IN THE DARK
As Bat Scanlon saw Nora disappear around the Burton house he once more
awaited some developments from the shadows; but again there was no sign
of the presence of either the Swiss or the lank burglar. So after a
little he moved on until he reached the gate of the adjoining house and
quietly lifted the latch.
A dog, from somewhere in the darkness, barked; Bat halted and listened,
but there were no further sounds, and so he went on. Placing his hands
upon the low division fence he bounded over upon the Burton lawn. Almost
directly before him was the rose arbor behind which Ashton-Kirk had
discovered the woman's footprints; and the big athlete took his place in
the deep shadow of this and looked about. The window of the Burton
sitting-room was lighted; inside was Mary Burton in her reclining chair,
propped up by pillows, and reading. The shaded lamp cast a soft glow
upon her; the white face wore an expression of suffering, and with this
was a meekness, a submission which made it nun-like.
A woman's form flitted between Scanlon and the window; it stopped, and
then the watcher saw Nora Cavanaugh peering in at the sick girl.
"Her notions of a social call seem to have picked up a twist somewhere,"
said Bat, to himself. "What's the idea?"
However, Nora only remained at the window for a few moments; then she
disappeared in the direction from which she had come. In Bat's mind was
a picture of two lurking men, the lank desperado, and the mild looking,
yet murderous, Swiss; and he felt a chill of fear as he gazed into the
darkness which had swallowed the girl up. A moment or two passed, then
he heard the quick br-r-r-r! of an electric bell from the house.
"The door-bell," said Bat. "Through the sound of a hundred others I'd
match myself to pick the one attached to the door of any house. They are
all of the same family."
Another little pause; then he saw Nora in the sitting-room, the nurse
behind her, and the sick girl reaching out her hand gladly. Bat breathed
a sigh of relief.
"All right," said he. "Inside, she's not so likely to meet those
gentlemen."
The nurse disappeared from the sitting-room; Nora sat down and began to
talk with the invalid, earnestly. Outside all was still; after a little,
Bat searched the surrounding shadows intently for anything that might
indicate the whereabouts of Big Slim and Bohlmier; but the darkness was
silent and complete. The windows of the houses opposite and adjoining
were lighted; from one some little distance away came the faint tinkling
of a mandolin, and the deeper sounding strings of a guitar; from still
another came fresh young voices singing an evening hymn. Figures could
be seen through the windows or silhouetted upon the shades; at one Bat
saw a tiny girl and a very large dog who seemed her especial chum; they
romped gaily; Bat heard the child laugh and the dog bark.
"Nice," he mused. "Nice and homey. Regular Sunday night stuff in the
bosom of the family. But no sign of the two gentlemen who did the
shadowing. They are lying low, I guess, same as I am."
He gave his attention once more to the sitting-room; Nora and the sick
girl were still engaged in conversation. As Bat looked, Nora took a
crumpled newspaper page from her hand-bag, as though it were a part of
what she was telling. The girl in the chair lifted herself up, eagerly,
took the paper in her hand and read the staring head-lines. Then Bat saw
it flutter to the floor, he saw her sit upright for a moment, gazing at
Nora with wide-opened eyes; she sank back suddenly and heavily upon the
cushions.
"Fainted!" said Bat, excitedly, leaning forward. He saw Nora arise
quickly and bend over the girl, then he saw her open the door. "Calling
the nurse," said he.
In a moment the nurse was in the room; and under the care of the two the
invalid was soon restored to consciousness. Then followed a period of
comforting, of patting pillows into shape, of cheerful assurance. Nora
then kissed the invalid and bid her good-bye. She left the room with the
nurse following her.
"Just came, evidently, to give her the news," said Bat to himself. "But
I wonder why the haste. It wasn't the kind of news that would give joy
or anything like that."
In a few moments he heard the front door close, and steps upon the walk.
These ceased after a moment; there was silence; and then, to his
amazement, Nora once more flitted through the darkness and came between
himself and the window.
"There is a reason for it," said Bat. "She's not doing all this out of
just idle curiosity. But what it leads to is a thing I don't----"
The thought was halted, unfinished, in his mind; for through the
darkness, quite close at hand, came a cautiously moving shape; and from
its direction, it was also seeking the shelter of the rose arbor. There
was a door in the far side of the latter, as Bat had noticed on the day
of Ashton-Kirk's investigation; he slipped quietly around and in at
this; and through the trellis work he watched what was proceeding
outside. The first glance showed him that Nora was now, also, moving
toward the arbor, and the thought of what might occur upon her meeting
with the prowler in the dark caused Scanlon's hand to go inquiringly to
the big revolver which he carried in the breast pocket of his coat, and
to shift it to a place where it would be more convenient.
But, though he strained his eyes to catch some indications of the
shadowy figure he had seen only a moment or two before, he could not do
so; it had vanished. This did not add anything to the big athlete's
quietude of mind; for the footsteps of Nora, dulled by springy sod, were
now close at hand.
The girl reached the arbor and took up the position which Bat had lately
occupied; and he knew that she had settled herself for a vigil--to watch
all that passed in the sitting-room of the Burton house. Naturally, the
eyes of the big man also went in that direction once more.
The nurse had returned to the room and was bending over the invalid, a
glass in her hand. The girl lay motionless, her face turned upward and
her thin hands pathetically folded. The nurse, after she had succeeded
in inducing the patient to take a few drops of what she held to her
lips, busied herself with some things upon a small table near the
chair; then she left the room.
There was a pause; no movement came from the room whatsoever. Bat
fancied that the sick girl had gone to sleep; but this thought had no
sooner taken shape in his mind than he saw her stir. Then she arose
slowly in the chair, and sat, apparently listening, her manner
surprisingly alert. Only a few moments ago she had shown every sign of
exhaustion; now her strength was unquestioned, for her body was firmly
held and her grip upon the arms of the chair was sure.
There came a little gasp from Nora crouching behind the rose arbor.
"Surprised!" thought Bat. "And no wonder! I'm just a little bit that way
myself."
Mary Burton threw back the blanket in which she was swathed, and stood
up. She wore a long dressing gown, tied about the waist; from a pocket
of this she took something, and then after a moment of listening
approached an old mahogany high-boy, unlocked and opened a drawer and
looked into it. Almost at once it was slid back into place and relocked;
the girl stood poised for an instant, as though not sure as to what her
next movement would be; then she went tiptoeing to the door, opened it,
and disappeared.
Nora drew a long breath; and Scanlon, as he stood, amazed, felt like
echoing it. But the next instant all that which had happened in the
sitting-room, surprising as it had been, was wiped from his mind. From
outside there came a low-pitched voice, that of old Bohlmier:
"Do not make some noise!" it said. A gasp came from Nora, a gasp which
would have been a scream if fear had not suppressed it. "I will talk a
little with you, if you blease."
There was an instant's silence; Bat pressed hard against the trellis
work of the arbor--only a few inches separated him from the girl
outside, and he could hear her breath catching sharply in her throat as
she spoke.
"Who are you?"
"We will nod speak of that," said the Swiss. "Only we will talk of
things that interesting are."
This seemed to have a tonic effect upon Nora; when she answered her
breathing had become almost normal; her voice was strong and held some
confidence.
"I know you now," she said. "I saw you the other night."
Old Bohlmier chuckled.
"Ach! yes, the other night. You saw me, yes, but you spoke to me not!
Now it will the other way be. Eh?"
"What do you want?" asked Nora, sharply.
"Do you so ask?" Bohlmier's tone was one of astonishment. "Is it
possible? There is one supject only which we can talk about Is it not
so? One supject. Yes?"
"I thought I told your friend all I had to say about that," said the
girl.
"Ach! no! It is not true." If he had been able to see the old rascal,
Scanlon was sure his head would be wagging and a mild smile would be
upon his face. "You told him so--yes. But it is not true. Much more have
you to say. Blenty more. And you will say it to me, eh? Now!"
The vision Bat had in his mind became more and more clear; not only
would the bald head be moving from side to side, but it would be thrust
forward in the deadly snake-like motion which the big athlete had seen
once before. And the smile? He had never seen one like that which his
ear told him Bohlmier's would be--a mild, quizzical smile which was a
habit of the muscles only, and through which a pair of eyes gleamed with
devilish purpose.
"Has he got me nervous, or something?" Bat asked himself. "Or do I call
the turn on him right?"
"My friend," proceeded the old Swiss, "is a chentleman much ezberienced
in certain things. In others he has not so much exberience as that," and
the listener heard him snap his fingers, sharply. "Not so much as that!
And so he let you go without some understandings."
Bat heard Nora laugh. It was not a pleasant laugh; nevertheless it
caused a thrill of pleasure to shoot through him.
"Good!" he thought. "She has her nerve with her. He hasn't scared her
even a little bit."
"Perhaps," said Nora, to Bohlmier, "you have the experience he lacked?"
"I haf the handling of many affairs had," came the voice of the Swiss,
smoothly. "And from the first I asked for this one; for I knew, dear
lady, I could the resulds get."
"You mean you thought you could frighten me where he failed." Again Nora
laughed. "You have confidence." Then with a note of curiosity in her
voice: "What would you have done?"
A sudden sharp movement came from outside the rose arbor; Bat heard the
hissing of Bohlmier's breath and a sharp cry from Nora. A diminished
light ray, unseen in any other way, was caught upon the uplifted blade
of a knife; then Bat drove his arms through the frail trellis work; with
the left hand he gripped the arm of the Swiss and twisted it wickedly.
The knife was heard to strike against the side of the arbor as it fell.
Bat's right hand, at the same instant, slipped along the man's body and
gripped his throat like iron; and as he held him, he heard the muffled
sound of Nora's steps as she fled away.