Argosy All-Story Weekly, Vol. 124, No. 2 — page 183: what you’re looking at

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

BEWARE OF “Yes, but I—I—”’ the voice tried again. Thomas laid a hand upon his burning forehead -and pressed as he nodded. ‘‘I know, Mary—the armor,’ he mut- tered. “ You got your wish!”’ / : CHAPTER XXIX. THE CLANS GATHER. CROSS the street, in that abode of A ‘merriment, the Thorndyke mansion, the band blared crazily into the lat- est jazz spasm. A burst of laughter fic; ted to Thomas, too, causing him to look up dazedly and to blink. Those were real sounds; how happy they all were over there, to be sure, in their joyous task of burying the hatchet and ad- - vancing the peace and good will of Bray- - don, and all that sort of thing! © Yes,- how genuinely happy everybody was this evening—everybody, that is, save the few whom Mary’s strange influence seemed to have touched! It was an absurd thought, of course. It brought a scowl to Thomas’s brow and a grunt from his lips. Instead of staring at the floor and thinking such rot, he ought to— “Tom! Are you still there?” hissed from the curtains. “Yes, I’m still here!” Thomas confessed. “Welle Well? What are you doing?’’ the voice demanded. — | “I was just sitting still for a second,” Thomas said, and rose suddenly and with a sigh. oc I—” } ‘Don’t you dare! Don’t you dare come near me!” the bride screamed faintly, from her music-room seclusion. | “Tm not coming near you. Don’t be frightened, Mary. It’s all horrible, of course, but it could be worse.’ ‘e How?” gasped the bride. “Tf everybody who had any intention of calling hadn’t called already, somebody might drop in and insist on going through the place again, Mary,” .Thomas smiled sadly. ‘ We’re done with that, anyway, and now—”’ . - “ Now you’re standing there and smiling and not doing anything at all!” whizzed furiously through the curtains. ‘ing me about it! THE BRIDE. 365 “Tf you'll tell me just what—” . “ Get me some clothes! Mary strangled! “ Just give me a minute and let me think which girl is most likely to—” “No! No! Don’t stop to think!” the bride begged chokingly. ‘‘ Every time you think you get us into worse trouble. I don’t care whose they are—I don’t care what they are! Give me some of your own clothes! ” | “T haven’t any here, Mary.” “ What?” ‘Mary, I’ve just been sleeping here. Both my trunks and all my stuff are up at the boarding-house. Why, the business-suit I wore to-day, even, isn’t here! “Rosenbaum took it, to press it, when I was dressing for the affair and it won’t be back here till seven in the morning. Any- Way, it’s a pronounced check and you couldn’t wear it without—”’ ‘ All right, then! Don’t waste time tell- Sally’s gone. Break in that door and get me some of her clothes!” ‘“T will, Mary,” Thomas said, resigned- ly, “if you'll just calm down first! I ap- preciate the whole thing fully; it’s like something in a nightmare. But the real trouble is all over now. If we keep cool, we'll have the way out in a few minutes.” “Well, I wish it wasn’t over—for you!” Mary stormed. ‘“ I—I wish that you—” “Stop it, Mary! Hush!” Thomas gasped, with a sudden shiver. ‘I wish you wouldn’t talk like that and wish things on me. The fairies are listening to you to-night and giving you most of your wishes, and if I—” Here Thomas stilled his protest. Even again, what had become perhaps the most blood-curdling single sound in the world was whining through his flat, the sound of his buzzer! He jumped one full inch from the floor. . His scared eyes shot from entrance door to curtains and back again—and at this point it became apparent that, admitting Kratz, he had failed to snap the spring latch, because the knob had turned and the door was opening, and as a novelty in the way of visitors to the Thomas Henning flat, Mary’s Uncle Arthur walked to the center of the living-room! ECOMNIC HOG Ss (CO ww