Argosy All-Story Weekly — page 62: what you’re looking at

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

696 ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. of low couch to one side; queerly shaped, low chairs and a table or two. And there was a floor covering of some thick, soft textile, and several furs lying about—a large fur rug covering the couch—I got the idea it might have beenea dog-skin. “To the right I could see a low archway, hung with a curtain. That was in the direction of the girl’s room. ‘There were two other archways with curtains but evi- dently no interior doors to the house. “T had been pressing against the glass pane; it seemed to give a little. I pushed. The motion was inward, and greater at the bottom. I knelt down and shoved it. The lower half swung silently and smoothly in- ward and upward while the upper half came out and down. The whole twelve foot pane was pivoted at its center. When it paralleled the floor it stopped, and there was a six foot high opening for me to walk under and into the house. ‘“‘T took a cautious step, listening intently, peering around me—behind me—with the sudden feeling that something supernatural might leap forth—spring at me—any in- stant. “But the Collinger in my hand—my finger on its trigger—gave me courage. In my left hand I held the electric flash light; and very slowly I crept toward the cur- tained archway behind which I hoped the girl might be. Suddenly I remembered my cap. I smiled at the absurdity of the de- tail—but nevertheless I pulled it off and stuffed it in my pocket. Then I went for- ward, pushed aside the curtain, and entered the space behind it. “T was in darkness as the curtain dropped. It must have been a sort of anteroom, or a short hallway, for some twenty feet ahead of me I saw another cur- tain with a blue radiance beyond it. “¢ A moment more and I had pushed aside the further curtain and stood peering into the room beyond. It was more dimly lighted than the living room. Across it, in an angle of wall, the first thing my gaze caught was a low couch or divan, bathed in the blue radiance from a brazier beside it, which left the rest of the room in gloom. The girl lay there asleep. A soft, pure- white fur was covering her, but her bare arms and shoulders were above it. An arm was crooked under her head for a pillow— the other, white almost as the rug, lay stretched out over the fur. On her breast her golden hair lay in waves. ““T stood transfixed at the ethereal love- liness of the face, calm in deep slumber— a small oval face of seemingly perfect fea- tures, with soft, curving red lips slightly parted; smooth cheeks with a delicate rose color in them, and long dark lashes that lay motionless as she slept. “My emotion at the picture was short lived—other thoughts crowded upon me. What was I to do? I could not awaken the girl and ask her to come with me. She would not understand the words, and if she did, she would probably have screamed be- fore I could get them out. Seize her—stifle her cries and carry her off forcibly? That is what I should have done, perhaps—taken her to the plane and left explanations until afterward. ‘“* But, gentlemen, you will understand me —TI could not bring myself to do that. In- deed, my whole instinct was to retreat from the room. I felt myself a gross intruder in a sanctified place, my very gaze an insult. ‘What I should finally have done, I do not know. Events took the decision out of my hands. The wind outside roared with a sudden gust that must have pulled loose something under the eaves. There came a rattle, a thump, loud in the silence of the house. Then the wind died again. “TI glanced up to the ceiling, startled, with my heart pounding and the Collinger pointed toward the sound. I could see nothing but the dark rectangle of a window up there. My gaze fell again to the couch —and met the opened eyes of the girl! She was sitting up, her hair tumbling over her shoulders, one hand instinctively gripping the white fur to raise it more closely about her, the other pressed against her mouth. I think I could never imagine an expression of more utter terror than that on her face. ‘¢T murmured something intended to be reassuring and made the mistake of taking a step forward. It was the worst thing [ could have done, for her frightened scream rang out through the house. “T tried to think quickly, but I realized COMMicoookkSse©