Argosy All-Story Weekly — page 61: what you’re looking at

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

THE MAN WITHOUT HANDS. OL wardrobe is a very handy thing to have. So I thought I’d get a little for the books— they’ve been around the house a long time, and they really were a nuisance, you know. We never had much in the way of books in the house, because I was away all the time, and my father was not much of a readér. So I had no bookcase, and they were in the way. “TJ thought it would be a good time to get rid of them, and so stall Ignace off a little while longer. You see,” she said, naively, “he wanted me to marry him right away, and if I was starving I would have had to do it. And then you came along with that ten thousand dollars like a bolt from the blue. It put a different as- pect on life entirely. I can pay off the mortgage.” “What mortgage?” he inquired. “On our Virginia place. A long time ago, when my father had some legal trou- ble, he thought that if he lost the case they might take away his property, so he pro- tected the Virginia place by a mortgage for seven thousand dollars, which he gave to Tenace Teck—it’s really worth far more than that, you know. Now Ignace is fore- closing the mortgage—not because he wants the place so badly, but because he always had an idea that dad’s money was hidden somewhere down there. “There are thousands of acres on the estate, and there’s lots of room for it. He’s getting the idea that I don’t want to marry him, and he thinks that if he owns the Vir- ginia estate he can shut me out of it and look for the money at his leisure. The ac- tion isn’t finished yet—which is why you were so much of a godsend. I’ve already sent enough money down to my lawyers in Norfolk to fix the matter up.” ‘But surely you don’t intend to marry this man?” inquired Val, leaning forward. “ Why not?” she answered coolly. “TI promised to.” It was a statement of fact, as though there were no other course. Val was glad to see the flush of color that had come up into her cheeks and the emotion that caused her to veil her eyes once more. “ Well, he’s a murderer, you know.” She paled at this, though she had prob- ably thought on the matter many times since it had first occurred to her. But she answered coldly: “‘T don’t know that he is.” “ But if you knew—” he persisted. “Tf I knew—” She turned away from him and seemed to be peering into the face of the future. It was as though he was not there; but her words were like a ca- ress in their soft modulation, like a song dying down the wind. “If I knew—” “Where does he live?” he asked ab- ruptly. She mentioned a number on the East Side. ‘Why do you want to know?” she asked quickly, as though repenting that she had given him this information. He made a mental note of the number before answering. ‘Well, I thought that if I could bring you proof that he had the books you might be willing to believe—”’ She interrupted him with a note of alarm in her voice. “Oh, I’m sorry I told you where he lives —I shouldn’t have done that! You mustn’t go there, Mr. Morley! It would be ter- rible—” “But why?” he asked. ‘“ Surely I can- not be hurt by a man with no hands. Even if he did find me—” “Tt isn’t he, you know. It’s the gang- sters he has around him. They would do anything—oh, you have no idea what a vicious crew they are. Why, if—” “Well, don’t worry,” soothed Val, pleased and flattered that she should be alarmed over the question of his safety. “‘ Why, there is no reason under the sun—” ‘““ Miss Pomeroy?” questioned an utterly respectful voice at his elbow. They both looked up, and until that mo- ment they had not realized how absorbed they had been in one another. It had been as though they were in some private place, as though nobody else in the world existed but they. They, each of them, actually had to wrench away their gaze. “T have a note,” continued the head waiter, looking at Miss Pomeroy. ‘ A boy delivered it and told me it was important.” He handed her the note. She took it, and he withdrew. With an apology to Val she ripped open Eomicvookssco 5