10-Story Detective, September 1941 — page 44: what you’re looking at

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

42—_—_____——_—_—_—__——_10-STORY DETECTIVE “A cricket match, darling. It’s an English game.” “So I’ve heard.” “However, according to Mr. Bel- lowe, there are quite a number of cricket clubs in this country. There’s one south of the city, called the Wood- ford Wells Cricket Club. The game to- day is starting at ten this morning, and lasts until dusk. The game is called at one for lunch and at four for tea and cake.” “Tea and cake!’ “What a game!” “It should be interesting,” laughed Lucile. “Anyway, Mr. Bellowe is not one of the players, so we didn’t have to get out there for the start. He'll drive me out at eleven.” “But it isn’t regular,” objected Phil. “What does he want you for?” “It is a little off-trail,” conceded Lucile. “But Mr. Bellowe explained it to me. He’s a stranger here, from St. Louis. He knows only one person, one of the cricket players. And Mr. Bel- lowe is supposed to have a sister, who is supposed to be with him, but she couldn’t come.” “You mean,” said Phil, “that you are to pass yourself off as this guy’s sister !” “Right.” “Then I don’t like it.” Phil glow- ered suspiciously. “Suppose some guy tries to date you?” Lucile said comfortingly: “That's taken care of, darling. If any lug ap- proaches me for that purpose, I’m merely to tell him to see my brother about it.” “T still don’t like it.” Lucile laughed pleasantly and fin- ished her coffee. “Darling,” she said, “there’s nothing scandalous about be- ing some man’s sister. The pay is swell; it’s easy work, and I’m glad to get it. I’ll have to be trotting. See you later.” muttered Phil. HILL, moped for an hour, but he couldn’t rest. He didn’t like the idea of Lucile being Mr. Bellowe’s sis- ter. He didn’t like the idea of Mr. Bellowe himself. Anyhow, he didn’t like the idea, any part of it. There was something phony somewhere. He found out where the Woodford Wells Cricket Club was located and drove out there, fast. Lucile wasn’t going to like this. It was a bright day and the crieket club, Phil found when he got there, was a pleasant place. It was more of a plant than he had expected. There was a cricket field and, adjoining it, some tennis courts. The cricket field was about the size of a baseball field, only shaped round, roughly. It was all grass, well-kept, well-trimmed. Where the cricket field bulged out toward the tennis courts were a few buildings. Phil found out about the buildings. The two larger ones were clubhouses, one for gents and the other for ladies. A little to the right of the gents’ club- house was a small structure, like a double-size sentry box, which was for the storekeepers. Farther away, to the left of the ladies’ clubhouse, was a tool house, which was partially screened by willows. There were chairs and benches around the clubhouse, and perhaps a hundred people thronged there. Evi- dently the general public was not ex- pected,to show up in great numbers. There was no admission charge. Phil stood in front of the gents’ clubhouse. He was a little at a loss as to how to proceed. It was some- thing like crashing a party. No one paid any attention to him or, if they did, they were too polite to show it. He couldn’t see anything of Lucile. However, although there were no ladies in or near the gents’ clubhouse, there were men over in front of the ladies’ clubhouse, so no doubt she was there, with Bellowe. The game was in progress. Some- one hit the ball, out there on the field. A few hands were clapped. It puzzled Phil. There didn’t seem to be any ex- citement. Yes, perhaps there was, but COMICOO® S (©