Argosy All-Story Weekly, Vol. 124, No. 2 — page 178: what you’re looking at

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

360, really good, dependable fainting spell, one of the kind that last five or ten minutes at least. Even two more minutes was enough! Thomas swallowed and turned toward his doorway—and paused as the steps echoed from the corridor—and stopped to smile strangely, sickeningly, directly at Mrs. Noble herself, as she walked into the apart- ment. She was pale, but too obviously con- scious once more and fully capable of mo- tion. In one hand she carried a black grip, her fingers clutched so firmly about the handle that the knuckles showed as dead-white spots. ‘““T want just one more minute of your time, Tom,” she said coldly, echoing a sentiment that had been expressed not five minutes ago in this very room. “ I’m go- ing to my father now.” “ Exr—whyr” ‘“ Because a real man can handle these © matters,” Mrs. Noble explained. “I want to tell him the whole truth and I want that from you! You'll have to tell it sooner or later, you know, in the divorce court; you will make matters easier for all of us by telling me now.” “ Well?” sighed Thomas. ‘ What became of Mary Emerson after she—er—hung those things in the closet?” Sally demanded. ‘“‘ She’s not hidden in the flat; I’ve just looked in every corner. Well?” “TI don’t know, Sally.” “You do know! You know all about it and you’re trying to protect him! Tell me this, then: I know that she was there - and I know that they have gone away together, but—have they actually eloped?”’ - ‘JT am utterly certain that they have not!” said Thomas, as his steadying brain comprehended the black” grip. ‘‘ What’s in the bag, Sally? Are you leaving home, teo?”’ Mrs. Noble’s nostrils dilated momen- tarily. “Tm going back to my parents—yes,”’ said she. ‘“‘ And that bag holds the evi- dence—Mary’s wardrobe! Well? Where have they gone, then?” Young Mr. Henning’s brain cleared more _ ARGOSY- ALLST ORY WEEKLY. swiftly. That bag was going out of the Cypria Apartments now! Mary’s clothes -were going to Sally Noble’s paternal roof; " and apart from the commotion they were bound to create upon their arrival, the fact that they were leaving the building now— ‘Sally Noble! What in the name of common sense is the matter with you?” Thomas exploded. “ Are you absolutely set on wrecking. your own life and Mary’s and everybody else’s? “Can’t you reason or think or do any- thing but plunge headlong into scandal and destruction? Can’t you see that you’re making a whole mountain range out of an ake small ant-hill?”’ 66 What?” — “ Yow’re doing precisely that! Mary may have been in your flat. If she was, it was doubtless with Nelly, your sister-in- law. . Nelly was down here earlier in the evening.” ‘* Are you sure?”’ “ Good Lord! Go out and ask the eleva- tor-boy!” Thomas said impatiently. “ Nell was here and she’s gone out now witb the Motor Corps and—vwell, that’s exactly where Mary has gone, too, of course! “ That’s why her clothes were in there, Sally. She rushed over here when the call came, with Nelly, and changed to her uniform rather than go all the way home!” “Where has the Mator Corps gone?” Mrs. Noble inquired with justified sus- picion. ‘To a flood somewhere down the valley —that’s all I can tell you. You can get the details, I presume, by telephoning their headquarters, And—” ‘““And how did Mary’s uniform—if she ever had one, and I can’t seem to remem- ber her as a member of the corps—how did Mary’s uniform come to be in my home?’”’ “It was placed there for the sole pur- pose of exciting you, Sally,” Thomas said, with what was almost a sneer. “Or, again, it is just Darely possible that Mary may have sent a messenger to her home and had it brought down, Such things are done once in a while, you know.” He smiled and relaxed. While seeming to gaze at the picture on the far wall, he COMIC OOOKS (CO ww