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Show The Qixl in Ike Mirror I Dtj ELIZABETH JORDAN ( or The Centurr ConguM TTVO err1c CHAPTER XVI 21 Laurie Makes a Confession The lltfhta of Long Island city Kreet- ed them with reassuring winks thrmiKh the snow. Hi-r-ln those, Doris drew a deep breulh. She hud let her nerves run away with her, she subconsciously felt. In the flrt moments of reaction she even experienced a sense of personal Injury and almost of resentment toward her companion. He had put her through the most horrible half-hour half-hour of her life. It seemed that no service he had rendered could compensate com-pensate her for such suffering. On the other hand, he had brought her safely bnck to New York, as he had promised to do. Surely It was not for her to cavil at the manner In which he had done It. Laurie was exhausted and was showing It; that was nil. With their arrival at her studio his manner did not change. Fie assisted her from the car, punctiliously escorted escort-ed her to the erevutor and left her thera. "I have some telephoning to do," he explained. "I shall not leave the building,, and I expect to be with you again In about fifteen minutes. With your permission, I am asking my two partners to meet me In your studio, stu-dio, Rodney Bangs and Jacob Epstein? What I have to tell must be told to all three of you, and" hla voice caught In a queer fashion "It Is a thing I don't want to tell more than once. May they come here?" "Of course " "Thnflns. Then I'll wait for them down here, and bring them up to your studio when they come." In the studio, with her door shut against the world, Doris again resolutely reso-lutely took herself and her nerves in hand. She summoned endless explanations expla-nations of Laurie's manner and appearance, ap-pearance, explanations which, however, how-ever, turn and twist them as she would, always left something unexplained. unex-plained. There was, she realized, a strong probability that he had forced the truth from Shaw. But even the truth would not make Laurie look and act like that. Or would It? She tried to believe It would. Anything would' be better than the thing she feared. Five minutes passed ten fifteen Iwenty. Save during the half-hour of that return Journey from Sea Cliff, she had never known such dragging, horror-filled moments. A dozen times she fancied she heard the elevator sop at her floor, and the sound of Jtdces and footsteps approach. A jozen times she went to her windows and wildly gazed out on the storm. As she stared, she prayed. It was the same prayer, over and over. "Dear God, please don't let It be that way !" The aspiration was the nearest she dared come to putting Into words the terror that shook her heart. The second fifteen minutes were almost al-most up when she renlly heard the elevator stop. Quick footsteps approached ap-proached her door, but there were no voices. The three men, If they were coming, were coming In utter silence. Before they had time to rap she had opened the door and stood back to let them' enter. As they passed her she looked into their faces, and as she looked the familiar sense of panic, now Immeasurably Intensified, again seized her In Its grip. Laurie, usually the most punctilious of men, made on this occasion an omission extraordinary for him. He did not present his partners to their hostess. But not one of the three noticed no-ticed that omission. He took off his coat, methodically folded It, and laid It on a nearby chair. To the brain back of each of the three pairs of eyes watching him, the same thought came. Hi had something some-thing appalling to tell them, and, cool as he seemed, he dared not tell It. He was playing for time. The strain of even the brief delay was too much for Epstein's endurance. High-strung, his nerves on edge, almost before Laurie had turned he sputtered forth questions ques-tions like bullets from a machine gun. "Veil ! veil !" he demanded, "vot's it all about? Vot's It mean? Over the telephone you say you got to see us this minute. You say you got Into trouble, big trouble. Veil, vot trouble? Vot Is It? "I guess It ain't nothing ve can't fix up," he Jerked out, trying to speak with his usual assurance. "I guess ve fir it up all right." Laurie shook his head. None of the thirty minutes he had spent on the ground floor had been devoted to Improving Im-proving his appearance. His black, curly hair, usually as shining as satin, was rough, matted, dirty. Across his left cheek the sinister cut still ran, raw, angry-looking, freshly Irritated ' by the Ice-laden wind. "Sit down," he said, wearily. All ihe life had gone out of hla voice. It had an uncanny effect of monotony, as If pitched on two flat notes To those three, who knew so well the rich beauty of his speaking tones, this thange In tnem was almost more dunning than the change In his looks. 7,'alking over to the mantel, Laurie .e.ned an elbow ueavlly upon It, and for the first time looked squarely froc on to the other of his friends. i As he looked, he tried to speak. They saw the effort anil Its failure, and understood un-derstood both. With a gesture of hopelessness, he turned his back toward them, and stood with sagging muscles and eyes fixed on the empty grate. Epstein's nerves snapped. "For God's sake, Devon," he begged, "cut out the. raits I Tell us rot you got on your chest, and tell It quick." Laurie turned and once more met his eyes. Under the look Epstein's oblique eyes shifted. "I'm going to," Laurie said quietly and still in those new, flat tones. "That's why I've brought you here. But It's a hard Jo. You see" his voice again lost its steadiness "I've got to hurt you all of you most awfully. aw-fully. And and that's the hardest part of this business for me." Doris, now staring up at him, told herself that she could not endure another an-other moment of this tension. She dared not glance at either of the oth- - kh "Sit Down," He Said Wearily. All the Life Had Gone Out of His Voice. ers, but she heard Epstein's heavy breathing and the creak of Kodney Bangs' chair as he suddenly changed his position. "He killed Herbert Shaw," she almost al-most whispered. For a long moment there waa utter silence in the room, through which the words Just spoken seemed to scurry like living things, anxious to be out and away. Laurie, his eyes on the girl, showed no change In his position, po-sition, though a spasm crossed his face. Epstein, putting up one fat hand, feebly beat the air with it as if trying to push backi something that was approaching him, something Intangible In-tangible but terrible. Bangs alone seemed at last to have taken In the full meaning of the curt announcement. announce-ment. As if it had galvanized him Into movement, he sprang to his feet and, head down, charged the situation. "What the devil is she talking about?" he cried out. "Laurie! What does she mean?" "She told you." Laurie spoke as quietly as before, but wliSiout looking look-ing up. "You mean It's true?" Rodney still spoke In a loud, aggressive aggres-sive voice, as if trying to awaken himself him-self and the others from a nightmare. "Take It in," muttered Laurie. "I'ui! yourselves up to It. I had to." An uncontrollable shudder ran over him. As If his nerve had suddenly given way, he dropped his head cn his bent arm. For another Interval Bangs stood staring at him in a stupefaction stu-pefaction through which a slow tremor tre-mor ran. "I I can't take It in," he stammered at lust. "I know. That's the way I felt." Laurie spoke without raising his head. Bangs, watching him, saw him shudder again, saw that his legs were giving under him, and that he was literally lit-erally holding to the mantel for support. sup-port. The sight steadied his own nerves. He pushed his chair forward, and with an arm across the other's shoulder, forced him down into it "Then In God's name, why are we wasting time here?" he suddenly demanded. de-manded. "Your car's outside. I'll drive you anywhere. We'll get out of the country. We'll travel at night and He low In the daytime. Pull yourself your-self together, old man." Urgently, he grasped the other's shoulder. "We've got things to do." Laurie shook his head. He tried to smile. There was something horrible In the resulting grimace of his twisted mouth. "There were only two things to do," he said 'doggedly. "One was to tell you three. I've done that. The other was to tell the district attorney. I've done that, too." Bangs recoiled as If from a physical phys-ical blow. Epstein, who had slightly roused himself at the prospect of action, ac-tion, sank back Into a stunned, goggling gog-gling silence. "Y'es," Laurie was pulling himself together. . "We're friends, you know, Perkins and I," he went on, more naturally. nat-urally. "I've seen a good deal of him lately. He will make it as easy as he can. He has taken my parole. I've got till morning." He let them take that In. Then, very simply, he added, "I have promised to be In my rooms at eight o'clock." Under this, like a tree-trnnk goes down with the final stroke of the ax, Rodney Bangs collapsed. "My G d!" he muttered. "My G d !" He fell Into the nearest chair and sat there, his head in his shaking hands. As If the collapse of his friend were a call to his own strength, Laurie suddenly sud-denly sat up and took himself In hand. "Now listen," he said. "Let's take this sensibly. We've got to thresh out the situation, and here's our last chance. I want to make one thing clear. Shaw was pnre vermin. There's no place for his sort in a decent world, and I have no more regret over over exterminating him than I would have over killing a snake. Later, Miss Mayo will tell , you why." Under the effect of the clear, dispassionate dis-passionate voice, almost natural again, Epstein began to revive. "It vas self-defense," he croaked eagerly. He caught at the Idea as If it were a life-line, and obviously began be-gan to drag himself out of a pit with Its help. "It vas self-defense," he repented. re-pented. "Yu vas fighting, I s'pose. That lets you out." "No." Laurie dully explained, "he wasn't armed. I thought he was. I I thought he was drawing some weapon, lie had used chloroform on me once before. I was mistaken. But no Jury will believe that, of course." His voice changed and flatted again. His young figure seemed to give In the chair, as if Its muscles sagged under a new burden. For a moment he sat silent. "We may as well face all the facts," he went on, at lust. "The one thing I won't endure Is the horror of a trial." "But you'll get otT," choked Epstein. "It's self-defense It's It's " "Or a brain storm, or temporary Insanity In-sanity !" Laurie Interrupted. "No, old chap, that Isn't good enough. No padded cell for me! And I'm not going go-ing to have my name dragged through the courts and the case figuring in the newspapers for months. I've got a rea son I think you will all admit Is a good one." Again his voice changed. "That would break my sister's heart," fie ended brokenly. At the words Bangs uttered an odd sound, half a gasp and half a groan. Epstein, again In his pit of wretchedness, wretched-ness, caught It "Now you see the Job Te've done,!" he muttered. "Now you see how ve looked after him, like she told us to I" Bangs paid no attention to him. "What are you going to do?" he heavily asked Laurie. "I'll tell you, on one condition that you give me your word, all three of you, not to try in any way to interfere in-terfere or to prevent It. You couldn't, anyway, so don't make the blunder of trying. You know what I'm up against. There's only one way out." He looked at them In turn. Doris and Epstein merely stared back, with the effect of not taking In what he waa saying. But Bangs recoiled. "No, by G d I" he cried. "No I No P Laurie went on as If he had not spokeu. "I promised ' Perkins to be In my rooms at eight o'clock tomorrow morning," morn-ing," he muttered, and they had to strain their ears to catch the words. "I did not promise to be alive." This time It was Doris who gasped out something that none of them heard. For a moment Laurie sat silent In his chair, watching her with a strange intentness. Then, In turn, his black eyes went to the faces of Bangs and Epstein. Huddled in the big chair he occupied, the manager sat looking straight before him, his eyes set in agony, his Jaw dropped. He had the aspect of a man about to have a stroke. Bangs sat leaning forward, for-ward, staring at the floor. The remaining re-maining color had left his face. He appeared to have wholly forgotten the presence of others In the room. He was muttering something to himself, the same thing over and over and over: "And it's all up to ns. It's all up to us." . For an Interval which none of the three ever forgot Laurie watched the tableau. Then, rising briskly, he ostentatiously os-tentatiously stretched himself, and In loud, cheerful tones answered Rodney's Rod-ney's steady babble. "Yes,' old chap. It's all up to you," he said. "So what do you think of this as a climax for the play?" Grinning down at his pal, he waited for a reply. It did not come. Epstein was still unable to speak or move. Doris seemed to have heard the words without taking thera in. But at last Bangs rose slowly, groped his way to his chum as if through a fog, and, catching him by the shoulders, looked wildly Into his eyes. "You mean you mean," he stuttered stut-tered at last, "that that this was all a hoax?" "Of course It was," Laurie admitted, In his gayest voice. "It was the climax cli-max of the hoax you have played on ' me. An hour ago Shaw confessed to me how you three arranged this whole plot of Miss Mayo's adventure, so that i should be kept out of mischief and should think I was having an adventure adven-ture myself. I thought a little excitement excite-ment was due you in return. How do you like my climax, anyhow? Pretty fair, I call it" He stopped short. Rodney had loosened his grip on his shoulders and stumbled to a chair. Now, his arm j on the back and bis head on his arm, his body shook with the relentless con- vulsiou of a complete nervous collapse. I Epstein had produced a handkerchief j and was feebly wiping his forehead. Doris seemed to have ceased to j breathe. Laurie walked over to her, took her hands, and drew them away from her face. Even yet, she seemed not to understand. "I'm sorry," he said, very gently. 'Tve given you three an awful Jolt. But I think you will all admit that there was something coming to you. You've put rne through a pretty bad week. I decided you could endure half an hour of reprisal." None of the three answered. Nun of the three could. But, in the Incandescent Incan-descent moments that followed. Ova face of Epstein brightened slwly, like a moon emerging from hlacK elod. Bangs alone, who had best hore tfca situation up till now, was unable w meet the reaction. In the silence e the Utile studio he wept on, openly and guipingly and unrestrainedly, aa he had not wept since he was a llttl boy TO SB COMlNCIn |