Argosy All-Story Weekly, October 6, 1923 — page 74: what you’re looking at

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

356 Miss Greenwood had called to her undoing, and where Jenkins now guarded her in the private office of Mr. Fulton. The broad shoulders of the bluecoat came out cautiously. He beheld Nancy and beckoned vehemently at her. Wondering at the expression on the offi- cer’s face, she approached. Jenkins leaned forward. ‘“ Come inside, please, Dr. Dayland,” he whispered. The lady in gray was hovering near his elbow where he had obviously commanded her to remain in his sight. “What is it?” demanded Nancy hur- riedly. Jenkins cupped his mouth with a huge palm, although Miss Greenwood seemed to be paying no heed to him. He jerked his head toward the private office of Mr. Kent. Mysteriously he whispered: ‘ There’s somebody hiding in that office there. I heard a stifled sneeze as I stood before the door between the two rooms.” CHAPTER IX. BEHIND CLOSED DOORS. ITH puckered brows Nancy glanced toward the sturdy office door la- beled Mr. Kent, Private. No sound issued from behind the closed door. A wave of vitriolic condemnation surged through her. What an unpardonable over- sight she had been guilty of! She had act- ed like the veriest tyro, taking for granted that no one else had been concealed behind the closed doors. Yet when by chance, or as a warning, she had discovered Miss Greenwood, even that had not pricked her sense of caution into a search of the re- maining rooms. Whatever ignominious mistake she had made could not be rectified by eleventh- hour regrets. Action was now the only re- maining antidote. Swiftly she stepped to the corridor door and opened it slightly. “Mr. Jenkins,” she spoke over her shoul- der in a low tone, “‘ please step out in the corridor and tell Mr. Winters that I have changed my mind about interviewing him at present. Ask his patience and request that ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. he return to his place on the settle. Then come back here instantly.” As Jenkins obeyed, Nancy saw that he was just in time to intercept Winters’s tall, lank figure. The junior member of the old law firm was only a few steps from Mlle. Mignonne’s waiting room. The girl closed the door. Very thought- fully she held her next move in abeyance until the uniformed man should return. The veiled Miss Greenwood sagged wearily in a chair. Not a sound interrupted the en- forced pause. Then the door opened and the big police- man stepped in noiselessly. “Well?” he asked in a stage whisper, staring with narrowed lids at the shut door. ‘* The lady has no suspicion that another figure is in hiding in the next office?” ‘¢ She gave no sign,” muttered the officer. ‘IT myself wouldn’t have heard the noise if I hadn’t been standing backed against the closed connecting door between the two private offices.” A quick thought plunged through the girl’s mind. Had Miss Ivy Greenwood for- gotten the fact that the person with whom Mr. Kent had been closeted had not rushed through the waiting room as she quietly closed the door behind her retreat into the unoccupied office? Or had she failed to hear, in her hurried exit, accomplished in nick of time, that only one person had hastened out? Either supposition was pos- sible. Nancy’s plan was not full-fledged. ‘“Go back into the private office with your charge. Station her in a chair which does not command a view of Mr. Kent’s private office. Stand with your ear near the crack of the closed door. If possible, take this position without arousing attention. If I say ‘ Jenkins,’ enter instantly, shutting the door behind you.” The door of Mr. Fulton’s office clicked behind the officer and the veiled woman. Only a moment did Nancy pause that her bidding should be perfectly staged. Then she stepped noiselessly to the private office of Mr. Kent. Her swift fingers turned the knob and she slid in. A middle-aged man came abruptly to his feet from a chair in the corner. He was COMiclooe (©