Argosy All-Story Weekly, February 7, 1925 — page 17: what you’re looking at

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

there. Her brain was tormented by in- creasing pains. That they were thorough- breds, she knew. The write-up in the news- papers had assured her of that; also that one possessed a peculiar excellence. The paper had said something about there being three. It was. characteristic of her that even in her distraught state there was an insistent urge to obtain the best. It would seem that one was already gone. Her mind darted swiftly along adjacent channels. If one were gone he would be the best. She want- ed the best for herself. She must find out who had bought him and then offer his new owner a higher price. It could be ar- ranged. The paper had definitely mentioned the important dog’s name. It was a curious name, That of a star. She had heard it once before that evening—from the lips of Lebombard himseli—but a moment be- fore—the North Star. ‘““ Where,” she said, “is the third?” A positive glow swept across the wrinkles of Michael’s face. “ Mademoiselle is not satisfied with Vidi- nette? With Jacques?” “IT want the best.” ‘They are ver’ perfect of their kind?” “There are degrees even in perfection.” ‘* Mademoiselle, ¥ think can understand, She will see North Star.” The name came from Lebombard’s hid- den lips with the qualities reserved for ven- eration. “Then he isn’t sold?” “Sold, mademoiselle!” <A glint of fire pierced the reserves of Michael’s black but- ton eyes. “ Non, mademorzselle, North Star he is not sold. One does not dispose so cavalierly of royalty.” Impatience increased within Marcia in hot, stifling waves. She wanted to hit some- thing—her brother—that deadly old man— anything. Her stifled feelings demanded the relief of physical expression. She was on the point of making an offer for the dog unseen. Their value, she ee ran to many thousands. Were North Star, the “perfect ‘specimen he had - : 9een reputed to be, twen-— 3 a thirty thousand would not be too much. She imagined she could easily get him for fifteen or ten. She would start at five. Per- haps it would not be necessary further to —nerease the offer. “Tf mademotselle and—?” “My brother.” “And her brother will be good enough to stand a little this way?” Marcia swerved sharply to the immedi- ate present. She replaced her hand on Wilbur’s arm and drew him a little to one side. He had almost fallen asleep, she noted, upon his feet. The traces of what- ever emotions their recent altercation had aroused seemed gone. His face was smooth and unruffled as a “sleeping child’s.. He would look like a child, she thought, if it weren’t for the bags that were beginning to form beneath his. eyes. He must be very drunk. Why did that old fool want them to stand aside? Would he materialize his wretched North Star from the air? She was in no mood for stunts. “And now,” said Lebombard, “ madem- oiselle shall see.” He joined them at the edge of the in- closure and fixed his eyes upon the rim of the eight foot wall. Thinly, like an echo vaguely heard, came the strains of the dis- tant orchestra and a faint chatter of a lot of people. But the illusion of solitude re- mained. They seemed alone, the three of them and the two motionless dogs, acting some esoteric drama in the painted scene of snow and of the great north woods. For an instant its spell caught even Mar- cia in its grip. Gently from above fell a few white flakes. It was several seconds before she realized that they probably were made of paper. But during those few sec- onds she found her mind, her eyes, fer thoughts pinned with an unshakable in- tensity upon the lean, tense figure of Mich- ael Lebombard. His eyes burned the edge of the high wall’s rim. His voice, when he spoke, contained the tremor of command, and somehow of an abiding } love. “ North Star!” A flash of muscular pray poised on the wall and jumped to rest at their feet. For — an instant everything was swept from Mar- ¢ia’s mind but the picture that the dog cS Eomichboo