Just a Moment Please
George slipped into the bedroom, and drawing a chair close to the
sleeper he bent forward and uttered one word which cleaved the silence
like a clarion call.
“Leila!”
“Ah-h!” The answering cry of stark terror echoed back from the night
as Storm started up, convulsed, in his bed. “Take her away! Take
her—George! My God, don’t look at me like that!”
He cowered, trying to cover his face with his shaking hands, but the
other’s eyes held him.
“You killed her with—this!” George suddenly produced the driver, and
Storm shrank away in horror.
“No, no! For God’s sake, George!”
“You killed Jack Horton!” The inexorable voice went on. “His money is
here in this valise at my feet. You would have killed me, too, up
there in the woods, but I beat you to it!”
Great beads of sweat glistened upon Storm’s brow and rolled like tears
down his gray, pinched face as he made a terrified, ineffectual
attempt to deny; but the other cut him short.
“I’ve got you, you can’t get away, and they’re coming for you, do you
understand? They’re on their way!—Sure, smoke if you want to!”
The hunted eyes had turned instinctively toward the cigarettes on the
stand, and Storm lighted one feebly. Its tip glowed crimson, then
dulled as the surface became filmed with ashes.
George smiled grimly as a swift memory came to him.
“You owe Millard fifty dollars!”
A dull, sodden look came over Storm’s face, and his body slumped as
though slowly disintegrating before the other’s eyes. As he fell back
the scream of an approaching siren cut the stillness, and the ashes
from the cigarette fell in a soft, crumbling mass upon his breast.
The End
Transcriber’s Note
This transcription follows the text of the edition published by Robert
M. McBride & Company in 1919. The following alterations have been made
to correct what are believed to be unambiguous printer’s errors:
* “inheritence” to “inheritance” (Ch. I);
* “anum” to “annum” (Ch. I);
* “testatively” to “tentatively” (Ch. IV);
* “noncommital” to “noncommittal” (Ch. IV);
* “hershe” to “herself” (Ch. IV);
* “irration” to “irritation” (Ch. IX);
* “negotations” to “negotiations” (Ch. X);
* “undveloped” to “undeveloped” (Ch. XI);
* “possesssion” to “possession” (Ch. XII);
* “thicker than flees” to “thicker than fleas” (Ch. XIII);
* “satisisfaction” to “satisfaction” (Ch. XIII);
* “tremondous” to “tremendous” (Ch. XIV);
* “gussed” to “guessed” (Ch. XIV);
* “comfortabe” to “comfortable” (Ch. XIV);
* “nervelesly” to “nervelessly” (Ch. XV);
* “tumultous” to “tumultuous” (Ch. XV);
* “caught up the try” to “caught up the tray” (Ch. XV);
* “purposly” to “purposely” (Ch. XVII);
* “organizatin” to “organization” (Ch. XVII);
* “innividual” to “individual” (Ch. XVII);
* “susided” to “subsided” (Ch. XVII);
* “comosed” to “composed” (Ch. XVII);
* “adressing” to “addressing” (Ch. XVIII);
* “serenly” to “serenely” (Ch. XIX);
* “scarely” to “scarcely” (Ch. XIX);
* “dependant” to “dependent” (Ch. XX);
* “interupted” to “interrupted” (Ch. XXII);
* “wondeful” to “wonderful” (Ch. XXII);
* “accuresd” to “accursed” (Ch. XXII);
* “twenty-eigth” to “twenty-eighth” (Chs. XXIII & XXVII);
* “wthout” to “without” (Ch. XXVII).
Any other apparent errors and/or inconsistencies have been preserved.