Argosy All-Story Weekly, February 7, 1925 — page 54: what you’re looking at

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

: 7 : F See, % PP eRe PW BP a ee le ae Fy fay Se rt aT e eek et 1% Ne Wh) LE tee PYM! LLU BIN] Pe Ne abe artat Mid RAY bl . APIA A w? rk a ! ' ot = : = - Tt ~~ s = aye left that rotten den to-night with Rivers, and Rivers carried a traveling bag!” ““ A—a trav—” Helen stammered, and for a moment pressed a fine little hand to her forehead. “‘ He—yes, that’s so; he did have a bag. He had the big bag he carries his pet microscope in, of course; he never leaves thet in the laboratory. But that you—” “‘ Microscope!’ Samuel echoed tremen- dously. ‘‘ Microscope—bah! You hurried out with him; you were on your way—well, never mind that! You’re here now! You’re here where I can talk to you, and hereafter you'll stay here, my dear! D’ye hear that? This is the end of your scien- tific rot, Helen! From now on, you'll stay where you belong and no damned—” “Samuel! Stop!’ Mrs. Harkton said, with such remarkable force and with eye so compelling that Samuel found himself stopping, without having known any real volition in that direction. He stopped, in- deed, with mouth and eyes open, the latter being fixed upon his wife in a sort of fishy ‘fury. “T don’t know what has happened to you,” Mrs. Harkton said, crisply. “ I know you don’t drink, so that I think you must have gone mad! Yes, I think you’re quite crazy, Sam! I—I suppose that you were anxious about me, being late and all that; and if that’s what’s the matter with you, I’m sorry. But the fact that a woman misses one train really isn’t conclusive proof that her moral fiber has been shattered and that she is definitely committed to a life of immorality!” “ Well—that’s all right! essayed, somewhat groggily. “Tl endure it this time and stay, be- cause, as I say, I think you’re temporarily demented. But I w#Z not endure any more of it! Do you quite understand? -To-mor- row morning, if you are yourself again, we will forget this. And if you’re not your- self, I shall take the children and leave; and I shall send on to Boston for your father and your brother and have them put you in the care of an alienist! Don’t fol- But—” Samuel low me, please, and—good night!” said Mrs. Harkton, and swept past her husband and - to the door and through the door. ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY, Half a minute, Samuel stood quite mo- tionless, apparently in a state of partial paralysis. ‘Then he straightened up and cleared his throat and looked, not too im- pressively, at his second cousin. “I guess I—er—said about the right thing?” he mumbled. “Tf you’re asking me, you made a bloom- ing ass of yourself!” Mr. Wilbur replied with entire candor. “Do you think I—I overdid it?” “Well, you bawled at Nell as if she were some drab from the tenements, some rotten little rat not even entitled to a chance to ex- plain, if you consider that overdoing it!”’ “Well, I—I was excited, of course. I was suffering a mighty sharp reaction!” Samuel said, with some indignation. ‘‘ Man gets pretty well wrought up, having his wife disappear like that, you know. Why, when —when I saw her there on the steps, Tom, I simply went all to pieces inside! It’s possible that I may have lost a little self- control for a moment I was so devilish re- heved that—” “Yes, every word you uttered showed that,” Mr. Wilbur grunted, and himself turned toward the door. “All the same, I believe I’ve taken a step in the right direction,” Helen’s husband announced doggedly. “You do? That’s good. I’m glad you do. Good night, Sam.” “Eh? Oh, sit down and smoke a while!” “Nope. Have to get back. Doris ’ll be expecting me,” said Mr. Wilbur, but he paused again, struck by a thought. He smiled perplexedly. “I say, though, Sam; there was something queer about Nell— when she first came in.” “ Hey? You think—” . “No, I don’t think the sort of thing you’ve been thinking,” the head of the sales department snapped. “There was a—a look to her, I didn’t understand at all; I’ve never seen any one just like that before. She was sort of exalted and all tickled to death with herself, as if—well, I don’t know how to describe it, but it was there!” “I noticed something like that, too,” Samuel confessed. “ Sit down and—” *“Not on your life!” said Mr. Wilbur, and moved on again. oO ee ee = ~—ses ea a = = ~ = ey eh) si leee Py ra PMNS HI “There’s going tobe