Argosy, Vol. 118, No. 4 — page 135: what you’re looking at

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

FLXED BY GEORGE. Miss Woodbury, however, was no calmer. She stared at George, as if trying to read his thoughts. Her tinted fingers drummed on the arms of the chair which she had been unable to dislodge. “Don’t you think you’d better—do as I suggested, now?” she asked agitatedly. “Not yet,” George sighed. ‘I’m re- maining here for a little.”’ ¢¢ Why?” ‘‘T have my reasons,” George said, dark- ly and absently, and strained his ears to- ward the stairway. _ What were they doing up there? What right had that lumbering hulk of a Poole to heave George’s Geraldine about like a bag of meal, anyway? No matter what the circumstances, that had been one of those unwarranted moves which demand quick, full explanation. George flushed slightly and kept on listening, quite vainly—for one minute, for two minutes. ‘Where is Arthur?” Miss Starr inquired sharply. ‘“ That’s what I’m going to find out my- self in about one more minute!” George muttered. The girl sat up again. “What do you mean? Why do you speak like that? Where—where is Ar- thur?”’ Her voice went high this time, ringing through the still house. Up above, at a distance, footsteps moved hurriedly, and a door opened. Dr. Poole, it seemed, had caught the summons and was returning. And here he was, by the way, and he seemed rather jarred by something. The doctor’s handsome countenance was disfig- ured by a scowl, and he was biting his lips. His distressed and savage gaze bored into George. “Go up-stairs!”’ he said abruptly. “ Er —some one there wishes to see you at once. And take your—your wife with you, Dare! Don’t come down until you have settled matters in a perfectly satisfactory way and you're certain that there will be no further excitement. Do you understand?” “Not yet.” | “You will!” the doctor said wickedly. $i Go! ? é Conscience had rendered Margery rathen 605 more obedient than of yore. She was al- ready on her feet and ‘beckoning George to follow. At her side he mounted the stairs, while after them floated Angela’s queru- lous: ‘Arthur, who was that woman in your arms? I want to know who that woman was!” George smiled sourly. Secretly, be it said, he was glad that fate had sent them Geraldine. She was one of those wise, rare souls in whom the mother-instinct of pro- tection for the loved is very strong; on more than one occasion she had suggested the safe way out to George, and, privately, he had given thanks. These things, as a rule, he did not admit even to himself, but he admitted them now quite freely. Indeed, by the time they had attained the top step, something akin to joyful relief pulsed through George. Among all this peculiar crew, Geraldine would hold aloft the shining light of pure reason, Ger- aldine would understand! “ She upset Arthur!” Margery said quite angrily. ‘ Isn’t it queer that people cannot understand that a doctor knows best, and they insist on arguing!”’ ) ‘Very queer!”’ George said shortly. “J guess she’s down ere. Yes, there she is!” Geraldine was backing away from the door as they entered. She kept on backing until she touched the ancient bureau, and there, perforce, she stopped, with hands be. -hind her, and an expression such as George had never seen before. If ice can blister, that sort of ice formed the chief ingredient of Geraldine’s expression. She looked George up and down. She looked Margery up and down. The very corners of her nose crinkled high with fury and disgust—but since the single light was poor in there, and George was paying scant attention to ex- | pressions, anyway, he hurried forward with a glad cry of: ‘Gerry! Gerry, dear, you—” “You lay just one filthy finger on me, if you dare!” Geraldine said amazingly. “ Just one!” George stopped suddenly. ‘““You—you haven’t caught it, too?” he cried. ‘‘ You’re not crazy?” ‘ What?” Mrs. Dare sneered. ‘ Oh, mn (Cl QO) NOOK