Adventure Magazine, March 1916 — page 36: what you’re looking at

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

; i vo ee AML pe SP ~ rt , ; Nr t's me J rt ‘ at. 4 tos * vy AS i : a p | 7 : 34 _ Adventure | They worked about the tents in the early afternoon, packing such things as they could, but leaving the things that might be need- ed if Phil returned with any news that would require further action. Ward was anxious to be away from it all. He prefer- red to carry the memory of Nellie Blaydon as it now was with him—a beautiful girl, involved much against her will in circum- stances that had destroyed her life’s happi- ness. He was afraid that, if he remained long at the camp, he would find further evi- dence of her active participation in a crime which would forever destroy his kindly feel- ings toward her. Late in the afternoon, he heard the purr of John Drummond’s car and went out to meet it as it swung up from the beach. Nellie was not on the yacht’s deck. He had not seen her since she left him to go to her stateroom to rest. A woman of generous proportions gazed complacently down at him as he approached the car. She was florid of face and more than ample of girth, and her eyes, in spite of a certain motherliness about'them, gazed down with a calm and serene self-confidence that told him that here was a woman quite able to take care of herself. “You are Mrs. Herriot?” he asked. She looked him appraisingly over from head to foot. “Well,” she asked guardedly, “what if Iam? Who are you?” He repressed his desire to grin at her ~ bluntness. “T am Mr. Fenton,” he said. She beamed on him suddenly and warmly. “Well, I’m sure I’m glad to meet you,” she said. :“I never heard of you in my life before, but if you’re a friend of Nellie Blay- don’s, I’m sure I’m pleased to make your acquaintance. Help me down with my grip, will your” She heaved herself up out of the seat with herculean effort and stood towering ponderously and perilously above him, feel- ing for the step “Tf ever I get a machine of my own,” she said, “T’ll certainly have to get fitted for it first. All the machines I’ve ever been in are too tight in the hips.”’ He helped her down as best he could, and she finally stood beside him, flushed and panting with her exertions. “There!’’ she said. “If it’s a job like that for you to help me out of a car, how do you think I feel after I’ve carried myself around all day? It’s a blessing my husband died before I got so fat. He died loving me, anyway ; that’s some consolation. Now get my grip and take,me to Nellie.” Ward turned first to John Drummond. “You are going back to Sea View again, aren’t you?” he asked as Mrs. Herriot moved away. “Yes, sir. For Mr. Stephen Blaydon, Miss Nellie sai “There may possibly be a telegram there for me from Mr. Conway. Ask at the ho- tel, will your" : “Ves, sir.’ The chauffeur touched his cap and start- ed his car, swinging down to the beach and disappearing behind the low trees. Ward turned and saw that Nellie Blaydon had appeared on the deck of Caprice, summoned no doubt by the sound of the motor and the voices. She was leaning languidly on the rail by the ladder, waiting for Mrs, Herriot to join her. But that ample lady was stand- ing with hands on hips, regarding the yacht with evident disfavor. “Young man,” she said as Ward came up, “is that the boat I’m to live on?” “Yes; that is Caprice.” “Well, you’d better lower that small boat on the strings there and get all your men to haul me up in it. I'll never get up that lad- der and live to tell the tale.” ‘She waved a beringed hand at the girl on the deck. “Hello, Nellie dear,” she called. “You can introduce Mr. Fenton to me properly after a while, but he’s going to be very busy for the next half-hour. Come on, young man, and help me up there. I’m not going to let you run away and leave a poor help- less widow all alone.” By dint of much careful assistance, with pauses on every rung and half-screamed fears that the next would never hold her, they finally managed to achieve the deck. Fenton saw the look of repugnance with which Nellie Blaydon submitted to a fat and effusive embrace, and turned his back so that she would not be embarrassed by his scrutiny. Diplomatically, the girl per- suaded Mrs. Herriot to go below and, as the ample form let itself slowly and carefully down through the narrow hatch, Nellie turned to him., ~ “You will remember my secret, won’t you?” she asked. - =) a 0 (E@) IOOKS