Argosy, Vol. 122, No. 1 — page 86: what you’re looking at

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

6 THE ARGOSY. “On my skipper. Captain Micah Griggs, ‘“Did you get her? Ought to be sent of the Tenth Precinct station. He’s some _ to the station, she had! - Who is she?” martinet. It will be all right,” said Vale, with much more confidence in his voice than in his mind. They entered the stairway, and the po- liceman forced the door shut again. De- scending stumblingly the first flight, they came to the carpeted hallway of the top floor of the house. They could see better here, for there was a gas-jet burning on the floor below. Some doors were open, showing the to have been left in confusion. They did not meet a person on the four flights; but there was a group at the street door. “Come right along and say nothing,” advised Vale. ‘““But—but they will see something is wrong from my disheveled appearance,” she whispered. ‘“‘ And you are all wet.” “They are too much upset to bother about us,” was Vale’s practical reply. ‘“Muffle your head in that veil. That’s it. They’ll never “see your face now. And if anybody speaks to you while you are with me, say nothing.” They passed the excited tenants of the house, who were gathered, in the doorway and on the steps, and descended to the sidewalk without interference. The fire was well under control. Hosemen sheeted in glistening slickers were dragging back the lengths of pipe. But the water-tower was still spurting streams into the upper stories ofthe two houses that had burned. Vale and the girl hurried along the wet walk toward Barrows Place. ‘“T have very much to thank you for, Mr. Vale,” said Allaine in a low voice. “I —I was reckless to try to go to the studio. And it was all for nothing!” She sighed. again—the temptation to hand her the en- velope, presumably containing her great- uncle’s will. But caution as well as curios- ity stayed him. “ Good night, Mr. Vale,” she said at last, giving him her hand. ‘I shall not forget what you have done for me.” They came to the police ropes. He could hold her hand for only a moment for Span- nard hailed him with wonder. Jars. Temptation assailed him | Vale lifted the rope and Allaine darted under it. She was lost in the crowd of spectators almost at once. “IT didn’t ask her name,” Vale explained to his side-partner. The fire-lines were soon withdrawn, and Vale was relieved at about the same time. Before returning to the station he slipped inte @ bakery where he was known and took off his coat to dry it, removing the docu- ment envelope from his pocket as he did so. It, too, was more than a little damp. But both the envelope and the paper inside it were of a quality which water did: not easily penetrate. He withdrew the document from the envelope and spread ‘it open. Was this the will that had been lost— the actual last will and testament of Colonel Hardy Maywell? . The will which Uncle Dan McKane had said left the bulk of the half-million estate to Allaine? If so, how had the girl obtained it from the library safe, and why had she hidden it? Or was this an entirely different docu- ment from either of the three of which Vale had heard? He began to read as he held it over the top of the pot-stove in the baker’s back room. From “ In the name of God, Amen ”’ he read on through the obsolete legal phrase- ology of the introduction—for Mr. George Wilmot was an old-fashioned practitioner— and through the list of small legacies. Allan Maywell was left one hundred dol- Allaine was given the same sum. Then: ‘To my nephew, Andrew Maywell, I will and devise all the residue of my estate, both real and personal—” This was the second will of Colonel May- well—the one the criminal lawyer claimed was locked in his own office safe! CHAPTER X. A WHITE ELEPHANT ON HIS HANDS. LTHOUGH he had refrained from handing this document to Allaine, Vale really expected to do so in the end. He had even visualized himself—of course in cComiclbooks.com