Argosy All-Story Weekly — page 116: what you’re looking at

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

746 approach and a woman could get her confidence better than a man. She goes with Mrs. Franck’s little boy over to the park to play every morning, and I always could get on with kiddies. It may take a few days, but when once I can gain her confidence I know I can get something from her about that man who was to call up her uncle Thursday night and didn’t, even if she was told not to dare to speak of it! Ill meet you in the restaurant to- morrow evening at six instead if you'll let me; Mrs. Franck gives me my breakfast, and by that time I ought to have something to tell you.” Cliff Nichols wavered but finally gave his reluctant consent, and watched while she crept back to the rear apartment on the next floor. She was right, of course. The child’s knowledge of her uncle’s affairs and those of his friends might be limited, especially if he were connected with a gang of crooks, but she evidently knew enough to make her dangerous or she would not have been cautioned not to speak. Unknowingly she might give to Ethel a valuable clue. Cliff shuddered at the thought of their young secretary’s possible danger, but he should have known her better than to think she would sit by passively while the mystery remained unsolved. At least he was at hand to protect her in any emergency. The wide-open saloon he had followed Charlie to was a resort for denizens of the underworld; that was patent. The weak, furtive faces of its patrons were unmistak- able, with thievery and every sort of petty crime written all over them, and Charlie was tarred with the same brush. If the thin, hard-worked little woman who had opened the door to her guests was his sister and the mother of the little girl, she was plainly not of a criminal type. But the look of covert apprehension which seemed habitual to her denoted that she knew of her brother’s mode of life and feared for him. He was warned and she would be hopelessly reticent; only the child re- mained. In the morning he left early as though to go to work, but took up his stand at the nearest entrance to the small park that ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. clung to the bottom of the steep cliff crowned with the huge cathedral. Soon children alone or in groups came straggling in to play and then young mothers ap- peared with shabby baby carriages and go- carts. Cliff watched and waited patiently. At last a small tow-headed boy approached, accompanied by a gentle faced little girl a few feet taller than he. She was neatly dressed and shining from soap and water, with her brown hair in two thin, decorous little braids looped behind each ear and she lugged a huge doll arrayed in an obviously new and gorgeous gown of bright blue silk. Cliff recalled the dress which “ Jen ” had ‘made for the doll ‘‘Joe” had given to Bessie. At the same moment Ethel Jepson came strolling along with a book and a small sew- ing bag. Giving him a glance without the slightest shade of recognition in it, she en- tered the park and seated herself on a bench near where the two children were playing, somewhat ostentatiously producing a box of chocolates from her bag. Cliff waited then long enough to see the boy run to her, beckoning to his companion. Then he returned to the house, leaving the apartment door ajar as before. He explained to the landlady that he felt ill and had decided to lay off for the day, and patiently submitted to being dosed and coddled by the good-natured woman. He sighed with relief when she departed to mar- ket, and settled himself for a long vigil. It was one unproductive of result, for the door of the opposite flat remained closed and no one came to it. If Charlie had not gone out while Cliff was watching the park entrance he must have decided to lay low and his sister with him for there was no sign of either of them all day. The little girl returned at noon, going out again at three to reappear when the sun got low, but nothing else occurred. At six Cliff left for the restaurant where he found Ethel waiting for him. ‘“‘'Where have you been since morning?” he demanded. ‘I’ve been watching all day and you didn’t come back from the park!” *“ No, I didn’t!” she dimpled. “I thought I hadn’t better hang around the house too much especially when there wasn’t any use GoOmicvdooks=co