Argosy All-Story Weekly, Vol. 123, No. 4 — page 54: what you’re looking at

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

— 7 we ST - 560 fellow just ahead of me on the avenue skulking to the house and getting through the window, and I waited outside for him, but I didn’t hear any shot. Come till I shave; I’ve little time to spare, for I’ve got to catch the eleven-thirty train to Home- vale, to evict one of my tenants.” Jimmie grinned again at the palpable mendacity, but followed and perched him- self on the foot of the bed where he could view the bath-room through the opened door. ‘You're a busy little landlord, aren’t your” he jeered good-naturedly. “ Did you see anything | while you waited under the window?”’ “Nothing but the legs of my young friend Bodansky coming out faster than ever he went in, and I didn’t have long to wait, either; not more than three minutes.” McCarty paused to draw the razor along the line of his square jaw, and then turned. “That obituary you’ve got set up will be good reading if it goes back to the days when Creveling was known as Million-a- Month along Broadway.” “I was a cub then, but I remember him and the crowd he trailed with,” Jimmie remarked. ‘‘ Didn’t see much of him at society crushes until his engagement to Miss Alexander was rumored.” “ She’s a fine-looking woman.”’ McCarty turned again to his task. ‘“‘ Are they a grand family, the Alexanders?” “Good blood in them; ald stock, but it’s run to seed. The money went, too, during the past generation or so, and old George Alexander helped it along with a lot of fool speculations. He must have been very nearly at the end of his rope when Crevel- ing married his niece and put him on his feet again.” “What do you know about ‘the set they’ve been going with?” McCarty spoke with studied carelessness. ‘‘ The Waver- leys, and Fords, and a man named Nicho- las Cutter, and this Mrs. Ballie Kip, of East Sixty-Third Street? I can’t recall all the names [ have heard mentioned in con- nection with them.” “You heard an earful,” Jimmie assured him. ‘“ They’re a pretty swift bunch, but all well connected, and there’s never been ‘ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY, any actual scandal about any of them. The Douglas Waverleys are all right financial- ly, though he’s a rotter, and, like Crevel- ing, his wife comes of 3 a far better family than he. ‘If by the Fords you mean Lonsdale Ford and his wife, they’re climbers; never heard of until a few years ago, when he bought a seat on the Exchange. It is a mystery how they managed to get into that set, especially on a footing with Nicholas Cutter, for he’s a dyed-in-the-wool aristo- crat.”’ ‘What does he do for a living?” Mc- Carty asked. “Nothing, though he is an honorary director of half a dozen banking institu- tions. His father left him millions, but he doesn’t seem to care much for society be yond a small circle of intimate friends, and he never entertains on a large scale, though he could have the smartest people in town about him if he liked.” Jimmie stood up and thrust his hands in his pockets. ‘“ See here, Mac, I’m no walking Blue Book! You’ve seen Mrs. Creveling; what did she say? How did she act? Had she beer notified of her husband’s death before she arrived?” “Wait a bit,” McCarty admonished. ‘You haven’t told me about this Mrs. Kip yet. Who is she?” Jimmie shrugged. ‘“ Nobody knows. Widow of a Western mining man, I’ve heard. She blew into town about six or seven years ago, rented a big house, and went in for.charity—the old short cut to social position, you know. It didn’t work, in her case, and after vain- ly knocking at the portals for two or three seasons she dropped out of sight, only to reappear last autumn in the Crevelings’ set, but the Lord knows how she got there. “Now, come across, Mac: give me the straight dope. You talked with old Alex- ander, or at least you must have been there when Inspector Druet questioned him, for the report says that he was the first of the family to appear on the scene after the discovery of the. body.” McCarty complied -and, with certain mental reservations, gave his young friend a sketchy account of what had taken place, 3A Original Tro NSO, DOOK (C >) aun CO