 I was just saying to your aunt part of my mind screamed idl botill at me none ot of it did anything else to help me she came nearer 1 I heard you she told me ive been standing here tor for five minutes lets not review that again lets go on from there have you no better reason for or not marrying me david miss agatha did not come back tor for a long while THE END |