Argosy All-Story Weekly, December 2, 1922 — page 26: what you’re looking at

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

496 “ Look at them, Bob,” said Mrs. Stirling, “and tell me if he’s right.” Raeburn leaned shamelessly over the side of the carriage. “Mr. Kain wins,” he said, sitting straight once more. “ How the pair blushed when they saw me looking at them!” “Mr. Kain,” cried Mrs. Stirling, “ you read the minds of people. I shall be afraid of you!” “Why, my reputation as a mind reader is spoiled before it is well started with you,” said Kain ruefully, and he turned to Rae- burn with one of his unusual smiles. “But I still fail to see what lessons you draw from such a crowd as this,” said Rae- burn. “You don’t?” said Kain. “ You don’t see that? From horses to love—why, sir, how could there be a greater range? I come here and study their methods and then try to go and do likewise. Sometimes you’d smile to learn how much it helps.” ‘We shall argue this at a greater length when we get home,” said Raeburn. Kain appealed to Mrs. Stirling, saying: “You see, he is continually forgetting that I am no longer Mr. Z.” The carriage had topped the winding road up the Heights, and now the wheels crunched the gravel road which wound into the court of Stirling House. It stopped be- fore the tall entrance. Raeburn remained behind to ask the coachman a question con- cerning the near horse, and Kain and Mrs. Stirling went in together. ‘“‘T rely on your protection,” said Kain, “ for otherwise Mr. Raeburn will very short- ly make me a laughing stock.” ‘““ Really, you seem quite able to take care of yourself,” she answered. “ It’s rare to hear Bob talk with enthusiasm of any one, but Mr. Z has been on his tongue for three days. How he has laughed, and how he enjoyed that walk up the hill! He as- sures me that he has hardly met before with such a stimulating mind. Tl call him in, Mr. Kain, for I could never entertain you with my chatter.” ‘Let him be,” entreated Kain earnestly. “Tf I have to talk with him seriously again within three weeks I’m undone.” ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. She laughed at his solemnity. “You see,” he explained, “I once knew a cynical fellow and I took care to pick up a stock of his phrases. Whenever I’m blue I trot out the stock, and there, you understand, is the secret of the cleverness to which Mr. Raeburn referred. If he talked with me for five minutes alone now he’d pump me dry, absolutely!” “Of course you’re fibbing to set me at ease,” she said, ‘“‘ but it’s a pleasant fib and Ill take you at your word.” “Please do,” he urged her, “ for I’m really utterly at a loss with such men as Mr. Raeburn.” They entered a room, whose windows looked out over Albemarle Park and on to the city below, and beyond it to the broad, gleaming river. The room was tinted in ivory, the walls arching to a flattened dome above, and in a recess guarded by a col- umned entrance stood the piano. The place was as bright as if it were flooded even then by yellow sunlight, and yet the time was evening and all that side of the house was in shadow. Mrs. Stirling took a chair near the big windows. ‘“‘ But this is ideal,” said Kain, and he took a place almost exactly opposite her, but with his back to the light, so that his face was almost always in a partial shadow. ‘““ What a tan you have!” she said. “ You look almost like a man from the tropics.” ‘No, that’s from traveling quite a bit at sea.” ‘“ And where is your home?” “ Really,” said Kain, “I wander about so idly that you might almost call me a man without a country. Just now I’m living on the other side of Albemarle Park. I’m only in town for a few weeks.” “That’s a pleasant location, isn’t it, if you're within view of the park?” ““ The house is close to the park, and it’s a comfortable place with a good deal more room than I can use. It was built by a fellow with a taste for spaciousness. By the way, when I was wandering about the place shortly after I took possession, I came across a most extraordinary photograph. I have it with me now. I wonder if you would care to look at it?” TO BE CONTINUED NEXT WEEK. ee, Gomicbooks.com