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.

*He struck me-—and I kissed his and. He left me—and I begged him to back. Why? God knows. He never loved me. [Ee never made me happy. He just used me and laughed; but I was never happy until he came into my life. I _ haven’t been happy since he left me.” | Great tears welled up into her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. “You and Da Costa danced together, once—did you not?” asked Garry casually. “Yes. When he first came to New York, after the war. He was still in uniform when I met him. Do you remember how handsome he looked in his uniform? I was mad about him from the first, and I offered him the job—just to keep him near me. I didn't know, then, what a wonderful dancer he was.” “You danced on one of the roofs, did you not?” ““Yes—but only for a few weeks. Mr. Milburne—who was interested in me then —compelled me to give it up. I wanted to give kim up instead, but Guy wouldn’t let me. Guy was not so prosperous in those days, and Mr. Milburne’s generosity is well known. Guy and I went on seeing each other anyway—until Mr. Milburne found it out. Somebody told him. I’ve always thought it was Mable.” : “Mable?” repeated Silvers. * Yes—Mable Scott.” “ The little red-haired girl who’s dancing with him here—or was!” put in Garry. * Ves. She had just begun to dance with him then—and she was keen on him—as most women are. Mr. Milburne quit me; and when he quit, Guy quit. Mable an- mexed them both. You see, I don’t kid my- self. He never cared a hang for me—it was just Mr. Milburne’s bank roll! While I controlled it, Guy stuck to me. When Mable got her hands on it, Guy began to vet chummy with her. He never stopped ‘hink that I’d given up just about every- I had for him. He never thought anybody but himself.” as bitter; her eyes glistened a ” she went on broken- AL - ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. her fingers at the men that— decent and on the level>” 7 = Garry nodded. “And yet, knowing just how worthless he was, you still cared for him?” he asked “ Cared for him,” she repeated, looking at him. “TI loved him so much that J wanted to die when he left me. I never took to drink or dope until then. Y’ye never loved anybody else in my life but Guy. I loved him so much that—there aren’t any words to say it. It burned in me! It drove me crazy! fen never love as much as I loved him.” Garry leaned forward, fixing her with his eyes, and seized her wrist. “You loved him enough to &ill him!” he cried sternly. “Yes,” she answered without flinching. “And I would have killed him, too, only some one else did it first. I wish to God it had been I! Oh, to feel that knife going into his throat! To make him cringe and suf- fer! To wipe that accursed smile off his face. If it had only been I! If it had only been I!” CHAPTER VIII. THE LITTLE GIRL IN GREEN. Hi: eyes held hers; she did not seek to evade his glance. “ Well,” he said gravely, ““ whether it was you or another we shall soon know, for I believe that nothing happens in this world that is not led up to by a sequence of events; and these events are links in the chain that bind the murderer with his vic- tim. You can’t efface these events. You can’t destroy a single link in the chain. They are unalterable. And sooner or later —they are sure to be disclosed.” “ Links in the chain,” she repeated medi- tatively. “That is true, isn’t it?” And she turned from him to the covered body in the corner, and then back again. “ SO, one cannot escape the consequences of ones misdeeds, can one? There is really no past —-no future. There is just one long unin- terrupted present. No break. No wiping out and beginning again. No new start. It’s hard—this world. Isn’t it? | ——e - comicbooks.com