Argosy All-Story Weekly — page 59: what you’re looking at

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

“J hope so,” said Silvers. At wt moment Mark knocked, and itted him. es. Mark,” said Silvers, “ we know that you came in here when Miss Kendall screamed—and saw what immediately fol- lowed. What we want to know Is, if you saw anything or heard anything before Miss Kendall screamed—anything, I mean, that might throw a little more light on the case!" “ Well, sir,” said the boy slowly, “ 1 saw Mr. da Costa come up!” “When was that?” asked Garry eagerly. “ About five minutes before I heard Miss Kenda!! scream.” “Only five minutes before?” repeated Silvers. “It couldn't have been much longer,” said Mark. “It was just after he finished his dance. I happened to be standing at the door of the men’s room listening to the music. He came up, looking kind of white. and met a lady on the stairs, and stopped to talk to her. She was going down just as he was coming up, and they stopped to talk. It looked like he didn’t much want to talk to her, but she kind of hung on to him by the lapel of his coat. 1 didn’t hear what she said. Da Costa looked up at me and frowned, and I went in.” “So you didn’t see whether the lady went downstairs again or came up here with Da Costa?” asked Garry quickly, “No, sir—I didn’t!” “You didn’t come to the door again?” “No, sir! Not until I heard the scream!” “ Did vou recognize the lady?” “ao, sir!” “ But you can describe her, surely! You can tell us what she looked like!” cried Silvers. _» Well, sir, she had—she had a kind of a nice face~-big eyes—and—a very low-cut dress—-and hair cut short.” “ What color was her hair? What color was her dress?” asked Garry impatiently. The boy hesitated in some embarrass- ment, then he looked up to meet their anxious eyes, . &,' I’m color-blind!’ | DEAD LIPS TELL NO TALE. other in some exasperation. — Garry said patiently: , ‘‘ Still—you would know her again if you saw her—wouldn’t your” | ““ Yes—I guess so,”’ Mark admitted slow-— ly. It was plain that he was far from cer- tain. Apparently, he was not as observant as he might have been in respect to femi- nine charms—or else the particular lady in question had not entirely appealed to him. “ Well, suppose you try?” suggested Sil- vers. “Go down to the supper room and have a look about. If you see the lady there, dancing, or sitting at one of the tables, let us know.”’ “Tl go with him,” said Garry, “if you'll wait here!” Silvers hesitated. “You see,” explained Garry calmly, “this boy may be implicated in this affair! In fact, it is just possible that ke killed Da Costa himself—and that he invented the story of the lady on the stairs to mislead us! ) At this the boy turned white, his jaw dropping, his eyes almost popping out. “ My God, Mr. Silvers, you don't believe that!” he gasped. “No,” Silvers assured him: “but it és a possibility, as Mr. Carpenter points out —so you had better try hard to locate that woman!” “J will!” exclaimed Mark, and he start- ed off with Garry, leading the way with a most determined air. When they reached the supper rcom, however, the lights were down again, and {wo negro boys were dancing. They were | from the colored show that had that season taken the town by Storm, and they i been engaged as a sort of special attraction _ to do their sensational turn here. The cal- — clum lights that had been trained upon Da Costa and his partner a little while before were now trained on them, # they ole +, ne com