Argosy All-Story Weekly, July 1, 1922 — page 68: what you’re looking at

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

858 And that would be the “him” they served, thought Miss Carson, and grew warmer and warmer, as fright trickled away and fury at the whole unspeakable pro- ceeding began to mount! There were things which she must say to him—or ex- plode! She looked directly at the hard- visaged, white-cheeked woman and moved her head suggestively, looking down at the gag. The lady, after two futile attempts at speech, only shook her head. Now they were talking out in the hall— the dark man was, anyway, and some one else was trying to choke out words. “So she’s in there now! She’s yours! I’m wishing you joy of her!” the dark man concluded. “ But I—but—oh, see here, sir! That’s all rot! Absolute rot! And I won’t tol- erate—” Miss Carson’s eyes opened widely. She knew that voice! CHAPTER VIII. BETTER QUARTERS. T was a voice which she had heard very | recently, and under no stress of emotion . such as seemed to afflict it at present; and still, for the moment, Myra could not identify the owner. He was tremendously excited just now, though. ‘“‘ Absolutely preposterous, I tell you! I won’t permit such a thing! You'll remove her instantly, I say, and—” “Say it with music, brother!” the dark man laughed. ‘ You gotter keep her now; and she’s some chicken to have around, I’m telling you! She—what’s that? Well, I got nothing to do with that! I don’t know anything about that! He said he'd call you up and tell you about it. And he said it was your job whether you liked it or not!” ‘‘T don’t care a damn what he said!”’ the apparent owner of the house cried vio- lently. “I will not permit—” “ All right! Chuck her out yerself, then. That’s your lookout. I dunno what he’s got on you to pull this, or what you got on him; only I’d think twice before I chucked ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. ‘her. That ’d be one bad guy t’ double- cross—one bad guy!” Instead of exploding, as might have been expected, the other remained utterly silent. From his general direction there came a sound of hoarse gasping — and then the dark little man’s really happy laugh. “So that ‘ll be about all o’ that, and I’m wishing you luck!’ he concluded. ‘* C’mon, boys!” *“ But wait a moment! Please wait!” the familiar voice pleaded. ‘“ There’s a mistake here—a terrible one, I assure you. I have no more to do with this than the man in the moon. I—see here! Take her with you and I'll make it very well worth your while!” ‘You ain’t got money enough t’ pay her way back into my little house!” the leader laughed, boisterously almost. ‘“ That doll’s got too much pep for an honest, hard-work- in’, peace-lovin’ guy like me, mister. Come on, youse!” This last seemed to penetrate Joseph. Toward Myra he directed a gay little fare- well wave of the hand; then she was alone with the elderly woman, and three pairs of feet were tramping their way out of the house. “‘ One thing—.” the familiar voice gasped. “ Nothin’! corrected the dark man, as he slammed the door. Nor were they wasting any time what- ever about their departure. Outdoors the engine whirred noisily—gears ground—the long, familiar whine passed out of hearing in a matter of ten seconds. And Miss Myra Carson’s social surroundings had moved a peg up the scale, and that was really about the only definite thing one could say! Paralysis seemed to have attacked the gentleman in the corridor. ‘There was no movement at all from that direction. But the elderly woman was coming back to life in a series of strange gulps; and the final one merged into a wail of: ' “Oh, Dr. Warner! Dr. Warner! Dr. Warner! Oh, doctor—”’ ‘* Hush, please! Hush!” choked the per- son, stepping into the room quite suddenly. Miss Carson jumped, despite her bonds. She knew now, of course: that was the comicloool C©