Under Lock and Key; or, Marion Marlowe's Last Role — page 20: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

was the reply. sneeringly. Ul Pm _ thinks I don’t know his income! I'd like it ‘fakes.’ present. \ | MY QUEEN. signed that paper,” continued the superin- tendent, “and they are every one of them There are no such names in the di- rectory. Now, who the mischief have we on our hands, Fenn, and how, in all creation, are we going to get rid of her?” As he asked the questions, he stopped di- rectly in front of his assistant, who had very ~ nearly regained his usual manners. “We are not to blame for her commit- ment,” was the savage answer. ‘We re- ceived an application from the patient's father—-we answered it, and her incarcera- tion followed. Some one, *presumably her father, paid us three months’ board in ad- vance. I don’t see where the law can touch us. We have done nothing irregular!” “Nevertheless, I’d like to get rid of her,” “Just suppose it should turn out that the girl’s story was true! We would surely be in for an investigation, if nothing more.” | “And an investigation might reveal a few undesirable points in the management of the d >»? ! ome Rest answered the assistant, He was still stroking his mustache and smiling scornfully, but his superior officer was’ fast becoming more nervous. There was not a secret of the institution that Dr. Fenn did not know, and it sud- denly occurred to the superintendent to be diplomatic. “See here, Fenn! I know you are envious of my opportunity to make money in this en- terprise,” he began, softly. “Suppose I take you in as a sort of partner—give you half of the income for half of the work and responsi- bility! Will you let old bones lie buried and start afresh, old fellow ?” Dr. Fenn stopped stroking his mustache, and stared at him a minute. He did not quite understand this change in the superintend- ent’s tactics. * “T’ll think it over,’ he said, cautiously. Let’s see, how much is the sanitarium mak- ing?” Dr. Lee motioned to his desk and to a safe in the corner of the office. “There are the books—look them ovér,”’ he said, blandly; “and there’s no time like the I am going to my room, so I will not disturb you.” | There was just a motion of Dr. Fenn’s _head as his superior left the room, then he rose to ‘his feet, quickly, and began pacing the office. “As if I did not know every word and every figure in those books,’ he muttered, “Lee must take me for a fool, if he 17 for just one year, and, by the gods, I'll have it! No use in working a year for it, either! He stepped to the door as he spoke and turned the key, then rapidly crossed the room and opened the safe in the corner. The moment he did so, his eyes fell upon some papers—they were the commitment papers of the patient “Cornelia Gordon.”’ He put them in his pocket, and then opened the cash drawer. here was money enough to be a slight temptation, but he shook his head and closed the door promptly. “Not enough for yours truly,” he muttered, under his breath; then, just for a minute, he did some hard thinking. The game had not worked like the Derby case. He had engineered that fiendish deal, and carried it through in triumph, and the sanitarium had cleared ten thousand dollars by the transaction. A sane woman had been committed there, no one but himself knew exactly by whom, but, in that case, the superintendent had kept his nerve, and none of the parties concerned had suffered from apoplexy. | As he rose from before the safe, a sudden thought flashed through his mind, and, with skillful fingers, he changed the combination. It would need an expert to open the safe now in case Dr. Lee should decide that he wished to view the contents before morning. He left the office gently, after relighting his lantern, then carefully consulted his watch in the corridor. The silence of the big building oppressed him a little, and, as he passed the outer door, he was startled by a sudden peal of the bell. It was a telegram for himself, and the mes- sage was- written in cipher. As he read it, his eyes flashéd and his face brightened in- stantly. There was yet another way to gain the amount he yearned for. Steve Blakely had wired him some im- portant news. : A reward of ten thousand dollars had been offered for knowledge that would lead to the recovery of one Marion Marlowe. It would be upon the front pages of all of the morning pers. He glanced again at his watch and then ex- amined his lantern critically. The night watch was on the upper floor—it was his golden opportunity. An ugly smile crossed his face as he stole through the wards. There was no thought in his heart of mgrcy for the girl, for his brain seemed on fire with its mad thirst for - money. : There was not a sound in the attendants’ room, and he glided past the door like an evil shadow. Marion was sleeping soundly when he let COMIC OOO <S) (c@)