The Gray Mask - Charles Wadsworth Camp (the rosie project .txt) š
- Author: Charles Wadsworth Camp
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She shrugged her shoulders.
āGo to your work, Iāve no arrangement with Freddy. I donāt expect him here. If he came I shouldnāt let him in. Your honor is safe enough in my hands for tonight. Does that satisfy you?ā
Her tone had a merciless lashing quality. He bowed his head before it. His words stumbled.
āI trust you, Bella. Iām sorry.ā
āThen go. In the morningāā
She waved her hand vaguely.
āWeāll arrangeāsomething.ā
His eyes begged, but she offered nothing more. So he went out, closing the door softly behind him.
Almost immediately he heard the sound of a motor. He couldnāt ftnd his hat. The front door bell rang, and, snatching an ancient cap from the table, he opened the door. No one stood in the verandah, but the glare of powerful automobile headlights blinded him.
āYouāre Mrs. Hansonās chauffeur?ā he called.
An indistinct voice came back affirmatively. Randall caught the word āhurry.ā Therefore he ran down the steps, and, his eyes still blinded by the glare, stepped into a large runabout and settled himself by the driver.
They swung away at a breakneck speed which before long swept Randallās cap from his head and forced him to cling with both hands to the side of the car.
The landscape tore up through the glare and disappeared in a dense and terrifying confusion of darkness.
āMan!ā he shouted. āThis is dangerous. Thereās no point in such haste.ā
He managed to turn, but the other had protected himself against the cold by rolling his collar up about his face and drawing his slouch hat down to meet it.
āSlower!ā Randall commanded.
The car swerved. The other cried hoarsely:
āLookout! Hold tight!ā
Randall clung, but the car kept the road. Its speed was all at once reduced. With a disconcerting jerk it came to a standstill. As Randall, trying tļæ½ recover his balance, started to speak angrily, something soft and blinding struck his face and enveloped his head. His hands, raised purposelessly, were caught and pinioned. The cloth suddenly became moist and a familiar odor arose. The other laughed as he fastened a cord about the arms and body. Randall gasped. His bound limbs relaxed.
The driver turned the car, and, with one arm around the senseless doctor, drove in leisurely fashion back towards Elmford.
Hidden among the undergrowth at some distance from the house stood a small, partly ruined stone building, used once, from the water flowing nearby, as a spring house. The driver carried Randall to the interior of this building and placed him on the floor. Lighting a match, he glanced around.
The unfinished walls were mottled with the melancholy vegetation which takes hold in places where the sun is forbidden. Drops of water oozed from the stones. The earth yielded to the pressure of feet soggily.
The man raised his hat higher on his forehead and lowered his coat collar, exposing a face that was handsome in a weak and flippant way. He grinned rather foolishly now at his victim, outstretched on the damp floor. He swayed a trifle, steadied himself with an effort, then, as the glow of the match expired, bent over and thrust his hand in Randallās pocket.
He drew out a key ring. He struck another match and ran quickly over the ring until he had found the key he desired. This he slipped from the ring into his own pocket and returned the rest to Randallās coat.
On the point of leaving, he hesitated, and with a resolute air stooped and removed the cloth from Randallās head and the cord from the body. Afterwards he took a small bottle from his pocket, forced the unconscious manās lips open and poured a quantity of the fluid down his throat. Evidently the doctor would sleep thoroughly and for a long time.
When he had gathered up the cloth, the rope, and the bottle, the man left the stone building, laughing with a satisfaction that was not wholly vicious. In spite of the anger his face had displayed the situation for him possessed at least a tiny element of humour.
He secreted the compromising bundle beneath a large stone in the bed of the stream.
āPut it over,ā he muttered. āPeopleāll say the old boy was off his head orās a reason why we had to have prohibition.ā
His lurch was more pronounced as he walked to the car, and his manner less confident as he drove on to the house.
He alighted and, steadying himself against the mud-guard, gazed at the dark, forbidding facade in which that diffused and indeterminate radiance alone suggested habitation.
After a time he straightened, climbed the steps, and crossed the verandah. He felt in his pocket for the latch-key he had taken from Randall, inserted it in the lock, and noiselessly opened the door. He was very careful to see that the door did not latch behind him. He placed the key on the hall table. He folded his coat and laid it with his cap on a chair. Stealthily he advanced along the dark and silent hall to the stairway.
At the sound of his automobile Bella had half arisen. She waited attentively, but when for some time no sound followed, she walked to the window, raised it, and leaned out, striving unsuccessfully to penetrate the heavy night.
A board creaked in the corridor outside her door.
She swung around, her hand at her throat.
āJohn!ā
Complete silence followed. Unless something out of all reckoning had occurred, her husband could not be back. None of the servants would have used an automobile. Then who prowled about theunlighted house and hesitated in the vicinity of her door?
āJohn!ā
The formlessness of her cry unveiled her fear.
The knob moved. Inch by inch the door opened, and, inch by inch, as if impelled by a perfectly controlled impulse from the door widening on the intruder, she retreated until the wall held her.
āFreddy!ā she gasped.
He stepped in and closed the door. It could scarcely have been apparent to her all at once how much he had been drinking, for, although his face was flushed, the event justified that, and he had evidently forced on himself for the moment a supreme control. Yet her relief was short-lived. To be sure she could leave the wall and advance to meet him, yet, as if the room possessed a phonographic quality, it was still loud with her husbandās anxiety and her own contemptuous promises.
āWhat are you doing here? How did you get in? Go beforeāThis is out of the question.ā
His hand left the knob.
āItās all right, Bella. Neednāt be afraid. Randallās out of the way. He wonāt bother us tonight.ā
āThen you know about Mrs. Hanson?ā she asked.
He nodded sagely.
āI know a lot.ā
āYou canāt stay here,ā she said. āGo.ā
He stretched out his hands.
āThen you shall come with me. Thatās the scheme. Been in the back of my head all along. Weāll show a clean pair of heels. Time something definite happened. Bella!āyou knowāhow I love you.ā
A slight impediment, unfamiliar to the startled woman, made itself noticeable in his voice. His control was limited. Already his true condition disclosed itself. Fear as powerful as that which had greeted his stealthy approach returned to her eyes.
āYou know I wonāt come with you, Freddy. Perhaps later things will be arranged. John and I had a talk tonight.ā
His face worked evilly.
āHe had a talk with me, too,ā he said. āItās come to a showdown. No use talking about waiting, Bella. Itās now or never. Youāve held me off too long. Got to choose. We love each other.ā
He advanced. She stepped behind the table.
āDonāt come any nearer, Freddy. Whatās the matter with you?ā
He laughed.
āJust you.ā
He tapped the side pocket of his coat.
āBy gad! Iād have killed him tonight to get to you if it had been necessary. Thatās what youāve done to me, Bella.ā
He reached across and grasped her arm. He held her tight while he glided around the table. A book fell to the floor, and another. A vase of roses toppled over and shattered musically. The flowers made brilliant patches on the dull carpet.
āLet me go. Listen, Freddy! Weāll talk it over tomorrowāall three. I promised John I wouldnāt see you tonight.ā
āTomorrow!ā he laughed. āToo late. You donāt know all Iāve done for thisāa real sportinā proposition. I tell you itās now or never, and Iām mad about you.ā
He got his arm around her.
āYouāve got to let me keep my promise.ā
Still laughing, he drew her closer. His flaming eyes were near. His breath was revolting on her cheeks.
She struggled, gasping for words.
āLet me go. Youāve been drinking. He saidāā
āHe said!ā he cried furiously.
āWhat are you going to do?ā she begged.
As he flung her back against the table the side pocket of his unbuttoned coat flapped against her hand.
āIām not going to let you slip now, Bella.ā
āFreddy! Youāre killing me!ā
She put her hand in his pocket and snatched out an unpolished, stubby, evil cylinder with a square grip which perfectly fitted her hand.
āLook out, Freddy! You hurt!ā
He laughed again. His lips, repulsive and cruel, crushed hers. Her smothered crying was bitter.
An explosion, slightly muffled, crowded the room with sound. Another followed.
His lips, a moment ago masterful with unreasoning vitality, no longer troubled her.
āFreddy!ā she sobbed. āIām sorryāā
He crumpled at her feet.
Near the water, spilled from the vase of roses, a darker stain spread.
She screamed.
āWhatās the matter? Freddy! Iām sorryāSay somethingāPray!ā
She stumbled to her knees by the dead man. Her desolate cries fled ceaselessly through the open window.
GARTH the next day did not repeat his floral indiscretion. One experience had convinced him that practice is necessary to the successful threading of such by-ways. His rose, in fact, had disclosed its limitations even before he had reached the inspectorās flat. On his entrance it had not adorned his coat.
He read the brief and scarcely illuminating account of the Elmford murder in the morning papers. Irritation at his own assignmentāan unimportant case up-townālet it slip through his mind without arousing any exceptional interest.
When he returned to the central office in the afternoon the doorman beckoned to him.
āInspectorās been asking after you.ā
Garth yawned.
āAll right. Tell him Iām here, Ed.ā
After a moment the doorman called:
āInspector says, walk in.ā
Garth went, and paused, ill-at-ease, just within the doorway.
The huge man lolled in his chair. His quiet eyes fixed Garth genially. For once he failed to fidget with his desk paraphernalia. His rumbling voice was abnormally mild.
Garth appreciated these portents. They connoted favoritism, but he traced that to the inspectorās love for his daughter, because he was too modest to place in the scales his own conspicuous virtues.
āCome over here and sit down, Garth.ā
Garth obeyed.
āThanks, inspector.ā
The inspectorās eyes twinkled.
āBoys tell me youāre a little sore on the jobs youāve had since you smashed Slim and George and their favourites.ā
Garth grew red.
āThere are old women everywhere,ā he said. āNothing to do but talk.ā
The inspector guffawed.
āAināt it so?ā
āIncriminating question, chief.ā
The other leaned forward.
āI canāt take chances with such a valuable man.ā
He cleared his throat.
āWere you thinking of paying your party call tonight? Because Iāve got to disappoint you. But I donāt want to do that two ways. I canāt
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