Argosy, Vol. 112, No. 2 — page 76: what you’re looking at

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

was above suspicion. A hundred things showed that. Yet she was hand in glove with a genuine thriller, if signs were worth ~ anything. Tarton really needed the article—needed it badly enough to do almost anything within reason to get it. And like the rest of us, he was equipped with a robust curi- osity, not to mention a most vigorous fancy which, before morning, had mixed up his pretty girl in a thousand and one impossi- ble scrapes. «By midnight he had reasoned it out. She Was young, alone, defenseless. She had been drawn, one way or another, into some- thing compromising. She needed help— courageous, discreet, masculine succor. No question about it. In the morning he would wait for her outside the library, take her for a little walk, explain his position, and insist on sharing her difficulties. Then, of course, she would tell him, and— | The idea comforted him so much that he fell asleep in the middle of working out the details. He reached his post outside the great gray building exactly as he had planned, half an hour before opening time. And there he waited, with hourly trips inside to make sure she had not slipped by unnoticed, till luncheon time, and again from after- noon till dark—without a glimpse of her. Up in the reading-room, her books were stacked neatly, waiting. Below on the side- walk, Tarton strode up and down and chafed impatiently. Not that one day alone, but several—till he knew she would never come again. On the afternoon when this conclusion finally established itself, he went back to his seat at the long table, but worked only a little. Most of his time he spent com- posing a brief notice that he wanted to make as definite and striking as possible— and the rest of it he invested in contem- plation of a fascinating mental image that refused to yield to duty’s call. In the end he got the notice finished and off his chest, but the image stayed distract- ingly with him, as it had done for all the week past. Springing up in torment at last, he gave up work for the day, and started off with - modern Babylon. THE ARGOSY. the advertisement down to the Planet office. It was going on the front page, extra heavy leaded. And for a week thereafter, Tarton was going luncheonless. But if it drew, it would be worth it—a thousandfold. Before breakfast he dashed from his room down to the street and bought a copy. The ad jumped at him from the middle of the page. He read it through four times, half aloud, smiling a little more each time. MAGAZINE OF ARCHEOLOGY Volume 43, New Series A liberal sum will be paid to the person or persons instrumental in bringing to the un- dersigned knowledge of the whereabouts of a copy of the above. Address Planet, XYZ 300. Tarton grinned, put on his coat, and went down to the library—to waste six hours. Two days later he got the answer. There was just this one—one only. It was type- written, even to the signature and the ad- dress on the envelope: If Mr. XYZ 300 would call at 497A Pear- main Court, he could see a copy of the maga- zine he wanted—provided he came alone, and after dark. Tarton raised his eyebrows and exclaimed softly to himself.- Alone and after dark! Shades of Jack Dalton! New York was civilized, it was gray and lonely and blasé and thrill-less. Yet here he was, being bidden after the fashion of Count von Horn to Peter Ruff! the picture of the girl’s face when she had caught sight of the call slip flashed before him, and he sobered. Before leaving, he put on light, rubber-soled shoes, and slipped his automatic in his rear pocket. CHAPTER III. THE HOUSE IN PEARMAIN COURT. EARMAIN STREET is of those thor- oughfares that make you realize how foolish it is to call New York City the The metropolis of Ne- buchadnezzar at its wooziest never had any- thing to stack up against the East Side— least of all with that narrow, twisting, In the middle of his laugh, ~ Al nm) vat! oi Wak . Ae i . kuls weve AN wi PAN ENUF Ga tat Ma aad Ce yy oo ‘i ¥, = —_ an i - - «