Argosy All-Story Weekly — page 132: what you’re looking at

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

¥ Nae) : sh nee AAA ine ee ds bil A ACW ae ANF, ray ; i Lay y es Kise ni 7 a Bigs out By FLORENCE M. PETTEE Author of “‘ Ninety-Eight Degree Marder,’’ ‘‘ Exploits of Beax Quicksilver,’’ CHAPTER XVIII. THE MAN BY THE HYDRANGEA BUSH. HE crowd ceased its desultory con- versation. Those who had wandered away to the outskirts of the human vortex, centered in rapidly and avidly for the auctioning. Some, entirely forgetful of any hastily assumed veneer of forbearance and courtesy, brushed forward rudely, el- bowing and pushing a way toward the front. Others stood with feet apart, stolidly planted against the onrush of more anxious and less considerate would-be bidders er morbidity seekers. Still others, obviously the village folk and some of the more timor- ous of the city visitors, kept well on the edge of the surging mass, as if fearful that the fatal knife on sale might still in some unaccountable manner exert baleful and un- lucky influence. Yet the man with the beard, carefully etc. shadowed by the plainclothes man Nancy had previously instructed, neither pushed nor jostled. Nor did he furtively seek the rim of the crowd as if poised for attempted flight at the first hint of the untoward. He stood straight and tall where he had been beside the hydrangea bush. There was no rigidity in his pose, but a lithe and easy grace, as though the figure had neither anything to fear nor any bit- ing curiosity as to the outcome of the events hastily shaping themselves before his scru- tinizing eyes. One hand rested easily in a coat pocket, while the long, slender fingers of the other toyed with the green of the hydrangea bush. It was a figure which stood dignified and almost alone. Its pose, immobile and un- hurried, gave out some secret hint of aus- terity and calm repose,-as though insolently. impervious to the petty greed and curiosity of mere men about him. This story began in the Argosy-Alistory Weekly for July 21. 602 OO —COmichbooks.co