Argosy All-Story Weekly, April 19, 1924 — page 89: what you’re looking at

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

THE HANDWRITING ON THE WALL. - jealous! You’ve sure got me going, Lucie, -and when I open my own garage out here—” He was thinking fast. So that was why she had walked all the way to the village instead of using the telephone at the Manor! toa have that conversation overheard, but she meant to leave no record of the number! Was that the reason why she had looked - $0 sort of scared when he told her he had - followed her from the drug store? The private affairs of a servant of the “household could have nothing to do with - the killing of its master, of course, but Cliff had told him to be on the lookout for anything suspicious and this looked like something more than a mere flirtation of hers that she went to such trouble to keep her communication secret. Phil decided that for more than personal inclination the young woman’s further acquaintance might be worth while cultivating, and suggested that he rent a car and take her for a drive that evening. Lucie shook her head regretfully but de- cidedly. “Not this evening, M’sieu Philip. An- other time, perhaps, but to-night it will be expected that we all remain at home, be- cause of Monsieu’.” 3 That sounded reasonable enough, but there had been a little catch in her breath when she declined. “Aw, you could slip out, the way you did last night!”’ Phil ventured. ‘ After all, Mr. Monckton wasn’t anything to you, and T may not be around here very long. I believe you’ve got another date!”’ ‘‘T haven’t!” Lucie retorted. not go, I should lose my place” “ Well, you'll lose it anyway, now the old man’s gone and his son in prison; there'll be no one to keep the house open,” Phil argued. ‘If you don’t come to-night Tl know it’s because of somebody else, and I’m going to be here anyway,gand wait—”’ ‘Vou shall not!” Lucie’s voice trembled, and sweeping needlework and candy under her arm she rose. “If you come near this house to-night, I—I shall never see you, never again! I warn you, the dogs will be loose!” ‘©T= can - sharp eyes read actual fear. It wasn’t only that she didn’t want - 999 There was room for no doubt now! Her anger was unfeigned, but beneath it Phil’s What was going on to-night that she was afraid to have a stranger know? “Then it is another date!” he rose to histrionic heights. “ It’s that fellow you phoned to last night at 609—”’ “Stop!” The bottle of perfume fell crashing at her feet, sending up a wave of cloying fragrance on the still air, and her very lips went white. ‘“ You did trace that number, after all! I tell you, if you meddle in my affairs it shall be the worse for you! T do not know who you are nor why you have tried to talk to me, but I shall tell the gardener to watch for you, and hand you over to the police! Let me pass!” With a rustle of her starched white skirts she was gone and for a moment Phil stood staring almost stupidly after her. Then he made his way through the gap in the fence and back to the village with one resolve firmly fixed in his mind; he would carry out his threat, and be on hand that evening. It might be a jealous lover she was expect- ing, but if it chanced after all to be some- one in whom the Shadowers might have a vital interest, he should not be allowed to slip through their fingers. It was after nine when he approached the Manor once more and this time, in addition to his flash light, he carried a small but serviceable pistol. The wind was rising now and the stars were obscured by a heavy cloudbank, but Phil smiled to himself at the deep silence which brooded over the vast estate. If Lucie expected a visitor she would take good care that the dogs were not only se- curely tied but silenced. Avoiding that gap in the masonry he dropped over the wall by means of a low-hanging branch, as he had on the previous night. There were To test her several dim lights in the garage and out- buildings, but only one from the house and that from the rear, under the roof. The -room of one of the servants, probably. Was Lucie waiting for the time of her tryst? Taking up his stand behind a tree mid- way between the gate and the gap in the fence where through a vista he commanded EOMmiIGdoOoks=co