Argosy All-Story Weekly, Vol. 124, No. 2 — page 102: what you’re looking at

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

284 “That’s a question to ask, ain’t it? Why, ain’t it nice to be sociable, an’ drop in to see your neighbors once in a while?” She was silent, the realization of her peril tightening her throat, forbidding utterance. “Don’t you holler!” he warned, watch- ing her as if to divine her probable actions. ‘Tf you do—”’ ‘“I—I’m not going to,” she said, finding voice at last. “ But—get out! My father will hear you, and—” - Paprika eclipsed one eye in a knowing wink. ‘I’m wise to that,” he said. ‘“ The old man won’t be home for a long time. They tell me it’s a long ways to Yeller Springs.” _ As she loeked at the man, still grinning with the knowledge of his power, she knew that there was no hope but in passive for- titude. To scream, to make a show of re- . sistance, would serve but to bring him nearer; and she must make use of every wile and artifice that she could summon to her whirling brain to keep him at a dis- tance until her father returned. Her fear was no less now than when she had first seen him in the doorway; but she had re- gained the needed faculty of thought, and it gave her a confidence that, in a measure, neutralized her terror. ‘I can’t understand,” she said slowly— for it was upon prolonged conversation that she based all hope af escape—‘ I can’t understand, Mr. Blake, why you have come here. I was afraid of you at first, be- cause I thought that you were a—a burg- lar. But now that I remember that you're a friend of Mr. Turner, why—’”’ ‘“T thought you was a little scared,” he replied, still leaning back against the door and watching her speculatively. “I'd ’a’ sent up my card, but, somehow, you ain’t seemed to want to see me, an’ I thought maybe you’d say you wasn’t in.” She forced her lips to smile. “T can tell by your tone that you’re joking,” she said. “ You just came up for —for fun to see if you could scare me—” Still he watched her, a slight frown of perplexity gathering between his shaggy brows. Then, suddenly, the frown was gone, the brows lifted, and he nodded his head knowingly. ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY, ‘You're a game little filly,” he said ad- miringly; “but I’m pretty wise myself. You want to keep me talkin’ here till your old man comes back, eh?” He shook his head. “It’s too late for talk now. I give you a chance for that back there in front of the dance-hall, but you didn’t want none of it. Now I ain’t got no time for it, miss. If I wasn’t good enough to talk to then, I ain’t good enough now, that’s sure. I ain’t meanin’ to do you no harm, an’ if you don’t raise a holler, no harm ’ll come to you.” ‘““What—what do you want?” she asked. “ Money,” he replied shortly. She met his eyes squarely. ‘““There isn’t any in the house:” Paprika sneered. ‘“‘ Don’t try to hand me nothin’ like that. I know how you rubes do. Whatever you got saved up, you keep right in the house. Now where is it?” He took a step toward her, ‘“ Hurry up an’ tell me.” ‘There isn’t any in the house,” she re- peated, unwaveringly. Her assurance gave him pause, and he regarded- her searchingly, the perplexed frown coming again between his eyes. ‘TI think maybe you're lyin’,” he said slowly. ‘“ Will you swear to God there ain’t no money in the house?’’ She hesitated. There was money in the house. Every cent that her. father pos- sessed lay in the small safe that stood in his room. Under the circumstances, would such a falsehood in the name of God be ‘ pardonable in His eyes? She decided that it would. “T swear—” she began; but Paprika s]- lenced her with an out-turned palm. ‘“Don’t say it,” he cut in. “I already found out what I wanted to know. That trick is as old as the second-story game. I learned that when I was a kid. If you was * about to say the truth, you’d ’a’ said it without stopping to think about it. Now —where is that money?” _ “YT won’t tell you!” she replied firmly, her small fists clenched, and her bosom ris- ing and falling with her quick breaths. “ Maybe you won't,” he said, crouching low, as if he were about to spring at her. ‘“ Now listen, kid: you’re a game little filly, an’ all that, but I ain’t got much time to COnnICcooolks (CO wo