Argosy All-Story Weekly — 'The Metal Monster' — page 121: what you’re looking at

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

HOW MANY CARDS? any of the prominent families whose friend- ship E enjoy, especially as I do not know what she has done!” Her vertce rose quav- evinely. ‘“ ¥ would never be able to obtain another chent!” ~ “But this is just confidential, between you and me.” MeCarty smied. “I know all about the Waverlys and O’Rourkes ane Crevelings, but as far as I can make out Cutter is the onty bachelor in their imme- diate set.” | _“ Mr. Cutter has been attentive to Mrs. Kip, but not more so than to many another attractive widow or divoreée,”” Miss Frost observed. ‘“‘ No débutante has ever inter- _ ested him, although he would be a splendid catch. One of my few failures was an at- tempt to brmg about a marriage between him and Gwendolyn Rossmore. I man- aged to send her in to dimuer with him three timés in succession and you would never believé the trouble | took to drill con- versation imto that girl! Sports with the hors d’ceuvres, art with the soup and fish, Maeterlinck with the entrees, opera with the rosst—but all for nothing! He ts the most diffrcult—”’ “ Ha—h-m!” McCarty looked somewhat dazed, but stuck doggedly to his pom. ‘“ About the gentlemen who paid attention . to Mrs. Kip. Who were the others, Miss Frost?” | “ Well, if you must know, Fales Ogden, Jr., and Harry Palladm and Jules Thoreau were among others, but none of them were serious, and I am compelled te say that she did not encourage them. Although I lived In the same house with her we were never upon an mtimate footing and I could not induce her to discuss the past, but I gath- ered that wmdowhood was rather 2 release for her; she assured me more than once that she would never marry again.”’ “Well, ma’am.”” McCarty rose. “ [ll not be detaining you any longer now, nor will I give you away. Mrs. Kip may be all right as far as we know, but we’ve rea- sons for wanting to look her up and make sure. Good day to you, ma’am.” Leaving the agitated social sponsor, Mc- Carty made his way from the Fitz-Mauriee to a modest quick-lunch establishment near the Grand Central Station. He had fergot- ~N E15 ten all about breakfast m the excitement of the morning and now he ordered a hearty meat, pormdering as he ate upon the mforma- tion he had just gained. What could be the explanation of Mrs. Kip’s mysterious conduct? What dominatmg factor caused her to set aside the social ambition which had been her ruling passion for years, ignore invitations for which she had long angted in vain, and steal almost surreptitiously from her own house on secret errands? The questions multipied m McCarty’s bram. Where had she been on the previous night, that she found it necessary to he about it? What was in that message whick Waverly had sent to her, and what was her connection—a rank outsider—with the set in which the Crevelings had moved? That | some community of interest drew them to- gether was plain, but what could there be im common between a gentleman like John O’Rourke and a bounder lke Waverly, an aristocrat such as Mrs. Creveling and a chmber of Mrs. Kip’s type? Could the an- swer be found among the others of their m- mediate circle? Tt was almost three o’clock when, having fintshed his meal, McCarty hailed a tax and drove te the St. Maur apartments on Maison Avenue. Mrs. Lonsdale Ford was at home and would see him. Refuctantly he dropped in the elevator the newspaper which he had purchased on leaving the hmehroom and in which his interview with Jimmie Ballard appeared with arrant em- bellishments, trustmeg that a.copy of # had not yet reached the eyes of the lady upon whom he was calling, but his hope was 2 vain one. Even as an obsequious Japanese butler tshered him into the drawing-room the curtains leading to the Hbrary parted and a slender httle woman with round, china-blue eyes and hair Hke spun flax fawly precipitated herself upon the aston- ished officer. “ Oh, you're Officer McCarty, who found poor Mr. Creveling’s body!” she exclaimed in a high, babblmg voice. ‘“ I’ve been read- ing about you in the paper! Please, Mease te me how it happened! I tried to get Mrs. Creveling on the phone, but she wouldn't talk to me or else Stella Waverly wowdn’t let her! I can’t get my husband COMIC DOO co wo