Argosy, Vol. 111, No. 1 — page 156: what you’re looking at

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

146 I think we were all imbued with a sense of fear, a sort of premonition that the visit across the hall would be productive of grave results. Rivers was the most light-hearted of the party, and yet I somehow felt that his cheerfulness was forced. “The keys, Brice?” he said. ‘‘ Oh, you have them. All right, my boy, go ahead.” And then the same stillness that was on the rest of us fell on him, too, and we en- tered the rooms in silence. I went first, through Jenny’s room, on to the middle room, and paused just be- yond the desk. Rivers was next, but Zizi pushed her lithe little body through the group, and came through the door directly ahead of him. Rivers entered with the strangest look I have ever seen on any human face. It was a transition—not sudden, but gradual— from the dark of forgetfulness to the dawn of memory. And then, just as he neared Amos Gately’s desk, Zizi, without seeming in- sistence—indeed, without seeming intent— guided him to the chair opposite Mr. Gately’s desk-chair. Mechanically, almost unconsciously, Rivers dropped into the seat and sat at the great desk-table—just where, presumably, the slayer of Amos Gately had sat. With one of her sudden, swift motions, Zizi put the telephone receiver into his left hand, which involuntarily opened to take it, and thus exposed to view the snow- crystal drawn on the blotter. i A dead silence fell on us all as Rivers sat there staring at the little sketch. He fairly devoured it with his eyes, his face, mean- while, becoming set—like a veritable face of stone. Then, raising his blank, staring eyes, his gaze sought out Olive and, looking at her, he gave a low, piercing cry—wrung from him as from a soul in mortal agony: “ T killed Amos Gately!” I think the scene that followed this an- nouncement was the strangest I have ever experienced. For myself, I felt a sudden sinking, as if the bottom had fallen out of the universe. In fact a whimsical idea THE ARGOSY. flashed through my stunned brain, that I was “‘ falling through the earth ” or into a bottomless pit. The white faces that I looked at meant nothing to me. I saw them as in a dream, so dazed was my intelligence. And then they assumed their individual- ity, and I saw that Olive’s lovely counte- nance was a complete blank. Like me, she failed to grasp the full meaning of Rivers’s confession. Mrs. Vail, her eyes closed, lay back limply in a chair and groaned audibly, while Norah buried her face in a near-by silken curtain and sobbed. Pennington Wise looked like a man who has just heard the worst, but who expected it. However, the shock had unnerved him, I could see by his tightly clenched hands and set lips, as he strove to control him- self. Rivers sat like a stone statue; only his eyes, desperate in their concentration, showed the fearful mental strain he was suffering. Zizi—bless her—stood behind him, hovering, watchful—more like a guardian angel than a Nemesis, and with her eery, elfin face full of anxious suspense. ‘“Go on,” she breathed, her quivering little red mouth close to his ear, as she bent over his shoulder; ‘oh, go on!” Rivers drew a long sigh; he looked round the room appraisingly, his quick, darting glance taking in every detail. He scanned the desk and all the things on it, he looked through into the farther room—the blue- room—and saw the great war-map hanging on the wall; and then he rose, straightened his broad shoulders, and shook himself as one who arouses from sleep. Breathlessly, we who watched saw a great light come into his eyes—a new self- respect, a new Sense of importance, showed in his whole bearing—and, with a smile of infinite tenderness, he looked at Olive and said: “Tam Amory Manning!” Zizi yelled. There is no other word for it. Her shrieks of joy filled the room, and she danced about, waving her thin little arms like a veritable pixy. “It’s all right!” she cried in ecstasy. CoOMmiiclooo S co