Adventure Magazine Cover — page 164: what you’re looking at

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

728 “Why—why,” exclaimed the ministering brother in pained surprise, ‘‘what’s this? He ts hurt. His hand is hurt, here, on the inside. There’s blood on it! Poor boy!” But at that moment there was an almost simultaneous discovery on the part of the chauffeur, whose eyes were bent} scrutiniz- ingly on the grate-bar that he held. “Good God!” he cried. ‘‘What’s this? There’s blood here—clotted blood; and there’s hair, too!”’ The tall old man rose in dumb alarm. And then there entered, trembling, from the hall, the hunchbacked Abijah. His mouth was open; he was staring with wide, frightened eyes and holding in his arms, as he might have held a baby, a white-cased pillow. Peter saw him first, but the younger man, quick now to suspect the slightest sound, turned, too, almost instantly. “Mr. Peter! Mr. Peter!” the old servitor was stammering. “Look at this, Mr. Peter!’’ On the pillow case was a great uneven dark red stain. “‘Murdered!”” ‘The voice of the chauffeur echoed through the great room. ‘‘Mur- dered! And by that fiend!” With shaking hand he pointed to the demented Henry, crouching silent, unheeding in the chair by the hearth. ‘It’s her bood on the pillow! It’s her blood and her hair on this!” Old Peter Hemming swayed backward, caught himself, and stumbled gropingly for his chair, opposite Henry’s, into which he relaxed with a wailing cry. He covered his wrinkled face with his wrinkled hands and broke into violent sobbing, his tears trick- ling between his long, bony fingers. In his struggle with the lunatic the chauf- feur’s cap had been dislodged, and his dark sandy hair, set awry now by his own ex- citedly tormenting hands, stood bristling. “Tllshow you!” heraged. ‘Til show the lot of you! Don’t you think I can’t see that pretended safe-robbery was a blind! You had it all fixed. That’s why I was brought in here. I was to be interested, so that crazy man could come upon me from behind and brain me. But I was too smart for him.” His hand went to the pocket of his great fur coat. ‘“‘And here’s something else! A locket I found on the floor—her locket. Some one of you dropped it, here, in this room. Murdered and robbed! I know. I know what a fortune in jewels she had on her when she came here. Where are they? Adventure This was the least valuable of the lot.” He looked about for his cap, and found it. When he had put it on, he turned to Abijah, who was still standing where he had stopped, the pillow dropped to the floor beside him. “‘T’m not sureabout you,” he said sternly. “TI don’t believe, though, that you are in it. If you were, you wouldn’t have brought in that evidence,” and with a motion of his foot he indicated the pillow. ‘I’m going to trust you, anyhow. I’m going to leave these two women-killers in your charge. And if you want things to go well with you, just be sure not to let ’em get away! I’m off to Stamford now for the police! Maybe you can find out while I’m gone where they’ve hidden my employer’s body.” Noisily he stamped towards the door. But at the threshold the voice of old Peter Hemming, who all the while, up until now, had not stirred, arrested him. ‘Stop!’ he cried, as hastily he rose from his chair. “Stop! I must speak with you!” The old gentleman’s eyes were red from weeping, and his voice shook with the stress of his emotion. The sturdy figure of the excited chauffeur halted and turned quickly. ‘““Well!”? he demanded. “What have you to say now?” “Nothing, here,’’ Peter answered. His tone was abject. “I wish to speak to you alone. I want you to come into the dining- room for a moment.”’ Sullenly the young man gestured a re- luctant consent. “Maybe it’s a trap,” he muttered, ‘“‘but I’m not scared of fossils. J’ll risk it.” In the scantily-furnished wainscoted room to which Peter led him he took a place with his back to the wall, declining a proffered chair. The master of the house stood, too, one hand resting on the oak table, black with age. “Before you go,” Peter began, after nervously clearing his throat, ‘‘I have one request to make of you; and after that, per- haps, one plea. I can not but admit that appearances—the circumstances, indeed— are terribly in favor of your contention. But you must concede that until the body is found, or some more conclusive evidence of this woman’s death is adduced, we should still have the benefit of the doubt. My re- quest is, therefore, that you accompany me, now, in a thorough search of the house.” Again the chauffeur sullenly acquiesced. a) COmiCLOoOokkS.GO© 5}