Argosy All-Story Weekly — "The Purple Limited" — page 62: what you’re looking at

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

628 ergy for days. For what had seemed an age of slow, long drawn out suspense she had stood facing the smirking Artie. She had seen a look of uncertainty come into his confident eyes. Peeping fear had al- . ternated with the desirousness of his giance. ‘““You’re my wife,” he had repeated as if to bolster a claim he felt himself to be losing hold upon. “No more than in name. I wouldn’t al- low you to clean my shoes. You will move away from that door and treat me with respect now and always. If not—” “* What?” ‘ T shall go to the captain and claim pro- tection.” Julie had spoken beyond her knowledge, - and was in reality unaware how great ‘is the power of the captain of a ship, but Artie was not sure how he would come off in a showdown. Also, he was aware that the boat was equipped with wireless. He thought he was within the law, but—one could never tell. Sympathy would be with the girl, and the safest thing to do was to let her have her way—for the time being. As a general rule, a show of pluck; an exhibition of grit will excite admiration even from the lowest; but Artie had no ‘manliness in him. All hog, the only thought in his head as the girl passed him, was one of disappointment that he had not > been able to lead her as he had wished. He was a thing completely selfish; a crea- ture of thin blood and small desires. “Aw! Who cares,” he had muttered when the cabin door closed with Julie out- side. “I'll fix her for standing me off. Time ’nough. I don’t have t’ hurry.” Artie had already shown some discon- certing traits of variable temper; but after Julie’s ultimatum respecting their rela- tionship, he had changed to a subtly dis- quieting politeness. There was a vicious coldness lurking in his glance, a grittiness underlying his smooth manner. Artie was deep, on the wrong side. On the other hand, it may be envisaged that Julie Fal- well was not capable of any great depth of feeling. Her epidermis was delicate enough to look at, but tough or— insensitive. Kit- tenlike, she would purr or spit as she was ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. stroked or prodded. In the days that fol- lowed it had been a pleasure to watch the girl trying to puzzle out her future, and the reason why he had married her. More than once Julie had caught him eying. her with somewhat of the air of a covetous, illbred dog; and. when on rarer occasions, he sat near her on deck, she suf- fered in silence the worldly wise look in his half-shut, insultingly appraising eyes. “You thought,” he would mutter when no one was near, ‘“ that I married you for love; that I was going to spend good money on you because I liked the cut of your pretty face. Huh! Found your mistake out now, ain’t you?” ‘Why did you do it?” ‘“‘ Because if the cops or anybody had come butting i in, you’d have squealed about being shut in that room.” ‘Did you do it?” What? -Lock you in? Sure I did. ” 6s Why?” When julie had asked this question, Artie had refused to enlighten her. Even he could not tell of the traffic he had at- tempted to make with Sid. “One. of these days when I’m good an’ ready maybe I'll tell you. I guess you'll understand. You ain’t so simple as you look, and I ain’t as bad as you think I am.”’ After calling at Para, the boat had gone on down the coast of Brazil; but the Fal- wells had stayed, and in that mecca of bag- men fram Europe, of Parisian luxury and tropic splendor, Artie again had tried to dispose of Julie and at the same time ac-— quire a bit of Judas change. In this con- nection a side light may be thrown on Artie Falwell. Having found the creature he wanted, the next thing was to steer his prospective client to a place where words could be ac- -. companied by drink. Artie did most of the talking and all of the drinking. Some hint of what had been at the back of Artie’s mind has already been given; but lots of rash, unpleasant things are said_ and never performed. In this case Artie soon left no room for doubt concerning the possibilities that had been hinted at by Sid. COMmiclboo S CO