Adventure, December 1914 — page 6: what you’re looking at

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

4 Adventure “Dead?” repeated Kennedy in amaze- ment. ‘““‘Ves—the most incomprehensible thing you can imagine. Come upstairs with me, before the coroner gets here,” he urged. “T’d like you to see the case, Kennedy, before he musses things up.” We followed the house-detective to the tenth floor. As we left the elevator he nodded to the young woman floor-clerk who led the way down the thickly carpeted hall. She stopped at a door, and through the transom overhead we could see that the room was dimly lighted. She opened the door and we caught a glimpse of a sump- tuously furnished suite. | On the snowy white bed, in all her cold, stony beauty, lay the beautiful Madame Valcour, fully dressed in the latest of Pari- sian creations, perfect from her hat which breathed of the Rue de la Paix to her dainty tango-slippers peeping from a loosely draped skirt which accentuated rather than con- cealed her exquisite form. She was a striking woman, dark of hair and skin. In life she must have been sensu- ously attractive. But now her face was drawn and contorted with a ghastly look. There she lay, alone, in an elegantly ap- pointed room of an exclusive hotel. Only a few feet away were hundreds of gay guests chatting and laughing, with no idea of the terrible tragedy so near them. In the corner of the room I could see her maid sobbing hysterically. “Oh—nita—nina,” cried the maid, whose name I learned afterward was Juanita. “She was muy simpatica—muy simpatica.” ‘“‘ ‘Nina,’ ’’ remarked Kennedy to us in an undertone, ‘“‘means ‘little girl,’ the familiar term for mistress. As for ‘muy simpatica,’ it means, literally, ‘very sympathetic,’ but really can not be done justice to in English. It is that charming characteristic of per- sonal attractiveness, the result of a sweet disposition.” He looked down keenly at the woman before us. “TI can well imagine that she had it, that she was muy simpatica.”’ While Craig was taking in the situation, I turned to McBride and asked— ‘‘Who was Madame Valcour—where did she come from?”’ ‘You haven’t heard of her?’’ he repeated. ‘‘Well—I’m not surprised after all. Really I can’t say I know much about her myself— except that she was a beauty and attracted everybody’s attention here at the hotel. Among other things, she was a friend of Colonel Sinclair, I believe. You know him, don’t you—the retired army-engineer— interested in Mexican mines and railroads, and a whole lot of things? Oh, you’ve seen his name in the newspapers often enough. Lately, you know, he has been experiment- ing with air-ships for the army—has a big estate out on Long Island.” Kennedy nodded. ‘Rather a remarkable chap, I’ve heard.”’ ‘“T don’t know whether you know it or not,’ continued McBride, “but we seem to have quite a colony of Mexican refugees here at the Vanderveer. She seemed to be one of them—at least she seemed to know them all. I think she was a Frenchwoman. At least, you know how all the Latin- Americans seem naturally to gravitate to Paris and how friendly the French are toward them.” “How did you come to discover her?” asked Kennedy, bending over her again. ‘She couldn’t have been dead very long.” ‘“Well—she came into the hotel during the dinner-hour. As nearly as [ can find out, the elevator boy, who seems to have been the only person who observed her closely, says that she acted as if she were dazed. ‘“*‘They tell me her maid was out at the time. But about half an hour after Madame came in, there was a call for her over the telephone. The operator got no answer from her room, although the boy had seen her go up and the young lady who is floor- clerk on the tenth floor said she had not gone out.” “Did the person on the _ telephone leave any message—give any name?r”’ asked Craig. “Ves. It was a man who seemed to be very much excited—said that it was Sefior Morelos—just Sefior Morelos—she would know.” “What then?” ‘‘Why, when he found he couldn’t get her, he rang off. A few minutes later her maid Juanita came in. The moment she opened the door with her key, she gave a scream and fainted.”’ “Suicide?” I ventured under my breath to Kennedy, as McBride paused. Craig said nothing. He was making a careful examination of both the room and of the body on the bed. conmiclooolx C©