The Argosy, Vol. 82 No. 2 — page 16: what you’re looking at

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

198 across the room, dropped his claw-shaped hands on Joseph E. Boggs—and almost in- stantly neither of them was among those present. There came a rattle and a tremendous thud, as Joseph E. Boggs hit the bottom of the flight. Also, there was a queer laugh, as Uncle Horace tripped lightly downward after him. Then a loud bang echoed, this being caused by the knob of the front door as it struck the wall—and when a shriek of pro- test in Mr. Boggs’s voice had been followed by a softer, more distant thud, utter silence reigned for several seconds. Eventually the front door closed and Uncle Horace’s voice sounded clearly: “Very well, Dixon! But remember this: the next drunken maniac who gets in here will be the man who starts you out looking for another job!” Not wholly ashamed of his prowess, Uncle Horace strolled into the living-room again, buttoning his right cuff. “T-don’t know whether Dixon is getting old or careless,” said he, “but if anything like that happens again, we'll make a change! Upon my soul! I don’t know what the city supports a police force for, when a besotted thug like that one can wander loose and make his way into—”’ For the first time Uncle Horace chanced to look straight at Jane. His words were cut off as if by a knife. He stared-at Jane who, huddled down in her chair, was glar- ing at him with great, scared eyes, set in a pallid countenance! “Tt isn’t possible that you ever heard of this Thompson?” Mr. Porter-Preston gasped incredulously. Jane merely nodded assent, for she was beyond speech. Uncle Horace’s jaw dropped suddenly; he tried to come nearer. “Vowre not—not married to him?” he choked. It was then, after the long, terrible pause, that Jane contrived her faint, dis- tant: “Ves!” CHAPTER II. WHAT HAPPENED AT BATESFORD. ORDINARILY, they were well-bred peo- ple and very self-contained. Had the ceiling of the living room fallen without warning and left them uninjured, they THE ARGOSY. would have exclaimed in an undertone and brushed off the bits of plaster; had Dixon elected to enter and drop dead at their feet, they would have expressed polite re- gret and telephoned immediately, but with- out excitement, for the family doctor. But that one word of Jane’s sent poise hurtling from its lately solid foundation and made hollow mockeries of restraint and cold thought. For a minute or more it seemed that Uncle Horace, despite his trim, muscular build, would succumb to apoplexy. During a similar period Aunt Martha threatened to pass from this life, propelled into the next by sheer shock. Jane saw neither of these impending calamities; hands over her face, Jane mere- ly shook. No tears came from her and no sound; she was one solid, sickened tremble, quaking so violently that the chair beneath her creaked in protest. - Several dozen perfectly incoherent words had jerked from Mr. Porter-Preston’s lips before he succeeded in piecing together an explosive: “Tt isn’t—the truth!” “Tt is!”’ Jane said faintly. And now, curiously enough, Aunt Martha had become the calmest of the three. De- cidedly jarred still, she nevertheless arose and hurried to Jane’s side, patting the girl’s shoulder as she murmured: “Well, never mind, dear! Never mind “But I do mind!” Jane cried, as her hands came down. “I mind so awfully that—” : “But my darling,” Aunt Martha pro- tested gently, ““‘we should have found it out sooner or later, in any event, and what a silly little girl you were to keep such a thing secret!” “YT wasn’t silly!” Jane corrected wildly. “Would you want to be shot?” Out of this, apparently, Aunt Martha made nothing at all; indeed, she hardly heard the words, for her mind was already shaping romantic pictures of the meeting presumably just ahead and she purred: “There, there, dear! It is quite all right.” “But it isn’t!” Jane said thickly. “Oh, but it is, you foolish child,” her aunt smiled. ‘‘There cannot be an objec- tion in the world to a man you would marry, dear—and think how happy you will be when your husband does come and claim you!” This brought Jane to her feet. !» Terror- Go 0) AMUG S Eo