The Black Mask — page 8: what you’re looking at

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

vs od le eae! 2 *) Oa as foal he es started mechanically, to 6 The Man in the Black Mask i: ae a faces expressing their wonderment. I pulled myself clear of the table and look after Grimes and those who seemed most in need of attention. With the bellow of a maddened bull, Backus drew himself to his feet and, el- bowing his way through the throng about the door, throwing men to right and left as he charged, rushed up the damaged stairway leading to the tower above. A physician emerged from some- where. But, by the time of his arrival, his services were in little demand. For practically all of those who had been in the room at the time of the explosion were on their feet assuring each other of their safety. Aside from plastering up the cut in old man Slocum’s head, there was little for him to do. Even the officer at the foot of the stairway lead- ing to the tower had escaped uninjured, although the tower itself was a wreck. * * * * « * * A girl—even to my dirt filled eyes, a vision of loveliness in a cool, white chif- fon—struggled through the crowd of men in the outside hallway and threw her arms around the aged president. “Are you hurt? Are you injured, Uncle Grimes?” she demanded, sob- bingly. The little man patted the girl’s shoul- der. “Not by a darned sight,” he chuckled. “It was worth the bump I got to prove to Slocum that I’m not such a darned old fool as he claims I am. Now dry your eyes and meet Mr. Larson—Cap- tain Larson, my niece Joan—Miss Marne, I should say.” He turned to the assembled directors with a beatific smile on his wrinkled face. “Gentlemen,” he said gravely, al- though there was a twinkle in his eyes, “J hereby declare this meeting ad- journed until ten o’clock tomorrow — morning, at which time we will continue our discussion of our friend, ‘The Man in the Black Mask.’ be my guest while in town, of course?” Larson, you will — With ‘a few terse orders to the super- Ps intendent as to the repairs in and about the office, he followed his niece and my- self to the waiting automobile below, chuckling like a youngster at Slocum’s discomfiture. CHAPTER III , I sar at the luncheon table and gazed across the wide expanse of cloth at the girl, She was an enigma—a female puzzle—a woman, as could easily be seen, unhampered by society’s conven- tions, unaffected, yet every bit a woman. She was a beauty—yes, a beauty judged by any kind of rule. Yet there was something odd, strange, peculiar, about her—an elusive something that I could not comprehend. She reminded me of a person laboring under a sorrow which she was struggling to keep hidden from the world. She ate little to speak of, seeming preoccupied, and resisting my best efforts to carry on even a casual conversation. Grimes, on the other hand, was ex- traordinarily cheerful, caring more, to all appearances, for his victory over Slo- cum than for the property loss the com- | a pany had suffered. Mrs. neurotic—excitable and prone to hys- teria—said little, excusing herself be- fore the end of the meal was reached, pleading a bad case of nerves as a re- sult of the trouble at the factory. Casey, the invalid, plainly a- Luncheon over, Grimes, with all the chipperness of a youngster of twenty, declared that he intended motoring back to the factory to look things over, — Naturally, I was to accompany him. Miss Marne aroused herself from her > me: lethargy and insisted on going with us. é at